Rob's Road to Hercules: Contest Prep

Training
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Changing up the meal frequency a little in an effort to eat more frequently. I’ve been eating 6 meals a day and going about 3 hours between meals as I’m used to it, but as the prep continues I find I get hungry sooner, get a little brain fog and such, and always feel noticeably better after eating. Keeping the same macro breakdown of course, but splitting up my 6 meals a day into 7 or 8 smaller meals, some easy substitutions, etc., and adding a couple of raw salads with “free” veggies between meals. Starting it today but just knowing I’m going to be eating more frequently is putting me in a better mental state, no more than 2 hours between meals. Also going to start adding Superfood to my morning BCAA’s to improve focus and get those awesome antioxidants.

Killer gym session yesterday, I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’ve been doing this full body A-B-C program long enough (about 5 weeks) that I know how close I can get to failure without completely trashing my CNS but still get a great pump. Reading CT’s article yesterday, Forced Growth: A New Way to Build Muscle, helped finalize a few things I was still trying to figure out. Specifically, going to the point where you know you won’t be able to complete another rep, but you don’t try, so you save your CNS just enough by not going to complete failure but still trigger the growth you want.

For training, each muscle group gets 2 exercises per workout, the first is usually a compound and/or strength focus with 4 sets of 5-8 reps, then an isolation movement for 3 sets of 10-15 reps, the exercises rotate each session, as well as the order in which I hit the muscles. I was having trouble finding the right combination of how close to failure I could go to ensure I was triggering growth, without compromising recovery enough that I could still train the same muscle group 2 days later. Really getting the groove now!

Medium day today, non training day, consisting of about 2550 calories and 150g carbs. Carbs come from pretty much all ezekiel bread today, sometimes with lunch I’ll sub out for rice instead, but the ezekiel bread is more filling so I’ll usually opt for that.

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Anyone who reads T-Nation will love this video, it’s hysterical. From “Buff Dudes,” a gym documentary. It’ll be the funniest 6 minutes of your day.

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Not too many people train 3x/week when prepping for a show, but as long as you can fit it in with the rest of your life, and everything is working, it;'s not a concern. When my wife did her first show, we were working around so many commitments of hers that some nights, she just did a few sets of pullups in our bedroom doorway before bed, and we counted on it being “enough” considering every other variable was attended to.

Looking damn good!

S

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Is that so? I would have expected more training sessions than that

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Yeah, certainly not the most conventional way to prep, but it works for me. When my schedule allows, I prefer a 4 day split for the most part, and after a while I’ll do a 5 day split for a bit while also increasing calories. Then usually my schedule makes me rotate back to 3x per week.

This time of year I always have to do a 3 day program, it’s the busiest time of year for my music writing business so my weekends are essential as I still work full time during the week, and I also need a couple of week days to work after school. Teaching a full school day, working out, then trying to be creative and write music productively, just isn’t possible. I’ve tried, I wound up nodding off at the computer most days. Within the next few years I hope to be able to quit my teaching job and write from home full time. But for now, gotta make it all work together.

I think that to really make serious strength and physique progress, a 4, 5 or 6 day split is necessary at times, and it’s always good to change things up now and then. Again when possible I like a 4 or 5 day split to really hit each muscle group as hard as possible. But, in the prep the goal is to just keep every ounce of LBM you can as you trim the fat, and as the prep continues, you are continuously working in less optimal conditions. The idea of more recovery time sure is appealing there! So, hitting the full body hard, recovering for a full day, I can go into each gym session feeling pretty fresh. I have 4 non training days where I’ll do my cardio and intervals, so I’m always active. But my favorite aspect is every muscle is getting stimulated 3 times per week, which makes me think the changes of losing any LBM is slim to none.

That being said, I think it takes the right full body program to do it successfully. I’ve tweaked the workouts a little bit, each workout is about 45 working sets. I rotate which muscle groups I start with, as well as the exercises. Essentially I’ve taken a typical 18-20 set-per-muscle group split and broken it up throughout the week. So over the week span, I’m still getting the same amount of work as I would on a standard split.

The supplement stack is also a significant part of what has allowed me to manage this 3 day split, even after 2 hours and 40 sets I can still push hard to the end. For these full body workouts I’m using 3 scoops of Plazma, plus a Finibar right before, so 160g carbs and a little over 900 calories to fuel the session. Also lots of Flameout and Circumin.

So far I’ve been averaging losing 3/4 pound a week, slow and steady, which Stu has to constantly remind me is right on track with my current level of leanness, and even further proof that I’m not losing any LBM. :grinning:

Last year, out of necessity with my schedule, I started my first 3x a week program and had good success with it, so after discussing with Stu, we were confident a 3x per week split would work for me. The first one I was did was Dan John’s 10 Steps to Mass. It’s an A-B-C style 3 day split, it was also the same time I started using Micro-PA. Within a few weeks I was really seeing some significant changes in size and strength, I ran the program for about 10 weeks. From there, I found another 3 day full body program in this article, “Full Body Workouts of the Legends”, Leroy Colbert’s program. It was significantly higher volume than Dan John’s, which I wanted to try out, knowing I could handle it. Overall with a 3 day full body split, I found I could recover better, have more productive workouts, and maintain a pretty good level of leanness as the workouts take about 2 hours, so it also eliminated the need for excess cardio. Adding the cardio now has allowed for slow but consistent weight loss, slowly cutting cals as well.

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These are a few pics from some photos and videos I took this weekend for an article I’m writing that will be published shortly, on the topic of preparing for the drum corps season, complete with a full workout plan I constructed. Drum Corps is essentially the professional sport of marching band, members can be from 14-21 years old, and the bulk of the season is from mid-May to mid-August. There are groups all over the country that members can audition for, they compete regularly, culminating with the world championships in Lucas Oil Stadium in August. It’s an extremely physically demanding sport, carrying around heavy brass and drums while marching at fast tempos, playing extremely difficult music, all while having to look like it’s easy.

Most members are late high school and college students, and while very physically active during the summer, know little about training. So, when the season starts approaching, they think, “I better start running.” As we all know, that’s not going to build strength or significant endurance. They all lose a ton of weight DURING the season, but at the start of the season most are out of shape, so the early season is rough. To combat that and set them up for success, I constructed an article and full workout plan they can utilize to help prepare them. Nothing fancy as it needs to be achievable for students with minimal to no training experience, but a good well rounded plan, 3 exercises per muscle group and some interval training, complete with pictures, demo videos and workout sheets. Got the pics and videos done yesterday, thought I’d post a couple up here!

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Hey:

I’m enjoying following your progress. I needed to make a change and decided to investigate the 10 Steps to Mass program you mentioned. It looked good so I started it this week and had a question. It takes me about an hour to complete the workout, does that sound right? I’m okay with that but I know that you spend more time than this - you’re also a lot bigger than I am, so it makes sense, but was wondering if this sounds right?

Thanks!

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@The_Myth - Thanks for reading man! That 10 Steps to Mass is an awesome program, cool to hear you’re doing it. Regarding the length of the workout, mine took about 90 minutes, I attribute that mostly to my warm up sets for the compound movements, and longer rest periods during the squats and bench. I’d push the squats pretty hard. I’ve always favored lots of warm up sets in general, especially for certain strength based movements or compound movements. For this program specifically, I also did a good amount of warm up sets for the first exercise, DB clean press, as some days you go heavy and I always want to be very careful with the shoulders as they’re typically one of the more common problems/injuries.

Again, that was just for me, my workouts typically take a while. If you can push it hard and get it done in an hour, nothing wrong with that.

Looking back I remember I kept a [training log] (8 weeks of Dan John's Mass Program) while working on it for the first few weeks. I did the program longer than I ran the log, it was a great program for both size and strength. Reading back on my squat numbers I got to up to 360x10 on my 5th set, while starting the program much lower than that at 300x10. I stopped back squatting recently due to some lower back/spine compression issues, but I do remember Friday’s “C” workout, the 5 sets of 10 squats were killer!

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Well, that explains it - warm ups, lol. I think I’m shortchanging myself, kind of knew it in the back of my head, but your reply confirms it - I need to up the intensity. I take ninety seconds between sets, three minutes between exercises. I have some knee and shoulder issues so I don’t go very light on the squats and bench and those will limit my gains.

Sorry for rambling, thanks for the response and for linking that other log, I’m going to read it now.

Today is Friday, “C” stands for crying.

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Yeah I hear ya, sometimes it just takes a little push or adjustment here and there to keep progressing. For me warm ups have always taken a decent chunk of my workout but I feel they’re well worth it. I’ve always felt like I can’t even do a working set until I’ve done a good few warm ups, at least if it’s the first exercise for a specific muscle group, or a compound movement. I would view just going right into a working set as almost a waste of time and energy, because the blood isn’t really in the muscle yet, the fibers aren’t firing yet, and I like having a little time to really connect with the muscle and put some tension there first. Then I can really make the most out of the first working set.

90 seconds between sets certainly isn’t too long depending on what you’re doing. If it’s higher rep work (10 or more) shorter rest period may be more beneficial to keep the pump going. I always feel a better pump with shorter rest periods during isolation exercises. I never really timed my rest periods exactly and usually go by feel. During my workouts now I keep an eye on the clock otherwise I’ll be in there for 3 hours, so it helps keeps me moving, but I still don’t have an exact time between sets. Exercise rest time is however long it takes me to move from one to the next.

Sorry to hear about your knee/shoulder issues! Just be careful and smart about it. Like if your shoulders have a legitimate problem it might be best to switch out heavy benching for something more shoulder friendly, even just if you use dumbbells instead. I stopped benching with a barbell probably about a year ago now because of a shoulder problem that was creeping up. Now I use all dumbbells, cables and machines for chest. I’ll still do heavy inclines or flat bench with dumbbells, but versus the barbell I have more control and can put the tension where I want it. Reading this article, “Ditch the Barbell Bench Press” gave me more confidence I made the right choice.

As for knees, sometimes there’s no way around it. My knees still always crack when I bend and have some pain after a session, but it’s getting better with better management. I always wear my Rehband blue knee sleeves, drink a lot of Plazma and load up on Flameout (6 per day unless my joints are really hurting then I’ll take 8) and Circumin (also 6 per day).

Keep up the good work man and keep us updated on your progress with the program!

Ha, that’s right, keep repeating that to yourself when you’re on your 5th set of squats :wink:

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Thanks! Added warm up sets today, ninety minutes. I ditched the flat bench a while ago because of nagging shoulder pain, am able to incline bench without issues.

I started a log in the training category and will be keeping track there. While I’m nuts about weight and body fat tracking, and now calories and macros, I’ve never logged my training. Minotaur suggested it to me in one of my threads and this will be the first time I have done it. I think it will make a difference.

Keep up the good work.

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2/14 - 159.8lbs - 11 weeks out
This past week saw a drop of one pound, after the previous week where there was minimal movement. We made some more aggressive changes last week and they paid off, keeping the same protocol this week and hoping to see the scale keep moving.

After two weeks of increasing my meal frequency, I have a much easier time getting through the work day, I noticed a change from day 1. It’s interesting the kind of significant difference tiny changes can make. I kept the same macros but just split one of my meals, a 2 scoop protein shake with banana (training day) or nuts (non training day), and changed it to a one scoop protein shake, and then added 1/2 cup cottage cheese with a raw salad later, the raw veggies keep me full. 7 meals a day instead of 6, and now I eat every 90-120 minutes at the most.

During the week there’s not really any nutritional issues, I don’t feel hungry now that I’ve switched up my meal timing and training has also improved as a result. Here’s the current breakdown:

High day (training days M/W/F) - 2650cals, 310c/240p
Medium day - (Tues/Thurs) - 2450cals, 155c/225p
Low day - (Sat/Sun) - 2250cals, 50c/250p

Currently doing morning cardio on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, with intervals on Saturday or Sunday. So I still have one weekend day without training or cardio, which is usually the day I look forward to as much recovery as possible, therapy pool at the gym, sauna/steam room (I like to alternate), and sometimes a massage. Starting to see some really cool physique changes I’ve never had before, and as a former fat guy, it’s very exciting.

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Some post workout pics from yesterday, 10.5 weeks out.

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Nice weekend of recovery and intervals, feeling fresh and ready to have another good week. 9 weeks and change to go!

Weight has been stubborn, which seems to be a pattern for me. Lose a pound, stall out, adjust, lose a pound, stall out, adjust, etc. This week made some more tweaks to nutrition and added 15 minutes of steady state cardio immediately following the medium intensity morning fasted cardio. So now up to 25 minutes with a steep incline and faster pace, then 15 minutes with a slight incline and slower pace, about 45 minutes total including a 5 minute warm up. During these morning cardio sessions I typically setup my iPad on the dash of the treadmill, open Hulu and chip away at a movie, just finished the most recent “Hercules” last week. Really helps pass the time! Still one interval session on the weekends. As it’s my first time out with no previous stage weight to base off, I’m GUESSING I have about 10-12 more pounds to lose, and just less than 10 weeks to do it, with Stu at the helm I know I’m going to bring a solid package.

Training is going well and maintaining strength. I recently started using more machines and am liking them very much. At first it was out of necessity, all the benches were taken so instead of heavy incline DB presses I tried out the plate loaded incline press machine, and liked it a lot. Took a few sets to figure out the best hand position, seat position, etc., but I really enjoy figuring out the puzzle pieces and making very small adjustments until I can really feel the tension exactly where I want it. Sometimes it’s hand position, sometimes range of motion, pausing at the top or bottom, changing tempo on eccentric, concentric or both, etc. With the machines I find I can place more tension more frequently in the desired muscle. But, free weights of course have their benefits. So, now I switch back and forth between free weights and machines, keeps things a little more fresh and also keeps my body from adapting too much. A few of my favorites are:

Plate loaded Incline and flat bench: I always use thumbless grip. For me, the key to these is a slow concentric phase, stop just before lockout with a brief pause, come back down slowly with elbows just below parallel to keep the tension in the chest. I think about really pushing my pecs together especially at the top, like I have a pencil between them I’m trying to break.

For shoulders I like the pin-loaded seated lateral shoulder machine, the one with the round pads that rest against the forearms. Light weight, 30-35 pounds, slow tempo, raising the elbows to a little above parallel, brief pause, then lower back down just below parallel, come back UP again with a pause, and that’s one rep. If I have trouble feeling tension where I want it, I’ll do that sometimes, add a partial after each rep. When I lower down to start the next rep I don’t let my elbows all the way down, just most of the way to keep the tension. I’ll do that for 10-12 reps, really targets the medial delts like nothing else.

For back one of my favorites is the double cable lat pulldown. I use an attachment for each hand, and use a grip that’s half way between supinated and neutral. Pull down hard with a big squeeze with a slight arch in the back, then come up slowly and sit upright to get a full stretch in the lats. I like to go heavier with this one, 8-10 reps.

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Crazy how the scale can mess with your head! After a week of not losing any weight, I’m down 3lbs from this past Saturday, down to 157 today. Stu and I were talking earlier how the mind of a bodybuilder is pretty funny.
Lose no weight = “Damn I’m too fat!”
Lose more than expected = “Damn I lost all my muscle!”

But, I’m confident I haven’t lost an ounce of LBM. Between the Indigo, Micro PA and Plazma, I just don’t think it would be possible. Looking tighter for sure, will get some pics up over the next couple days.

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Quick update as I enjoy a high-day breakfast of hot ezekiel cereal, 2 scoops MD protein and tall glass of unsweetened almond milk. Moving right along, last week brought a drop of 3.5lbs somehow after stalling for a week, but that’s how it goes sometimes. This week is looking like the progress will continue, my weight always goes up after a low calorie/low carb weekend, and by the end of the week is down and Saturday usually shows the lowest weight of the week. I’m guessing this Saturday (8 weeks out) I’ll be between 155-155.5, place your bets!

Placed a big Biotest order yesterday, including the usual staples of Plazma, Indigo, Micro, Flameout, Curcumin (I recently ran out and am looking forward to getting more) and Tribex. I also ordered a couple of new additions, including caffeine free brain candy and rhodiola. I haven’t taken either one before, the brain candy reviews seem to speak for themselves though. I chose caffeine free brain candy as I get my caffeine kick from coffee and spike tablets. I like the tablets because I can fine tune the dosage for my needs. Each cap contains 150mg caffeine, so I can choose between one or two depending on how I feel. As I’m halfway through the prep, and some days am running significantly lower calories than maintenence, I can feel some effects mentally. Usually this is on a non training day, especially on the low carb/low cal weekends. Most days are fine, but some days I feel very lethargic, a little irritable which is not typical for me, overall head fog. I’m excited for the mental benefit these new supplements will bring.

On the weekends I HAVE to be productive and write as much music as possible, which has been challenging the past few weekends. A shot of brain candy should do the trick!

Physique wise I’m happy with my progress, these past two weeks have been the most significant changes as I get leaner. Guys I know in the gym have been commenting over the last week they can really see me leaning out, always good to have an objective point of view. Some guys I don’t know in the gym have also approached me over the past couple weeks and asked me questions about my training or tips for a certain exercise, definitely motivating. Any time not spent at school or in the gym has been in my office writing, but I’ll get some new pics up asap.

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lol, when people you don’t know, but see you in the gym regularly make positive comments, you know you’re doing things correctly.

S

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Alright, keeping the progress train moving. My guess was surprisingly accurate, 155.5 this morning, down 1lb from last week. Which ALSO means I can keep my current cals and cardio schedule for the coming week, always a good thing.

Another plus, after talking with Stu, we switched out some fats for carbs on my weekend low days. These are the lowest calorie days at 2,200 right now, and with only incidental carbs from nuts and veggies I’ve been feeling drained, which has been problematic as I need to make sure I can write music all day as well has hit the intervals on the bike. We kept the total calories the same, but switched out some macros, and we’ll see what happens. I believe I handle carbs well, my weight is always down after a higher carb day, and I typically look tighter after a higher carb day as well. A far cry from how I used to handle them years ago, but after a few years of serious, consistent training, and Indigo, I’m at the point where I can utilize them well.

Took some Rhodiola last night for the first time, and also this morning. This is the best mentally I’ve felt on a weekend day in a long time, it’s not a super significant change but I just feel more positive, and not as stressed about the unending amount of work I have to get done for my business. That being said, I just got 3 boxes of caffeine free brain candy in the mail yesterday, so I’m gonna go down one of those bad boys and get to work!

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I’ve had some questions on here and in the gym lately about my training, and thought I’d give a little more insight to it. Again, it’s a full body program 3x per week. The exercises and order of muscle groups rotate throughout the week. We know what gets hit first will get the most benefit, so over the course of the week every muscle group gets a turn to start. Here’s my “B” or Wednesday workout:

LEGS

  1. Dumbbell RDL’s - 4 sets x 12-15 - I don’t go too heavy here otherwise my lower back starts giving me issues. I have a slight misalignment of my pelvis that I go to the chiropractor for, so I just focus on a great stretch, and tensing my glutes and hams tight as possible when I come up. The stretched muscle will contract the most, so I concentrate on the stretch and hard contraction.
  2. Leg Press - 4 sets x 12-15 - I was going heavy on these for a while but after about 4 weeks of that my knees really started giving me problems. So I go for long TUT here, usually 14-16 plates, not locking out and keeping the tension in the quads. I have a brief pause at the bottom half before pushing up again to ensure I’m not getting any momentum into it and am initiating tension from the quad.

DELTS

  1. Lat Raise Machine (round pads against the forearms) - 4 sets x 8-12 reps - slow tempo, raising the elbows to a little above parallel, brief pause, then lower back down just below parallel, come back UP again with a pause, and that’s one rep.
  2. DB Front Raises - 3 sets x 15 reps - Especially like to focus on the negative and having them come down slowly, feeling like I’m trying to raise them up, just not enough to actually do it. This keeps great tension in the delts.

BACK

  1. Close Grip Lat Pulldowns - 4 sets x 5-8 reps - Nothing fancy, just focus on not getting any momentum into it and a great squeeze.
  2. Straight arm pulldowns with double handle - 3 sets x 12-15 reps - I use longer handles for this so I can bring my hands slightly behind my hips at the bottom to really shorten and squeeze the lats.

CHEST

  1. DB Flat Bench or Plate Loaded Machine Bench (alternating) - 4 sets x 5-8 reps - slow concentric phase, stop just before lockout with a brief pause, come back down slowly with elbows just below parallel to keep the tension in the chest.
  2. Pec Dec or Cable Flyes (alternating) - 3 sets x 12-15 reps - I use a weight that allows me to keep the tension fully in the pec without transferring to shoulder, elbows or biceps, and squeeze as hard as possible. Doesn’t really take much weight to do it right!

TRICEPS

  1. Close Grip Bench - 4 sets x 6-8 reps - I used to have trouble feeling this in my tricep, but after recently reading an older article by CT, started doing a partial rep after reach full rep to keep the bar more in the tension zone for triceps before carrying over to chest at the top. This REALLY pumps the tri’s.
  2. Decline DB Extensions - 3 sets x 10-12 reps - Focusing on an explosive concentric with real slow eccentric to maximize the stretch going against gravity. After a few sets of these my triceps are pretty toasted.

BICEPS

  1. EZ Bar Curls (narrow grip) - 4 sets x 8 reps - Slow 3,3 tempo with a big squeeze at the top and slight elbow raise to really maximize the shortening of the bicep.
  2. Straight Bar Curls (wide grip) - 3 sets x 12-15 reps - More explosive on the lift but a slow eccentric, using the wide grip and squeezing as hard as possible. Doing the narrow grip for EZ bar, then wide grip for straight bar, allows me to hit both the short and long head pretty hard. I have some exercises for the brachialis on Monday and Friday.

Monday’s and Friday’s workout include some calves and abs at the end as well.

If I move quickly and don’t talk much I can get it done in about 2 hours, if it takes longer than 2:15 it was a good indicator to me that I have to keep an eye on the clock during my rest periods.

Leroy Colbert's Legends Routine?
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Saturday 3/5 - 155.5lbs - 8 weeks out Northeastern Pro Q, 16 weeks out Hercules

These are from last Saturday, starting to see more of a taper in the upper body and some leg definition coming through. Long way to go but feeling good for where I am, 8 weeks from the first “warm up” show and 16 weeks from the one I’m really gearing up for.

Had to improvise for cardio this morning, treadmill at home had some issues so for the first time since I can remember, went for a 30 minute medium paced jog, made some to find some long inclines around the neighborhood. I felt better than I thought I would, the constant incline treadmill and HITT workouts on the bike certainly make for some good cardiovascular conditioning.

After a week of adding Rhodiola and Brain Candy, I’m very happy with both of them. I feel overall less stressed, more focused, better concentration and less brain fog. Especially as these issues creep up more the further into the prep we go, anything that helps in this area really has a significant impact on the prep if I can feel better psychologically.