bada bing eh?
To be perfectly honest I think specific bodyparts are more prone to loss of mass on different folks during prep, and I think it has to do with where they flatten out, as prolonged low glycogen levels increase usage of amino acids as fuels, and I also think different training variables affect different body parts differently...so its hard to tease out...but I think the HIT style training I did with Jeff was bad mojo for my upper body, I got weaker up top, and stronger on the bottom there. And that was right before I started prep. I also think that the 3 4-5 week mini cuts I did every other month from april to october probbably didn't help...again...don't need to get to 220 lol, and lastly, I think low carb diets work for me but I have to be careful with them....and I think I'm going to keep in the bcaa between meal dosings next time I diet
to be perfectly honest I am not run down from dieting and I am plenty motivated, and I'm not that tempted by food to where I'm worried AT ALL about losing focus. This has everything to do with feeling like I accomplished a catharsis related to grieving for my father and its kind of throwing me for an emotional loop....the dieting and training has really not been bad at all.
My advice there is diet intelligently, stay on macros and "live the lifestyle" (whatever that means for you with a focus on BALANCE and being happy) in the offseason, and diet slow and don't rush the fat loss. I got shredded this year at the pace my body let me, and the offseason was just like the onseason, except onseason my numbers came down and cardio went up and volume of training fluctuated more.
I already posted what the new peak would be, even gave two options dude
oh and Todd if you can spot the gain of 6oz of bodyfat distributed over a 6 foot frame I'll give you a million dollars...by the time I can actually see the fat gain its a problem, I don't feel like making another 5 weeks of dieting harder on myself....the goal of a 2 week diet break is a mental break, metabolic rehab, put back on some muscle, gain minimal fat and set up the next phase of dieting: 1 step backward, 2-3 steps forward...I'd prefer not to take 2 steps backward to then have to kill myself to go 3 steps forward
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08-19-2011, 10:39 AM #2401
- Join Date: Jan 2005
- Location: North Shore City, Auckland, New Zealand
- Age: 41
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08-19-2011, 07:29 PM #2402
Intersting points you make on the training there Eric. I'm with you on balls to the wall failure not being optimal for my upper body at least. It's not a mindset thing as you have to give it your all for failure - but I just keep getting weaker on that sort of set up.
On the low carb thing, it's probably also a lifestyle factor as well as something that agree's with your body. Again, we can use Bert in this instance. Guy is dieting right now @ high 150's on what 3400kcal. Most people at that weight would get fat on those calories. His activity/whatever he does during the day is essentially just churning through the carbzorz. You haven't reported having high kcal requirements and all the academic work you do cannot be generating much in the way of NEAT, thus your body doesn't actually 'need' the carbs like his. Sometimes people get a little too fixated on how many carbs they 'can' fit in. I think you'll do great things working with a cycling approach to them come offseason. Even applying principles of UD 2.0 you can start to see little intricacies of such a plan. Does take some diligence on the complicated/nitpicky stuff like sticking to a true or close to true UD 2.0, and some people might not be able to/want to stick to such low carbs on some days. Again, where you talk about balance is good. A simple carb cycling approach could still be used and utilised for the proposed UD 2.0-esque benefits.
With BCAA's; to be honest, your protein intake in general was NOT high. 220 most of the time right? even in the face of low cals/carbs. Taking 175lbs that's only 1.25g/lb.
On prep, low cals/carbs, low bf% and for a guy who says he has a harder time losing bf, that's a touch low don't you think?
I've seen Lyle throw out 3.3g/kg for athletes and that's not dieting. For you that translates to like 265g protein. Or the old 1.5g/lb (260g)
Blade's recommendation for protein for those dieting who don't churn through carbs like madmen is 3.5-4g/kg. For you, 275-320g. Higher end obviously as one gets leaner and further under their setpoint making it harder to maintain.
...just a thought there.
Anyway, it's null void now - you got the pro card Congrats again buddy.
For the offseason, now more 200+ weigh ins?
Enjoy the diet break.
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08-19-2011, 09:11 PM #2403
- Join Date: Jan 2005
- Location: North Shore City, Auckland, New Zealand
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All really solid points, and my protein was 250 for the majority of my diet, and then we cut it to 220 for the last push, that being said in 09 my protein was at 265-275 for the entire diet until the last 2 months where it went to 225 I think, and the end phase was also where I lost some size...it was also when I stopped doing bcaa between meals...however, my sources are really high quality, but hey I think I will experiment with higher protein next time I diet down. I'll be doing my Masters thesis on this anyhow so hopefully I'll find some stuff out
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08-19-2011, 09:24 PM #2404
- Join Date: Jan 2005
- Location: North Shore City, Auckland, New Zealand
- Age: 41
- Posts: 17,227
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August 19th Day 217
Intro
Weight dropped a hair down to 177.2, but still up from the 176.8 I was maintaining for 3 days post show...so Berto wants to go one more day at 300g of carbs, if it doesn't dip back down he's thinking of tapering my carbs down. I'm kinda perpetually spilled over at this point so it's tough to say what my bodyfat is doing, but I certainly feel less lean. But, that's okay, a little backsliding in conditioning for the greater good is not a huge issue, we just don't want too much. Had a good leg workout today, but man my strength is meh...its definitely just in the last 3 weeks or so gotten very hit or miss. Focused on getting in some good volume on squats and then just some fast (well they were supposed to be lol) triples with decently heavy load for lower volume on deads.
Energy levels were good today, at work me and two other coworkers were messing around doing some olympic lifts, and I got some extra arm work in, and we also looked at my physique and decided the main thing I need to work on is lat width. So they set me up with a pull up program that is going to be pretty bad ass, we talked about the biomechanics of the pull up and how if you have handles that allow rotation your body will naturally put you in a ROM and pattern that recruits the lats nicely, anyways, more on that when I actually start the offseason in October. So yeah, at work I got in 3 sets of bis tris, a bunch of full cleans and a snatch or two and even a set of bench for fun lol, with like 145 nothing heavy.
Nutrition
50/300/220
Training
Lower Strength (warm ups excluded)
A1 Squats
365 x 3
345 x 3
335 x 3 (5 sets)
B1 Sumo Deadlifts
405 x 3 (3 sets)
B2 Calf Raise
290 x 7 (3 sets)
Messing Around at Work
Bench 145 x 12
Full Cleans 60kg x 3 (3 sets?)
DB Bicep Curls, both arms simultaneous
35's x 10, 10, 8
DB Skullcrushers
35's x 8, 8, 7
40kg Muscle Snatch, once lol
Debrief
Jeff and Paul Alberts on the same stage tomorrow with Luis Stoner at the NPC Modesto show I can't wait!
http://www.microgiving.com/profile/erichelms
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08-20-2011, 06:18 AM #2405
- Join Date: Jan 2002
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08-20-2011, 07:13 AM #2406
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08-20-2011, 09:16 AM #2407
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08-20-2011, 08:31 PM #2408
- Join Date: Sep 2008
- Location: Minnesota, United States
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Just wanted to point out that Im not so convinced NEAT does THAT much in terms of metabolism and carb requirements. Im a full time student and currently on summer break. Im really not THAT active, although some days get ridiculous, most days im sitting most of the day. Im currently 7 weeks outs at 160, started my diet in may, and the guys just had to drop my carbs below 400/day to 375. Although my protein and fat and muscle mass is lower the say albertos, Its still very individual and I think keeping them as high as YOU can should be a priority for anti-catabolic and performance reasons. Just to be clear, Im not saying that if I worked an overly active job and had a much higher activity level that Id be on the same diet, obviously it would be higher... Just my 2 cents
Only the beginning...
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08-22-2011, 09:51 AM #2409
- Join Date: Feb 2007
- Location: Carmichael, California, United States
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08-22-2011, 10:18 AM #2410
- Join Date: Jan 2002
- Location: Hayward, California, United States
- Age: 41
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Yeah something don't make sense, but NEAT does go a long way. I find the more I sit down and I will go through streaks were I have 8 hour desk days, the twitchier I get. Its a subconscious thing, and if other people didn't point it out to me I would have never noticed. I don't ever really get into that Eeyore the donkey mode when dieting, but most people do, but they just don't realize it. So NEAT will basicaly come from two things that we do outside the gym. The physical activity we outside of training we partake in, for example if you are a mailman, and the other stuff we do without realizing. Hence I am sitting here typing this acting like music is playing, but there really isn't.
100% Natural Bodybuilding!
http://www.3dmusclejourney.com/
Where there are no men be a man.
Even a genius asks questions.
Knowledge is the child of confusion.
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06-10-2014, 10:07 AM #2411
- Join Date: Apr 2010
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Posts: 11
- Rep Power: 0
Eric were you taking any bcaa's before the morning MISS/LISS? I've noticed that Brad mentions in his newest log that the 3DMJ stubborn fat protocol includes 5g bcaa with the yohimbine and caffeine 30 mins prior to morning cardio. I wasn't sure if this is something you guys have changed since this journal.
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06-10-2014, 10:17 AM #2412
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06-10-2014, 11:07 AM #2413
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