[ajmorris]

Good rest day yesterday getting plenty of work done – seems to be a very busy time period for me as I am building my 2021 team for the stage & planning out everyones prep’s so I have them exactly where they need to be on time. If you are thinking of competing next year, make sure you have your strategy laid out now, it’s important to see the bigger picture, rather than just “oh I’ll start in May” you need to know where your food should be, where your body comp should be, where your cardio / NEAT should be, everything needs to be nailed!!

Excited to train legs today, pendulums & hammer strength pendulum leg presses on the cards 🙂

[ajmorris]

I used steps my whole prep as the only real expenditure tool.

Here are some reasons why –

1 – Low impact

Cardio beyond the treadmill ( even the treadmill if you walk fast enough ) will have an impact on your weights sessions. The main goal when dieting down HAS to be muscle mass retention, so minimising the negative effect on training whilst still getting the fat off is an absolute must for me.

2 – Ease / efficiency

I can still do some work whilst doing steps, or create content etc, so it kills two birds with one stone and it allows less stress in my day too.

3 – Consistency

Steps can be tracked very accurately nowadays with fitness trackers & it allows for consistent NEAT levels which can create a more predictable energy balance!

[ajmorris]

Never used Semolina myself but find I definitely have to rotate between oats & cream of rice to keep digestive function in a good place.

I think a lot of peoples issues are down to simply pummelling the same foods everyday for far too long

[ajmorris]

Yesterday’s Pull Session with no lower back loading was spot on. Pretty much formulated my whole split for UF Rotherham when we get back, I will be going through at least 8-12 weeks of a more ‘Push’ / Upper Body focused Meso-Cycle. The aim being pretty simple, bring up my entire top line & arms. Putting legs on the back burner a little bit during this phase.

I will lay out each session and the split in my next post.

Yesterdays Pull

Adductor x1
Chest Supported Row Precor x2
Nautilus Compound Row x2
D Handle Lat Pulldown x2
Upper Back Focused Single Arm Row x1
Assisted Pull Up x1
Reverse Pec Deck x2
Machine Shrug x2
Panatta Preacher Curl x3
DB Hammer Curl x2 + Drop Set

[ajmorris]

Hi Aj, has your diet changed at all this offseason, i went through your log and didnt find anything about it

Hey Shay, literally nothing has changed as of yet, the only thing I pulled out was the muffins as I was wanting more whole foods, but caloric set point is the same, it’s steadily bringing my bodyweight up so nothing needed to be adjusted really!

[ajmorris]

Yesterday’s Push was a solid session, some tweaks to programming to try and continue to bring up my chest , as you can see I’ve sequenced a pec deck second to try and ‘turn on’ my pecs more prior to pressing , honestly it felt amazing yesterday so will continue to run this!

Machine lateral x2
Pec deck x2
Incline DB 45×9 40×11
Fit genix shoulder press x2
Flat panatta press x1 rest pause (3 fail points, 5 deep breaths)
Cuffed lateral x2 single arm
Overhead machine extension x3 holding contractions for 3 count
Tricep Pushdown x3 + drop with same holds
Dumbbell curl x2

[ajmorris]

Good rest day yesterday – went out for some food in the evening at a place called Asia Asia, was so good, food was mega. When I eat out I do like to go for higher quality options like sushi, steak etc & find nicer restaurants as it’s very rare that we do eat out

Push today – Incline dumbbell on the cards.. will be having it filmed for my YouTube too 🙂

[ajmorris]

Checked in today

Just capped off Week 5 of this phase.

8 lbs up from stage weight

[ajmorris]

So another good leg session in the books today – me and Loz ventured out to Train SF, another decent gym here in Dubai, was pretty busy, but well kitted out, and we had a great session overall.

Adductor x2
Leg Extension x2
Kneeling Ham Curl x2
Precor Hack Squat x1 (not a fan, short ROM and foot pad flexing all over the shop.. probably a knee killer in the long run!)
Atlantis Pivot Leg Press x1 (one of my fave leg presses in the world)
45 Degree Hip Extension x2
Super set with
Bodyweight Reverse Hyperextension x2
Ab Crunch Machine x3
Toe Press x2
Biceps x4 sets

Rest day tomorrow & we will have a nice meal out in the evening, only ate out once here so far as we love routine, but a good meal whilst here is worth having 🙂

[ajmorris]

Only new to this have been following you and kuba

Thanks David!

[ajmorris]

Great Pull session today – recorded for my YouTube also!

Enjoying the Binous gym, but very messy compared to UltraFlex & arguably… far poorer kit haha, but still a good environment to get after it.

Session was as follows

Adductor x1
Underhand Pulldown x2 (similar to Hammer strength)
Barbell RDL x2 – back off set was paused
Single Arm Nautilus Nitro Row x2
Panatta Pulldown x2
Upper Back Focused Life Fitness Chest Supported Row x2
Shrug x2
Hammer Curl x2
Panatta Preacher Curl x2
Reverse Pec Deck x2

Looking forward to getting all my programming sorted for the return to UK, will be straight back to it after probably a day of rest after travel 🙂

[ajmorris]

[ajmorris]

Woah that gym sounds amazing!
Quick question after all, how long from last meal until m1 for you then mate?

Unreal!!
Usually about 1 hour at the moment mate. Digestion is very quick and efficient [/quote]
No I mean, from last meal(night) until M1(breaky), like 12 hrs….?
So what are you doing @ the moment to bring up arms? [/quote]

[ajmorris]

Hey Asrar,

It’s certainly a tough period for a lot of people – including several of my clients with very limited kit & no budget to get more.

As always in bodybuilding, focus on what you can control – if you can change something positively, like Jimmy said, learning more, asking questions on here, listening to podcasts, audiobooks etc, so that when you come back to normality and gyms are open, you’ll be on an immense run.

Stay safe!

[ajmorris]

Hey Jan,

Very Individual of course this question, but based on what I see here, I’d definitely like to see an increase in dietary fat out of the gate.

I’d recommend something along the lines of

TD:
260p 400c 50f
NTD:
300p 250c 60f

See how you respond to that initially!