Andy
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As the boys have mentioned above, 24 weeks is plentiful for a cycle/push.
Agreed with Nath here, cruises are a time for your body to rest from the PEDs, therefore run the bare minimum (test).
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If you’re looking for a short/quick fat loss phase, and assuming training performance is improving then keep going.
If you’ve planned out a long fat loss phase, then look to scale your setup back a touch as per the suggestions you’ve made there.
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Checked in with Nick yesterday at 280.8 which is a 0.4lbs increase. We both agreed that we’re not looking for large weight increases over the course of this push. We’d both like to move into a prep with our leanest start point yet. I could be leaner at this point, but I feel holding the setup here, and focusing on training performance is going to allow me to recomp as the push goes on.
I really like the look, full abs, separated legs, decent amount of detail through my shoulders and chest.
I’ve still got this pain in my left forearm and triceps, but hopefully another trip to Ricky will see it ironed out.
As I mentioned a few days ago, it’s only my pulldowns it’s impacting rather than pressing/tricep isolation work.
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A bit of a frustrating one with back today, but more so due to the pain in my triceps than anything else. I’ve had work done on them twice now, but they’re still hurting. It’s one certain movements, but when my arm is lengthened in a pulldown it fucking kills. It’s eased off a bit, maybe 20% since the last back session.
Speaking of which, the session has slightly changed;
SA Prime PL pulldowns – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
– If my tricep was okay then this would have been a blast
Rope pullovers – 3x 12-15
T-bar rows – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
– Neither staple (t-bar/DB rows) was painful at all, new highs on both.
Prime PL seated row – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
– Loaded pin 2 here as I feel that’s where the machine feels it’s most “complete” as in I feel the movement bottom to top.
SA DB rows – 2x 8-12
RDLs – 1x 8-12
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A superb shoulder day once again with numbers across the board, not to mention some new changes to the morning visuals;
Lying Y raises – 2 working sets, 12-15
– These felt a lot better after having work done yesterday, there was less strain in the eccentric.
Cuffed cable rear delt raises – 3 working sets, 15-20
– I lightened these as these were causing some pain in my tricep tendon.
High incline DB shoulder press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15
– Close to my lifetime PB with these. I’m at odds because the jump to the next set of DBs is quite large, and I don’t particularly like any of the machines my gym has.
Prime flat PL chest press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15
– Matched
HS machine PL side raises – 3 working sets, 12-15 + double drop
– Matched
Bent over rope triceps extensions – 3 working sets, 12-15 + double drop
Overhead rope triceps extensions – 3 working sets, 12-15
Across the body cable triceps extensions – 3 working sets, 12-15
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Agreed with Chloe here. The markers she mentioned should be monitored closely through the process of the offseason/push. Everyone’s “lean” is different too, as in where does your body sit comfortably to produce the best feedback from each of the markers Chloe mentioned.
There’s also the vague, “you just know it’s time to pull back”.
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Good session yesterday – other than my training partner being almost an hour late, but he did warn me to fair, I just took a bit more time warming up.
I saw rep gains across every exercise which was great, not to mention just the sheer fact that that everything just felt a touch lighter in my hands.
Prime PL lying leg curls – 1x 12-15 + double drop set
– This climbed by 2 reps. I was asked in the gym if my drop set weight increases as well, and if I log it. I know where I’ll drop the weight to, but as for logging it, no.
Prime PL leg extensions – 1x 12-15 + Tuor rest pause
HS horizontal leg press – 1x 8-12, 1x 12-15
– This felt brilliant, 1 rep gain
Pendulum squat – 1x 8-12
– 1 rep gain. I had to do this bare foot because I wore the wrong socks, but I think bare foot is the way to do it anyway
Paused Cybex seated leg curls – 1x 12-15, 1x 15-20
Seated calve raises – 3x 20
Decline sit-ups – 3x AMRAP
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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