[Andy]

There are so many things that can cause or worsen acne within bodybuilding that it can sometimes take time through the process of elimination to find what has caused it.

Pre-disposition – If you had acne as a teen, you will get it using PEDs. The only caveat maybe that you have used high doses of accutane as a teen to combat it, which may mean that you don’t get acne as bad, or at all, while on PEDs.

DHT – Taking test raises DHT which causes an over secretion of oils from the skin. Your pores get “clogged” and your body has an inflammatory response (acne). Less peaks and troughs in blood levels does help, but not as much as just simply lowering overall test and running compounds that don’t convert to DHT.

E2 – This can impact men, but it’s far less common than DHT, this is a value, if high, you might need to take measures to bring down to help it.

Diet – Even a “clean” diet can cause acne. If you can’t process/digest a particular source, then toxins will circulate your body, be excreted through your skin, and cause acne. Usually in this case, you’ll have some sort of issue with digestion that will give you an indicator (bloating, diarrhoea etc).

Acne doesn’t have to be instant either, I went 8 years of PED use before I had a bad break out, you perhaps didn’t do anything particular but usage has caught up with you, and some of the above apply.

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[Andy]

Push session squared away today, and there were a few ups and downs, all of which are explainable – but no less frustrating.

Seated cuffed cable flys – 2x 8-12, 1x 12-15

– Up across all sets here, but there’s no triceps/bicep involvement, so that makes sense.

Incline DB press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15

– Down a rep across both sets, but my left side (tricep tendons primarily) feels weak, and unstable, so I took the hit here.

Small incline SM chest press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15

– Gain of 2.5kg on the working set, 0 tricep pain here which was funny.

Prime rear peck deck – 3x 12-15

Cuffed SA cable side raises – 3x 12-15

– Across all bicep work, my tricep tendons were screaming, to I reduced the weight by 1/3 and followed the below. Biceps were still screaming to be fair.

Standing EZ-bar cable curls – 3x 12-15

High incline EZ-bar cable curls – 3x 12-15

Shallow decline sit-ups – 3 working sets, AMRAP

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[Andy]

I personally would have a different variation here

How about a EZ bar cable curl ?[/quote]

Yes, go with an high incline EZ-bar cable curl, and then into a preacher curl variation.

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[Andy]

A great weekend filled a session down at Performance Gym Irvine, probably one of the biggest independent gyms in Scotland, and catch up with friends over lunch as well.

The pull session we done followed a similar structure, but we slotted in pieces that we don’t have at Future Fitness, so it was nice to experience a greater range of angles.

I checked in with Nick, I’m up 3lbs to 280.4lbs, and I can feel it for sure. Overnight I became instantly out of breath. . . it never impacts training really, but my day to day life it does.

I’m very happy with the look though, as well as photos that my other half took at EP.

I’m still very ready to go for a big push and make up the ground I feel I need to at least have a slightly better onstage.

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[Andy]

A very busy day travelling down to EP in Manchester to train and have a look at one of my clients – James Murphy. I always love training in places like EP due to the fact that everything is hand picked, so when training there I like to try different bits and pieces, but I ultimately just followed James’ push day.

It’s been a long day, but well worth it!

I’ll be checking in with Nick first thing tomorrow. I took a few shots PWO in EP which I was pretty delighted at, which I’ll share tomorrow on IG.

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[Andy]

Another very busy NTD today with 6 sessions and a mountain of check-ins, but it’s good to be busy!

I’m excited to hit EP tomorrow with my client James, as well as head through to Performance Gym in Irvine – about a 40 minute drive from Glasgow. I’d say PG is closest thing we have to an Ultra Flex. There’s a few big gyms, but all filled with just replica dog shit equipment.

I’ll be training shoulders tomorrow with James and then back at PG, and maybe some brunch after it. . .

I’m feeling a lot better after Ricky went through every fibre of my forearms, now it’s time to see how they in action.

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[Andy]

Agreed with the above, put the extra calories into the meals around the times you feel hungriest, or to offset cravings, so I usually put my last meal as my highest in that initial stage to aid with sleeping to help curve off cravings.

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[Andy]

A very quiet non training today with some PT clients being off, and some clients not checking in.

I didn’t mind due to me being very beat up from yesterday’s legs, which went like this (the exact same way as last time)

Prime PL lying leg curls – 1x 12-15 + double drop set

Prime PL leg extensions – 1x 12-15 + Tuor rest pause

HS horizontal leg press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15

Pendulum squat – 1x 8-12

Paused Cybex seated leg curls – 1x 12-15, 1x 15-20

Seated calve raises – 3x 20

Decline sit-ups – 3x AMRAP

A good push in numbers and reps, very happy!

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[Andy]

I know everyone has different philosophies, but for you personally, how do you decide whether to increase food intake or raise the total mg to keep making progress?

I like to see a weight stall along with slowed training progression. I’ll raise PEDs when I want more in the way of recovery, without adding more calories and potential fat gain in.

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[Andy]

You don’t need to swap exercises around/out. Just remind yourself into breath, inhaling on the eccentric, and exhaling on the concentric. It’s quite common for people to hold their breath, and people do it for a number of reasons, but limiting oxygen might be different between gaining an extra rep or 3 reps.

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[Andy]

A great push session yesterday with more in the way of progression across the board, even on bicep work which has been a bit tricky lately as my forearms have been overly tight for weeks. Ricky has went through them quite a few times, but hasn’t spent an entire session on them: which is what I’ll be getting done on Wednesday. It usually only takes 1 or 2 sessions to iron them out.

The push session hasn’t changed since I swapped out the Prime PL flat press for the incline SM press.

Seated cuffed cable flys – 2x 8-12, 1x 12-15

Incline DB press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15

Small incline SM chest press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15

Prime rear peck deck – 3x 12-15

Cuffed SA cable side raises – 3x 12-15

Standing EZ-bar cable curls – 3x 12-15

High incline EZ-bar cable curls – 3x 12-15

Shallow decline sit-ups – 3 working sets, AMRAP

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[Andy]

Also how do you find your estrogen with both Eq & primo in the mix?

My E2 values stay pretty stable no matter the compounds I use, or how high my test is.

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[Andy]

Hi Andy do you think your peds will go
Much higher than this off season?

Yeah 100% they’ll go up, I’ll taper them up as the push goes on

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[Andy]

At the end of my last health phase I brought my carbs down by 20%, which I usually do and the diet has stayed there since, so the start of this push the diet looks like this;

M1

100g – Beef fillet, 1 – Whole egg, 3 – Egg whites, 2 slices – Wholemeal bread, 100g – White jasmine rice, 1 – Banana, 300ml – Orange juice

M2

200g – 2% turkey mince, 125g – White jasmine rice, 1 – Apple, 10g – Macadamia oil, 50g – Veg

M3

200g – 2% turkey mince, 125g – White jasmine rice, 1 – Banana, 50g – Veg

Intra

10g – Creatine mono, 30g – EAAs, 50g – Performance fuel, 5g – Taurine

PWO Shake

30g – Performance iso, 50g – Performance fuel, 3g – HMB, 10g – Creatine mono

M4

30g – Performance iso, 200g – Cereal, 100g – Raspberries

M5

200g – 5% beef mince, 75g – White jasmine rice, 50g – Sauerkraut, 50g – Pasta sauce, 100g – Pineapple

M6

260g – Salmon fillet, 75g – White jasmine rice, 1 slice – Wholemeal bread, 100g – Pasta sauce, 100g – Veg

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[Andy]

NTD day today, and a check-in with Nick finally!

I’m sitting at 277.4 which is lighter than I thought I’d be, but I’m leaner than where I ended my last push, so it all make sense.

We’ve agreed not to touch food just now going into the start of next week’s push, however, we are pushing for more in the way of PEDs;

Test E – 750mg/week

Primo – 400mg/week

EQ – 400mg/week

GH – 4IU/day (Pre-bed)

Lantus – 15IU/day

Telmisartan – 40mg/day

Metformin – 500mg/day

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