Okay, so I did my weekly update with JM yesterday (exactly 6 weeks out from IFBB Gauteng North novice show) and he seemed happy with where I am at this point. There were no specific changes to anything as he changed my nutrition midweek to account for the sudden weight gain I experienced this last week. The changes he made were:
-an additional 15 minutes LISS cardio in the evenings before bed 5 x per week
a drop in carbs and overall calories on non-training days
a small drop in calories (from carbs) on training days
The concerns that I expresses to him this week are the following:
I’m slightly worried that my abs aren’t popping as much as they should be at this point in the prep; JM didn’t seem concerned, and said I would be fine come comp day.
In my rear shots, it looks like my left tricep is substantially bigger than the right.
In my front double bicep, I think I need to flare my lats out more, which I’m struggling with
JM concurred that the bloated feeling (as well as the subsantial weight gain this week) was probably from my significant increase in cruciferous veggie consumption. I usually eat my veg raw, but will either start cooking them, or reduce volume as I HATE that bloated feeling.
At this point I feel as though the only thing I can do is enjoy the experience, and put in 100% effort…that way I know I’ll be the best I can on the day.
[quote]MattWeitz wrote:
Front double bi; any advice on getting my lats to pop?[/quote]
really dont wanna piss you off here but I dont think they could pop much more
I mean… compare how “far” they go with your actual front lats spread and its pretty much the same
What you could try
Dont have your arms exactly parallel to your body, have your arms be a bit more “in front” Look in a mirror when bringing them “in front” progressively, you will find the sweet spot (same goes for front lats spread)
Try have a kind of angle between the elbow and the wrist elbow being more “in front” of the body and the wrist a bit “close” to your body
[quote]MattWeitz wrote:
Front double bi; any advice on getting my lats to pop?[/quote]
really dont wanna piss you off here but I dont think they could pop much more
I mean… compare how “far” they go with your actual front lats spread and its pretty much the same
What you could try
Dont have your arms exactly parallel to your body, have your arms be a bit more “in front” Look in a mirror when bringing them “in front” progressively, you will find the sweet spot (same goes for front lats spread)
Try have a kind of angle between the elbow and the wrist elbow being more “in front” of the body and the wrist a bit “close” to your body
Im not sure what im saying will make sense
[/quote]
Lol! Why would that piss me off bro? I’m here to learn and improve in any way I can… And any advice coming from guys such as yourself can only ever be appreciated!!
Just hoping I’m ready, in terms of my conditioning, by June 15th. You generally seem to look leaner at this point in your prep, right?
As someone who also works with JM, do you see a lot of changes in the last few weeks?
[quote]MattWeitz wrote:
Front double bi; any advice on getting my lats to pop?[/quote]
really dont wanna piss you off here but I dont think they could pop much more
I mean… compare how “far” they go with your actual front lats spread and its pretty much the same
What you could try
Dont have your arms exactly parallel to your body, have your arms be a bit more “in front” Look in a mirror when bringing them “in front” progressively, you will find the sweet spot (same goes for front lats spread)
Try have a kind of angle between the elbow and the wrist elbow being more “in front” of the body and the wrist a bit “close” to your body
Im not sure what im saying will make sense
[/quote]
Lol! Why would that piss me off bro? I’m here to learn and improve in any way I can… And any advice coming from guys such as yourself can only ever be appreciated!!
Just hoping I’m ready, in terms of my conditioning, by June 15th. You generally seem to look leaner at this point in your prep, right?
As someone who also works with JM, do you see a lot of changes in the last few weeks?
Appreciate your input!![/quote]
On my last prep JM was only doing the training part
I lean out extremely fast so idk… we had to up my cals at 12weeks out cause I was leaning down too fast and we kept me “a bit softer” till like 8weeks out or something
Ok… so training is going really strong! Chest and delts last night was brutal, but my strength was higher than it’s been in weeks and I’m barely stiff at all today. Plazma has done amazing things for my recovery.
Had to get to work early this morning, so I did my 45 minutes of cardio extra early- had to wake up at 4:30 to get it done. Have another 15 minutes in store for me this evening.
Today is a non-training day, so calories are really low (around 1600) with the only carbs coming from my veggies. Not feeling hungry at all, though which is really surprising.
Tomorrow is leg day (which means no cardio). Looks like a brutal session, which is making me really excited.
Visually, I haven’t seen much improvement in the last week… My next update with JM will be on Saturday, so we’ll check on progress then. I’m staying away from the scale and calipers until then.
[quote]MattWeitz wrote:
Today is a non-training day, so calories are really low (around 1600) with the only carbs coming from my veggies. [/quote]
You just basically summed up what I have everyday, including training days…brutal haha[/quote]
Haha!! That made me laugh! Sorry bro- that must be harsh!
Been with John Meadows for about a year now, and he told me right off the bat that he would never reduce carb intake THAT low on training days… and he’s been good to his word. I’m still taking in roughly 260g of carbs on training days.
And through the whole fat loss process (started at 93kgs probably about 22-25% body fat) I’ve actually gained muscle. So these nutritional principles are definitely working.
Don’t know how you do it though… I’m eating about 2650kcal per day on training days, and I’m still hungry ALL THE TIME!!
[quote]MattWeitz wrote:
Today is a non-training day, so calories are really low (around 1600) with the only carbs coming from my veggies. [/quote]
You just basically summed up what I have everyday, including training days…brutal haha[/quote]
Haha!! That made me laugh! Sorry bro- that must be harsh!
Been with John Meadows for about a year now, and he told me right off the bat that he would never reduce carb intake THAT low on training days… and he’s been good to his word. I’m still taking in roughly 260g of carbs on training days.
And through the whole fat loss process (started at 93kgs probably about 22-25% body fat) I’ve actually gained muscle. So these nutritional principles are definitely working.
Don’t know how you do it though… I’m eating about 2650kcal per day on training days, and I’m still hungry ALL THE TIME!! [/quote]
It’s not too bad tbh, I struggled way more at the beginning of my prep in November when I cut from getting +3000 calories to strictly 2000.
Luckily hunger doesnt bother me, I am allowed 40g of carbs in my diet but I have changed it from being veg only to 20g of carbs from grapes during my workout to try and slow down my progress and maybe, MAYBE even put a little bit of muscle on.
