Wow, I am now officially coming to the close of week 24 of my contest prep. That is 6 months of dieting! At this point even though things are starting to get difficult I really have to stop, appreciate where I am and be proud of how far I have come so far (or smell the roses as Jeff Alberts would say). Things are getting close now as I'm just over 4 weeks out from my warm up show and I know that phenomenal things lie ahead for me.
Weekly Summary
As I mentioned this part of the prep is starting to get a bit hard. My energy is down most of the time when training. I've even felt a little light headed at times but the changes I'm seeing are spurring me on to keep pushing forward. My lower back was re-injured when I was performing a set of dumbbell shrugs last Friday. However it has gotten much better since then and I'm happy to say I'm now completely pain free. Of course I'm being cautious and intelligent with my training, am continuing to stretch and am doing some core strengthening to assist in preventing a recurrence. Dumbbell shrugs I'm replacing with smith machine shrugs for safety right now (especially in terms of picking up and putting down the heavy dumbbells). Just as a side note - isn't it funny how everyone bags out the smith machine but it's actually quite useful for numerous things and especially so when one is injured! Just because an exercise isn't a free weight squat, bench or deadlift it doesn't mean it cannot be very effective for hypertrophy and strength development.
TrainingTraining this week has been going well. The new program Berto has me running is plodding along nicely. I think this training style is super appropriate for me at the moment in terms of both injury prevention, putting volume on the lifts where it is required, removing it from where it isn't and not having me lift at intensities which may hamper my recovery which is limited. Each day I have a target for sets, reps and weight which I hit for three of my major lifts, so I just do that and then I move onto my accessory work. I'm not really trying to hit PR's at this time although I do sometimes hit them for accessory lifts at the moment as I don't have the other big lifts fatiguing me as much prior.
Food
Right now I'm more or less being forced into "clean eating". I do still manage a dessert each night but it's more a bit of sugary stuff with some low calorie topping most of the time as fats are limited. I really look forward to my refeed days at the moment which are every fourth day. Every time I feel like I'm about to collapse I have a refeed day to save me lol.
Progress
Progress has been exceptional this week. I've lost approximately 1 kg over a 7 day period and become significantly leaner all over. Things are looking promising. See photos below:
Future Plans
A good friend asked me this week what I intend to do after my shows are over. Whilst I am very, very focused on achieving in what I am doing in the here and now I still have a reasonably clear picture of what I will be doing in the future. I intend to have a short break after my last show and then head into a reverse diet leading into the offseason. I intend to remain under the guidance of Alberto Nunez of 3DMJ and work with him on (a) first and foremost recovery from the prep, (b) nutritional strategies and weight control, (c) improving relative weak points in my physique which I have a good idea of but which I will reassess post show and discuss with him, (d) work on getting stronger in particular lifts gradually for the purpose of hypertrophy (no you won't see me on the powerlifting platform any time soon since I am clearly capable of setting goals post show which don't involve straying from my area of passion - natural bodybuilding!). With that in mind looking forward I do not see this as my last ever contest season. I think I've probably got a few more in me and I have more improvements to make regardless of how high or low I place this year. However I most likely will not be competing in 2015 as I want to have some off season time for 2 - 3 years again both to make improvements and just to enjoy myself without specific time frames or pressure and allow more emphasis to be placed on other important areas of life. Anyhow I was quite happy when asked this question by my friend that I was immediately able to give a specific answer which tells me I do know where I am heading. I think that's a good thing ;) .
I hope you guys have enjoyed reading my ramblings again this week. If you want to contact me for coaching you can do so via any of the following methods:
Email - evansmuscleacademy@gmail.com
Website - www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon
Until next time. Soon....
- Evan
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