Bodybuilding Classic Physique Division Offseason log
You know you who it is already. Can't recall my old password or even what email I used so here we are. I promised I'd start logging if legend n1h did. So that's why I'm logging.
Short term goal:
Successfully formulate a relatively optimized and easy to adhere to offseason diet model. In terms of food selection, I am more or less following Chris Tuttle's recommendations. Our very own BGP has been getting some free diet stuff from Chris since he has a full client load but will send a handful of emails to people for free if you ask nicely and want help. If you don't know who that is, go on youtube/instagram and see the man's work.
Remain injury free, which is easy with my new exercise selection which loco would describe as "leg press and lat pulldown 4 lyfe"
Adjust to a more strictly bodybuilding programming style as opposed to a "powerbuilding" style.
Here is the medium term goal:
2024 summer on stage in classic physique division at a level that would be competitive for winning a pro card. Winning the card itself is immaterial for the medium term, it'll happen when it happens and I will be patient.
Possible obstacles to this goal are gym closers due to continued zero covid policy, possibly moving countries and being unable to focus on prep in the interim, or international political disaster. All of which are legitimate risks.
Ostensibly we will start competition prep late winter 2024 and do a very long slow 20-24 week prep where I never need to bring carbs lower than 200g/day.
Long term goal:
Compete in one professional level show in the classic physique divison in the next 10 years. Don't really give a **** about placings.
Natty: No. Test, deca, mk677, humalog, cjc with 1295 with DAC, berberine (although the last one is both a PED and a general health supplement). Low doses. high dose AAS are massively overrated for hypertrophy, the real magic is the insulin and gh (or gh secretagogues in my case). less than 1g of injectables with PEDs that work on the IGF pathway is much better than 3g of injectables, for example. I'd advise anyone who wants to go down the PED route to incorpoate gh or gh secretagogue peptides along with insulin while they are still taking 1cc of test per week before you ever add any other AAS or increase test dose. You can keep your AAS doses much lower if you actually address this very critical muscle building pathway rather than solely relying on AAS, which are harsh... man...
No prep drugs or harsh AAS until the aforementioned 2024 late winter date.
Diet: High carbohydrates with carbohydrate cycling (2 high days the day before my 2 leg days, 1 low day on the day off, 4 medium days per week offseason), moderate protein around 1.125g/lb of bw, low to moderate fats. I tried a high fat Palbumo approach in both offseason and precontest this academic year. It was a ****ing disaster; this is a terrible way to diet for bodybuilding. Although if somebody is not trying to look lean/dry/hard on stage and maintain athletic performance in the gym, it'd be a great diet to follow because antecdotally it can lead to very high compliance for some individuals because it just destroys so much of your physiological cravings and lowers appetite considerably. Somebody like the apple-pied obese woman who's username I don't even remember might do well on this because she could probably eat 80/20 ground beef bunless bacon cheeseburgers twice a day for an emotional high, not feel hungry the rest of the day, and have only consumed like 1800~ calories daily.
More detailed post with training program and food log to follow. I'm a busy man.
Gonna keep at 3x/wk for minimum 1-3 more weeks. I'm not ready to give it up just yet and go to 4 days. I'll simplify and do only chest+tri+shoulder, ham+glute+quad, and back+bi. No intensifiers, no myo reppin. Just hit 2 exercises 4 sets for tris and delts (supersetted in the interest of time), 2 exercises 4 sets each for biceps.
If you only train a muscle in a recovered state on PEDs you're probably gonna set prs every single session even in a calorie deficit.
10 more weeks of dieting. Reverse out and start coming back up when this semester ends, January 18. Maybe have a full 2-3 days of cheating for xmas break.
Less is more brother, I can see you blowing up on this concept! Whats your bf%%% at atm?
Hard to say. I'm 3 weeks into dieting so I'm in that "flat but fat" stage. Pics probably make me look worse than I am because I am glycogen depleted and don't have muscle pressing against the skin, but haven't lost that much bodyfat yet. Could be anywhere from 13 to 17.
Overhaul to back/pull training. No longer focusing workouts around chins
NG pulldowns SS with Pullovers: 70kgx 16, 10, 8// ??? 3 sets failure
T-bar row machine: 2px12, 1.5px10, 8 Barbells were all in use
Machine rows: 3 sets failure
tiktok influencer rows: 3 sets failure
Single arm pulldowns: 3 sets failure
Ez curls: 25kgx20, 3 more sets failure
dual cable curls: 6.75kgx25, 3 more sets failure
Next time same thing but will do underhand rows and probably drop either single arm pulldowns or tik tok rows.
Pullups are kind of like upper body pulling squats. Great for developing all the pulling muscles at once and for core strength. Not good when you're trying to correct specific aesthetic imbalances. Also a fairly high fatigue exercise with a lot of connective tissue stress. Also hard on cardio making the rest of the workout just a bit worse. They have a role, but they're getting benched for now.
Man, all that **** about quitting competitive bodybuilding is stupid and gay. I was burnt out and I feel like I'm finally coming out of it. I'm gonna keep competing until I literally can't like late 60s early 70s. I can keep going with this near indefinitely. I plan to get stage lean at least once a year and get on stage at least once every 2-3 years. 3-4x/wk is more than enough training and I would be prepping my meals and eating like a bodybuilder even if I never lifted weights because I feel really good eating this way.
Bodybuilding is not all or nothing. I'm not going to become an autistic weirdo without other interests or sacrifice career/relationships/health. I don't want to go allin on this and try to turn pro asap and win shows or anything; take it slow and enjoy that this is part of my identity and interests, but not an all consuming thing I sacrifice other things for. Lil'bitch cycles can still take you very far if you just put in that many years of consistent training and eating.
3x/wk until I finish this phase of the cut (jan 18) and possibly continue with 3x/wk even as I go into prep for my next contest.
Watching westside vs the world documentary on youtube weirdly re-invigorated me. These guys are autistic weirdos who put everything into pling, burn out, and become obese gross barely fkable old guys with tons of health problems obsessed with something most normal people (especially fertile aged attractive women) don't understand or care about remotely.n They can't do this until old age and enjoy fitness for life because of this turbo allin "I am a powerlifter and that is my entire identity I must be hardcore, train hard, and fk dudes in the ass" mindset. These are deeply self hating masochists. I do what I do out of self love, not self hate.
Bodybuilding is not that way. Gotta take things very slowly with the AAS, GH, food, etc, but giving 50% for 10 years is gonna produce a much better bodybuilding than giving 100% for 5 years. Unlike PL, what determines your success in bb largely overlaps with overall health and aesthetics anyway. Quit stressing out about it and just enjoy the process for many decades to come.
I mean I actually really enjoyed the movie. Louie was a very good man, even if misinformed. I would have loved to see what he could have done as a coach and surrogate dad to hundreds of lost midwestern lower class white guys if pling ahdn't been corrupted by equipment and monolifts or if he'd found oly lifting or mma or something.
They can't do this until old age and enjoy fitness for life because of this turbo allin "I am a powerlifter and that is my entire identity I must be hardcore, train hard, and fk dudes in the ass" mindset. These are deeply self hating masochists.
Wait, what?
Re pull ups from a few posts earlier, I agree, at least for me. It's a high fatigue exercise that's hard on the body, especially if you're north of 200 pounds. Weight assisted pull ups are much better. Lat pull downs are even better imo.
Wait, what?
Re pull ups from a few posts earlier, I agree, at least for me. It's a high fatigue exercise that's hard on the body, especially if you're north of 200 pounds. Weight assisted pull ups are much better. Lat pull downs are even better imo.
inside joke representing something thremp said in like 2010. but you get the idea if you watch the movie, very one-dimensional individuals.
Push
internal rotation mobs
Lock 3 (IT'S BACK, BOYOS)
low incline db: 40kgx13, 7 (?), 10 new movement pattern plus cutting, plus longer pauses. Not worried
flat db: 32.5kgx13, 8, 9
machine flies: 3 sets to failure
Cuff hip height lateral raises: 4 sets failure
db prone raises: 5kgx4 sets failure
straight pushdowns: 28.75kgx23, 3 more sets failure
db skullcrusher: 7.5kgx14, 3 more sets failure
Session is a bit longer, but I think that's allowed if we're going 3x/wk. If I add a fourth I think we just don't train triceps at all this day and move them to an arm day.
I feel really good overall with this minimalistic beginner hypertophy program split and barebones approach to using PEDs with just test and growth hormone. The diet? very ****ing barebones, 2 meals of steak and potato, 3rd meal of cream of rice or greek yogurt, 4th meal of oats. Can sub one of meal 3 and four with more steak and potatoes. Green beans or broccolini with the steak and potato meals. Flank steak will go out and be replaced by chicken as my fat loss stalls. I also eat a green apple, a banana, or frozen blueberries at each meal.
I have expressed on 2p2 that I wish I could go back to my oly training days, start steroids, and do super simple minimalistic 3x/wk training of just sn/cj/bs/fs with basically submax 60%-70% singles mostly and going heavier about once a month on sn/cj with maybe some c+2j and sets of 3-6 for squats. Then maybe a db overhead press, curls, and pullups as my only upper body accessories to not look like a piece of ****.
It makes sense that I might take the same turbo minimalism ultra basic approach to bb and thusfar it seems to be working better than the fancypants stuff I did before.
Gonna raise the test up next week to blast doses but still stick with just test+gh only.
The feeling of going into the gym not feeling recovered and lifting without any real hope of PRs or seasonal bests just kinda sucks, even if many of those sessions are still productive.
inside joke representing something thremp said in like 2010. but you get the idea if you watch the movie, very one-dimensional individuals.
I remember a Dave Tate piece from 15+ years ago, where he talked about pounding pizzas drowned in olive oil to up the calorie content. Some truly crazy ****.
A PL-er acquientance of mine who owned the gym I used to train at back in the day was a super heavy weight. Usually cruising at around 300-340 lbs. Surprisingly he now (at age around 50) has a host of health issues and struggles to reverse a lifetime of bad habits wrt diet. Truly shocking.
On another note I think you've altered course on programming, career and lifestyle choices for some time now. I've refrained from commenting earlier. I guess this is a bit natural for someone with ADHD (I'm pretty clueless about this, which might show) - is it related to feeling burnt out as well? In either case I can understand wavering, but seems a bit excessive even for you.
On a slightly related note to your revelation about decreased volume, the Browegian who won the decathlon this summer in the olympics revealed that he only lifts twice a week, and even less when the competitive season approaches. This is different from what most of his competitors do, who favor a more volume-centric approach.
Still maxes at 160 kgs on bench @81 kgs (he'll be filming shortly to show up the haters). Obviously lol genetics and all, but I'm a belieber.
I remember a Dave Tate piece from 15+ years ago, where he talked about pounding pizzas drowned in olive oil to up the calorie content. Some truly crazy ****.
A PL-er acquientance of mine who owned the gym I used to train at back in the day was a super heavy weight. Usually cruising at around 300-340 lbs. Surprisingly he now (at age around 50) has a host of health issues and struggles to reverse a lifetime of bad habits wrt diet. Truly shocking.
On another note I think you've altered course on pro
100% possible. My dad most likely had it. It'd also explain why I suddenly feel much better and very focused when I start taking clenbuterol (strong stimulant). On the other hand, I can often be hyperfocused on an individual "boring" task for hours without any distraction or deviation even without stimulants. It doesn't matter, I seem to have found something that works well with regard to all 3, even if I was all over the place getting there.
"Are you saying I should self medicate with adderall bro? great idea!"
I remember the Dave Tate article about eating during his westside days. Truly disgusting and unhealthy stuff. Same with Rip. It seems modern powerlifting has discarded some of the gross things from when we were first getting into gym culture; a lot of them meal prep just like they were bodybuilders. Most of the top guys other than SHWs walk around almost as lean as offseason bodybuilders, are way more jacked, way healthier, and way more intelligently using PEDs. The old approach was "eat everything, inject everything, don't use any prophylactic health supplementation for blood sugar, blood pressure, liver, or heart health and just maximize your total because that's all that matters in life because you are a powerlifter and that is your identity now"
Legs
Leg extensions: 33kgx18, 26kgx15, 15
ham curls: 39kgx22, 17, 13+f
Paused toes elevated SLDLs: 100kgx15, 12, 10
Leg press: 3ppsx26, 13 quit 3rd set had already been in the gym for 65 minutes
I might drop down leg press and sldl to 2 sets each, raise leg extensions and ham curls 1 set each. I do much higher reps than most people, so my 2 sets is a lot more work than somebody doing 10s on leg press.
Very cool discussion about why bulking possibly isn't real.
Another banger. I had a big mega-cheat yesterday and went a bit higher on cals/carb pre workout than I probably should have. tomorrow? another ****ing managed cheat as I visit hk. But steps will be higher and I won't be going balls out like I did Thursday. Back to normal on Sunday.
Back+biceps
Neutral Grip Pulldowns: 70kgx20,13,10
underhand rows: 70kgx11, 9, 8
plate loaded low rows: 90kgx12, 8, 7
plate loaded hammer rows: 100kgx11, 9, 8
All movements paused
EZ curls: 25kgx23, 13, 9
dual facing away cable curls: 8.75kgx12, 6.25kgx11, 8
preacher curl machine: 2 sets.
Decided to drop the FPSy pulldown+pullover superset. I could put 2 sets of pullovers after the last back movement to give my biceps some time to recover more before I start biceps. This was my shortest session clocking in at around 62 minutes.
I don't like the preacher curls. EZ curl+cable curl on both sides with single arm handle facing away but not a huge stretch baysian curl seem to be my best bicep movements for recruiting the peak.
Feels really good. i don't want to go to 4 days a week. If many people can get 300 sinclair score olytard training 2x/wk, stan efferding can set ATR raw total in 275lb class on 2x/wk, a woman can win the brolympics on 3x/wk, and many open bbers have won pro shows/olympias on 4x/wk, why can't I turn pro in classic physique on 3?
Did about 2 hours of hiking and totalled aroun 16k steps throughout the day. JFC do I look like an absolute chad with the camera filter. I turn into ****ing buff version of prime Chico Lachowski wtf.
HK also has an outback steakhouse. I can make better steaks at home but it was still cool for a home comfort and the bread is obviously ace. Haven't eaten there in at least 15 years.
I'm holding right around 96. Visually leaning out while bw stays around the same. Didn't push very hard on the diet this week either and still had plenty of good food including pizza on Thursday.
Can't disagree with that.
One thing I've noticed over the years is that you really look very different from time to time. Like a completely different person. I'm sure I could find a few pics in this log, put them beside that one, and most would not think they were the same person. I guess we can blame the filter this time, but I've thought this even before.
Can't disagree with that.
One thing I've noticed over the years is that you really look very different from time to time. Like a completely different person. I'm sure I could find a few pics in this log, put them beside that one, and most would not think they were the same person. I guess we can blame the filter this time, but I've thought this even before.
Correct. Don't know if I've revealed much about it in here, but I've had a decent amount of work done over the past 3.5 years now. Had that girlfriend who was a cosmetic surgeon in late 2021/2022 and then found the less toxic and non misogynstic parts of the youtube blackpill/looksmaxxing (Qoves Studio, Macken Murphy, Nero Angelo) community and here we are "ascended". Even before that I was always kinda like that... completely changing styles/appearance/presentation to where people often had trouble recognizing me even with just 3-5 years between.
People are tired of me talking about the same things over and over again, understandably. You realize the science of how appearance impacts both dating and other parts of your life and you do something about it instead of complaining about women or people in general and getting all gay and misanthropic. I like people. I really like women especially. I want to conform to their preferences because I want them to be happy and then they do things that make me happy. Sometimes people can't understand or express what their preferences are and you need to go down an autistic rabbit hole to even understand those preferences. I don't think it needs to have any deeper meaning than that.
Did about 2 hours of hiking and totalled aroun 16k steps throughout the day. JFC do I look like an absolute chad with the camera filter. I turn into ****ing buff version of prime Chico Lachowski wtf.
HK also has an outback steakhouse. I can make better steaks at home but it was still cool for a home comfort and the bread is obviously ace. Haven't eaten there in at least 15 years.
I'm holding right around 96. Visually leaning out while bw stays around the same. Didn't push very hard on the diet
****ing stud handsome af and hella buff bro keep up the good work
I remember a Dave Tate piece from 15+ years ago, where he talked about pounding pizzas drowned in olive oil to up the calorie content. Some truly crazy ****.
A PL-er acquientance of mine who owned the gym I used to train at back in the day was a super heavy weight. Usually cruising at around 300-340 lbs. Surprisingly he now (at age around 50) has a host of health issues and struggles to reverse a lifetime of bad habits wrt diet. Truly shocking.
On another note I think you've altered course on pro
Was this from: 'Eating through the sticking points', by Matt Reynolds, 10/25/2012 ?
Damn, the man is truly maxxing out multiple variables. Incredible stuff.
would/10 no ****
thanks fellas, I'm putting a lot more effort into this and its showing. If this or any other relationship goes anywhere, I don't plan to "let myself go" obviously. Next offseason/rebound phase will be a lot less calories than this one was and staying a lot leaner throughout the year both for vanity and for health.
Push workout was rough
Incline db: 40kgx11, 9, 7
flat db: 30kgx14, 10, 9
machine flies: 40kgx12, 9, 7
cuff side raises: 4 sets failure
db prone raises: 4 sets failure
Pushdowns: 28.75kgx25, 3 more sets failure
skullcrushers: 7.5kgx14, 3 more sets failure
Getting slaughtered because of bodyweight loss and having been down in cruise dose for a while. but the bodyweight loss is the bigger factor in numbers getting wrecked on pressing. Worse leverages and all that. Numbers on other muscle groups still going great.
I'll start upping da dose back up soonish.
it's funny, a few posts earlier you said you were fat
i actually wrote a long retort saying you were too hard on yourself - that someone like me, who is actually carrying a little too much excess fat on themselves (thread would def call me fat - but i would agree because it's correct) but i'm still easily top 5% shape of all the men at the card table
i didn't post it because it felt kind of cringe to write
but anyway, i think you're crushing it and too hard on yourself, i realize that being hard on yourself is essential to get those results though
