Work, Hustle, Kill (The Quest for a Stage Ready Physique)

[DocJekyll]

You didn't really think I was quitting, did you?

Gentlemen (and Ladies?): Most of you know my fitness story and my history. Where I have been, where I have come from and the work it has taken to get to where I am today. I am quite pleased with my progress to date and I am proud of the fact that I was able to see my last transformation thru, from start to finish, successfully. If you have ever stood, where I was about 2 years ago, then you can certainly appreciate how big of a step it was, both physically and mentally, to change a lifestyle and take on the pursuit that has brought me to today. To be absolutely honest, I have all of you to thank for your encouragement, motivation, support, advice and kind words all along the way.

Be that as it may, I have never been one to settle in life or to stop raising the bar. Why start now? Although I am probably in the best shape of my adult life, I am looking for more. I haven't quite got it right, just yet. It's time to fcuk some $hit up. It's time to break thru this latest plateau. It is, indeed, a time to focus on a new goal.

Andrew's devilish prodding over the past month or so has been resonating in my mind. So...........after much deliberation, a plethora of conversations with Brad and receiving a "green light" from Mrs. Doc; I am setting the goal, today, of being stage ready by late fall/early winter 2016. This log will capture the 12 - 14 month quest to push my limits to the end, test my fortitude and see if this 42 year young physique can become stage ready.

Now. I have no idea if I will I will actually step on a stage and/or compete next year; but rest assured that will be the singular focus and goal.

As I am sure you know by now, Friday's mark the end of my workout week. Therefore, I have decided to close down my previous log yesterday and begin capturing the 2 week preparation that will entail prior to my start date of 8/29.

Over the next 2 weeks, Brad and I will be fine tuning my first cycle, the programming, the cardio, the diet and my supplementation. The blue print for the entire run is well thought out and is quite dynamic. Balls to wall training will ensue.


My e-bro has generously offered his time, motivation and knowledge to assist me throughout the journey. I am very grateful for his generosity and kind being. Thank you Brad




Here we go.............

[trickyB]

First In, come at me bros!

[Plateauplower]

Looking forward to seeing the plan!

[mirroroferised]

This will be great. In!

[raynerd]

Shiney new journal...shiney new goals...you know I am IN!!!

Think you destroy the stage Doc! Looking very forward to all of it man! Let's get to work

[baker]

In and lurking. I know you'll kill it Doc!

[bradandblake]

You know I'm in.

[fittofattofit]

Andrew's devilish prodding over the past month or so has been resonating in my mind. So...........after much deliberation, a plethora of conversations with Brad and receiving a "green light" from Mrs. Doc; I am setting the goal, today, of being stage ready by late fall/early winter 2016. This log will capture the 12 - 14 month quest to push my limits to the end, test my fortitude and see if this 42 year young physique can become stage ready.

Sh!t's about to get real

[DocJekyll]

Push Day 1 - Setup Day
Chest, Triceps and Delts

7:45 AM
Hyde - 1.5 scoops
Amino Fuel - 3 T
Fasted Workout

LISS - 5 mins

Freestyl'n a little this morning guys to feel some things out. Opening up with some Godsmack FTW.

HS incline Press
1 pps +25 x 16 (warm up)
2 pps x 12
2 pps +10 x 8
2 pps +20 x 6
2 pps x 8
I actually felt a little weak this morning. Good start. Lol.

HS Decline Press
2 pps +25 x 12
2 pps +35 x 10
3 pps x 8
3 pps +10 x 7 drop 2 pps x 12
Got a great pump going.

Standing cable flyes (mid)
40 x 16
50 x 12
60 x 11
70 x 8
Bump opening weight.

V-bar Pushdown
150 x 12
160 x 10
170 x 9
180 x 6 drop 120 x 8

Single Arm Reverse Cable Pushdown
40 x 12
50 x 8
40 x 11
40 x 11

DB laterals
25 x 14
30 x 10
35 x 9
40 x 8 drop 15 x 8
Bump opening weight

DB front raises
25 x 12
30 x 11
35 x 8
35 x 8 drop 15 x 12
Delts were screaming.

Reverse Pec Dec
120 x 12
135 X 12
150 x 10
165 x 7 drop 105 x 10
Different Machine than in PA gym. Different cable action - lighter weight used in NY.

HS Seated Overhead Press
1 pps +35 x 12
2 pps x 8
1 pps +35 x 8
1 pps +35 x
Shoulders were toast.

Dun - 42 sets - 1 hour 10 minutes

Stairs of Death - 25 minutes - Intervals
170 floors climbed - 3.54 miles

Treadmill - 15 minutes - LISS (7% @3.5-4)
40 minutes total cardio.

PostJym Matrix + NOW Dextrose
Muscle Milk
Muscle Milk Pro (3/4's)

Morning Weight: 186.7
7 day average:

Yesterday's macros:
Calories 3371
Carbs 278
Protein 238
Fat 128
Sodium 4521

Well, I didn't quite sweat like I use too (stairs took care of that though); but focusing my intensity on higher weight and single lifts made me feel like a bodybuilder again.

The drop sets aren't really a part of the routine yet; but seeing that I missed some reps I felt compelled to hit a drop set here and there to get the volume in for that particular set. When we planned push day 1 (and 2 for that matter), I was thinking holy **** this is a lot; but my current conditioning from all the volume and super setting that I have been doing had me blasting thru this mornings session. It felt great.

Push Day 1 baseline for Cut #1 is relatively set. I will be cutting in 2 weeks on start day. So we will have to see where these lifts go.

[DocJekyll]

First In, come at me bros!

Thanks brother.

Looking forward to seeing the plan!

You bet Tim. I will be laying it out over the course of a few posts this weekend.

This will be great. In!

Thanks Dave!

Shiney new journal...shiney new goals...you know I am IN!!!

Think you destroy the stage Doc! Looking very forward to all of it man! Let's get to work

Hahaha, I dunno about that Shawn; but we are definitely going to give it our best shot. Thanks boss!

In and lurking. I know you'll kill it Doc!

Thanks Bake! Great to hear from you man!

You know I'm in.

There he is. The Beast. Thanks Bro!
Day 1 setup went well.

Sh!t's about to get real

You bet Andrew. Thanks! Your partly to blame for this chaos!!


-----------

I will get some more detail in later today while I am enjoying some sun at the beach. I will also open up a new food journal today and post the link.

Time to get some breakfast.

[bradandblake]

Perfect.

[DocJekyll]

Perfect.

Thanks B!


----------------------------

The macro view of the plan goes likes this. I am going to be performing a series of cuts that last about 4 weeks each in duration with a series of bulks in between each cut. The bulks will run about 8 weeks. My first cut cycle starts 2 Saturday's from today; which will be on my last day of a week long vacation at the beach. We will be manipulating everything as we go from cycle to cycle. Adjusting all the inputs to deliver the best results for each one. This series will run until about mid July to early August of 2016. The schedule is carefully planned out to ensure that Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, 2 trips to Florida and 1 trip to Italy occur within a bulk cycle. We must keep sanity.
Come July/August we will start a long controlled cut to peak in late fall/early winter.

CUT #1
Training
Utilizing a push/pull/legs split. Hitting all body parts twice per week. 4 sets per body part with all sets to failure within the 12-8 rep range and all reps at or close to a 3/3 tempo. TUT is the primary focus.

Diet
Push/pull Day: 2,500 calories @ 250c / 250p / 60f
Leg Day: 2,900 calories @ 300c / 250p / 60f
Off Day: 2,200calories @ 150c / 250p / 70f
Ingesting 1 serving of super greens perfect food raw organics per day
Calorie timing is key. I am trying to ingest 50% of the daily carbs around my weight sessions. This will be difficult when working out first AM; but I will try my best. It's only 4 weeks, right?

Cardio
2 planned HIIT sessions of 30 minutes. These will come as doubles on Mondays and Wednesday's - just how I do them now.
Cardio post workout will come in the form of the Stairs of Death as time allows.
All cardio will be held to 40 minutes max per day. All HIIT fast cycles limited to max of 1 minute.

Supplementation
We are still working on this. I will obviously be using the staples: multi, fish oils, vit c, a thermo genic and many many stims. Lol. I may opt for some other "cut type" products but I'm not sure yet. They really just make for expensive piss; but will see.

Tracking
We are tracking everything and I mean everything.
Only weighing in once per week during the cuts though. First am the day after my rest day.

The idea behind cutting first is to bring my body fat levels in as tight as we can prior to bumping the calories for bulk #1. Gee, the right way to do it. Go figure. We are also using some different cutting strategies for each one too learn more about my body and how it reacts. This will allow us to really dial it in for the final cut and prep.


All in all we are trying to build a stage ready physique, so we will be working on bringing up my lagging body parts; adding clean/lean mass to my frame, gaining symmetry where needed and shedding body fat. Sounds easy, right? Lol.


Now, I'm planning to eat, as I have been, for 2 weeks. Diet down will be here before you know it.

I'm sorry if I missed a few things. I'm sure they will come up as I go along.


Edit: Food Journal (eating out tonight so the taters are a guesstimate)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/workhustlekill1

[shaneinga]

In. Detailed cutting and bulking journal all rolled into one. Great info in here already. Good luck Doc.

[MooseTequila]

So fuking in with a grin... go kill it ya bastard!!!

[Payton1221]

Very interested. Will definitely be following along!

[DocJekyll]

In. Detailed cutting and bulking journal all rolled into one. Great info in here already. Good luck Doc.

Thanks Shane!

So fuking in with a grin... go kill it ya bastard!!!

Yo Moose. Ya made it. Thanks brotha.
Nice cardio session today man. That's a hoooooge burn today.

Very interested. Will definitely be following along!

Thanks man. I'm gonna give it my all. And I have a great "coach" to boot!

------------
As usual EVERYONE in here is on spread.
Headed out to dinner. I see a salad,10 ounce filet, garlic mash and 2 glasses of wine in my very near future! Yum

[RT1957]

In

[DocJekyll]

In

Alright. Thanks for sub'n in!

----------------

I guess there is going to be a lot more real life and anecdotal logging in this one. As I said before, we are tracking everything.

Had a wonderful dinner with the Mrs's this evening. Kidless this weekend. Top down and off we went to dinner. Thinking back on the thousands of meals I have had out, I would say I had one the best steaks of my life at dinner tonight. A place called North One in Hampton bays. The dry rub on this filet was absurd. Really should be illegal. I got the recipe . We split a bottle of Amarone and I got after some food tonight; but kept most of the fattening stuff to the side of the plate(s).

Movie and bed next. Pull day 1 setup tomorrow.

[fittofattofit]

The macro view of the plan goes likes this. I am going to be performing a series of cuts that last about 4 weeks each in duration with a series of bulks in between each cut. The bulks will run about 8 weeks. My first cut cycle starts 2 Saturday's from today; which will be on my last day of a week long vacation at the beach. We will be manipulating everything as we go from cycle to cycle. Adjusting all the inputs to deliver the best results for each one. This series will run until about mid July to early August of 2016. The schedule is carefully planned out to ensure that Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, 2 trips to Florida and 1 trip to Italy occur within a bulk cycle. We must keep sanity.
Come July/August we will start a long controlled cut to peak in late fall/early winter.

I love the plan and I love the way that you've got it scheduled a year in advance to really make this work with your lifestyle and family
It looks like a really manageable approach with rewards along the way ahead of the final challenge in August. Gonna enjoy watching how this progresses, and big props to Brad for helping out with his advice!

[raynerd]

Great first session Doc, you are conditioned to train in anyway you like at this point, so the gym is the easy part. Mini cuts and bulks sound awesome, as wel,l it will never get stale for you. You have a great coach, an impeccable work ethic and attitude and a really solid looking plan. I imagine you have some big plans for the wheels in there as well. This is going to be awesome Doc...for you as well

[trickyB]

I like the plan, looks very manageable and well thought out. I'm very interested to see how this works out for you.

[mirroroferised]

There's nothing in the world like a great steak!

[DocJekyll]

I love the plan and I love the way that you've got it scheduled a year in advance to really make this work with your lifestyle and family
It looks like a really manageable approach with rewards along the way ahead of the final challenge in August. Gonna enjoy watching how this progresses, and big props to Brad for helping out with his advice!

Thanks Andrew. Ya, he is architect - I am just putting the hammer to nails.
I knew for it to work, we would have to take RL into account. I think it's manageable, like you say. Come bulks 2-5, the real balls to wall training will arrive. Thanks again man!

Great first session Doc, you are conditioned to train in anyway you like at this point, so the gym is the easy part. Mini cuts and bulks sound awesome, as wel,l it will never get stale for you. You have a great coach, an impeccable work ethic and attitude and a really solid looking plan. I imagine you have some big plans for the wheels in there as well. This is going to be awesome Doc...for you as well

Thanks Shawn. Yes, we are going to bring these wheels in IF IT KILLS ME! A lot of variety throughout the year should keep it fresh and fun!

I like the plan, looks very manageable and well thought out. I'm very interested to see how this works out for you.

Thanks man. Me too! I really want this.

There's nothing in the world like a great steak!

Don't you know it!
Good luck today! 1 pm est.

[DocJekyll]

8 AM - Up and at it.
8:30 - Finally got my sh!t together
Hyde - 1.5 scoops
Amino Fuel

9:00 AM - New York - 1st set
Fasted Workout

Damn movie had me up till about 2am last night. Working on about 6 hours. Regardless, I feel good and amped to setup pull day 1. Thoughts for the morning 3/3, stretch and squeeze.

Liss - 5 minutes

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
135 x 12 (warm up)
150 x 12
165 x 10
180 x 9
195 x 7 drop 120 x 12
My stomach was growling already!

BB Rows (Yates)
135 x 12
185 x 10
205 x 9
225 x 8 drop 135 x 8

HS High Row
2 pps +25 x 12
2 pps +35 x 10
3 pps x 10
3 pps +10 x 9. drop 2 pps +35 x 9
I was just cruising right thru this morning so I added this move on the fly. Felt like I Needed a little more volume for width

Hyper Extensions
BW +25 x 12
BW +45 x 11
BW +70 x 10
BW +90 x 10
Ahhhhh, low back pumps. Miss them.

DB Shrugs
70 x 12 (warm up)
90 x 12
100 x 10
120 x 8 drop 95 x 9
Every rep - Slow and squeeeeeeze

Cambered Barbell Curls
60 x 12
70 x 10
80 x 8
80 x 8 drop 40 x 12
My biceps were already toast by set 2.

Reverse Cambered Barbell Curls
40 x 12
50 x 10
50 x 11
50 x 12 drop into DB curls 35 x 8 drop 30 x 8 drop 25 x 8 drop 20 x 12
Blistering pump.

Weighted Crunches
190 x 20
200 x 18
210 x 12
210 x 12

42 sets - 1 hour 10 minutes.

Stairs - 25 minutes - intervals
154 floors - 3.22 miles vertical

Treadmill - LISS - 15 minutes (7% @ 3.5 - 4)
40 minutes total cardio for the day


PostJym + Carbo Gain
Muscle Milk Pro Series

Morning Weight: 184.5
7 day Average:

Food Journal
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/workhustlekill1

This mornings workout was awesome. I am having so much fun getting back to my roots with these focused lifts. The m2m connection this morning was at a high. Everything was 3/3 today, with real deliberate stretches and squeezes. The pumps were just amazing.

Scale seems to have me on a cut already.

Time to feed up!

[Plateauplower]

Great work today,plan looks solid. I think shorter duration surpluses and deficits are more efficient in both directions. Keeps from having those long drawn out diets too.

[MooseTequila]

Nice weight dump Doc... you can feel the excitement through your writing regarding your workout, the new grind ain't like the old grind.

[RT1957]

Big pull day....will be checking out your myfitnesspal to see how you go about your deficits and surpluses...Good way to get it all going

[bradandblake]

I'm glad you are excited now. Lets keep it that way. as....long....as.....we.....can. This workout on a cut will be hard core man. You are pulling heavy weights too.

Another day right on target.

[DocJekyll]

Great work today,plan looks solid. I think shorter duration surpluses and deficits are more efficient in both directions. Keeps from having those long drawn out diets too.

Thanks Tim. I'm getting my numbers up without breaking form. It feels gooooood.
Totally agree. More efficient, more sane, more variety. The August prep could be brutal though.

Nice weight dump Doc... you can feel the excitement through your writing regarding your workout, the new grind ain't like the old grind.

Thanks Moose. Stairs of death keep doing their job I guess. I am also keeping most of those carbs around my workout. Trying to get into the dietary mindset prior to the cut.
Ya, glad it comes thru - I'm stoked. Rejuvenated

Big pull day....will be checking out your myfitnesspal to see how you go about your deficits and surpluses...Good way to get it all going

Thanks man. Appreciate you popping in and following along. I'm already thinking about the surpluses.

[DocJekyll]

I'm glad you are excited now. Lets keep it that way. as....long....as.....we.....can. This workout on a cut will be hard core man. You are pulling heavy weights too.

Another day right on target.

Thanks Brad!

True Dat, let's keep this thing boogieing.
Funny you bring that up. I was wondering this morning how long the lifts will last or progress once we drop the calories. Should be interesting. I'm going to fight to hold them.