[Marc]

Rest day today. Went out with kerry and my youngest daughter for the day; loads of steps, pedalo boat (I didn’t sink it lol), adventure playground… making memories with my family that’s important to me. A good day all round :)!

Hope everyone is enjoying the bank holiday weekend

[Marc]

Headed over the the 2brosPro tbJP Nutrition Cup. Bodybuilding was up first, good standard of athletes and I was able to speak to some of the guys afterwards which was pretty cool being able to give them some encouragement and advise.

I got back home in the evening, had a meal then headed out to train. Luckily I’ve got keys to a gym so even with it being bank holiday I was able to get my back workout in.

Exercises today:
Single arm underhand iso latpulldown
Standing hammer strength row
Chest supported t-bar row
Rear delt row

Felt pretty tired from 2 days travelling, but it’s another box ticked getting my session in today, so I’ll take that!

[Marc]

Early morning leg session today, I trained local today because I headed down to the 2brosPro registration today to meet some of the athletes who are competing tomorrow at the tbJP nutrition cup.

Really good session, happy with how it went. I prefer to train after at 2-3 meals so training after having only 1 meal went better than I thought.

My session today;

Lying leg curl:
1 x 15
1 x 12
1 x 20

Leg press:
1 x 15
1 x 12
1 x 21

Single leg leg extension:
1 x 8
1 x 15

Adductor:
1 x 20
1 x 13
1 x 15

Calf raise:
1 x 20
2 x 12

[Marc]

Rest day today. Usual rest day massage, my therapist worked on my legs and glutes today.

Change to my calories the last few days. Training day and non training day calories have been reduced to the following:

Training Day Diet :350P 750C 100F / 5300 Kcals (previous 5900 kcals)

Rest Day Diet :350P 650C 100F / 4900 Kcals
(Previous 5300 kcals)

Appetite had taken a huge hit since I was ill a few weeks ago along with a drop in weight. To ease some stress on my GI food has been reduced and will be monitored as to how my body responds. Still 3 weeks until prep officially starts, but these changes have been made now based on how I had been feeling.

[Marc]

I agree with what Kris and Kiera have said in their replies.

Finding the right coach is very much individual based. The coaches who you have reached out to already there must have been some standpoints which made you want to contact them. Write those down, see if you can have a consultation call and if you can be prepared with some questions. I always think being able to have a rapport with your coach is helpful as it’s someone who can understand your needs and tailor their services to you.

You seems to know what you want in terms of going from a lifestyle client to then wanting to compete. Try to choose a coach who can support you with both aspects.

[Marc]

A different session for me today. With me dropping down to 2 leg days this week instead of 3 (due to still feeling DOMS) Cal suggested the below session as it will be lower in fatigue, but still good volume.

Good session, arms felt huge. This is the first time I’ve trained biceps and triceps together in a very long time, so that was very different for me.

Today’s workout was;

cross body triceps extension
3 x 3-12 L/R

high elbow hammer preacher curl (huge fan of this machine, really hits the biceps peak)
3 x 8-12 L/R

over shoulder rope triceps extension
3 x 12-15 L/R

low cable d-handle curl
3 x 12-15 L/R

machine seated lateral raise
2 x 10-15
1 x 15-20

incline lying cuffed lateral raise
2 x 10-15
1 x 15-20

[Marc]

It is very sad, I agree. Cedric was a big personality and great bodybuilder. We must unite and talk about best practices to look after overall health in the safest way.

[Marc]

Solo leg session today, I travelled to a gym further away today so that I could do cybex hack squat. I’ve not done this exercise for a while due to the gym being further away and me having some slight hip pain on my left side after doing this exercise.

Today I started pf with the abductor machine. The new osteopath Chris Knott that I am working with suggested I do this machine first. I used to do the adductor machine first in this session but Chris has said this is not a good option for me as it’s not a good movement pattern before going into a squat.

My session was good today, slight pain in my left hip but nothing like what it used to feel like. I’ll feedback to Chris on this and see what he suggests moving forwards.

Today’s workout was;

Abductor:
2 x 15

Seated leg curl:
1 x 10+2
1 x 12

Cybex hack squat:
6pps x 13 – 2seconds pause at the bottom
6pps x 12 – 2 seconds pause at the bottom

Leg extension:
1 x 12
1 x 20

Lying leg curl:
1 x 9
1 x 13

Standing calf raise:
1 x 15
1 x 12
1 x 15

[Marc]

Hi David

I personally don’t use mass gainers and I haven’t for quite a few years now.

I prefer to use whey isolate protein. Mass gainers are generally very high in sugar too which is something I want to avoid.

For higher carbs, I prefer to use cream of rice for example because it is a fast acting carb source and digests really well, so no stomach upset there.

[Marc]

So today should have been legs, quad dominant. Still feeling DOMS in my quads from Fridays session, so after speaking with Cal we agreed to switch my workout today and also my training split for this week to accommodate the change in my session today.

So today was back focused and mainly unilateral work and went as follows:

Single arm pullover
2 x 12

Single arm pulldown
3 x 8-12

Single arm cybex row
1 x 8-12
1 x 12-15

Single arm dumbbell row
3 x 8-12

D handle upper back row
3 x 10-15

I’m happy with how today’s session went, I preferred this change instead of going for a de-volume leg session. This week I will only be doing 2 leg sessions, instead of my usual 3 sessions. When prep starts I’ll only being doing 2 leg sessions, so it’s less taxing on my body so you could say this week is giving me a feel for what that will be like.

[Marc]

It would be good to see what your current training split looks like. Also are you able to upload some physique shots too?

[Marc]

Rest day today. Spent some time with my family and Kerry. Went for an short evening walk with Kerry, we were talking about prep for this year, our goals, how we can further improve daily habits to bring the best out not only in ourselves but collectively. I always like talks like this, always good to put things in perspective.

Caught up with Haider today too, he’s one of my closest brothers deffo miss not having him in the U.K.

Chilled evening, finished watching Top Boy (I hardly ever used to watch Tv so ended up binge watching here and there to watch all the series).

Early night, two in person posing clients tomorrow early morning looking forward to helping other bodybuilders perfect their craft

[Marc]

Hi guys

Pull session early doors today close to home. It was my youngest daughters 6th birthday yesterday, so today I’ve been celebrating with her and my family for the day…lots of steps have gone down today lol.

Really feeling the DOMS in my legs today after yesterday’s session. An early night is definitely on the cards, I’m not far from my bed after today’s antics.

Pull exercises today were:
Single arm latpulldown
Cybex seated row (resistance machine version)
Panatta t-bar row
Rear delt seated row
D handle cable shrugs

[Marc]

Hi David
Agree with Rhea it depends on where you are with your cut. What is your rate of weight loss each week? How long have you been cutting for, have you slowly increased this? Are you tracking your steps too?

As for when you bulk, you can reduce your time or even opt to do some HIIT

[Marc]

Legs today with cal, quad dominant. Jheeze, the higher rep ranges along with time under tension done us today. Note here a total of 5 exercises and 11 working sets was more than enough to get the job done. If I was to compare this to a few years back I’d do as many as 8 exercises with double the amount of working sets. Just goes to show less can be more, when applied correctly.

Cal just about made it through the session without being sick lol (he bailed on the last exercise lol).

Today’s session was;

Standing calf raise – tru squat
1 x 12
1 x 15
1 x 20

Leg extension – 2 seconds hold at the top
1 x 17 – all loaded in the middle
1 x 16 – all loaded in the middle
1 x 20 – Loaded middle and top (dropset during set, weights removed from middle pin)

Pendulum – 3 seconds down, 2 seconds up
2 x 15

Split squat – 3 seconds down
2 x 20

Adductor
1 x 15