Spring 2010 Contest Run Up

Training
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THOUGHTS1053- For the most part, I keep the same basic foods in my prep day in and day out. It just makes things easier from a shopping and planning stand point, as well as knowing that my body tolerates them well digestion-wise. Even when I do have a higher carb day, I will get my carbs from a lot of oatmeal, and finibras. Earlier on, I would throw in a protein bar or two just because of the simplicity of being able to eat while I’m at work.

As I made small step-downs in my carb intake, the protein bars were the first to go for several reason: 1- Oatmeal fills me up more. 2- I’m sure the actual ‘quality’ of the ingredients in most protein bars is questionable 3- My blood sugar just seems to be mroe stable after oatmeal,… I’m not itching to eat again a few minutes later. As of now, (starting this past week), my only carb meals are my morning oatmeal, and my pre-workout finibars. With the few ‘incicental’ carbs added in, I’m averaging about 150-170g a day.

As far as my current routine,… I do believe that hittiung a muscle with more frequency than once a week is beneficial for most people. During a contest prep though, your focus becomes more about simply maintaining your muscle, or more precisely, minimizing muscle loss. There is a balance between the weight sessions and the cardio sessions.

In my own experience, keeping the cardio sessions on seperate days is more effective at not just overall conditioning, but in allowing you to keep up the intensity of your weight sessions (hence more muscle retention). The 2:1 rotation I currently use (2 days weights, 1 day cardio, 2 days weights, 1 day cardio…) seems to balance things as well as I could hope for, while still allowing me to function normally with my work, and social obligations.

Everyone is different though, and I suppose if I were to make use of morning cardio from the get go, with the weight sessions in the afternoon, I could probably keep up a more frequent training routine. Certainly an option for a future prep if one were inclined to try. Still, being a fan of interval work, I know that I’d be hard pressed to kick my ass into gear for 5am intervals -lol.

S

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wow,recent pics looks fantastic. Awesome detail in your back especially, great job! :slight_smile:

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OKay guys,… Saturday morning, just shy of Peak Week. Today, according to my cyclical diet, is scheduled to be a high day (usually 250-300g carbs, 2800-3000 cals). I’m probably going to keep the numbers a bit more moderate (200g carbs, 2500 cals), which is still a bump up from my average days the past week or so. Tomorrow I will take off completely from training, and eat as a typical medium day would entail (maybe 150g carbs, 2400 cals). Because Monday will begin my glycogen depletion (<50g carbs, and antagonistic supersets in the gym), I want to ‘swing the pendulum the other way’ as it were. My weight is continually erratic, fluctuating from 177.2 - 180 this past week at various times. I’m just hoping the water drop, and the stopping of the high sodium condiments I make use of on a daily basis will allow me enough leeway to make the weight class cut off. If not,… well, I’ve said it before, and I’ve certainly told it to other competitors,… it’s not the weight, but the conditioning, and I don’t think my conditioning is too bad at this point. Obviously I think I’ll be bringing a tighter package for the 2nd show 2 weeks later, but even at last year’s show, I beat the guy who went on to win the Light Heavyweight Open Class (I think we were both in the Masters class, where he placed 2nd to me).

For those interested, I’ll post up what my daily diet will look like MOn - Thursday later this weekend. I’m sure it will seem a bit odd considering the higher fat food choices :slight_smile:

S

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Holy shit, you look great, man!

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Your legs have improved Stu, you have done a great job on the offseason (also in the prep).

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(I snapped this with my phone while waiting for an elevator in my apartment building this morning, hope all the striations in my delts are visible).

Today is the first day where I’ve done neither weights nor cardio in 15 weeks,… and it’s kinda nice -lol. I’m eating about my medium day’s worth of carbs and cals, trying to let my body rest a bit before I start my official peak week diet/depletion workouts tomorrow. I weighed in this morning at 176.8 lbs, which hopefully means I will drop about 3 lbs of water by Saturday morning, and be the hugest middleweight on the stage (that, or the smallest light-heavyweight). As the point of this week is to run down my glycogen stores, not only will my workouts be antagonistic supersets, but my diet will be <50g of carbs a day, as well as <175g of protein (too much protein and your body will make glucose from it!). The basic dietary outline I’m following will be:

6am- 4 whole eggs, 2 slices cheese, green veggies
9am - 4 slices salami, 2 slices cheese
11am - chunk tuna on lettuce, 1/2 cup cashews, 1 sugar free jello snack pack
2pm - 4 TBSP Almond Butter, 1 sugar free jello snack pack
4pm - 4 slices salami, 2 slices cheese
7:15 - 4 whole eggs, 2 slices cheese, green veggies
9:30 - 17 pieces pepperoni, 2 slices cheese

If I’m totally starving, I will throw in some extra lettuce, or green veggies. This will only be until Thursday when I will drop all veggies and lettuce (don’t want intestinal bulk). All condiments and diet items (diet soda, diet ice tea etc) will be dropped on Wednesday (lot of sodium!). I’m counting on the higher fat content in my food selections to satiate me somewhat, in addition to the extreme amounts of water I will be downing Mon - Thursday.

S

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Hey Stu,

Just spent the evening reading your prep thread and it has been an amazing read man!!

I really enjoy your posts all over the site and appreciate you walking us all through this, i can say i am all the way behind you and look forward to seeing the end result. Keep up the great work man, this will be a regular check in for this week.

Everyone’s rooting you on man, good luck as you embark on the last week of your prep, i know your gonna dominate it at the show.

All the best
Alex

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OMG I spent the day at work thinking my damn bladder was gonna burst! -lol. I forgot how much ‘fun’ loading 3 gallons of water is the week leading up to a show! I get enough weird questions/comments with my usual jug o’ MAG-10, but today I carried that jug (the 2L Nalgene bottle), and an additional Gallon jug (drank a nalgene’s worth with breakfast, will down another one during my workout, and then yet another during dinner - bed). Have a feeling I won’t be getting much sleep this week!

S

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
(I snapped this with my phone while waiting for an elevator in my apartment building this morning, hope all the striations in my delts are visible).

Today is the first day where I’ve done neither weights nor cardio in 15 weeks,… and it’s kinda nice -lol. I’m eating about my medium day’s worth of carbs and cals, trying to let my body rest a bit before I start my official peak week diet/depletion workouts tomorrow. I weighed in this morning at 176.8 lbs, which hopefully means I will drop about 3 lbs of water by Saturday morning, and be the hugest middleweight on the stage (that, or the smallest light-heavyweight). As the point of this week is to run down my glycogen stores, not only will my workouts be antagonistic supersets, but my diet will be <50g of carbs a day, as well as <175g of protein (too much protein and your body will make glucose from it!). The basic dietary outline I’m following will be:

6am- 4 whole eggs, 2 slices cheese, green veggies
9am - 4 slices salami, 2 slices cheese
11am - chunk tuna on lettuce, 1/2 cup cashews, 1 sugar free jello snack pack
2pm - 4 TBSP Almond Butter, 1 sugar free jello snack pack
4pm - 4 slices salami, 2 slices cheese
7:15 - 4 whole eggs, 2 slices cheese, green veggies
9:30 - 17 pieces pepperoni, 2 slices cheese

If I’m totally starving, I will throw in some extra lettuce, or green veggies. This will only be until Thursday when I will drop all veggies and lettuce (don’t want intestinal bulk). All condiments and diet items (diet soda, diet ice tea etc) will be dropped on Wednesday (lot of sodium!). I’m counting on the higher fat content in my food selections to satiate me somewhat, in addition to the extreme amounts of water I will be downing Mon - Thursday.

S[/quote]
Delt/arm looks great even before any carb/water manipulation. Good Luck with the show!

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

6am- 4 whole eggs, 2 slices cheese, green veggies
9am - 4 slices salami, 2 slices cheese
11am - chunk tuna on lettuce, 1/2 cup cashews, 1 sugar free jello snack pack
2pm - 4 TBSP Almond Butter, 1 sugar free jello snack pack
4pm - 4 slices salami, 2 slices cheese
7:15 - 4 whole eggs, 2 slices cheese, green veggies
9:30 - 17 pieces pepperoni, 2 slices cheese
S[/quote]

What prompted you to use pepperoni and salami as your meat choices instead of plain turkey or chicken? And around how many grams of fat are you aiming for?

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You seein’ stars yet Stu?

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looking great stu, Good Luck with the show!

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[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
What prompted you to use pepperoni and salami as your meat choices instead of plain turkey or chicken? And around how many grams of fat are you aiming for?[/quote]

I’m not actually keeping tabs on my fat intake. The food choice selections were based on finding food items that would not only contribute to the very low carb intake required this week, but also not be excessively high in protein as well (hence leaving the higher fat items).

Remember, in the absence of carbohydrates, your body can construct actually glucose from excess protein intake if it is high enough. Another perk of my choices is that fat is usually more satiating when you are hungry. Yesterday I found myself ingesting quite a large amount of lettuce and veggies to keep my stomach full, but today, I can already tell that it’s going to be a bit easier (I’m further ahead with my water intake, and probably could have waited even longer before my 9am feeding).

I did feel quite bloated last night and this morning, due to the very high amount of greens that are filling my innards (my morning weight reflected this as well -lol). I can only hope that dropping the veggies after Wednesday will serve to ‘empty things out’ before the contest.

S

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
What prompted you to use pepperoni and salami as your meat choices instead of plain turkey or chicken? And around how many grams of fat are you aiming for?[/quote]

I’m not actually keeping tabs on my fat intake. The food choice selections were based on finding food items that would not only contribute to the very low carb intake required this week, but also not be excessively high in protein as well (hence leaving the higher fat items).

Remember, in the absence of carbohydrates, your body can construct actually glucose from excess protein intake if it is high enough. Another perk of my choices is that fat is usually more satiating when you are hungry. Yesterday I found myself ingesting quite a large amount of lettuce and veggies to keep my stomach full, but today, I can already tell that it’s going to be a bit easier (I’m further ahead with my water intake, and probably could have waited even longer before my 9am feeding).

I did feel quite bloated last night and this morning, due to the very high amount of greens that are filling my innards (my morning weight reflected this as well -lol). I can only hope that dropping the veggies after Wednesday will serve to ‘empty things out’ before the contest.

S[/quote]

Makes complete sense, I was just curious.

Eyes on the prize!

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Here’s a shot of me and the two guys I’ve been working with the last year or so, thought I’d share a bit.

Mike (middle guy) is a former Army guy, who when I met him about a year and a half ago, weighed about 160, not really big, nor cut, but ‘in decent shape’ by normal standards. We bulked him up to a relatively lean 185, and now he’s back down to about 160, and looking better than he ever did. We’re planning on bringing him in right below the 155 cut off for Saturday.

John (on the right), is an FFB (pardon the expression), who has the most insanely round muscle bellies I’ve ever seen, but always struggled to get lean. The is without a doubt the best shape he’s ever been in. Although he had hopes of crashing the lightweight class to be more competitive, he’s about 174 here, and will certainly do just fine in the open middleweights (probably grow into the class in about a year’s time and be very competitive right around the same weight, but with better cuts and more size).

I’m not even bothering to weigh myself, I’m just thinking I’ll be a light-heavy at this show, and if by some crazy happenstance I make middleweights, it will be a nice surprise. No doubt I’ll be a Middleweight by the May 1st show. I’m running out now, but I’ll try to post up what my workouts have looked like this week in case anyone’s wondering.

S

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Okay guys, I guess the 2 week weight plateau (most likely just sodium and glycogen) at 180 broke this morning and I weighed in at 177.2 lbs out of bed. I’ll be keeping up with the steady state in the morning (which was my initial plan in order to keep a higher calorie and carb intake), as I’m without a doubt noticeably thicker than last year.

The cuts in the legs are coming in (even with the horrible lighting in my gym’s locker room), and I have no doubt that when I carb load and drop water, things can only look even better (plus the fake tan!). I’ve spent a lot more time on my mandatories, and probably not as much time on my posing routine as I should have, but I figure the real judging is based on the mandatory poses anyway.

Not sure if you can see in these pics, but there are even some fibers/veins/who knows what starting to pop in my back, and upper chest area in certain instances. Hopefully I’ll come in not only thicker, but tighter for this show. I was thinking that my actual peak condition would most likely be the May 1st show and not the April 17th one, but now,… well, who knows?

12 More Days! :slight_smile:

S[/quote]

Congrats stu, you have done most of the hard work you just need to keep focussed and stick to your plan mate. You are obviously reaping the benefits of your attention to detail and prep records that you took last time.

I haven’t read this thread for 2 weeks or so and I’m really impressed with your last set of pics, you have leaned out quite a bit and as you say your a lot thicker than last time. I expect that you will certainly match your conditioning from last year.

Your posing looks a lot better to my eye. All manditorys looking better and the twisting back poses are really working for you. Lat spread is just crazy in that last photo series! def the most improved pose for mine

I remember being impressed with your tri pose last year but this year its really got that wow factor, you have such good delts and tris(esp. lat head) and a really deep cut between.

when the tan goes on you should be feeling very confident. Good luck

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Here’s a shot of me and the two guys I’ve been working with the last year or so, thought I’d share a bit.

Mike (middle guy) is a former Army guy, who when I met him about a year and a half ago, weighed about 160, not really big, nor cut, but ‘in decent shape’ by normal standards. We bulked him up to a relatively lean 185, and now he’s back down to about 160, and looking better than he ever did. We’re planning on bringing him in right below the 155 cut off for Saturday.

John (on the right), is an FFB (pardon the expression), who has the most insanely round muscle bellies I’ve ever seen, but always struggled to get lean. The is without a doubt the best shape he’s ever been in. Although he had hopes of crashing the lightweight class to be more competitive, he’s about 174 here, and will certainly do just fine in the open middleweights (probably grow into the class in about a year’s time and be very competitive right around the same weight, but with better cuts and more size).

I’m not even bothering to weigh myself, I’m just thinking I’ll be a light-heavy at this show, and if by some crazy happenstance I make middleweights, it will be a nice surprise. No doubt I’ll be a Middleweight by the May 1st show. I’m running out now, but I’ll try to post up what my workouts have looked like this week in case anyone’s wondering.

S[/quote]

Your the biggest of the group, ALPHA.

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You do look the best Stu. You’ll rock whatever class you end up in!

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Looking freaking good man. I’m jealous of those two guys who get to train with you.

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I’m running out now, but I’ll try to post up what my workouts have looked like this week in case anyone’s wondering.

S[/quote]

Was this rhetorical? Of course we’re wondering! We’ll take any details you offer, Stu.
Keep up the good work, you’re dialing it in!
JHolla