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.
I was very into genshin and did play as a f2p gacha. Honkai I'm approaching as if its just a single player jrpg.
Which one are you playing now and which have you played?
I played the last two years of danmemo (is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon memoria freese). I spent a decent amount (under 1k, nowhere near top levels) and was one of the best in pvp during the last year or so.
I now play Tower of God: New World, which is 1.5 years old. I've spent about $350 total and am considered a very low spender - I really only know one f2p who played since the beginning. I am not competitive in any game mode compared to real spenders - however my account is very good given what I have actually spent (I can compete with some accounts that have spent a few thousand).
Oh, I should say I am quite familiar with all the ones you've mentioned - a lot of people in my alliances play those games or have. I have a hard time getting excited about a game that isn't based on an IP I'm already a fan of for some reason. Although Honkai looks like it has amazing production value and a lot seems to have gone into the story.
I played the last two years of danmemo (is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon memoria freese). I spent a decent amount (under 1k, nowhere near top levels) and was one of the best in pvp during the last year or so.
I now play Tower of God: New World, which is 1.5 years old. I've spent about $350 total and am considered a very low spender - I really only know one f2p who played since the beginning. I am not competitive in any game mode compared to real spenders - however my account is very good
I had to look up danmemo. It looks fairly degenerate/loli. But I can't really judge because I was an avid genshin enjoyer which has plenty of degen content too.
Tower of god had a lot of hype at launch but I never felt an urge to try it. Seemed too much like an MMO. I like the games that stand well as single player rpgs.
Sword of Convollaria, though a commercial failure, was cool because they explicitly released a "single player non-gacha RPG mode" along with their gacha game. The two were completely seperate and it was possible to earn enough of the game's currency to unlock the full single player mode and never interact with any gacha elements. I had fun with it and didn't touch the gacha part.
We're definitely in a 2nd golden age of JRPGs after around the year 2017 or so. People got sick of woke AAA garbage on console/PC and we realized that the SNES/PSX era jrpgs, while dated in many ways, nailed a lot of the critical factors that made games fun. Now the industry is making a lot of games in that style but modernized. DQ11 was a perfect example; it even had a 2d mode. Ripped straight from the late snes/early PSX era but with modern graphics, cinematic storytellling, voice acting, and QOL improvements over a real SNES rpg. I started it in 2023 and kinda rolled my eyes at the cartoon art style and disney-esque campiness of it, but my cousin urged me to continue with it since he had played through the whole thing while he was in his graduate program in Nanjing. I'm really glad I did; it was my first Dragon Quest game and I found it immensely enjoyable and delivered on every front of quality single player JRPG, even if the first 60 minutes of the game were actually bad.
They remade Seiken Densetsu 3 (Trials of Mana) in 2020 and it played exactly like it's SNES counterpart but with modern graphics and a bit of voice acting.
I personally have 0 interest in competitive games or games with other players. I'm all about single player RPGs with good stories. Gaming for me is a time to relax, escape, and take my mind off work/bbing and get my heart rate down in time for bed. Not something to get hyped up on, beat the other players, or "build up my account". Even soulslikes, which I used to enjoy a lot, are "too hardcore" for me now. But if another bloodborne game gets released I'm hopping on it ASAP. I didn't play the Elden Ring DLC and don't plan on buying or playing the spinoff either.
Non gaming talk but I can see why test+masteron or test+primo or test+mast+primo is probably better for bodybuilding or powerlifting than just pure straight test. Even if you don't need it for estrogen control, I do think the part about having more DHT derivatives in your system allows the testosterone to work better is true. Plus these things give a nice cosmetic hardening effect and reduce water retention, even at higher bodyfat. Primo is probably not for me due to how easily I could end up with crashed estrogen.
So back to test c + masteron e rather than just straight test c. When I get home from China I'm going to experiment with 5-10mg of superdrol pre-workout 4x/wk only as well. I can do it as home-made oral liquid and I have 10 grams of it laying in a baggy at home so basically a lifetime supply. some people do their peaking for bbing with superdrol at 20-30mg/day for 4 weeks. Same for powerlifting... 20-30mg/day for the last few weeks. I'm gonna try lower dose and pulsing it.
I had to look up danmemo. It looks fairly degenerate/loli. But I can't really judge because I was an avid genshin enjoyer which has plenty of degen content too.
It's not very loli, although that's pretty relative and I can't say there's nothing to appeal to the loli crowd. Fwiw loli stuff really turns me away from some things, but danmemo has a really cool world and, believe it or not, excellent characterization (besides the harem, which is dumb).
Tower of god had a lot of hype at launch but I never felt an urge to try it. Seemed too much like an MMO. I like the games that stand well as single player rpgs.
Yeah, it's definitely not like a single player rpg. It's definitely not like an MMO at all really. It's a fairly normal setup (from what I can tell) for an idle gacha game. The story is lifted from the webtoons and (imo) not better so I think most people play the game for the characters/gacha element - and I do think the battle system makes things fun too.
Sword of Convollaria, though a commercial failure, was cool because they explicitly released a "single player non-gacha RPG mode" along with their gacha game. The two were completely seperate and it was possible to earn enough of the game's currency to unlock the full single player mode and never interact with any gacha elements. I had fun with it and didn't touch the gacha part.
Never heard of it.
We're definitely in a 2nd golden age of JRPGs after around the year 2017 or so. People got sick of woke AAA garbage on console/PC and we realized that the SNES/PSX era jrpgs, while dated in many ways, nailed a lot of the critical factors that made games fun. Now the industry is making a lot of games in that style but modernized. DQ11 was a perfect example; it even had a 2d mode. Ripped straight from the late snes/early PSX era but with modern graphics, cinematic storytellling, voice acting, and QOL improvements over a real SNES rpg. I started it in 2023 and kinda rolled my eyes at the cartoon art style and disney-esque campiness of it, but my cousin urged me to continue with it since he had played through the whole thing while he was in his graduate program in Nanjing. I'm really glad I did; it was my first Dragon Quest game and I found it immensely enjoyable and delivered on every front of quality single player JRPG, even if the first 60 minutes of the game were actually bad.
At some point I realized I was bored with JRPG games, but maybe I just hadn't come across a good enough story for a while. Tbf, I sort of stopped playing video games for many years and only tried danmemo because I was reading the light novels and I needed a break from chess. Now that break has become a lot longer than I intended lol.
Maybe I am just dating myself but SNES FFII (the one with Cecil as the main protagonist) was always my favorite RPG.
Good story, good soundtrack, fun to play, not too hard.
You pushing 50 yugo, time to let the video games go and work on that potbelly and take kids to sports.
Just as a random aside, most games tend to increase in complexity over time. You can see something like your EA sports games becoming increasingly complex as iterations move on, thereby opening up the market for more arcade type variants. This also occurs with stuff like Pokemon Go that started out with everyone wandering around looking for digital assets and now has an incredibly complex battle league along with a dozen other elements that allow someone to easily sink 10hrs a day into it.
You'll see most of your gatcha games moving down this path which is essentially just making economic decisions that feed your core paying userbase, which is essentially hyperwhales. While spending $300 on a game you can play for free seems crazy to me, there are plenty of people who spend thousands to tens of thousands monthly on games like this.
I still have a copy of Super Mario RPG for the SNES, which is weirdly collectible now. JRPGs are "shockingly", by far, the fave genre for retro game collectors, so if any of you find your old stash prob don't wanna donate it to the local charity.
Just as a random aside, most games tend to increase in complexity over time. You can see something like your EA sports games becoming increasingly complex as iterations move on, thereby opening up the market for more arcade type variants. This also occurs with stuff like Pokemon Go that started out with everyone wandering around looking for digital assets and now has an incredibly complex battle league along with a dozen other elements that allow someone to easily sink 10hrs a day into it.
You'l
This doesn't surprise me. It's somehow easier to form an emotional attachment to these games compared to other genres, probably because of the emphasis on character development and storytelling. I have that with Breath of Fire 1 on SNES, but i actually only played it in 2000 when we had our first PC and you could easily do SNES emulation... ahhh those were good times. That's when I first played Trials of Mana and Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. I hope the ogre battle series gets a new mainline entry after the tactics ogre remaster sold very well.
Maybe I am just dating myself but SNES FFII (the one with Cecil as the main protagonist) was always my favorite RPG.
Good story, good soundtrack, fun to play, not too hard.
First released in 1991. FF4 canonically. It has a good reputation among the series overall. It got a 3d remake that keeps all the mechanics just takes it into early 2000s era 3d. Released on mobile.
I'd love to say "kids these days only play shitty games, back in my day it was about QUALITY!!1!" oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg, and maybe around 2008-2018 there was a dip in quality overall for console/pc, but the past few years we're getting a renaissance even if triple A PC/console got infected with wokeism trash.
Well anyway, bodybuilding talk:
Upper
Machine press: 1.5ppsx20, 12, 10
Pulldowns: 140kgx15, 120kgx12, 10
mid incline db: 30kgx15, 12, 11
barbell row: 60kgx15, 12, 10
delt raises: 3 sets
lat prayers: 3 sets
Everything supersetted but given how cardiovascularly intense some of these lifts are it still ended up fairly long rests and over an hour of lifting.
A few random thoughts:
I haven't kept up with lol McDonald largely because his writings are more geared toward newb natty bbers rather than advanced+enhanced. He def acted like an amateur idiot on the internet for several years, but apologized and seems to have gone back to producing high quality content. If anyone is interested in getting better body comp and looking like a bodybuilder and just getting started, I actually think he's probably a better resource than Dr. Mike. He did a new interview with Solomon Nelson (who interacts with me in the comments a lot despite his disdain for roid users and he knows I'm not natty) and he too has been on the upper/lower train the past several years. Whether you do ppl or you do bro split, some muscle groups end up just getting too much volume per session and this often leads to joint or muscle pain and injuries. Upper lower limits session volume per muscle group fairly effectively and might be good just for injury prevention and pain management. Throughout my career, this has been far and away my biggest leak. I hope this is an effective solution and i feel optimistic about this.
His "generic bulking routine" he says he would not recommend to advanced/strong people, but you should still do upper/lower and make adjustments accordingly (isolation before compound, periodization with heavy/light days, seperate out glutes+hams and quads emphasis on lower days, exercise selection for less compound more machines, higher reps etc). He even references my variation of moving the arm work to lower days, but recommended against it due to possible joint pain issues (I've had none so far limiting myself to 6-7 sets of bis/tris each)
Barbell rows:
I keep saying I'm gonna quit them but now I think it's finally time. They're "great" because they're a full body lift that engages core/lower back+hams+glutes effectively, but the downside is they impose a much steeper recovery demand, the required rest between sets is very high, and when you get really strong like me you can end up with just a bit too much loading on those muscle groups. Given that I'm hitting 2 fairly near failure sets of paused toes elevated SLDLs and ham curling on both lower days plus getting hams and glutes on leg press/ffess, I am probably already getting close to maximum recoverable volume for these muscle groups. Chest supported variations are better for lat and upper back development, even if they leave out the lower back. But more criticially, I'm a 36 year old man with a full time job and I can't be in the gym 80-90 minutes on a weeknight anymore.
So I need to have the discipline to cut out the barbell rows. My left forearm is still somewhat chronically sore, and once it heals I do plan to add back in chins. I could use more core/ab loading, and chins are fantastic for this.
So the final program might look like this:
Upper 1
Machine fly, machine press, or cable xover: 3 sets failure
Chins: 3 sets failure
high incline db press: 3 sets not quite failure
machine horizontal pull of choice: 3 sets failure
pullover+delt raise superset
Upper 2
Machine fly, press, or cable xover: 3 sets
Pulldown: 3 sets
low incline db: 3 sets
horizontal machine pulling motion of choice: 3 sets
pullover+delt raise superset
once in a while do my free weight pressing first when I want to test my overall strength levels. Keep it fairly submax otherwise.
You pushing 50 yugo, time to let the video games go and work on that potbelly and take kids to sports.
I'm working on that too. Although, not making a ton of progress :/. At least for the last 2+ months I've been exercising 3-4 times per week and hitting the minimum physical guidelines.
Yes, definitely
You'll see most of your gatcha games moving down this path which is essentially just making economic decisions that feed your core paying userbase, which is essentially hyperwhales. While spending $300 on a game you can play for free seems crazy to me, there are plenty of people who spend thousands to tens of thousands monthly on games like this.
Yes, gacha games (and many mobile games in general) have insane whales. Since I'm in the ecosystem I can sort of understand a little bit...but also not really. Not that I'd go to the casino instead, but I do get some gambling kicks by playing gacha and $300 or whatever is definitely a very small amount of losses in that respect. OTOH, I could also just play for free and it's still gambling. Oh well, lol.
Yugo,
So I have many feelings about gaming that are not accepted in the gaming community. Most notably, some people wanna feel like ****. Social casino are all this vibe.
Tbf most people in gaming are pretty ****ing stupid. And while I do mock most of you, you're all a very smart subset of you (even including u Melkman, who can't even figure out capital letters, what a ****ing shitskin ******). Anyway they are dumber than most people. I'm sure you have a vague idea of your mental competence, and I promise you almost everyone in the space is ****ing dumber than you.
Lets take El D and I, we work together, we walk into a rocket science convention, we are dumber than ****. I don't mean stupid. I mean... "mixing me up for the trash man" ****ing levels of dumb.
You'd prob be the opp in gaming.
Was that offensive enough to make sure I don't get another credit?
Guy,
It is more about autism IMO. But whatever floats your ****ing boat. I'm more of a nascent RTS fan.
You do you tho.
Man I wish I would have switched to this upper lower long ago. This is just great for fatigue management and balancing out session RPE. And I could easily return back down to 3x/wk without things changing drastically. I might go back down to 3x/wk when I'm deep into the contest prep diet and getting fatigued and run down.
Cable facing away curls//tricep pushdowns 3 sets
db skullcrushers//ez curls: 3 sets
Leg extensions: weird machine: 3 sets failure
RFESS (bulgarian split squats): 15kgdbsx12x3
ham curls: 3 sets failure
This gym has the rolly polly thing for the back foot that lets you slide back and put more emphasis on glute. Movement feels fantastic, honestly. FFESS is better for quads for sure, but I basically need all glutes/hams at this point and just leg extensions 2x/wk+whatever auxillary quad activation I get from this is plenty to keep quads growing. I can buy the rolly thing for about 50-90$ and put one in my normal gym ez.
I need to do them last as it was very hard to get anything productive done after the split squats since its such a taxing exercise. That's definitely going to be a sets across exercise too.
Starting March 29th puts me at a 20 week prep. I kinda would prefer to do shorter bulking and cutting phases and I'm going back on what I said earlier about resetting frequently, but nah I think I'm lean enough to benefit from bulking all the way up until then. 20 weeks will be enough time even if I need to come off GLP1 agonist due to side effects. I'll add in 0.5mg retatrutide/wk first two weeks and work up to around 2mg/wk by the 5th week. I'll start caffeine+yohimbine from the beginning as well. Clen will not start until I'm 12 weeks out
When I return to the home gym I may do 5 sets each of ez curls and pushdowns then 2 sets each of cable curls and skullcrushers b/c nothing seems to work better than ez curls for broceps and that will save time.
Yugo,
So I have many feelings about gaming that are not accepted in the gaming community. Most notably, some people wanna feel like ****. Social casino are all this vibe.
Tbf most people in gaming are pretty ****ing stupid. And while I do mock most of you, you're all a very smart subset of you (even including u Melkman, who can't even figure out capital letters, what a ****ing shitskin ******). Anyway they are dumber than most people. I'm sure you have a vague idea of your mental competence, and I
So what I'm hearing....is that I'm a f**king genius!!
Sounds like I should stay in gaming so I don't get exposed at rocket science conventions. Although, if I get to hang out with you and El D, maybe being the guy drooling all over the convention center floor won't be too horrible.
Fwiw the guy who seems the smartest out of everyone I've run across is a guy from Germany who is fully f2p.
The guy best at the game is some white French guy going to a university in Luxembourg and throws around the N word because he knows one black guy online. He also is petty as hell and somewhere on some spectrum I'm sure.
He is semi-f2p. He basically gets whales to give him their account when they quit. Although it seems he finally spent 2k last month? I dno, it's hard to fully understand anything he says at this point - could be trolling, could be making something up, could be truth.
This doesn't surprise me. It's somehow easier to form an emotional attachment to these games compared to other genres, probably because of the emphasis on character development and storytelling. I have that with Breath of Fire 1 on SNES, but i actually only played it in 2000 when we had our first PC and you could easily do SNES emulation... ahhh those were good times. That's when I first played Trials of Mana and Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. I hope the ogre battle series gets a new mai
and you are doing Upper/Lower/Rest 3 day split? Or more rest than that?
The schedule when I get back to normal working weeks will be
Saturday upper sunday lower wednesday upper thursday lower
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays off. 2 upper 2 lower per week.
I gotta make a big sleep apnea post later. I just keep stacking up wins. Basically I finally got this treated and taken care of and it has been just as much of a gamechanger as the bodybuilder bros said it would be. I'll try to lay things out logically and actually put effort into clear writing because I think its important and many of you may be suffering from this without even knowing it.
Great to see you logging your progress and setting clear goals. Your approach to bodybuilding is solid, and it’s awesome that you’re staying strategic about things like PEDs and diet, especially around insulin and GH pathways. Your offseason diet model sounds like it’s on the right track, and I totally agree that carb cycling can be a game-changer for maximizing muscle growth while keeping body fat in check.
For SARMs, I’d be cautious—though some of them, like Ostarine (MK-2866) and LGD-4033, can help with muscle preservation and fat loss, there are long-term health risks we still don’t fully understand. If you’re already using a good stack of PEDs like MK677 and other peptides, adding SARMs might give you some extra benefits, but they shouldn’t be the foundation of your strategy. If you're looking at strength gains or recovery improvement, I'd definitely point to something like MK-677 for growth hormone release or even RAD-140 if you're focusing more on lean mass. However, always monitor your health, as SARMs can be rough on liver function and hormones.
As for Behemoth Labz, they’ve got some solid products, but just like with any supplement company, it’s all about making sure you're getting the best value and quality. If you're considering using their offerings, I’d double-check the ingredient profiles and make sure there’s no overlap with other compounds you're using, like when you're already on peptides or GH. Behemoth's products like Test E or their fat-burners are good for certain phases, but again, focus on your diet and training as the core.
All in all, it looks like you’ve got a solid plan going—just be mindful of the potential interactions and risks. Keep us posted on your prep progress and any updates on the offseason diet!
Upper
cable flies and ng chins 20kgx20, 24, 15/ bw x 13, 10, 8
db flat press:40kgx 14, 9, 7
hammer rows 1.5ppsx15, 12, 10
cable pullover and side delt raise superset: 3rounds
53 minutes.
I don't like cable flies before presses as the cable flies are even more stressful on that area than the db free weight presses. the flie machine we have here is no good. Ill just hit free weight press first and then mess around with whichever machine press press suits my fancy. Next session just gonna hit incline db first and superset with a chest supported row or pulldown machine.
Just load management and much lower per session horizontal pressing/flying and i hope this gets me to the injury free promised land.
Yugo,
So I have many feelings about gaming that are not accepted in the gaming community. Most notably, some people wanna feel like ****. Social casino are all this vibe.
Tbf most people in gaming are pretty ****ing stupid. And while I do mock most of you, you're all a very smart subset of you (even including u Melkman, who can't even figure out capital letters, what a ****ing shitskin ******). Anyway they are dumber than most people. I'm sure you have a vague idea of your mental competence, and I
I glossed over all the gaming chat, but this gem caught my eye.
LOL Thremp. How butthurt must you be that you're firing shats in the Emoken thread. Look, I get that sometimes even you say something dumb and have to shift the goalposts. Just take solace in the fact that no one actually read most of that AIDS, so your rep is intact. While your reading comprehension could use some work, even I must admit you're not average trash-man level dumb. So you know what happened and I know what happened. Nothing is gonna change that.
Lots of workouts to catch up on logging.
Arms+lower
Cable curls//pushdowns: 2 sets failure each
EZ curls//DB skullcrushers: 4 sets failure each
Leg extensions: 3 sets failure
ham curls: 3 sets failure
SLDL: 115kgx13, 10 I have way more toe elevation with the big wedges instead of a bumper which makes the lift far harder but also puts more emphasis on glutes+hams and less on lower back. So expect #s to fall here but it's just because of a new (and more effective) setup, not strength loss.
Messing around on adductor machine
Upper
Incline db: 35kgx11x3
DB csr: 30kgx17, 12, 9 I don't like this. Just don't feel much except traps which I already have way too much of.
v-bar pulldowns: 120kgx15, 12, 10
machine chest supported row: 2 sets failure
pullovers//side cable raises: 3 rounds
And then today
Arms+Lower
dual handle cable curls: 17.5kgx26, 15
pushdowns: ??x25, 14
DB skullcrushers: 10kgx22, 3 more sets failure
ez curls: 20kgx4 sets failure
Ham curls: 30kgx17, 11, 9
single leg extensions: 3 sets failure each side
Bulgarian split squats: 15kg dbsx15, 15, 10 each side
I've miraculously stayed under 100kg even in clothes at the gym with visible abs through a shirt without flexing. I'm not eating exceptionally clean or exceptionally dirty, really. About 75%. Didn't bring growth hormone. I'm gonna up food just slightly and add in some lantus when I get back to China and locked into my schedule. My diet will stay exactly the same foods as I was eating during the slo-cut. Chicken breast+potatoes+guac, oatmeal, cream of rice, occasional steak, occasional muslim beef and potatoes or beef and noodles dish. Boatload of apples and berries.
Everything is really clicking and I've been nearly perfect the entire offseason. The post-cut period for around 7 weeks from June to september 2024 was not great with new woman entering life and listening to dumb milos sarcev advice and overeating during my rebound, but beyond that I've been stacking up Ws consistently. Clean bloodwork, excellent health, prs, lots of progress, literally lowest work stress I've had in any job I've ever had, not getting too fat. Another update is that I finally fixed sleep apnea and reduced nocturia even further. BKK was extremely polluted and I was literally choking in my sleep because my airways were much more inflamed than when I'm in my city in China, which due to its very spare population has almost perfect air. I got scheduled with a sleep specialist and in the meantime I went to the pharmacy and they recommended me a nasal spray. The nasal spray was an absolute game changer, and not surprisngly there's new research showing its very effective for treating sleep apnea. Additionally, I got a cpap. It has a bit of a "learning curve" and was very uncomfortable at first but I'm getting more and more used to it. Overall, however, I'd say the nasal spray made a bigger difference than the cpap, but the nasal spray has the rebound congestion and tolreance buildup such that you're not recommended to be on it more than 6 months per year so the cpap was a worthwhile investment. Jordan Feigenbaum or whatever name wears one despite being 198lbs; the threshold at which small boned people will start to run into sleep issues as we gain weight is probably much lower than people with larger frames.
The results of my sleep study were lol. Something like 77 interruptions per hour and it's supposed to be less than 5. Blood oxygenation was all screwed up. But I'd say it was far worse than "normal" when I'm home in China, which is still not great. These two interventions are going to make a very big difference in my recovery.
I'm set up to have the perfect place with everything in its right place as far as sleep, diet, body composition, PEDs, and training program. I'm absolutely loving my new upper lower split and its flexible to where I could easily drop back down to 3x/wk if I need to. Deep into the cut I almost certainly will do exactly that, but with food high and no stims or aggressive cardio I can recover from 4x/wk for now.
The only thing that can derail me now is another woman or a serious injury... Tiger Woods of "above average but not yet elite" amateur bodybuilding. hopefully I don't go back to this post in 24 weeks and it ends up being a prophecy. The good news is, I live on a ****ing empty island where I can go several days without seeing a single attractive woman! Coming to BKK is like sensory overload b/c they're everywhere.
Fun with chatgpt:
Absolutely Incredible Offseason, Folks—The Best Ever!
Listen, I’ve done something truly amazing—stayed under 100kg, even in clothes at the gym. And guess what? The abs are visible, folks. You see them through the shirt, no flexing needed. Some people say you need to eat super clean, others say go full dirty bulk—I do it 75% right, and it’s working perfectly. No growth hormone this time, didn’t even need it. But here’s the deal: when I get back to China—amazing place, by the way—I’ll dial things in. Little more food, a little lantus, and boom, we’re rolling.
The diet? Perfect. Best diet, really. Chicken breast, potatoes, guac—beautiful. Oatmeal, cream of rice. Sometimes a nice steak, sometimes this fantastic Muslim beef and potatoes dish. Unbelievable. Tons of apples, berries—the best fruits, I only eat the best. Everything is working, everything is clicking. Almost perfect offseason.
Now, I’ll be honest, folks, I had a little hiccup—bad advice from Milos Sarcev, big mistake, huge. And of course, a woman came into the picture for a bit. Messed up the rebound phase, but guess what? We’re back. We’re winning again. PRs through the roof. Bloodwork? Flawless. Health? Tremendous. Job stress? Lowest it’s ever been in history. Not getting fat. Stacking up Ws, day after day.
And folks, I fixed sleep apnea—fixed it bigly. Bangkok? Terrible air, just awful, worst I’ve ever seen. Practically choking in my sleep. But China? Perfect air, nobody talks about it, but it’s so good. Found a sleep specialist, pharmacy gave me a nasal spray—game changer. Just incredible results. And then I got a CPAP. Now, CPAPs, I’ll tell you, a little tricky at first. Not easy, believe me. But we figured it out. The nasal spray was huge, but you can’t use it forever, so CPAP—great investment. And let me tell you, my sleep study results were horrendous. Something like 77 interruptions per hour—the number should be five, folks. Five! My blood oxygen? A disaster. But we fixed it, because that’s what we do—we win.
And let me tell you, I’m set up. Everything is perfect—diet? Perfect. Training? Perfect. PEDs? Dialed in. Recovery? Better than ever. Loving the new upper/lower split—so good. Right now, I can train four days a week, easy. No crazy stims, no cardio, just smart training. When the cut gets deep? We drop to three. Very flexible. Smart programming, the best.
Now, folks, let’s be honest—the only thing that can derail me is another woman or a serious injury. And we’re not gonna let that happen. People say, “Oh, you’re like the Tiger Woods of bodybuilding that’s really good but not elite yet.” Maybe! Maybe! But I tell you what—I live on a very empty island. You go days, days, without seeing an attractive woman. Then you go to Bangkok? It’s like sensory overload! They’re everywhere! It’s almost too much.
So 24 weeks from now, we’ll check back. And if this post turns out to be a prophecy? So be it. But I’ll tell you what—right now, we are winning.
A few more notes:
Vertical pulling: Chins are a pet lift. They take a long time to recover from; they don't tax the lats all that well, they're rough on connective tissue, rest between sets needs to be very high to maintain performance, and if you strive for rep prs often times you end up just putting more tension on teres, traps, rear delts, and biceps rather than actually putting more tension on the lats. They've caused me problems with elbows and proximal bicep tendon in the past. It's hard to progressively overload them while targetting the desired muscles. Straps just feel weird on them. Weird stuff happens when your bw is changing and you're trying to progress on chins/pullups. Very few successful bodybuilders do chinups as their main lat builder. It's really time to retire them. Barbell rows are okay, I could probably figure out a way to keep those in and I might, but for now I'm going to bench them. "But I can get my ab training in at the same time" isn't a good reason to do chins/pullups when I could spend litearlly 3 minutes doing cable ab crunches and get the same level of stimulus for abs.
I've been messing with various different vertical pulls and pulldowns and I've come to the conclusion that v-bar pulldowns on a normal pulldown machine are the best. I do like our plate loaded pulldown machine and I like that it's easy to load unilaterally. It's probably okay to do only 2 pushing motions then 3 pulls and a pullover for my upper sessions. So maybe something like v-handle pulldowns at the start of each session. Only problem is that the pulldown machine is litearlly the most popular piece of equipment in any gym in China because it's so easy to do and girls sit on there doing 3+ minute sets with 0 intensity and don't want to work in with you becuas ethey like to sit down and text between sets.
But i'm going to overcome this by keeping headphones in, taking off their attachment, putting mine on, and sitting in the seat and hoping they move out of the way. So far I've had 100% success with this method. I mean obv I change the attachment and get up to let them continue I'm not a total savage c'mon.
Push upper training:
Forgot about that "reverse grip chest fly" on the fly machine. That was a 100% painfree movement that just absolutely lit up my pecs. I'm gonna always start with that, but maybe just occasionally do free weight presses first to satisfy my urge to ego lift.
Upper:
Reverse grip pec flies supersetted with v-bar pulldowns (long rests): 3 sets each
DB press: rotate high incline, low incline, and flat. 2 sets of 3 sets. Don't be a dummy with load management. It's okay to go light/modereate some days or to just not train to failure.
Chest supported machine row of choice: possibly superset with db presses if gym isn't too busy 3 sets
Another vertical pull of choice, unilateral: 2 sets
Pullover and cable side delt raise supersets: 3 sets
some sort of gay ab work
Alright so game plan is to keep "bulking" from now until last weekend in march. I'm around 99kg morning rn and once I add the growth hormone back in and the lantus at around 20-25ius I expect some water bloat. I'll cap things off at around 103-104 and then look to lose average .75kg per week into this 20 week prep. Trenbolone last 8 weeks only and at 25mg/day (175mg/wk), winstrol last 4 weeks only. Drop test at 4 weeks out, so tren+mast+winny only in the final 4 weeks. HCTZ? You bet your ass, 1 tab around 24 hours before stage. Maybe I'll accidentally win a pro card. But at the very least, I want to get first callouts in the qualifying round (the show that happens before the pro qualifier) and be visibly the most shredded competitor on stage and make sure i'm losing for some reason other than "not conditioned enough". Or straight up just ***** win, that could absolutely happen as this fed's level of competition is considerably softer than the feds that handle the non-guangdong province mainland China shows.
If somebody missed that post, we have a very strange system where guangdong province is part of the bbing fed that handles shows in HK/Macau/Vietnam/Malaysia/Indonesia. So we got lumped in with the SEA region rather than the mainland China region, which is very strange I don't understand it. But its overall good for me because the main Mainland China federations level fo competition is extremely high for classic physique.
Great to see you logging your progress and setting clear goals. Your approach to bodybuilding is solid, and it’s awesome that you’re staying strategic about things like PEDs and diet, especially around insulin and GH pathways. Your offseason diet model sounds like it’s on the right track, and I totally agree that carb cycling can be a game-changer for maximizing muscle growth while keeping body fat in check.
For SARMs, I’d be cautious—though some of them, like Ostarine (MK-2866) and LGD-4033, can
AIs are getting smart. It was convincing until I saw the 'Behemoth Labz" part.
I glossed over all the gaming chat, but this gem caught my eye.
LOL Thremp. How butthurt must you be that you're firing shats in the Emoken thread. Look, I get that sometimes even you say something dumb and have to shift the goalposts. Just take solace in the fact that no one actually read most of that AIDS, so your rep is intact. While your reading comprehension could use some work, even I must admit you're not average trash-man level dumb. So you know what happened and I know what happen
Was his post about you? I must have missed that. I have no idea what you're on about here lol.
Was his post about you? I must have missed that. I have no idea what you're on about here lol.
The post wasn't about me, but It was in the quoted post. So, I guess you did miss it. Here it is with the other stuff cut out
(even including u Melkman, who can't even figure out capital letters, what a ****ing shitskin ******)
I guess you can CTRL+F to find it in the post I quoted.
There was another one a page back or so, but I can't be arsed up to look for it.
Anyway, Yugo, your post more or less proves my point. No one is really reading the AIDS parts, which is actually great! But it's hilarious AF that he's so rustled that he has to throw that in a completely unrelated post. Maybe, I'm just easily amused.