[quote]Kerley wrote:
seen this on BB.com, has the mighty one gone to the dark side? :O[/quote]
LOL, wow!, that was when Cordova talked me into competing for the first time!
and yes, I have some old pics on a profile there b/c I used to order Protein bars and powdered BCAAs from the site. Don’t feel unloved though Kerley, you know you guys are my favorites -lol.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]Kerley wrote:
seen this on BB.com, has the mighty one gone to the dark side? :O[/quote]
LOL, wow!, that was when Cordova talked me into competing for the first time!
and yes, I have some old pics on a profile there b/c I used to order Protein bars and powdered BCAAs from the site. Don’t feel unloved though Kerley, you know you guys are my favorites -lol.
S[/quote]
shit eating grinz
/thread hijack
hey stu, see the way a hour after you train you eat a meat and veggies meal, in the off-season does that meal contain starchy carbs?
Even before I started concerning myself with contest dieting, I was never a big carbs-at-night person. Sure, if I was out at some social event, and there was some crap put out, occasionally I’d help myself (oh, alright, I’d ALWAYS help myself -lol), but I would still have some sort of P+F (or even just prot, usual met drive) before bed. Also, I’ve always been someone who trains in the evenings. When I worked in Manhattan and would get home at 7pm, and even now, getting home by 4pm (and to the gym by 5),… so it’s a fine line as far as keeping my carbs (and calories) at the times when they will be the most useful. Believe me, there are evenings when I’m absolutely starving after my workout, but looking at my food journal, I realize that I’ve only got about 300 calories left for the day, and so I remind myself that my long term goals are more important to me than a little bit of hunger pains.
S
So today I was able to train delts and tris,… I was very careful, doing mostly seated work, nothing explosive, a lot of time under tension/slow negatives/non lockout stuff. Also, I kept my old powerlifting belt tightened up the whole time, just to make certain I didn’t accidentally lean the wrong way or anything.
Tomorrow will be no weights, no cardio, eat some extra carbs,… and then deplete during the week and find out how many times I can go to the well (trying to peak 3x in 2 months is probably not the best choice).
Ultimately, I doubt I will look better than I did at the May 1st show, but this has all been a learning experience, and I’m sure this coming week will shed some light on how far I can really push things. Besides, it’s a damn Pro Show,… so just being onstage is a hell of an accomplishment.
S
After taking yesterday to recoup (and hopefully allow my back some rest), today starts my usual ‘peak week’ plan. I like to make use of front squats and SLDs as a nice glycogen depleting super set, but am wondering if the SLDs would be wise considering the issues with my lower back last week. I truly feel that SLD’s are one of the best exercises for hamstrings, and am loath to resort to something ‘lesser’, especially when I know I’ll be doing seated leg curls for tomorrow’s session (I use different exercise selections each day).
As of now (about 9:30 am), my back is feel alright,… I’ll probably do a nice warmup (5 min bike, and some dynamic stretching) and then see how things go. Obviously I won’t push for the extreme stretch in the hams like I usually do, but as long as I can slowly concentrate on feeling the muscle, I’m going to see how it goes (obviously I’ll be all belted up).
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]theSapling wrote:
Stu,
you are an inspiring testament to this site!
thanks for being such an open book, it helps a ton!
Are you going to keep this thread going for your next bulking phase? and when will that be?
I’ve been playing around with the anaconda protocol for the first half of this year and now that I have wasted enough money and still have the best results of my life I am ready to get serious and pay attention to carb cycling and really dialing in my macros.
I look to guys like you and ACTrain for guidance since you two seem to have real results that back up the TMuscle claims.
Thanks again![/quote]
Thanks bro, always very cool to hear comments like this. Last year, I kept up my 2009 contest thread for a little while after the show because I thought it might be informative to see how I handle the rebound. Obviously this year, after the successes I’ve had, I’ve already planned out what I have/want to accompish, and even have a couple of target shows in mind for the Fall.
Considering those shows would still fall within tbe “2010” heading of this thread, I guess they would fit. So as long as other people appear to be interested in following along, I’ll keep updating. I just wouldn’t want to be the guy who updates his own thread once a month to keep it seemingly relevent, but no one else is even reading it -lol.
Oh yeah,… glad you liked the 'Conda. I wish I had made use of the entire protocol much sooner than I did. Having started to diet in January, I really only had about 2 months of ‘real’ eating to try and add size before having to switch gears into prep mode.
After this show, I’m basically giving myself 2 months (June - July) to try to put on some solid muscle before deciding about the fall shows, so hopefully, the Full protocol, coupled with a post contest rebound should yield some considerable improvements.
(And I agree, ACTrain’s does indeed walk the walk. I had some great meathead/nerdy conversations with him over meals when we were both training in Colorado with CT last Fall!)
S[/quote]
x2
Stu, your threads are awesome, thanks for sharing your journey with us all.
I’m still waaaay a beginner at this, but it’s the contributors like yourself and the threads like these that keep me motivated to make heads and tails of all of this stuff. I don’t really need to ask too many questions, all I need to do is come in here and read and absorb and learn–it’s sweet!
And x2 on an offseason thread. It would be cool to read a thread as detailed as your contest prep threads about your mass phases.
It’s like educational reality TV, whodathunkit!?
/nuthuggery
Ooo, SLDs with a tweaked back…I hope you survived it if you went through with it.
OK, so I decided to be smart and play it safe yesterday. Skipped squats and SLDs, opting for seated ham curls and extensions. I figure today I’ll go with hacks (less back strain than front squats), and laying leg curls (which hit a different ‘ham’ muscle than the seated variation, forget which hits which at the moment).
Definitely lagging today, as I realize how much I’m asking of my body trying to peak again (been dieting for about 20 weeks, and trying to peak three times!).
After Saturday’s show, I’ll be taking it easy Sunday (driving home), then I have off from work Monday (going to a wedding),… but even though I will be back in the gym Tuesday, I think it will be a high reps/no failure/just get a pump/easy sort of week. I will adhere to my cyclical diet, enjoying the occasional nice meal with my girl (and I would really like some sort of Birthday dinner, which I sadly had to forego because of the back to back contests), and will attempt to slowly ease my number back up to what I want them to be this summer so I can intelligently put on a few more lbs of LBM.
As usual, I’ll keep you all posted 
S
In the interest of detailing everything, I figured I’d note that even though a week ago I felt I was ahead of the game (lighter 2 weeks out than I was for either of the previous shows this season), This week (peak week) started with me not only weighing more than any time before, but my weight has been steady without any fluctuation. This could be a number of things…
1-simply glycogen, water, and fiber
2-a little stress (cortisol?) from the back injury last week
3-my body just cannot peak 3 times in this short a time frame, and it’s ‘done’ giving up any more weight
Obviously I’m just thinking aloud here, because I really don’t know (could be a combination actually).
I won’t really have any clue until Saturday morning when I see what the scale says, after dropping my condiments, veggies, and lastly, a bit of water. Again, I know my actual weight doesn’t matter, but looking at the two shows I just did… at the 4/17 I was 173.6 lbs, and then at 5/1 I was 172.2 lbs, and the difference was pretty pronounced (I was already damn tight at the first one, so a little over a lb of pure fat loss had a noticeable effect),… well, it makes me realize where my weight needs to be to be competitive (especially now that I’m competing against other PROs!)
Man,… I cannot wait until Sunday morning to have myself my first ‘normal’ breakfast since Dec 31th, 2009! -lol. All I ask is a respectable placing on Saturday,… and not something that will haunt me, knowing that an old back injury, or pushing myself too hard in too short of a duration, caused me to drop the ball.
S
Just recently got CD’s from the pro photographers at the two shows I just did, so thought I’d toss 'em up
S
