Spring 2010 Contest Run Up

Training
121

Glad you guys are appreciating this. I know I’ve mentioned before how mental this all is, how it’s mostly a game of discipline, well, let me just say that it’s on the ‘low’ days that you really have to remind yourself what you’re doing. Yesterday I was just starving all day. My stomach was growling in class, and a few people actually heard it. For anyone who has ever read anything by Dr. Joe Klemzewski (sp?!), he really outlines the whole contest carb cycling thing really well. Anyway, one thing he said really stuck with me… Your high days rescue you and your metabolism, but you need your low days to really dig in to your fat stores. I always think about this on low days when I basically see just how little cals and carbs I can get away with. Not that I’m starving myself, hell, my baseline days are still over 2700 cals, and my high days are still 3000 or so, but my low days have seen me go from my estimated 2400 cals, to 2200, to yesterday, where I was able to keep myself down to about 2000, and still tear up my intervals in the evening. I figure those days are the days where you really make gains as far as achieving contest conditioning, so you really end up testing your mettle.

Just a few thoughts…

S

122

Loving the diet info. Keep up the good work. Im on a pretty similar cutting diet as you are right now, so its reassuring knowing Im not the only crazy one =P

123

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Glad you guys are appreciating this. I know I’ve mentioned before how mental this all is, how it’s mostly a game of discipline, well, let me just say that it’s on the ‘low’ days that you really have to remind yourself what you’re doing. Yesterday I was just starving all day. My stomach was growling in class, and a few people actually heard it. For anyone who has ever read anything by Dr. Joe Klemzewski (sp?!), he really outlines the whole contest carb cycling thing really well. Anyway, one thing he said really stuck with me… Your high days rescue you and your metabolism, but you need your low days to really dig in to your fat stores. I always think about this on low days when I basically see just how little cals and carbs I can get away with. Not that I’m starving myself, hell, my baseline days are still over 2700 cals, and my high days are still 3000 or so, but my low days have seen me go from my estimated 2400 cals, to 2200, to yesterday, where I was able to keep myself down to about 2000, and still tear up my intervals in the evening. I figure those days are the days where you really make gains as far as achieving contest conditioning, so you really end up testing your mettle.

Just a few thoughts…

S[/quote]

That’s one of the only reasons I’m hesistant to go back to a carb cycling approach when cutting instead of keto. I can lose fat on both (although I always seem to lose it slowly) but hunger is much worse on higher carbs than keto

124

[quote]pumped340 wrote:

That’s one of the only reasons I’m hesistant to go back to a carb cycling approach when cutting instead of keto. I can lose fat on both (although I always seem to lose it slowly) but hunger is much worse on higher carbs than keto
[/quote]

Lol, well, I’m obviously pushing things a bit more than most people would, even if you were prepping for a show. I Figure I need to at least equal my conditioning from last year, so I’ll admit to putting a bit of pressure on myself. While I agree that there are many ways to skin a cat, none of the natty pros I talk to (Cordova, Whitacre and Clarida) would ever to a keto approach, the consensus being that carbs are so muscle sparing, that it’s not optimal. Again, I hear of competitors doing the keto approach all the time, but I don’t feel it’s the best approach for me, personally.

S

125

Yea it does seem most bodybuilders in general, and especially the naturals I know, keep some carbs in. I’m hungry right now and I’m gaining weight…don’t even want to think about how I’ll be feeling in a few months when I midway through my cut lol

126

hey stu thanks for the sweet thread!! i had a quick question… how do you feel about diet drinks while on a cut? such as diet green tea with 0 calories.

127

I was actually about to ask a similar question, basically if you have a lot of diet soda and/or sugar free jello and the like when dieting

128

Well, I have heard some people propose that the artificial sweetness of these products can make your body ‘think’ it’s getting sugar and it will respond accordingly (negatively!), but IMO that’s just ridiculous.

Last prep I was downing sugar free gum like there was no tomorrow. When I went to a BBing seminar mid prep, and a figure competitor saw my ‘gum-stash’, she laughed and said that it was the only way she was able to diet.

I do enjoy diet rootbeer quite a bit in the evenings (all water and MAG-10 during the day though), and yes, my fridge is filled with assorted flavors of sugar free jello cups (you do have to add the 10 cals to your daily numbers though!). The only things I truly consider ‘free’ foods are my veggies.

I use a lot of lettuce, put raw broccoli and cauliflower in my morning eggs, have asparagus with my dinner, and have just discovered bags of tri-colored peppers at trader joes which I’m sure will find their way into omelets with some Molly McButter cheese sprinkles and Turkey Pepperoni.

One thing to note though, is the use of sodium in these sorts of ‘diet’ products. Most of the prep though, I don’t think it’s an issue, unless of course you have high blood pressure. The last week before the show though is when I will drop all condiments as well as my veggies (don’t want the intestinal bloat).

S

129

Stu,

How do you deal with bringing up weak areas during your bulk? Specialisation routine extra volume or what?
Thanks in advance!

130

[quote]Bambi wrote:
Stu,

How do you deal with bringing up weak areas during your bulk? Specialisation routine extra volume or what?
Thanks in advance![/quote]

Well, I think that both ideas can have merit. I actually tried to make use of both this past year. In the case of my chest, for example, I did increase my frequency (twice every 6 days). However, I also made use of two very different chest workouts in hopes of focusing on upper chest one day, and lower chest the other day.

Chest has never been a particularly strong point for me, I always figured because my shoulders were just naturally strong, so I’m trying to be realistic when I say that I know it will never be a strength, but I’m hoping I’ve made it less of a weakness. While I do think in the recent pics it looks a lot thicker, only time will tell what I’m left with all dieted down.

Christian Thibs is a big proponent of specialization programs where you hit a weak body part three times a week, while relegating your other days to more of a maintainance program. This would work very well if you have one body part to focus on at a time (ideally, rotating every couple of months what you’re focusing on). In my particular case, I was doubling up on Chest AND Legs, so I had two days for each, instead of three days for just one.

S

131

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Well, I have heard some people propose that the artificial sweetness of these products can make your body ‘think’ it’s getting sugar and it will respond accordingly (negatively!), but IMO that’s just ridiculous.

Last prep I was downing sugar free gum like there was no tomorrow. When I went to a BBing seminar mid prep, and a figure competitor saw my ‘gum-stash’, she laughed and said that it was the only way she was able to diet.

I do enjoy diet rootbeer quite a bit in the evenings (all water and MAG-10 during the day though), and yes, my fridge is filled with assorted flavors of sugar free jello cups (you do have to add the 10 cals to your daily numbers though!). The only things I truly consider ‘free’ foods are my veggies.

I use a lot of lettuce, put raw broccoli and cauliflower in my morning eggs, have asparagus with my dinner, and have just discovered bags of tri-colored peppers at trader joes which I’m sure will find their way into omelets with some Molly McButter cheese sprinkles and Turkey Pepperoni.

One thing to note though, is the use of sodium in these sorts of ‘diet’ products. Most of the prep though, I don’t think it’s an issue, unless of course you have high blood pressure. The last week before the show though is when I will drop all condiments as well as my veggies (don’t want the intestinal bloat).

By the way if these are considered free for you why not just eat so much until you’re full? If I really felt the veggies would have no negative effect I’d definitely be taking in as much as possible because I HATE being hungry lol, as does probably everyone.

S
[/quote]

That’s kind of relieving to hear. I’m not sure about the overall health effects but from a fat loss standpoint it doesn’t seem to have hurt you…I’ll probably be downing tons of diet soda, jello and sugar free gum when I cut lol. Gum doesn’t seem like it would help much but I guess so.

I’m wondering how the veggies would effect things…at my college I have unlimited food so I could eat 50 cups of spinach per day if I wanted to (and have eaten about 25/day on occasion) along with whatever steamed veggies they have…this can add up to several hundred calories though and a decent amount of carbs. Not sure how they would affect fat loss though.

132

Thanks mate much appreciated. Good luck!

133

[quote]pumped340 wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Well, I have heard some people propose that the artificial sweetness of these products can make your body ‘think’ it’s getting sugar and it will respond accordingly (negatively!), but IMO that’s just ridiculous.

Last prep I was downing sugar free gum like there was no tomorrow. When I went to a BBing seminar mid prep, and a figure competitor saw my ‘gum-stash’, she laughed and said that it was the only way she was able to diet.

I do enjoy diet rootbeer quite a bit in the evenings (all water and MAG-10 during the day though), and yes, my fridge is filled with assorted flavors of sugar free jello cups (you do have to add the 10 cals to your daily numbers though!). The only things I truly consider ‘free’ foods are my veggies.

I use a lot of lettuce, put raw broccoli and cauliflower in my morning eggs, have asparagus with my dinner, and have just discovered bags of tri-colored peppers at trader joes which I’m sure will find their way into omelets with some Molly McButter cheese sprinkles and Turkey Pepperoni.

One thing to note though, is the use of sodium in these sorts of ‘diet’ products. Most of the prep though, I don’t think it’s an issue, unless of course you have high blood pressure. The last week before the show though is when I will drop all condiments as well as my veggies (don’t want the intestinal bloat).

By the way if these are considered free for you why not just eat so much until you’re full? If I really felt the veggies would have no negative effect I’d definitely be taking in as much as possible because I HATE being hungry lol, as does probably everyone.

S
[/quote]

That’s kind of relieving to hear. I’m not sure about the overall health effects but from a fat loss standpoint it doesn’t seem to have hurt you…I’ll probably be downing tons of diet soda, jello and sugar free gum when I cut lol. Gum doesn’t seem like it would help much but I guess so.

I’m wondering how the veggies would effect things…at my college I have unlimited food so I could eat 50 cups of spinach per day if I wanted to (and have eaten about 25/day on occasion) along with whatever steamed veggies they have…this can add up to several hundred calories though and a decent amount of carbs. Not sure how they would affect fat loss though.
[/quote]

The vibe I always got from other competitors was in regard to GREEN veggies. THat’s all anyone really talked about using (although Cauliflower came up a few times, so I found bags of broccoli and cauliflower together at Trader Joes just for variety). Now of course they do have calories, but I guess the concensus is that because they are mostly fiber and water, the energy expenditure the body must undergo to even digest the veggies counteracts the actual content of the food (if anyone has better, or more in depth explanations, please chime in!)

Yeah, I don’t think this hurt my contest prep last time in the least, and again, I am relying on green veggies in order to satiate a bit of my hunger. When not dieting I typically eat over 4000 a day, so even on my ‘high’ days now, I still want a bit more food than I’m getting -lol.

S

134

I’ve been following T-Nation for a couple years now; I just sat back and soaked in all of the great information from the articles, posts from the coaches, and posts from the experienced members like yourself. I gotta say… you have been an inspiration! I really enjoyed following last years prep and have to credit you for unknowingly providing some of the motivation that pushed me into doing a competition myself. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life! I can really appreciate the fact that you are providing an entire day-by-day contest prep, some valuable info. In about 1-2 months, I’m planning on starting a prep myself. I will definitely be checking up every now and then to see how your progress is coming along. It takes a certain breed to push through a contest prep and actually enjoy it! Good luck to you this season, I expect to see a great result!

135

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]pumped340 wrote:

That’s kind of relieving to hear. I’m not sure about the overall health effects but from a fat loss standpoint it doesn’t seem to have hurt you…I’ll probably be downing tons of diet soda, jello and sugar free gum when I cut lol. Gum doesn’t seem like it would help much but I guess so.

I’m wondering how the veggies would effect things…at my college I have unlimited food so I could eat 50 cups of spinach per day if I wanted to (and have eaten about 25/day on occasion) along with whatever steamed veggies they have…this can add up to several hundred calories though and a decent amount of carbs. Not sure how they would affect fat loss though.
[/quote]

The vibe I always got from other competitors was in regard to GREEN veggies. THat’s all anyone really talked about using (although Cauliflower came up a few times, so I found bags of broccoli and cauliflower together at Trader Joes just for variety). Now of course they do have calories, but I guess the concensus is that because they are mostly fiber and water, the energy expenditure the body must undergo to even digest the veggies counteracts the actual content of the food (if anyone has better, or more in depth explanations, please chime in!)

Yeah, I don’t think this hurt my contest prep last time in the least, and again, I am relying on green veggies in order to satiate a bit of my hunger. When not dieting I typically eat over 4000 a day, so even on my ‘high’ days now, I still want a bit more food than I’m getting -lol.

S

[/quote]

Yea I meant green veggies too. I’ve heard the argument that they take almost as many calories to burn as they give too, so I’m guessing the negatives would be minimal. It’s hard for me to rap my mind around eating an endless amount of something without an issue but I guess seeing how it works would be the best way to find out. If that’s the case though I’m just going to pound them down when I start cutting lol. I can’t do that when I’m back at home from college though considering I would easily eat 2-3lb. of broccoli per day if I wanted to and would never hear the end of it about the cost of that from my parents :slight_smile:

136

JMOGILL- Thanks man, that actually makes me feel pretty good :slight_smile:

Yesterday (Mon) was officially ‘11 weeks out’. As it turned out though, it was a leg day, and I hate to take pics on legs, or cardio days because I just flatten out horribly, so this week’s pics will be coming Wednesday. I will say though, that I’m now down to 194 lbs, which at this point is not bad at all. I figure if I can get down to 178 in the next 10 weeks (16 lbs in 10 weeks), I’ll be all set once I drop my water (and hopefully be the biggest competitor in the class!). Next week, at the 10 week point, I’ll add in some VERY EASY steady state each morning, which hopefully, combined with the higher food levels this time, will add up to a tighter, as well as larger overall package. The hardest part though, has been in NOT MAKING CHANGES. It’s like having an itchy trigger finger, and you just want to do everything that you can, but then there’s the voice telling you that if you do, you’ll be conditioned all right, but smaller than you want to be. So many mind games with yourself! -lol.

S

137

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Next week, at the 10 week point, I’ll add in some VERY EASY steady state each morning, which hopefully, combined with the higher food levels this time, will add up to a tighter, as well as larger overall package. The hardest part though, has been in NOT MAKING CHANGES. It’s like having an itchy trigger finger, and you just want to do everything that you can, but then there’s the voice telling you that if you do, you’ll be conditioned all right, but smaller than you want to be. So many mind games with yourself! -lol.

S
[/quote]

Very nice analogy, Stu. The thing about not making changes.

Regarding the cardio. You go from 2 interval sessions every 6 days to that PLUS low intensity steady state cardio EVERY day? Or on weight training days only?
Either way, this will have a big impact on your overall energy turnover, even if it’s just low intensity cardio or even NEPA.

We both know that in theory, this will burn only few calories in absolute terms, and it will only have little impact on the metabolic rate.
However, I noticed in the past that low-intensity cardio as well as added NEPA made a huge difference in my preps. I can’t explain it. But only calculating the theoretical numbers doesn’t seem to work.

In my early bodybuilding years I tried to get in shape by only adjusting my diet and doing no or very, very little cardio. This is what many coaches advice after all. But I wasn’t able to lose that last bit of fat without cardio. No matter what I did diet-wise.

HIIT is the first thing I add to my training schedule when trying to get ready for a show. But 4 weeks or so into the preperation I always add very low intensity cardio (like incline treadmill at a pretty confortable speed) and just as much NEPA as possible (like taking the stairs rather than the elevator whenever possible, long walks with my finacee, or even carrying around furniture when friends move to other places).

I know it shouldn’t do much, since it doesn’t burn too many calories and has no “after burn” effect on the metabolic rate. But it does something. Maybe via indirect mechanisms and it’s impact on the endocrine system or the CNS, maybe via lowering of stress hormones. For me, keeping energy flux high when dieting is just crucial.

Will you do the cardio sessions first thing in the morning or after breakfast?

Will you take some amino acids or protein sources before the sessions (a MAG-10 pulse might be a good idea…).

138

[quote]ParagonA wrote:

In my early bodybuilding years I tried to get in shape by only adjusting my diet and doing no or very, very little cardio. This is what many coaches advice after all. But I wasn’t able to lose that last bit of fat without cardio. No matter what I did diet-wise.

[/quote]
How lean could you usually get with just the diet changes?

139

Hey Stu, hope the prep is going alright, i only stumbled on this just now cos i think the ‘bodybuilding’ forum has been better recently so havent been here for a while (CT thread, Anaconda, performance, SAMA etc.)

Should be really interesting to see how much youve learn. Lats are awesome and you can really notice that you put the extra effort into your hamstrings in the last contest. Good lcuk and ill definately be watching in anticipation.

140

First I must say congrats on your contest prep. I too am preparing for a show on May 15 this year. It will be my first show. I am also a new member to this website.

Right now i am getting seriously pissed because I am not seeing the results i want with my contest prep. I have cleaned up my diet. Eating every 3 hours. Also doing cardio 15-30 min a training session, and have reduced my training to a 5-6day split working one body part a day. I know i dont have pics…and i know thats a sin on this site because then people dont think it really happens.

My stats are weight 220, height 6 feet tall, bodyfat around 13-15%. any suggestions on a good cutting routine?? any help i can get is great.