I’m getting excited just following along. Congrats on the new low! The legs are really starting to separate now and I’m sure over the next 3 weeks and giving the legs a break before the show will really allow them to tighten up even further.
Again, that is some stupid squat strength you have when so deep into a prep on a ‘shaky/light headed’ day…
Thanks man! If I can duplicate this past week’s progress over the next two, that should really dial things in, then the peak week will hopefully be the finishing touch. The week before the show we’re going to move my leg workout from Friday to Monday and take out the squats, just get some good pump work in there, halt HIIT and ease up on cardio. Morning cardio will continue that week to get some good fat burning going, but we’ll probably also ease up on the post weights cardio. Hoping it’ll all come together!
Feeling pretty good today. Started with the usual 20min LISS first thing in the morning, trained arms and calves this afternoon followed by 20min LISS. Medium 1800 calorie day. It’s also been about 70 degrees here in NJ the past few days, absolutely beautiful out, which always makes life a little brighter. Gonna snow next week, enjoying it while it lasts.
Also got a ton of writing done today, always feels good to have a productive day of working, especially in a prep. Making a living from writing original music, I have to be “creative” every day, which means being in a decent enough mental state to think of music that sounds good. Something I was thinking about earlier today, last year when I was still teaching, while I certainly didn’t feel good towards the end of the prep, I could still go into school and be a good teacher. If my brain is toasted, writing is near impossible. Fortunately working from home full time now and waking up at 7:30/8 instead of 5am for cardio, I’m still able to be productive. This year is the best year yet for my business, which is really motivating and rewarding as it’s my first year working from home as a business owner and out of the public work force. Excited for the future for sure.
This past week is the worst sleep I’ve ever had, every night, just part of the deal. I fall asleep anywhere from midnight-3am, I’ve tried to lay in bed earlier and “force” myself to get tired by just relaxing and staying calm, it doesn’t work. If I’m wide awake, I come downstairs, read a bit, wait to get tired and try again. Last night on my high carb day I felt tired and was in bed by midnight, and was able to sleep until 8, but I woke up about 10-12 times throughout the night (no exaggeration.) I’ve tried upping my Z12 dose from 3 to 4, nighttime tea, no bright lights/TV, in desperation I even tried NyQuil and that didn’t help, the only thing it did was leave me feeling super groggy and hung over the next morning.
In an effort to aid sleep, we changed my last meal from egg whites, tuna and 1/2oz almonds to three whole eggs and some tuna. Same overall cals, but hoping that the 15g fat from the eggs, compared to the small amount from the almonds, will make me fuller and trick my body enough to sleep better. We’ll see, tonight is the first night, hoping it works. Sleep has been pretty much fine up until this point, there have been some nights where I wake up in the middle of the night wide awake, come downstairs for a bit, then head back up and fall asleep again. So, overall it’s been manageable. Two nights ago I tried to fall asleep three times between 10:30 and 3am and couldn’t. Sitting on the couch at 2:30am, starving and pissed I couldn’t sleep…but just stayed focused on the show. Pain, stress, “suffering” is temporary. Knowing I gave my all every instant of the prep, and that the package I’m going to bring will be the very best I’m capable of, is forever, and will be well worth it.
Going through a prep really gives a new appreciation for “civilian” life. Eating maintenance calories feels like a feast every day. Sleeping normally is a luxury. Not bringing my cooler to family events is exciting. I’m learning more about myself this year and what I’m truly capable of, and am more motivated than ever.
3 weeks from today is the first show, after that we’ll have 14 weeks until the Hercules. We’re planning on dialing back for sure, staying tight and having another hard push into the Hercules. Really pumped for the show as it’s so close, and also looking forward to feeling normal again (at least for a little while!)
Hey bro! For incline DB press, here’s what I think about to ensure a solid MMC and pump, mainly dealing with range of motion and also thinking about initiating the movement with the pecs:
Don’t come down too far on the bottom, elbows get to about 90 degree angle with the floor. This keeps tension in my pecs and OUT of my front delts. If you go too low with the arms/elbows, the shoulders take over on the first part of the movement.
Don’t go to lockout at the top. I stop just shy of lock out and maintain a brief pause with slightly bent elbows. This also keeps the tension in my pecs.
Make sure to bring the dumbbells closer to together as you approach the top, but do not let them touch. The pecs need to contract, maybe think like you have a pencil between your pecs you’re trying to break at the top of each movement.
Think about initiating the movement with the pecs and not your arms. I always do at least 4 warm up sets, especially since incline DB press is my first chest exercise of the day, progressively working up to my first working set, to make sure I’m warmed up and get enough blood in the pecs to feel it properly.
I think it would be best to get more variety in there if possible. So, it sounds like you’ve got an adjustable bench and dumbbells, and cables to make a good chest workout. What do you think about this:
-Incline DB Presses - (4x 10-12), eventually trying to lower the reps to 8-10, then 6-8, once you feel you have more MMC with this exercise.
-Low to high cables (incline bench, or standing.) - (3x 12-15)- Here, think more about the stretch on the way back, and initiate the movement with the pecs, NOT the arms. Just for comparison, I do this on a double stack cable machine and have 20-23lbs in each cable, so not heavy, which really allows me to keep the tension in my pecs and not my arms. I also do not bring my arms up very high, because once you do the front delts take over. I contract my upper pecs as hard as possible and stop there, with a slow negative, feeling the stretch in the upper pecs. Here’s a video I made a while ago for this exercise:
-Standing cable flyes (3x 10-12) - kind of like a pec deck plane of motion, ending with hands straight in front of you. Again, initiate movement with the pecs, not biceps or arms. Imagine the pencil between the pecs that you’re trying to break/hold in place with each rep.
-DB Flat Bench (4x 6-8) - Sounds like you already have a good handle on this one.
-High to low cables (3x 12-15) - Keep it light and feel the pump in the outer and lower pecs to finish off.
Overall I think the most important thing for a good MMC in the pecs is to make sure you get enough warm up/feeler sets in, and don’t go so heavy that you’re pushing with your shoulders and arms, rather than pecs. You should feel like you’re flexing your pecs, and your arms are an extension of your chest. IMO the vast majority of people in the gym are working shoulders and arms during their chest workout.
Hope this helps man, please let me know if I can elaborate on anything more!
Some good info there, thank you! Chest day is tomorrow, really looking forward to applying these tips.
Keep up the good work and attitude, you’re killing it!
Epic.
Couple more from this morning.
Always happy to help man, let me know how it goes!
@Basement_Gainz Thank you bro!
Hamstrings are looking fantastic!
your killing it as always and the info you provide in this thread is much appreciated.
Your posts give me chills man! You’re an awesome writer, I could read your posts all day.
Awesome discipline and work ethic. I can’t wait until you are rewarded for all this hard work.
How has your wife been with her sleeping schedule? Similar problems, or is she like my wife and could sleep through just about anything, anytime? lol
I always stress the “line of pull”, it’s not always where your hands/arms end up, but where they begin and just where you’re feeling the stretch at the onset.
People always thought I was just a attention seeking nuisance dragging an adjustable bench Inbrtween the cables and then just setting it at a relatively low 15 degree incline for my cable work. -lol
It ain’t sexy but getting actual results trumps trying to impress other gym goers by piling on weights that won’t yield the effects you want anyway.
S
the delt striations when you hit the side poses are insane.
you look really good bro.
Shredded! 
The legs have tightened up A LOT and are looking great!
I do have an issue with your progress pics – they aren’t consistent. I mean, sometimes there’s a dog in them and sometimes there’s no dog there. I don’t know what to think and I’m thrown off by that. You should really step up your consistency game with your progress pics…
@kd13 Thank you very much man! I really appreciate that!
@Gorillakiv83 Thank you so much bro! Shoulders and arms were (and still are) top priority, and looking back on my pics from last year, while I don’t think they’re there yet (are they ever?) they’ve definitely come up. Gotta keep pushin!
@IronAndMetal LOL! Thank you brother! Yeah, I keep telling her people only view my log because she’s in my pics, but she does what she wants 
@littlesleeper Thank you man! I really appreciate that, I feel like sometimes I ramble, very relieved to know it doesn’t come off that way!
To answer your question and give a little update on wifey’s prep, she’s like yours and can sleep through anything. She always falls asleep and stays asleep with no problem, and I’m extremely glad for that! She’s had one or two nights of bad sleep but 99% has been perfect. She wakes up at 5am every morning to knock out her cardio in the basement before going to work, so thank goodness she can sleep, recover and go be an amazing teacher every day.
We had an awesome moment this morning. I got up as she was getting ready to walk out the door, and I asked how she’s feeling, how’s she looking, scale weight (ya know, the usual lol) and she said, “I look awesome, I’m gonna look great up there. I feel so good, my abs look great, legs, all of it. You did a great job.” For a competitor to get to the point where THEY feel this way, especially 3 weeks out, is awesome. When we were 8 weeks out we felt a little behind and really dug in and pushed hard. I totally agree with her. She’s got a hard 6 pack all the time, visible quad heads, shoulders and arms are hard and cut and she turns heads in the gym. Make no mistake, she’s been renting out space in sufferville for a while now and yesterday they threw a parade in her honor. But man, it is so awesome to see her progress, to KNOW she feels great about it, and to help the love of my life get to that point as a husband, and coach, is truly awesome. I am beyond excited to see her on stage, and we are BOTH beyond excited to eat our post show cheat meals together!
Yesterday’s low day was rough, but not battling orcs through mordor rough, thanks to a decent night’s sleep the night before. Also slept fairly well this last night, so I think upping fats in my pre-bed meal has helped and will most definitely stay in. After my cardio yesterday I got a 60min deep tissue massage which was long overdue, focused on the areas that needed it most, including back, piriformis, and legs. My back actually felt worse after, a deep tissue massage always feels better a couple days after it’s done, it’s pretty serious abuse to the muscle. Took an epsom salt bath after which really helped though, already feeling much better today. Getting another 90min massage this coming weekend, last one before the show. Gonna keep up with it more regularly, every 3-4 weeks leading into the Hercules.
This week we’re upping my morning fasted LISS slightly, nothing significant but over the course of the week it adds up. This week is my last HIIT workout before the show, and next week we’re going to keep the morning LISS but taper out the post weights cardio.
While this prep has been challenging, especially in the last few weeks, it is still not even close to the suffering I dealt with last year. Improved training, staying leaner, having a really smart and disciplined off season has been WELL WORTH IT.
That being said, this year so far I have achieved a level of conditioning I never have before, definitely beyond last year and I still have more time to improve, and more improvements to be made. It’s certainly great to “stop and smell the roses” and be happy with where I am, but truthfully I still feel like there’s a long way to go to get to the point where I feel I can be considered worthy of winning an overall. It’s been an eye opening experience, especially in the past week as I feel I’ve made more noticeable progress last week, to really understand just how lean you need to be to look shredded. Not talking about leanest guy in the gym shredded, talking about a hard, visible 6 pack (lower abs included) in ANY lighting, without flexing, rolling out of bed looking hard and jacked. I’m just starting to get there, where I can look in the mirror first thing in the morning totally relaxed and feel that way. Yesterday a guy in the gym said, “Damn dude! What’s your diet like?! I still have a little fat in my lower abs, how do I get rid of that?” Brother, you don’t know the half of it!
It’s not sustainable, and now that I’m closer to getting there, while I’m super stoked about it for sure, I’ve become ok with accepting the fact that it isn’t sustainable, and look forward to just staying lean in the off season. I do think after doing a contest prep, especially the more you do and the leaner you get, your body handles it well and you can really force your body fat set point to change. This past off season I was able to stay lean, always see my abs (top 4) and looked way different at 165 than the year before. Hopefully the planets will align and I can nab a pro card this year, and if so I’ll take some time off of competing, but plan on getting no higher than 160 and hopefully hovering around 155, and I know that it will be no problem to maintain, enjoy and look leaner than this previous year.
After much back and forth between a few, finally settled on this year’s posing song. Working on edits now:
Which section of the song are you going to use for posing?
For whatever reason, I’m a big fan of the cut-time, breakdown portion at the end of the song and how it then melds back into the harder groove.
Yeah I love that part too at the end, I wound up going with the first 35-40 seconds, through the first two sections, then editing later to the part that sounds similar to the beginning, no vocals in the track. I did want to incorporate the ending, but the whole thing needs to be about ~60, and the sections that I used are the parts that amp me up the most. I’ll be sure to post a video of the routine from the show! Gotta work on that this weekend. Keeping it simple and effective.
Why don’t you just write your own posing music?
I’ve actually thought about it and have some good ideas floating around, but unfortunately don’t have the time with the music I have to write for my clients. This is the busy writing season and this year now that I’m full time my schedule is busier than ever. Probably something I could do in the fall though! I did write the intro music to the Mas Macros podcast with @The_Mighty_Stu and @BrickHead, that was a blast and I’m honored they asked me to do it!
