[Marc]

Agree with the replies above. In my opinion i think 30mins stairmaster is a little too much. Instead I would focus on keeping a good amount of daily steps, and opt for a reduce time/less taxing form of cardio like the exercise bike. Alternatively for cardiovascular help some HIIT training where the duration is a lot less but will help improve overall fitness

[Marc]

Rest day today, if I could call it that I’ve been getting quite a bit done… from fasted cardio, haircut, in person posing clients, deep tissue, getting steps in, parental duties now it’s the summer holidays – but it’s all good.

In an ideal world I would do the bare minimum on a rest day but it’s not as straightforward as that so managing my time as best as I can and being grateful for being able to do the above.

My next YouTube video I’ll either drop that tonight or tomorrow, I’ll see how my evening goes with my daughter as to whether I’ve got time to get the final edit sorted…

A busy day, but that’s life!

[Marc]

There’s definitely been a shift with using casein protein from a years back. It can be used and there’s nothing wrong with it, but you could also using whey isolate instead (saves you buying more than 1 type of protein) and add some fats to your drink to whey isolate to slow down the digestion

[Marc]

I Agree with all the comments above. I’d still have some intra carbs during workout, but lowering the amount will give you a greater amount of carbs pre workout, especially if hungry. Then when calories get even lower you could also switch carb source from white rice to say white potato for example as this will give you greater food volume due to the carb difference between rice and potato.

[Marc]

3rd session of the week, solo pull session. Felt a little tired going into todays session, so played it smart and made sure I didn’t bury myself. I still had a really good workout, this is where not logging booking for me worked in my favour. I still made sure I moved good weight, but going with how I feel psychologically was a major plus today.

Exercises today;
Single arm nitro pulldown
Single arm xpload row
Chest supported t-bar row
RDL
Rear delt fly
Shrugs
Single d handle arm cable bicep curl (facing in)

As usual here no than 2 working sets, 1 top set and 1 back off set

[Marc]

You are being neglected and that’s not good enough. You definitely need to have a conversation about this moving forwards, as it’s not good enough. What your coach needs to remember is that you’re paying for a service and effectively paying his wage. Your goal shouldn’t be put on hold due to his lack of ability in getting back to you. Get this nipped in the bud asap and have a conversation. If it doesn’t improve, go elsewhere because you deserve so much better!!

[Marc]

Solo push session today at Shredz. Another hot one, but the session got done all the same. Got a spot on a few exercises from one of the members Sam who is also on prep so that was a bonus having him on hand as the gym was pretty dead today because of the weather lol… new prep low today weight wise, 122.7kg I actually dropped 2.1kg from the day before. My weight fluctuates so much and it has done in prep a few times like this with big drops in weight and then towards the end of the week it creeps back up and stabilises, so honestly I’m
not even look at numbers – visually is so much more valuable here and Cal says the same thing.

A few in person posing clients today also and shockwave therapy treatment on my hip and shoulder. My hip is so much better than it was, the pain has actually moved from my hip more to the IT band from the physios assessment today so this is actually a good thing as it’s taking it away from the tendon which is likely why training heavy still with legs is feeling comfortable (and I’m also training smart so I don’t make it worse).

Exercises today were;
Pec deck
Incline prime chest press
Nautilus seated chest press
High cable cross over
Single arm cuffed lat raise
Resistance machine seated lat raise

2 rounds of posing post workout too! I’ve probably dropped more weight today after how much I was sweating haha

[Marc]

Solo quad workout today, despite how hot it was in the gym (literally felt like a sauna) it made no difference to performance. All sets felt really good and hit good numbers.

Post workout posing with cal too! I’m getting leaner and weight is holding, so it’s all good that muscle tissue is holding and not wasting away.

Tomorrow cal might make some changes to keep us ahead of schedule, but this will be based on tomorrows check in.

[Marc]

Firstly, thank you Marc! Means a ton to hear that coming from you!

By plateau, yes I mean weight stalling. Usually give it a few days and if it doesn’t budge I make some form of adjustment. This is also assuming nothing was out of whack, like poor sleep for example.

What exactly did you mean in your last paragraph? Should I up food a bit and split those extra 400g across all my training days? Or change nothing at all?

That’s ok! Typo in my last paragraph. It should read I “wouldn’t be worrying” not “would”… so you said have a high day carbs on Sunday 600g and less carbs at about 200g in the week. Balance your carbs out for TD so you don’t have a big chunk on Sunday and less for your other training days.

But I fully agree with Hilly and his reply below…there is no set answer here, the key is finding what works best for you. But try not to over complicate things as what you are doing currently is clearly working

[Marc]

Hi mate, I’m literally working my way through the flavours now I’m on prep lol 😂… salted caramel, cookies & cream, white chocolate, chocolate peanut butter cup are my go to flavours… still yet to crack open cherry bakewell and banoffee this month… oh and choc fudge tastes unreal too :p lol can you tell I’m on prep ha

[Marc]

Hi Tyler

Thanks for sending over clearer pictures. You have a really nice physique, keep pushing for true stage condition.

I personally think based on where you are having followed a TD and NTD approach is working for you. It’s easy to look around you and look at other peoples approaches (you mentioned Fouad) but ultimately you should stick with what’s working for you and don’t over complicate the process.

You mentioned when you plateau you will try a higher day, but usually drop food or increase activity. In what way do you plateau? If by plateau you mean weight not dropping, how do you measure this? Do you take your weight daily and then look at the weekly moving average. Things to consider with weight stalling is, how are you managing fatigue, what is your sleep like etc as these variables will be a factor here.

More carbs to stay fuller isn’t necessary. The deeper you get into prep you will have moments when you get flat, this is natural.

In my opinion at 8 weeks out I would be worrying about changing things. A high day Sunday isn’t going to keep you full for two days. Spread your calories out equally on training days and continue to run NTD calories on rest days

[Marc]

Rest day today, been a pretty chilled one. Cardio ticked off early morning and 13k steps spread throughout the day. Felt a little tired today, so had a longer nap than usual today. First day of running lower calories today. I swapped a few foods around today for extra food volume/better macro split; potato instead of rice, cream of rice instead of oats. I’ve been noticing in my evening meal (last meal of the day) that I sometimes feel a little bloated so I am rotating my veg around tonight to see if that makes a difference.

[Marc]

Can you list what foods you are eating in your meals please?

[Marc]

Are you able to send across pictures so they are bigger, it’s very hard to see your physique from the pictures you have put here?

[Marc]

New macro split came into play today. Slight changes to TD and NTD noted below. It’s a new one for me on prep that changes have been generally really small to my food plans instead of big calorie drops. The small changes have been enough to keep things moving alongside training and expenditure. 11 weeks into prep and I am still enjoying the flexibility of macro tracking.

TD: 325P 450C 50F / 3550 kcals
(previous 325P 500C 50F)

NTD: 325P 300C 60F / 3040 kcals
(Previous 325P 350C 60F)

Last session of the week today was arms and delts ( 1 exercise each for medial and rear delts). I trained at the gym I usually only do my pull workout today for a change of environment and I had a really good session.

A few in person bodybuilding posing clients today, both have never competed before so it was good helping them with their mandatory poses and seeing their progress.