I liked it, but moved on to 531 for a cycle and realized I was in over my head. I’m six weeks into Starting Strength. Thanks for asking!
Now, go get hyoooge for Hercules!
Alright, one week down out of 8, leaving 6 weeks and 5 days to go until the Hercules, the show I’ve been preparing for for almost a year by the time it arrives. Sorry for the lack of updates, between the new training schedule, work and my business, spare time is slim to none.
Last week was the best week of training I’ve had in a while with the plethora of glycogen I had in me after my cheat day. I’m really enjoying my new split, getting away from full body and being able to focus on individual muscle groups has made training much more enjoyable. I also finish my workouts in significantly less time.
This morning I was back down to my pre-contest weight of 149 (weighed into the show at 148.6), and I anticipate good movement with the new 5 day training split, 2 weekly HIIT sessions, some more reduced calories, and AM fasted cardio every day now. No way to know but I’m guessing I’ll need to be around 138-140 to look my best. 1.25-1.5 pounds a week loss seems totally feasible.
Still on keto, but this week we’re implementing targeted carbs around my two legs days, and chest and back day. Of course I’m opting for Plazma during training, I’m really looking forward to training with it again after over a month without it. Tomorrow is leg day, woo!
On a non-training note, it looks like it’s even more likely this will be my last year as a full time teacher, and will be able to transition to writing music full time. I recently was fortunate enough to land a pretty incredible gig writing the music for a marching band that belongs to a very well known NFL team, they’re the largest musical organization associated with the NFL, I’m writing the music that they’ll be playing during the half time show at their home games. This has already opened some doors and I have a feeling more opportunities will come from it. I’m still hoping to find some type of work-from-home part time gig I can do, but if it doesn’t pan out I think I’ll be ok.
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Good Plazma-fueled leg day today, and finally got some scale movement this morning down to 147.6. Not much but I think my body is catching up to the changes. We made some more aggressive changes now that we’re 6 weeks out and have to ensure movement, and we’re confident everything will work out in time for me to be diced up come the show.
We now have a high, medium and low day.
Low days - HIIT workout days - 1500 cals - Had my first 1500 calorie day yesterday and it really wasn’t too bad on the Keto diet, had some hunger throughout the day but nothing too significant. Any time I felt uncomfortable it was actually pretty motivating, knowing these days will pay off big time. I also added a scoop of Mag-10 before the HIIT session to ensure no muscle loss on these days. It’s tough on keto diet, you have to be sure you don’t get too much protein otherwise it’ll be converted to carbs. But, after crunching the numbers, it still works out to be in range.
Medium days - Arms/shoulder days - 1800 cals.
High days - Leg/chest & back day - 2150 cals with 1 scoop Plazma for the workout. This week is the first time training on Plazma in over a month, and while it’s only one scoop I absolutely can feel a difference.
Fasted AM Cardio - Every day for 25 min. I have to watch the intensity here, now that calories are pretty low if I push too hard I feel dizzy and out of it pretty quickly. I prefer the elliptical for this as it’s easy on the joints. I have a big scoop of BCAA and Superfood before hand, as long as I keep my heart rate in check around the 120 area and not above I feel good. I don’t want to extend the length of the fasted cardio sessions now that cals are low and risk any possibility of LBM loss, so we also added 15 min of low intensity cardio post weight training.
Overall with training this week I’ve had to readjust a little bit, I started doing fewer sets but heavier weight. So overall less volume, but lifting heavy to keep the muscle. On these lower calories, going to fail constantly and doing high volume is only begging for busted metabolism and high cortisol. Trying to keep the sessions short and heavy.
Supplement wise I’m going all out trying to get every advantage possible:
5:45am - Caffeine-Free Brain Candy & coffee
6:00am - BCAA’s, Superfood
6:15am - HOT-ROX and Rhodiola
After breakfast - Flameout, Curcumin, Rez-V
Pre workout - Micro-PA (all weight training days, I feel like this supplement is huge for retaining muscle), HOT-ROX, Rhodiola, Indigo-3G (Plazma days)
Plazma - Leg and Chest/Back day
Mag-10 - HIIT workout days
After dinner - Elitepro Minerals, Flameout, Curcumin
Pre-bed - Z-12 (sleep is a roll of the dice every night these days)
6 weeks out and pushing hard!
Great work, 1500 cals is nothing!
Aside from starving myself, this gives me the itch to compete. 
Congratulations and well done on the show, Rob! You’ve made a
ton of progress already—can’t wait to see how things go for the
next show.
@sctb thanks so much man! Definitely excited to push it harder till the next show, I am more fired up than ever.
@dchris lol! DO IIIT! Low days are down to 1420 now, but we changed some things up and have some nice high days mid week. Dig in on the low days, nice “stoking” of the metabolism on the high days, and hopefully it’ll all come together!
Alright, just over 5 weeks out and things are progressing nicely. We’ve made some great changes that have really kept my physical, (and mental!) progress moving.
I’m no longer on keto, back to carb cycling. After a couple of weeks on the new training split and daily cardio, I felt like my brain was shutting down and productivity of daily life was suffering. This is one very important aspect of having a great coach, someone who you can express your feelings to and will objectively evaluate and work with you, not just say, “do this and don’t question.” Stu is an outstanding coach and has been there for me every step of the way.
We’re still maintaining an aggressive caloric deficit, which is ultimately what matters most. But, I get to train on Plazma every day, and already I’ve had some awesome progress in the gym and can feel I have a lot more to give. I was able to squat 315x6 for my last set a couple of days ago, yesterday ended my back session with rack pulls, last set was 405x8. Not bad for a 147 pound shorty. Doing everything I can to lift heavy and keep my muscle with the deficit and constant cardio, and now that carbs are back in the mix, I know my training has improved, and my physique progress will follow. Sweet Plazma, I will never stray from you again!
That being said, the keto diet WAS very helpful for what I needed at the time. My progress was slow out and I was 3 weeks out of a show, the keto got me past my stall out and to the point where I looked like I belonged on stage with some very tough competitors. Now that we are in a better time table, and I’m already pretty close to where I need to be for the Hercules, we can afford to make these new changes. Ultimately I feel so much better and more like myself. Hunger is there once in a while, but at least the brain fog is gone. Productivity outside of the gym has improved significantly.
Carbs are focused around training and in the AM. Breakfast most days is a cup of egg whites and oatmeal with some walden farms 0 cal maple syrup, and of course Plazma for training.
Current cals:
High day - 2050
Medium day - 1700
Low day - 1450
I now eat every 3 hours and have 6 feedings a day, which includes the Plazma, a change from 7 feedings a day. While I used to “need” to eat more frequently, with less feedings I can eat more calories per meal and actually stay fuller longer. The “need” to eat is more mental than anything else and I’ve gotten much better at dealing with it. Even on my low 1450 cal days, I don’t really get hungry, I’m too busy thinking about destroying the show in 5 weeks so it doesn’t bother me 
My weight has stalled for the past week, my low last week was 147.6 on Friday and since then I’ve been between 149-150 every day. While I try not to get too caught up with the scale, I know realistically I do need to be in the low 140’s by the show. I also know that since my low was 147.6, anything past that is water, and with my deficit, cardio and training, there’s know way I’m not losing fat. Stu referenced me to an article talking about how sometimes on a fat loss diet, during what seems like a stall out, the fat cells empty of their triglycerides and fill with water, until they eventually empty of the water and viola, the “stall” is over. We’ve made some pretty aggressive changes and one day soon my body will catch on and drop the water. Until then, I will keep the faith in the process and keep plugging along and do my best not to stress out and raise my cortisol any more than it already is.
After looking at some pre-contest pics from 3 weeks ago when my weight was the same as it is now, I DO feel I look leaner right now, especially in shoulders, lower abs and legs. So, I suspect after this “stall” is over I’ll see some really good progress. I can also feel my abs are right up against the skin and can feel a lot more definition there, more so than I’ve been able to before, also leading me to think there’s less fat and more water.
Ultimately I’m doing my best not to get in my head about it, but with 5 weeks to go it’s hard not to, especially as I haven’t really gotten down to a crazy shredded level yet and don’t know what to expect throughout the process. I do know that I’m going to continue competing next year, and am really going to take advantage of my coming off season. I’m not going to let my “bulk” get out of control and am going to do my best to reverse diet smartly and not let my progress go out the window. I really want to maintain a great level of leanness in my offseason as it’ll allow me to better add LBM and also be closer to contest weight when future preps begin.
Low day today, finished my AM cardio and breakfast, and later today will be hitting abs and HIIT.
Stay the course! It’s been a good thread, keep it up.
5 weeks out, great week of training this week. Despite the lower calories and a few nights of pretty bad sleep, strength has been up all week significantly. I’m attributing this to the addition of overall carbs and Plazma for every training session.
Conditioning is showing slow and steady improvements, I can see my legs getting tighter, upper body is looking pretty darn thick. Although my weight is still stalled at 149, I am looking leaner and strength is going up. I’m wondering if I might even be adding a little LBM now that I have more carbs and training has improved. I’m still taking Indigo, Micro and centering carbs around training, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case. Hoping so!
Saturday and Sunday are both low days, abs and HIIT today and double steady state tomorrow. Originally Saturday was shoulders and Sunday was HIIT, but with back to back low calorie days, I felt like that might be too much stress on the body. I combined shoulders with hamstrings for Friday, so today (Saturday) will be HIIT and abs in the afternoon, and tomorrow will be steady state in the AM and PM. I make sure the intensity level of the AM cardio isn’t too high, I think I was pushing it too hard previously and would feel some dizziness towards the end. So, I keep the intensity in check and make sure I’m just burning some extra calories. Learning quite a lot during this process.
Well it has been an incredibly frustrating two weeks, but it seems finally making some progress. For the past two weeks, my weight has been stalled between 149-150, while two weeks ago I had a low of 147.6. Although I see very small changes in my conditioning, they’re not significant, and my weight hasn’t budged. “Frustrating” is a severe understatement at this time, considering the daily cardio, intense calorific deficit and workouts, and seemingly no results, waiting to wake up each morning and see what the mirror and scale will show me with minimum results. To recap:
-5 day split
-daily AM cardio
-2 weekly HIIT sessions
-Low day 1500 cal (3 days a week)
-Medium day 1700 cal (2 days a week)
-High day 2000 cal (2 days a week)
Here’s what we (Stu and I) concluded after two weeks of stall out:
-My weight was 147.6 two weeks ago, anything beyond that is obviously water as it would be scientifically impossible for me to be gaining weight
-I MUST still be losing fat, because of my caloric deficit and training regimen, it would be literally impossible for me not to be
-We made significant changes to nutrition and training in a short amount of time, so the stress on my body must be causing my body to hold every ounce of water and resource it can.
-After a couple of weeks of reducing carbs and cals, that didn’t work, so we needed to try something else.
-Chances are my “actual” weight is around 145 and I have to drop the water my body is holding due to stress (high cortisol, minimal calories yet extremely demanding work load, plus the stress I’ve been feeling as a result of holding all the water probably causing me to hold more water)
-I’ve been sleeping terribly every night, another sign that I might be digging too deep a hole
SO, we wound up increasing carbs and overall cals, and I upped my water intake from 2 gallons a day to 3 gallons a day in an effort to shed this damn water. Finally, today, I dropped 2.5lbs overnight to wake up at my old low of 147.6, but looking a hell of a lot tighter than 2 weeks ago. Legs are really starting to come in. Today I am continuing with water loading, hoping tomorrow will see some additional movement.
In an effort to get my metabolism moving, tomorrow (Saturday) will be a no-training re-feed day. (PROTEIN PANCAKES FOR BREAKFAST!) Stress is cumulative and I’ve been dieting/prepping for almost 6 months now, so I’m sure my body will LOVE the day off. Tuesday and Wednesday this week were high carb days, but I had hard training sessions, not giving my body the opportunity to realize, “hey, you’re not dying, relax!” Our thought process is with a no-training re-feed day of 275g carb, and a no-training low day on Sunday, my body will take these nutrients, realize it’s not starving, and my metabolism will boost back up, also hopefully yielding another weight drop.
I am learning quite a lot on this journey, many ups and downs. Yesterday I had an “aha” moment during my HIIT session. Essentially, I’ve been feeling like I’m not doing well because of my lack of results, despite the work I’m doing. It’s been frustrating and discouraging to work literally as hard as possible and not see the fruits of my labors. But, I came to realize that bodybuilding is the ultimate “marathon.” There’s a reason you see bodybuilders get better every year, each year they learn more about themselves and how to improve. This is my first contest season ever, after only being in the gym for about 3.5 years. As much as I’d like to be incredibly diced and win my weight class in a month, I must realize that right now, I am figuring out my process, my formula for success that will work best for my body, with no previous data to go on from previous contest seasons. Having a great coach like Stu, we work together and come up with our best guess of what will work, and try it. Sometimes it works, other times not. But, what I am realizing is that every time I might take a step back, I take two steps forward, and getting that much closer to figuring out what works best for me. Every body is different, what works for one will not work for another, and the process of figuring out how to get to 3% body fat is a hell of a job. I do know this, once we do figure out my best formula, I will be unstoppable.
Based on previous data, when I was on keto, I was losing weight at 2300 cals a day. Looking back before keto, I was still getting a ton of carbs and overall cals for my size, and making gains. That info, combined with my two weeks of stall out, gave us the confidence that increasing my carbs and cals will be a step in the right direction, so far it seems like it is.
Here’s our new game plan:
High days (1x per week) - 275g carbs, 2150 cals. Carbs all day baby!
Medium Days (3x per week) - 150g carbs, centered around breakfast and workout. Big bowl of oatmeal with breakfast, finibar and Plazma for training.
Low days (3x per week) - 1700 cals, 75g carbs (breakfast and training).
Some other stuff:
-I added one scoop Mag-10 every morning first thing before my AM cardio, and will be following the protocol as described in this article. As I’ve been doing this a while now, I want to have fuel for my cardio to ensure no muscle loss or raised cortisol, and I’m confident the Mag-10 will contribute to more fat loss as it is extremely thermogenic. I was taking a scoop of BCAA, but Mag-10 will be better now.
-One low day a week will be a Mag-10 day, with a solid P+F breakfast and P+F dinner. This will ensure no muscle loss and a ton of fat burning, followed by a great training day with more carbs which my body will soak right up.
Mag-10 is an outstanding supplement that can be utilized in a variety of ways. I’m going to take advantage of it’s muscle sparing (and building) properties, and to help burn additional fat to get stage ready.
I also have a little bit of carbs with my pre bed meal, it helps me sleep better and is something tasty to look forward to every night.
-1 piece toasted Ezekiel bread
-1 scoop Metabolic Drive protein, made as a “frosting” by taking a scoop in a coffee mug, add a splash of almond milk and stir until it becomes very thick. I spread this on the toast.
-1TBSP almond butter.
Hopefully I’ll have more good news after the weekend!
5/1 - First thing in the AM
My body seems to be responding well to the higher carbs/calories and the re-feed. Over the past few days I’ve finally seen some good physique progress, especially in the legs coming through. Interesting to note my weight still hasn’t changed, and I’m still holding on to water. Every now and then my low of 147 appears, but I’ve been hovering between 149-150. I think the water is a combination of stress on my body from almost 6 months of prepping, but also the cumulative stress between prepping, school and my business. It’s the busiest time of year for all of those things. Nonetheless, progress is being made, very motivating and encouraging heading into the last four weeks. I think it’s still possible for me to bring a very solid package for the Hercules. I am no doubt in better condition than I was at my last show four weeks ago, looking forward to see what the last bit of this prep will bring.
This week we’re alternating between low and medium days. Low day is 1700 cal, medium day is 2150 cal. I also upped my cardio to an hour a day, but am now separating it, 30 min in the AM (with Mag-10) and 30 min post training. The difference between my medium and high day is carbs, cals are the same but on a medium day I get 150, high day is 275. We’re opting for a once a week high day right now, might add more later but for now we need to evaluate how the re-feed and new plan is working. So far things seem to be on the right track.
what a fat bastard!
<3
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I like your dog. like a lot.
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ha, we have two awesome pups. The one who’s making a cameo there is Bob, he’s a “puggle” (pug/beagle) mix we adopted in October, to be a buddy for our other dog, Cleo, golden retriever. Here’s the whole crew, I sure am a lucky dog!
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Progress continues, good medium day today, AM cardio, chest and back workout this afternoon followed by more steady state. I like breaking up the cardio sessions and will continue to do it that way.
Tomorrow I break out the secret weapon - THE MAG-10 PULSE FAST. I’m 3 weeks out, getting so close to the right condition. I think upping my LISS, in combination with the pulse fast will be a huge kick in the face to my fat loss. Also doing a carb up re-feed on Saturday. Strategically placed Saturday, because my body will be so ready and primed to soak up those carbs from the pulse fast. Then Saturday will be a re-feed, and a great day of training. I know tomorrow at some point I’ll be wishing I was eating, however I have done pulse fasts before and I know the results will be worth it. Excited to see the progress it will bring. I’ll be pulsing every 2 hours, 8-9 total throughout the day.
Mag-10 pulse fast day yesterday was rough at times, especially in the evening, but I think worth it. Here’s a comparison from Wednesday to this morning, I can see some improvement in my legs, upper arms and some improved vascularity. Definitely keeping a careful eye on how I look each day and seeing what variables work best. I know after the Mag-10 day I’m ready to put these carbs to use, anxious to see how I look tomorrow. After my first meal this morning I could see my upper body getting very tight, even a couple veins in upper abs. I wish my legs would get catch up to my upper body already!
Re-feed day today, 275 carbs. Had the usual AM cardio this morning, heading to the gym soon for hams and shoulders, then more cardio. Last week the day after my refeed I was holding a little water, but I also didn’t train last Saturday. So, a new variable to check out.
Looking great man, definitely responding well to the new meal plan!
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Thanks a lot bro! Definitely encouraging to finally see some significant progress!
6/7 - First thing in the AM, 2 weeks and 5 days out
Looking like the progress train is moving along with the adjusted nutrition (more overall cals and carbs, weekly re-feed), upper body was pretty tight this morning and legs continue to make slow and steady progress. I’m learning that my legs hold a lot of inflammation and water. They always look best and leanest first thing in the AM, then after my morning cardio they’ve usually smoothed out a little, as well as for a couple days after leg day. So, this is good to know as we’ll be careful about when we stop leg training and HIIT, also little to no cardio during peak week so they can relax and be as defined as possible. If they look as tight as my upper body come show time, I think I’ll be in good shape.
Upped my steady state cardio, I just have to admit that I have more fat to lose than I thought, I’ve been dieting for about 6 months, my metabolism is a little trashed and steady state is essential to get there. I do 45 min in the morning before breakfast, with 1 scoop of Mag-10. I alternate between incline treadmill and elliptical, keeping my heart rate 115-120. Then in the afternoon after weight training I’ll have some BCAAs and do 30 minutes, keeping my heart rate a little lower, 105-110 just to ensure pure calorie burn and sparing my LBM.
During the coming off season I will maintain a nutrition plan, the difference of course that I’ll slowly put myself in a caloric surplus,not have to bring my cooler to family events, and not let my off season weight get above 158-160, versus the 166 I started at in January. I’ll be able to hit the ground running using the data from this prep next year, and will do a normal length 15-16 week prep, versus the 25 weeks or so I’ve been cutting currently. That will make it much easier to get to the truly “shredded” level that I want. Hopefully that’ll also allow me to avoid so much LISS.
Just to share my inner thoughts a bit, I have to be sure to take pics and be as objective as I can be. I do a little posing each morning right out of bed, just the mandatories, and my wife’s opinion is invaluable here as she looks at me every morning and knows I need her brutally honest opinion. Despite my progress, I still feel like I’m light years away from where I want to be. I do know the peak week depletion, carb load, and more importantly the tan will really change the way I look. Last show, 5 weeks ago, I was shocked at my physique once I put the tan on. As I’m significantly better conditioned now, I’m sure the effect will be more drastic. None-the-less, I do wonder if any competitor ever feels “ready.” If you would have showed me my current pics a year ago, I’d be bouncing off the walls with excitement. Now, so close to show time, it’s hard to step back sometimes and celebrate my progress, rather than only seeing weak points. At least for now I’ve had some good progress recently and am feeling more confident about the package I will bring in a few weeks.
I’ve learned SO MUCH during this contest season, I’ve been prepping/dieting since January 1 and it’s been a hell of a journey. I know I’m really going to enjoy the coming off season. By enjoy I don’t mean pig out and say “it’s ok, I’m bulking bro!” 10 times a day. I mean I’m going to reverse diet smartly, train smarter and harder, and slowly put on some nice LBM for next contest season. I’ve learned a TON about eating and how my body responds to different caloric and macronutrient breakdowns. Right now I’m at the point where I do cardio for 75-90 minutes a day, and a 2,000 calorie day seems like a feast. So, when I get back to maintenance and eventually a surplus (between 2,600-3,000 for me) it’ll really going to be fun to eat those calories, go back to a 5 day split and lay off the cardio for a while.
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