[quote]HotShot818 wrote:
Looking good my dude. Following.[/quote]
Thanks!
the bodyfat on my lower abs was the last to come off as well and didnt really come off till a few days before my show(also i didnt get as lean as i should have)—however yours will come in sooner because with 9 weeks to go you dont have that much left to loose! keep grinding man!
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
the bodyfat on my lower abs was the last to come off as well and didnt really come off till a few days before my show(also i didnt get as lean as i should have)—however yours will come in sooner because with 9 weeks to go you dont have that much left to loose! keep grinding man![/quote]
Will do! Things finally feel like they are coming together.
Loking solid dude. MM pose looks good. Good work, keep chipping away.
[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:
Loking solid dude. MM pose looks good. Good work, keep chipping away. [/quote]
Thank you, I have been trying to find the best MM pose to use for the comp. I think this one is winning.
Update:
I consumed a few extra carbs yesterday for my leg workout, approx 150g for the day and woke up @ 177.6 this morning. I am back into my work rotation and will consume a few extra carbs around my workout tonight (Back).
I plan to have a cheat meal on my arm day and have been experimenting with fasting periods during night shifts to compensate for a slow metabolism. I have been extending my eating periods from every 2 hours to every 3-4 hours as well depending on how active I am (only on night shifts*).
I have come to find out that if I am going to consume some extra carbs, the morning is a dreadful time to do so. Once I get started I just do not want to stop. Its like unleashing some kind of carb crazed monster.
It is really hard for me to gauge re-feeds especially if they fall on a day where I work night shift so I have been introducing about 50 extra grams per day on days and then cut the carbs completely on my night shifts. I dont know if there is a protocol for carb intake during these time periods, but I assume that less is better.
I reached the point where I look forward to that caffeine hit before training. For someone who has never drank coffee or anything caffeinated until they started prep it has become a concern. I am trying to stick with minimum intake and my only sources have been my pre workout and fat burner, which I adjust one or the other so I’m not overloading. I have been sticking to taking the fat burner in the morning and then pre workout before training. I am supposed to take the fat burner around the same time as the pre workout for optimal results but getting the jitters is less than optimal.
I hope to get some good pictures after my workout tonight, Back workouts generally give me a good all round pump. I may also start posting some videos soon for you guys to rip me up and get my posing in check. SO STAY TUNED!!
Looking great, thanks for the updates!
Starting to have fun with this leaning out business!
[quote]sctb wrote:
Looking great, thanks for the updates![/quote]
Thanks, It is my pleasure! I often find myself looking back through the thread to keep track of my weight loss and such.
Update:
I still feel like I am making progress plugging away at this conditioning. It is becoming hard to stick to the game plan as things fluctuate day to day. All it takes is one look in the mirror or stepping on the scale and it can throw you off your game completely for the day. Fortunately this is not one of those days!“Morning” weight was 177 even and after night shifts it is usually my highest morning weights. I just finished my first night shift, which is the second last of my rotation. Fasting has become my go to during nights so I’m not going over my calorie intake within a 24 hour period without realizing it.
I fear that I went to hard too early in cutting carbs and am all over the place with re-feeds and carb cycling. I gave myself a 6 hour window Saturday morning to consume as many carbs as humanly possible in attempt to replenish my glycogen stores. Maybe its because it is my first time dieting like this that I am still fearful of binging, even though I know it is proven to help. I am still leaning out but weight loss is definitely slower then at the start. I have created a carb cycling plan for myself following the guidelines of 2 high days, 2 med/low days, and 2 low days. I am going to try and follow this for 2 weeks and see where it takes me and if I am not seeing any further progress I will revert back to the low carb and “re-feed when I need plan.” My thoughts are that at least by changing things up I will still keep my body guessing. I may be terribly wrong…we shal find out.
I have introduced approx 20 min of solid cardio at least 3 days per week and made sure to make the change before changing my diet so I will have still a rough idea of what is still working.
I am enjoying every shitty minute of this challenge and hope that I can present some kind of decent package come show time. I am still leaning out even if it is slower, so I am not sweating too much yet. I am keeping in mind that I am making mistakes this year so I don’t have to next year!
Going to blast some arms here once the wife gets off work and get another practice run of my posing in so possible pics to follow…
Update:
So my laptop had a little mishaps involving my two dogs. Anyways I now have to plug in a monitor to use my computer.
My morning weight has been just over 175 consistently for the past few days. The carb cycling plan that I am now loosely following seemed to have made a bit of difference (more less introducing carbs before and after workouts).
I had a shoulder workout today and it went very well. Even when I am depleted I feel like I am looking strong. I had a bout of nausea yesterday that I feel comfortable contributing it to too much caffeine. I felt “car sick” even when sitting around the house. I adjusted my intake for today and feel fine. I just recently switched my fat burner and pre workout and had to try them both right away…and at the same time… bad idea. Learning experience/rookie mistake.
I am feeling confident in where I am in my prep and am still excited for the show. I have to admit though that I am starting to have some very “low” days where I have no energy and burn out fast. It is very much a mental war against myself as the show draws near. I have taken some more pics and now that I have a monitor I will be posting them following this message.
I have been looking awkward as old hell when doing my front lat spread so regardless of how bad it looks im going to post it and maybe I can get some feedback. My weakest poses IMO have been rear lat spread, front lat spread, and back double bi.
On the rear poses i like to lean pretty far back into them- it makes the waist look smaller and gives more of v shape–as far as the front lat spread its best to lean foreward abit. --i made the mistake of trying to lean back into it- but thats not what you want–even if it does make the lats pop out more-
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
On the rear poses i like to lean pretty far back into them- it makes the waist look smaller and gives more of v shape–as far as the front lat spread its best to lean foreward abit. --i made the mistake of trying to lean back into it- but thats not what you want–even if it does make the lats pop out more-[/quote]
Yeah I hear ya, I feel like I lean way too far back and then I am almost chin to chest trying to compensate. If it looks strange from a straight on perspective I can only imagine what it will look like to the judges who are sitting below the stage.
Update:
Did a 8 hr refeed this morning/afternoon and am just over an hour away from getting off work. My morning weight was 177 even which is higher then it has been. I am not sure why it was so high but I luckily visited the mirror first and thought I looked really lean. My last “high carb” day where I ate outside of pre/post workout guidelines was Tuesday and my weight has been hitting 175’s.
My night weight was 180.4 and I usually get up at least twice during the night due to such a high water intake during the day. I have convinced myself that I am not going to stress over the strange gain and will see where I land tomorrow after this fine day of carb rehab.
I am filling in for a few extra day shifts at work and swapped my nights out to get a more consistent schedule going for this week and only have to worry about one night shift (4 12 hour days then 1 12 hour night). The only set back to this schedule is the small window for training and food prep in the evening. I also have to consume any pre workouts an hour before I get off work so I am not up all night wired.
I will be doing some pictures tonight, but with limited time I most likely will not have a chance to post them before tomorrow. I will update again when I have a chance and hopefully get this weight back down to at least where it was.
How many calories are you getting in on a daily basis?
I’ve always wondered how much bodybuilders eat when closer to competitions.
suscribed btw
also, good job man looks like you’re progressing pretty well
Update, post re-feed:
Went to bed @ 183.4lbs and woke up @ 179.2 lbs. I know this is typical of a re-feed, but it still kicks in a bit of panic being so close to contest. I had an amazing pump from my training session and got some good pics, which I will be posting later tonight when I am off.
I still have some soft spots that I need to lean out and hopefully this will come over the next few weeks without having to drastically change anything. I know that I am still a way off from contest ready, but this is the leanest I have ever been so I feel like that is an accomplishment in itself.
@ Fotress:
My cal intake fluctuates day to day, but I try to stay @ around 2000 on my really low days. I am always swapping out ratios of fat, carbs, and protein in attempt to remain at a deficit while being able to maintain muscle mass. For example: On my low days I will drop carbs and up protein and fats. On re-feed days I will lower my protein and fat intake while drastically increasing my carb intake.
I am still very new to all of this dieting down side of bodybuilding so a lot is trail and error for me right now, but typically I will go by feel while roughly staying within the guidelines. For the week accounting for high and low days I still attempt to end off on a deficit when I average all the days together, I go a little higher then “maintenance” on re-feed days.