[Kiera]

So pretty much this is a form of Lyle McDonald’ rapid fat loss diet. Yes it works, yes it it gets results, it is very brutal though, and performance often goes through the floor. Androgens are necessary to maintain muscle tissue. – around 2/4 weeks is the maximum I would run it for.

[Kiera]

I’ve broken my big toe .. but we still move 😂

Ah man, it was all going so well and then i dropped a 10kg iron plate on my toe.

Warming up on squats today and half way though while changing weights i pulled of a 20kg and didn’t see the 10kg which then landed straight on my food, a nice amount of blood and swearing followed it and after 30 mins of ice and down time i just put my squat shoes back and thought.. F*CK IT!! a few months back i would have called it a day, packed up my stuff and gone home, but i don’t have time for that right now and every session leading up to this meet is a fundamental one.

Actually had a really good session despite not being able to walk 😂

I will have to alter my cardio which is annoying but i think bike will do the job just as well.

[Kiera]

Agree with Kuba on this one for sure, the exercises are quite similar and most people get them mixed up or don’t know the difference between them anyway. If you tried to do both of these in the same session you will be be very fatigued so I’d definitely stick to one and if you really feel like you have to add the other in then have it on rotation.

[Kiera]

Hey I’m a big fan! What’s your reason for Ostarine over anavar?

 🙏🏼thank you! And simply put

Total androgen load in mg, I’m not willing to add in anymore potential for Virilization with anavar added in. Ostarine and that bit of primo is my limit. My success has largely come down to how marketable I am, if I push the virilization too hard, I simply become another strong female powerlifter, of which there are many. There arnt many strong feminine ones.

[Kiera]

Rest day for me today. I had a nice pamper session this AM -hair, nails the usual and then I went to the gym to do 45mins of cardio. Tonight we are heading to the cinema, we try and do something ‘normal’ on our rest days ad they’re the only days we have time to do something together and go out.

I’m still pretty knackered from yesterday’s deadlift session. It really took it out of me but I’m sure I’ll be all good for tomorrows bench and squat session.

Hi kiera. Are you vaccinated ? I also want to go to the US but they only allow vaccinated travellers and I got covid 2 times already and plenty of antibodies, im very scared to take it considering also the chemicals I take 😭[/quote]
Hi, sorry only just seeing this now!
Yes, unfortunately to move to dubai I needed to be vaccinated so I got both my first and second vaccine. Made me horrifically Ill and still caught Omicron months after 😂 but I know they have just discarded PCR testing for America (most parts including Las Vegas) so maybe check the entry requirements again.

[Kiera]

Sounds like a nightmare. Basic gym etiquette is missing a lot currently in most gyms unfortunately.
Hope the new environment is better for you- seen a few YouTube’s filmed in that gym and looks great for strength training

The gym is just too busy and understandably not everyone in it is prepping for a meet or a show so there are many different levels of seriousness when it comes to training. Strong HQ is amazing and definitely my first choice when it comes to PL. I trained there today and is exactly what I need for the next few weeks 🙏🏼

[Kiera]

Trained at strong gym HQ today and boy is it the perfect environment for these next few weeks before heading back to the U.K. it’s quiet and has all the equipment I’ll be using for my comp so it’s a perfect set up.

Benched today, first time in 8 days and first proper session in 12 days. 117kg for a double and then back downs on 106kg for 2 triples and 2 doubles.

Deffo a little weaker but more due to finding my positioning and grove again than anything else. The most important thing being my shoulder/bicep felt SO much better.

A little bit of pain after the heavier sets but nothing during the movement which is more than ideal and much better than what I expected.

Squats for me tomorrow 🙌🏼

[Kiera]

Hey Sam,

Currently 13kg down in weight and 6 weeks out of a meet and I am having the exact same problem. Clare has highlighted a lot of things that can help it but ultimately it is something than a lot of people experience in prep, especially the back end of it.

I take 2 tablets of Halcyon and 2 tablets of dream sleep and like Clare said I too take the clen as soon as I wake up.

[Kiera]

Hard session today, one which didn’t end too well! grip deadlifts planned today in a B1 which is a great bodybuidling gym in Dubai but an awful powerlifting gym (they don’t specify they cater for powerlifters so i can’t get too annoyed about that but today was just the final straw for me).

I had someone come up to me while i was mid deadlift set, trying to get my my attention about taking a plate from where i was ..didn’t think to acknowledge i was repping 200kg + and pretty focused 😂 Also minutes before my top set i had 3 guys come set up the squat rack directly in front of where i was deadlifting with no consideration to move while i was attempting my set. That aside i also felt ridiculously fatigued today and yesterday and what i thought has been the best part of a 4/5 virus of some sort may just be me crashing a bit.

We have done 12+ weeks of full dieting, no refeeds and no diet breaks so after talking to Cal after todays session we have put in 4 maintenance days and maybe a refeed tomorrow evening. We have tapered cardio down to 30 mins for the rest of the week and hopefully my body will feel more alive by the end of it.

Im going to be switching gyms tomorrow to a powerlifting gym called strong HQ. Its a brilliant gym i just havent been going because it’s quite inconvenient as it doesn’t have enough BB equipment for Max to train well so we have to do my session and then his as B1😂. I will probably go to B1 to do cardio but it’s not the right place to be 6 weeks out of a really important meet.

[Kiera]

Extra squat session today and it went down a treat, we didn’t want to push to hard rep or weight wise so we focused on eccentrics and pauses today on 150kg which is a very manageable weight but you will be surprised how much harder eccentrics AND pauses make a squat!

3 x 5 with a 3 second eccentric and a 2 second pause in the hole @150kg

1 x4 with a 3 second eccentric and a 3 second pause in the hole @150kg

2 x 6 with a 6 second eccentric @120kg

The session went really well but it was 40 degrees today and it really hit me hard, even with the gym being air conned it had to be around 30 degrees in there, im really looking forward to heading back to the UK in a few weeks and not having to deal with the heat for a few months 😂

Tomorrow is a grip deadlift day and the weight is creeping up to 230kg now which is getting exciting:)

[Kiera]

It’s hard to say, as you haven’t given us any info on your current rate of loss, the past couple of weeks. Has it stalled? If not keep going. It’s clear to see that you will need to incorporate some maintenance weeks during this dieting phase, to be able to prolong dieting.

However like said above, track your expenditure more accurately, and potentially be prepared to suffer for a few weeks, at low calories, before having a couple weeks maintenance.

[Kiera]

There’s gonna be hiccups along the way, so dedicate more time to the prep than you think. Getting in condition takes longer than most anticipate. Factor in maintenance weeks in terms of calories as many leave those out.

[Kiera]

Rest day for me today so not too much to document.
I have 45 mins of incline walking to do and that’s it regarding cardio.
Tomorrow I’m on another squat session, it’s an extra one as usually I’d have bench but still giving bench a rest till Tuesday. So thought I’d throw in another squat session and will do some paused work on that.

Comp is 7 weeks today which is exciting. All going well so far. Another 2kg to lose and we are where we need to be! 🙌🏼

[Kiera]

These are exercises that have very little set up time, unlike almost exercise where you have get primed for with positioning and seating ect. This will allow you to very quickly warm up if needs be, without much hindrance or time concerns. (Must only take like 30 seconds max to warm up on tricep pushdown with the pin selector) so I wouldn’t worry too much.

[Kiera]

Check in with Cal this morning and we both are very happy with how things are looking. Weight was 72.6kg so we are in the 72s now and still seem to be trending down on the same calories and less intense cardio so that is a bonus. I. attached the photos from this AM too. It’s quite funny how i look even better this year for a powerlifting meet than i did last year for my pro debut 😂.

Deadlifts today were nasty, 250kg for 2 singles followed by 230kg for 4 singles. Not much volume involved but it actually took more out of me. I am much better at rep work and usually single reps are a lot harder for me as my first rep is always my slowest, so we need to fix that in time for the meet.

Tomorrow i am on rest and then the week resumes as normal with bench being reintroduced on Tuesday. It will have had a good week’s rest by then.. Weather it’s any better who knows but aside from the peptides, rest was the only option to make it less pissed. So fingers crossed its done a little bit of good!