Trent's Contest Prep Thread

Bigger Stronger Leaner
21

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Alright. I just love that this site’s BBing forum has become such a great community of competitors and supportive folks.

I remember your last contest outing, and I have no doubt that you’ll be bringing not just a better physique in terms of muscle, but a better attitude and outlook. Having gone through the prep experience before, I’m sure you view things much differently now than you most likely did before you even considered competing.

You’re already starting off fairly lean, which is great in terms of being able to not rush your prep. Also, lest anyone overly concern themselves with your needing more muscle (don’t we all need a bit more? -lol), things can appear quite different once bf levels reach a certain point, no matter what the scale actually says.

S[/quote]

Thanks a lot Stu, I was hoping you’d check in! My attitude and views have certainly changed since my last prep experience. I’ll be much better prepared to handle the stresses of the prep this go around; I really want to enjoy the experience rather than just get through it or be wanting it to end

22

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
You have an awesome name. I’ll be lurking obv.[/quote]

Lol, do we possibly share the same name, Rattle?! And I hope you’ll be chiming in, I don’t know how I forgot to mention you in my OP, but I really enjoyed following your thread for the Men’s Health contest

23

[quote]GrizzlyBerg wrote:
I will be following along. Good luck brotha[/quote]

Thanks Grizzly!

24

[quote]super saiyan wrote:
Good luck, Trent.

You had to have put on a ton of mass recently because look how small your Bulls jersey looks now.[/quote]

Thanks man! Lol I wondered if anyone would comment on that jersey, I rocked that MJ all the time as a baby born in Illinois :slight_smile:

25

[quote]gregron wrote:
You’re right handed huh?

I’ll be following along as well. Any pics from your last contest? 20 weeks should give you plenty of time considering how lean you already are. Get some![/quote]

Thanks Greg! Haha I am indeed right handed, did my off kilter posing give that away? And I will try to toss up some pics from my first contest; I have a few, not very high quality pictures though. And yes, I’m hoping to really be able to dial it in with 20 weeks to prep! I know I won’t be the biggest guy on stage, so I figure the thing I can control is my conditioning…there’s no reason I shouldn’t be the leanest guy on stage

26

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Curious Trent, how are you going about prepping during Baseball? I know you said it’ll be interesting, but I remember the HS baseball team doing a TON of cardio. re you concerned about that at all?[/quote]

It’s funny that you mentioned the cardio from baseball Spidey, I was actually thinking today that I need to talk to Brian about that and see if it will change his plan at all. Our pitchers do a ton of running all season, but as a position player I won’t have to do much once the season gets underway. During January and early February when we are practicing indoors we will do quite a bit of conditioning though; it’s mainly sprinting so maybe I could consider it as my HIIT sessions?

The biggest thing that I’m a little nervous about with prepping during the season will be managing my nutrition during our weekend road trips. On a typical weekend we might leave Lincoln on the bus at 6 a.m. Saturday, stop at a McDonald’s for breakfast around 8, and play a doubleheader starting at 1, with a second game at 4. We’ll usually have sandwiches, cookies, fruit, etc. between games. After the second game we’ll usually eat at a Golden Corral type of restaurant, then do the same thing again on Sunday before heading back to Lincoln that night. So I’ll need to be well prepared and make sure I’ve planned accordingly. I’ll need to bring a meal to eat at breakfast, between games, and then at the restaurant after the game, and probably another at the hotel before bed. I might be able to fit Subway into my macros if we go there. Needless to say, I’ll be getting a lot of crap from my teammates and coaches (who won’t be happy with me losing weight during the season, lol.) I love baseball, but fitness has really become a bigger passion for me, so I don’t mind making the sacrifices

27

[quote]jppage wrote:
Nice pwolves I’m in.[/quote]

Thanks jppage, was hoping you’d be in!

28

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
You have an awesome name. I’ll be lurking obv.[/quote]

Lol, do we possibly share the same name, Rattle?! And I hope you’ll be chiming in, I don’t know how I forgot to mention you in my OP, but I really enjoyed following your thread for the Men’s Health contest[/quote]

I wish we shared names lol. Don’t worry about shout outs for me, you’ve already achieved far more than I.

Btw did you get any further with your supp sponsorship you were seeking?

29

Thanks for answering that Trent. I know having dinner/going out with college aged guys when you’re cutting is a real struggle, so good luck with that haha.

Ok, so can you share your training split? Typical day of lifting/eating? Numbers on the Big 4 (DL, SQ, Bench and OHP).

Sorry for all the questions, just curious lol

30

Sweet, another college kid from Lincoln!

Been following your posts for a while now, saw that you were going to compete and kept trying to figure out if I knew you lol. I thought you went to UNL though.

I’ll be following along! Like your attitude, and you have a pretty balanced physique it seems.

31

[quote]fisch wrote:
Sweet, another college kid from Lincoln!

Been following your posts for a while now, saw that you were going to compete and kept trying to figure out if I knew you lol. I thought you went to UNL though.

I’ll be following along! Like your attitude, and you have a pretty balanced physique it seems.[/quote]

Thanks for the kind words man! I actually did go to UNL my freshman year before transferring to NWU to play baseball. So if you’re a regular at the rec I’m sure I’d recognize you! It’d be fun to get together to train sometime

32

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Thanks for answering that Trent. I know having dinner/going out with college aged guys when you’re cutting is a real struggle, so good luck with that haha.

Ok, so can you share your training split? Typical day of lifting/eating? Numbers on the Big 4 (DL, SQ, Bench and OHP).

Sorry for all the questions, just curious lol[/quote]

wow I had a long post typed out and somehow accidentally backed out of the screen lol. I’ll regroup and try again later haha

33

Best of luck pwolves! Will be checking in from time to time to see progress.

34

[quote]Bauber wrote:
Best of luck pwolves! Will be checking in from time to time to see progress.[/quote]

I can officially check “Get Bauber to notice me” off of my bucket list :). Haha thanks for checking in big man!

35

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Thanks for answering that Trent. I know having dinner/going out with college aged guys when you’re cutting is a real struggle, so good luck with that haha.

Ok, so can you share your training split? Typical day of lifting/eating? Numbers on the Big 4 (DL, SQ, Bench and OHP).

Sorry for all the questions, just curious lol[/quote]

Alright, let’s give this another try lol. No worries about the questions, I’m happy to answer any than anyone has and I’m glad to see people are interested! Unfortunately I can’t go into much detail about my training, as per my agreement with The Strength Guys.

In the past, I followed typical bro bodybuilding splits, just hammering a bodypart or two each day. I didn’t put nearly enough focus on progressive overload or actually increasing strength in the compound lifts. I definitely fell into the trap of chasing the pump far too much in my training; while this can obviously be beneficial in a good program, I overlooked the fact that (I guess it’s an opinion) all other things being equal, a stronger muscle will be a bigger muscle.

Since starting with TSG about 6 months ago, I’ve made more progress and seen more gains than I did in my previous 2 years of training. My current training is split into upper and lower days for the most part, with certain days being more of power day and others being more hypertrophy oriented.

My coach, Jacob Trout, is big on periodization and uses different variables such as high volume, high intensity (I’ll often have RPE guidelines on lifts, where a 9 would tell me that I should come up one rep short of failure), varying rest times (think 6x20 squat with 60 seconds rest), tempo training, etc. I feel that the tempo training has made a huge difference in improving my MMC.

It’s much easier to feel the target muscle working when I have to focus on controlling tempo, and can’t just start moving the weight from point A to point B.

Current PR’s: Bench-290. Squat-375. Deadlift-475. I’ve had a few shoulder injuries playing baseball that have made heavy overhead pressing pretty painful for me, so most of my overhead work is done with tempo and a weight that I can be sure to control throughout the whole movement.

I’ll write up some thoughts on diet tomorrow!

36

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

[quote]jschultzFF wrote:
It looks like you have a naturally lean structure, which could bode well for physique. How much are you looking to cut? I’d say there’s no doubt you’re going to be razor sharp in 20wks, but I wonder if you’ll be able to keep some size on.

Either way, I’m looking forward to following along.

JS[/quote]

Thanks man, glad to have you in the thread! To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to expect the finished product to look like. In the past, I had always followed the “see food, eat food” approach to bulking, trying to gain a pound a week. I actually competed in physique in November of 2012, and started that prep weighing 205 lbs. Needless to say, I was shocked when I had to cut all the way down to 170, lol. I wasn’t carrying much muscle on stage; it was way too short of a prep, only 12 weeks. Since then, I’ve let the mirror and strength gains be the judge, and have focused on slowly building up my metabolism and staying as lean as possible. I’m weighing in at 188-190 right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up in the low 170’s, but I hope that it will be a much denser, more muscular physique[/quote]

With a 20wk prep, starting at 190, man, I think you’re gonna be like 165, or lower! Ha! But, if you can keep most/all of your muscle, then you’re going to look MASSIVE at 165, which as well all know, kind of seems like an oxymoron :slight_smile:

37

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Alright. I just love that this site’s BBing forum has become such a great community of competitors and supportive folks.

I remember your last contest outing, and I have no doubt that you’ll be bringing not just a better physique in terms of muscle, but a better attitude and outlook. Having gone through the prep experience before, I’m sure you view things much differently now than you most likely did before you even considered competing.

You’re already starting off fairly lean, which is great in terms of being able to not rush your prep. Also, lest anyone overly concern themselves with your needing more muscle (don’t we all need a bit more? -lol), things can appear quite different once bf levels reach a certain point, no matter what the scale actually says.

S[/quote]

Yes, this is very, very true!

JS

38

[quote]jschultzFF wrote:

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

[quote]jschultzFF wrote:
It looks like you have a naturally lean structure, which could bode well for physique. How much are you looking to cut? I’d say there’s no doubt you’re going to be razor sharp in 20wks, but I wonder if you’ll be able to keep some size on.

Either way, I’m looking forward to following along.

JS[/quote]

Thanks man, glad to have you in the thread! To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to expect the finished product to look like. In the past, I had always followed the “see food, eat food” approach to bulking, trying to gain a pound a week. I actually competed in physique in November of 2012, and started that prep weighing 205 lbs. Needless to say, I was shocked when I had to cut all the way down to 170, lol. I wasn’t carrying much muscle on stage; it was way too short of a prep, only 12 weeks. Since then, I’ve let the mirror and strength gains be the judge, and have focused on slowly building up my metabolism and staying as lean as possible. I’m weighing in at 188-190 right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up in the low 170’s, but I hope that it will be a much denser, more muscular physique[/quote]

With a 20wk prep, starting at 190, man, I think you’re gonna be like 165, or lower! Ha! But, if you can keep most/all of your muscle, then you’re going to look MASSIVE at 165, which as well all know, kind of seems like an oxymoron :slight_smile:
[/quote]

Haha yeah I’ll definitely need to not let the scale mess with my head. I think people have sort of a misconception though as far as how much some of the best bodybuilders on the natural side of the sport weight though in competition shape. The plan is to be ready several weeks ahead of time and be able to reverse diet my way into the show!

39

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

[quote]jschultzFF wrote:

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

[quote]jschultzFF wrote:
It looks like you have a naturally lean structure, which could bode well for physique. How much are you looking to cut? I’d say there’s no doubt you’re going to be razor sharp in 20wks, but I wonder if you’ll be able to keep some size on.

Either way, I’m looking forward to following along.

JS[/quote]

Thanks man, glad to have you in the thread! To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to expect the finished product to look like. In the past, I had always followed the “see food, eat food” approach to bulking, trying to gain a pound a week. I actually competed in physique in November of 2012, and started that prep weighing 205 lbs. Needless to say, I was shocked when I had to cut all the way down to 170, lol. I wasn’t carrying much muscle on stage; it was way too short of a prep, only 12 weeks. Since then, I’ve let the mirror and strength gains be the judge, and have focused on slowly building up my metabolism and staying as lean as possible. I’m weighing in at 188-190 right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up in the low 170’s, but I hope that it will be a much denser, more muscular physique[/quote]

With a 20wk prep, starting at 190, man, I think you’re gonna be like 165, or lower! Ha! But, if you can keep most/all of your muscle, then you’re going to look MASSIVE at 165, which as well all know, kind of seems like an oxymoron :slight_smile:
[/quote]

Haha yeah I’ll definitely need to not let the scale mess with my head. I think people have sort of a misconception though as far as how much some of the best bodybuilders on the natural side of the sport weight though in competition shape. The plan is to be ready several weeks ahead of time and be able to reverse diet my way into the show![/quote]

If you’re reverse dieting onto the stage, that would be epicly awesome! If you can do that, then you know you’re doing things the “right way”

JS

40

Today’s my first day of prep! I’m very excited to get started. Had my “last supper” with some good buddies last night, who will also be starting their own preps soon. I smashed most of a large deep dish Old Chicago pizza, so I’m ready to hit my macros today, lol!

I checked with Brian on whether or not I could keep you guys updated with my macros, and he said that was just fine! So my starting macros for prep will be: 400 c, 90 f, and 250 p. I’ll be refeeding twice a week at 600 c, 80 f, and 230 p. One of my big goals for prep is to continue making strength gains for at least the first 12 to 14 weeks, and to maintain my strength after that. I’m about to head to the gym, got some heavy squats today so it’s a good chance to start the prep off right in regards to that goal!