Rob's 2017 Contest Prep Thread

Less than I thought I would actually. After the post show BBQ, plus some desert at home, woke up 4.5 higher. I was 141.4 morning of the show, and was 146 even the next day. Last year after both shows I jumped 8-9lbs, so I was glad to see that I wasn’t up as much as anticipated. Hopefully, I’ll able to normalize by the end of this week and keep the progress moving along sooner than later!

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Rob - you should take some notes from this posing routine… back flip and all… might help you get that next pro card.

https://instagram.com/p/BR2UFIfghcU/

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Another locker room shot from game day.

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That was incredibly impressive! Serious dance training in his background no doubt, that’s a hell of a routine combined with insane conditioning. I’ll start working on my backflips now.

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I notice rob ate more calories on keto does keto/lower carb allow for more?

He ended up winnng the Aus Arnold in his class.

Also, his music choice was great.

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I’ve read this from start to finish, as well as bricks contest prep. I just wanted to say amazing stuff to the both of you. Everyone’s input and help had so much great information within. I just wanted again to say, amazing steadfast work ethic.This thread has really forced me to change gears. Thank you and best of continued success for both yourself and your wife.

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I also just wanted to note how much you’ve changed your physical structure in just a handful of years. Basic bodybuilding stands on its own still, even in spite of how hard these new authors are trying to dismiss its bro logic. Shoot, I have memories of taking family vacations and bringing my mm2k and flex magazines for the road trip. Being obsessed with lee Priests forearms. It hasn’t changed.

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Ultimately, calories in/calories out is king. As @The_Mighty_Stu mentioned, doing keto that week is mainly to allow for more carbs/glycogen pre-contest, not to keep losing fat. At that point, the work is (should be) done already.

@eric_reichelt thank you so much for the kind words and following along, they mean a lot and I really appreciate it!

Thanks man. I agree that a basic bodybuilding template, consistency of nutrition and time are by far the most important aspects of making improvements. Since I got into bodybuilding, while it’s only been a few years, I haven’t missed any sessions or had a time when I wasn’t conscious about my nutrition. This also led me to a better understanding of just how long it really takes to make improvements. When I started working with Stu a year and a half ago, we assessed my weaknesses, designed a program built to address them, and just kept plugging away. Especially as a natural, there’s only so fast improvements can be made. These articles about “add an inch to your bicep in 2 weeks” and the like, or dismissing the efficacy of a basic bodybuilding split; while I understand the need for them, because there always needs to be “new” info coming out, I agree with you that sticking to the basics with consistency just can’t be beat and will always be the best course of action. In today’s world where people want a quick fix and immediate results, it’s no wonder why people don’t want to hear, “pick a basic template, eat with consistency without all this “cheat meal” BS and wait a year, you should see some great improvements”.

Thanks again for your comments and taking the time to follow along! Glad to have you on board!

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Yes! That tango, was on point and his choreography was very fitting with the style. I wonder if those types of routines will start making a comeback now that the classic look is being emphasized and hopefully becoming more popular again.

Back to the grind this week and things are moving along at a good pace. Made some slight nutritional adjustments to get a higher calorie and higher fat meal before bed which usually helps me sleep better, tried it out last night and it worked well. I was doing egg whites before bed, it felt like a large meal when I ate it, but I’d wake up two hours later starving and wide awake. I save most of my fat macros now for the pre bed meal.

Weight was down to 142 today, so things seem to be normalizing relatively fast and hopefully will keep going. My previous low before peak week was 141.6, so by the end of the week, I’m hoping both conditioning and the scale will be back to where it was for the show, and we’ll have another 5 weeks of digging before the next peak week. Thinking about the improvements that we made once I added LISS every morning at 4 weeks out was pretty drastic, so hoping another 5 weeks of our plan will get conditioning to the next level.

The WNBF Northeast America is a competitive one, and I am lazer focused to be able to come back to my first ever bodybuilding show a year later as a different and better bodybuilder.

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Congrats bro. You deserved it. Wish you success on your next show as well.

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I marked a few of the meals you switched to during the final push for shredded, but I was curious if you have a few go to meals that helped. I’m strongly considering dropping carbs a good bit but lack creativity in the kitchen.

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@Gorillakiv83 thank you very much man!

@eric_reichelt I’m all about finding meals that fit my cals and macros and can be as filling as possible. Regarding dropping carbs, I’d recommend keeping them as high as you can while meeting your needs. My protein is about 1.2g per pound, fats are 25% and carbs are the rest. Calories in/out will always play the ultimate role, and at least for me, I function better on as many carbs as I can squeeze in. That being said, here are my top meals that combine low cals and satiety (keep in mind in a prep I’m pretty much always hungry, but there’s a difference between dull hunger and feeling starving. These meals keep me from feeling starving):

  • Breakfast - 1 cup egg whites, peppers and onions, wilted spinach, 2 slices of toasted ezekiel bread.
    280 cal, 32g protein, 30g carbs

  • Meal 2 - 4oz chicken breast, 3oz broccoli, 1oz relish, 1oz sauerkraut, all mixed in the vitamix to make a “chicken salad” as I call it. Then I’ll add 1 serving of dry sprouted rice cereal.
    230 cal, 24g protein, 20g carbs

  • Meal 3 - “egg white pancakes” - 1 serving sprouted rice cereal soaked in 1 cup egg whites, then toss in the pan with peppers and onions and cook on very low flame for about 10 minutes, it puffs up nicely. Top with walden farms 0 cal maple syrup. Add more cereal if you can fit it in.
    230 cal, 24g protein, 20g carbs

-Last meal - “protein pudding” - 2.5-3 TBSP nut butter, 1 scoop Metabolic Drive protein. Little hot water to mix it up.
~350cal, 25g fat, ~25g protein. Typically I use almond butter, last night I started using some “Buff Bake” birthday cake almond butter protein spread. Combined with Metabolic Drive protein, very thick and delicious.

Thanks for those, they look great. And yes, my carbs are always as high as they can be, I’m not tracking calories. It was after reading your thought on dairy that prompted this idea. A few meals each day for me consist of cottage cheese, yogurt and dry oats or cereal. It’s quick and I don’t get bloat, but was just thinking maybe it’s time to switch those meals out.I’m not sure what bf% I’m currently at, just looking to lean out a bit before vacation with the family.

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6 weeks out from tomorrow!

Today is the first full on leg workout in about two and a half weeks since we stopped training legs about 10 days out, looking forward to getting back under the bar and pushing hard. All the comments from the judges were unanimous, tighten up the quads. Aside from needing to be leaner, this week I added 5 sets of leg extensions on my Monday chest/hams workout, I traded out one ham exercise for the leg extensions. So hitting quads twice a week for 6 weeks will hopefully help bring them up a little (I’ll take whatever I can get), in combination with leaning out the last bit needed to really be shredded head to toe. Weight has been 142 steady the past few days and progress pics look like we’ve normalized back to pre-show conditioning, and should be able to hopefully keep tightening up. I’m glad we have 6 weeks until the show, it’s a great spot to be. Definitely have to push as hard as possible, I’ll do whatever it takes, but Stu and I both feel I’m pretty close to where I need to be and if we keep up with our current plan, we’ll get there.

One new adjustment is adding a second HIIT workout to the 7 day rotation. Prepping for the first show, I did HIIT on Thursday, and a long LISS session on Sunday. Now, doing HIIT Thursday and Sunday, another “bullet to fire” that we haven’t done yet, so that should also help speed things along.

This weekend is going to be one to remember. I play with a couple of bands, usually during a prep I wind up finding subs for most of my gigs because doing a late gig on a prep just isn’t possible, especially when calories are low and I wind up going to bed 5 hours later than normal. Tomorrow I have a gig from 9pm-1am, so I have to make 1800 calories last for about 18 hours. That’ll put me arriving home at about 3am by the time we break down and the long drive home, then Sunday morning waking up a few hours later at 6am to get my HIIT workout in before a family event, 1700 calorie low day.

No way around the suck, but that’s what it takes to do it right, no excuses. I’ve shifted some meals around for the weekend to make 7 meals instead of 6, taking some calories out of my pre workout meal. Saturday is arms and cardio, Sunday is HIIT. Certainly not ideal to take cals out of the pre workout meal, but considering it’s 35% of my daily calories, and it’s a one-off situation, it was the only spot to pull from and I’ll make it work. These are the moments I’ll remember on stage, that build confidence in knowing I did everything I could. No matter what happens in 6 weeks, my effort is all I’ll have up there, gotta be relentless.

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Some pro shots from the show.

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Good leg session, focused on squeezing the quads as hard as possible throughout. Squat was alright, I could definitely feel strength was down a bit, as a result of not squatting in a couple weeks, plus just being at this stage in the prep. While I still have 6 weeks to go till the final show, being at stage conditioning, you’re pretty much always in zombie mode. Strength has been down a bit all week and generally feeling like I don’t have as much gas in the tank as I’d like, but training with maximum intensity, maintaining a solid MMC and contracting the working muscle as hard as possible, will make sure there’s no muscle lost and I can bring my best. Staying focused on the task at hand of getting tighter and bringing the fire to the WNBF stage.

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Check out the hammies in that back double!! You really brought it Rob. Now it’s time to knock out the pro card!

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