Inferno - 2027 Prep Log

Training Training Logs
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Competing in natural bodybuilding has been on my mind for over a decade. Now I’m finally pursuing it fully.

Up until a while ago I managed to constantly come up with short term goals to chase instead of commiting to bodybuilding. Yeah, I got pretty good at multiple things and did some pretty cool stuff, but at the same time I used multiple years to pursue things that did not truly matter to me.

Of course I never fully abandoned bodybuilding, which maybe made it even a bit harder to realize how much I was leaving on the table. It took some soul searching to finally accept that in order to do what I really want to do I have to go all in.

I’m planning on competing in late 2027, so call it 700 days out. Most likely natural classic physique if nothing drastic happens.

Classic physique because I’m not a huge guy by any means and putting on muscle is not easy for me, but I got decent structure. Really men’s physique would definitely be the best division to go for on terms of being competitive, but honestly I’ve just never really cared about that division.

I was pulled back here by @duketheslaya sometime ago so may as well see if logging the process is as fun as it used to be. If you wanna come along or chime in, please do. I’ll try and update the log on a regular basis.

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As of right now I’m in an aggressive fat loss phase, setting up for (hopefully) nearly a year long gaining phase.

Basically I’m just going to get as lean as I can without losing my mind or too much muscle. Ideally I’d like to end up around 3-4kgs over stage weight, but I will not be pushing it if I feel that would lead to binging or turning into a stick figure. At current rate of loss I should be done in about two weeks or so.

Right now both my training and diet revolve on a three day cycle:

In addition to what is below I have a daily minimum step goal of 15K, usually I ens up around 18-20K. None of the cardio counts towards this.

Day 1
Diet:
~2200kcal
240p / 45f / 200c

Training:
Delts+Lower

Cardio:
45min fasted LISS on the morning
1min on / 1 min off *5 HIIT post training followed by 35min LISS

Day 2
Diet:
~ 2000kcal
240p / 45f / 150c

Training:
Upper (minus delts)

Cardio:
45min fasted LISS in the morning
45min LISS post training

Day 3:
~ 1800kcal
240p / 45f / 100c

Training:
Off

Cardio:
90min fasted LISS in the morning

Note: I am very acclimated to cardio training. If you are currently dieting do not slap over 10 hours of cardio training into your weekly schedule out of the blue.

Also, My metabolism is super adaptable so I have to keep activity high unless I want to diet with sub 1300 calories.

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Heck yeah man! It’s about time

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Definitely. I’ve been putting this off far too long.

Funnily enough that increases mental barrier too. Like, the longer you’ve trained the better package you feel you should bring, even when all of that training was not for bodybuilding specifically.

Took some time to get my head out of that gutter and instead just focus on being the best I can

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You have a lot of knowledge and experience… You can bring your a game for sure

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Yeah. In the last ~half a year (that I’ve been pretty much all in) I’ve seen visible improvements in certain bodyparts which is certainly encouraging. Now granted, some of those improvements are just regaining lost muscle, but certain bodyparts are at their all time best right now. Goal is to have that be the case for everything.

Really the biggest struggle will be remaining objective. At times it’s really hard to not go too fast especially when dieting down. Luckily I got people I can consult with so even though I’m self coaching I’m not entirely dependent on my own observations.

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Good to see you back dude. With the Dante user name and Inferno reference (delicious), are you still employing principles from Dante Trudel for your training/nutrition?

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It’s nice to be back.
Glad to see you’re still around! How’s everything going?

There are certain things I do that are reminiscent of Dante’s stuff for sure.

I try to make my training and nutrition decisions based on data (both personal and literature) and mechanisms. At times that looks a lot like Dante’s approach, and when it makes sense I do like to use DC training as inspiration because it is fun and it taught me to train hard.

Going back to your roots and having fun makes doing the work easier, and I’d be a fool not to take advantage of that.

From the top of my head I can think of a couple of examples:

Diet:
Most of my meals are protein+carb or protein+fat. Dante’s reasoning was to mitigate fat gain, for me this is mostly a question of practicality and each meal having a purpose.

Training:
I follow Dante’s vacuum training advice, so I do leaning and standing vacuum every morning.

With calf training I do still utilize long pauses at the stretch

In terms of repschemes I’ve landed on using a rep goal system / single set protocol depending on the movement.

Single sets are pretty self explatonary, it’s just a set to failure. My version of the rep goal system looks like this most of the time:

  • 2 working sets
  • first set done to 1RIR
  • second set done to failure
  • if I reach 15 reps on total I’ll up the weight next Time
  • If I don’t reach 10 reps on total I’ll continue the second set as a rest-pause set til I do

It’s a pretty fun system. Certainly an example of a situation where just two straight sets would probably be equally effective, but having some inspiration from someone else can make things more fun

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1.8.25. - Afternoon update

Just got done with today’s training:

  • Vacuum training and fasted cardio on the morning
  • Gym session (below), HIIT and more LISS in the afternoon.
  • Currently at 13K steps, gonna get that up to around 17-18K before the day is over

Had to delay the gym session a couple of hours so the place was packed. Unsurprisingly the session took a bit longer, but it was still good. Luckily I knew about the delay well in advance so I had planned my day around that.

Today was session A, so delts and lower body. With this session I’ve got to take into consideration some quad symptoms that may flare up if I mess up my load management. So If you’re wondering about the exercise selection on quads it’s most likely that.

With the exercises that have two sets listed I use my version of the rep goal system (detailed in a previous message), if an exercise has one set listed that’s just a set of ~5-10 to failure. With unilateral stuff the sets are per side.

Session A looks like this:

  1. Lateral raise machine, 2 sets
  2. Single arm arcing cable lateral raise (seated), 2 sets
  3. Pec dec rear delt fly, 1 set
  4. Single leg calf raise on leg press, 2 sets
  5. Banded leg extension, 2 sets
  6. Hip adduction, 2 sets
  7. Hip abduction, 2 sets
  8. Machine hip thrust, 2 sets
  9. Single leg lying leg curl, 1 set
  10. Banded leg press, 1 set
  11. Single leg seated leg curl, 1 set
  12. Reverse nordic, 1 set
  13. Single leg 45dg hyperextension, 1 set
  14. Decline crunch, 2 sets

Progressed on most of the stuff, especially on the earlier movements. Didn’t regress on anything. I’m pretty Happy, considering I’ve gone two weeks without a refeed and trained outside my normal timeframe

Diet-wise, got one meal left for today, nothing out of ordinary there. Should probably have either a refeed and/or a de-output day in the near future.

[700 days out]

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2.8.25 - Afternoon update

Writing this while doing my post training cardio. Once this is done I’ve checked all training boxes for the day:

  • Vacuum training and fasted cardio in the morning (actually did 60 minutes of cardio there instead of 45)
  • Session B (so upper apart from delts) in the gym

Session B looks like this:
Like before, stuff with 2 sets IS done with the rep goal system, single sets are to failure. Unilateral stuff sets are per side

  1. Wrist roller (extension only), 1 set
  2. Supported unilateral cable wrist curl, 2 sets
  3. Poliquin tricep extension, 2 sets
  4. Banded weighted dip, 1 set
  5. Low pulley lat row, 2 sets
  6. Super wide grip pronated pull up, 2 sets
  7. Dumbbell pullover, 1 Set
  8. Cable upper chest fly (seated), 2 sets
  9. Pecdec, 2 sets
  10. Elbow supported alternating hammer curl (seated), 2 sets
  11. Preacher curl, 2 sets
  12. Kelso shrug, 1 set
  13. Back extension on T-Bar row machine, 1 set
  14. Unilateral smith machine shrug, 1 set

It was a good session, progressed on everything. Also starting to see some pretty cool stuff on terms of definition, definitely getting pretty lean

I’ve got some elbow issues that limit my pressing a lot, that’s why I only have one set of pressing in (dips). That is also why i start with forearms and extensions, as they help with the symptoms.

As you can see I don’t really use a lot of traditional compound movements, which is part of why I haven’t logged my weights here; I don’t really see how interesting that would be when it’s 95% cables and machines. If anyone has input regarding this please do chime in!

[699 days out]

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I’m gonna take a de-output day tomorrow. Been cursing even the slightest inclines for a couple of days now.

Basically a de-output day just means reducing the amount of activity. Tomorrow was supposed to be day 3 of my cycle, so just vacuum training + 90 minutes fasted LISS + at least 15K steps.

I’ll just not do the cardio (or only do like 30 minutes of my neurosis wins) and shoot for only 6-8K steps. Trying to keep 10K as a hard upper limit. Vacuum training as per usual, as that is not really taxing at all.

De-output days are a near way to dissipate fatigue without raising calories. Even with The above modifications I’ll be in a 1000kcal deficit, give or take. Of course If you wanted to you could do both a de-output and a refeed at the same time (Even for multiple days in a row) If you really needed to mitigate the negative effects of dieting

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3.8.25 - Afternoon update

De-output day is going all right. Did my vacuums and went for a little walk in the morning, aside from that I’ve just been taking care of client work and other business.

Currently at 7500 steps for the day, so staying under 8K is not going to happen unless I just lay in bed for the rest of the day. Trying to shoot for sub 10K. (Even that may be a struggle)

[698 days out]

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4.8.25 - Evening update

Ended yesterday pretty much spot on at 10K steps, I’ll call that a win even though I was literally at my pre-determined hard upper limit

Today was business as usual:

Vacuum training
Fasted cardio
Session A (same as before, see quote below)
HIIT + LISS post session

Today’s session was really good, progressed by at least one rep / half a kilo in each movement, in a couple of them I got two reps or a rep and half a kilo. Productivity outside the gym was really good today too, and the visuals look a lot sharper now than a couple of days ago. Part of this is probably due to the de-output day yesterday.

As may be evident, I do the same stuff in each “A” and “B” session. Having less/no variety between days and more inside each day has been massive for progress lately. Highly recommend.

Currently eating my last meal. I’m at 14K steps today so I’ll go for a walk afterwards. (Unless the thunderstorm picks up, in that case I’ll be pacing back and forth in my apartment like any regular non manic person would)

[697 days out]

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Side note: you may be rather deep in the calorie deficit when egg whites with salt taste like the best thing that ever touched your lips

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5.8.25 - Afternoon update

Post training update again, business as usual:

Vacuum training & fasted cardio in the morning
Session B and LISS on the afternoon

Session B actually had one change from last time. Went from hammer curls to top half cable reverse curls. Hammers have been in as a substitute as reverse curls were aggravating my brachioradialis a bit for a while. Now that reverse curls feel doable again I’ll just slot them in instead of hammers.

So session B will be:

Now that the first half of my three day cycle is done comes the fun part of less food this evening and tomorrow alongside no gym tomorrow. Luckily I got a ton of work to do so there is something other than hunger and boredom to think about

[696 days out]

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6.8.2025 - Afternoon update

It’s day three of the cycle, so no gym today. Vacuum training and LISS as usual.

Had a prep strategy / “keeping stuff reasonable” - session with my business partner, we’ll be making slight adjustments:

  1. Moving HIIT to the morning after legs.
    This is mostly logistical and enjoyment, as this way I can do it on the bike at home instead of row erg at the gym.
    This is also the second best sport (first would be post legs as it was before) in terms of time between HIIT and the next leg session.

  2. Increasing calories on training days, possibly on rest days as well.
    As I am considerably leaner now than when we set up the original plan and my expenditure has held up very nicely the calorie deficit compared to theoretical maximum for fat loss with minimal muscle loss has gone up. Thus to hold onto as much muscle as possible I need to up my calories.

For those interested in the theoretical max for fat loss there are a couple of ways to estimate that:

A) By bodyfat percentage:

  1. Take your bodyfat %
  2. Divide that by a valuen between 13-20, depending on how much risk of muscle loss you’re comfortable with. Higher value = less risk
  3. The number you end up with is the percentage of bodyweight you could lose per week

So if someone was, say 80kgs at 10% BF they could lose at most 10/13 = 0,77% bw/week (about 0,6kgs) or if they wanted to be More conservative they could aim for 10/20 = 0,5% bw/week (0,4kgs) (or less of course, but 0,4kgs would pretty certainly be enough to hold onto pretty much all of the muscle mass you ever could hold onto. Some will always be lost)

B) By total fat mass:

You can burn about 55kcal per kilo of bodyfat per day. So if you take your total bodyfat on kilos (80*0,1 = 8kgs in previous example) you can estimate a theoretical maximum for your daily and weekly fat burn.

Here it would be 855=440kcal per day and 7440 = 3080kcal per week. Bodyfat IS 7700kcal / kg sp that would amount to about 400g of fat loss per week.

Note that this is FAT loss, not total weight. As you lose fat you will lose some water weight too. By adding about 50% to the fat lost we can estimate the total weight loss per week, which in this case would be about 0,6kgs which is not surprisingly the same rate as the higher end rate of loss was in method A.

Now what will my deficit be?

Currently I’m holding onto about 6-7kgs of bodyfat. I’m going to calculate the deficit based on 6kgs as that will yield a lower number and thus a slower rate of loss (less chance of muscle loss). Using the higher number would make it more likely that I’m not underestimating my bf% but that is not relevant here; what is relevant is losing fat and holding onto the muscle.

Alright, so:
6*55kcal = 330kcal per day or 2310kcal per week which is 0,3kgs of bodyfat. That times 1,5 and I should expect to see about 450g of bodyweight drop per week on the scale.

I’m not trying to get absolutely peeled right now so I’ll go with that deficit for maybe a week or two and use it as a bridge to transition out of the deficit while losing some more bodyfat.

So yeah. More food. Yay.

[695 days out]

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7.8.25 - Afternoon update

Today has been quite hectic. Really it started last night with some urgent work stuff that took forever to complete. Got to bed well after midnight.

As I do value sleep I decided to move my morning cardio into the evening (it’s yet to be done). Unfortunately more urgent work stuff has popped up, luckily after I got my A session and post workout cardio in, so got to do those in peace.

So plan for today is to put out the fires, get The missing cardio session in and to hopefully get my steps in, got 7K left

[694 days out]

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8.8.25 - Evening update

It’s quite funny how when you get urgent work stuff popping up and taking up all your time the less urgent things pile up. Today was mostly spent on doing all of the daily things I was not able to do during the last two days.

Regardless of that I managed to get back to My regular schedule, so got my vacuum training and fasted cardio (that is HIIT+LISS now) done on the morning and session B + LISS in the afternoon.

Session B is the same as last time:

A really nice session, progressed on most of the stuff. Had unusually good energy all the way through today for some reason.

Still got some steps to take and a meal to eat, but other than that I’m done for the day. Feels good.

[693 days out]

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9.8.25 - Afternoon update

Day 3 of the cycle, so no gym. Did my vacuums and fasted cardio as per usual in the morning.

I was doing some client work during my cardio and lost track of time, ended up doing a bit over 2 hours instead of the usual 90 minutes. No big deal.

The work situation should be done with now, so I can return to normal. Although normal for the next two months will be traveling both internationally and within the country. It’s gonna be a lot of time away from home, definitely got to plan and make an effort to stay on top of stuff.

But for rest of today I’m going to just get my steps in and chill out.

[692 days out]

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10.8.25 - Evening update

Well that was a lie. Although I guess today was a taste of the normal that I Will have for The upcoming months.

Got up early, did my vacuums and fasted cardio. Had my pre workout meal and hit session A 90 minutes later. Usually I have ole meal before my pre workout meal but I had to train 3 hours earlier today so this is the way it went.

Not doing the fasted cardio would probably have been the smart call in terms of training performance but I did not want to break my routine. And even with cardio that close to the session it went well, progressed on most stuff.

From tomorrow onwards I’ll have to train im the mornings. If I want to keep all of my training and cardio on that will require getting up at 4, doing my fasted cardio, having My pre workout meal and doing the gym session + post workout cardio about 90 minutes later or so.

I have to be on the road by 9 on the morning at the latest and the days will last way into the evening. Probably around 12 hours on average on the days I get to come home for the night. Really the biggest struggle will be getting my steps in in a sensible way. I’ll get it done though.

[691 days out]

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