Dip
Squat
Tire flip
I am on my final day of depletion workouts right now, I am not gonna lie, it sucks, I feel positively drained, one more session of tire pulling (eccentric-less) tonight and then an AM session tomorrow before I start my carb load.
[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
I was a post workout nutrition guy until reading about taking in your nutrients before and during. Tried that and it worked great.
[/quote]
I had the same experience. Not to say I didnât have good results with my focus on POST nutrition, but I definitely had better results with a peri-approach. No one knows so much that they canât try something new 
S
Tim, youâre so ripped I think that we can see the digestion process when you eat!!!
@ Stu
Exactly, I love learning new things and trying them out. It is particularly exciting when they work and yield good results!
@ CT
Wow, thanks!
Unfortunately, I never got my legs to the point of being shredded. I carried way more fat there than I thought going into the cut. I was hoping to get striations and vascularity in my legs like I did on my upperbody, but I just couldnât pull it off. I think if I would have kept going any longer I would have started to really sacrifice mass up top. I hope to do my best to keep my legs lean when I bulk so next cut I can get my legs seriously shredded.
Off to bed, have my last workout tomorrow at 6:30 a.m.
Last 3 days of depletion were roughly 50g carbs each day but only from incidental stuff like eggs, nuts and whey. But that part is over.
Interesting thing, I didnât drop any weight while depleting, I drank over 2 gallons of water and had around 4g of sodium per day, so maybe my body is really hydrated and thatâs why my weight remained stable while depleting glycogen. I honestly have no idea, it is beyond my level of knowledge.
Woke up at 5:55 am and it was raining and coldâŠhad a moment of weakness and then kicked myself in the butt and got up to eat my breakfast, walk my dog and pull my tire sled one last time.
Got strange looks from a co-worker this morning as I hauled a MOUNTAIN of tupperware into the office with rice, oats, and gnocchi! Here goes the carb load, I must say, I am kind of nervous I wonât be able to eat all of it.
In case anyone is wonderingâŠ
On my final day of carb loading, basically I tried to set up my contest week based on an article I read at another website and combined that with what I learned from the Daryl Gee project. My depletion circuits were modeled after some of the depletion circuits Daryl used with CT.
I am surprised by the carb load, I must say, it was sort of scary thinking about eating so many carbs, I thought for sure I would have the dreaded spillover, but I was so depleted that my body seems to be sucking them all up.
I just finished posing for my wife, and she noticed increased detail and vascularity, I havenât appeared to lose any tightness and I definitely feel fuller. So far so good, two more big carb meals and I am done. Just some small meals tomorrow AM and a final meal of fat, salt and high GI carbs to pump up with.
Water gets cut off tonight after dinner, tomorrow I take pictures and finish the process!
Recently took a decent period away from weights - only hit gym 2 days out of 10 total, 1 push WO not to max and 1 progressive pull WO ending with DL @ about 80% 1RM. When I went back to my normal routine, the weights just felt really heavy; I thought, âOh man, Iâve really lost a lotâ (Weightlifters must be really insecure!) My first pressing WO back I could only ramp to 90% 1RM, I usually go to 95-100%.
So, I just started to apply what I have learned with WOâs and neural charge WOâs thrown in. Long story made short - 4 days after lay off I hit an all time PR in squat (yesterday) and it wasnât really that hard of a rep.
These methods continue to work for me. Canât thank CT enough.
Regards,
M
I finished up contest prep week. I based it on what I learned in the training lab and also on an article from another website.
Based on what I learned in the Training Lab I did depletion circuits with weights and a sled. Moved toward more sled work on the final depletion days so as to eliminate the eccentric and help facilitate the glycogen supercompensation in the carb load phase.
I was apprehensize about the carb load, 0.5 g per lb per meal x 6 meals came to over 500g carbs. 500g would not have been much for me 6 months ago, but I was not sure how my body would respond after being low carb for so long. Luckily, my body reacted exactly the way the science of the article said it was supposed to; it sucked up the carbs into my muscles. I think (and hopefully you feel the pictures show) that I lost zero definition and actually gained in vascularity and some detail. I carefully assessed my physique through the carb load, in case I would get the dreaded spill over. However, it never came.
During the carb load, after each carb meal (so 6 times per day), I would do 3 sets of 10 second flexing in the mandatory bodybuilding poses based on CTs recommendation (for Daryl Gee, not for me, lol!) to help shuttle nutrients where they are supposed to go via non insulin mediated glucose transport. This made sense to me, plus it was a great way to:
- practice my posing and
- assess my physique (when I had the opportunity to use a mirror).
As I loaded, and especially on my final day where I cut water, my wife and I could both see the increased detail come out on some of my more stubborn bodyparts, specifically my calves, thighs and triceps.
Final Analysis:
I felt I definitely achieved increased detail and vascularity thanks to doing my best to mimic what I learned from the Daryl Gee project.
I would do it again if I ever compete and possible even increase my carb load slightly since I handled them so well and actually weighed in 2.5 lbs (167.5 compared to 170) lighter than before my carb load!
I am going to post pictures and a video, you may not notice the difference, but it is there and it may have made the difference in a placing or two had I actually competed.
Video:
Here is a new video, the first half is similar to my previous video, but I decided to add close ups. At 1:46 into the video, you can see the detail in my legs better on the close up, especially the sharpness on my calves which I did not have until the night before. You can also see increased vascularity of my upperbody.
Pictures: - unfortunately there is a difference in lighting
October 10, 2010 - finished up diet, previous pictures posted in this thread are from this date, weight 170, waist 31.25 inches
October 17, 2010 - Contest Day, current pictures are from this date, weight 167.5, waist 30.75 inches
I add my own assessment, please feel free to add you own.
Regarding the picture above - I can see increased detail in my quads
side chest
Side Tricep - I feel like my tricep tightened up and detail is more visible trailing down towards the elbow
Side Tricep - I feel like my tricep tightened up and detail is more visible trailing down towards the elbow
Rear Double Bicep - increased vascularity (especially in forearm), more detail on triceps and lower back
Hamstring and Calf - shows the separation on my calve, some detail of hamstring, the video does my calves more justice
[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
Recently took a decent period away from weights - only hit gym 2 days out of 10 total, 1 push WO not to max and 1 progressive pull WO ending with DL @ about 80% 1RM. When I went back to my normal routine, the weights just felt really heavy; I thought, âOh man, Iâve really lost a lotâ (Weightlifters must be really insecure!) My first pressing WO back I could only ramp to 90% 1RM, I usually go to 95-100%.
So, I just started to apply what I have learned with WOâs and neural charge WOâs thrown in. Long story made short - 4 days after lay off I hit an all time PR in squat (yesterday) and it wasnât really that hard of a rep.
These methods continue to work for me. Canât thank CT enough.
Regards,
M[/quote]
Stop making me look smart!
I guess I gotta start applying that stuff now that it works 
Tim, you indeed look a lot dryer although the different lighting makes it hard to have an exact idea of how much you did improve. The quads separation alone show that you did improve significantly though.
My recommendation would be to carb up more next time⊠shoot for being roughly the same weight after the carb-load as you were before the deplete. But not carbing enough is the mistake made by 90% of the people the first time they do it. They fail to understand how much carbs they can truly take in.