Awesome @whang, thanks for joining!
Gotcha, sorry brother. That can be super tough, Iâve had similar situations with other friends or family, eventually I just stopped trying to explain. You know itâs worth it, and youâve always got plenty of support on the forums!
Thatâs the plan bro!!!
Unfortunately probably not, itâs about 3 hours away. Our gym here is solid, itâs a smaller place, not a chain, but a good amount of competitors there and the owner is a previous competitor too. I try to go mid afternoon before the evening rush and it hasnât been too crowded, which is important with all of these superset exercises so I can move through the workouts. I did get a membership to Goldâs as well nearby, $30 a month in case I need to utilize more equipment.
Day 5 of the prep, been great so far starting out. Nutrition has been a blast, loving every minute of it knowing the numbers are only going to go down from here!
Current macros for a normal day:
215c, 210p, 55f
Current macros for a refeed day (every 4th and 7th day right now):
335c, 195p, 61f
I am given macros and structure my meals with my own food choices, I always like to keep it clean because that typically allows for more food volume and nutrients, and is easier to stay full. Iâve created some awesome recipes and âfood hacksâ as I call them to make prep easier and not feel deprived of awesome food, including sweets. Iâll be posting these recipes along the way!
Todayâs training session was progressive overload for shoulders, and blood volume for back and traps. Getting used to the blood volume training has been more of a mental challenge than anything else. A combination of:
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Choosing a weight that will allow me to complete the 14-20 reps at a very slow tempo, with a huge squeeze in the middle. These are the lightest weights Iâve ever used!
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Increasing my pain threshold even further. As a bodybuilder having a strong pain threshold is essential, but this is another level. Cliff even told me at the start, âthis type of training should be extremely painful.â So, at least I know Iâm doing it right and what to aim for! The pain and pump starts almost immediately, the weight is not heavy enough that I canât lift it, so itâs truly just the mental aspect of pushing through the pain when every fiber of your body and mind is screaming âSTOOOOP!â For the blood volume work I turn my music up as loud as possible and push, itâs actually been a fun challenge and I know the results will be worth it. Visualizing being on stage against other competitors gets me through these sessions.
Time for post workout dinner:
6oz sirloin
300g sautéed zucchini and yellow squash
150g sweet potato.
Zevia soda is also a staple, 0 cal sweetened with stevia and no colorings.
In there like swimwear, bro.
Grateful for the prospect of another thread filled with knowledge. Will definitely be following along closely.
in for this. have read your other prep logs previously, good stuff. best of luck!
Are we talking a slow concentric and negative for the reps matey?
Very excited to follow this and wishing you the best of luck!
I saw Robâs contest prep log in the latest topics and thought to myself âplease let this be Robsteinâ before clicking on it. I think I only read your last two after theyâd finished but I really enjoyed them anyway, following live will be even better.
@flappinit thanks so much for your kind words, and for following along!
Thank you so much @Chieftain! The support on here really means a lot and is super helpful especially as the prep gets deeper, thanks for following.
Yessir, slow each way with a huge squeeze/flex mid way, also ensuring the tension never stops. An example would be doing bicep curls, the set starts, slow concentric for a 3 count, squeeze the bicep as hard as humanly possible at the top, 3 count negative while keeping tension, and do not let the arm totally relax at the bottom so you can keep the tension in the bicep throughout, then immediately start the next rep. With smaller muscle groups like shoulders or arms the weights wind up being very light, but the goal isnât to move a lot of weight, itâs to keep as much tension as possible.
Iâm doing these in supersets, an example of biceps the other day was dumbbell hammer curls superset with straight bar curls, and then wide angle dumbbell curls into EZ bar preacher curls.
@caesium32 right on bro, thanks so much for joining!! Grateful to have you on board! 
Jesus man, that sound like painsville Arizona
Canât wait to see the results
LOL it is bro, give it a go sometime and post your thoughts here!
In. @robstein, if itâs not asking too much (ie, if it doesnât make you feel like youâre giving away Wilsonâs work-product): What does the overall training split look like?
SO TRUE! I used to let my pup lick my plate sometimes after meals. Not during prep buddy, daddy licks his own plates!
@EyeDentist good to see you again sir!!
Yes, I asked Cliff about this when we got started and he gave me permission to share.
Right now heâs starting me on a 3 phase program to build up to more volume. Phase 1 consists of 6 workouts, each workout has a âprogressive overloadâ segment focusing on one or two muscle groups, 3-4 sets each exercise of 6-8 reps per set. This segment is where we focus on adding weight, last rep should be very close to failure.
Then thereâs a âblood volumeâ segment for one or two muscle groups, which is very slow tempo, 3 seconds each way with a hard squeeze at the top, 2-3 sets of 14-20 reps and theyâre always supersets for the same muscle group. Ex: dumbbell laterals into seated dumbbell presses. So, one superset here can take 3-4 minutes when executed properly and the pain is intennnnse.
Throughout the 6 workouts, every muscle group is hit twice, once for progressive overload and once for blood volume. Progressive overload is usually first in the workout, except for legs, because legs get their own blood volume day, and their own progressive overload day, with abs following. Today was progressive overload legs and blood volume abs, and WOW it was tough on the abs.
Workout schedule right now is 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off, repeat. Currently no cardio in my plan yet. So the days off are always Wednesday and Sunday currently, but the workouts donât always fall on the same day each week. After I finish all 6 workouts 4 times, I take 2 full days off, then start phase 2, which will be totally different.
Been pretty sore this week all around, doing my best to keep it under control and recover with sitting in the sauna for 15min post workout while drinking my post workout whey isolate shake, and getting as much sleep as possible. Also supplementing with EAAâs pre workout and some high glycemic carbs with more EAAâs during.
Great to see this. The world needs more Robstein! 
Iâm really just in for the food 
. Youâre last prep was great, and I was often amazed at the quality meal preps. Hereâs to another great one!
@SkyzykS good to see you again man! Thanks for following along!
LOL, youâre in for a treat as Iâve discovered more awesome hacks over the years!