2 weeks out? Kill it, Tim!
[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
2 weeks out? Kill it, Tim![/quote]
Thanks Ashy!
Posing Video - 12 Days Left
Looking absolutely diced Tim! Just the quarter turns really show your level of conditioning. Quads obviously look great, but especially in the side relaxed shots, the feathering in your glutes and hams are evident, and in the next 12 days, I would say that they will become much more prominent in the rear poses as well. Lower back, pecs, filled with fibers my man.
You’re going to do very well, and although you were deservedly impressed with your mock prep last year, just wait until you look at yourself in a mirror after the tan and gloss are put on. It still freaks me out a bit when I see my reflection backstage -lol. Enjoy the ride, you’ve worked damn hard for this and it definitely shows.
S
Shredded. Nothing more can be said.
How are your energy levels so close to the show and being so lean? Also, I think you should pull the sides of your trunks up a little higher instead of having them straight; it’ll look better.
Jeez… you look in contest shape right now! Awesome work!
@ Stu
“absolutely diced”, “feathering in your glutes and hams” - Wow, thanks Stu!
As you said, 12 more day, tan and gloss, it should all really come together. Right now, my legs always look better in the morning because they are drier. Then tend to hold water throughout the day and this video was filmed about 5:00 pm, so I am confident that after peak week they will look even better.
@ Thoughts
Thanks for the trunk tip and the kind words.
Energy levels are fine until the late afternoon/early evening (it is good that I workout at 11:00 am - energy is great then), I find myself being ready to just “chill” by about 6 or 7 pm. I was reading a book while at my son’s soccer practice last night at 6:30 pm and I fell asleep! : )
@ Wallstrt
Thanks…however, I should hope so I look ready at this point, I am only 12 days out and the last week isn’t about getting ripped, just manipulating water and glycogen.
Monday Evening
Tire Dragging + Band Holds + Vertical Jumps
Tuesday Morning- 11 days
Caffeine + Dog Walk + Vertical Jumps
Tuesday Lunch break
Deadlift with Stiff Arm Hold
363.5x5, 2 sets
313.5x5, 3 sets
OH Press with Inverted Glute Ham (BWx8, 5 sets)
150x5, 6 sets
4 rounds of the following (plus a 5th set of Maltese Cross Holds):
a) Maltese Cross Hold, 3 reps
b) OH Press 130x1
c) DB Curl with Fat Gripz 22x6, pause at bottom but maintaining tension on biceps, then explode up and pause/squeeze at top
d) Box Jump x 1
Holy crap Tim, you’re looking insanely shredded!
x2 what Stu said. You’re going to look ridiculous once you are tan and lathered up lol.
@ Ashy
Thanks! Hopefully a “good” ridiculous! : )
Tuesday Evening
Tire Dragging + Vertical Jumps + Holds
- So there was some snow while I dragged my tire, I wasn’t too pleased, but I got it done.
Wednesday - 10 days out
Morning
Caffeine + Dog Walk
Lunch Break
Squat (+50 chains) - AR: Band bicep curl hold
250x5, 2 sets
220x5, 3 sets
Bench Press (+50 chains) - AR: Front Lever Holds
190x5
180x5
170x5, 3 sets
3 rounds of the following
a) Ring Dips, BW x 7
b) Suspended OH Extension BWx8
c) Inverted Row BWx4 with 4 second isometric hold on final rep
d) Bench 140 (+50 chains) x 1
e) Vertical Jump x 1
Wow, shredded to the absolutely bone AND your skin is paper thin. Christmas Tree is in full effect too. Love it.
Cant wait to see what the carb up does.
Be very proud Tim, you basically are as lean as you can be at this point. Hell of a job. I’m glad we arent going to be on stage together 
I would have had to use the “Look at this F%*&ing Guy” Pose all night.
Yep…ridiculous. Good ridiculous. Awesome job. I didn’t have time to go back through the mock prep pics, but at first glance it seems like your legs have definitely improved since last year.
Awesome work man. Good luck!
@ Lonnie
Thanks, knowing how shredded you are right now, those words truly hold a lot of weight, but not water weight (sorry that was an awful joke), but seriously, that means a lot coming from you.
I am looking forward to the carb up as well. Since I am going with the 3 day carb load, I developed a plan in case I detect spillover.
CARB LOAD ANTI-SPILLOVER PLAN
Preemptively, I will be increasing all of my supplements/vitamins that play any sort of role in glucose management, i.e. chromium, fish oil, apple cider vinegar, Vitamin E, and Vitamin B-complex.
If there is spillover then I will also implement some/all of the following:
- There is still some dairy in my diet which can cause water retention, if I look like I am spilling over, I will cut the dairy.
- Since I have 3 days, if I am spilling over, I feel I have time to cut back on carbs. If I spill on the final day, I still 160 grams of carbs that I was going to take in before prejudging that I can reduce if necessary
- Increase Vitamin C in case it is cortisol related
- Increase posing which facilitates glucose uptake
- Add in band holds or even light tire work to burn off some excess glycogen
- Reduce water intake
However, I honestly don’t think it will be a problem. Last carb load I handled fine and CT even told me I could have had more carbs. Not to mention, the carb load was actually proportionally MORE last time because I was only taking in about 180 to 220 grams of carbs on the final phase of my diet. Where as I am currently taking in almost 300 grams, meaning that my carb load this time will be less than double my current intake, but before it was almost three times my intake.
[quote] Lonnie wrote:
I’m glad we arent going to be on stage together I would have had to use the “Look at this F%*&ing Guy” Pose all night.[/quote]
First, what a nice thing to say. Second, I am really curious what that pose looks like, lol! : )
How about posting a picture when you have a spare second?
[quote] Serge wrote:
Yep…ridiculous. Good ridiculous. Awesome job. I didn’t have time to go back through the mock prep pics, but at first glance it seems like your legs have definitely improved since last year.
Awesome work man. Good luck! [/quote]
@ Serge
Thanks Serge! I agree with your assessment.
In case anyone is wondering what he is talking about, my old pictures are here:
I am currently about 5 pounds heavier and with tighter legs and lower abs. I truly feel like I have put on almost 10 pounds of quality mass over 2011.
Wednesday Evening
Band Holds
Weighted Serratus Crunch, 6 sets of 10 reps
Night Show Posing practice
Thursday - 9 days out - 1 regular workout left!
Morning
Dog Walk + Caffeine
Lunch Break
Deadlift plus Chains (+50) - AR: Stiff Arm Lat Holds
327.5 (+50) x5, 4 sets
327.5 x5, no chains on final set
OH Press - AR: Box Jump x 1 and Explosive Leg Extension x 5
130, 140x5
155x5, 4 sets
4 rounds (plus a 5th set of Maltese Holds)
a) Maltese Hold, 3 reps
b) OH Press 130x1
c) Box Jump x 1
d) Explosive Leg Extension, literally throwing the weight off my legs, de-emphasizing the eccentric, ramped up to a few sets of 170x5
Chinup
BWx8, 2 sets
Caffeine
SOME THOUGHTS ON CAFFEINE
Ever since taking in the caffeine during my morning dog walks (been doing it for about 2 weeks), I have noticed I feel markedly more tired in the evening.
It is almost as if you have a set amount of nervous energy and expending so much in the AM due to the caffeine activation leaves less availalbe for the PM? Thus the sluggish feelings?
And of course, metabolically speaking, if I am more activated in the AM and thus burning more calories (but still taking in the same amount I was before the caffeine) then it would makes sense that I am in a greater deficit at the end of the day and thus more fatigued.
Thoughts?
CREATINE & CARB LOAD
I will continue to use creatine as normal while working out and during the depletion phase (Sunday to Tuesday) as it help hydrate my muscle cells.
But I was curious what other’s thoughts are on creatine during the carb load?
I will just be practicing posing at that point (Wednesday to Friday), no regular posing.
If I mix it in a drink and consume it like normal (1 teaspoon for the day) will it be beneficial to the load, i.e. continuing to drive more water into the muscle cell?
Tim, would you mind checking out the posing routine I just put in my log? ( http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_indigo_2/lonnie123s_indigo3g_log?id=5115124&pageNo=6 )
Any advice and comments are welcome. I’m really happy with it, and will get a better version of it tomorrow night after the carb up and tanning.
[quote] Lonnie wrote:
I’m glad we arent going to be on stage together I would have had to use the “Look at this F%*&ing Guy” Pose all night.
First, what a nice thing to say. Second, I am really curious what that pose looks like, lol! : )[/quote]
Wow, crazily lean! Very, very impressive. I’m sure your going to kill it.
Stupidly shredded. And 10lbs of muscle is no joke to add to a stupidly shredded frame!
@ Lonnie
I enjoyed your posing style and choice of music, I wrote up something and then got denied (I forgot I couldn’t post in the INDIGO section). Basically, I agree with Stu. Good work.
I love the pose!
@ Jake
Thanks Jake, I appreciate the support!
@ Jab
Thanks for checking in!
Thursday Evening
Tire Dragging + Holds
Night Show posing practice
Friday - 8 days out
Morning
Caffeine + Dog Walk + Vertical Jumps
Lunch Break
- Purposefully backed off in weight a small percentage
Squat (chains +50) - AR: Band Pull Apart Holds
220x5, 5 sets
Bench - AR: Front Lever Holds
210x5, 3 sets
195x5, 2 sets
4 rounds
A) Ring Dips - BWx7
B) Inverted Row on Rings - BWx4, isometric hold for 4 seconds on last rep
C) Paused Bench with Fat Gripz 180x1
D) Vertical Jump x 1
E) Explosive Leg Extension 150x5, 3 sets (skipped 4th round)
PEAK WEEK
That’s it! Final “regular” workout. Now begins peak week.
Tomorrow is off, with the exception of practing my posing.
Sunday to Tuesday is depletion.
Next to no carbs, mostly just incidental carbs that ride along with whey, eggs, etc. Water intake will be 2 gallons or more if I can take it. Sodium will be increased during this phase.
Training will be two tire dragging sessions per day. The reason it is tire dragging is because that is almost entirely (pun intended) eccentric-less.
During depletion you want to emphasize the concentric to deplete glycogen and de-emphasize the eccentric to avoid soreness which effects glucose uptake later during the load. Legs will be trained on Sunday and avoided on Monday and Tuesday to give them more time to heal up and get defined (by eliminating any potential inflammation/residual soreness). I will also be including some band work and vertical jumps to further increase insulin sensitivity.
Wedneday to Friday is the Carb Load. Sodium will be minimized in this phase.
Goal of carb load is 6 meals with 0.5g carb per pound of bodyweight at each meal. Comes out to be 525g for the day (87.5g x 6). I will actually be taking in slightly more than this, based on how well I handled my previous carb load and the fact that this load is proportionally less than my previous load (based on current intake). On that note, I finished this diet taking in:
2967 Calories
106g fat
287g carbs
217g protein
Wednesday morning is one final tire dragging session to take advantage of the post workout window for glucose uptake as I start the load. Remainder of Wednesday to Friday is practing posing after each carb up meal to help drive the glucose into the muscle and of course, to polish off my posing.
Saturday morning is a few more small meals, some higher fat and sodium contest to help bring out that last bit of vascularity shortly before pre-judging.
My peak week plan is based on reading information from Layne Norton, the Daryl Gee Project (here on T-Nation) and an article from another website which you can find by googling: Pre-contest Week - An in depth analysis
It will be a PDF and probably the very first result you get in case you are interested.
Very impressed with your conditioning. Awesome job, man!
Looking forward to peak weak Tim. You are RAZOR sharp and this is only going to make that even more apparent. Get that water in! I must have looked like I was sneaking drugs at work because I was in that stall like ever 30 minutes.
BTW Tim, what food sources are you using to carb up?