All I can say is I have an almost immediate inflammatory response to any dairy. Eat dairy, wait 24-48 hours, Acne. Had horrible acne from 12 into my early 20’s before I sussed it (26 now). Obviously assumed it was teen acne but when it didn’t go away had to experiment.
I avoid it almost completely now but still get flare ups if I do end up having any dairy.
I’ve never had any spots on my face and still don’t now, and zero spots anywhere all through my teens. Then all of a sudden age 28 I have back spots out of no where, atopic eczema, and what appears to be hive like allergic reactions. They come and go, I can be clear for months and then all of a sudden not good, dermatologist still have not found a cause and keep telling me it’s genetic. How did I escape all this for 28 years if that is the case!
Since the picture I posted in September, so a little under 3 months, I’ve gained 12lb. I know that 4lb a month would lead you to believe I’ve gained a shed load of fat, but I think I’m looking only slightly less lean than the September picture.
I only have 2 sessions left of my second run through of the anti programme. Enjoying it that much that I’m gonna keep riding the wave as it’s working so well.
Eating is going well, hence the weight gain. Here is my bulking pudding. Good clean calories with lots of nutrients.
Pineapple, cherries, black berries, raspberries, grapes, black currents, almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts, coconut, dark chocolate, honey and cinnamon. Washed down with 500ml milk!
Bulk Hogan.
Roll on Christmas, got some new 20kg plates coming. It’s hard to keep track of my weights, need a bloody calculator to work it out. Some of my plates are kg some are lbs so it gets confusing, so I have 15kg, 10kg, 2kg plates but then have 25lb, 10lbs and 5lb plates. Plus my pulls have to be from a deficit due to the small size plates, running out of space on the bar!
Finished another run through of the program, before I start over again I’m gonna have 1 week of doing what I feel like. So some challenges, different rep ranges, pump work, some singles. Basically just get shit out of my system before going back to a strict routine. After that week I will take a week off, rest recover and then get back at it.
Tonight I felt like doing some 8x8 work, I took the first weights I used in the anti routine and went after 8x8 with them.
Bench 8x8
Bb row 8x8
Side lateral 8x8 (not putting weight down, emom)
Smashed the session and even the last set was strong, which I know there would have been no chance of achieving a few months ago, very happy with my progress.
It goes without saying that hygiene plays an important role. I used to be a clean-freak (shower 3x a week kind) but as the frequency decreases, the number of spots increased. I hate 'em but whatever.
Not trying to highjack the threat, but are you saying showering 3x a week is a lot? I mean, most people work five days a week, so that’s five times already even if you have a stay-at-home weekend. Sorry if I misunderstood.
Damn typo! I meant a day. I used to stay in hall residence. So i shower before school (if I remember, after a workout and before bedtime if I can’t sleep). Thanks for pointing this out!
Okay after my week of doing what I feel like I’ve decided to stray away from the anti programme for a month or so, I was struggling for weight to keep progressing on the heavier days so until my new plates arrive I will be putting it on hold a little.
During my freestyle week I did a EDT session and it really enjoyed it, it fitted into my short training slot of 40min and the fast pace kept me warm in my freezing cold gym!
First session was…
Bench and row 15 minutes
Curls and side lat 15 minutes
Last night was…
Squat and front raise 15 minutes
French press and hammer curl 15 minutes
Squats and dead lift are not recommended for EDT but will try it out for a while and make sure I don’t rush my set up. With my limited equipment i can’t really drop squat and deadlift variations so they will have to stay.
Pretty sore all over after these 2 sessions, pretty high volume as I managed to get around 10 sets of each exercise so around 60-80reps per exercise in 15 min.
Using this as a bit of an arm specialisation routine.
@Yogi1 thought I would reply here to as to not take the goals thread off topic.
I actually have sperm frozen for the next ivf attempt, but could need another surgery to get more fresh if it doesn’t thaw out well. So yeah I have got to look after my working nut!
I also feel like I’m nowhere near reaching my natural potential, and if I really nail my nutrition consistently I see great gains. This plus the possibility of never recovering from a cycle and being on trt for life makes them a definite no for me, despite some of my friends accusations!
How’s the cut going?
Did you have to have IVF to conceive the new arrival? Man, I hear going through that shit is tough. Definitely do not take any steroids! Haha.
Cut’s going pretty well, thanks. Pretty much over now. After about 8 weeks I tried something new and instead of just trying to brutalise myself a bit harder with fewer calories, I tried upping my calories and workout volume (a la Jade Teta) but I don’t think it really did what I hoped it would. Happy with how lean I’m looking although that last little pocket of low back fat didn’t quite come off and it upsets me. If I’d started 4 weeks earlier I bet I coulda done it.
What you weighing in at these days? I think you and I are in more or less the same condition now.
There is always that last bit of fat that doesn’t want to shift, it makes you respect what folk like @robstein achieve even more. It takes a whole other level of commitment which I’m 100% sure I don’t possess! But I will probably try again at some point. I’m sure if all you have left is a little back fat then your rocking a pretty shredded physique and will be way ahead of every one at the beach. What weight did you get down to?
I’m sitting around 77kg and still leanish, my abs tend to stay visable even with a bit of fat coverage so it gives the illusion of being leaner, but there is a definite pinch there. Waist is around 30" at the minute.
Yeah our little one is an ivf baby, second try. it’s an absolutely horrific experience but worth every second to be parents. Will be hard to go through it again both emotionally and financially but we will be doing it again for sure as we would love more biological kids and it’s our only option for that.
Yeah man, it’s funny how, as a “serious” lifter, you hold yourself to a much higher standard than other people. Like, the vast majority of people would love to be as lean as I am now, but when I look in the mirror I see that little pocket of low back fat and I’m like “god damn you fat fucking motherfucker!”
Weight got down to 77kg at the lowest. Haven’t weighed myself since but I expect I’ll be up a couple of kilos just from water, glycogen, more food in my gut, etc.
That’s decent condition to be holding! A ripped 77kg is no joke on small-framed dudes like us.
I didn’t realise that. I’m sorry to hear you had to go through so much but thank god it all worked out! My old boss and his partner went the IVF route but for whatever reason they couldn’t get it on the NHS so had to go private. Cost them literally tens of thousands of pounds and sadly all for nothing in the end.
Best of luck with it all! It’s happened for you once so fingers crossed you can have it again.
That’s sad that it didn’t work out for them. The odds are really not that great to be honest, male factor is a little better odds and younger people have more of a chance too, but even still it’s less than %50 chance of a medical pregnancy and even lower % of live births.
Funding is a right mess to be honest, it’s a postcode lottery. Some councils provide 0 cycles and some provide 3, plus you have to meet lots of criteria so it’s easy to see how people can be denied funding. On average it takes 3 attempts so funding less than that is rather heartbreaking, so many people will miss out on a fair shot, most would not be able to afford to self fund. Our first cycle was funded but the second was private.
Will update with some physique pics soon before I get to fat!
15 minutes of alternating between chin up and banded press ups
57 chins
98 banded press ups
Was aiming for 50 and 100 so happy with that result.
I glanced at the timer and had 20 seconds left to get a set of press ups in, knew I needed 8 to hit the 100 and failed at 6, alarm sounded before I could sneak the extra 2 in!
Thank you very much man! Truly, unless you’re in a contest prep, that kind of commitment isn’t feasible, OR worth it.
LOL! So true man! Honestly though, if that’s all you’ve got left you must be pretty freaking lean right now. Also, something that helps me, is to remember that the body is MEANT to store fat there, and we NEED body fat to survive. Unless you’re getting on stage, it’s good to find a balance of conditioning vs reality, although it might be hard to know the reality of where you can sit without killing yourself until doing a contest.
Some further thoughts on the subject:
Coincidentally, I was just talking with my wife last night about this, as we’ve both competed and of course want to be as lean as possible, but realize there’s only so far you can go while NOT being in a contest.
In order to get rid of that “last bit of fat” everyone talks about, you completely have to prioritize it over everything else in your life. Getting on stage is the motivator, when you know you’re going to be judged on that little bit of fat, and you’re not going to get on stage unless you know you’re ready and did everything you could. When you feel terrible and can barely move, can’t muster the energy to walk to the car and bending down to pet your dog seems like hard work, you do it anyway because you’re getting on stage. Without that, then it’s like…why? Why put yourself through that? The added cardio, further restricting calories, etc. Truly, it feels terrible to be that lean, so I wouldn’t obsess over that little bit of fat, and just enjoy looking great and feeling good.
I’ve recently had the goal of getting as lean as I can in the off season, to get to that point where I’m as lean as I can get without feeling the suffering or like it’s taking over my life. I think I’ve reached that point as of last week, because for 4 days in a row I just felt overall tired, lethargic, unmotivated, slow moving, etc., after losing some more scale weight, cardio, being in a deficit, etc. For the past 3 days in a row I’ve been eating more food (not a ton, few hundred cals more a day), and didn’t do any cardio, and I feel great. I’m at 10% according to the calipers, good shoulder cuts, hard to see abs because I’m very hairy these days, but in good lighting there’s a clear 6 pack. Of course since I’ve been leaner before I want to be leaner, but after dieting for the past 2 months, I realize now to get leaner I’d basically have to be in a prep mentality, and the reason I’m leaning towards not competing is that I don’t want to be on a prep again for a long time. For me, it just feels too shitty to get down to that level of leanness, and I have too much going on in real life, and my quality of life with my family is too good and important to sacrifice my emotions, time, and memories to lose a little bit more fat.
One last thought, is that once you “get there” you realize you’ll never “get there.” Even when I was 5% around show time, all I could see was where I wanted to improve. “Ok, got shreds in the abs and obliques, veins in my shoulders, and definition in my glutes, but man my quads could be a little drier.” Really, you’ll never reach a point where you’ll think, “I did it! I’m as lean and jacked as possible and am completely content.” Case and point, 3 months after the contest is over, looking back on the pics and going, "I looked like that?! Damnit! If only I cherished it more! Knowing that when I was taking those pics, I was thinking, “I look like that?! Damnit! I’ll never get there!”
Great bit of insight thanks Rob. I saw the picture of you before you started lifting seriously again the other day and it blows my mind every time I see it!
I think it’s normal to be much more critical of yourself if your a competitive person, it’s like when I play football, I may score 2 goals, set one up, win 3-1 and get given man of the match, but would go back into the changing rooms annoyed because the man I was marking got their goal!
15 minutes of deadlift (40reps) rear delt fly (79 reps)
4 sets of shrugs
100 rep set of plate shrugs.
(The recommendation to not include deadlift is pretty good advice. I had a rep target in mind and rushed a few times to start the next set before I was ready)
The EDT sessions are leaving me pretty sore, need to make sure I up my eating a little. Sleep is out of my control, not getting enough but can’t do much about that!
Welllllll to be fair it’s not like every other part of me is in contest shape. I’ve got good cuts in my quads but they’re not all that feathered really, it’s just that my low back is the only place where there’s like a weird wee deposit of fat. It’s this gross little blob that sits above my hip! Pisses me off no end.
I do think that getting any leaner would involve some serious next level shit like double cardio, mega low calories, etc., and there just doesn’t seem like much point in brutalising myself like that.
Merry Christmas @kd13
