I know, but how common is that? -lol
S
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Whew, what a day. The posing workshop was really informative and enjoyable, but we worked the entire time, and I crashed pretty hard when I got home. Had my pre-workout cake, hit the gym for an upper body session, being sure to lighten the load a little bit as all of my muscles were already sore from the posing class. Did two exercises, 3 sets each, for chest, back, bis, tris and delts, then headed to the grocery store for some last minute items for my deplete diet. Came home, cooked up and measured the food that needed it, mainly just ground beef and salmon, portioned it all out and ready to rock my peak week. A few pics from today, I wish I had more from the posing class but I didnāt want to ask anyone to take pics while we were working.
Tweaking the rear bicep:
Filled out a little more at the gym from the carbs:
Tight and veiny this evening:
Increased cals a little bit today to make up for the extra 2 hours of posing, total daily numbers on a medium day are typically 2100, today was 2250. While I definitely needed the extra fuel for today, tomorrow I donāt as itās an OFF DAY, no exercising at all. So, gonna do a 1750cal day with 100g carbs, then start depleting on Monday.
Going to do my best to reduce leg inflammation as much as possible. Keep my legs up, get some heating pads on there when I can, and also increasing my usual 4 Curcumin a day to 6.
Tomorrow is totally off, then Monday-Wednesday are depletion workouts, followed by a posing session. Iām not going to pose for an extended session as it really makes me sore and knocks my legs out, but I practice going two rounds through the quarter turns and one round through the mandatories, holding each one for 15 seconds. I got some great tweaks for my posing today and am feeling confident with my presentation going into next weekend.
Going to enjoy some ice cream proats tonight, tomorrow is all ezekiel bread and almond butter for carbs, then Monday starts meaty-nutty-eggy-2 gallons of water a day goodness.
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Dem delt striations 
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6 days out, 141.8 pounds. Woke up with what I feel is no doubt my tightest package yet after my higher-than-usual carb day yesterday, weight didnāt budge.
Not sure if this made a difference or not, I was also sweating buckets during the posing session, so I think I lost some subcutaneous water as well, and the posing also really helped shuttle everything into my muscles.
Seeing how I woke up today, Iām going to stick to the carb sources I had yesterday to carb up for the show. My weight didnāt move at all, much tighter/fuller. Carb sources were:
-Cold oats with various cereals/granola/pretzels on top
-Cream of rice cakes with almond butter with various cereals/granola/pretzels on top
-Cereals were chocolate rice puffs, a little cinnamon toast crunch thrown in there sometimes
-Granola was sea salt chocolate, and chocolate cashew butter
This morning, the craziest thing happened. Woke up, took the usual pics and weight, but then, I put my pjās back on, came downstairs and am drinking coffee! Crazy! This is the first morning in 6 weeks NOT doing cardio, and it feels so very, very good, almost like Iām a normal person. Iām really excited for this peak week, itās always the most relaxing week of the prep physically, excitement for the show really starts settling in.
Thereās also a weird thing that happens mentally. A few weeks out, Iām just obsessing about everything, the competition aspect, every macro, etc., all of it. Then, when peak week starts, a sense of calm comes over, knowing the hard work is now done. Iāve gotten my hours (days in my case!) of cardio in, trained, eaten meticulously, and now the work is done and I just ride it out into the show. Itās a really good feeling, especially knowing I really dug in harder than I ever have, ever knew I could. While I donāt think any competitor is ever content and feels thereās no room for improvements, I feel Iāve done everything I can, made solid improvements since my last show, and am confident in the package Iām going to bring, especially after a tan, carb up, and am under the lights. At this point, I know I couldnāt have worked any harder, so itās gonna be what itās gonna be!
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Thank you very much sir!
Yeah brother, enjoy peak week, youāve killed it, and earned it.
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365 days laterā¦
S
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Whoa! TMI, brother! 
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Wrapping up an excellent day off and good start to peak week. No exercising today, barely even MOVED today, except for running a couple errands. Crazy sore waking up this morning from the posing workshop yesterday, went to the gym after breakfast and sat in the therapy pool for a while which was really helpful, also took a long epsom salt soak tonight. The epsom salt baths really help a lot, I highly recommend them.
Tomorrow starts our keto diet, 2 gallons of water a day and pump workouts. Something I need to keep in mind is to make sure I get enough sodium on these days. Especially as Iām drinking more water, Iāll be going to the bathroom all day and losing sodium, and the past couple deplete weeks Iāve had some low-sodium symptoms, including muscle cramps and my jaw locking up once or twice while chewing. Iāve been getting a lot of sodium daily, so itās important to keep the water-sodium ratio the same as it has been. The keto diet is naturally high in sodium anyway, so Iām just gonna keep the hot sauce coming and a little extra salt on each meal.
With the lack of carbs, Iāll be watching myself get flatter throughout the week, but especially after my solid carbs yesterday and seeing how I woke up this morning, Iām feeling confident Iāll be ready after the carb up on Friday. Iāve finalized my meals, a combination of cold oats with granola, chocolate rice and cinnamon toast crunch cereals, cream of rice topped with cereal/pretzel combo, and chocolate graham crackers. I know these carb sources work for me, so no point in straying from the formula.
I also find posing really helps me fill out and shuttles the carbs into my muscles well. Even during the posing workshop, the guy running it and another competitor commented they thought I kept getting fuller and tighter as the class went on. So on my carb load day, I plan on doing a brief posing round through all the mandatories after each meal. Nothing that will stress or tire me out, and not flexing all the way, but enough to squeeze the muscles and get the carbs where I want them.
Gonna relax, eat my protein pudding cake, and wake up to 4 eggs and bacon 
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If youāre in ketoā¦ in just gonna leave this right here. Itās the single greatest Keto meal Iāve had.
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Oh. My. God. WHAT IS THAT??!
French silk pie. Something like 300 cals, 23F, 3 net carbs and the rest protein. Iāll see if I can find the recipe. I would eat it even if I ate carbs.
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Please please send the recipe if you can, Iāll squeeze it into the plan!
The recipe is on Ruledme search french silk pie. I had 3/4 of a serving twice a day. Itās incredible.
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Thanks man! Not sure Iāll have time to make it for these next few days but it looks awesome, definitely on the to do list post show!
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Day 1 of peak week coming to a close. Felt great to not to cardio today and relax a bit, and get some more writing done than I usually have time for. Food was tasty, dinner was especially good:
-4 Eggs
-1oz pepperoni
-bunch of veggies
-hot sauce
Also had a great salad tonight with 4oz salmon, 1oz cashews and honey dijon 0 cal dressing. Today was the last day for dressings, just to play it safe. All hot sauce from here on out!
Definitely starting to feel the effects of keto and water brain, but thatās just part of the process. Only 3 more days of this protocol, then the carb up Friday.
Gym felt ok today, definitely dragging as a result of no carbs, but got a good pump workout in, and despite being flat, looked pretty tight and veiny. Came home and knocked out some posing practice, I feel more confident in my posing after the workshop. Tomorrow is the same as today, same diet and training session.
Usually the first layer of Pro-Tan goes on Thursday night, and 3 layers Friday. My wife canāt get off of work on Friday, so the tanning process will start Wednesday night. One layer Wednesday, one Thursday, two Friday. Kind of exciting to start it earlier, seems like the show is coming even quicker now.
5 days to go!
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Right there with you brother!
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4 days out, 141.2lbs. First thing in the AM, day 2 of peak week depletion.
Already pretty flat since I didnāt have many carbs to begin with, but really tightening up, and finally feeling confident in my quads.
The end is coming quickly now, tomorrow night I start tanning, just a few days till carb up, and I am so pumped to get on stage for this show!
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Your quads are a bit flat (expected) but theyāve REALLY tightened up, man. Very evidentā¦props!!!
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