(Mighty) Stu Yellin, WNBF Pro Updates n Q&A

Training
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^Yeah, Brad has the fortunate (lucky indeed! -lol) task of editing and uploading them as we finish each one!

You can find them either through Brad’s youtube channel, which also features plenty of his own videos on nutrition (the guy is an RD if you didn’t know), training, fitting all of “this” in with his real life, and of course weighing in on his first ever contest prep.

Since so many people ask me, I did assemble all of the specific Mas Macros episodes (with Brad, Arash and Myself) on one page of my own site, so you can always find them there too :slight_smile:

We’ve got the next 5-6 topics all planned out, and hopefully we’ll be able to pump them out a little quicker now that my own schedule is somewhat flexible during the summer.

And of course, any feedback, comments or suggestions are always welcome!

S

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I didn’t comment on the recent Wnbf Hercules contest because I know that Rob was keeping his contest thread, and I didn’t want to go over anything that would have been much more entertaining coming from the athlete’s mouth himself.

Now that some time has passed, I just want to ramble a bit. I love bodybuilding, and as much as I loved competing, judging shows, coaching competitors, and even just being backstage helping out is something I truly enjoy doing. Not everyone in the sport though can differentiate when it’s not about them. Now, I’m not trying to bash anyone, that’s never been my thing, but as many competitors as I’ve helped over the years, I never found the need to make a “Team Stu” or something silly sounding like that to puff my own ego up. I had my time in the Speedo, and I’m damn proud of my run. I don’t need to somehow siphon off attention.

With that said, as much as I do appreciate the little tip of the hat when someone mentions that I’m their coach, I’ve never jumped up onstage, or bragged about “my team” all over social media because each athlete is their own person. They do the work. Yes, I try to be a guiding force, sharing from my own experience and knowledge, but the work put in and the suffering to get there isn’t mine.

I had two athletes in this always very competitive show this year (I sat out judging duties). Both did amazingly well. Both had different levels or experience, age, genetics etc etc etc, BUT they both busted their asses and left nothing undone in their preparations. As such, no matter how things turned out, I was damn proud of them. With this said, being around the sport regularly, it’s hard not to develop an eye for how the competitors look. I’ve had clients not place as well as they wanted, and I’ve been able to explain to them why, and then formulate an improvement plan for the next outting. Sure I may be a bit subjective, but having photos and videos after the fact makes is very easy to assess and understand why things went the way they did. Any decent coach who doesn’t need to blow sunshine up peoples’ skirts to get and keep clients should be able to as well.

The reason I throw all of this out, is because there have been instances in the past when other coaches congratulated me and openly admited that had “my guy” been in a different weight class that their client wouldn’t have won. Similarly, I’ve been very thankful when the situations were reversed, and one of my athletes wouldn’t have to go up against a particularly impressive competitor who happened to be another coach’s client. I like to think there’s a certain degree of good sportsmanship in a sport (hobby? past time?) that really has no real money to be made. So when we had several clients of another coach congratulate us (either of my clients, or even myself) on such a great showing the night of the contest, and then openly bash and make snide comments on social media,… well, I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’;s hard not to notice that one really sour grape in a bunch that has been pretty damn tasty up until now. The sour taste can really linger.

S

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Is that how the “Team” idea is looked at generally? I may be wrong, but my perception was that it was a way to advertise for more business.

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I wouldn’t feel too bad about it, Stu. Angst is the sincerest form of flattery? If your athletes (and concurrently your coaching) sucked, nobody would be bashing you :slight_smile:

–Me

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Oh I have no problem with the team approach. Heck, if a coach has good results he will attract more clients, it just makes sense. I guess I just get a little ruffled when it becomes more about the coach and not the individual athlete. I always held a similar view as a teacher. I may guide my students along a path. Exposing them to information, directing them on the best approach possible etc, but at the end of the day, they are doing the work. The end result if from their efforts.

With Bodybuilders, the end result is from their hard work, sweat, effort, and let’s not forget genetics (I’ve watched coaches scout, and even poach competitors at contests and from other coaches). I’m sure plenty of people will see no problem with that, but to me, there’s a big difference in helping someone who comes to you for assistance to be the best they can be vs finding someone who is gonna turn pro once they figure out those final tweaks, offering to “sponsor” them with free coaches and then taking credit for all their success. Just my personal opinion though, so feel free to disagree. It’s not just a black and white issue I suppose.

S

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I don’t think we disagree, those examples you brought up there I would have an issue with as well.

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Just sharing a little here. Back in the day (damn that sounds badass -lol), I used to post up when I was going to be training at different gyms in NY and NJ and invite people to come hang, train together and then go out and feast after. It’s been a while, and I forgot how much fi it is getting together with likeminded folks.

This past Sunday, I gathered a handful of my clients who are all competitors (or will be very soon) and we met up at the famous Bevs Gym on Long Island. After several hours of awesome training, posing and photos, we headed out for all you can eat sushi. Obviously a few individuals on contest preps made the necessary adjustment :slight_smile:

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S

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Stu, I was reading through Bricks thread and how he has changed his training approach to a more “bro” type split. In your experience as a coach have you seen better results from such training or is it more of the traditional bodybuilding thing to do?

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A little late in replying to this, but I think people tend to overt simplify the extremes of a full body vs full “bodybuilder” type of splits. Each has its advantages if you’re just glossing over most variables. The constant argument for abbreviated splits being the increased frequency, and for more split up approaches being greater volume and variety.

Brick was a fan of the abbreviated work because he was trying to really buckle down, and get into the gym as much as he could after periods of being more laid back over the previous few years. He had a fairly good base already, and certainly looked impressive just walking down the street. Once we began focusing on bringing a COMPLETE LOOKING PHYSIQUE to the stage, we realized that in addressing weak points, and bringing certain areas into better balance, the old approach of a few sets of presses for chest twice each week wasn’t gonna cut it.

I think that’s where the “bro-split” as it’s usually (negatively) called excels. If you need a complete physique, unless you’ve got some amazing genetics (supposedly Ronnie Coleman only did heavy benches and inclines and his pecs were fully developed), chances are that you’d be better suited with an approach that entails more variety, and often volume. This may not, and often isn’t, the case with rank beginners mind you. I work with plenty of people, from competitors, to sedentary housewives, and while some do get a more complicated split, others focus on a very simple A/B approach repeated twice each week.

As Brick pointed out in his thread (where this topic seems to be getting some great discussion), the vast number of pro natural bodybuilders do not make use of full body, or abbreviated approaches. There is much much more to this whole process than the old, often repeated line about muscle breakdown and how many hours it takes to rebuild tissue.

S

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@The_Mighty_Stu

Do your clients/do you allow macro borrowing or thinking in terms of weekly calories to allow cheating at their discretion?

How to you set a rep scheme for clients in terms of RPE? I have trained a few people in person and it is easy to gauge effort and tell them when to stop a set but, I fear when taking on clients online I would not able to know what they are really doing. I prefer a type of RPE type training or a linear/double progression style of lifting but, would be harder online.

Would you just use ramping? It seems easier to say ramp 4-5 sets with the last falling in between 8-10 reps

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While I’m not Stu, I am one of his clients!

We don’t do macro borrowing or cheating. We do carb cycling, and also added a re-feed day once per week when we got 4 weeks out. My metabolism was trashed, and after process of elimination and trying a few things, we thought adding carbs and cals would be best, and boy did it work out well. Again there are significant differences between a well structured re-feed and a cheat.

REFEED
-Carb intake increases for the day, up to 1.5x-2x normal depending on the individual and how they want to structure it.
-Fat intake is very minimal for the day as your body is hyper sensitive, and having high carbs AND high fat in your blood can increase chances of storing body fat
-Protein intake for the day drops to 1g per pound to leave room for the carbs. Carbs are muscle sparing in nature, so dropping protein for one day will have no negative effects at all.

CHEAT
-Eat whatever, typically high carb and high fat foods like pizza or cheeseburgers. Opening the door to store excess body fat, hold a lot of water which will throw off the scale and mirror for a couple of days depending on the individual.

Cheating or macro borrowing just opens the doors for inconsistencies, mind games and a host of other problems. As @BrickHead mentioned in his thread, if you want to lose weight a predictable rate, there’s no wiggle room. The closer you get to the show and the leaner you are, the more important it is to be rigidly consistent.

In terms of RPE that has to be up to the individual to gauge their own effort and know how to auto regulate and listen to your body. The goal is ALWAYS to train with as much intensity as possible, every time, but some days you’re just gassed and can barely keep yourself on your feet, you’ve got to be able to know how hard you can go without digging yourself too deep. This just takes time and getting used to training in that state.

Every coach is different. For me, Stu looked at my training logs, adjusted the order of some exercises and a couple of rep ranges. Some coaches will give a training program to their client and say “do this,” but I think ultimately what matters more is the intensity of the training and the diet, it’s very easy to over complicate a training program. Stu and I would often talk about how training programs can really get over complicated. The order of exercises can make a big difference over time though, he made some adjustments to the structure of my back workout and we made some serious progress relatively quickly there.

Personally I rarely did ramping except for on some compound movements, like DB presses or squats, otherwise I would base my working set weight on what I previously did last session, also gauging my energy level and strength that day, and stick with that for all sets of the exercise. As the prep continues there is typically a slow and steady decline in strength, so it’s extremely important to auto regulate and be aware of your body.

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@The_Mighty_Stu I have query for you.

I’m sure that you’re aware (from my previous random posts) that I’ve never competed before, and that I don’t have a huge urge to compete. The more time that passes, though, the more I wonder what I’m training for if I never get serious and lean out/due a contest/show off the results. So, here in the near future (within a year or two), I want to get super lean…just to prove that I can, to prove that I know what I’m doing, and to prove to myself that I’m more than just a guy that wants to be big.

I have a couple worries concerning this though: I suffer from epilepsy. Most people think that epileptic seizures are induced by flashing lights and stuff, which isn’t incorrect but it’s also not correct. Every individual has a different trigger for episodes. My trigger just happens to be the combination of too-much-caffeine and sleep-deprivation. I’ve also learned that the less food I eat, the easier it is for me to become overly-caffeinated.

Ok, so why the hell am I explaining all this to you? Well, I’m concerned that getting into a very serious prep (obviously near the end of the prep) will induce some personal problems for me. So, I’d like to ask: Have you ever dealt with this type of scenario with a client or just from hearsay? If so, how’d that go? Furthermore, would you recommend a dry-run at leaning out to see how I might handle what happens?

Also, does geographic location matter to you when working with clients? (and now he presses “Reply” with slight trepidation)

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well, as brad and Rob can attest, sleep becomes a real commodity the deeper you get into a prep. As I explained to Brad just last week; your body pretty much assumes you’re trying to kill it. Not enough food, more physical demands than it wants to comfortably handle, as well as your daily demands of work, school and social commitments to friends and family. My weekly manta to rob (which had us both chucking like sick individuals) was “don’t die” -lmao

As far as various medical issues go, I’ve worked with diabetics, competitors with MS, and all sorts of different physical limitations. Never dealt with seizure disorder before. Obviously every person comes with their own set of concerns and limitations, and I’m smart enough to know, and emphasize constantly that I’m not a medical doctor despite my collection of degrees and certificates on the wall. So, as long as an individual feels comfortable with the suggestions I make, and if need be, runs everything by their actual Doctor (I’ve had Brad, a licensed RD, look over my diabetic plans just to cover my ass), I don’t usually anticipate problems.

With cutting, Trial runs are never a bad idea. That’s what led to my first ever real cut. Once I realized I had successfully dropped 15 lbs with no loss of strength or size, I decided to press on and cruise into an actual contest.

Lol, I’ve had clients in England, Australia, pretty much every state in the US. Emails, texts, and video conferencing have really changed the game as far as coaching goes. I’ve actually had a serious number of folks from this site work with me, but I never make it known, leaving that to them if they want to publicize it. Obviously with rob and brad both Keepin very popular contest threads, it wasn’t much of a secret that I was in their respective corner. The only advantage folks in NY and NJ have is that they usually trek out to my gym where I can do hands on posing practice with them.

S

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@The_Mighty_Stu

How much did competing or getting down to low levels of BF help with your clientele? Are most of your clients competitors or average people looking to lose weight, get in shape, etc.? Has social media helped in getting clients or do you primarily depend on word of mouth? Are you at a point where coaching can be done full time?

Sorry, if it is a lot of questions. I am currently at a point where I am trying to decide if I should make a push to grow my services further which may mean getting to competition level bf or stay with my small local base.

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Hey, sorry for the delay, I don’t always have a ton of time to pop online each day and I think I became more focused on Brick’s prep thread and one other (watching another online expert argue with pretty much everyone else - what else is new? -lol) when I did login.

Something I’ve heard from multiple competitor clients of mine, is how helpful it is for them knowing that I’ve already put myself through the wringer many times. You’re feeling run down? Yeah, Stu knows what it’s like so he understands. Just give him a call and he’ll get you mentally back in the game. Inconvenienced worrying about having your pre-measured food with you? Yeah, we’ve all heard the stories about Stu sneaking hard boiled egg whites into a Broadway play and pulling chicken breasts from his pocket in fancy restaurants. Stressed out and overthinking every little thing backstage after months of busting your ass physically and mentally? Yeah, Stu doubted himself before every 1st place finish… So in this respect, despite the whole argument about how a great basketball coach doesn’t always have to be a former player, I think it certainly earns me credit with my clients.

With the physical aspect,… getting into contest winning shape doesn’t happen by accident. Trust me, I tried to play it off myself with much self doubt until my wife really pointed this out. Repeated successes are probably one of the best marketing tools with people who are looking around. For the average person wanting to get into shape, just seeing someone else is better (let alone phenomenal!) shape is a hell of a selling point!

I think I’m still pretty new at the whole social media thing. My feeling of actually needing something worthwhile to say on IG and not just posting pics of food or my ass every single day is probably not the best approach for people trying to rack up millions of followers. Still, if seeing your own images and some introspective or inspiring thoughts reposted counts as PR, then I must not be doing everything incorrectly.

Full time? I’ll be honest, I probably could dedicate myself to self promotion and client hunting (or poaching as I’ve seen some do) and bring in much more income from doing this, but for me, I know something will have to give. I enjoy spending and dedicating as much time as I do with my clients. I ensure that despite having a full time job (with benefits, pension, as well as a decent salary) that I am available for constant texts, phone calls (Rob Stein will back me on this one! -lol), and daily e-mails filled with questions and worries. The reward I get from applying such a hands on role is an amazing feeling when someone not only wins their show, or turns pro, or even accomplishes a life long goal. I don’t think I could handle the sheer number of clients that some coaches (claim to) have.

For yourself, I wouldn’t imagine that getting yourself in crazy shape would ever be a bad thing. Someone once told me that “You are your own brand.” That being the case, in this industry, you can actually be a walking around billboard for your services. I know that you can’t strut down the street with contest level bf 12 months a year, but just having some good shots from a show or even photo shoot can go pretty far, especially if you really want to take advantage of utilizing social media.

Hope that I gave you a few good tidbits and didn’t just ramble on. Haven’t had my coffee yet :slight_smile:

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Hey Stu! I have to say you are the biggest inspiration and best source of info I have had online in a long time! I would love it if you could take a look at my log (SB’s journey to 8%) and give your comments and criticisms. I’m wondering if I should maybe drop my protein a bit and increase carbs a bit, or if while this might have been the best option from the start, increasing carbs might be counter productive mid cut? keep in mind part of the reason for higher protein intake is that I am “Assisted” albeit mildly. Your opinions would mean A LOT to me!!

You should be really proud of yourself man, you’ve lived a full life and I would be very satisfied if I could be where you are at your age, still making an impact on the sport through judging after a successful career!

Anyways I’ve been scrolling through every thread you’ve posted in and reading all your posts, ESPECIALLY on contest prep. While i’m not competing, yet, it is DEFINITELY in my future, I have big ambitions in bodybuilding and it’s really rhe focus of my entire life already (Comes second only to my 3 year old daughter).

Thanks for your time bro much appreciated! You are 100% what brought me to this site!

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Thanks man. I really do appreciate the kind words. When your threads aren’t on the top of the first page of the forums anymore (I don’t have as many cool stories to tell these days -lol), not everyone realizes how much info is still available by using the search function or even clicking on a particular person’s profile and seeing what else they’ve written - I do this a lot when someone seemed especially insightful, or (more often) when they seem especially delusional.

As to your question, increasing carbs mid cut isn’t a definite bad idea, especially if you swap out some other nutrients. I’ve used the term “macro juggling” before, because that’s really what you’re doing: trying to keep your overall caloric equation fairly consistent, BUT, messing around with what you’re body is getting with your macro breakdowns. If your body is used to running on more carbs and you scale back but throw in more fats, it’ll react. If your body is used to running on more fats and proteins, and you swap some out and bump up carbs, it’ll react (usually in a very visual manner.)

Also, I’m not saying lose all the protein or anything drastic, BUT, most people tend to over estimate just how much protein they need. This is especially true when you’ve got some anabolics helping you to retain lbm, as well as a decent amount of carbs, which we all constantly hear are “protein sparing” when dieting.

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I’m of the opinion its better to have a HIGHER protein intake on anabolics because you are able to USE much, much more protein as protein synthesis is increased. I am still seeing small strength gains on this cut and likely will see small size gains. If I wasn’t on anabolics I would be at likely around 225 protein not 300. I’m thinking of cutting back to maybe 275 though and replacing with carbs I guess based on your advice. I know my body reacts best to high carb low fat, that’s for sure.

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Thanks for your reply though, the whole reason I joined this forum is for YOUR feedback so I would really appreciate if you can check in on my cutting thread (And other threads if youd like) once and a while, your advice and opinions mean a lot to me! I think I’ve read every post you’ve made in the last 6 months lol.

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Another question I have, do you think if I add more LISS it will be beneficial? I know I don’t “need” tons of LISS and there are easier ways, but I do enjoy LISS so if it will benefit I Would love to increase it more. I love the feeling of “putting in work” towards my goals.

I do 30min walking fasted first thing in the morning, and I do 20 min or so of low to medium intensity interval cardio post workout. I also do one HIIT session a week. I hate HIIT and only plan to increase it if I stall. When I do LISS I almost want to call it MISS because with the exception of my fasted LISS, I am using higher intensity than most do.