Muscle Academy and Off Season Update

Muscle Academy Client Update

I'm going to start off this blog with a mention of client Byron Sakha who just last weekend competed at the ANB Asia Pacific Championships. Byron and I worked together this year for a fairly short contest prep of just 12 weeks duration which can be attributed to Byron's strictness in maintaining a relatively lean physique during his off season. Byron competes in fitness model, already has a developed physique and does some modelling and acting work so staying somewhat lean makes sense for him.

Byron competed across two divisions over two days of the long weekend. Sunday was fitness model and Monday was physique. Fitness model is a smaller, less developed, softer look and physique is a fuller, harder look closer to a bodybuilder. We were able to achieve both looks for Byron by manipulating variables in the peak week plan I set in place. Byron ended up walking away with two placings - a first place in fitness model and a bit of an unexpected fifth place in physique. Overall an excellent result so a big congratulations goes out to Byron and a thanks from me for all his hard work this contest season.

Meanwhile other Muscle Academy competitors are busy getting ready for season B 2015 shows and I'm glad to say all are making steady progress. Keep it up guys and girls!

 

Byron mid way through peak week

Byron killing it on stage at the ANB Asia Pacific Championships
 

Off Season Update

I think this would be a good time to go over where I am with my off season or improvement season. All has been going well. I am getting progressively stronger and making some steady visual improvements to my physique. I have been pretty on point with everything most of the time in regards to both nutrition and training. I'm still working with Alberto Nunez from 3DMJ which I find to be beneficial. Usually I will just coach myself completely during the off season but I think we have a good working relationship whereby I have a lot of input and feedback which goes into the process of running a good plan for my progression and I think that is important.

Nutrition

We have slowly built my calories up to approximately 4000 per day from approximately 3200 per day post contest season. We've never made less than a 200 calorie jump during the process (no super slow reverse diet required ;) ). The path has been fairly smooth. At one point on 3800 calories I was gaining seemingly fast so we dropped it back down to 3600 for a little while. A few months later and I am maintaining or gaining very slowly on 4000, which goes to show that it can take a little while for metabolic rate to completely recover after an extended contest prep.

Right now I'm not aiming for strict macronutrient targets. For the most part I am for a protein target of 250 - 300 grams/day and then I fill the remaining calories with carbs and fat. For the most part I attempt to put a bigger emphasis on carbohydrate and hit around or above 500 grams of carbs. Favoring carbs tends to give me more energy and better pumps during my workouts too. So a day of macros for me might look something like 280 P, 500 C, 95 F.

I am happy with my progress so far. I have stayed relatively lean (emphasis on relatively) compared with previous off seasons whilst simultaneously increasing strength beyond previous levels. So that is a win win.

My weight progress during contest prep and off season

Training

Right now we have gone back to a twice per week split, training over 6 days. The emphasis is more on volume and intensity than on frequency at the moment (although twice/week isn't bad). I have kept training my back 3 times per week and my hamstrings 4 times per week (weak points) and because my shoulders are strong points they get by with the majority of work falling on one day and a small amount of accessory work interspersed throughout the week, tagged onto other workouts.

I have added small amount of volume back in for arms because for me those exercises don't affect my recovery much. However the little bit extra does make a difference to the appearance of my arms. Even doing minimal work, it's not like they atrophy much if at all but they might be a 9/10 and when I do a little extra they are a 10/10 if that makes sense. So long as they don't eat into recovery or start taking away from time I could be spending training other muscle groups then I am happy.

We recently decided to re-run the same training block again as well just since I've been making such good strength gains on it. It makes sense to ride out the gains as long as possible. I have switched in certain exercises and switched out others just for a bit of variety but the basic structure is the same. I also have been encouraged to change exercises for some of the secondary work whenever I feel like it because that kind of stuff won't make a huge difference. Beyond this block we might introduce some more frequency into the programming again but nothing is set in stone at this point.

Progress photos from around a month ago

Evan's Off Season Tips
 

How to have a successful off season:

1. Set goals - One problem many competitors run into especially at the beginning of their off season after a contest season is they don't set goals. This often leads to them to be unsure of what to do next and can cause suboptimal planning or complete lack of planning. I think this is part of why many bodybuilders end up doing powerlifting in their off season because they haven't thought about the areas of their physique they want to improve and haven't created a sound plan to efficiently progress towards developing those areas.

Now, goals could be in regards to a variety of things but I think the best ones are strength goals and weight gain goals. Both are specific, measurable and relevant to physique development. They should be related to both the short and long term and they need to be achievable, realistic and have a time factor put in place to work towards. You might need to be flexible with the timing part because things don't always work out exactly at the rate we expect them to.
 

2. Have a sound approach to nutrition and training - these should be structured according to factors you can personally adhere to (sustainability) and they should prioritise the things that are more important and will get you better results over things that are less important.

3. Be consistent - the more you can get into a routine and get the important things done consistently the better the progress you will make. This doesn't mean being obsessive, it just means ideally practice consistency of priority areas.

4. Be flexible - the other side to being consistent is being flexible. Remember that this is not contest prep and things do not have to be strict and perfect all the time. Enjoying life, making way for other areas and people is important too. One off day out of many won't significantly hurt your progress.

5. Monitor progress - I suggest using some means to monitor your progress (ideally objective measures). Examples are records of weight and girths, tracking macros/calories, training diaries. Subjective measures might include things like the mirror and photographs (also valuable tools). You could take a YOLO approach and track nothing during your off season but the problem is you are somewhat leaving things to chance because if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

6. Be progressive - the off season is about making improvements and so a mind set which focuses on progress is necessary. This is where your goals and monitoring progress come together. If you have an idea of your ideal rate of gain, if you are doing weigh ins then you will know whether or not you are on track. Aiming to be progressive you can then make adjustments to your nutrition to make progress more likely. The same goes for training. If you have a specific plan for progression and you are recording your training data in a diary or spreadsheet then you will know exactly when it is appropriate to progress.

7. Improvement season - I keep calling it the off season but a better phrase when it comes to bodybuilding is really "improvement season". This is the time we make improvements for the next time you compete. Some competitors will say "but I need time off, I need a mental break" and I do understand that. What I would say to that is the off season shouldn't be the same as contest prep in regards to strictness. It is a time to make other areas of your life important priorities. But it also isn't an all or nothing thing. It's not like off season means "time to take it easy and have a break". You are kidding yourself if you think you are going to wait until contest prep and suddenly start training hard and make improvements while you are dieting. It doesn't work that way. The off season is a time to progress and progress won't occur if you aren't proactive in seeking it out and working for it. However, like I mentioned in point 2 it is important to use a sound and sustainable approach, something that you can adhere to. An average plan executed with consistency is better than a perfect plan executed half assed.
 

Summary:

- set goals

- have a sound approach to training and nutrition

- be consistent

- be flexible

- monitor progress

- be progressive

- improvement season not off season

That's it for this week. Remember you can get in touch with me or follow me via the following avenues. Coaching inquiries are best directed directly to email.

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan