Rob's 2017 Contest Prep Thread


Little update as I enjoy some breakfast, I eat the same meal for breakfast every day except high day. One whole egg plus egg whites, peppers and onions, topped with a serving of ketchup, 2 slices of “Dave’s Killer Bread” with a serving of fat free cream cheese. Some mornings I’ll sub out the whole egg for 2 slices of bacon, same calories and macros.

Yesterday’s high day leg day was solid. Training felt good as I didn’t do HIIT or legs last week, they felt extra fresh yesterday.

-Squats - 275x10, 295x10, 315x10, 345x6
-Leg Press - 16 plates x 20, 18 plates x15, 20 plates x 15. For leg press lately I’ve been putting my feet lower, narrower stance and turn my toes in slightly to really work the outer quad sweep.
-Single leg extensions - 3 sets of 10-12 full motion, then I’ll do partials in just the top half to stress the tear drop a little more.

Hamstrings I hit twice a week, once after chest and again during leg day.
-Lying leg curls - 110x12, 120x8, 120x8, 130x6
-Hamtractor - 70x12, 80x12, 85x10. Big squeeze and pause at the bottom, very slow negative.
-DB RDL’s - 3 sets of 50’s x 12. I don’t use a lot of weight here, just focus on stretching the hamstring and get a good contraction.

Standing and seated calves, 4 sets each.

After legs I walk gently on the incline treadmill for 10 minutes, not for “cardio,” just to stretch and loosen them up a bit. Then I sit in the sauna for about 10 minutes with my feet up, great for blood flow and recovery. My legs are trashed today, but I’m sure they’re better than they would be if I didn’t do some preventative maintenance.

Today is a medium day but no cardio, training arms today. I do cardio Monday-Thursday, none Friday or Saturday (yet.) Friday is the high day, so I want to utilize the recovery aspects of the nutrition and minimize stress to the body. I make sure to go as hard and heavy as possible during legs to make use of the carbs. Saturday is arms, trying to bring them up as much as possible so even though it’s just a medium day, I feel well fed, and not doing cardio makes the day much more manageable and minimizes stress. I also wake up later on the weekends, so the space between meals is 3 hours instead of the usual 4, no problem. Tomorrow is Sunday, no training, just a long LISS session.

After the weekend I feel recovered and ready to dig in for the week. Right now my low for the week was 150.8, even though the mirror is our priority and the scale is just a guide, I’m hoping this week we’ll sail past 150, putting me in my weight class nice and early. Last year I didn’t get under 150 until 3 weeks before my first show, it took 3 months and a couple weeks of keto (never again!)

3 Likes

Good stuff in here as always

I know the whole toes in or toes out thing to target different parts of quad is debated, I watch a video of John meadows leg pressing for outer sweep. He says legs narrow, toes slightly out and to make make sure your knees stay in line with your toes with upper legs tracking the outside of your body.

I have read many places about toes in, so the John meadows bit has me questioning what’s right (if it makes any difference at all!)

keep up the good work

1 Like

Thanks for following along @kd13! I think toe placement, as well as foot placement (high to low, and how close together they are) definitely plays a role in exactly where you’re targeting. To me, narrow with toes slightly in makes sense, because it stretches the outer part of the quad more, hence more activation there. Ultimately, maybe JM felt the same thing with his toes pointed out. Just another reason to make sure to try different things in the gym and take note of what feels best! For me, I feel a crazy pump in the outer quad once I get deeper into the set, those last 5 reps are a mental and physical challenge for sure.

Yesterday’s arm session was very solid, strength was up significantly in both biceps and triceps, which is encouraging because I’ve been structuring my arm workouts to improve strength, allowing me to lift heavier weights and grow these stubborn pipes.

My legs are trashed still, worse today than yesterday. My legs are the worst when it comes to DOMS, although typically I don’t get too sore anymore anywhere, including legs, but I think it’s a combination of not working legs the previous week (really needed the recovery) and also the heavy squats and high rep leg pressing. Gonna keep the legs elevated today, hit the therapy pool in the gym and make sure to keep up on the Flameout and Curcumin.

Today is an off day low day, LISS in the afternoon but no weight or HIIT training, we have Sunday as an optional HIIT day if we need it later in the prep. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get there without adding a second weekly HIIT session, but I will do whatever it takes to get my conditioning where it needs to be, I told Stu yesterday I’ll eat dirt while squatting if he tells me to.

2 Likes

Except eat Poo Tarts…

3 Likes

SUPPLEMENTS - I’ll post more about the “nuts and bolts” of the prep, including training schedule and cals and such, but thought it would be good to post about my current supplement stack.
***A Note on supplements in general - I believe in order to see if supplements work or not, training, nutrition, etc., whatever the current “plan” is, must be executed very consistently, which is the only way to see if a supplement is really working. How many folks do we know who have tried “fat burners” of some kind, but don’t change their diet, life style or anything, and then wonder why they “don’t work?” Once training, nutrition and such are locked down, then it’s time to put supplements into play to take things to the next level.

6:15am - Carbolin 19 with my coffee. Helps keep testosterone elevated and burn a little fat without the stimulant effect of HOT-ROX (which will be implemented later in the prep when things are close but need to be more dialed in.)

7:30am after breakfast
Rez-V - This is a newer addition but I really like it. Helps keep the testosterone up, estrogen down, and I notice I feel better physically and mentally with it. I’ve noticed the Rez-V, combined with Carbolin 19, helps keep me leaner and tighter more consistently.
Curcumin - For overall soreness in addition to the health benefits.
Vitamins - B Complex, C, D3
Probiotic - For gut and overall health.

3:00pm pre workout
Micro-PA - For mass. I started noticing results very quickly with Micro when I started it a few years ago, it’s been a staple ever since, and I believe has helped me develop some solid thickness and strength for someone of my height and weight.
Indigo 3G - Has helped me utilize carbs infinitely better than I used to, this has also been a daily staple for me since I started taking it years ago. Especially comes in handy on a high carb day when I get 350g, I take a double dose.
Finibars - A delicious pre-workout meal that’s quick, portable and delicious with great macros. 40g quality functional carbs, 15g whey protein and 8g fats each, I’ll usually have one and a half for a pre-workout meal, popped in the microwave first of course so it comes out like a brownie.
Metabolic Drive Protein - Seriously the best tasting protein I’ve ever tried, and also top quality and great consistency. It’s thick because it’s a whey/casein blend, unlike some whey isolates that feel like you’re drinking water. MD is thick, so it’s ideal for adding to shakes, cottage cheese, or a glass of cold unsweetened almond milk (how I have it with my Minibars.) I have MD a few times a day.

Intra-Workout
BCAA’s mixed with added glutamine, citruline, betaine and beta-alanine, mixed in 48oz of water. I make sure to drink it all by the end of my weight session before I start LISS. Strength and performance has felt solid in the gym with this drink, and it also helps make sure my muscles are protected during my LISS following weights.

7pm after dinner
Elite Pro Minerals - 1 full dose
Flameout - For joints and health
Curcumin - 2nd dose of the day

Before Bed
Z12 - Sleep is always a crap shoot for me, even in the off season. Still have trouble falling asleep sometimes, but with Z12 I notice once I fall asleep, it helps me sleep through the night and feel more rested in the morning.

POO TARTS! That’s a super secret of the pros, although I’m more of a poo cookie kind of guy myself…

3 Likes

Alright, 1 week down, 2lbs lost in the first week.
1/2 - 154.4
1/3 - 152.0
1/4 - 150.8
1/5 - 151.6
1/6 - 151.4
1/7 - 152.6
1/8 - 153.0

We are 18.5 weeks out of my first show, and 23.5 weeks out of the Hercules. I may do one earlier, but that will depend on conditioning as we continue. If I’m conditioned enough to hop on stage with my wife at her show on March 18, I’ll do it, it’s 10 weeks away so we’ll see as we get closer.

Feeling fairly run down today, certainly not “suffering” yet by any means, but typically the day after a low day always has a “moving through molasses” type feel for me. I didn’t sleep too well over the weekend, so later this morning after I finish my current project for the AM, I’ll take a nap before my second meal and that should help a bit.

Going through my second season now is a much different feeling than the first. In addition to starting in significantly better condition than last year, just knowing what to expect during this crazy ride makes things so much easier to manage, mentally and physically. Not going through the day wondering if things are working, not over-analyzing every single step, not obsessing about it every instant of the day, makes it so much more manageable. Don’t get me wrong, I still obsess about it, but I find it much easier to go through my day, and life in general, with more of a “normal person” type feel, knowing as long as I’m executing my nutrition properly and killing it in the gym, things are working.

Currently I’m coaching four people, 2 of them are competing in the spring, and 2 are just trying to get ripped. Now that I’m coaching and prepping at the same time, it’s a fun and interesting thing. As the competitors continue their preps, I find myself giving the same encouraging words and knowledge that @The_Mighty_Stu gave me last year during my first season. I can just see how this will go in about 4 months:
::Client:: “Everything’s gonna work out right? Tell me everything’s gonna work out!”
::Me:: “Don’t worry, you’ll look great up there, it’s all going to come together, we’ll do whatever it takes. Stay calm and keep it up!”
::I hang up the phone and call Stu:: - “Stu! Everything’s gonna work out right? Tell me everything’s gonna work out!” :joy:

4 Likes

Chest, hamstrings and 30min LISS today. I felt ready to go, my hamstrings have been incredibly sore for the past couple of days, which made getting heavy dumbbells for chest more challenging than usual. I typically do lower reps for my first exercise, incline dumbbell presses, but today opted for higher in the 10-15 area, and wound up pressing 90’s and 95’s rather than the usual 100’s or 105’s. Rest of chest went well.

When it came time for hamstrings, I was debating skipping them because they felt so banged up, I train them twice a week and thought it might be best for recovery. But, thought the better of it and started with some lighter warm up sets, just stretching and getting some blood in there. Even though they still felt rough, strength was up and I wound up having a great hamstring session. I lightened up at the end on RDL’s and just focused on a long, slow stretch each rep.

It’s important to have a consistent training plan, but some days it’s necessary to make some slight modifications for how you feel or various circumstances, it’s important to know how to work around issues and still be productive. Work around the issue, not through it. That’s a good way to get injured!

After that was 30min on the elliptical, followed by 15min in the sauna with my legs up. By the time I walked out of the gym my legs felt much better.

Currently waiting for my wife to get home from the gym, she had to supervise a double basketball game after school and didn’t get to the gym until 8pm for legs, followed by 30min cardio. Fortunately, she’s got a delicious dinner waiting made by yours truly, and a pint of Halo Top as well. She’s 9.5 weeks out, and fully embraces these aspects of the prep. We like to joke on these types of days we “earn our badges,” and these are the days you look back on while standing on stage, knowing it was all worth it.

1 Like

Hell yea I’m following this! get it man!

2 Likes

Thanks @moosejuice0311, glad to have you on board man!

Feeling much better today, energy is back to feeling normal and legs aren’t sore anymore. Typically I work out in the afternoon after getting three meals in me, today I had to train in the AM, going to some family this afternoon. Finibars and coffee first thing while prepping the cooler for the day, then shoulders, triceps, 30min LISS, back home and out the door. Fortunately this year being home all day, I make my meals as I eat them, a good break from working. But, when the occasion calls for it, I break out the very broken in 6 pack cooler and bring everything needed for the day.

Haven’t hit a new low yet on the scale, but seeing slow and steady progress in conditioning. After last year, I don’t depend on the scale as much for satisfaction, especially since my weight didn’t change in the last 8 weeks of my prep, but I certainly got tighter. First thing in the morning is to check the mirror with a few quick mandatory poses to assess conditioning, then check the weight afterwards. I find it’s a better, more objective way to see how things are going. We have plenty of time, my first show is a little over 17 weeks out, the Hercules is 6 weeks after that.

My gym has some studios with mirrors that I recently found out I can use for posing practice when there’s not a class in them, looking forward to having a great space to practice with lighting that won’t lie.

HIIT low day tomorrow, working for that 350g carb day on Friday!

1 Like

Low day HIIT day today on the elliptical followed by LISS. Thoroughly wiped, ready for the high day tomorrow! Typically I have a shake before bed, consisting of cottage cheese, MD protein and frozen berries, made in the vitamix for a thick and tasty shake. Tonight I think I’ll sub it out for eggs and bacon with some peppers and onions, same total calories as the shake but all protein and fat, rather than 30g carbs in there from cottage cheese and berries. Carbs before bed are totally fine, especially lower GI, fiber filled carbs like fruit or Ezekiel bread, and they help me sleep better, but I’m thinking after the HIIT day today, a PF meal will keep
me more in fat burning mode and set me up to better utilize my 350g carb day tomorrow. As long as protein requirements are met for the day, and total calories are met, it’s ok for the occasional sub out like this, (adding fat instead of carbs is fine, I wouldn’t raise carbs and lower fat though) and I made sure to clear it with my coach last week, when I had a crazy day and had a couple hundred calories left before bed that typically would be 2 slices of bread from an earlier meal, but switched out for peanut butter.

My wife’s progress is going well but momentum is slowing slightly, so next week we’re going to try keeping cals the same, but lowering carbs and raising fats (only carbs will be pre workout) for 5 or 6 days. After that she’ll have her usual refeed day and we’ll go back to her current numbers, we’re thinking that should help boost momentum nicely. I got the idea talking to Stu today, and it helped me understand that the prep can be adjusted as needed (provided all adjustments are well thought out and not haphazard) and doesn’t always have to be the same routine with lower numbers.

2 Likes

I love high days.

2 Likes

Is that a snickerdoodle?! :sob:

I’m just here, sitting in front of my desk choking down brussel sprouts.

3 Likes

Damn right! Half Lenny and Larry’s snickerdoodle, half double chocolate chip, half finibar, all microwaved to get nice and soft, with a metabolic drive chocolate milk with cinnamon (unsweetened almond milk.) Just as satisfying mentally as physically, and had a killer leg session with that fuel in me, following my bagel breakfast, and second meal of a massive bowl of mixed cereals with chocolate protein milk mixed with PB2. Squats felt especially good today:
5 sets - 265x10, 295x10, 315x10, 335x6, 365x5.

@dchris I love Brussel sprouts! We have them every day, baked in the oven for a while sprayed with coconut oil.

3 Likes

I do the exact same. I’ll add red pepper flakes sometimes to add some spice. I just eat them everyday, sometimes twice a day.

Nice work.

1 Like

Five points if you can guess what flavor I picked!

Trick question–you ate them all! Gimme my points!

3 Likes

I’m a fan of mint chip, but I’ve been known to put a big scoop of chocolate into a bowl of lemon yogurt and drizzle it with raspberry syrup. Then throw in the freezer for about 20 mins.

Not that you should do that or anything.

1 Like