Competing at 40: Rob's Bodybuilding Prep Journal for Season 3

[alex_uk]

Loving the updates,and crazy dedication, particularly loved this post:

@robstein

Anyone can do what it takes…

And the kitchen sign in this photo:

@robstein

Do you drink a lot of coffee? Is a variable you manipulate in contest prep?

I’m part way through a long slow cut, I’m curious how you deal with the feelings that arise, when you feel smaller/flatter, is it just second nature to trust the process by this point? Safe in the knowledge that the end results will be worthwhile? (Having never got to single digit body fat I have no idea, but growing up skinny, I tend to get a little antsy with the scale moving downward, even when that’s the intent, that and I probably always pull out in the midpoint when I’m not lean and just feeling flat/scrawny).

[The_Myth]

Mirror, not weight - I think you might have said that.

You’re looking good! You leaned up, visually, very quick (it seems to me).

Another week, another shave (lol), and you will look contest ready to me. Good thing I’m not a judge.

Rock on!

[Friscokid]

Curious about this as well.

[robstein]

@Andrewgen_Receptors @Friscokid

@Andrewgen_Receptors

I’m curious about the purpose behind the 10x20 leg press…

Is it to help dry out your legs?
Glycogen depletion?

Not for either of those things, I asked Cliff about the creation of this program when he sent it to me because I’ve never seen anything like it, his response was very enlightening. One of the main reasons I love working with Cliff is he takes time (many years) to experiment with different aspects on himself, his clients, and get more anecdotal evidence to what works, not just relying on current research or literature, which often isn’t super thorough.

Regarding the 10x20 specifically, he said he starts out the first week with a heavy hand on the rep ranges that he knows to work well (previous training programs he had me doing blood volume training up to 30 reps), and he overloads a single movement pattern. On a contest prep it’s easy to lose muscle if training and nutrition aren’t dialed in, higher volume training at some points can help retain the muscle. My strength has actually gone up each time I’ve done the 10x20 of any exercise. The 10x20 is only in week 1 out of 3, and as the program goes on there are more rest days. As the program goes on the volume also goes down, less working sets, lower reps.

Week 1 - 5 training days, 2 off days
Week 2 - 4 training days, 3 off days
Week 3 - 3 training days, 4 off days

The first week I started this program I was pretty sore, but after that it’s actually pretty minimal, recovery has been solid. Lots of pre and intra EAA’s, intra workout carbs, and a good hit of whey isolate right after training, and of course enough sleep. Cliff is also a big proponent of being flexible and listening to your body. If I was feeling pretty rough and needed to pick a different exercise, or even remove a couple sets, I would, or even if I was absolutely trashed and needed an extra day off for recovery. I’m not there yet.

With this program for me specifically, he also wanted to get my body re-acclimated to higher volume training. For a long time I was doing lower volume, nothing higher than 12 reps, and then for the 2 months leading up to the prep I was totally out of the gym for a foot surgery I had to have some skin cancer removed. So this program was also a bit of a kick in the pants to get my body back to higher volume work which he has found to be very beneficial when implemented properly.

[robstein]

@alex_uk

And the kitchen sign in this photo:

100% accurate, except it should really say “3 cups of coffee” lol.

@alex_uk

Do you drink a lot of coffee? Is a variable you manipulate in contest prep?

I drink quite a bit of coffee on or off season, I usually have more during a prep than off season. I just really love coffee, we have a great setup with a Chemex pour over, and organic locally roasted beans, I prefer a light roast, then I put in grass fed half and half, and sweeten with monk fruit.

I usually have about 12oz first thing in the morning, and another late morning. If I’m feeling low energy in the afternoon prior to workout, I’ll have one additional small cup prior to training. I have a stim-free pre workout so coffee is the only caffeine source daily.

@alex_uk

I’m part way through a long slow cut, I’m curious how you deal with the feelings that arise, when you feel smaller/flatter, is it just second nature to trust the process by this point? Safe in the knowledge that the end results will be worthwhile? (Having never got to single digit body fat I have no idea, but growing up skinny, I tend to get a little antsy with the scale moving downward, even when that’s the intent, that and I probably always pull out in the midpoint when I’m not lean and just feeling flat/scrawny).

Good question. In a cut, especially a contest prep, you’re always going to be a little flat, and it’ll only get more pronounced as the cut continues and carbs get lower. Less carbs = less glycogen = flat. When I first started competing it was really hard to deal with mentally, I’d never experienced it before and some days would look in the mirror like, “what’s happening? Why do I look so small?” Especially in the last few weeks. But eventually you learn to trust the process, there’s no way to always look full on a cut and that’s not the point of the cut, so you just keep in mind the goal and trust the process. If you are:

-Training hard with higher volume
-Getting all your protein in evenly spaced meals throughout the day
-Sleeping and recovering well
-Taking a slow and steady approach and not digging too hard too soon

It’s highly unlikely you’re losing muscle and have nothing to worry about.

@alex_uk

I probably always pull out in the midpoint when I’m not lean and just feeling flat/scrawny.

Stick with it brother, don’t stop, it’s just part of the process. Eventually you’ll get to where you want and can slowly add cals and carbs back in and fill out nicely.

[robstein]

@The_Myth

You’re looking good! You leaned up, visually, very quick (it seems to me).

Thank you brother! It’s been surprising to me as well the difference in conditioning that’s taken place over the past couple months and roughly 10 pounds down. Excited for the progress.

@The_Myth

Another week, another shave (lol), and you will look contest ready to me. Good thing I’m not a judge.

LOL thanks man! The shaving is the worst part, I keep my upper body trimmed most of the time, never the lower half unless a contest is a couple weeks out and man it takes a long time!

[robstein]

Today was the first day during the prep that I felt pretty low energy all day, not “suffering” by any means yet, but felt like I was running on fumes. Fortunately it was a pretty light working day, didn’t have to be “on” very much outside of a couple zoom calls. My amazing wife also picked me up a coffee with a shot of espresso late morning which really helped get through the afternoon and the workout.

We’re about to complete week 7 and I’ve lost 10 pounds so far. I was listening to a podcast of Cliff’s recently where he was talking about the physical amount of fat cells someone has in their body, and how it can relate to how people feel while cutting. He compared two guys of equal weight and conditioning, but one grew up as a skinny, hard gainer, and the other grew up fat and lost weight (like me). The previously-fatter person has more fat cells in their body than the faster metabolism guy, so the previously-fatter guy will likely feel more hungry and run down at the same weight as the hard gainer. He then elaborated on how to make sure those people can still come in conditioned.

I definitely have experienced that. One of my fellow competitors back in 2017 became a good buddy, he competed 20 pounds lighter than me but was eating more calories and doing less cardio, had a fast metabolism.

So based on previous experience, I think I’m approaching that body fat set point that my body does want to go below. Fortunately tomorrow is a re-feed and within a week or two we should be going on a diet break and hanging at maintenance for a bit before resuming the cut.

In hard times I visualize the end goal, the look I’m going for, and continue to remind myself it’s part of the process and it’s supposed to feel this way to do it right.

Tonight I went back and re-read some of my 2017 Prep log: Rob's 2017 Contest Prep Thread

Reading through the journey of that season brings back a lot of memories, and also helps remind me I’ve been here before and to just keep pushing.

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

@robstein

I was listening to a podcast of Cliff’s recently where he was talking about the physical amount of fat cells someone has in their body, and how it can relate to how people feel while cutting. He compared two guys of equal weight and conditioning, but one grew up as a skinny, hard gainer, and the other grew up fat and lost weight (like me). The previously-fatter person has more fat cells in their body than the faster metabolism guy, so the previously-fatter guy will likely feel more hungry and run down at the same weight as the hard gainer. He then elaborated on how to make sure those people can still come in conditioned.

can you elaborate on this, or link the podcast discussing it?

As a former fatass struggling to get past the ‘set point’ you discussed in this post, this could be some pretty helpful information for me.

[robstein]

For sure, here’s a link to that episode and the chapter where he starts talking about this: https://youtu.be/ZWW5SNYMMHY?feature=shared&t=500

Ultimately for guys like us it’s gotta be slow and steady, where I messed up in previous seasons was doing too much too soon, and digging myself into a hole that eventually did me more harm than good. Slow and steady is always a better approach, but someone who naturally has a faster metabolism and lower body fat will feel more comfortable getting leaner than someone who has a slower metabolism and more body fat cells because of all the hunger and hormonal signaling going on.

I remember talking with that other competitor I mentioned in my last post who was 20lbs lighter than me, eating more, doing less cardio, and one day a couple weeks out of the show I was talking about how I just felt terrible, depressed, no energy, negative, etc., and he was like, “yeah I played softball today, feeling pretty good, etc.” and I was astonished that he was reporting feeling so good (he looked awesome at the time and did well at his show).

Now for that we’re talking about getting ready for a show where conditioning is lower than it’s meant to be for naturally existing as a human day to day. I think I’m at the point now where this is the leanest I could maintain in an off season if I really wanted to (not sure if I’d really want to lol), but past this it’s probably gonna start getting harder. However, I’ve never done a prep with a plan to have a diet break in there, so I’m really intrigued to see how I’ll feel when we get there in the next week or two, and if I’ll start feeling better at this weight eating maintenance, and how it’ll effect the next round of cutting.

[robstein]

Back, chest, cardio day. Noticeably tighter today!

REFEED day also, already feeling better after about 70g carbs today, saving most of the daily carbs for dinner tonight at our fav Mediterranean place. Bring on the pita!!

[robstein]

HALLELUJAH for refeeds!

[punnyguy]

This post belongs in the Food Porn thread!

Looking good!!

[robstein]

Good call, I posted it there! Thank you, brother!

[TrainForPain]

I’m also a fatty so thanks for asking @Andrewgen_Receptors and thanks fire sharing @robstein!

[robstein]

WEEK 8 start
-Weight - 166.2 (1.2lbs down from last week)

Last week was pretty tough, I felt very low energy throughout most of the week and it was the first time I really felt mentally and physically like I’m in a contest prep. I had some pockets of feeling alright like after my re-feed meal, or a couple times I got a coffee with a shot of espresso prior to a workout and that perked me up, otherwise it was pretty rough. Not “suffering in the final weeks” rough, but more like running on fumes all day. Fortunately yesterday and today I’m feeling much better. I asked Cliff about this sudden change, he said it’s not uncommon when reaching new lower levels of body fat this will happen sometimes, and likely my body will adapt and I’ll start feeling better which is exactly what happens. I know eventually it’ll be more consistent, but for now I’m extremely grateful to be feeling back to myself.

Our goal is still to get down to 165 and then go to maintenance at that weight for a little while, so hopefully by next week I’ll be there, maybe the week after depending on how this week goes but so far still losing fat on this current plan and looking tighter.

It’s pretty crazy to get back in the mentality of having such a high standard for conditioning to get ready for show, it’s been 8 years since I last competed so it’s a lot of old but familiar feelings. Looking in the mirror with a six pack and thinking, “man I’m fat and have a long way to go…” can be challenging mentally. Obviously we’re talking about the standards of getting on stage, but to see quad definition and go “not nearly deep enough” or pinch the lower back and be like, “wow there’s a long way to go,” it’s a back and forth. You look in the mirror and see new progress and that’s exciting, and then also immediately start looking at flaws that need to be improved.

What excites me most right now is how ahead of the game we are, overall how good I’m feeling despite a rough week last week, plenty of time until show time and Cliff and I are both very pleased with the progress.

[robstein]

After weights I stepped into a studio that wasn’t being used and did two rounds through all the mandatory poses, my first real practice session this season. Not ideal lighting but it was a huge, quiet space with lots of mirrors. It was only about 10 minutes but a good start of easing into posing practice. Posing is extremely taxing and takes a lot of practice to develop the endurance to execute well, while making it look easy and highlighting your strengths. I’ll be doing this each time after weights before cardio, and next week will start implementing more practice sessions as well as starting up soon with my posing coach.

I tried uploading the entire video but it’s too big, so these are screen shots of the video.

[robstein]

Week 9 start
Weight - 164.8 (1.4 lbs down from last week)

COME OOOOOON got to the 10.5 pound mark since we started. Cliff’s goal from the beginning was to lose 10 pounds and then go to maintenance if we have time. We have time, so he bumped up some precious carbs.

Old Regular Day Macros - 180c, 205p, 61f
New Regular Day Macros - 220c, 205p, 64f

Old Refeed Day Macros - 290c, 180p, 61f
New Refeed Day Macros - 320c, 180p, 66f

Here’s an awesome video I listened to today on Cliff giving his thoughts on refeeds: https://youtu.be/MOIY5xaOSRQ?si=-0iHW1d4fxaa2mt2

He also eliminated one cardio session per week so now I’m at 2 LISS for 20min each, I do the elliptical every time. Easy on the joints.

In a contest prep, 40g is a lot, what a great addition. I’ve modified to add two pieces of Ezekiel bread with breakfast, more fruit with lunch, and more veggies with dinner.

As for how long we’ll be here, he said it depends on how soon I start gaining. If we can maintain this weight for a little while I think we will, but when the scale starts going back up is likely when we’ll start cutting again. So I’ll enjoy it while I can!

This week is week 3 of round 3 of the training program he has me on, there are only 3 training days and 4 off days this week. We push volume HARD in the beginning of the 3 week cycle so rest is prioritized for recovery, this week is also mostly lower-medium rep work and way less volume.

Today’s session:

Chest, Back, Cardio
Pin loaded chest press - 175 x 8 for 4 sets
DB incline press - 100’s x 10 for 3 sets
Pec Dec - 160x12 for 3 sets

Wide Lat Pulldown - 135 x 10 for 4 sets
Pin loaded machine row - 165 x 12 for 3 sets
Cable row - 145 x 15 for 3 sets

20min LISS on the elliptical

Looking pretty flat these days but I know by now that’s just part of the deal.

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

Its amazing how well you’re pulling together.

@robstein

Weight in these pics: 176

@robstein

Weight - 164.8 (1.4 lbs down from last week)

[dchris]

@robstein

Feeling pretty flat these days but I know by now that’s just part of the deal.

Fixed this. You don’t look flat to me. Solid man. I’m interested to see how you maintain this weight, as your current level of leanness is pretty ideal.

[robstein]

Thank you man, I really appreciate that and taking the time to put those pics together. It’s so easy to be super harsh when examining progress pics and feel like it’s moving so slow, then you see the back to back and it’s easier to see it coming together. Thanks for your support and being part of the journey brother!

Working with Cliff this year I’m also intrigued to see how my legs come in, in previous seasons my upper body arrived way before my legs. Everyone is a little different in this aspect, but I was also severely overworking my legs with HIIT and too much cardio.