[Marc]

Hello marc, first of all congrats you have a amazing body, I always appreciate a tall bodybuilder since I’m almost 190cm too. Having said that, you wrote everything at perfection, training, diet etc could you also explain your current cycle for this prep ? I’m curious what a cycle of a huge and tall bodybuilder like you looks like. Thanks in advance ?

Hi Marco

Thanks for your kind comments, much appreciated.

PEDs and cycles isn’t something that I openly talk about/discuss so I won’t go into specifics. But what I will say this is the longest prep going into a first show that I have ever done giving me 21 weeks.

With that said, my first show will be at the end of September (all Being well that my Arnold’s U.K. application is accepted) and my goal is to qualify for the Olympia in December and it’s highly likely I will be doing more than one show after my first one.

I’m on a very low cruise and this is my 10th week. Myself and my coach are in no rush to add more in at this stage, but when things do change it will be escalated very slowly as this years prep for competitions will be over many months.

[/quote]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciate I know you and calum will do a great job ??[/quote]
That’s ok and thanks Marco ??

[Marc]

Rest day today and also check in day. Sent over check in update to cal this morning and the changes are in, TD kcals are now 4520 (4720 before) and NTD kcals are now 3920 (4300 before). No cardio just, but steps have increased from 8k to 11k.

This a lot different for me from previous preps as cardio has been in pretty much from the start, but Cal has said he doesn’t want the extra muscle tissue I’ve put on my legs to be wasted doing hours of cardio. So for now expenditure from steps is what is increased and some food has been pulled. I’m looking forward to this process as I know it’s going to be a lot different to what I’ve done before and I fully trust it so there will be no second guessing on my part.

I also went for a long walk with Kerry today and nipped to see my parents. Started to plan a posing routine for my in person posing client tomorrow morning. Caught up on the NY Pro results, it’s definitely got me even more fired up to be on stage this year!

[Marc]

Last session of the week today, arms and delts with Cal over at Shredz. Really enjoying this new training split since starting prep and getting some more volume into my upper body (since reducing leg day sessions down to 2 from 3) and my upper body is responding well.

Exercises today was as follows;
Single arm DB preacher curl x3sets
Cross body cable extension x3sets
Single arm cable bicep curl x3sets
Over the shoulder triceps extension x3sets
Db hammer curl x2 sets
Triceps rope ext x2 sets
Seated machine lat raise x2 sets
Rear delt cable row x2sets

This is definitely the workout that is giving me the least fatigue of the week so having this many sets at present is completely fine and it’s a good way to end my training week.

[Marc]

What built your muscle in a surplus is what will keep it in a deficit, so training hard is a must. However, training smart is just as important so if you have intensifiers like dropsets or rest pause in your workouts use these sparingly and choose when it’s appropriate if at all to use these. Carbs will get lower in a deficit but try not to use this as a reason to drop your level of intensity, ensure you are getting recovery out of the gym with adequate sleep, naps and treatments like sports massage. Keep your mindset strong and locked into the goal

[Marc]

Hi Kedanie

Thanks for outlining your current nutrition. What is your current goal at the moment (cut, bulk, maintain)?

Well, I’m going into a mini-cut to get back the body fat level a bit lower, improve insulin sensitivity, sleep, etc. to be as adherent as possible for longer periods this time definitely [/quote]
Thanks for your reply, I’ve seen that you read Peters advice on how to structure your meals which I agree with. Going back to your original question with cardio, you can do this directly after training, you wouldn’t have to overthink about nutrition here as you have intra workout and EAAS

[Marc]

I wouldn’t stay in maintenance once you have completed the cut. Likelihood you would have been in a deficit for long enough, so the next steps would be to start reverse dieting and start the gaining phase. There might be times during the bulk that you might need to pull back on calories and maintain to help with digestion and give your GI a break, but this won’t be for a while yet

[Marc]

Hi Kedanie

Thanks for outlining your current nutrition. What is your current goal at the moment (cut, bulk, maintain)?

[Marc]

Second leg session ticked off today for the week. This was a full leg session, with hamstrings at the start and quads tagged on at the end. Trained with Cal today, we haven’t done a leg session in a while together, he’s managed to avoid them lol with being away with his client competing.

Solid session and I’m happy with how everything went.

Exercises today;

Tru squat calf raise x 3 sets

Seated leg curl x 2 sets

*Prime lying leg curl x 2 sets

Pendulum squats x 1 set

Prime leg extension x 3 sets

Adductor x 1 set – double rest pause

*double dropsets on the last set of these exercises to failure

On another note my weight this morning was 296lbs. Start of prep it was 293lbs, so my weight has gone up with where I am at now in my third week. Nothing has changed, food actually got reduced at the start of prep by 600kcals roughly TD and NTD. The week before prep I hadn’t trained for around 10 days because I was ill. Spoke to cal about this he happy with where I am at because visually body composition is changing. We aren’t focused on weight, it’s all about the look and I found in 2018 when i won my pro card and I wasn’t so focused on weight that I took my best looks to the stage as an amateur. So again, I having that way of thinking this prep and leaving it in Cals hands to set the plans and I’ll do the work.

[Marc]

I agree with what phoebe has said. A useful tool is also taking measurements to keep track of how things are moving. Keeping your waist in check largely comes down to how hard you push in the gaining phase.

Make gradual changes so you can keep track and so you don’t blow out your waist.

Vacuums even in the off season is doable, I’d suggest doing these in the morning on an empty stomach

[Marc]

Hi guys

Rest day today. Headed to the gym early this morning to get some exercises done on my abs/vacuums. Also did some stretching and rehab work.

Had a chat with Chris Knott today too, he has tweaked some of my lower body rehab work that I have now added in from today.

Shockwave therapy treatment and also deep tissue massage work done today. I really rate shockwave therapy, so I booked in some treatment for the next 3 weeks on a few niggles I’ve got.

Quite a chilled day today, watched the podcast with Fouad and blessing I thought it was a good watch!

[Marc]

Hello marc, first of all congrats you have a amazing body, I always appreciate a tall bodybuilder since I’m almost 190cm too. Having said that, you wrote everything at perfection, training, diet etc could you also explain your current cycle for this prep ? I’m curious what a cycle of a huge and tall bodybuilder like you looks like. Thanks in advance ?

Hi Marco
Thanks for your kind comments, much appreciated.

PEDs and cycles isn’t something that I openly talk about/discuss so I won’t go into specifics. But what I will say this is the longest prep going into a first show that I have ever done giving me 21 weeks.

With that said, my first show will be at the end of September (all Being well that my Arnold’s U.K. application is accepted) and my goal is to qualify for the Olympia in December and it’s highly likely I will be doing more than one show after my first one.

I’m on a very low cruise and this is my 10th week. Myself and my coach are in no rush to add more in at this stage, but when things do change it will be escalated very slowly as this years prep for competitions will be over many months.

[Marc]

Pull workout today, happy with how this session went. I was back at the gym where my pull workouts will generally be during prep (last week I trained early morning and local to me because I was at a family funeral). All lifts progress in my log book from the last time I was at this gym.

Felt a little tight in this session in my upper body, my delts still feel fried from push yesterday but I still got it done. Rest day tomorrow so Deep tissue massage tomorrow so I’ll get my upper body worked into.

Exercises today;
Single arm Nitro pulldown x 2 sets
Single arm xplaod row x 2 sets
T bar row x 2 sets
RDL x 1 set
Rear delt cable row x 2 sets
Shrugs x 2 sets
Hammer curl high bicep curl x 3 sets

[Marc]

In this instance keep everything the same as steps are consistent. Depending what phase you are in (cutting, maintenance or bulking) when you next need to make a change to your food I would then factor the additional expenditure in.

[Marc]

Push session today at Shredz with Cal
and Zac. Second week training with them both with this new push set up. Zac is on prep too for a show in September, so it’s cool training with him and he is also working towards his own personal goals.

Session today was filmed for my YouTube, pretty excited to get this going again and consistently because I really want to share my journey with prep this year with everyone.

Workout today was;

Pec deck
Prime incline press
*Smith machine incline reverse band chest press
*Nautilus seated chest press
Standing cable flyes
Single arm standing cuffed lateral raise
*Flat bench cuffed lateral raise

There was no triceps exercises today as put in an extra delt exercise. My last session of the week is triceps, biceps, medial and rear delts so there will be enough stimulus to work triceps then.

Where there is an * next to the exercises above, on my last set for that exercise I dip a dropset

[Marc]

Some pics from last nights posing practice! Digging in deep now with just over 2 weeks to go till show day

Looking good Steven, posing is looking great too!