BodybyYake's Contest Prep Write-up!

[xrainny]

Finally found the time to create my writeup for my first contest prep, I learned so much along the way about dieting, training while dieting, and the mental difficulties of contest prep.

My prep was a total of 25 weeks long and I competed in the NPC Big Sky Championships in Missoula, MT.

I placed 1st in True novice physique class b and 3rd place in open class c.

Stage Photos Grey Shorts

Full Prep Progress Photos

My starting weight was around 228 lbs and my goal weight was around 195 lbs, with 25 weeks that puts me losing around 1.3 lbs/week.

24-18 weeks out:
2700 Calories - (200c/100f/240p) Roughly
No Cardio

18-14 weeks out:
2600 Calories - (200c/80f/240p) Roughly
15 Min Cardio 3x week

14-10 weeks out:
2500 Calories - (200c/70f/240p) Roughly
20 Min Cardio 4x week

10-8 weeks out:
2450 Calories- (200c/65f/240p) Roughly
30 Min Cardio 4x week

8-5 Weeks out:
2400 Calories
40 Min Cardio 4x Week

5-1 Week out:
2350 Calories
40 Min Cardio 6x Week

Typical Day of eating
On higher calorie days there was just more of these foods, mostly more fats. I did not track vegetables.

Cardio: 12% incline 3.1 MPH
OR Hiking with my dog in the mountains. (Usually 1 short hike and 1 long hike atleast once a weekend, sometimes 2)

Exercise Split (PPLx2) I trained by feel most of the time, I always made sure to incorporate lower rep - heavier days at least once every 2 weeks.

Supplements:

Creatine

Fish oil

Joint Supplement

Probiotic

Multivitamin

Psyillium Husk Fiber

Peak Week

In preparation for peak week I started keeping water (2 gallons) and sodium (6000mg) constant, and carried that all the way through the show.

Saturday - Monday: Normal low carb day

Tuesday - 450g Carb

Wednesday - 350g Carb

Thursday - 300g Carb

Friday - 400g Carb

Saturday Morning 200g Carb

I nailed my morning carb up but did not eat enough in between shows and looked very very flat in the finals.

Long Term Goals:

Get my pro card in the WNBF in bodybuilding by the end of 2020. I plan on taking the next year and a half to grow my weakpoints and enjoy my training.

One unique aspect of my prep

I suffer from a thyroid disease called graves disease and no longer have a functioning thyroid, therefore I rely on synthetic thyroid hormone to control my metabolism, but I do not abuse my medication, I take the same amount every single day.

If you guys have any questions please feel free to ask.

 

[trumpeter2]

@xrainny 9 weeks out - that's exactly how shredded I want to be year round.

 

[xrainny]

@trumpeter2 Definitely possible dude!

 

[paparazi257]

@trumpeter2 Haha right? I told myself I was gonna go back to ~10% after my last comp... nah just gonna stay around 8% lol

 

[paparazi257]

@xrainny Thanks for sharing! Detailed posts always appreciated

 

[lisette]

@xrainny I like how you slowly tapered cardio in throughout the weeks. How tall are you by chance? Awesome write up man and love the goal for 2020.

 

[xrainny]

@lisette I measured in at 6 foot even. I started to enjoy the cardio, but made for some long hours in the gym.

 

[lisette]

@xrainny Did you keep it at 3.1 and 12% and just increase the time for consistency? How long were your lifting sessions without cardio?

 

[xrainny]

@lisette Yea I kept it the same so that I knew I was increasing my caloric expenditure. My pull day would be a little over 2 hours including 10-15 minute warm-up and cardio. Push day and leg day were probably 15-20 minutes shorter.

 

[charlieb410]

@xrainny Great job! Did you also track your supplements in MFP? How would you take the Fiber Husk supplementation? Did you decrease your fiber intake as you got closer to show date?

 

[xrainny]

@charlieb410 I only tracked food in mfp. I just took a rounded teaspoon worth of psyllium husk every day. Not gonna lie I think I relied on the psyillium too much and didn't eat enough vegetables. I was really backed up in my digestive system for a few weeks before fixing it with more vegetables.

I ate my normal foods until Thursday before the show, and switched to low residue carbohydrates and cut our vegetables.

 

[charlieb410]

@xrainny Thanks for sharing... looking forward to see your continued progress!

 

[dwilk]

@xrainny Thanks for the write up! Great progress!

Do you mind telling us your 1RMs on the big lifts? Also, what is your height?

 

[xrainny]

@dwilk I don't test 1rms, and I lost some strength throughout prep. But prior to prep I was squatting 365x5, 455x5 deadlift. I only dumbbell bench now, but at one point I could flat bench 320 for 1.

 

[redwolf6]

@xrainny Damn dude. You look amazing, congrats.

Few questions though:

• How the hell do you do that much cardio and still manage to hit legs twice a week? I've been trying to implement a lot of cardio as well and am hesitant to do legs at the start of the week so that I can get through cardio easier. Aiming for Wed/Saturday for legs.
• Do you still do the same amount of cardio after your leg workout?
• For your routine frequency, I also am doing 2x a week. Would love to do 3x a week again but time constraints. Do you do the same routine when bulking? Also I really like what you're doing with your leg routine.
• You mentioned you do not track vegetables. I've heard Lyle Mcdonald saying the same. I believe his reasoning was that it's fewer cals by the time you get done digesting it all or something. Is that your reasons?

 

[xrainny]

@redwolf6 I did the same amount of cardio on leg day too. I think the body just gets used to whatever stresses you expose it to, like it may have been hard to do cardio and legs the first time, but after that it just got easier. It's not like the cardio was that intense either, I was able to mess around on my phone while walking at that pace. Cardio was the easy part compared to leg training towards the end of prep, I was so exhausted and legs were awful to train.

I like to keep my leg training really simple, I'm glad you like it.

I didn't track vegetables just for simplicity reason and they don't bring in that many calories. I ate mostly steamed broccoli and baked asparagus with only a tiny spray of oil.

 

[jackie789]

@xrainny Do you track offseason macros? If so, what are they? Also were you running PPL 6 days per week with the 7th day off or did you go 3 on, 1 off?

 

[xrainny]

@jackie789 I'm pretty lenient on offseason macros. Somewhere around 350-400 carb, 100 fat, 200-230 protein. And I rested one day after each 3 day split.

 

[storm6979]

@xrainny how tall are you?

Also congrats - you look incredible my dude

 

[xrainny]

@storm6979 I measured in at 6 foot even, and thank you!