Josh Niemi..."The Journey"

[triplewhammy]

Better he some ice cream on the menu son
Let's keep
Progressing in here

Haha I wish! Not quite "there" yet...gotta reverse properly, right? So far, the only "cheat" has been a bag of 110-calorie Special K Cracker Crisps and a no-condiment turkey sandwich on whole wheat croissant LOL! Thanks for the encouragement

[jpfaherty]

Reversing is tough some times huh?! Stick to the plan!

PS- You only have 25 more days of stims! Better enjoy them

[nads786]

Pretty solid workout ! What DB weights are you accustomed to using?

[TheLiftLife]

Heres a random question for you josh because you have a strong chest and huge numbers in the pressing department :P

My chest has always been lacking in strength. What do you think about throwing in 3 or 4 sets of bench presses (low rep ranges) at the beginning of my shoulder day for strength? Thats about 3 days apart from my usual chest day.

[triplewhammy]

Reversing is tough some times huh?! Stick to the plan!

PS- You only have 25 more days of stims! Better enjoy them

Yeah crazy... the main thing is that I need to get my calories back up to a number that allows me to feel normal so that it can compensate for the break in stims. Dieting down into a 1500 cal/day hole has made it so that even though I'm up 700 cals/day, I'm still not quite at a normal-feeling amount. That is another reason I work out so early in the morning still. By the end of the day when I'm running out of calories I simply have no energy for anything, especially not a workout LOL! I think around 2600 cals/day and I will be feeling ready to switch back to PM workouts and drop the stims. I also have a jug of Ultima ready for action when the time comes

Pretty solid workout ! What DB weights are you accustomed to using?

Offseason, an average session would have me pressing the 120s for 8. I actually peaked at the 140s for 4-5 at one point.

Heres a random question for you josh because you have a strong chest and huge numbers in the pressing department :P

My chest has always been lacking in strength. What do you think about throwing in 3 or 4 sets of bench presses (low rep ranges) at the beginning of my shoulder day for strength? Thats about 3 days apart from my usual chest day.

Thanks bro. If your chest can handle it and you consider it a lagging bodypart, I'd see no problems with hitting it twice a week. It has always been a pretty solid muscle group for me so I've never wanted to lift it more often than 1x/week, plus like I said earlier my pec tendons get really thrashed from the single chest day. I personally like dumbbells for my typical training but barbell is great to mix it up as well as for testing strength progression and PRs. I typically don't like rep ranges less than 6 for regular training, as it seems to be an unnecessary risk (especially for a pec tear) so if I were you I would stick with 6-8 reps at least. Other than that just hit it hard, that's the best advice I can give you, I really don't have a ton of strength knowledge haha sorry...

[triplewhammy]

Overall, I'd say yesterday was a pretty legit cheat day:

4:00am - 2 beef tacos, 2 slices cinnamon Splenda bread
6:00am - BCAAs (intraworkout)
8:00am - PB&J sandwich, 1 scoop whey concentrate, 1 turkey sandwich (turkey, cheese, whole wheat croissant), 1 bag Special K cracker crisps
10:00am - BCAAs
12:00pm - Chipotle Burrito Bowl (brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, double steak, pico de gallo, hot salsa, guacamole), 1.5oz Honey Roasted Cashews
2:00pm - protein bar
3:30pm - BCAAs
5:30pm - Dinner (BBQ Ribs, 1/2 sweet potato, green beans, corn)
7:30pm - BCAAs
9:30pm - massive protein shake (2 scoops whey concentrate, 1 scoop egg, 16oz milk, 1 tblspn PB)

So overall I felt pretty good about it, a good mental break but didn't get sloppy. Today is back on the 2200 strict diet and I'm also doing a full cardio session so I will clean up nicely

[The Solution]

Beef tacos at 4 am.....
Lol wut?

Crazy!

[triplewhammy]

Beef tacos at 4 am.....
Lol wut?

Crazy!

Hehe...you should know by now that I have major issues, after all why am I eating at 4am anyway? (meaning of course, that I was up at 3:45 to take my GDA and digestive enzyme) LOL!

[swimmer32]

Beef tacos at 4 am.....
Lol wut?

Crazy!

This. You know a cheat day is coming up when you start with tacos at 4 am.

[triplewhammy]

This. You know a cheat day is coming up when you start with tacos at 4 am.

Actually that wasn't the first time! And I had two more this morning at 5am. They fit into my macros easily. Beef, shells, just a bit of cheese, lettuce, and salsa. EASY!

[The Big Sleep]

In on this log Josh, I remember watching one of your transformation vids a few years back; crazy how far you've come

[triplewhammy]

In on this log Josh, I remember watching one of your transformation vids a few years back; crazy how far you've come

Tell me about it!

[triplewhammy]

Nailed my diet yesterday and also did a strictly-cardio session: 20 minutes Elliptical, 10 min Bike, 20 min Treadmill (2.45 miles), 10 min Bike. Finished with 4 sets of Abs (I need to start working my abs regularly again, can't believe how weak they are -- great advice from Aaron Lobliner at the show).

Woke up today at 2:30am (boo), ate, and went in to train Legs again (second time this week, yes!)

Squats:
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 16

Hack Squat Machine:
1pps x 15
2pps x 15
3pps x 10

Squat Press Machine:
270 x 15
360 x 15

6 sets Lying Leg Curls
5 sets Hamtractor Machine
4 sets Seated Leg Extension
30 min Elliptical

[nads786]

Nice work getting the cardio in, How do you like working legs twice a week so far?

[triplewhammy]

Nice work getting the cardio in, How do you like working legs twice a week so far?

Yeah I feel like I've been keeping up with the cardio very well...better than ever before that's for sure.

I love the Leg training, hip flexors get a bit tight but with a foam roller and tennis ball I keep them in shape. Only disheartening thing is killing myself in the gym knowing in the back of my mind that I'm not really eating enough calories to grow, get stronger, and recover adequately...kinda like the opposite of if you were to kill yourself on the treadmill only to go home knowing that you will eat so many calories that it will negate the work you just put in. Oh well.

[triplewhammy]

Wrecked the gym today in preparation for a Christmas party later tonight. Got up at 3:45am and put in work early! Supersetted Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, and Hamstrings over and over for 2 hours straight, then put in 30 minutes on the Elliptical. Highlights include Standing DB Curl 50s x 9 and HS Shoulder Press 3p + 25ps x 7. Grow time!

[TheLiftLife]

Wrecked the gym today in preparation for a Christmas party later tonight. Got up at 3:45am and put in work early! Supersetted Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, and Hamstrings over and over for 2 hours straight, then put in 30 minutes on the Elliptical. Highlights include Standing DB Curl 50s x 9 and HS Shoulder Press 3p + 25ps x 7. Grow time!

Loving the hustle and big volume work outs! man your working out over 2 hrs plus cardio.. you must be in a catabolic state and over training :P


not srs

[triplewhammy]

Loving the hustle and big volume work outs! man your working out over 2 hrs plus cardio.. you must be in a catabolic state and over training :P


not srs

Haha I am overreaching a bit I think, seeing as how I'm only sleeping for 6.5 hours typically. But yeah I am putting in some major work, looking forward to when I drop the post-lifting cardio though, definitely not doing that forever...

[triplewhammy]

UPDATE 12/8/2012

STATS
Weight: 168.6 lbs

TRAINING
CHEST DAY: Chest/Triceps/Calves (Primary Exercise: Flat DB Press or Flat Bench)
BACK DAY: Back/Lats/Biceps (Primary Exercise: Corner Row)
LEG DAY 1: Heavy-Weight Legs (Primary Exercise: Squats)
SHOULDER DAY: Shoulders/Arms (Primary Exercise: HS Shoulder Press)
CARDIO: Treadmill/Stepmill/Elliptical
LEG DAY 2: High-Volume Legs (Primary Exercise: Leg Press)
(All lifting followed by 15-30min cardio)

DIET
Reverse-dieting is loosely following this plan (I am beginning Post-Contest Week 4 now):
Post-Contest Week 1: 1800 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 2: 2000 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 3: 2200 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 4: 2400 cals/day
Post-Contest Week 5+: ????

Protein target is 180-200g per day. After Week 4 I will evaluate my weight gain and see if I should bump up calories. Weight gain needs to plateau before increasing again to avoid excess fat accumulation.

SUPPLEMENTATION
Performance:
Ultimate Nutrition BCAA 12000
Nutrex Hemo-Rage UC

Support:
Optimum Nutrition egg protein
Universal Nutrition casein
Vitacost whey isolate
Swole whey concentrate
USPlabs Super Cissus
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Glucosamine HCL
Melatonin

THOUGHTS
Well, the scale this week shows the results of either cheating, getting the cold (yet again), or a combination of both. Not a great result but I'm not concerned about it at this point. Mentally, I am starting to feel ready to be out of the 160s and start putting on some size/strength. This past week has been difficult because 2200 calories gave me enough energy to put in some ridiculous 2hr+ workouts yet it wasn't enough to compensate for the kickstart my metabolism experienced. So physically I was quite a bit hungrier many of the days and mentally it was tough to put in so much work feeling like you will not be refueling properly. Based on the scale you would think I had plenty of cals to work with but I think it is just flukey. I will no longer be monitoring my weight daily but instead just do a midweek check and end-of-week results weigh-in. Of course I will still be sticking to my reverse diet and hitting my new 2400 calorie mark but seeing the overnight weight fluctuations isn't meaning much anymore.

Ideally, I would like to see myself get up to around 2800 cals/day before getting into the 170s. Then I'd like to use 170-180 to completely rehab my metabolism (calories up to 3000+ per day), get all this cardio phased out (just a session or two per week, no more post-lifting cardio), and finally get my strength at or near what last year's offseason lifts were by the time I hit 180 lbs. Emphasis will still be on bringing up my Legs so I will continue hitting them as fast and furious as my hip flexors, knees, and back will allow. Then from 180-190 I want to be in my groove, eating good and blasting through PRs. I came across some video footage of me at 220 and wow...that was a great encouragement to me! I know that if I was able to come back from that ridiculousness and step on stage looking my best, I have a lot of room for error and unknowns for this offseason. So I would like to get no heavier than 190 before doing a small cutting cycle and then evaluate to see what contest-worthy improvements I've made. That is loosely the game plan that is on my mind right now.

My supplement stack has been pared down to just the essentials at this point as I regroup and plan ahead as to what I want to run. The most significant change will be in a few weeks when I take a stim break so I am starting to plan out how to prepare and compensate for that when it happens. One thing I need to do is get back to my PM workouts since there is no way I will be able to hit the gym with any kind of intensity in the AM without caffeine. This week if it works out, I may try a PM workout. Last week I did cardio in the PM and to be honest, it was terrible. Looking back, I should have realized that my energy levels were lacking in part due to my cold, but whatever the reason it just felt like I needed almost as much caffeine just to make it through the day and then throw down even more to get up and at 'em for the workout. I much more prefer the AM workouts right now when I'm at the peak of my stim intake for sure, but if I can manage to get a really good night's sleep (8+ hours), then I will try to tackle a PM workout. We shall see.

Here's to hoping 2400 cals/day treats me right!


Josh

[Frankdaddy]

The bump in calories will help, sometimes cheat meals hit us hard, and sometimes it's like it never happens. Try to get in control especially with Christmas coming up, gym sessions shorter from being busy each day, extra food, etc...

[triplewhammy]

The bump in calories will help, sometimes cheat meals hit us hard, and sometimes it's like it never happens. Try to get in control especially with Christmas coming up, gym sessions shorter from being busy each day, extra food, etc...

What do you mean?

[The Solution]

What do you mean?

Sometimes Cheat stick on people (in regards to the scale) and sometimes they plow right through them.

Sent ya a text message, if you did not get send one to me so i get your #.

[triplewhammy]

Sometimes Cheat stick on people (in regards to the scale) and sometimes they plow right through them.

Sent ya a text message, if you did not get send one to me so i get your #.

Yeah that's why at this point I'm not putting too much investment in what the scale reads. Gonna enjoy the Christmas season, stick to the plan on non-cheat days, continue thrashing the gym, and let the chips fall where they may!

[triplewhammy]

Early-AM Chest/Triceps/Calves session. Technically should've been a Back day but I wanted to hit Chest after coming off a Rest day plus tomorrow will be Legs and I didn't want anything to interfere with that. Back's just gonna have to get in line and wait!

Primary Chest Exercises looked like this...

Flat DB Press:
70s x 10
90s x 8
110s x 7
110s x 6

Incline DB Press:
70s x 8
80s x 8
90s x 7

Lots of volume on the Tris and Calves as always. Feel like my Tris are actually growing a bit already, pretty happy about that. I wasn't too happy with that first set of Flat DB Press with the 110s though (felt like I should've had 8 reps) which is why I hit another set afterwards. Pleased with Incline though.

[The Big Sleep]

Strong pressing Josh, especially for someone your size (even though you weren't too happy with the flat presses). Kill the wheels tomorrow!

[triplewhammy]

Strong pressing Josh, especially for someone your size (even though you weren't too happy with the flat presses). Kill the wheels tomorrow!

Yeah I just like to see progress every week, even if it is only a single rep that is just fine by me. I guess this time around I was just forced to throw in a 2nd set with the 110s in order to achieve some progressive overload. Not easy being patient when I know I can do better!

[NaturalPursuit]

INSANE pressing bro!

[triplewhammy]

Ya buddy... smashed Legs! Very very happy with today's workout. Numbers aren't my best ever (it's not about the numbers!!!) but this represents pushing myself and giving 100% at this point in time. I was pushing myself to the limit so much that the last Squat rep about became a Good Morning LOL... very grateful for my Lever Belt...

Squats:
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
315 x 6 (last rep was sloppy)

Hack Squat Machine:
2pps x 8
3pps x 8
3pps + 25 x 8

Squat Press Machine:
360 x 10
450 x 8
540 x 8
630 x 6

5 sets Lying Leg Curls
3 sets Hamtractor Machine
15 min Elliptical


Perhaps those 5 Christmas cookies I ate on Sunday weren't completely in vain...

[nads786]

Very solid work bro! I think you should look at what your lifting in the context of your body weight. It sounds like pound for pound you are stronger now than when you were at 220lbs?

[triplewhammy]

INSANE pressing bro!

Thanks!

Very solid work bro! I think you should look at what your lifting in the context of your body weight. It sounds like pound for pound you are stronger now than when you were at 220lbs?

Yeah I probably am, although I also have to say that back in October when I was at this bodyweight during prep I hit 315x7 on Squats...just tougher building back up as I climb out of that low-calorie hole I was in LOL!