commando95
New member
(show day)
(week 2 of prep for comparison)
24 y.o. 5'10"
Starting Stats:
1/1/2019
194 lbs 14% BF (BIA)
End Stats:
4/13/2019 (14 weeks)
167 lbs 7% BF (BIA)
As the title implies, I competed in the OCB Uprising 2019 in Syracuse, NY this past weekend. I competed in the classic physique division and walked away with 2nd place. This was a learning experience for me all around as the prep was far from ideal, and my results less than expected.
Throughout this prep I coached myself, as I had for my previous show. I truly think this was a mistake, as the stress of the abbreviated prep on top of graduate school, working two jobs, running my coaching business, and married life quickly accumulated to a very stressful and psychologically taxing period of time. I found myself rationalizing refeeds and cheat meals as my mental fortitude suffered and mood swings amplified. An objective eye on my progress would have gone a long way to keep me on track, potentially with enough of an impact to improve my conditioning to the point of a first place finish and resultant pro card.
For training I followed my usual Upper/Lower PPL split with a double progression on my main compound lifts, daily undulating periodization, and a combination of dropsets, back off sets, and cluster sets periodized throughout the prep to manage fatigue while maintaining an appropriate training volume/intensity. My Upper and Lower days have a heavy barbell emphasis and are the lower rep/higher intensity of my training days, with PPL taking a lower intensity/higher rep pump style workout with more dumbbell and cable work. Nothing fancy here as nothing fancy is needed for dependable progress. The only alterations made were volume fluctuations to autoregulate fatigue and ongoing adjustments to manage chronic low back pain.
Cardio was LISS on the treadmill with tracking of total calories per week instead of a time or mileage variable. I prefer to get the majority of my deficit from nutrition due to time constraints, so cardio was minimal, ranging from 3x150cal sessions to 5x250cal sessions throughout prep.
Nutrition, for anyone that has followed my prep this is where the controversy has always been. For this prep, due to the abbreviated nature, I utilized Martin Macdonald's "Agressive Dieting" ideology where the deficit is the largest at the beginning of prep when fat stores are highest and then tapering down as the individual becomes leaner and therefore more susceptible to lean mass loss. This concept can be found in the following video:
"Martin MacDonald - Diet as Agressively as you can without losing muscle"
I covered the math behind the calculations in a previous post.
And as I know someone will ask, my macros were as follows:
Protein maintained at 190-200g throughout prep. Fats maintained from 45-60g throughout. Carbs making up the remainder. There were some weeks where I was as low as 1500 calories and taking in 35-50g of carbs a day. The mental fatigue on those days alone was enough to nearly break me. The majority of prep however, I was somewhere around 1750 calories a day. This seems low, but due to my student status I have a sedentary lifestyle and do not register as many steps or daily activity as many.
In summary, I believe I learned a lot from this prep. I certainly learned my limits. I learned the value of an objective eye during a contest prep. I successfully lost ~30lbs in 14 weeks and picked up a few tricks that will help me with my own clients in the future. However, I know I can do better and intend on doing so. Since the competition I have hired @fight4faith (Goob) as my closer to finish what I could not. Together we have our eyes on two OCB shows in November meaning we have another 28 weeks to turn me inside out and rebuild.
(week 2 of prep for comparison)
24 y.o. 5'10"
Starting Stats:
1/1/2019
194 lbs 14% BF (BIA)
End Stats:
4/13/2019 (14 weeks)
167 lbs 7% BF (BIA)
As the title implies, I competed in the OCB Uprising 2019 in Syracuse, NY this past weekend. I competed in the classic physique division and walked away with 2nd place. This was a learning experience for me all around as the prep was far from ideal, and my results less than expected.
Throughout this prep I coached myself, as I had for my previous show. I truly think this was a mistake, as the stress of the abbreviated prep on top of graduate school, working two jobs, running my coaching business, and married life quickly accumulated to a very stressful and psychologically taxing period of time. I found myself rationalizing refeeds and cheat meals as my mental fortitude suffered and mood swings amplified. An objective eye on my progress would have gone a long way to keep me on track, potentially with enough of an impact to improve my conditioning to the point of a first place finish and resultant pro card.
For training I followed my usual Upper/Lower PPL split with a double progression on my main compound lifts, daily undulating periodization, and a combination of dropsets, back off sets, and cluster sets periodized throughout the prep to manage fatigue while maintaining an appropriate training volume/intensity. My Upper and Lower days have a heavy barbell emphasis and are the lower rep/higher intensity of my training days, with PPL taking a lower intensity/higher rep pump style workout with more dumbbell and cable work. Nothing fancy here as nothing fancy is needed for dependable progress. The only alterations made were volume fluctuations to autoregulate fatigue and ongoing adjustments to manage chronic low back pain.
Cardio was LISS on the treadmill with tracking of total calories per week instead of a time or mileage variable. I prefer to get the majority of my deficit from nutrition due to time constraints, so cardio was minimal, ranging from 3x150cal sessions to 5x250cal sessions throughout prep.
Nutrition, for anyone that has followed my prep this is where the controversy has always been. For this prep, due to the abbreviated nature, I utilized Martin Macdonald's "Agressive Dieting" ideology where the deficit is the largest at the beginning of prep when fat stores are highest and then tapering down as the individual becomes leaner and therefore more susceptible to lean mass loss. This concept can be found in the following video:
"Martin MacDonald - Diet as Agressively as you can without losing muscle"
I covered the math behind the calculations in a previous post.
And as I know someone will ask, my macros were as follows:
Protein maintained at 190-200g throughout prep. Fats maintained from 45-60g throughout. Carbs making up the remainder. There were some weeks where I was as low as 1500 calories and taking in 35-50g of carbs a day. The mental fatigue on those days alone was enough to nearly break me. The majority of prep however, I was somewhere around 1750 calories a day. This seems low, but due to my student status I have a sedentary lifestyle and do not register as many steps or daily activity as many.
In summary, I believe I learned a lot from this prep. I certainly learned my limits. I learned the value of an objective eye during a contest prep. I successfully lost ~30lbs in 14 weeks and picked up a few tricks that will help me with my own clients in the future. However, I know I can do better and intend on doing so. Since the competition I have hired @fight4faith (Goob) as my closer to finish what I could not. Together we have our eyes on two OCB shows in November meaning we have another 28 weeks to turn me inside out and rebuild.