TRAVEL SUCCESS
Back from a couple days of travel and absolutely had a blast while nailing the training and nutrition. It was my first time traveling overnight while on a prep, but with a little extra planning and a food scale, anything is possible.
Even though the first show is still over 5 months out, I’ve been making good progress and don’t want to halt it, and also want to have enough time for a diet break and go back to maintenance for a little bit, which is our plan if everything continues as this pace. I’m mainly focusing on talking about the nutritional aspects now because the training really takes care of itself, and showing the details and intricacies of the nutrition is fascinating and for sure the most challenging part.
I am looking a little leaner after losing almost 5 pounds, I don’t want to obsess with progress pics now because they’re time consuming and it’s still early, but I’m gonna take another round of pics next week.
What I packed
-Grey and orange container is my post workout whey isolate, I always bring it in that little protein shot container and just pour it into the shaker cup with water
-Pre workout drink (stim free pre workout and EAA’s)
-Intra workout - (cyclic dextrin and EAA’s)
-salt (I use “Real” salt and always travel with it, most consumer table salt is filled with all sorts of nonsense)
-vitamins
-whey isolate
-protein blend
-Ezekiel cereal
-walnuts
-cashews
-food scale
Day 1 - travel day, off day from the gym
Ate my usual meal 1, packed meal 2 for the plane. Meal 3 was dinner at Whole Foods, which is an easy place to keep it tight on the road because they’ve got the hot bar and other pre made selections you can weigh yourself or ask for specific weight. I got veggies from the hot bar which I weighed, then asked for 6oz of turkey breast and half a pound of roasted potatoes.
Pre bed meal I was able to simulate my usual one pretty close with single containers of yogurt, cottage cheese, then I added my protein blend, Ezekiel cereal, walnuts and cashews.
Day 2 - work day, legs-abs-cardio, fly home
For breakfast I went to a local organic coffee shop I love when traveling to this spot, I got an egg white omelet with veggies which was made with 2 egg whites, then I asked for an extra side of 4 egg whites and avocado, and I brought my own Ezekiel bread which I got at Whole Foods the day before. They also brought me amazing looking breakfast potatoes which I didn’t eat.
Then I spent a couple hours in a production studio recording new content for my online coaching platform. I had the entire morning planned out carefully, with a little extra buffer time. But after the recording I got caught up in a good chat with the CEO of the production company, then things really got tight. I rushed back to the hotel to check out, and didn’t have enough time to eat my usual pre workout meal and wait an hour and a half to train. So, I mixed my pre workout shake with 30g of whey isolate and chugged it (it actually tasted pretty good!) then ate an apple. 30 minutes later I was in the gym at a local Life Time.
Hack squat w shoulder pads - 3x10
405x10
405x10
405x10
Leg ext - 4x15 I was already a bit fatigued from the hack squat, I haven’t done leg extension for 15 reps in a while so I misjudged my working weight. The first 7-8 reps always felt great and then it got challenge real fast, so I kept decreasing until the last set to get the full 15 without stopping. It’s really easy to get a lot of body momentum into the leg extension and go heavier, if you don’t have a good controlled negative on the way down. But if you really focus on getting the initiation of the movement into the quads, and having a slightly slower and controlled negative where you really keep the tension, man it’s a pump and a half, especially if you’ve done something heavier like a squat right before.
160x10, 145x5
140x12, 140x3
130x10, x3, x2
100x15
Leg curl (hamtractor) - 4x15
100x15
110x15
110x15
110x15
Hip thrust - 2x15
140x15 (45+25 each side)
140x15
Cable crunch - 3x15-20
72.5x15
80x15
80x15
From the gym I went back to Whole Foods, got pretty much the identical meal from the day before and brought it on the plane, except I added more of everything because I had more calories to eat after skimping out on the pre workout meal, which required me to get my spreadsheet out and figure out how many macros I missed in my pre workout meal and make sure I added them to dinner. Macros can be adjusted throughout the day as long as the daily total is always the same, and ideally you’re getting at least 25-30g of protein every 3-4 hours. It was a photo finish getting to the gate, but made it just in time.
It feels great getting through a couple days of travel and still executing on point. I love planning everything out in advance, it’s a lot of fun to put it all together.
This trip, however, was relatively easy, everything I needed was close to each other and it was only two days. Next month I’ve got a 4 day trip, and a separate 3 day trip. The 4 day trip is a Christian Men’s Entrepreneur mastermind conference, focused on combining faith and fitness. The organizer is a world renown health and fitness coach and really went all out on the itinerary. I was able to book a room that has a full kitchen, there is a Whole Foods nearby and a Life Time, but the schedule is really tight so I’ll need to figure out my training schedule. AND, I just found out the organizer has hired a private chef to prepare all our meals, and it’s a very clean menu because it’s a health and fitness focused event. So I’m going to see if we can make it work that I eat some of those meals, the only one I think I’ll need to cook my own is breakfast (the breakfast on the menu just has too many fats), but the lunches and dinners are good. The biggest X factor is I didn’t cook it so I don’t know exactly how many macros and calories are in everything, but if we can stay on track with my current progress I’m hoping we can have that week be a maintenance/buffer week, I’ll still be intentional about my choices but can enjoy some food at the event.
The second trip might be a little more challenging in that there is a Whole Foods and a Life Time near the venue, but the hotel doesn’t have rooms with full kitchens, probably only a mini fridge and I’m hoping a microwave but I doubt it. I’m driving to that one so I will be able to prepare a lot of meals and bring them with me as long as the hotel has a fridge big enough for me to fit them.
@The_Mighty_Stu used to tell me that, “on show day when you’re on stage, you gotta look left, look right, and know you worked harder than everyone else, it’s the only way you’ll be OK with whatever happens.” There’s no way to know who will show up on show day, and while competitive success is always a goal, the real reward is the journey you took and how close you can get to maximizing your potential. So while it may seem obsessive, this is an obsessive sport, and I need to know I didn’t leave any stones unturned or have any “what if” moments.
