Guitarist's log to contest condition

[AntoineDufour]

Hey I am a fingerstyle guitarist



Well I had a interesting journey so far...

started at this 5'6 - 5'7 230lbs



then I crash dieted on and off with cardio and barely any lifting.. and ended up at this

5'6 - 5'7

140-145

ugh.. horrible!

then over 2 years I recomped slowly up to

5'6 - 5'7

185-190




I had an eating disorder , and was depressed and was an emotional eater, and it was ruining/taking over my life.

I slowly realized why I was that way, and how to get over it, but it wasn't easy at all.

The plan is about 28 weeks but there is no SET time.

I will adjust as needed as time goes along and weightloss stalls.

Starting Macros are

225/250/55

45 mins cardio a day

Training split is

Back
Chest
Rest
Legs
Rest
Shoulders
Arms

I will take pics with proper poses as time goes along.

Eventually I want to compete, but I am not too sure if I will do it this year, or take a big off season after this is done.

[AntoineDufour]

Day 1:

I would estimate my bodyfat is 20% maybe alittle less not sure.. but that is ok 28 weeks is plenty of time.. anyway

Back

Deadlifts 315 x 5 3 sets with no chalk/straps.. not easy my grip sucks, but I want to do it this way, to improve my grip.

Standing Lat pull down with small handle palms facing inward ..whole stack 3 sets 12 reps..

Standing Lat pull down with 50lbs bringing it to lower abs.. focusing on contracting ...this felt good.. even though it wasn't heavy.

Dumbell rows 3 sets 65lbs 12 reps.. changed it to hands on knee instead of holding on to something.. felt way better this way.

Finished off with cable flies focusing on lats.. 3 sets starting at 50 then 40 then 30. Holding after each rep... felt good

Did 45 mins cardio afterwards

[bwelch1985]

Congratulations on all you've accomplished so far. I know it took a ton of hard work and exceptional dedication. Great work.


If you don't mind, I'd like to share my honest opinion on your situation....

Contest dieting is NOT a wise decision for you. As a person who's never had any issues w/ food or body image, I believe dieting down to contest condition this year has had a drastic effect on my relationship w/ food and how I perceive myself. In fact, I would say I have developed a borderline ED as well as a touch of muscle dysmorphia as a result of my 2011 prep. It's been 4 months since my final show of the season and I still feel hungry, self conscious about no longer being stage lean, and to a certain degree, enslaved by "the routine" that inevitably comes w/ a long-term strict dieting/training regiment.

For a person like yourself who's already vulnerable to disordered eating, I can't even imagine the effect 28 weeks of contest prep could have on you. Once you've seen yourself REALLY lean, it becomes very difficult to accept any fat gain. Every pound you put on feels like another step towards dismantling all the hard work you put in to get shredded. Even though your body is getting healthier and regaining hormonal balance, you'll likely feel like your backsliding and progressively losing everything you've worked for over the previous 7+ months. It's a complete mind-f*ck, even for those of us who've never struggled w/ ED's, and I'd hate to see you undertake such a long, difficult process w/out at least being aware of the risks and pitfalls associated w/ it.

/rant

/unsolicited advice from a stranger

Whatever you decide to do I wish you good luck.

[AntoineDufour]

Well I will take it step by step, and is something I really desire to do, to prove to myself I CAN, and also just to feel better about myself.

I been watching people like Eric, Berto, Paul, Kyle for awhile.. So I know what it takes.

Also that is why I am starting also with a good amount of cardio early since I don't mind and higher calories, and only decreasing when stalling.

28 weeks is the goal, but if it takes longer, it takes longer, That is why I said, there is no SET time.

I used to try and plan out stuff way in advanced and it made me go crazy at times, so now I am taking a more logical, and patient approach, and I want to enjoy the process.. not make it a struggle.

Thanks for the support!

[areya2005]

I think Britt nailed it. I don't think I need to go into each peril of contest prep, but if you're going to do this, SURROUND yourself with a support system who actually cares. And for others who may bring you down or stand in the way of achieving your goal, you may need to leave them behind until this is all over.

28 weeks is an extremely long time. I remember I even once broke down in tears in an emotional attack because I was so hungry, there wasn't anything I could eat at the house and the stores were closed. VERY irrational, but your hormones are just off.

[AntoineDufour]

Yea it will be hard at times, but I will try to enjoy it and not make it too difficult.If I need more time, so be it.. I want to enjoy it. Yea, I set a guideline but if I am not where I should be down the line I won't do anything ridiculous to get there in time.

28 weeks is just a goal I feel is reachable. We will find out I guess!

I have more than enough inspiration from seeing all the journals here, and that is all I need. As long as I enjoy the process, and not feel forced, I see no reason to feel bad about it

[AntoineDufour]

Day 2: Totals: 225/250/55 give or take.. might be slightly different

Chest:

Dumbell flat bench , I did these with medium/slow speed, not fast

80x5
80x5
80x4

Seated cable bench press

3 sets moderately heavy and made sure to squeeze hard each rep and focus on the muscle... felt great

Seated cable flyes

3 sets and same thing made sure to squeeze hard each rep


Workout was not that long, but it was plenty and felt real good + I needed to give my joints a slight rest.

45 mins cardio after the workout

[AntoineDufour]

Day 3: Total 225/250/55 give or take



I ordered a new digital scale.. so will start weighing in daily when it comes

[areya2005]

A bit of advice: Your cardio is incredibly high for someone who just started dieting. You'd be amazed at how quickly the body adapts, and if you keep up with that much cardio, it's going to consider that "normal." Let your diet take care of the deficit. Use cardio once you MUST.

[areya2005]

To be honest, I wouldn't do any more than 2 sessions at 20 minutes a piece to begin with. If you're serious about this, slow and steady will win this race. If not, no offence, but go post in the "Losing Fat" section. It seems to fit your mentality better.

[areya2005]

Alright....good luck losing that "last 20lbs."

[AntoineDufour]

ok well I guess I will take the advice and stop being stubborn and make cardio minimal for now, It is just old habits, and ways of thinking I guess.

So for now it is just 2400 225/250/55 and I will see where it takes me

Hopefully scale comes soon so I can start daily weigh ins

[areya2005]

What happened to the rest of the other posts?lol

Anyways, dial in the diet, then use cardio as a supplemental tool. If you stuck with your original plan of 45 minutes 5x per week, before you knew it, your body would have adapted and you needed to do more and more and more to get the same results.

Even DEEP into my prep, my cardio was around 25-30 minutes 3-4x a week.

[AntoineDufour]

deleted them lol, because it was repeating stuff anyways, Ok I will , like I said it is just an experimental prep, I wouldn't want to be pressured into a show, I want to learn from it, and then have a nice offseason. thanks for the advice/help appreciate it

[AntoineDufour]

Day 4:

Off to do legs.....feelin good!

I really appreciate the advice of the no cardio.. almost made a huge mistake I'm sure.. , oh well.. sometimes I can be stubborn, but at least I corrected before it was too late.

Hoping for a killer leg workout.. will post when done

[AntoineDufour]

Great workout.....

got there had to wait about 15 minutes for idiots doing shrugs in the squat racks.......and this guy took off weight, put it back, took off weight put it back, I was like ........are you serious? and he did 1/8 motion shrugs lol.

Anyways I stretched while he was doing that so no big deal..

Warmed up ..

did 255x3 Pause squats......this is too the ground pause and SLOWLY go up.. and keeping great form..and squeezing quads/glutes hard after each rep

then I did 225x5 slower and with a bigger pause..

and then I did

205x5 which felt like a feather and I paused even longer..

after that I did

leg extension.. 3 sets 12 reps.. holding each rep at top..this was brutal.. especially after the squats..

next was seated leg curls.. 3 sets 12 reps.. did these real slow..felt nice

finished up with leg press..

1 set 4 plates per side 30 reps..

I could have got more..but the goal was to exhaust the muscles not make me want to puke and crawl home.

Great workout.. !

I could probably squat a good amount more if I go to parellel but I feel this way is so much better.....and I constantly get stronger this way.. and I don't need to boost my ego so yea haha

Nutrition 225/250/55 or so again

[AntoineDufour]

Day 5:

Feeling great

Shoulders today I did

3 sets front raises w/ dumbells 30lbs 12 reps

3 sets front raises w/dumbells palms facing inwards 8 reps

3 sets side raises w/dumbells w/ turn at top 20lbs 12 reps

3 sets side raises with cable slow and fairly light holding after each rep 12 reps..

3 sets reverse fly 8 reps

3 sets alternate grip reverse fly.. light and focusing on feeling it

shoulder press machine 45 reps/12 reps/8 reps with 110lbs give or take and drop setted it

Shrugs 65 lbs 3 sets 8 reps focusing on slow and controlled form

Might seem like tons of volume but it isn't THAT bad

I can't do heavy presses because I dislocated my shoulder earlier in the year.. so I do this and it works much much better overall

Nutrition 225/250/55 again

Scale won't come till probably next week Monday, not a big deal.

[AntoineDufour]

Day 6:

Just a rest day today, boringg,

sticking to 225/250/55 again

[AntoineDufour]

Day 7:

Nutrition: 225/250/55

Arms

I been thinking, and 28 weeks probably won't be reachable for my goal. I don't want to rush the final product. It will take as long as it takes. I want to come in strong, and not weak, and starved.

The goal at least is to get relatively lean by end

I see so many people who succeeded, and it is because they put hard work, and patience.

Plan is probably to cut to pretty lean [7/8%] and then slowly, and smartly transition into a succesful offseason, staying lean. Then after that I will do a prep.

stay tuned, In time I will post progress pics

thanks!

[Webber91]

28 weeks is a hell of a lot of time man, you'd be surprised at the amount of changes you can make to your physique. I think you should just stick with it for a couple of months, maybe 12-16 weeks or so to see how much muscle you actually have on your frame. If you're looking extremely small, then re-evaluate, but you may even want to continue just to see how lean you can get. If you do back out, at least then you'll have a much leaner base to start off with which will make adding muscle much easier.

[AntoineDufour]

Hmm.. yea I will see how it goes I guess. I just don't want to rush it and lose strength/muscle. Once the scale comes , probably monday/tuesday... I will see how much I am actually losing weekly on the intake I am on now.

[AntoineDufour]

Day 8:

Back

Deadlifts: 315x8 , 315x5, 315x3

I did this very slow and controlled and made sure to contract the lats at top..

but...personal note for next time.. .. DON'T WORK FOREARMS DAY BEFORE... DEADLIFTS ..coulda done much better, ah well..

still felt good

Next I did standing lat pull down with 1 hand grip bar, but I used 2 hands on it... palms facing towards me..

Did whole stack 3 sets 12 reps.. really slow and controlled form.. felt good.

After that I did 3 sets 12 reps 90lbs with medium sized bar.. standing lat pulldown ..again slow and controlled

Then 3 sets 80lb dumbell rows 8 reps, hand resting on knee

Finished with some stretch work, basically flyes for back, I don't see many people do this[don't see many people do half the stuff I do but w/e, that's typical lol], but I don't care, I feel it tremendously, and my lats usually shake from it. It definetely helped with development 100%



Nutrition 225/250/55

[AntoineDufour]

Day 9: Chest, was an alright workout, not happy with strength but it was that type of day, next time I will make sure to hit some PRs.

Goin to change things up a bit.. experimenting, scale came, So I will start weighing daily.

[AntoineDufour]

Ok I got the scale, going to weigh in each day starting tommorow

I used to work out 7 days for awhile untill I switched to 5 days, and it still feels like too much, my body needs rest from the volume. My strength barely goes up anymore.. so I am going to give this a try . I hope to gain strength each week, but we will see. Reverse pyramid type training. Lowering intake but watchin rate of weight loss, if it is too much I will readjust, but I highly doubt that will be the case.

Day 1: Squats/Leg extension/Lunges
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Deadlifts/Seated Leg curl/Chin ups/Barbell Curls
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Dumbell Bench/Dips/Overhead Press
Day 7: Rest

[AntoineDufour]

Yea definetely like this split much better.. volume dropped a good amount but intensity is better.

Squats 240x5 [to the ground paused]
220x7

Leg Extension [slow with hold on top]
160x8
140x10

Lunges
30lb dumbellsx 7
20lb dumbells x5[shoulda done more but next time]

Despite being low volume my quads were really pumped,

I WILL add reps each workout, or up the weight.

I never really kept track of my lifts just had an estimate, will log all the lifts from now on

[AntoineDufour]

rested yesterday

Day 12:

Back: highlighs: pr on db rows 80x12 3 sets..up from 8 reps last week..

Didn't deadlift today because my hamstring was bothering me for some reason yesterday.. felt better today but no way am I gonna risk injury , but workout was really good still

feeling pretty good.. ill weigh in tommorow.. would have today but the scale needs batteries

[AntoineDufour]

All is going great, will update as time goes on more frequently. Been busy, once I get closer to the goal I'll log daily, but everything is definetely on track.