Back from vacation, what an incredible time it was, as always! We started most days with Finibars, trained at Flex in Colorado Springs, ate something awesome then hiked all day. On days we didn’t hike, we hit the Olympic Training Center, explored nearby towns, some cave tours, shooting ranges, just a wonderful experience to back in Colorado. It was our fourth time going, we usually go for about 2 weeks, and every time seems better than the last. I highly recommend CO Springs if you haven’t been before! I took tons of pictures, here are some highlights, keeping it mostly centered around training and food for this post.
We trained almost every day, and did a ton of hiking. Food was typically 2 Finibars, training, a big post workout meal, long hikes or daily trips where we’d have some more Finibars, trail mix, jerky, etc., then a solid dinner. We shared a couple pints of Halo Top or Enlightened pretty much every night 
Since we were training and hiking so much, we kept it clean for the most part but I also wanted to be sure to eat enough that I could still grow on vacation. I was probably at 3500-4000 cals a day, it was awesome. Now that we’re home, we’re wrapping up this week with a couple family birthdays and a BBQ at my parent’s house.
As I’ve written over the years, I am a fan of cyclical bulking AND cyclical dieting, if your schedule allows for it. I don’t have a super precise method, I gain until conditioning gets to the point where I’d like to lean out. Knowing our cut is coming up, I didn’t mind if I put on some extra pounds if it’ll allow me to gain more LBM. When you know exactly what needs to be done to lose fat quickly and efficiently, it’s not really a big deal if a couple extra pounds are added. I don’t have any hard data, but the way I figure it, I’m training balls out and eating up, so if I do gain a little more weight than intended, some of that has gotta be muscle. Let’s say it’s 5 unwanted pounds. If even one of them is a solid pound of muscle, I have no problem losing an extra 4, knowing that pound will make a big difference on stage.
That being said, I’m guessing my weight is around 165. Before I left for vacation it was 162, that was two weeks ago. I haven’t weighed myself since, I’m going to start daily weigh-ins on Monday. I also feel that I want to grow as much as possible, so if I need to get up to 165-167 to allow some more growth, it’s all good. Just as a point of reference, my stage weight is 140-141.
So, again, starting the cut Monday. My wife and I are doing it together as we’re both aiming for the WNBF Hercules 2018. Prep style cut, complete with cardio and HIIT, for 8-10 weeks, than back to maintenance. After 4 shows and 2 years of prepping, I know that when I hit 153-154 I really see a lot of definition and have clear 6 pack. By 148-150lbs, I’m around 10% and my upper body is almost stage ready. At 145 pounds, my upper body is stage ready. So, by the end of the mini-cut, say mid-October, or Halloween at the latest, I want to be somewhere between 150-154.
Now that I’m home and my crazy busy season is done, I’ll be posting much more frequently, and will definitely be keeping a very detailed log of my upcoming prep-style cut.
