Josh Niemi... "The Journey" SEASON 2

[The Solution]

Ever thought of starting Thursday and then into friday?

[triplewhammy]

Ever thought of starting Thursday and then into friday?

Would be way too nervous about spilling over. You barely convinced me to start midday on Friday 2 years ago, remember? LOL!

[The Solution]

Lower your load and you wont spill over the 2 days.

[triplewhammy]

Lower your load and you wont spill over the 2 days.

Not sure what you mean...what is different about that and just my normal diet?

[swimmer32]

Lower your load and you wont spill over the 2 days.

Are you referring to a lower carb load on Thursday and Friday, as opposed to a larger carb load Friday evening?

[The Solution]

Are you referring to a lower carb load on Thursday and Friday, as opposed to a larger carb load Friday evening?

For Example i did this last contest prep
900g Thursday
600g Friday
Morning of show Fat + Carb load (Sweet potatoes + PB + Steak) for a few meals and then rice cakes + AB + Honey
I know Cliff does a carb load upward to 900g on friday or even into the 1000+ Mark

some like to front load

Just do what you think is best and progress based off what the mirror shows.

[triplewhammy]

For Example i did this last contest prep
900g Thursday
600g Friday
Morning of show Fat + Carb load (Sweet potatoes + PB + Steak) for a few meals and then rice cakes + AB + Honey
I know Cliff does a carb load upward to 900g on friday or even into the 1000+ Mark

some like to front load

Just do what you think is best and progress based off what the mirror shows.

How many daily calories were you eating in the week or two leading up to the show? I'm at 1800 right now...

Yeah, part of the reason I have been doing weekly high-carb "cheat" days is to see how my body responds the following day. I will likely be doing this again this Saturday so I can keep gauging how my body reacts.

[The Solution]

Around 2200ish,
Even my 2nd prep when i did collegiate nationals i was around 2000 daily to the end of prep (around 154lbs) and i still carbed up aroud 700/500 not as much but i was much leaner to start prep and did not need a greater load. Came in perfect.

Morning of show i was tighter, and had more food the day of the show to fill out.

Again just depends on the person, but this is a method that could work, front loading could work, or maybe too much too fast (extreme backload) would not suit your body.

[swimmer32]

Around 2200ish

Interesting. So, just to be clear, on your carb load you went well over the daily calories that you had been eating during prep? I did a mock prep earlier this year, but kept my calories similar during the carb load (just a minor increase). I ended up looking pretty flat, so maybe that's a big reason why.

[triplewhammy]

Interesting. So, just to be clear, on your carb load you went well over the daily calories that you had been eating during prep? I did a mock prep earlier this year, but kept my calories similar during the carb load (just a minor increase). I ended up looking pretty flat, so maybe that's a big reason why.

Yeah I am a big chicken when it comes to the carb load but 2 years ago Bob helped me overcome the mental barrier and it really does work. My carb load was very moderate compared to what most people do, and on Friday I ate somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 pb&j sandwiches, not counting other things.

[swimmer32]

Yeah I am a big chicken when it comes to the carb load but 2 years ago Bob helped me overcome the mental barrier and it really does work. My carb load was very moderate compared to what most people do, and on Friday I ate somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 pb&j sandwiches, not counting other things.

Any idea what your calories were at that Friday? If I remember right your cals were real low during the end of that contest prep.

[triplewhammy]

Any idea what your calories were at that Friday? If I remember right your cals were real low during the end of that contest prep.

1500... ...so on Friday I probably ate double that.

[The Solution]

Interesting. So, just to be clear, on your carb load you went well over the daily calories that you had been eating during prep? I did a mock prep earlier this year, but kept my calories similar during the carb load (just a minor increase). I ended up looking pretty flat, so maybe that's a big reason why.

Well you would have to that's is the premise behind a load to help fill out your body
Why would I eat 2200 kcals to get shredded and try and load on that

Not smart lol

[swimmer32]

1500... ...so on Friday I probably ate double that.

1500 cals puts you in the "just lay on the couch and do nothing" zone. lol

[triplewhammy]

1500 cals puts you in the "just lay on the couch and do nothing" zone. lol

Tell me about it...1800 is just barely keeping me standing on two feet...not good. Going to see how I'm doing this weekend and adjust accordingly...

[The Solution]

Tell me about it...1800 is just barely keeping me standing on two feet...not good. Going to see how I'm doing this weekend and adjust accordingly...

300 kcal drop = too much IMO
go to 1700 and see how it treats you

[triplewhammy]

300 kcal drop = too much IMO
go to 1700 and see how it treats you

Oh definitely. I don't plan on hitting 1500 at all this prep. Depending on how I'm weighing for this Saturday's weigh-in I will either stick with 1800 or drop to 1700. Things are looking good though, I was 166.6 yesterday morning...

[triplewhammy]

UPDATE 11/8/2014

2 WEEKS OUT

STATS
Weight: 165.4 lbs

TRAINING
Chest/Tris
High-Intensity Cardio
Back/Bis
High-Intensity Cardio
Legs
High-Intensity Cardio
Shoulders/Arms

I've actually backed down the cardio quite a bit. I was doing cardio every day, including after lifting, and it was long draw-out steady state cardio. Now just alternating Lifting and Cardio back and forth, with much shorter Cardio sessions but really pushing to get my heart rate up. This past week, for example, I ran 1.7 miles in 10 minutes on the Treadmill and barely brought my heart rate up. So I'm in good shape and just need to keep pushing my cardiovascular system!

DIET
1800 cals/day
170g protein/day

Diet will remain at 1800 cals/day tentatively. I will decided mid-week whether to drop down to 1700 or not.

SUPPLEMENTATION
Performance:
Genomyx Slin-Sane
various preworkouts
USPlabs Test Force
DS Triazole

Support:
cissus
glucosamine
ZMA
protein powder
multivitamin
fish oil

THOUGHTS
165.4? NUFF SAID.


Josh

[swimmer32]

[b]


165.4? NUFF SAID.

It's getting serious in here now. Peak week coming up!

[rutka]

Back double bicep from yesterday...

oh wow this is one amazing back, good job!

[triplewhammy]

oh wow this is one amazing back, good job!

Thanks, should be even better in 2 weeks!

[triplewhammy]

It's getting serious in here now. Peak week coming up!

Yeah buddy!

[triplewhammy]

I decided to drop down to 1700 cals this week. Just felt like I could manage it pretty well so why not go for some more last minute fat loss. So, to prepare for the week I did a bit of cooking. A batch of chicken and brown rice in the oven (added some broccoli to it afterwards) and a big plate of kabobs hot off the grill. I am the IIFYM kind of guy that has been eating sandwiches and chips so this week my body is going to be like "whaat...bro food?!"

[OmegaredAfy]

Sucks i joined this log so late, great work and incredible physique mate, glad i caught this to catch this last stretch!

[triplewhammy]

Sucks i joined this log so late, great work and incredible physique mate, glad i caught this to catch this last stretch!

You came at the right time, that's for sure!

[triplewhammy]

Alright, after kicking around some ideas for Peak Week, I've decided I am going to front-load carbs starting this weekend and taper back down come Friday. Below is my Peak Week layout of how I plan to do this, loosely based on Layne's strategy. The carbs above and beyond my normal 1700 per day right now will essentially be all carbs (as much as possible). So on the max calorie day, Sunday, I will be eating an extra 900 cals, which would be approximately 225g additional carbs:

Friday, Legs: 1700 cals
Saturday, HIIT cardio: 2000 cals
Sunday, Chest/Tri: 2600 cals
Monday, HIIT cardio: 2400 cals
Tuesday, Back/Biceps: 2200 cals
Wednesday, light Lower Body: 2000 cals
Thursday, light Upper Body: 1800 cals, no dairy or carbonated beverages
Friday, easy bodyweight pump: vary carbs/cals depending on the mirror, no dairy or carbonated beverages, little to no veggies/fibrous foods, will be using Anabolic Pump before each carb meal
Saturday: vary carbs/cals depending on the mirror, no dairy or carbonated beverages, as little fiber as possible, will be using Anabolic Pump before each carb meal, may eat just two meals may eat four or more just depends, 2 hours pre-contest I will have some sourdough pretzels (easy carbs + tons of sodium), limit water to around 20-40oz total



Several reasons I've decided to go this route.

1. I realized that this is essentially what I've been doing the whole time during prep -- I hit my weekly weightloss goal and then on Saturday I have a cheat day. This coming week I will be doing it on Sunday since it will fit my schedule better, but what this at least tells me is that it will have little impact on what my body already expects. Seems like the general consensus is not to do anything to out of the ordinary for Peak Week, so this fits perfectly.

2. I feel like I don't look good at all for the couple days following a cheat day. Very watery, bloated feeling. I'd rather come in tight and maybe slightly less pumped if I had to pick between the two. As Layne points out, this will give me plenty of time to correct, which I will need and want.

3. This week will provide a good transition for the reverse diet. Rather than just let off the brakes, this week will keep me focused since it's still pre-contest, yet at the same time begin to get my metabolism back in shape for the coming weeks.

4. This will allow me to continue to work out with high intensity up to around Wednesday, making sure my muscles stay good and primed and putting the carbs to good use. This should also help my recovery and mentally/physically prepare for the show -- come in feeling good and ready rather than depleted and strung out.


I'm set in stone as far as Front-Loading goes, but if anyone has any tweaks or suggestions, I'm all ears!

[The Solution]

Considering that your macors will be controlled its hard to compare a cheat day to a constructed refeed, even so 2400 kcals is not much at all or a lot to fill out an individual you may need far more especially you have time to help repair if you do any damage which in essence wont really do too much. may need to be a bit more aggressive but eat and adjust as needed on monday by the mirror.

[triplewhammy]

Considering that your macors will be controlled its hard to compare a cheat day to a constructed refeed, even so 2400 kcals is not much at all or a lot to fill out an individual you may need far more especially you have time to help repair if you do any damage which in essence wont really do too much. may need to be a bit more aggressive but eat and adjust as needed on monday by the mirror.

Good words. So based on my schedule, how would you modify the cals?

[The Solution]

Very hard to say because i have not done your diet i have just followed. I have really never seen pictures after cheat meals or refeeds to see if you spilled, came out flat the next day, or how aggressive you really were on the amount of kcals for your refeeds/cheats. that should be something you noted on and how you looked and how the mirror shaped up.

Sunday, Chest/Tri: Normal Kcals high water
Monday, HIIT cardio: 2700ish kcals and 2-2.5 gallon H20
Tuesday, Back/Biceps: 2400ish kcals and 2 gallon water
Wednesday, light Lower Body: 2250 ish kcals and 1.5 gallon water
Thursday, light Upper Body: 2000 kcals and 1-1.25 gallon water
Friday, easy bodyweight pump: 1800-2000 based off mirror .75-1 gallon water
Saturday: vary carbs/cals depending on the mirror, no dairy or carbonated beverages, as little fiber as possible, will be using Anabolic Pump before each carb meal, may eat just two meals may eat four or more just depends, 2 hours pre-contest I will have some sourdough pretzels (easy carbs + tons of sodium), limit water to around 20-40oz total


i would drop the artificial sweeteners prob 2-3 days prior (all diet soda, supps etc, cut out whey 2 days or so out (artificial sweetners) or anything that may cause bloating.. veggies i would limit to a minimum at least 2 days out and not even use them on show day. try to eliminate anything that could cause bloat. i would also not use AP on your day of your show. You want the carbs and fats in the morning to help hold your carbs and stay full. Maybe Steak + SP + Almond Butter for a few meals , snack on rice cakes with PB / Jam / Honey leading up to the show and eat based off hunger

my 2 cents. but again you have to adjust based off the mirror. that is key.

[triplewhammy]

Thanks for the detailed input Bob!