Ebomb's Return: An Offseason to Remember

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Hey guys,

I haven’t posted on tnation in a while, but have decided to start posting again after coming back to the forums a bit and seeing that there seems to be a move towards bodybuilding again. There are a ton of dedicated guys on here, and I’d like to come back and see if I can make a contribution to the site again.

I owe much of my early interest in bodybuilding to tnation and would like to hopefully help to keep up a forum where there is a ton of good info for bodybuilders of all levels.

As for what I’ve been up to, I recently competed in the OCB National Championships where I placed 3rd in my weight class. I came in relatively good condition, but that’s what was really holding me back from doing better. I’ll post up some pics from that soon.

Now, I am moving into the offseason and looking to bring my training intensity to the next level, which is why I’ve enlisted the services of John Meadows again for training, so you know it’s going to be good :P.

I’m reverse dieting into the offseason, and have maintained 1 lb above my contest weight, sitting at 196 right now. I’ve posted pics of that below.

So, hopefully you all are ready to see some crazy intense training and ride with me along this offsesaon journey with Meadows. I will certainly be posting training videos, diet notes, and other fun stuff.

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Here are some recent training videos:

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And tonight’s training…to kick it off.
11.16.13

Chest/Shoulders/Calves

Flat Dumbbell Press
30 x 15
45 x 15
65 x 10
80 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8
120 x 8
130 x 7 (nice, moving up!)

Low Incline Smith Machine “double sets”
1 pps x 20
1 pps + 25 x 10
2 pps x 10 + 15
2 pps + 10 x 8 + 8
2 pps + 10 x 6 + absolute failure (full reps, to partials, to partner-assisted partials)

Flat Bench Press (guillotine style, paused on chest, 3/4 lockout)
135 x 8
185 x 2 x 8
185 x 8 + partials

Flat Dumbbell Flies
40 x 12
Iso tension sets
40 x 15 + 4 Iso tension reps
40 x absolute failure (30) + 3 Iso tension reps

Bentover Dumbbell Rear Delt Flies
1 giant set
25s x 150-200 total reps

Seated Dumbbell Laterals (very strict)
20 x 2 x 12
15 x 2 x 12

Over and Back Press
95 x 3 x 8 to bar x failure

Donkey Calf Raise/Short Band Dorsiflexions
300 x 15/Short mini x 15 LR
4 sets

Couch Stretch x 4 minutes each leg
Foam rolling on legs

Awesome chest/shoulder session. Intensity was crazy high. I had to train a bit later today, as I was at my trial advocacy competition from 7:30 till 7 PM, which, we unfortunately didn’t advance in because we came in 5th out of 14 and top 4 advance. We missed it by a point : /.

So, I took out that anger in the gym :P. Crushed flat DB presses today, 130 x 7 feeling great. I decided to go ape**** on the incline smith final set, having a partner essentially force me to do as many reps as possible on the second set.

The iso tension flies were pretty tough, especially the last set where I took the first set to absolute failure, 30 reps, then did 3 Iso reps.

I decided to go wild on Bentover dumbbell flies. I hit around 50-60 on the first set, then did partials to failure, then tried to crank out as many as possible, dropping the DBs for a second if need be. I must have hit somewhere between 150-200 total reps.

Overall, very intense session with some good volume.

Secondary arms tomorrow with some Abs and calves.

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And one more current condition pic:

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Dude sick quads!

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Great to see you back brother. We do seem to have amassed quite a good number of quality competitors and posters in recent years. Hopefully this supportive atmosphere and the direction things look like they’re going lately keeps up!

I’ve always been very impressed with your physique, dedication and progress, and after seeing your recent contest outings via other avenues, I stand by my earlier belief that pro status and continued success await you down the line.

S

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Great to see you back brother. We do seem to have amassed quite a good number of quality competitors and posters in recent years. Hopefully this supportive atmosphere and the direction things look like they’re going lately keeps up!

I’ve always been very impressed with your physique, dedication and progress, and after seeing your recent contest outings via other avenues, I stand by my earlier belief that pro status and continued success await you down the line.

S
[/quote]
Totally agree, this site seems to have turned a corner lately (for the better) and your return just confirms that in my eyes.

I’ll definitely be following this, thanks for making the log.

And those quads/hams! Excellent work.

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Some more details about your reverse dieting and macro’s ?

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@ CS: Thanks man!

@Stu: Thanks brotha, you’ve always been one of the guys on the site I look up to and follow and have motivated me in bodybuilding over the years, appreciate the comments.

@ Tolls:

Right now, I am reversing very slowly, adding in roughly 5-10 grams of carbs/week and 1-2 grams of fat. My carbs and fat are right now at 225 and 60 respectively. This will be a slow process, but I anticipate that If I stay dedicated, increasing in this manner, I will mitigate fat loss and really maximize my metabolic capacity and ability to take in more carbs/fat while maintaining leanness.

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Here is some more info about my current training split with JM

Right now, it looks like this.

Friday: Legs
Saturday: Chest/Shoulders
Sunday: Secondary Arms
Monday: Back
Tuesday: Off/Cardio (HIIT)/Squats
Wednesday: Primary Arm Day
Thursday: Full off day

Arms are a weaker bodypart, so I’m hitting them twice a week, with the Wednesday session being the main workout, and Sunday being a secondary day where I really just ramp up the intensity, get a nasty pump, and get out quickly.

I am squatting twice a week also per JM’s instructions, with the second squat day being just explosive, as I want to get back into my squatting groove after not squatting for the last month or so of prep.

While I am only hitting the bigger body parts once a week, the intensity right now is very high, and I want to ease into the offseason where I will likely add in secondary days for each bodypart.

As for calves and abs, they are trained 4 times a week on any day that I feel like training them.

I am also working on my mobility a lot, especially for squatting, and incorporating a lot of stretching that I hadn’t done in the past.

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Exciting stuff!

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Welcome back ebomb.Good to see this log and you back on TN.Thanks for taking the time to do so.

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Glad to see you back, Evan. I followed your OCB prep, and although you could’ve been leaner (it seemed like you were prepared to push it harder, but your coach held you back) you ended up in good condition that somehow didn’t show up on stage. Colour might have made a big difference, perhaps other minor things. You’ll kill it next show, for sure!

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@ Rattlehead: Thanks man!

@ JP: Appreciate it man, glad to be back logging.

@ SCTB: Thanks man. I definitely could have been leaner, but I don’t think it was my coach holding me back. I think we brought all that we could that show without destroying my metabolism. I think color did play a role, as it just didn’t really show up once I got on stage and that was a little disappointing, but, it’s all a part of the learning experience.

After speaking with the judges, they told me the only thing holding me back this show was conditioning. While that was tough to hear, especially since it’s the factor I can control the most, it was also nice to hear that they thought the size and symmetry were great and top in the class. So, I know what I need to do next show and am confident I can get there.

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Awesome, good to see you back, some of best wheels on T-Nation.

Lat width looking solid in that pic too.

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[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
@ CS: Thanks man!

@Stu: Thanks brotha, you’ve always been one of the guys on the site I look up to and follow and have motivated me in bodybuilding over the years, appreciate the comments.

@ Tolls:

Right now, I am reversing very slowly, adding in roughly 5-10 grams of carbs/week and 1-2 grams of fat. My carbs and fat are right now at 225 and 60 respectively. This will be a slow process, but I anticipate that If I stay dedicated, increasing in this manner, I will mitigate fat loss and really maximize my metabolic capacity and ability to take in more carbs/fat while maintaining leanness.

[/quote]

suprized a big guy like yourself is only at 225/60 right now. how much weight did you lose for your pre contest diet?

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@Audio: Thanks man, appreciate it!

@ Grind: They’re somewhat low, but I also dropped nearly all cardio right after the contest except one HIIT session, and I was doing 3 HIIT and 160 minutes of LISS/week.
I went from 221-223 to 195 during prep, so not a ton of weight lost, but we were getting pretty low on the macros near the end. So, they are a bit low, but I’ll get them back up there, slowly but surely.

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@ Lemony: I hope so brotha, glad you’re following along and appreciate the comments!

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11.17.13

Arms/Calves/Abs

Alternating Incline Dumbbell Curls (palms up entire time)
2 warmup sets (20 x 15)
30s x 2 sets to failure (17 LR then 14 LR)
30s x 1 set to failure plus standing alternating hammers to failure (12 LR to lost count + some bottom partials)
30s x failure plus Iso holds

EZ Bar Preachers
20 + bar x 3 x 15 (30 second breaks)

Standing Occluded Standing EZ Bar Curls
20 + bar x 4 x 15

Straight Bar Pushdowns
1 x 30
2 x 30 to failure
1 x 30 + forced sets of 5 (3 sets) + 2 Iso holds for 10-15 seconds

Lying EZ Bar Extensions (30 second rests, deep stretch behind head with a pause in the fully-stretched position)
55 x 4 x 8

Standing Calf Raises
3 x 8
1 x failure + partials to failure

V-Ups
75 reps with 8 kg Kettlebell over 8 sets

Couch Stretch x 4 minutes LR
Hamstring stretches

Awesome secondary arm day. Got in and got out pretty quickly. I stole most of the from Shelby’s log on elitefts who was doing his own version of a Meadows/Platz arm session. The incline dumbbell curls were brutal with all of those intensity techniques along with the Pushdowns. Taking that one or two sets to absolute failure really forces you to push your body beyond what you thought it could do.

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Some pics.