2017 Men's Physique Prep

Tuna cans never fail man!

Also bring protein powder and some energy bars with high protein %.

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If it was me and I had to be on the road for 6 days, Iā€™d go bland as possible to ensure Iā€™d hit my macros. Baggies of protein powder and shaker cups for sure. Dry oats, nut butters, beef jerky and a food scale, tuna cans as @oc21 mentioned. Traveling on a 6 day road trip during a prep, best of luck to you man. Are you going to find a different gym every day?

True story right there. Oh, and if you have room, instead of putting your supps in baggies, just bring the jugs. Takes up room, but so much easier. You can always bring some fruit with you too to have variety with the carbs ā€“ apples and bananas have a pretty good shelf life.

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That was my next question. I havenā€™t de loaded in 9 weeks, so I am do for that. I was thinking Monday and Tuesdayā€™s while Iā€™m still home Iā€™ll to a full lower and full upper workout, then I leave Tuesday night and Iā€™ll be back Sundayā€¦Iā€™m going from greenbay to Washington D.C. so Iā€™ll see what I can do, but Iā€™m thinking itā€™ll be a lot of body weight work

Iā€™ll be able to bring the jugs, currently in not taking much. Just protein, bcaas, creatine, and a fat burner. I take pre like once a month but that wonā€™t be an issue

Okay road trip complete. After 6 days of not eating out of prepard Tupperware, and having to improvise my training program my weight has gone up 1.2 pounds. my V line veins are still in, which from previous experience tells me im still under 10% body fat, which is right where i was before.

My push day today went amazing, i hit PRs on the incline DB bench (80s for 4 sets of 10) and had the best pump ive had all prep. The weight gain was evidently from the glycogen re filling my muscles after the depletion of the weeks of low calories before.

Glad to be back on it. 9 weeks out and getting excited

Sorry ive been inactive the last 2 weeks, been very busy with school and work and all that fun stuff. I am now just under 8 weeks out, my current all time low is at 165.2 and i hit that 2 days in a row on friday and saturday. Sunday was re feed and now im up to 166.4, working my way back down

Because im no longer 16-20 weeks out ive been taking cheat days/refeeds much differantly, and instead of doing them every week, its everytime i lose a half pound to a pound from my previous all time low.

water is very, very high

this week im going to start 2 a day training so i can do calves, forearms, and abs separate from my workout. Im still training 4 days a week in the morning, and once in the afternoon (this is the easiest way for me to train with my life schedule) and the second training session will be on the opposite of that.

posing this week is up to 3 days a week, holding all mandatory bodybuilding posing for 3 rounds at 30 seconds, up from 25 seconds last week

i am now registered for the comp, getting the confirmation email was very motivating

ill keep that in mind. That may have cost me third place last year, and im not about to make that mistake again

Okay, just under 6 weeks out now. After going over my pictures with experienced competitors i took a two day refeed this weekend. Thursday morning i weighed 163.2 and now (monday) i was 163.6. Gaining a half pound isnt a bad price to pay for the mental break.

This week i started off with legs. It felt great. Reps were 6-8 which was nice after being between 12-15 reps the last 10 days. Next week i plan on going really heavy (2-5) reps for the last time before im on stage.

yesterday i begun the dreaded process of shaving. I just started with my calves, then later in the week ill finish legs. Then do my upper body next week. Its defiantly a feeling im not used to haha

posing this week is mandatory bodybuilding poses two or three times a week, holding all the poses for three rounds of 45 seconds. Once this week i will put my physique shorts on and go through a prejudging round and do a few personal rutine practices

Im still training 5-6 days a week, workouts are short normally 45 minutes. I am doing either funtional training or HIIT cardio twice a week.

Macros are at 150 carbs, 195 protein, and 40 fat. Im eating very clean, and really dont mind it, last year i prepped IIFYM style, and i dont think ill go back to that. Water is about 1.5 gallons a day, not much is changing there

The plan right now is to hit 160 pounds at 3 weeks out, and slow the dieting process by starting to add carbs back in then. Im hoping to end up around 158.5-159.5 on stage

Best of luck man keep up the good work.

For the posing practice, aside from holding the poses like youā€™ve been doing, Iā€™ve found it helpful to find good videos of pre-judging on youtube and practice along with them, itā€™s the most realistic way to simulate being up there.

Just my .02, Iā€™d caution you against aiming too hard for a goal weight, unless it matters for a weight class, especially because 9.9 times out of 10, to really look great on stage, the scale weight will always be less than you think. By far the mirror should take priority over the scale. If youā€™re 6 weeks out you should still probably be losing scale weight, so not like you should ignore the scale, but when youā€™re on stage no one is going to ask your body fat percentage or how much you weigh. Be sure to be objective and continue sending pics to other experienced people if possible or your coach.

im not aiming too hard for that weight, its just a prediction based on how lean i look now. Based one my two previous cuts, and one contest prep i can get a generalization of how lean i am based off of my V line and chest veins, and just different striations that appear when im lean enough. If i end up at 157 or 161 i wont stress it, im just making a guess

and thanks for that advice on posing, when i go through ā€œface the backā€ ā€œ65 and 23 switch placesā€ etc in my head im probably taking it easier on myself that if i had an accual video playing, ill try that this week!

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I find myself doing the same thing! Iā€™ve been practicing posing a few times a week, and this past weekend recently started up with the video again, and it was noticeably harder than without. Poses were held longer, more switching, etc., and the whole session lasted longer than without the video. Always better safe than sorry with the posing!

I tried that during yesterdays session, and it felt much better knowing that its the closest thing to being on stage. I also did it wearing my board shorts, for the first time this yearā€¦i was pleased to see how well they fit.

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So, here are the update pictures from 8,7, and 6 weeks out. I apologize for the inconsistency, I will have my 5 week out picture this Friday or Saturday.

The first one is from 8 weeks out (black shorts)
The middle one is 6 weeks out (red and blue trunks)
and the bottom is 7 weeks out (blue USA wrestling shorts)

Well here we are, 33 days out.

This week (5 to 4 weeks out) was the first week i started doing cardio, and its 900 calories worth split up amongst 5 sessions, medium intensity on the stair stepper.

Posing this week is up to 3 rounds a day 3 days a week, holding each of the mandatory bodybuilding poses for 1 minute. Then i have a forth day where i just do my front, back, and personal routine for my physique posing. I have also been incorporating more in between set posing during my lift.

Food is steady at 1950 calories a day, carbs are split between low (60 grams) medium (120 grams) and high (180 grams) How i weigh and look in the morning determines how many grams of carbs i will eat for the day.

Today was an all time low for me, 161.4 and im nearly leaner than i was on stage last year, still at a month out!

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Okay, just under 4 weeks out now.

Energy levels are still high-ish, which is surpising, and the exact opposite of last year where everynight i was asleep by 8 oā€™clock

This past saturday during my posing session i worked with a posing coach and competitor who happens to train in the gym i work at, and i looked noticeably better with the small tweaks she made.

I apologize for not being consistent with pictures, i dont have anyone to take them but im trying to do what i can

These next couple weeks im not looking for my weight to change much, the goal being to look a bit tighter day by day. if i decide im not lean enough, the last two weeks i can adjust accordingly.

Over the weekend, i took 3 days off of training. Friday i got deep tissue done, and saturday and sunday i took baths in epsom salt, and did some cardio, but the break was needed. Its very hard for me to deload, becasue i have such a love for training, i end up just doing a ton of volume when i try to cut back on the weight, so taking a few days off is easier for me to handle mentally.

Today i got back to it and had a push workout, which i was very fortuate to have my old training parter back for, he left for the marines a year and a half ago and i have only seen him once scince. So needless to say energy was through the roof, hit chest shoulders and tris, then finished with some abs. After school im going to do cardio, first session of the week

thank you all for following, ill be back soon

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Tuesday. 25 days from now ill be under the lights

because i didnt update you on how this week would go yesterday, ill do that now

Monday: Push day

4x10 DB shoulder press superset with 4x20 lateral raises

4x8 close grip incline DB bench press superset with 4x12 normal DB incline bench

did a unplanned triple dropset of laterial raises, 20,15, and 12 reps (gotta keep the shoulder pump :wink:

6x12-15 tricep pressdowns, 4 sets with straight bar, 2 sets with a rope.

ended with 2x25 claping pushups

Tueday: Cardio, abs, and calves

Wednesday: pull day

4x15 pullups

2x12 barbell row superset with shrug

2x12 DB row superset with DB curl

Then ill finish with barbell curl/ rear delt supersets 3 sets of 15ish reps

Thursday: Cardio, abs, calves

Friday: Legs

4x12-15 squats

2x15 leg extension/curl superset

4-6 sets of calves

Leg days have been getting lower and lower in volume the more fatigued i get. But i havent been skipping them i promise haha

Saturday: Weak point and cardio

will most likey be doing shoulders and arms, i train along side a competitive power lifter and figure girl on Saturdays, so i just try to keep up

300 calories 3 times a week is the cardio right now. Sometimes a bit of HIIT on tues and thurs

Sunday: Rest, light walking

22 days out. Its friday, second to last leg day before i hit the stage (monday and tuesday the last week im doing light quads and hams, but they will be on separate days so im not counting it as a ā€œleg dayā€

It was tough. Tuesday-Thursday this week carbs were at less than 50 grams, today is refeed and hour to hour im looking fuller and harder. curious to see what i look like during tonights posing practice

tomorrow i have shoulders and arms, and will be checking in with coach. last week she said im about 2 pounds over stage weight, so it looks like next week will be repeat macros of this week.

Saturday, sunday monday- modorate carbs (160-180g)
Tuesday, wednesday, thursday-low carbs (25ish g)
friday, refeed (300g)

protein is between 185-215g, and fat is remaining calories-so higher on low carb days, lower on refeeds

This week made the most noticeable changes ive seen in myself, so one more week on the same guidelines is exciting me.

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Amazing how at a point you can actually see the changes so noticeably.

S

It really is, day to day i am looking differant