Andy
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Just finished up with the last leg session of the prep – if you want to call it that. I’ve not done anything bar “touch up” sessions for my legs for about 6 weeks now. They do continue to look better and better, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun training them the way I am just now. There’s plenty of time to do that in the offseason.
I’m still shooting for 75% of previous loads and not going anywhere near failure.
Cybex seated leg curls – 1 set, 8-12
– Each rep is paused in the stretch
Leg extensions – 1 set, 8-12
Pendulum squat – 1 sets, 8-12
BB squats – 1 set, 8-12
Prime lying leg curls – 2 sets, 12-15
Seated calve raises – 3 sets, 15-20
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I hate both, but I only hate yohimbine enough to not use it. Clen I’ll start at 20 and then maybe move it up to 40. Yohimbine doesn’t give me anxiety, I just don’t feel right on it. Clen does give me anxiety, but dies off as the day goes on, or once my session is done.
There are many who can tolerate much more clen.
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And just like that, we’re under 2 weeks out. I didn’t send photos to Nick this morning, I didn’t see the need. Although, I was down by 1.5lbs.
When I got home I had about a 1/10th of a pot of 320cal ice cream – there should be a law that ice cream companies just shouldn’t even bother with low calorie alternatives, it was terrible – and a cookie from some place my girlfriend got. It was great, but ever since all of these cookie companies started popping up, you realise how much cookies pretty much taste the same.
Back onto my TD diet which is currently 750g of carbs, 5.1K calories. It’s weird that after all of that dieting, I can’t be arsed eating this much, and it also feels wrong, even though I’ve been in this situation numerous times.
I’ve been given my new push training programme by Greg Taylor, and the first session today lit them up. I’m not worried about starting a new plan this close to a show when it comes to push sessions, legs and back would be a big no no.
Hopefully after another year of this setup I’ll have more cap to my delts.
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Post show day reflection coming in. . .
I managed a 10th place at the Tsunami Showdown Pro, and again it was another PB look of my career which I’m delighted with, and to stand next to such massive names was incredible. I have taken so much away from the finals days prior to this show.
I came in a pound heavier, but the fullness translated a bit more than that.
After the Cali I didn’t quite understand the call outs, but after France I do. . . I simply don’t have the round top line that the guys placing above me do.
Even though I have a wide frame, I don’t appear as wide because my taper isn’t as “shocking” as others.
I’m not saying it’s only that, but that’s what I feel will bridge me to higher placings going forward.
I have put on a tonne of size in my last offseason to my shoulders, but I need that round look to complete shots like my front relaxed and lat spreads – my side chest suffers from it too I’d say.
I’ve got Empro in 2 weeks, and then I’m shutting it down to spend a year only training my side delts.
It’s a weird feeling being SO HAPPY with the look, yet knowing I need so much more to step up the ladder.
Sas looked insane, and once again, stepped up the role of “show dad” for me and Luca.
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Yesterday was far less stressful than day 1 in Marseille. That’s always the case, once I’m settled I’m good. My head definitely wobbled last night where I went into the typical competitor overthinking rabbit hole. I semi coach myself, and most of the time I am VERY rational. I think I’m very good at not allowing my mind to wonder and go down this rabbit hole of the ultra fine details.
I keep telling myself, “my look is predictable, my weight is not doing anything wild, I know my body to the letter”. This is all true, and when my girlfriend and training partner(s) point things out I’m always like, “I already know this”.
Not that it’s a huge issue, but I can’t find decent light in my apartment to save my life, so that’s throwing off the visuals, and I don’t like relying on my bodyweight too much.
Anyway, 750g carbs today, I imagine that won’t get increased due to my inactivity.
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Always keep tissue work in. If you’re holding water from it, the massage therapist is doing something VEYR wrong!
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A super stressful first day here in Marseille for the Tsunami Showdown Pro. Nothing really happened, it was more so wee things like, getting trapped in a car park, taking numerous wrong turns and paying the same toll. . . twice.
We went and trained at On Air. it is NOT the kind of place I could train every day, I think that would be terrible. However, it done the job.
I’m very happy with the look, as is Nick. Tomorrow (Thursday – 2 days out) we’ll monitor the look by the meal, and find where is best. I do tend to look better with more meals, water and salt, so competing at 6pm suits me, other than it just being a long day.
So long as I can improve my look from Cali, I’m happy!
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A pretty simple yet busy weekend, with a push session on Saturday, and just resting today.
Nick and I decided to load 1200g of carbs today, which is what we done pre-Cali, and then held most of the week around 1000g bar Wednesday as I lost 5lbs from traveling. The slight caveat this time around is that I won’t be on an 11 hour flight, thankfully just a 2 hour flight – albeit Ryan Air, so it will probably feel like 11 hours.
Tomorrow we’ll more than likely run 1000g, but that depends on the look first thing which is pretty easy to judge now considering my physique is holding very well compared to previous years.
There is some debate if we should remove winstrol next week. As much as I do notice a good bit of visual change from using it, I’m starting to wonder if it is causing some very slight digestive stress.
We’ll see. . .
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Agreed, there will be a cal/carb amount where you just keep getting better and better without spilling, hold it there for a 2-4 weeks, pull expenditure as much as possible and then come back down if you need to for the show. Although, if you’re getting better and you’re happy with the look, do your best to hold it.
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A great back session with Chris and Kieran yesterday. Much like every session these past 2 weeks, the volume is at a baseline, all I’m doing is just giving the muscle a reason to stay there, and that’s about it.
I checked in with Nick yesterday, and we agreed to push the food up a touch more – having sat at 750g for most of the week. The goal for France is to come in just a little bit fuller, but nothing too far from what I looked like in Cali. Push fullness and I will 100% see a blurring of lines through my glutes, and my waist not being as tight as I want it.
No RDLs yesterday as much hamstrings still feel a bit under recovered. So I slotted in another rear delt exercise.
Rope cable pullovers – 3 sets, 12-15
HS SA PL lat pulldowns – 1 set, 8-12
Conventional T-bar rows – 1 sets, 8-12
Megamass chest supported t-bar rows – 1 set, 8-12
SA DB row – 1 set, 8-12
SA HS PL low row – 1 sets, 8-12
Standing rear delt cable flys – 3 sets, 15-20
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A pretty busy NTD yesterday. I still do 1-2-1 PT, but over the course of this season with everything being abroad I’ve had to curtail sessions, but to save face – more or less – I done 5 sessions yesterday, it was good to move and get in the gym again as I still love training people 1-2-1.
Checked in with Nick today, and the plan is to bump carbs up to 850g after a 5lbs drop over night. Obviously most of that is water from the flight, but still, I we have seen my physique go backwards pretty quickly in previous years, so staying on top of fullness/fatigue is paramount.
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Yeah smaller gauge needle, ensure you’re putting the needle all the way in – baffles me that some people don’t – massage the area with an alcohol swab very lightly, don’t inject and then go to bed and lie down.
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Legs yesterday was nothing special, it was pretty much the exact same session I’ve been running for the past 3-4 weeks. The aim just now is just to keep the legs there in terms of fullness. If they spend too long untrained I find that the separation doesn’t quite come through the same on show day. I’m not training to the point where I’m getting doms, literally just putting them through familiar patterns with 75% of previous peaks of load.
Cybex seated leg curls – 1 set, 8-12
– Each rep is paused in the stretch
Leg extensions – 1 set, 8-12
Pendulum squat – 1 sets, 8-12
BB squats – 1 set, 8-12
Prime lying leg curls – 1 sets, 12-15ive
Seated calve raises – 3 sets, 15-20
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I had an excellent push session yesterday, with the pump being absolutely blinding due to the 3lbs of fluid I’ve held from the flight. I didn’t do anything crazy, just pumped up the disco muscle (chest/shoulders/biceps).
I had a look this morning during posing practice and I’d say the majority of the water retention is confined to my calves/shins, the rest of me looks pretty good, and with a few more days of my body finding it’s balance I’ll be a new level of physique I’d say.
As I mentioned yesterday, I think there’s room to push fullness further, but I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, if we’re going to make any adjustments to the peak, then they are going to be very minimalistic.
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Reverse into your holiday, slowly raising calories/CHO and tapering expenditure down slowly. You’ll most likely still be in a deficit as you raise your baseline of calories anyway, but the reverse will mitigate rebounding to heavily while you’re away.
Once you’re back simply continue from where you left off.
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