I cant wait to see your improvements in the next 15 weeks, wishing you all the best from the UK
Ben
I don’t think this has been mentioned, but whereabouts are you on your low days in terms of calories and macronutrients? Do you keep calories constant throughout the week or cycle those along with macronutrients?
My current meal plan has me getting about 100g of carbs on my low days, which after years of eating “low carb” seems like the farthest thing from a low day, haha.
My Low day numbers (as of now, 14 weeks out) are
CALS: 2300 - 2400
CARBS: 100g
PROT: ~300g
These are the only days I’m doing any cardio at this point, and as of now, it has only been 20 min sessions of intervals on a recumbent bike (I found last prep that this didn’t bother my lower back and I could really just grip the handles and cut loose on the sprints without worrying about the machine toppling over).
I’m thinking that at maybe 12, or even 10 weeks out I will throw in 20 mins of easy incline walking each morning. I know I mentioned this before, but when I did this last time (at about 2.5 weeks out), I think it made the last bit of difference in my really nailing my conditioning, so by implementing it earlier, combined with a higher food intake, I’m hoping to come in larger, and tighter (HOPING!)
Today has been my first high day (I skipped a high day last week thinking that I hadn’t really earned one yet), and man does oatmeal taste great after a low carb/cal day (nothing like being out with your girl’s friends, and sneaking off into the corner to eat a Metabolic Drive 'brownie [I microwave it so I dont need to carry a shaker], and a curiously large cucumber -lol)
S
Cool, about what I expected and similar to what I’m doing.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
My Low day numbers (as of now, 14 weeks out) are
CALS: 2300 - 2400
CARBS: 100g
PROT: ~300g
These are the only days I’m doing any cardio at this point, and as of now, it has only been 20 min sessions of intervals on a recumbent bike (I found last prep that this didn’t bother my lower back and I could really just grip the handles and cut loose on the sprints without worrying about the machine toppling over).
I’m thinking that at maybe 12, or even 10 weeks out I will throw in 20 mins of easy incline walking each morning. I know I mentioned this before, but when I did this last time (at about 2.5 weeks out), I think it made the last bit of difference in my really nailing my conditioning, so by implementing it earlier, combined with a higher food intake, I’m hoping to come in larger, and tighter (HOPING!)
Today has been my first high day (I skipped a high day last week thinking that I hadn’t really earned one yet), and man does oatmeal taste great after a low carb/cal day (nothing like being out with your girl’s friends, and sneaking off into the corner to eat a Metabolic Drive 'brownie [I microwave it so I dont need to carry a shaker], and a curiously large cucumber -lol)
S
[/quote]
Lets hear more about this brownie and how you go about making it. Ill often turn my MD into into a pudding and then freezing it, tastes kind of like a DQ blizzard.
[quote]WS4JB wrote:
Lets hear more about this brownie and how you go about making it. Ill often turn my MD into into a pudding and then freezing it, tastes kind of like a DQ blizzard.[/quote]
Lol, believe me it’s nothing brilliant, I just put a couple scoops of Metabolic Driverive into a bowl, mix in small drops of water until it actually turns into a slightly mixable (pasty) consistency then microwave it for about 90 seconds. I’ve tried using the Banana flavor with some cinnamon mixed in (not great), with some natty PB (or almond butter) mixed in (better), and I’ve tried it with the Chocolate flavor (also with the PB).
I will say that it is dry as hell, but being able to take this little ‘cake’ wrapped in saran wrap out of your pocket when you’re “out and about” does make the inconvenience/nuisance factor of contest prep a little easier. I’m sure if you could actually spread some PB on top of it and had a tall glass of water, it’d be a much better snack, but for me, at this point, taste is the least of my concerns. I only do this when I absolutely can’t be bothered carrying a cooler, or bag with food, shaker, etc with me.
S
Stu- What does your training look like? Split, reps, method of progression and how is your pre-contest training different from your off season training?
Also do you have any tips on how to make this kind of nutrition schedule convenient or more practical for persons with a busy schedule. Thanks. Looking forward to this thread.
Stu- What does your training look like? Split, reps, method of progression and how is your pre-contest training different from your off season training?
Also do you have any tips on how to make this kind of nutrition schedule convenient or more practical for persons with a busy schedule. Thanks. Looking forward to this thread.
I’m currently on a 6 day split. Making use of this approach I feel does two things: 1- allows me to keep my cardio sessions on seperate days from the weights (and thus cut my numbers accordingly), 2- train each muscle group frequently enough to maintain (if not gain) lean muscle mass, which is the real goal when dieting.
Usually, I prefer a 4 day split, with days off as I feel I actually need (sometimes it comes out to 2 on 1 off, sometimes 4 on 1 off, sometimes 4 on then repeat). This of course is an individualized thing, and many factors outside of the gym will play in to someone’s recovery, and ability to push themselves on a given day. Rep wise, I would typically make use of the 6-9 range, but lately I’ve been utilizing CT’s thinking.
While I was doing sets of 3-5 for a while, I’m now comfortably settled into sets or 5 for most exercises, with an occassional exercise where I will go a tad higher if I feel a really good burning, working sensation in the muscle.
There are two schools of thought on training while on reduced macros. One being that you have to back off a bit because the body lacks the means to adequately recover from a horrendous thrashing day in and day out. The other is that being is such a state as a contest diet creates will actually cause the body to go into alarm mode and you can not only gain strength (as I’ve witnessed firsthand), but some size as well (which I think allowed me to really beef up my hamstrings during my last prep).
My personal approach is that I still push myself really hard, and if I feel like I can handle progressively heavier weights each week, I will just go with it. If, on the other hand, I’m just a little run down on a certain day, I might up my volume a bit more in an attempt to compensate. Something I keep in mind when dieting (and I forget who wrote this), is that you have to give your body a REASON to maintain the muscle. So somehow, you must create some sort of intensity during your training sessions.
As far as making these sort of nutritional practices more practical,… well, the biggest thing I try to do is keep my food choices simple. By rotating a smaller number of actual food choices, I eliminate the possibility of not knowing exact macros, or worrying about wandering the aisles at the supermarket and being tempted by something I shouldn’t be eating.
I get in, grab the 6 items I need, and get out. This also makes preperation a simple matter. A few times a week I make a big tray of chicken breasts, which I keep in the fridge and grab as I need. Ezeklial bread has also sometimes been a simple replacement for a bowl of oatmeal that I can actually eat while teaching without appearing such a gym freak (2 slices of the whole wheat is 160 cals, 8g prot, 30g carbs vs 1/2 cup oats which is 150 cals, 4g prot and 27g carbs).
Hard boiled eggs are also darn convenient, as is turkey pepperoni (I’ve walked around with a handful in my pocket on several occassions). The whole ‘carrying a shaker’ thing will always get you looks, but if you can get a protein that is more liquidy vs the thick milky texture most have (ie. I’ve got my jug o’ Mag-10 I carry with me now), you can put it in any beverage container and tell people it’s crystal light.
Obviously if you’re not cutting, there are the old standbys like cashews and beef jerky. Of course sometimes you just have to suck it up and draw some attention to yourself (I ate a can of salmon last week while my class shrieked and squeled about how horrible it smelled -lol)
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Something I keep in mind when dieting (and I forget who wrote this), is that you have to give your body a REASON to maintain the muscle. So somehow, you must create some sort of intensity during your training sessions.
S[/quote]
Thibs wrote this in is War Room article (great read)
“The best way to maintain muscle mass is to give your body a good reason to keep it, and that reason is to lift heavy. Lifting heavy weights requires a lot of muscle tension, and that needs the muscle to be strong. To keep up with the demand, your body will have no choice but to maintain (or even increase) its muscle mass.”
He also touches on it in Beast Evolves article:
“High-intensity strength exercises (in the 80-100% range) are better than low intensity strength exercises (in the 50-70% range) while dieting. The higher training load helps you preserve strength and muscle while on a hypocaloric diet much better than super-high volume/low intensity workouts.”
What can I say? Slow day at work today and in my defense I had those 2 article bookmarked lol
Well, one week is done and in the books. I weighed in tonight at the gym at 204 lbs (and a little change), so I actually dropped a bit more than 2 lbs the first week. Obviously some of it is due to water fluctuations (playing with the carbs), and I’m sure some of it is simply due to the fact that my body had probably gotten accustomed to how much food is was getting, and now this is a shock.
When I calculated my actual macro numbers, I came out with a deficit of 75% of a lb every 6 days from diet alone. Add that to the actual gym work, and the couple of cardio sessions, and I’m thinking things are going as they should. Sure I’ll have to reassess every week or so at first, and being able to compare my conditioning with how I did last time out (luckily I took so many pics), should help out quite a bit, as the actual weight this time is drastically different.
S
Thanx for sharing so much info like your meal plan and ur low day nutrition count.
I would be interested to see the different in your measurement difference between before/after cut.
Unless thats info you would rather not give out.
Keep it up Stu were all in your corner.
Stu-
Thanks for the info. This thread reads like a contest prep “how to,” something I am very interested in. One clarification-6 day split with cardio separate from weights? Does that mean a four day body part split with two cardio days? low cal/carb days on cardio days? Sorry to be nit picky. Thanks again and good luck with your prep, it sounds like you might not need too much (luck).
Good luck stu. Im very interested in following your prep and the best of luck to you when the contest(s) come up.
Good stuff Stu, I’m interested to see how you do compared to last year
Hey stu looking great i have a question about your front lat spread. My hands seem to be a little higher up above the belly button then yours does, do you think this will hurt my look because it seems pretty high compared to most guys but i get a much better spread. Also are their thigns i can do to make my spread look better stretch wise?
Wishing you well.
Your knowledge adn experience is certainly going to lead to your success!
GJ
al right stu keep it goin!
Delts and calves are looking awesome Stu!
Great topic, thanks for sharing your experience with all of us.
Best of luck!