Trying to commit to this log better
just trained back today.
meadows rows 3x8 (4 25 lb plates) 1x30 (3 plates a side)
Pullups- 3x6-8 with 25 lb plate added on
t bar rows (two 25s and 45) 2 sets deadstopx25, 1 set constant tensionx20. 1 set with two 25s for 50 reps rest paused until i got all 50
stretchers 4x10- last set was a drop set
dumbell shrugs 3x20 (1st 10 reps with a 3 second squeeze, last 10 reps fast and uncontrolled)
horizontal seated t bar shrugs 1 drop set
been thinking a lot about intensity lately and realized that lately when it comes to training back i just havent had “it”. I seem to have the ability to push myself extremely hard on legs, but for back my mentality hasnt been right. IMO, im at the point in the offseason where ive gained just enough fluff to start having brutal painful workouts without worrying all the time about tweaking something (althoughh that always is a concern).
Its important to push extremely hard in the off season i think, as its the time best time to actually be gaining muscle. THis is a contrast to the last few weeks of a prep where you just want to keep performance up and not loose the muscle you’ve gained. Two different mindsets IMO
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Happy birthday man! I know exactly what you mean about spending too much time and mental energy on food. Last fall when I was prepping for a show in the physique division I’d spend way too much time sitting around plotting out the perfect way to hit my macros the next day to make it as tasty and satiating as possible, made for a lot of late nights of studying. Even now while trying to be fairly meticulous during the offseason I’ll spend too much time thinking about my meals haha[/quote]
yes indeed, i think doing the flexible dieting actually makes this problem worse because anything is an option and you can spend hours debating how you are going to hit your macros. [/quote]
I think we all have this problem.
Getting lean messes with your head. 
You should throw up a few current pictures when you get a chance, Grind. It sounds like your reverse diet is going about as well as it could, I’d love to see how you’re maintaining your conditioning with your increased food intake
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
You should throw up a few current pictures when you get a chance, Grind. It sounds like your reverse diet is going about as well as it could, I’d love to see how you’re maintaining your conditioning with your increased food intake[/quote]
i hate off season pictures, but i will consider taking one tomorrow!
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
You should throw up a few current pictures when you get a chance, Grind. It sounds like your reverse diet is going about as well as it could, I’d love to see how you’re maintaining your conditioning with your increased food intake[/quote]
i hate off season pictures, but i will consider taking one tomorrow![/quote]
Normally I’d agree with you regarding offseason pictures, but I feel like during a reverse diet and so soon after competing it’s a good way to keep perspective/tabs on how any weight gain is being distributed! The scale can be misleading at times, never know how the body is going to react to the reintroduction of so many calories, especially if you believe that the body is primed for growth following reaching such extreme levels of leanness.
Speaking of that, what are your thoughts on the “post contest rebound”? Obviously you’re a proponent of minimizing weight gain and slowly but surely building macros. But do you think that the body does build muscle more efficiently in the months following competition?
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
You should throw up a few current pictures when you get a chance, Grind. It sounds like your reverse diet is going about as well as it could, I’d love to see how you’re maintaining your conditioning with your increased food intake[/quote]
i hate off season pictures, but i will consider taking one tomorrow![/quote]
Normally I’d agree with you regarding offseason pictures, but I feel like during a reverse diet and so soon after competing it’s a good way to keep perspective/tabs on how any weight gain is being distributed! The scale can be misleading at times, never know how the body is going to react to the reintroduction of so many calories, especially if you believe that the body is primed for growth following reaching such extreme levels of leanness. Speaking of that, what are your thoughts on the “post contest rebound”? Obviously you’re a proponent of minimizing weight gain and slowly but surely building macros. But do you think that the body does build muscle more efficiently in the months following competition?[/quote]
well its hard to say 100 percent i think
if you havent already, go to rx muscle and look up the muscle college radio episode where layne norton discusses this in detail…all scientific evidence seems to show that THE MAJORITY of the weight you gain post contest will not be muscle.
i know last year i made pretty quick improvements and drove my bodyweight up faster than last year, but last years diet was so extreme and involved so much cardio my legs just shrunk into…nothing…so post contest last year they appeared to make some pretty rapid gains in size, but i think most of that was regaining lost muscle.
to answer your question directly, i do think after a show your body is in a good place to make gains, but the only reason for that is because you should be able to gains 10-20 lbs while still being lean. No other reason really. Check out the muscle college radio episode…that sums up my thoughts pretty well!
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
You should throw up a few current pictures when you get a chance, Grind. It sounds like your reverse diet is going about as well as it could, I’d love to see how you’re maintaining your conditioning with your increased food intake[/quote]
i hate off season pictures, but i will consider taking one tomorrow![/quote]
Normally I’d agree with you regarding offseason pictures, but I feel like during a reverse diet and so soon after competing it’s a good way to keep perspective/tabs on how any weight gain is being distributed! The scale can be misleading at times, never know how the body is going to react to the reintroduction of so many calories, especially if you believe that the body is primed for growth following reaching such extreme levels of leanness. Speaking of that, what are your thoughts on the “post contest rebound”? Obviously you’re a proponent of minimizing weight gain and slowly but surely building macros. But do you think that the body does build muscle more efficiently in the months following competition?[/quote]
well its hard to say 100 percent i think
if you havent already, go to rx muscle and look up the muscle college radio episode where layne norton discusses this in detail…all scientific evidence seems to show that THE MAJORITY of the weight you gain post contest will not be muscle.
i know last year i made pretty quick improvements and drove my bodyweight up faster than last year, but last years diet was so extreme and involved so much cardio my legs just shrunk into…nothing…so post contest last year they appeared to make some pretty rapid gains in size, but i think most of that was regaining lost muscle.
to answer your question directly, i do think after a show your body is in a good place to make gains, but the only reason for that is because you should be able to gains 10-20 lbs while still being lean. No other reason really. Check out the muscle college radio episode…that sums up my thoughts pretty well![/quote]
Thanks, I’ll check that out! and looking good man, quads are freaky as ever haha
Looking great man! Quads are still diced and looking full.
Arms looking good too.
Keep up the good looking sessions.
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Looking great man! Quads are still diced and looking full.
Arms looking good too.
Keep up the good looking sessions. [/quote]
thanks! post show I gain fat around the waist only, glutes are still somewhat striated and feathered in side poses. had veins in my rear delts for the longest time etc…
8 week update:
ok so I pretty much feel the “reverse” or recovery diet phase of my off season is now complete. I managed to get carbs past 300 grams a day, and only gained about 4 lbs from contest weight.
I decided yesterday to increase carbs to 325 a day and hold there for a bit and see how I respond. Lately ive been so busy in school its been hard to keep up with training, but ive been managing well considering. even though I was at 300 carbs for 2 weeks this last week I was some hungry a lot of the time. (part of this may of been due to just not spreading meals out soon enough) this lead to frequent trips to the corn pops or frozen yogurt container or PB jar which I didn’t track (opps). so I figured bumping up to 325 carb will help eliminate this behavior. its important to space out meals evenly I think, especially your dietary fat and protein as this keeps you from feeling hungry all day.
these next two weeks are going to be crazy busy at school, 8 exams, many of which I have to pass or im out of the program. However im determined to study as effectively as possible and still smash these workouts, im sure ill only be getting 5 hrs sleep a night at most though.
Hey man, you mentioned you used to go much higher with protein and it gave you stomach problems. What kind of oroblems, and did they go away when you lowered protein?
Would you mind listing what a day of food and supplements looks like for you?
UPDATE:
had two of the most hellish weeks of schooling of my entire academic life(i have a music undergrad degree as well)…11 exams in under 2 weeks…all were either pass/fail or needed marks over 70 to pass…BARELY managed to squeak by. Training during this time was mostly an afterthought, If i had failed however, i would of been out of the program, lost about 5,000 dollars tutition money,and have nothing to show for it. I actually had one night where i was sure i was going to fail, so i came home and just went to town on a container of cookie dough frozen yogurt. I definitely got fatter,smaller and weaker over these two weeks. But im ok with all that because number one concern is getting a career going right now. also did a terrible job of tracking macros over this time as well lol.
getting back on track im gonna put macros at about 300 carb, 220 protein, and 60 fat andseehow i do!
[quote]Mr. AWEstomy wrote:
Hey man, you mentioned you used to go much higher with protein and it gave you stomach problems. What kind of oroblems, and did they go away when you lowered protein?
Would you mind listing what a day of food and supplements looks like for you?[/quote]
Well the biggest i had during this time was that my stomach would just feel like crap during training. I wanted to puke every leg workout. also generally just after eating large meals id feel like puking. The problems did go away with lower protein! however that wasalso accompianed by just a general calorie decrease as well. my metabolism is about average, not crazy fast,not crazy slow. so generally im not one who needs to be eating in excess of 3000 calories to make gains.(although, i hope to increase this over time!)
So no change in bowel habits like diarrhea or constipstion?
[quote]Mr. AWEstomy wrote:
So no change in bowel habits like diarrhea or constipstion?[/quote]
definitiely no constipation, maybe the occasional smoother movement, but mostly just gastic pain that was an issue during training. ANYTHING that prevents you from training hard is a bad thing. Im still always messing around trying to find the perfect pre workout meal, one that gives me ample energry throughout the workout and that does not have me bloated and compromises performance. Meadows cooked oatmeal and whey and PB worked very well during pre contest, but with the increased offseason calories sometimes that leaves me a little bloated (especially if i sip on a MAG-10 during training)
found anything that seems to keep your stomach feeling light even with the training drink?
[quote]Mr. AWEstomy wrote:
found anything that seems to keep your stomach feeling light even with the training drink?[/quote]
well see the thing is im not even sure i want to keep using the training drink anymore (sorry Biotest) so ive been tweaking things without the training drink these last few weeks.
however i will say that CREAM OF RICE, is much lighter on the stomach than oatmeal, this is very logical because there is less protein and fat in a serving of cream of rice compared to oats.
The intra shake just bother your stomach? Or any other reason?
How have you been feeling without it? Still recovering well?
