[Andy]

That’s me back and landed in Glasgow! I’m very much ready to hit the ground running tomorrow and push on for the rest of the year. I’ve made some great progress since Nick and I kicked off the off season at the start of September, despite the first few weeks being a bit rocky.

I’ll be restarting my training cycle tomorrow with chest, and after a week off I feel brand new. I don’t think I’ve felt this fresh for a very long time.

As I mentioned in previous blogs, I don’t get much, if anything, from just scaling my training back a bit. I feel and look better with a week off and that’s something I need to continually remind myself of the next time I’ve feel run down and battered.

I’m back in with Chris (my training partner) too, so straight back into the deep end!

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

Agreed with Michaela here, if you can make decisions on how you look without emotions getting in the way, and your training output is progressing across a good number of variables then you don’t need to adjust calories. Once you see stagnation visually, training or both then look to slowly push calories up. 200-300cals from carbs until food volume becomes barrier, and then from there look to add some fats in.

Most tend to have lower food on rest days, I tend to have clients on between 200-500cals less than their TD cals.

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[Andy]

Last night here in Sicily and I can’t wait to get back home and get back into the gym! The week off training, as well as a bit of time in the sun eating all things Italian has definitely served me very well!

I feel rested and ready to go again. I’ve not seen my training partner for 2 and bit weeks so it will be good to link up with him and get those massive sessions firing again – and probably reverse my rested state within 5 minutes. . .

Nick and I agreed there’s no need for adjustments going forward as the plan we were on was allowing for visual progress with every check-in, so it’s not broken, don’t fix it!

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[Andy]

Agreed with all of the guys above.

The duration and intensity of the deload varies widely i.e how many days off, or how much you scale back in the gym is something you review each day, or if you’ve logged your previous experiences with time off, you apply this time around.

I usually need an entire week off from the gym

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[Andy]

1 day down in Sicily, and it’s been a beyond chilled 24 hours, usually when you go to a hotel it’s a bit of anti climax as the rooms never look the way they do in the photos, but this place is even better than expected!

As I mentioned, I’m not following any sort of plan food wise here, and I’ve not trained all week. I had a quick glance at the physique there and I’m definitely looking round, fuller and fresher.

I can feel the urge to get back in the gym and train, but I’m trying to keep myself switched off and soak the the down time, which I’m horrendous for!

Have a good one guys!

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[Andy]

That’s my week off training wrapped up on home soil.

I feel class physically, although like I touched on yesterday, I’m more tired from doing less, funny that.

A few people in the gym asked if I follow my diet when I go on holiday, and the answer has always been NO. I don’t eat like a dick, but a mental break from food has always done wonders for me. Not only that, my digestion gives me a right good thanking too.

I have been on point every single day this year – except Ibiza – so another 3 days isn’t going to do a damn thing, and I’m certainly not going to regress. Come Tuesday when I step back in the gym, I’m going to be so fresh and ready to go that the next 2 months of progress is going to be unreal.

I love BB, it’s my entire like and personality, haha, but it’s nice to kick back and live like a “normal” human once in a while!

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[Andy]

Trained at Nathan De Asha’s gym, North West Mecca and what a class gym it is!! Very good session too. Pleasure to see Nathan train as well!

Trained Lower A today and was the first time I tried to Hack Squat in over a year as it use to make my knees hurt a lot. However, today it felt great and my quads felt a lot better in comparison to when I Back Squat. I’ll try the Hack Squat my gym has and see how that feels on my knees. (I’ve noticed it attends to be the shitter Hack Squats that hurt my knees due to the angle of the base you stand on but we will see what I can do).

Lower A:

Hack Squat x15 x5

Leg Press x8 x6

Leg Curl (Seated) x8 x8

Leg Extensions x11 x10

Hip Adductor x15 x12

Standing Calf Raise x15 x12

Preacher Curl (Dumbbell) x9 x8

Hammer Curl x12 x12

Triceps Pushdown x14 x14

Overhead Tricep Extensions x15 x12

Good to hear you had a good session mate! I believe it’s an Arsenal hack Prophecy has, that’s what I have in my gym. It’s the only hack I’ve never had pain in my knees, or eventual pain in my knees. The most recent Cybex hack destroyed my knees in 1 session.

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[Andy]

Another day done from the week off. . .

I see my mobility coach at least once every 2 weeks, and she runs me through various drills, stretches and mobility exercises to help open my shoulders and hips. As I said yesterday, I was actually looking forward to it as I’ve taken the entire week off training which I already feel incredible for.

I’ve mentioned a few times that my hips have been quite bad since coming off the back of that prep, and to be fair they’ve eased off and caught up with the rest of my legs. I feel that getting quite strong across a short period of time caused them to tighten up a lot more than they usually do and with the left hip being torn, it hit it even more.

My digestion is much slower though, and although I’ve been doing cardio, and moving around with work, I feel a little bit backed up, which I guess is normal after 3 days of 5400cals. Luckily I’m going away to Sicily on Friday and I’m not going to be following my diet – I never do when I go on holiday – and this should help clear the system a bit and give me a nice digestive kick start to finish off the rest of the year. I’ve still be using Digest Pharma Pro and that has helped with the food volume for sure!

Have a good one guys!

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[Andy]

So it’s not carbs its self that will
Impart the insulin sensitivity it’s more so your body fat and food over time

Fats will have literally the same impact

Ultimately its calories once you get past a certain point you add more fats when you struggle with more carbs or you simply feel better with more fats – again depends on person

Carbs are always going to be primary fuel source for performance, so prioritise them always

Key to protect insulin sensitivity is a slow rate of gain and not adding a lot of food
At once or over eating

3rd this to what Kuba said as well, primarily what was said about adding fats once you’ve maxed out carbs. If I’m increasing fats, I’ll usually keep the increases away from the training window so that food isn’t slowed down any further.

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[Andy]

Off week post, day 2. . .

I’ve had 3 naps today, this always happens when I take time off training as I ultimately have more time to sit and I’m not amped up and on edge before/after training, so I find myself dozing off through the day.

I’m not complaining as it’s needed, and even though you can’t “catch up with sleep”, it does make a difference.

It’s funny how the less you do the more tired you are. I notice this the most in the last week before a show where I typically scale everything back from work, clients, PT and training and then you’re also adding food into the mix so the lethargy hits so much harder. You’d think it would be the opposite, but it almost seems like a natural reaction from the body when it knows it has the chance to de-stress.

I’ve still got a mobility session tomorrow with my mobility coach, and usually I find it boring as fuck, but since I’m not training this week, I’m actually looking forward to it!

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[Andy]

Hi Billy,

After my slap tear operation I put GH in immediately, but I didn’t put into my shoulder, I just shot it lower ab skin fold. I had BPC/TB on hand, but I decided I didn’t want to put too much into my system on top of the pain killers, and all the other stuff the surgeon had me on.

The recovery was much faster than the surgeon thought, as I was able to fully rotate my arm after 2 weeks, which is unheard of, so I decided to just leave the BPC/TB out.

If you are going to shoot in the shoulder, I’d wait for any swelling to drop off first and of course any pain to the shoulder itself.

I hope that helps.

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[Andy]

It’s the beginning of the week off, and I’ll admit I was a bit anxious about taking the week off as we all know you get caught up in the mindset of, “I’m going backwards”, but I always look and feel better by the next week.

Some might ask why I don’t just pull my working weights back a bit, and that’s because I don’t feel rested by the end of the week. Even “relative” light weight still isn’t that light, and I’m not giving the connective tissue time to heal and recoup.

My legs have felt under recovered for 6 weeks or so as well, and I struggled to bend down to empty the dishwasher this morning, so to have done a leg session today wouldn’t have been productive in my opinion.

Saying all this though, I’ve had an EXCELLENT run of training recently, even yesterday at UF, after only having had 1 meal, sleeping in a different bed, and driving god knows how long, I still had a fantastic session, but I know when my body needs a bit of time off.

As I said, I’m tying it in with a long weekend in Sicily, so I’d say it’s perfect timing.

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

I had a great day at the 2 Bros British with the TBJP team. It was good to see everyone.

I’m just away to head to UF Rotherham which should be good. I’m taking next week completely off training. As I’ve mentioned a few times in my blogs, I’m going to take a scheduled (almost) weeks off every 8-10 weeks, and since I’m going to Sicily next weekend, it will tie in with the week off.

I’ll fire up a review/layout of the session later today, have a great day guys!

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[Andy]

A great session at UF Rotherham, I thought I’d be in Disneyland with the array of machines, but my OCD got the better of me and I pretty stuck to the exact same session I do at my home gym. I’m a creature of habit. I didn’t deadlift after sitting in a car for 4 hours, that’s just jail bait.

Close grip lat pulldowns – 1 working set, 8-12 + forced and negative reps

Nautilus PL seated row – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Conventional t-bar row – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Chest supported t-bar row (upper back bias) – 1 working set, 8-12 + forced and negative reps

SA DB rows – 2 working sets, 8-12

Seated wide grip cable row – 2 working sets, 15

I find my appetite is ruined after sitting in a car for that amount of time, but I crammed most of my meals in before I left Glasgow.

I’m very excited to see who turns pro tomorrow at the 2 Bros British.

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[Andy]

A great shoulder day in the bag, and I’d say this was the first shoulder session in a while where I knew I could slot in a little more int he way of volume, as I wasn’t burst by the end of the session. Don’t get me wrong, it was tough as always, but you know when there’s juice left in the tank.

I’m checking in tomorrow so I’ll get Nick’s opinion on where things are sitting, but I think some more shoulder volume can go in now.

I also think another adjustment to PEDs is needed, an increase in primo would be my first call, so we’ll see what he says. There are some many tools to play from now until the end of April!

I trained with friend and client PCA Pro Kirk O’Brien, so I had a good set of hands coming in for spots. I had some VERY heavy work done on my forearms at physio yesterday, so that impacted my ability to flick the DBs up, so I didn’t do the 70s this week.

Y raises – 2 working sets, 15-20

Read delt cable cuffed raises – 3 working sets, 15-20

High incline DB shoulder press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Small incline close grip SM press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Straight-bar tricep extensions – 1 working set, 12-15

Standing rope extensions – 3 working sets, 15-20

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