No, it’s not good. It’s bad. There are a lot of holes in this program, and you’ll realize that once you’re lean and your body doesn’t look like what you want it to. It’s not going to be an efficient way to present a desirable physique on stage. Think what you want, it sounds like you believe you know what you’re doing, even though literally everything you’ve presented to this point has pointed to the contrary. It’ll be a good lesson. Best of luck though.
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Dang, Stu, they wanted you to guarantee them a top three finish 
I mean, I’m hella ambitious, but I think thats farfetched, abs wouldn’t that depend more on the athlete than the coach? I mean, you can lead a horse to water…
Either way, I revisited notes I took during my first meeting with my coach and he had told me that by May we will know if I’ll make it or not, so I misstated that. In my journal I have that today is Day 44, there’s still 143 days left… I’ll keep on truckin!
so I’m curious, you’re working in low rep ranges with a lot of compound movements. Can you give us an idea of how much weight you’re moving on some of those lifts? It would give me an idea of how much lean mass you’re carrying. Any idea what any 1 rep maxes are? or even 3 or 5 rep maxes?
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Dang, Stu, they wanted you to guarantee them a top three finish I mean, I’m hella ambitious, but I think thats farfetched, abs wouldn’t that depend more on the athlete than the coach? I mean, you can lead a horse to water…[/quote]
I still have an email from a first time competitor telling me how great she looks in a bikini and if I can;'t guarantee her placing she’ll hire someone else who can -lol.
It is a good amount of time, but try to keep some healthy perspective. Most knowledgeable folks count on 1.5, maybe 2 lbs per week of register-able (via scale) weight loss. Obviously actual body composition comes into play, but that’s more a concern for folks starting out closer to their eventual stage weight.
S
I detached my retina 4 years ago so since then I’ve only attempted 1rm for the big 3 once. I got 325 on bench for 4, 465 on squat for 2 and 465 for deadlift for 1. But that was in 2015; in 2016 training slowed down cuz it was my last semester in school, and then when I first got to Okinawa it took me a while to get situated and get a good training schedule going…
On back day I’m barbell rowing about 300-305, or deadlifting 365 for all my working sets; lat pull down is 265 atm for all working sets, or three sets of pull-ups, 8-10 reps per set, and seated cable rows at 300 all sets as of last night, and 305 for barbell shrugs, 135 if i use dumbbells
Benchpress is 315 for working sets, plate loaded incline machine is 265 for working sets, dips im up to 80lbs plus body weight.
Rdls is 305 for working sets, then squats at 365 for working sets, but it looks like I’ll be going up in weight in the next week or two. And calf press in leg press machine is 700 at least. I don’t go lie rep there, I just burn out each set.
Shoulder press is currently 165 for all working sets but I’ve gone as high as 225 for 1-2 reps in the past (before I started this program)
Straight bar curls are at 110 on working sets, triceps push down 120lbs on working sets…
But how will this give a better idea of my lbm?
strength levels don’t correspond perfectly with lbm, but there is generally a fair level of correspondence. For instance: if you said your max overhead press was 150, I could assume you’re carrying less lbm than if you said it was 250. I can also use myself as a reference point, as I am very lean, and know pretty much exactly how much lbm I’m carrying. And I’m only 1" shorter than you, so height is very comparable.
So for me, I’ve bench pressed 395, squatted 560, and deadlifted 620, all under 200 lbs bodyweight. As a person capable of doing those lifts, I would have stepped on stage below 190 lbs if I reached appropriate bodybuilder leanness. I wouldn’t have been able to come CLOSE to 210 lbs stage weight. That’s something you should consider. My point is that I’m clearly carrying a lot more lbm than you are based on our strength levels. If you’re actually LOSING muscle right now, I can’t imagine a stage weight for being anything above about 185, and that might be generous. Just do the math, you’ll likely come to a similar conclusion if you’re honest with yourself. Your expectation to be competitively lean at 210 lbs is not realistic for this summer.
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I don’t mean to be rude. But that’s a lot of fat that you are carrying. Judging from the picture, I don’t think you have a lot of muscle behind those fat as well. Your chest is flabby and your lower body, parts which you (and most men) don’t hold a lot of fat on don’t look muscular. Don’t even expect your calves to get bigger in 4 months, in fact they will probably shrink since most of that calves look like fat as well. Plus cutting aggressively is going to lose you a lot of muscle, unless you have Kevin Levrone’s genetics.
I don’t think competing is a realistic goal at all for you. But I guess you can do it for the experience. But don’t be surprised if you are placed dead last. Also what show in Japan if I might know? I am from there
You’re prolly right, but note that I said my max weight for the division is 212. I can’t be heavier than 212. On another note, what do you think the margin for error is with calipers? I have some, I just need someone to do the measurement for me…
throw your calipers in the trash. They serve no purpose for bodybuilding. ALL THAT MATTERS IS YOUR APPEARANCE ON STAGE. AT the end of the day, you have to be able to pinch your skin with your fingers, anywhere, and pretty much just get skin. You’re like 40% bodyfat in your starting pictures. How in the hell could you accurately use calipers on that?
Yes, estevato. I know how weight divisions work. My point was that if your actual stage weight would be more like 185, then you have an extra 20 lbs you’ll have to lose. At the rate you started off losing weight, this would take you well past this summer to get to that.
Let me do some math for you. Your first month weight loss was approximately 8 lbs, if the first 6 weeks was 12 lbs. So that tells me, if you keep that rate up, it will take about 10 months, from now, to reach 188. That’s best case scenario, and assumes something that won’t actually happen: that you would never stall, and that you’d continually lose the same weight every month. But weight loss doesn’t work like that. Every month will be continually harder, and weight loss will slow down.
In my opinion, you’re not 5-6 months out of contest condition, you’re a solid year and a half. You will be better served, physique-wise, to plan accordingly. You should NOT plan to lose a pound of muscle for every 3 lbs of fat. That would be absolutely horrible. Instead, you should do everything you can to preserve muscle while dieting down over the next year, and THEN you can focus on competition dieting for next summer.
At the end of the day, I’m trying to help you avoid losing the muscular gains you’ve worked hard for. I don’t want you to look like shit on stage.
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Flip makes some very good points, although sometimes the truth isn’t what we’re hoping to hear.
IF you’re clean (no PED’s), the good natural competitors I’ve seen over the years who are about 6’ tall are about 200 lbs onstage tops,… and that’s in honest to goodness contest condition, and plenty of years of building size underneath it all. So his guess of of 185 lbs is pretty realistic.
I had an old training partner who was 6’3, and when he did his first show, after a 4+ month slow prep, I think he was about 180-190 and despite being very conditioned, didn’t even make top 5. The point is (and I think someone else mentioned this way earlier in the thread), what are you hoping to get out of this experience? Proving to yourself that you can do this vs being very competitive with the top dogs are very far apart in what is involved, and in this case, how much time you’ve got to work.
S
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I think there is some solid advice in here even if it isn’t exactly what you want to hear. I can completely relate to the mindset of having a competition in mind as constant motivation but it is more important to set realistic goals for yourself.
Given the pictures you shared and the training protocol you are following, I honestly don’t see getting on stage being realistic in the time frame you are giving yourself. I wouldn’t let that discourage you from thinking about competing but there is no need to rush. Several very intelligent members have already discussed the myriad reasons to not go that route. I would add that this is a marathon, not a sprint. The majority of folks in this have been at it for years, day in and day out. Give yourself time, sit with your coach (assuming you trust him and he is qualified) to make the right adjustments to your training a diet and just keep working.
For me personally, I had a dead set date last year I wanted to compete. While relatively new to bodybuilding, I have trained hard in a number of disciplines for 20 years. I’ve been really lean (5’10.5", 178, 8%) and been decently big (220, 14.5%). I learned last year just how hard this is and how much time it takes. I put my show off, let my body sit at a healthy 210 and and am MAYBE thinking about one this year.
TLDR/ slow and steady. You will get there if you really have a passion. Love the training and the rest will come in time.
Roger that, I chunked em!
If the 7 month plan wouldn’t be enough, I’ll just keep hitting the weights until I get closer to being in a contest prepable state
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Yes I’m clean which is why I didn’t want to do bodybuilding and instead do classic physique. I wouldn’t be too competitive in my weight class in a non-tested show for bodybuilding, and from what I’m gathering, I might not be too competitive in classic either. But at any rate, if I want to get to that level I still have to train… I’m sure if I’m not gonna make it, my coach will tell me within the next few weeks, but if I just totally quit the plan I don’t think that will serve well either, so I might as well stay on a cut until I get to a level closer to contest prep shape, and then work from there…
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that’s a good attitude to take, for sure! At the end of the day, you’re going to benefit TREMENDOUSLY from getting your bodyfat way down and continuing to lift weights and build lean muscle. Competitive reasons aside, this is a great lifestyle change, and it sounds like you’re enjoying the process!
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Hey Greg, thanks for the reply!
Yea, I do love training, and I don’t intend on stopping that lol, but like these guys said and you mentioned, competing is prolly not in the cards this year based on their experience and assessment of where I’m at. And I’m ofetty sure my coach is going to break the news to me sometime down the line, but I’ll prolly still keep training under him to build up that relationship for future endeavors.
Thanks!!