Sam King
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Heeeerreee we go
Read it through thoroughly and enjoy the process. You may want to direct all of your mail to the bathroom as you’ll be spending enough time in there with water loading.
Told you that two weeks out is really hard didn’t I haha? You’ll find the final week is enjoyable, especially with the daily changes and sometimes multiple changes in the same day.
Keep logging this final bit – look forward to it.
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Bringing this log back from the dead for the final bit of your prep!
Come on Jay!!!
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Morning All
Check in went very well yesterday. As expected, slight rise in BW and waist has gone slightly up but not concerned in the slightest. When the hammer drops, it’ll all come together no probs. Instructions are no changes and to keep everything the same. Comp wise – both Corinne and I are in agreement we want me slightly tighter and conditioned for the finals. Nothing drastic, just need to bring my absolute best package as want to show the judges something slightly different and also I’ll be against some of the best in the country.
Considering I’m being a bit loose with NEAT this week, averaging 6,000 – 10,000 steps a day it’s going to be interesting. In all honesty though, I don’t really track my NEAT as I roughly know how to make my steps. For example, I have several pre-planned routes depending on how many steps I want to do for that walk or if I need to make it up. If I’m away or decide on a new route, I find that the rule of thumb is that I average just over 1,000 steps every 10 minutes. Again, may not be for everyone and some may need that visual motivation/accountability but I have found it effective.
Pull session on the cards today so looking forward to it. Haven’t done this session since before my comp so let’s see what we can pull out of the bag.
Hope everyone has a good day
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No hard and fast rules my friend – just need to be sensible and lower everything in moderation, even protein nearer the end of your prep as your bodyweight and lean mass will be completely different than earlier in your diet. As long as you’re not too aggressive and drop any macro too sharply, there shouldn’t be a problem. Fat is definitely important though in terms of maintaining hormone levels and being essential to regulating basic functions to keep you alive.
Everyone is different and some will respond better to higher carbs, low fat whereas others will be high fat, low carbs. Ryan Petford is a prime example – he bases his diet around the Blood Type diet and has found that high fats work better for him.
As prep is generally just for a short amount of time, then there shouldn’t be any problems. Be sure to supplement with Omega 3s for Essential fatty acids and you should be good.
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Brilliant stuff James, look forward to seeing how you get on with the modified split!
Regarding your photo above of you doing the leg movement, you mention it is from rotation 3. That is listed as ‘Linear seated leg press( squat variation but takes the emphasis off lower back)’. I may be being silly, but that looks like a hack squat to me haha.
As Lara has pointed out, I would definitely add in some abs somewhere – could literally just pick a movement and do two sets at the end of each session, 6 sets over the week would be perfect and can take less than 5 minutes.
Again, as Lara pointed out a side lateral movement is absent so could add in the seated cuff raise, lying cuff raise or machine side raise. Can do just one set as either a rest pause, cluster set or just a couple of straight sets – wouldn’t do a drop set as not the best way to start off your workout. Personally I like doing this before my pressing as even though you think it would pre-exhaust the delts, it actually gets the blood in there and lubricates the shoulder girdle nicely so everything’s good to go. Generally I find my shoulders take a while to warm up if I start with presses.
Realise there’s a lot to digest and you’ve already made changes, but just some additional things to add if you think it necessary. Keep up the hard work James!
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RIP muscles! After training hard all year, you get sick and lose all of your gains in a few days – typical!
Not quite! As Clare has stated, the chances of prolonging an illness by training is enough to keep you out of the gym as well as just infecting the entire gym as well. Think of it from your body’s point of view – it is essentially trying to fight off a virus, then you add the stress of training so the body will try to spread its limited resources to cover everything off. From a survival point of view, your body’s focus is on getting you better and not on gaining unnecessary muscle tissue.
Besides, the irony is that when you fall ill you’re probably in an overreached state anyway, so a few days off will do wonders when you get back in.
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Good outline so far Reece, looks to be a good one. What was your stage weight last time and realistically how much do you think you may need to lose this time around?
If you don’t mind me asking, who have you decided to work with for your prep? Also, are they handling both nutrition and training?
Noticed your current split is
Current Split:
Chest an Biceps
Legs
OFF
Back
Delts and Triceps
OFF
BackGuessing it’s a rest day after the last back session and then restarting the rotation with chest/biceps? Unless it is 3 on at that point? In terms of exercise selection, what are your sessions looking like?
Think that’s enough questions to get you started haha. Welcome aboard!
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Good stuff Reece – I’ll take a gander at your log too.
In the end, I couldn’t deny my overwhelming urge to compete in the finals. Excited to see how this prep pans out and what the final product will be this time.
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Hahaha I come to this log to be entertained and I am not disappointed – Corine, Corrinne, Corean and so forth. I’m excited to see what the next variation will be! In all seriousness, the name of the log and the name below the profile picture are some clues towards the correct spelling. But yeah, gets a bit tedious and rather insulting after a while.
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No probs James, some would say too lengthy haha.
Yeah thought it may be that model. From a personal preference, I find them an awkward exercise and progression is a bit hit and miss depending on the model. For stronger individuals on the basic models, they would quickly exceed the maximum poundage. Although not a massive negative, you start in the fully stretched position usually so starting in the weakest part of the motion. It’s like starting a barbell squat from in the hole or bench pressing from your chest for rep one. If the hack squat agitates your knee, then definitely don’t give it any reason to flare up. You could try reverse stance so facing in. Generally it doesn’t stress the knees as much from my experience.
Perfect, makes sense to rotate the big muscle groups from session to session just to ensure everything is getting some love. Depends on the movements planned as well. For example, I wouldn’t place back near the tail end if a deadlift variation was on the cards.
Hah thought it was the seated dip. Used to love doing this movement, but standing and one arm at a time. Felt like a pushdown movement, but the load was far greater. Obviously need to ensure you’re not using your entire body to move the weight. The model was quite awkward and the handles wide so didn’t fit my structure.
Good plan on slightly upping the rep range. Several sets in the 5-7 would destroy you over time and it sounds like the fatigue was starting to settle in. Besides, 5-7 reps on the leg curl probably not the best idea.
In terms of a replacement for the RDL in one of your sessions, maybe a chest supported dual db or barbell row with a slight incline. Really push yourself into the bench and hold the peak for a count + the fully lengthened position. You may get away with a rack pull for a bit, but it will fry your CNS over time and generally people get overzealous with plate loading and reducing the ROM along with bouncing off the pins. You could also maybe do a db one arm row, possibly even for a set of 20. Will absolutely fry your lats and provides a different stimulus. I wouldn’t open with high rep db rows though, definitely a finisher.
Good to hear you’re enjoying it. 2 hours isn’t too bad at all as generally you would find that 2-3 hours is the norm with upper taking slightly longer than lower. I generally spend around an hour and 40 training on a Push/Pull/Legs split.
Let me know how you get on James and feel free to ask any further questions.
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Goooooddddd Morning
Feeling real now as the gauntlet has been thrown. Check in sent over to the boss this morning, will see what the verdict is and the start of our game plan. Bodyweight is currently sitting at 75.45kg this week, 74.7kg last so with the introduction of more carbs and reduced activity I am happy with that. NEAT has been around 6,000 – 10,000 steps each day which is a rough estimate. Waist has increased from 71cm to 72cm. Again, no major concerns there – food goes up, waist goes up. Now, I’m assuming the plan will obviously be to stay within spitting distance of stage weight but at the same time not rushing in too soon and allowing the body to somewhat recover from the last prep. Even if this phase lasts for a week or two, should set me up nicely for what lies ahead.
Rest day today so not very exciting. Going to start doing my research on Middleton in the next few days to scope the area out – where the venue is, what accommodation is available, supermarkets and of course post show meal. Be planning to go for a couple of nights this time so the day before the show and night of. The drive is over 4 hours long so triple the distance of Taunton for my last show so will not be rushing to do that.
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Welcome back James – you’ve been busy, that’s for sure!
Ok, feedback overall is that you have the general jist of FBW so that’s good. Couple of observations that I wanted to check – back is always placed near the tail end of each day. Any particular reason for that? In the third rotation it almost resembles a part shoulder/arm day and there is an absence of any chest movements. I’ve noticed that you RDL twice in one week which over time may give you problems and fry the CNS, especially when you’re fighting for progression, May be worth substituting another movement for one of those days.
Ok, day specific:
Rotation 1 looks solid, aside from the pin loaded leg press. If it’s what I think it is, then I’d probably look at a hack squat (if available) or maybe a sissy squat variation so to keep the load off your lower back to keep you fresh for the deadlifts to follow.
Rotation 2 doesn’t look two bad. Again, the seated pin loaded leg press – hmmmm haha. Two smith movements – would personally look at choosing one of the movements on the smith and the other on something else. For example, incline hammer press and smith close grip press. Perhaps you could do a flat db press in place of the incline movement. Just a personal preference, but others may disagree.
Rotation 3 may need a bit of tweaking. To engage a bit more chest, you could do the high incline db press or smith press so you stimulate the upper chest a bit. The seated tricep pushdown? Is that the seated dip by any chance?
I’d look at trying to add in maybe a set or two of rear delts in the week somewhere as well as some direct bicep work. Nothing OTT, just a couple of sets. With the rep range, may be worth extending the first set to the 7-9 range and the second set could be 10-12 or 12-15. The 5 range may whittle you down quite quickly and yes, you can gain tissue from lower reps but compare a bodybuilder to a powerlifter at the same bodyweight. Volume and TUT, to some degree, can’t be denied.
There are some other areas that can be tweaked, but how are you finding the split yourself? I’m basing the above on what may work for me in your situation and what equipment I have to hand. How long is each session currently taking?
Hope it makes sense and I’m sure others will chime in too 🙂
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Having a longer period of time before you start eating can actually be of benefit during a fat loss phase. It can help with hunger and adherence. I wouldn’t advise doing extended periods of fasting for the purpose of dieting and muscle retention, but fitting your meals into an 8 hour window is fine, so long as you still prioritise the food you need around your training.
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Thank you very much for the information!
100% agree with Clare! Long gone are the days where you had to down a shake and simple carbs on wake, lest you waste away. I generally like to potter around a bit for an hour or two before eating.
Would not advise intermittent fasting as in say a 16hour window or whatever length of time you have chosen, but longer stints without food can be beneficial both mentally and physically. Fitting the food in an 8 hour window can work. You can only try these things out, assess if it works and amend where necessary. Some people get on great with it, some don’t.
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Riiiiggghhhtt then, for anyone who has glanced at my log or even looked at the title this was the prep towards my first show on 18th August. I won my class, along with best first timer, best transformation and recently found out I came third in the overall – not too shabby for a first outing. As a result I qualified for the British Championships on 27th October, but was really undecided whether I wanted to do it. I decided to give myself a deadline of today and the underlying decision is….
I AM BLADDY DOING THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS!!
Really thought it through, weighing up the pros and cons along with discussing it with my partner. The pros far outweighed the cons, so heeerrreee we go – 60 days out, 8.5 weeks to go. Really looking forward to doing another prep as weird as it sounds. In addition, I get to compete against some of the best athletes in the country so will definitely be out of my comfort zone but that is how we grow and I can’t wait.
First check in with the boss tomorrow so will probably be waving goodbye to all of my new food haha.
Attached some shots from show day to get me fired up!!!
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Push session this morning went as follows:
Lying cable raise: 2 x 12-15
Incline hammer press (delt focus): 1 x 7-9, 1 x 10-12
Low incline db press: 1 x 12-15
Close grip barbell press: 1 x 7-9, 1 x 10-12
Incline db flye: 1 x 15
One arm rope pressdown: 1 x 15 (each side)
Single arm db preacher: 2 x 8-10
Abs: 3 sets of kneeling rope crunchesFirst set of lying cuff raises I matched weight and reps, but the second set managed an extra rep with the same weight as last time.
Incline hammer press felt good, but got a tad greed and added 1.5kg on my first set. Managed 146kg for 7 last time, 147.5kg for 6.5 so half a rep lost. Will stick to this weight for a while and max the reps out. Second set was 135.5kg for 10 – same as last time, but happy as the first set was hard as.
Low incline db press – I tried the 45kgs today, but stopped after a few reps as wasn’t feeling it on my chest and more through my shoulders. Dropped to the 40s for a good working set. Decided to drop the weight after and go for some reps. 34kg dbs for 16 s not too bad. May look into adding a second set.
Narrow bench felt good – 81kg for 8 on the first set, so lost a rep from last time but 0.5kg increase. Second set with 72.5kg and squeezed out 12 reps, which is half a rep more than last time. Progress is progress.
Someone was hogging the cables so decided to do a low incline db flye. Felt great and managed 19 reps with the 20kg dbs. May look at putting this in the rotation.
Ended with the fluffy stuff. Again, nothing exciting – progression was made across the board so happy. Putting the additional food to use.Instagram: samking104