Killing it man. Thanks for being so detailed, it honestly helps a TON when considering the many facets of doing a cut myself.
Also, I’m constantly amazed at your strength. My main focus is strength, Im 50lbs heavier than you and I know there are several lifts that I couldn’t touch you in. (Incline pressing 100lb DB for a set of 10???) Not saying I’m the strongest guy around, but it really puts things into perspective!
I’m a Robstein fanboy, just sayin’.
When you set these goals, do you build in an assumption that you’ve gained a certain amount of LBM since your last contest, so that each time you cut you might be setting a slightly higher goal?
I know that towards the end of a cut, things get crazy and all bets are off, but I’m just thinking more about how you set the longer-range goal when you’re in the earlier phases.
Thanks!
@littlesleeper LOL! Thanks man, that comment made my day. Glad to provide the detail! I’ve learned so much reading the logs of others, and some are really detailed, and those are where you find the gems and can really get some good info, and think on how to apply it to yourself. I know I’ve read it before, but I still read Stu’s prep log on all my preps, and every time I feel like I take away something new. Kind of like how my wife and I read and watch Harry Potter over and over and over again, never gets old 
Thanks for the comments on the strength also bro, much appreciated man. I think it’s a combination of things, I’m fortunate enough to have good genetics for the sport, always been on a solid plan from T-Nation since my first day in the gym, and have an extremely obsessive personality.
Along with that, I do think Micro-PA has been a game changing supplement for me. I noticed changes in my physique within a few weeks of taking it years ago, I still take it every training day. I have no doubt it’s helped me put on some solid mass, which leads to more strength, etc. I started taking it right at the time I got more into bodybuilding style training, rather than just weight lifting. I think the combination of training like a bodybuilder, along with the Micro-PA, getting better with nutrition, genetics, etc., all cumulative.
My uncle, my mom’s brother, used to be a natural bodybuilder, and I take after my mom’s side of the family with pretty much all of my physical characteristics. Runs in the family!
@Serge_A_Storms - Yeah, that’s exactly right. After my first year of prepping, then the reverse diet, I was amazed at how different I looked at 163lbs after competition compared to before competition. My first season, I was very lean but not shredded. The plan then in the second season this past year was to come in with a lower scale weight, with added muscle, so those two things put together made a much tighter package. My first year of competition I was 145 at the end of my season, this past year I was 140 and looked way bigger and tighter.
So, after a few years of prepping and collecting data with the scale weight, I know that last year I went into “lock down” prep mode at 153 and was already looking very lean with abs, and at 148ish abs are hard and legs are close. So, I figure after putting on 24lbs since my last show, and the increases in strength, no doubt a portion of that is LBM. So, I’m hoping and assuming that when I reach 153-154 this time, it’ll be a tighter and bigger physique than last year, and it’ll be a good opportunity to assess, and see how I want to approach the start of the contest prep.
Good week, wrapping up week two of the diet. Here are some week two highlights:
HIIT THURSDAY Low day HIIT day. Last week my wife and I did sprints in the park, sore for daaaaays. This week, we warmed up, took off for our first sprint, and both got shooting pains in various places in our legs. Not like, “just sore, warm up, push past it” sore, it was painful, we both had to stop. So, we changed it up, and did a solid 45min trail run on a challenging trail near the house. Not HIIT, but we ran the whole time and it was a great cardio session. I think sprints will be out, and we’ll stick to trail running while it’s still warm before going to the cardio machines when it gets colder.
LEGS FRIDAY High day yesterday. Second week in a row not squatting, and I am really feeling better than usual. I go to the chiropractor weekly, have been for a couple years now, for pelvic and hip issues. Since I stopped squatting two weeks ago, those issues have felt so much better, pretty much non existent. We are still hitting quads twice a week, hams are thoroughly hit once a week, calves twice a week, so I am going to take the same approach with my legs that I take with my back. Hit it from all the angles, take out the potentially damaging exercises and don’t risk injury. I haven’t deadlifted in years, and while I have no problem squatting, I think for my goals and longevity, I’m going to take them out.
TRAINING IN GENERAL
I realize my training program hasn’t changed much in a long time. So, in an attempt to get some new stimulus going, I’ve switched out some exercises, and as I’ve always started my sessions with big lifts, am now doing my main and heavy lifts at the end of each session, starting with more isolation exercises. “Pre-exhaust” as it’s commonly called. It feels good to warm up the working muscles in an isolation exercise first, going to keep up with this for a while.
Yesterday after the gym we went to Philly, had an awesome time walking around, seeing the sight in Old City like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc., then found a delicious high-day dinner at a place called the “Real Food Eatery.” I had grass fed sirloin (extra steak of course) over mixed greens, with quinoa-avacado-raisin salad, and roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon. And of course, some smores halo top.
My low weight this week was 159.6, since then it’s been in the 161s and 162s, go figure. But, we started taking our body fat measurements when we started the diet, and are taking them every two weeks. We use the calipers on each other and keep track. Two weeks ago, my measurements were:
8/18/17
Chest- 7
Abs - 17
Thigh - 23
Total = 47 = 14.5%
Today, they were:
9/2/17
Chest- 6
Abs - 14
Thigh - 19
Total = 39 = 12%
These numbers make sense to me, currently 160lbs at 12%, puts me having just under 20lbs of fat, so that would be around 140lbs, last year’s stage weight. As I’m assuming I’ve put on 5-6lbs of muscle since the show, that should mean if I get to 143ish I should be stage ready. There’s always some wiggle room with calipers, but the numbers make sense, and since I’m not about to spend money on a DEXA scan, I’ll keep up with the calipers.
RANT COMING: I got a new client this past week. Dude isn’t competing, but wants to get lean enough to start doing photo shoots and pursue a career as a fitness model, so about 8-9%. I estimate him to be about 15-16% currently. He came to me from another coach. His previous coach is a buddy of mine, assisted, has competed once before, and has told me about the things his coach has him doing, which don’t make sense to me, but if it works for him, whatever. So, this guy who I’m coaching now, all natural, comes to the house, and explains that he’s been following this plan for 3 months, is in the gym 3 hours a day, following his nutrition plan to the gram, and is not seeing any results and feels like crap. I’m wondering how this is possible. So, I see the training plan, I see the nutrition plan, unbelievable. He wasn’t lying. He’s in the gym for 3 hours because his workouts have a ludicrous amount of working sets. Like 60 at least. 10 exercises, all with 6 working sets, but some of them are supersets, so really it might be as many as 80 working sets. His current nutrition plan consisted of 6 meals of ground turkey and white rice, because he’s on “phase 2” of the diet, and in “phase 2” we don’t eat dietary fats. ANY. So, this is the plan that his coach got from his coach, and now this guy is in bad shape.
So, I explained that he’s probably not seeing results because his workouts are three to four times longer than they should be, his cortisol is probably so high that there’s no way he can gain and recover from the workouts, and his hormones are whacked out because he hasn’t eaten anything but turkey and rice for however long. That took me a couple minutes to explain to him, and he said no one had ever told him why he was doing the things he was doing, or how they worked, he just did them. He said he’s been moody, irritable, foggy, etc., and had no idea why.
It’s amazing to me the broscience that people follow. My last client was a 5’6" 123lb (stage weight) female physique competitor, whose previous coach told her to eat 4000 calories a day for a while, so they can bulk before the cut. When she came to me, she was a month in to her 4000 cal diet, at 160lbs. We had to lose 35lbs to get her stage ready.
For anyone reading this, if you ever hire a coach, please make sure that:
-They have competed themselves and have achieved a look you believe to be successful
-They have worked with other clients who have achieved a look you believe to be successful
-Are able to explain why and how their plan works
-Make a plan suited to your needs and goals and are not carbon-copying the same plan they give everyone else
-If you’re natural, you should be working with a coach who is natural
I am not knocking anyone who is assisted, I just think drugs are too much of a game changer in training, cardio, nutrition, etc., and that a plan for someone who assisted is not the plan a natural should be following.
Hi Rob, if you don’t mind me asking a semi-personal question: Do you have some sort of sponsorship arrangement with Biotest? (If you do, more power to you–you’re certainly deserving of one.)
@EyeDentist all good man! I do not have a formal sponsorship with Biotest, but over the past couple years, they have been extremely awesome and have given me some help during my preps.
I am just an avid user and fan of Biotest supplements for years, I tend to talk a lot about things I am passionate about and believe in, and the quality Biotest offers is why I stick to it.
Even before I started competing, I was using many of their supplements, fortunately it’s in the budget and I consider it an investment in my health. After my first season of prepping and competing, I didn’t win shows but I did have some solid success and progress, ending with 2nd place at the Hercules. To quote @The_Mighty_Stu, once I achieved that, I really wanted to pursue it and see how far I can go, so I’ll take any advantage I can get. After winning a pro card and two shows last year, I’m more pumped than ever.
Now that I’m working from home and business is good, fortunately the supplements are still in my budget, so I’m gonna keep going with them and see how far I can go. Once I stop competing I’ll probably dial back the supplementation, but for now I’m all in.
I will admit that sometimes my jaw hits the ground when I go to my account and see the grand total I’ve spent over the years, or place an order, but again, I don’t mind as much because at least I’m getting the best ROI possible.
I wanted to formally introduce myself. I’ve been a lurker, and a fan, for sometime. I enjoyed your rant about the new client. Thanks for putting all your experiences out there so that we can, hopefully, filter out some of this bro-science (0g fat anyone?). I am still working my way through your log, but like little sleeper said: there is real gold in here. I have a lot to learn from you guys, and hopefully a little bit to share as well.
Happy Labor Day, enjoy your weekend!
@FatKidfromFL - thank you so much for taking the time to introduce yourself, to read the log and follow along! I really appreciate your kind words man, very much. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ve also learned a ton from reading through the forums, awesome prep logs, articles, there’s just a wealth of information on around T-Nation. 10 years ago I had been in a gym maybe 3 times in my whole life, was over 200lbs and would have never ever thought I’d be on the road I am now. Without T-Nation I really don’t think any of this would have happened.
So, again, thanks so much for commenting and following along! Please feel free to post anytime! It might be the teacher in me, but anytime someone makes a post like this it’s just really awesome to know other people are able to get some insight, motivation., etc., as I have from so many others. A great community on here!
Low day today, off day. To try to “dig in” more without hitting the gym, we’re doing 3 meals with Mag-10 between. Breakfast was 2 whole eggs with 200 cals worth of waffles. Lunch is about to be a turkey salad with almonds, and my usual protein Ezekiel cereal before bed because I gotsta have my pre-bed carbs for sleep.
I am most definitely hungry today and really want to eat! I don’t have to do this, but I want to get there a little quicker, and it’s a good non-aggressive way to burn the fat. I’m on a diet, I’m gonna be hungry. But, I have found, every time, without fail, that hard abs are better than snacks.
After reading about it here, I have incorporated carb cycling, and I really like that it only feels like I’m really “dieting” on low-days. If anyone is on the fence, I recommend giving it a shot; If you are consistent with your “input”, it allows for a lot of “dialing-in” of results.
Keep fighting the good fight Rob!
That’s awesome man, glad to hear you are having good results with it! As you keep going with it, you’ll be able to see how you respond to different variations. Digging in more on low days, adding more on high days, maybe changing the cycle up to a L-L-M-L-L-H or similar, lots of ways to go about it.
I’m with you there, I am certainly feeling like I’m digging hard on my low day today, tomorrow’s medium day will seem like a walk in the park.
Thank you bro, you too!
Good way to feel full on a diet - SOUP!
My main meat source is boneless, skinless chicken thighs. We alternate between baking them with sugar free BBQ marinade, or just some seasoning in the crockpot. So, last week we made chicken thighs and saved the broth. Just took about 3lbs chicken thigh, put in the crockpot, add water until an inch below the top, add some seasoning, done. We saved the broth, and are now making chicken soup, macro friendly.
So, I cut up (all organic and local) parsnips, portobello mushroom, radishes, baby carrots and bok choy. Season with kosher salt, little pepper, and a small, fresh batch of dill. Then, poured in the chicken broth we made last week, it’ll simmer in the crock pot over night.
Tomorrow, we’ll make new chicken thighs in the crockpot, and save the broth for our next batch of soup. So, instead of chicken and veggies, we have chicken soup. Fill a big bowl with as much broth as ya want, because it’s all just homemade chicken broth and veggies. Then, weigh out the chicken, pop it in the bowl, and viola. The hot soup with all the veggies is very filling. Add a side salad with 0 cal Walden Farms dressing, and you’ve got a delicious, very filling, 200cal meal. Will have this for lunch, and for dinner, will probably have the same and toss my post workout cup of rice in the soup as well.
Medium day today - back, biceps, cardio.
Weight is 161 even this morning, I think the 159.6 I had last week was a fluke with the scale or something because I haven’t seen anything like that since. Been in the mid to low 162’s, then 161’s, and this morning 161.0. So, 2 weeks into the diet, 4 pounds of scale weight down, starting to look leaner and things are moving along well. I may step up the intensity depending on how things go this week. I have my first trip coming in a little under 6 weeks to work with a couple bands in Nebraska, then I’ll be home for a week and change, then heading to CA for two weeks. So, I want to be sure by my first trip I’m around 155. Should be totally feasible, just gotta make sure I keep things moving.
Very solid workouts lately. Yesterday had some good strength and a couple PRs, it was chest and quads.
Incline DB Presses - 90s x 12, 95s x 10, 100s x 10, 105s x 10. I’ve done 105s before but not for 10.
Pin Loaded Incline Presses (weight is each arm, there are two stacks on this machine so the arms operate independently)- 65x15, 70x12, 70x12
Pec Deck - 110x12, 115x10, 115x10
Hammerstrength Flat Bench (weight is per arm, each arm is plate loaded separately) - 90x8, 90x8, 90x8
Single leg extensions - 110x10, 110x10, 115x10 (PR city here, have not been able to go that heavy on single leg)
Walking Lunges - 135 barbell x a lot of steps (24-28 steps), then walk it back to start. 3 sets.
With the walking lunges that I end the session with, the past couple weeks I’ve done them with 40-50lb kettlebells in each hand. Yesterday, I decided to try them with a barbell on my back, like in a squat position. It was a different level for sure. The stabilization needed to do walking lunges with a barbell is much harder than with the kettlebells, and it really fired up my glutes more as well. I’d lunge half the length of the gym, which is about 24-28 steps, turn around, walk back to start and drop the barbell (fortunately my gym has no shortage of bumper plates.)
My focus for round 3 next year, in addition to of course always wanting to come in bigger and tighter, is to get my quads as tight as my hams and upper body were. Quads were my best presentation yet, and were very lean, but IMO still fell short of being shredded. I’m hoping building them up more will help. I’ve always hammered legs hard, have hit them twice a week when needed, but my quad training has largely been squat and leg press based with some extensions at the end. So, now I am hitting quads twice a week, more leg extensions, single plate loaded extensions, walking lunges, etc., the plan is to build up the tear drop and sweep as much as possible, get leaner than I ever have, combined with more added mass all around, should hopefully be the ticket.
Haven’t posted a pic in a while, here a couple from yesterday during concentration curls. Last exercise of the day of back and biceps. As usual, no filters or BS lighting, just trying to show a normal off-season training session. I notice on social media, competitors are happy to post daily pics during contest prep, then in the off season, continue to post pics like “found this pic today from 2 weeks out” or “thinking about my last show today” and post a show pic and such, and will rarely post an off season pic, assumably for fear of posting something that doesn’t look super shredded or impressive. Nothing wrong with being nostalgic, I just think it’s equally as beneficial to show what it looks like to be a regular person in the off season and still training.
Currently sitting 20lbs above stage weight.
Good back and bis session yesterday, had some new PRs, including:
-Close grip lat pulldown - 170x8 on my last two sets
-Hammer strength Iso-Low row (weight is each arm)- 135x8 all 3 sets
Always awesome to set PRs while on a diet!
Woke up at 161 even today again. I leave for my first trip 5 weeks from tomorrow, so just to make sure I can keep the progress moving, made some slight adjustments to my nutrition to get my numbers closer to what they were when I started prepping last year:
-Switched to 5 meals instead of 6. I did 5 meals for most of my prep last year, it worked out well as the meals were bigger, and 4 hours between meals isn’t a problem for me early in the prep. I enjoy eating bigger meals less frequently rather than smaller meals more frequently.
-Lowered cals by taking out my post workout carbs, so dinner is always meat and veggies. This lowers my current medium day numbers to:
185c, 180p, 46f - 1900 cals
“No carbs post workout?!” you say? I’m still getting carbs with every meal, including pre-bed. I took out my post workouts carbs because:
-I like having carbs throughout the day to fill glycogen stores and get ready for my session.
-I still get plenty of carbs throughout the day and in my pre-workout meal to fuel my training and keep cortisol at bay.
-Post workout, protein is what’s needed. There’s no need to immediately refill glycogen after training. As long as you’re getting carbs before the next training session, you’ll have the glycogen.
-I’ll burn more fat after training.
-I still get about 30g carbs before bed and have been sleeping very well with them, noticeably better than on my P+F pre bed meal.
Today is delts, tris, abs and 20min LISS.
Good scale movement today, down to 160.0, aiming to lose another 7-8 over the next 5 weeks if possible, but even a more conservative 1lb per week loss would be fine, putting me at 155. After a few years of dieting and daily weight logs, I know that 153-155 I when I start looking pretty tight, so anywhere around there would be ideal. Last year I started prepping at 154, so getting there now next month would put me in a good place.
Yesterday was delts, tris and cardio, had a good session, even a PR at the end of seated dumbbell presses. Typically that would be the first exercise for shoulders, but over the past few weeks I went back to doing them last. Yesterday I was able to get 65’sx12, 70’sx10, and 75’sx8.
Today is a low day HIIT day, breakfast was:
-1 whole egg with 1/2 cup egg whites, over veggies with 1oz fat free melted cheese
-3 Van’s “Lite” Waffles with 0 cal syrup
You are a machine Rob! Really good to see you are still able to put up PRs in the middle of a cut.
Rob, did you get to shoot Ma Duece? I just saw that pic from your CO trip. Nasty.
@Irishman92 thank you very much man! Another good sign that the diet plan is structured properly, when gym performance and strength are maintained or even improve. Last year we found a good combination of carbs and cardio that kept strength solid throughout, until the last couple weeks when the goal is to stay alive lol.
@FatKidfromFL - we sure did! It was my wife’s birthday so we got a free rental and just had to pay for the ammo.
160lbs, first thing in the AM. Sitting about 20lbs above stage weight, but as objectively as I can say, I think I’ve put on some visible mass in the 5 months since the show. Still have some visible tear drop and leg definition at 160 covered in hair, I’ll take it.
Today marks 3 full weeks into the diet. Started at 164, the low this week was 160, so that’s 4lbs down in 3 weeks, not bad, considering I’m eating more carbs and doing less cardio than during my last prep. Making some additional small tweaks today to keep things moving. As usual, while I’m happy with the fat loss so far, I’m always surprised at how low I have to get my numbers to see more significant fat loss, in both carbs and total cals. Again, coming to terms with the fact that I’m 5’4" and 140lbs on stage, I can’t compare my numbers to taller, heavier guys. Or, smaller, skinnier guys with a fast metabolism. I think my years of training has given me the ability to handle carbs fairly well, but on a fat loss phase or prep, I’ve always had to get my carbs pretty low to get lean. So, as much as I hate to do it, I think I have to lower my carbs more. Some people can handle higher carbs, some can’t. Very largely individualized, so it’s important to really learn what’s best for yourself and not always say, “well this person did this so I’m gonna do it that way too.”
