2017 Men's Physique Prep

ill keep that in mind. That may have cost me third place last year, and im not about to make that mistake again

Okay, just under 6 weeks out now. After going over my pictures with experienced competitors i took a two day refeed this weekend. Thursday morning i weighed 163.2 and now (monday) i was 163.6. Gaining a half pound isnt a bad price to pay for the mental break.

This week i started off with legs. It felt great. Reps were 6-8 which was nice after being between 12-15 reps the last 10 days. Next week i plan on going really heavy (2-5) reps for the last time before im on stage.

yesterday i begun the dreaded process of shaving. I just started with my calves, then later in the week ill finish legs. Then do my upper body next week. Its defiantly a feeling im not used to haha

posing this week is mandatory bodybuilding poses two or three times a week, holding all the poses for three rounds of 45 seconds. Once this week i will put my physique shorts on and go through a prejudging round and do a few personal rutine practices

Im still training 5-6 days a week, workouts are short normally 45 minutes. I am doing either funtional training or HIIT cardio twice a week.

Macros are at 150 carbs, 195 protein, and 40 fat. Im eating very clean, and really dont mind it, last year i prepped IIFYM style, and i dont think ill go back to that. Water is about 1.5 gallons a day, not much is changing there

The plan right now is to hit 160 pounds at 3 weeks out, and slow the dieting process by starting to add carbs back in then. Im hoping to end up around 158.5-159.5 on stage

Best of luck man keep up the good work.

For the posing practice, aside from holding the poses like you’ve been doing, I’ve found it helpful to find good videos of pre-judging on youtube and practice along with them, it’s the most realistic way to simulate being up there.

Just my .02, I’d caution you against aiming too hard for a goal weight, unless it matters for a weight class, especially because 9.9 times out of 10, to really look great on stage, the scale weight will always be less than you think. By far the mirror should take priority over the scale. If you’re 6 weeks out you should still probably be losing scale weight, so not like you should ignore the scale, but when you’re on stage no one is going to ask your body fat percentage or how much you weigh. Be sure to be objective and continue sending pics to other experienced people if possible or your coach.

im not aiming too hard for that weight, its just a prediction based on how lean i look now. Based one my two previous cuts, and one contest prep i can get a generalization of how lean i am based off of my V line and chest veins, and just different striations that appear when im lean enough. If i end up at 157 or 161 i wont stress it, im just making a guess

and thanks for that advice on posing, when i go through “face the back” “65 and 23 switch places” etc in my head im probably taking it easier on myself that if i had an accual video playing, ill try that this week!

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I find myself doing the same thing! I’ve been practicing posing a few times a week, and this past weekend recently started up with the video again, and it was noticeably harder than without. Poses were held longer, more switching, etc., and the whole session lasted longer than without the video. Always better safe than sorry with the posing!

I tried that during yesterdays session, and it felt much better knowing that its the closest thing to being on stage. I also did it wearing my board shorts, for the first time this year…i was pleased to see how well they fit.

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So, here are the update pictures from 8,7, and 6 weeks out. I apologize for the inconsistency, I will have my 5 week out picture this Friday or Saturday.

The first one is from 8 weeks out (black shorts)
The middle one is 6 weeks out (red and blue trunks)
and the bottom is 7 weeks out (blue USA wrestling shorts)

Well here we are, 33 days out.

This week (5 to 4 weeks out) was the first week i started doing cardio, and its 900 calories worth split up amongst 5 sessions, medium intensity on the stair stepper.

Posing this week is up to 3 rounds a day 3 days a week, holding each of the mandatory bodybuilding poses for 1 minute. Then i have a forth day where i just do my front, back, and personal routine for my physique posing. I have also been incorporating more in between set posing during my lift.

Food is steady at 1950 calories a day, carbs are split between low (60 grams) medium (120 grams) and high (180 grams) How i weigh and look in the morning determines how many grams of carbs i will eat for the day.

Today was an all time low for me, 161.4 and im nearly leaner than i was on stage last year, still at a month out!

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Okay, just under 4 weeks out now.

Energy levels are still high-ish, which is surpising, and the exact opposite of last year where everynight i was asleep by 8 o’clock

This past saturday during my posing session i worked with a posing coach and competitor who happens to train in the gym i work at, and i looked noticeably better with the small tweaks she made.

I apologize for not being consistent with pictures, i dont have anyone to take them but im trying to do what i can

These next couple weeks im not looking for my weight to change much, the goal being to look a bit tighter day by day. if i decide im not lean enough, the last two weeks i can adjust accordingly.

Over the weekend, i took 3 days off of training. Friday i got deep tissue done, and saturday and sunday i took baths in epsom salt, and did some cardio, but the break was needed. Its very hard for me to deload, becasue i have such a love for training, i end up just doing a ton of volume when i try to cut back on the weight, so taking a few days off is easier for me to handle mentally.

Today i got back to it and had a push workout, which i was very fortuate to have my old training parter back for, he left for the marines a year and a half ago and i have only seen him once scince. So needless to say energy was through the roof, hit chest shoulders and tris, then finished with some abs. After school im going to do cardio, first session of the week

thank you all for following, ill be back soon

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Tuesday. 25 days from now ill be under the lights

because i didnt update you on how this week would go yesterday, ill do that now

Monday: Push day

4x10 DB shoulder press superset with 4x20 lateral raises

4x8 close grip incline DB bench press superset with 4x12 normal DB incline bench

did a unplanned triple dropset of laterial raises, 20,15, and 12 reps (gotta keep the shoulder pump :wink:

6x12-15 tricep pressdowns, 4 sets with straight bar, 2 sets with a rope.

ended with 2x25 claping pushups

Tueday: Cardio, abs, and calves

Wednesday: pull day

4x15 pullups

2x12 barbell row superset with shrug

2x12 DB row superset with DB curl

Then ill finish with barbell curl/ rear delt supersets 3 sets of 15ish reps

Thursday: Cardio, abs, calves

Friday: Legs

4x12-15 squats

2x15 leg extension/curl superset

4-6 sets of calves

Leg days have been getting lower and lower in volume the more fatigued i get. But i havent been skipping them i promise haha

Saturday: Weak point and cardio

will most likey be doing shoulders and arms, i train along side a competitive power lifter and figure girl on Saturdays, so i just try to keep up

300 calories 3 times a week is the cardio right now. Sometimes a bit of HIIT on tues and thurs

Sunday: Rest, light walking

22 days out. Its friday, second to last leg day before i hit the stage (monday and tuesday the last week im doing light quads and hams, but they will be on separate days so im not counting it as a “leg day”

It was tough. Tuesday-Thursday this week carbs were at less than 50 grams, today is refeed and hour to hour im looking fuller and harder. curious to see what i look like during tonights posing practice

tomorrow i have shoulders and arms, and will be checking in with coach. last week she said im about 2 pounds over stage weight, so it looks like next week will be repeat macros of this week.

Saturday, sunday monday- modorate carbs (160-180g)
Tuesday, wednesday, thursday-low carbs (25ish g)
friday, refeed (300g)

protein is between 185-215g, and fat is remaining calories-so higher on low carb days, lower on refeeds

This week made the most noticeable changes ive seen in myself, so one more week on the same guidelines is exciting me.

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Amazing how at a point you can actually see the changes so noticeably.

S

It really is, day to day i am looking differant

17 more days. This weeks focus switched from what i originally posted, so ill let everyone know whats going on. After finding out who 5 of my competitors are, my coach and i learned that the majority of the class isnt very shredded, as in only one of them has visible abs. Because of this, we decided to keep my carbs steady this week, with a hope to put on a half pound.

Im already very lean for physique, so if now i focus on filling out without spilling my size will be more competitive. I dont want to look to stringy and dieted out next to bigger fuller competitors.

training this week is pretty heavy, most sets are in the 6-8 range. As many reps as i can get without a spotters help, next week im going to stick with positive failure sets, however vary the rep range and really focus on posing between sets

This extra 1/4 cup of rice is tasting great :slight_smile: i hope everyone is having a great day/week

One more thing, im not sure whats going on, but my energy levels are abnormally high this prep. last year i cut from about 172 to 152 in 18 weeks and it was just miserable, i had no energy or motivation, this year ive lost the same amout of weight, 181-162 but i feel fantastic throughout the day. Ive done minimal cardio compared to last year and i think that might have something to do with it, im not complaining but it just seems odd

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11 days out. peak week plan is in place. This week i want to drop another half pound after keeping my weight consistent last week. Things are really coming together, and im liking what i see. I stumbled across some of last years pictures, 1 day out pre tan and right after i got off stage for finals…the improvements i made were very drastic. I am 10 pounds heavier, and leaner. My waist is the same as last year (27 inches on the dot) but arms are up 3/4 of an inch, and there is alot more fullness to my chest, and width to my back.

I threw in an extra day of training this week, id rather lift than do cardio so instead of a 4 day a week split, im training a 5th day, so monday wasnt my last leg day. Thursday will be. Which i dont mind becasue it didnt go as well as i would have liked it too. Focus has just been off

I know im getting close becasue everyone around me has been noticing both good and bad things these last few days, and have really been pointing out that i am much snappier, and having episodes of “girl hormones” as they say, but ive also been getting quite a few compliments on my abs and things like that lately, so i guess its paying off

I know i said i wanted to do 3 shows this year, but i think im going to back off to 2. The second one i was originally planning on which is 2 weeks after the first falls on my jounier prom. I know it doesnt seem like a big deal, but i only have one jounier prom of my life, and the next 25 years to compete. So post show im going to stick to a reverse diet, and aim for the “Big cheese” Wisconsin state championship in Augest. Hopefully being able to get “Mr. Teen Wisconsin” behind my name. After that ill be taking a few years off of competing to prepare for Marine basic training, and putting on enough size to compete in Bodybuilding in about 2-3 years.

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Hey mate, how did the comp go?

Thanks for asking! i placed 5th out of 12

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Any pics?

Not bad at all. I appreciate it. Keep it up dude!