[Clare]

Likely your abs are stronger than your lower back. Do you do any lower back strengthening exercises? What movements are you doing? I personally don’t like full sit ups, I prefer exercises like Leg raises, roll outs, cable crunches and vacuums as they put less strain on the neck and lower back.

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[Clare]

Happy Saturday! Weight was down a touch to 52kg this morning. My stomach is still telling me that I haven’t eaten for 4 years, but I’m sticking to my new plan and I’ll see how the rest of the week pans out. If I continue to drop though, I’ll speak to Jordan as we want to make the most of this post show rebound and get back to some productive training sessions, so may need to temporarily add more food again. On the plus side, I’m feeling a little more human today and much less exhausted, so hoping I can get some decent training in tomorrow for the first Lower Load day of my new plan.

I had a physio appointment today, which I’ll continue to attend for a few more weeks just to make sure my tennis elbow is under control now. It feels loads better at the moment, likely from the rest from training, but I need to make sure I don’t immediately aggravate things again, so want to make sure we’re on top of things. We used some ultra sound today and some stretching.

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[Clare]

You may have just contracted your core really tightly.. or it could be something more serious like a popped rib or hernia developing. Either way, it’s just guess work until you get it looked at by a specialist, so that would need to be your first port of call imo.

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[Clare]

So today decided to consume the pre workout along side my pre workout meal 1hr before training and experoenced no problems.

Could it have been that the stims were making my blood sugar to drop when tak8ng on an empty stomach?

———
The product won’t enter your system as quickly if you take it with a meal, so you aren’t getting that sudden rush from the stims.

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[Clare]

Controlling the eccentric portion of a movement has huge benefits, but exaggerating the time to longer than around 3/4 seconds will take away from the actual total load that you’ll be able to lift during a set, so I would suggest that there’s no need to prolong the eccentric for any longer than this.

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[Clare]

I use to do steak and white rice as a pre meal i think i just tend to workout better on a fuller stomach odd as that seems, even days when i slam a blueberry muffin pre i tend to like a little extra water for my workouts but not entirely a fucking bloated mess. i’ll go back to the steak for a little and see how it goes. I do cluster dextrin start sipping 15 mins pre and sometimes a rice krispies treat with before that for extra blood sugar spike.

——————

If you’ve already find something that works for you and that fuels a productive workout, then I would stick with it. There aren’t any hard and fast rules.

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[Clare]

Do you find carbs in general pre workout affect your energy levels or just this meal? Including a pro/carb intra drink may help keep blood sugar levels more stable and avoid any dip mid workout.. or you could trial a pro/fat meal as your last meal before your workout instead.

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[Clare]

If it’s been a staple and doesn’t cause digestive issues, no problem keeping it in. I just wouldn’t add foods or drinks that you haven’t been consistently using as you don’t know how your body will respond. Just obviously be sensible with how many you have.

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[Clare]

Excellent situation to be in during an offseason Meg.. Still room to push up and stay within an acceptable place body comp wise.

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[Clare]

I think, like you say, finding what triggers your anxiety is what you really need to address. Is it stress, lack of sleep, certain situations, people you are around, are you taking any supps or medication at the moment that cold potentially give you this as a side effect?

Aside from that, meditation works well for a lot of people, taking time out of your day to spend time by yourself away from stress and being in a calm state. There are various apps that you could look to for help with this.

CBD oil has been shown to have positive effects on anxiety, although not everyone experiences this.

Ashwagandha is an effective calming herb. The TrainedbyJpNutrition supplement, Halcyon contains this, alongside other ingredients that help to bring you back to a calm state, so that might be worth looking at too.

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[Clare]

up 2lbs this morning following that epic food fest yesterday. Took a while for me to start feeling full, but by the last meal of the day I actually felt like I had a full stomach. I still feel really tired, despite sleeping well. I keep eating expecting to get some energy after each meal, but don’t get anything, so I guess my body is still trying to recover.

Today was the first day of my new diet and training plan and although my energy levels were low, I still enjoyed the session and really focused on form and slow contractions. There are a few new movements that weren’t included in my last training plan, so it’s nice to have a clean slate to begin building up numbers in the log book again. Needless to say, today wasn’t anything to write home about, but I have a starting point now to progress from.

UPPER B – Rotation 1
Flat lying side raise on the cables – 2 sets of 12-15
High incline Smith press – 2 sets, 12 reps – increase the weight a go for 8 reps
Side raise machine – 2 sets, 12 reps – increase the weight a go for 8 reps
Dip machine – 2 sets, 12 reps – increase the weight a go for 8 reps
Seated cable fly – 1 r/p
Single arm handle pushdown– 1 r/p
STRETCH
Assisted chin – 1 set of 15-20
Single arm seated row – 1 r/p 
Cable rear delts – 2 sets of 15-20
STRETCH
Dual seated DB bicep curl – 2 sets of 10-12
STRETCH
Ab crunch machine – 3 sets of 10-12

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[Clare]

I don’t think there’s any reason why you can’t opt for a longer cut. Particularly if you haven’t got a set time scale to meet. There will be more opportunities for diet breaks or refeeds along the way, which can help with adherence and you can take it at your own pace. It’s really person dependant and comes down to what you prefer. If this is for a contest prep, however and you need to work towards a certain date, then you’ll need to be more strict and make sure you stay focused on the end goal in the time you give yourself.

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[Clare]

Check out @ryanpetford “s Primitive Gym

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[Clare]

Stick with what you’ve been doing, just readjust your volume the deeper you get into prep depending on recovery capabilities.

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[Clare]

that’s the issue
we can work it out…that’s why im highly frustrated

and clare, maybe its a 2019 thing? haha buuuut tbf….you pulled it right back together….I am currently sitting here working out the game plan to pull out and compete in November…

———-
Only you and Jordan can call that. If you don’t feel you’ll be ready, then so be it. There’s no pressure on you to commit to any show. You need to feel confident. My prep felt a lot different to my other preps too.. we pulled it together, but I could.. and WILL be better.

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