Rob's Road to Hercules: Contest Prep

Training
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OFF SEASON PLANS!

Summer - 5 day split, double shoulder and arm sessions.

Once September starts and my wife starts the new school year, I’ll be working from home full time. So, I’m going to take advantage of it and have an incredible off season, and workout twice a day Monday-Friday, one session on Saturday and an off day Sunday. I’ll be hitting every muscle group twice a week, hammering away at my Plazma and Finibars, and making crazy gains with a smart nutrition plan.

My wife leaves for work at 7am, so I can go to the gym for training, be back at the house by 8:30/9, write music all day, and train again in the afternoon without hindering my schedule at all. I’m extremely excited to train that much and make the most of my off season with my new schedule, and come back to compete next spring with a bigger and tighter physique.

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I’ve been talking with Stu a lot recently on our plan of attack during my off season and next contest prep. There are a few shows we’re looking at; there are a couple of big WNBF shows in March in NY, a Super-Pro-Q in Massachusetts in April, an OCB show late May, and of course the Hercules in June. I’m not committing to one yet as we have plenty of time. I know I’m going to do at least a couple of shows, 2 or 3, and I want to be done competing by summer time. So, I’m going to make the most of my off season and we’ll assess around the new year, and figure out which shows I’m going to do.

I’ve learned so much during the last 6 months and will post some thoughts in no specific order, but here’s what I’ve been thinking of lately.

While overall caloric intake certainly plays a huge role in composition and weight, the macro breakdown can really effect people differently. I’ve found that on days my carbs are high I need to keep fats lower, and when fats are high I need to keep carbs lower.

Even when eating clean, a “bulking” mentality can be dangerous. While I have the appetite of a wild animal, I’m 5’4" and between 140-145 on stage, so I have to keep it in check. Last year during our bulking phase Stu and I made great progress, but I did gain more fat than I should have to start a prep. At the time I thought I was lean to start a prep, and that if I went on stage at 148lbs I’d be shredded. Well, clearly not the case! Gotta start the next prep leaner. I don’t think the overall calories were a problem, on my medium and high days I think the fats were too high. During my prep I’ve learned I can tolerate quite a lot of carbs and use them well, and not get excess adipose, as long as my fats are low on those days. So, during my off season, my week will be comprised mostly of baseline days, consisting of:

-200g Protein
-around 45g added fat (not including fats from meat protein like beef). These added fats will be added in my meals between workouts, and before bed. Avacado, nuts, nut butter, grass fed cheeses, etc.
-The rest with carbs, aiming to get to at least 350g eventually if not more.

As I’ll be training twice a day Mon-Fri, and a session on Saturday, I am sure I’ll be able to utilize at least 350g carbs well, if not more! I’ll have one low day a week on my Sunday off day and see how that goes. I’ll certainly allow myself some nutritional fun in the off season, but won’t go crazy and won’t be eating junk. I think as long as I keep my fats at a level that allows me to function well hormonally and no more, I’ll make great gains. My low day I’ll replace the carbs with fats.

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Over the past 3 weeks since the show I’ve been seeing some pleasantly surprising progress. Since the show I’ve been eating clean and packing on as many carbs/cals as possible without over doing it, (with the exception of an epic July 4th BBQ, and my birthday recently). Currently weight is hovering between 155-156.

I really want to take advantage of the post contest level of leanness, it seems like the best time to put on muscle if you’re smart, or fat if you’re not careful. So, I’ve been loading up on clean carbs and have been training hard 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day. Here’s what I’ve been doing the past 3 weeks:

MON - Chest/Back
TUES - Arms (heavier workout, all in 8-12 rep range)
WED - Shoulders
THUR - Quads
FRI - Lats and Arms (all arm exercises are 20 reps)
SAT - Hamstrings and Shoulders
SUN - Off

Abs and calves are hit a couple times a week but not on set days. I make sure to get 'em in.

So shoulders and arms are hit hard twice a week, as these are the areas I really want to bring up. My first arm workout on Tuesday I keep everything in the 8-12 rep range, the second workout I’ve been doing a modified version of this 1000 rep arm workout. I don’t do the entire 1000 reps as I feel that would not be optimal for hitting arms twice a week and recovery, but I pick 3-4 exercises each for bi’s and tri’s, and go 20 reps per set. This gets a MASSIVE pump and is a good contrast from the Wednesday workout. I also incorporate some different exercises between the workouts, not the same ones just with different rep ranges.

I don’t really have a “high day” right now, basically training day nutrition Monday-Saturday, and Sunday I’ll do lower carbs, usually carbs with breakfast and then P+F the rest of the day. Basic day of training nutrition looks like this:

Meal 1 - 2 servings protein pancakes with some peanut butter on top- 40g carbs/40g protein, 10g fat
OR
2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites and 1/2 cup oatmeal (about the same macros)

Meal 2 - cottage cheese, MD protein

Meal 3 (training) - Finibar, 2 scoops Plazma

Meal 4 Post Workout - meat (chicken, grass fed ground beef or steak, veggies and 1 cup rice

Meal 5 - cottage cheese, protein and nut butter

Lately after quads my wife and I have been on a sushi kick, love fresh sushi!

Gonna keep up with this training and nutrition schedule for the rest of the summer, then once September hits and my wife goes back to work teaching, I’m going to create a new nutrition plan for my 2-a-day training split and see just how many carbs and cals I can pack in.

From September - December I’m going to be very strict with the nutrition, not dieting but really keeping track of everything so I can have a solid knowledge of my maintenance calories so when the dieting/prep does start, I’ll hit the ground running.

I’m still not sure which shows I’m going to do yet, but it would be pretty sweet to come back to the Hercules and earn my pro card. Stu did the same from 2010-2011 and dominated his weight class in the Hercules, and I think with my new training split for the summer, fall and winter to work on my weak points, I have the potential to do the same. No rush to pick yet, right now I’m enjoying training hard and eating up, and will assess later in the fall about which shows I’m going to do.

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Nice update Rob, don’t stop with the updates just because you’re in the off-season. I always seem to take something away from your posts!

I know your goals right now aren’t currently to lean out further but I notice you are currently taking in carbs in your meal #1. Is this primarily to quickly replenish your muscle glycogen and ensure you ‘break the fast’ that you are in while sleeping so you don’t lose any LBM?
I’ve just noticed a lot of articles recommend saving your carbs until later in the day and/or around your workouts.
This one and this one.

I know these articles are more geared towards fat loss, so that is likely where the difference would come in but I would be interested to get your take on it as you have your nutrition so dialed in!

Thanks :rice:

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@littlesleeper, thanks a lot man, I appreciate the feedback!

Good question! Carbs/timing sure can be confusing, and it’s taken me a loooong time to figure out how I best utilize them. My goal is right is to put on LBM, but carefully. I’ve always been carb sensitive, and while great supplements like Indigo help, and consistent weight training, I still need to be careful and can’t just eat carbs freely without repercussions. I do enjoy the carbs with breakfast, especially my pancakes!

You are totally right that when the goal is fat loss, and carbs get down to low levels, breakfast should be a P+F meal if you only have enough carbs for pre-workout. The articles you referenced as you said are both fat loss articles, so it’s a good recommendation for someone who has carbs pretty low and needs to prioritize when to have them. Here’s my opinion on the best times for carbs:

  1. Pre-workout (good solid meal or Plazma/Finibar)
  2. Breakfast OR Postworkout - This I feel kind of can be personal preference (more below).
  3. Meals between breakfast and after workout, all the way up until bed time if your #'s allow it. I always sleep better with a little bit of carbs before bed, like throwing my usual cottage cheese and whey on top of a piece of ezekiel toast if I have the cals left.

I’m a big fan of Clay Hyght, his training and nutrition articles are great. This article, “How Bodybuilders Should Eat”, helped me formulate my current daily nutrition. Unless you’re a lucky guy who can eat all the carbs in the world and still be skinny, carbs should be viewed as “fuel.” So we want to utilize them during times of the day when they’ll be used as energy, or stored as glycogen for later use, NOT as fat. As insulin sensitivity is high in the morning after not eating all night, breakfast is a good time to have some carbs, I prefer complex carbs so they take a little longer to digest for satiety. As long as you’re eating protein with breakfast, the GI of your carb source isn’t really a concern.

After breakfast and between training, my meals are P+F, but not too much fat as I’ve found I gain weight easily when both carbs and fats are higher during the day. So I make sure to get 45-50g fats daily total. Usually my non carb meals will be 30-40g protein, with about 10g fat from a serving of grass fed cheese, or 1TBSP of natural peanut or almond butter.

Then we have our essential pre-workout carbs to fuel the session, always the most important time to ensure we’re sparing muscle and fueling our training.

So let’s put a hypothetical situation and say you’ve limited yourself to 150g carbs for the day, and 100g carbs is coming in your pre workout meal. So we have 50g left. As I wrote earlier, just my opinion, I think breakfast OR post workout would be fine for when to consume the other 50g. Benefits to both.

Morning - Good insulin sensitivity, won’t be stored as fat. Personally I notice my mental state is a little better with carbs in the morning, and especially as I write music after breakfast, I like carbs when I can get them in the morning.

Post workout - The insulin spike here would help protein synthesis after the workout, BUT, according to this article, “Top 10 Post Workout Nutrition Myths”, adding carbs to your protein after workout does increase protein synthesis, but not significantly. Getting the protein is the most important thing. Additionally, if trying to stay leaner, you’re more likely to burn fat post workout by not consuming carbs since you burned your glycogen during your workout. If you eat carbs, you’ll be using those carbs as fuel, which is not a bad thing if your numbers allow it.

SO, if you had to choose, breakfast OR post workout, in my opinion, are good for carbs if you have room after your pre-workout nutrition, it really just comes down to personal preference.

Replenishing glycogen stores, at least for me, isn’t a priority in the morning, I just enjoy carbs with breakfast. I know I’m going to have my Plazma/Finibar each day for training, so even if my stored glycogen is low, it’ll fill up from the Plazma and/or Finibars. The most important thing to have quickly upon waking is protein to halt any possibility of being in a catabolic state. I’m not always hungry right away, I usually like my morning ritual of relaxing, having coffee with my wife and pups on the deck, and eventually coming in for breakfast. So, as soon as I get downstairs after waking up I have 24oz water in a shaker cup mixed with a scoop of BCAA and Superfood. Tastes great, and I think also helps me utilize the protein in my breakfast a little better.

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I think I’m just going to print this response and hang it on my fridge! Thanks a ton for taking that much time for such a thorough response. That really cleared up a couple seemingly contradicting pieces of information for me.

I too enjoy carbs in the morning, but have been limiting them as of late because of a few articles I was reading, but your rationale of breakfast OR post-workout makes sense. Over the last couple weeks I have been following something similar to this:

Meal 1:
2 large whole eggs, 1cup egg whites, 1tsp coconut oil, 1tsp cinnamon, 1tsp cayenne pepper (sometimes a few slices of marble cheese)

Meal 2:
premade grocery store romaine lettuce salad with grilled chicken and real bacon bits, spring Italian dressing, 200g Ziggy’s Chicken Breast, 1 Banana (sometimes an additional can of tuna)

Meal 3: (preworkout)
1cup (cooked) basmati rice with a little bit of coconut or almond milk and curry powder OR granola bar OR pop tart
I also sip my preworkout supplement and creatine

Meal 4: (post workout)
Protein shake

Meal 5:
6-8oz meat (lean ground beef, chicken, fish, pork, venison), carb source (sweet potatoes, rice, on rare occasion pasta), and lots of mixed veggies or a salad.

Usually that hits my calories, but if it doesn’t I will throw a scoop of protein in some yogurt, or if I’m low on carbs I’ll throw a scoop of protein in some oatmeal or cream of wheat.

Sorry for taking up your wall!

I’ll definitely have to dive into that article when I have a chance, thanks for the reference.

Thanks again for the awesome information.

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Glad I can provide some helpful info man! Your nutrition looks great, seems like you really have things dialed in. [quote=“littlesleeper, post:228, topic:212317”]
That really cleared up a couple seemingly contradicting pieces of information for me.
[/quote]
I totally understand. One thing I’ve found as I continue to discover the methods that work best for me is that there are so many ways to approach nutrition/training, and so many of them have the science to back them up and it’s really a question of discovering what works best for you. My recent prep has been a great learning experience in this aspect. One example that comes to mind is steady state cardio, when to do it, how long to do it… I’ve found articles that say, “do fasted cardio for fat loss!” and articles that say “definitely don’t do fasted cardio for fat loss!” and the reasoning and evidence for both makes total sense, written by well respected and highly experienced authors. In the end I found a method that worked best for me, which was a shorter bout of fasted cardio in the morning, and adding another cardio session after training.

You seem very analytical and consistent, keep up the great work man!

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As many have said this thread is incredible! I read this non stop like a novel! I am actually glad i started reading it late so i didn’t have to wait for the next post! haha

Seriously, an amazing and inspirational show run! This was non stop action packed drama in all honesty lol Especially the piece where you had your pictures for 09’ and reflected on the journey coming to this point, truly amazing.

As a heavier guy myself trying to get down to an ideal condition, this is really really lit a fire under neath me, to show what it takes to get there. Seeing your journey all end in a 2nd place trophy was rewarding for me as the reader so i can’t even imagine what it was for you!! haha Who knows, maybe the idea of stepping on stage shouldn’t be completely out of my mind keep up the good work man and thank you so much for sharing.

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So Rob sent me a few pics from the gym he found to train at while in Colorado. I love the old school photos they’ve got on the walls accompanying the more recent champs.

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And of course Rob making progress for next Spring

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I always have a chuckle at Dorian leaving his socks on in that pose…

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The post was for his private collection, so he could evaluate progress in the future, he was not counting on it getting out the way it did.

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it’s one of my favourite BB pics of all time. Dude looks like he could flip a tank one-handed

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@beastcoast58, thank you very much for the kind words man! I really appreciate you taking the time to read through it all and am glad to hear you enjoyed it. It was an incredible journey, and while I’ve learned a TON through the process that I will change next time, I’m glad I kept a log on here so I can look back on it later.

Yeah, that was kind of a “stop and smell the roses” moment when I made the picture to upload. While I’ve spent most of my adult life as a bigger guy, I’ve been really dedicated to training and nutrition the past few years, so it can be hard sometimes to think back on what it was like before my belt buckle flew across the room and I decided to make a change. But, it was good to see those pics side by side, step back from the competitive aspect for a moment and just think about the progress over the past few years and how it’s improved my entire quality of life.

It was pretty surreal! After pre judging I felt good about a top 3 placement, but still wasn’t sure and didn’t want to be over confident. At such a competitive show, getting 2nd to the overall winner in my first competitive season, especially after such a brutal prep, was a great “cherry on top” of the whole experience. The further I got into the prep, the more I was able to separate myself from the competitive aspect of it all. All you can do is bring your best, you have no control over who else shows up. Being too emotionally tied to winning a show and having your feelings and self confidence based on competitive success, in my opinion, will leave one mostly disappointed and frustrated in this sport. That being said, anyone who does a show has a competitive side, and wants to do well. It was extremely rewarding earning second out of seven sharp competitors, combined with learning some judges had me first, really gave me confidence that I have potential in this sport and will compete again.

That’s awesome man! I’m glad the log was able to give some motivation, because what got me motivated to compete was reading the competition logs on here of great TNation competitors, guys like @The_Mighty_Stu, @yodaddy, @GrindOverMatter, @EyeDentist. Very intelligent, hard working guys that gave great insight into the competition prep experience. After reading enough, it gave me the confidence that I could do it and made me want to get to the next level.

On a side note, I have a good friend who I’ve known for the past year and a half. When we met, he was 300 pounds, having already lost about 60 pounds on his own. He was frustrated and wanted to make more progress, but didn’t know what to do. As we hung out more, he got more interested in my training and nutrition as I was preparing to start my prep. After enough conversation, he got motivated to make a change, and I was honest and upfront about the commitment it takes to make it happen. But, he wanted it, so I made him a training and nutrition plan. He followed it and over the course of 8 months lost almost 80 pounds. He’s 220 now and looks incredible, literally like a different person. People he sees that haven’t seen him in a couple of years don’t recognize him. He still wants to continue his progress, but is doing great and is more motivated than ever to continue training and eating well.
EDIT: Here’s a recent side-by-side of him, amazing results from hard work and consistency.

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You can do ANYTHING you put your mind to! There is no reason to doubt you can get there, and stepping on stage is great goal to have. A guy I work out with used to be pretty heavy, and over the past 10 years has transformed his body, naturally, into one that would easily win his weight class if he decided to compete.

Thanks again for reading and your very thoughtful post!

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Alright, been a little while since the last update. Currently on vacation (finally!) with my wife in beautiful Colorado Springs for 2 weeks. Taking a little break from the hiking, white water rafting and sight seeing today and just chilling in the hotel after a good workout and meal, maybe go to a movie tonight. Yesterday during white water rafting our raft flipped in a class 4 rapid, all ended well but after that experience we thought today would be a good day to relax :slight_smile:
While in CO Springs, we’re of course enjoying ourselves but wanted to keep training since we’re gone for 2 weeks, and wanted to find a place we could continue making progress. We found an awesome gym a few minutes away, FLEX Fitness. It’s an old school body building gym, lots of awesome posters everywhere as @The_Mighty_Stu posted some shots. The owners are great, they have chalk bowls in every room, a dirt area outside with tires and weighted carry equipment, tons of machines and some seriously jacked members. Also a few dogs running around the place, a nice touch. Here are a few more pics of the gym and a few from training. Nothing fancy, just some off season training pics on a typical day. Weight is hovering between 157-158.

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We’re not doing a direct weight training leg workout this week with all the hiking, but for a monster leg-cardio session, we tackled “The Manitou Springs Incline.” This bad boy is a path in the side of a mountain in Manitou Springs, next to Colorado Springs. The base of the incline starts a 6,600 elevation, and the incline is 1 mile long and ascends over 2,000 in elevation as you climb. It’s absolutely brutal and makes your usual HIIT workout look like a walk in the park. It’s also a blast and a beautiful view once you’re at the top! It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the top. Then there’s a 4 mile hike down to the bottom again.

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Having a blast on vacation and will be posting more frequently after I get home next week. I’ll be designing a new 2-a-day training program and nutrition plan and am going to focus on maximizing LBM gains, bringing up shoulders and arms, and maintaining a weight of 160 and below so I can start my next prep leaner, hopefully making it easier to get to the next level of conditioning.

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After a wonderful 2 weeks in beautiful CO, it’s time to get back to the normal school year routine, but now with one exception…I’m not teaching anymore! I have transitioned to working full time from home with my business, which is incredibly exciting. Today my wife started her second year full time at her current school, and it’s the first day that it’s really hit me that I’m now self employed. This will allow me to have more flexibility with my schedule for my business, take on more work, and have an incredible off season in preparation to come back next spring and do some serious damage.

CO was awesome, a full 2 weeks of vacation. We hit the gym every morning with the exception of the day we did the incline (leg day!), and also hiked almost every day, hikes usually lasted between 4-5 hours. So, I figured I could (and should!) really enjoy myself food wise as long as it was clean, which I did.

In the time since the show in June I feel I’ve made some good improvement, training hard and not slacking on my diet. I’ve DEFINITELY been eating some serious food and carbs lately, but it’s all clean and I haven’t gone overboard. Since the show, I’ve modified my training a bit and have been doing 5x5 for my first exercise of the day, and then keeping everything in the 8-12 rep range. Taking a break from the 15-20 rep area and drop sets and such, moving to more straight sets and pushing heavy weight throughout with slightly shorter rest periods, and overall more intensity.

This week I’ll be starting my new 2x a day program. I’m going to give it a trial run this week, go back to 1x a day next week, then 2x a day again for a few weeks. As of now the plan is to run the 2x a day for 2-3 weeks, then a week of 1x per day with maybe a couple more off days, and repeat. I’ll be hitting the gym 2x a day and hitting every muscle 2x per week, so I have to be careful and make sure I can recover properly. Here’s my starting point, and we’ll tweak as necessary:

TRAINING
MON: AM-arms / PM-quads
TUES: AM-back / PM-delts & traps
WED: AM-chest/ PM-hams & calves
THUR: AM-arms / PM-quads
FRI: AM-back / PM-delts & traps
SAT: chest and hams (one session)
SUN: OFF

NUTRITION
Wake - 20oz water w/ BCAA & Superfood
-coffee w/ unsweetened almond milk and stevia
Indigo 3G, Micro PA

Meal 1
Egg whites, oats/cream of rice
OR
1 Finibar, Metabolic Drive Protein Shake

AM TRAINING - 1 scoop Plazma w/ glutamine

Meal 2
1 cup egg whites, 3oz ground turkey, rice/sweet potato, veggies
2 Curcumin

Meal 3
4oz cottage cheese, 1 slice Ezekiel bread, 2TBSP natural nut butter

Meal 4
1 Finibar, Metabolic Drive Protein Shake

PM TRAINING - 1 scoop Plazma w/ glutamine
Elite-Pro Minerals post training

Meal 5
6oz meat, rice/sweet potato, veggies
2 Curcumin

Meal 6
4oz cottage cheese, 1TBSP natural nut butter
4 Flameout

TOTAL CALS - 2700. 300c, 220p, 50f

When my next prep comes around I’ll be eliminating dairy, but in the off season I’m not worried about it.

Current weight is sitting at 160-161, so in the time since the show when my weight was 148, I’ve put on 12 pounds in the past 8 weeks, slow and steady. In comparing my physique to last winter when I was 160, I think I’m in a much better place. Both pics are the same weight, left is last February, right is last week. I have a LOT of work to do for next season, but am ready and excited for it.

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Day 3 of 2-a-day training, feeling a little more sore than usual but otherwise enjoying it quite a bit. Still figuring out how much volume is optimal for each session, right now I’m trying to keep a lid on it and limit to 12-15 sets, depending on the muscle. I’ve always been a high volume guy, so coming in the gym to do one muscle group for 12-15 sets is pretty standard but feels low for me.

One of my favorite aspects of a 2-a-day program is the amount of food I get to eat. With 2 sessions a day, I feel I have a lot of room to experiment with just how much food I can get in a day to make solid gains without over doing it. Protein synthesis and metabolism will be turbo charged all day, every day. After plugging in my program to a TDEE calculator, it came out to about 2800 cals. So, I bumped up cals to 3100, I figure a 10% surplus is a good starting point and we’ll see what I can do from there. Definitely keeping an eye on conditioning, making sure I can still see my abs as the scale goes up. As Stu has pointed out, if I can put on even 5-6 lbs of LBM for next year, that will be very noticeable on stage, especially with my short stature. I think that’s totally attainable, and I plan on adding more than that. It’s not really possible to pick a number, if I get to the point where conditioning is getting too puffy I’ll pull back. But, with a 2-a-day training program and another 6 months before I start cutting, I think 8-10 pounds of LBM is feasible. Here’s the revised nutrition, basically just added some extra fruit and peanut butter at a couple points in the day, leaving protein at 1.5g per pound.

NUTRITION
Wake - 20oz water w/ BCAA & Superfood
-coffee w/ unsweetened almond milk and stevia
Indigo 3G, Micro PA

Meal 1
Egg whites, oats/cream of rice
OR
1 Finibar, Metabolic Drive Protein Shake

AM TRAINING - 1 scoop Plazma w/ glutamine

Meal 2
1 cup egg whites, 3oz ground turkey, rice/sweet potato, veggies
2 Curcumin, 4000IU Vitamin D, Vitamin B Complex

Meal 3 - Shake (I put it all in the Vitamix, makes a delicious combo)
4oz cottage cheese, 1 scoop MD Protein, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 2TBSP natural nut butter

Meal 4
1 Finibar

PM TRAINING - 1 scoop Plazma w/ glutamine
Elite-Pro Minerals post training

Meal 5
6oz meat, rice/sweet potato, veggies
2 Curcumin

Meal 6 - Shake
4oz cottage cheese, 1 scoop MD Protein, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 2TBSP natural nut butter
4 Flameout

TOTAL CALS - 3100. 340c / 250p / 65f

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First week of 2-a-days in the books, here’s what I did:

MON: AM-arms / PM-quads and calves
TUES: AM-back / PM-delts and traps
WED: AM-chest/ PM-hams and abs
THUR: AM-arms / PM-quads and calves
FRI: AM-back / PM-delts & traps
SAT: chest, hams and abs (one session)
SUN: OFF

Felt pretty beat up by the end of the week, but I was able to take a nap every day for about 45-60 minutes (working from home rocks) which was extremely helpful for recovery and being able to train again in the afternoon. This week I’m training 4 days, taking some extra off days for recovery so I can hit it hard again with 2 a days next week and see how long I can run it. I lowered calories this week to make up for the fact that I’m training once, but still getting a slight surplus. Right now I’m extremely focused on having a great off season, the 2 a day schedule allows me to hit everything fresh, twice a week, and eat a lot of food without having to do any cardio, at least for now. I’d rather lower cals than do cardio in the off season, so when I add the cardio next prep, I’ll get a good response.

One nutritional adjustment I’ve made recently is lowering protein down to 180g (about 1.1g per pound) from the 230-240g I was at (1.5g per pound.) Carbs are pretty high and I’m maintaining weight, on a 2-a-day training day I get about 325g carbs, so the high protein isn’t needed as carbs prevent the protein breakdown, and as long as I’m getting 1g per pound of bodyweight for protein, that’s certainly enough to continue gaining lean mass. I notice I’m less bloated/retaining less water, always a good thing as that’s a big issue for me. Weight is steady still at 161 this morning.

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Good. Most take in way too much protein!

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200g is the maximum protein I’ll ever eat, and I think I’ll probably lower it in a year or so to around the 180g mark.

There’s youngsters at my gym drinking a protein shake before, during and after their workouts. It’s like 120g of protein in an hour and a half.

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