DJaRiHardstyle's 2nd Contest Prep

[DJaRiHardstyle]

It's been way too long since I've posted anything. So, with my contest prep starting officially, although I've unofficially been dieting for almost two weeks already, I figured what better time than now to start logging again?

Brief introduction:
My name's Ari. I'm 20 years old, a rising senior (technically 2nd semester junior, actually) in college, majoring in Health Sciences and aiming to become a Registered Dietitian working in a clinical setting. I've competed in one bodybuilding show and three powerlifting meets. I write nutrition articles and am the Features editor of my school's newspaper, I was the president of the Powerlifting team (which I'm trying to start up again next semester), and I'm soon-to-be the risk manager of my fraternity. That's really all I need to say, as these tend to get drawn out and uninteresting.

The show:
My last show was a small USBF one with very few competitors actually showing up. While that was a great environment to get my feet in the water and see what needed to be done moving forward, I'm now more interested in actually having some competition. The show this time around is an OCB show in MD on August 20th, 2016 (for those reading the log much later) -- that's just a little over 15 weeks from today. As the title suggests, I will be doing it with my dad, and the idea is still pretty crazy to me, but we both love the sport/lifestyle and are pretty committed to it. We'll both be running UD2, eating similar foods, taking the same supplements, etc. etc.

As I just got back home from college for summer break, precise dieting hasn't really been a thing up until recently. My dad and I start our 1st round of UD2 (we'll have time for about 3 rounds with 1wk breaks in between) on Sunday, which is in 3 days. I've run it once before, over winter break, and think it's a great way to go about dieting down to lean levels when time isn't exactly on your side.

I will try to post something daily, but we'll have to see.

I will start this off in the next post with my first official log entry of prep. I'm sure I left out a ton in this introduction, but who actually reads these anyway?

So to the guys who followed my previous contest prep log, welcome back! And to those who have not, it's great to have you! Now it's time for me to start following everyone else again.

LET'S KILL THIS PREP!!

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Thursday, May 5th, 2016 (15 weeks out)
Weight: 191.6 (As of April 26th)
Diet: 206c/59f/259p

Technically, I'm writing this on the 6th, but as I wanted to include today's training in today's log, I figured I'd throw all this into yesterday's log and then crank one out tonight. For that reason, tonight's log (so, the one after this) will be relatively short and succinct.

Training: Lower body (Deadlifts, 4 set depletion practice)

Deadlift
(355 x 3) x 5 [add straps at set 3]
*Super easy; these were the prescribed deload weights for DL for last week of Average to Savage*

Reverse sled drag
6 plates x 1
(7 plates x 1) x 2
8 plates x 1
*Just doing these as a substitution for heavy squats, which my injured knee still won't allow*

Kneeling cable crunch
88 x 15, 6, 5, 5
*Still using myoreps on working sets of isolation exercises*

Seated calf raise
2 plates x 15, 5, 5, 5

Depletion sets practice:
-Leg press x 15 x 4
-Lying leg curl x 15 x 4
-Kneeling cable crunch x 15 x 4
-Seated calf raise x 15 x 4
*These are just part of Lyle's "break-in" program, to prepare you for the depletion sets on Sundays and Mondays*

-As you can see, even though I'm using Lyle's suggested 2 week break-in program, from his UD2 Addendum, I'm still using Average to Savage for my big lifts. It ends after my OHP session today, though, and then I dive headfirst into the program as written.
-On that note, while not training-related, my diet is not exactly what he suggests. Instead of sticking to maintenance, since I'd been in a slight caloric deficit before starting the break-in program anyway, I've been slowly ramping down carbs (and fat, to some extent). I'm currently taking in right at around 200-225g.

-The reverse sled drags will serve as my substitution for heavy squats on the power days of this program. It's worth mentioning, too, that due to my dad's inability to train on Tuesdays, we've pushed the entire diet plan back a week (so, it starts on Sundays, not Mondays).
-The quadriceps tendonitis has not gone away completely; I had been testing squats, keeping them in for a while on Average to Savage, until slight annoyances in that region went right back to debilitating pain. Talked to my neurokinetic therapist, who I've been working on with this for quite a while, and she says I need to get imaging done so we can address this appropriately. Until then, heavy knee extension lifts are more or less out of the question.

Thoughts:
-Starting Saturday morning, I want to go back to weighing myself daily, immediately upon waking, so that I can take averages from the week and put those up every Sunday morning (the day our UD2 weeks begin).

-Being back at home is usually pretty boring... I'm not in contact with most of my high school friends anymore, my ex who lives in MD is, obviously, now my ex and going to see her often isn't really a thing any longer (which was kind of what got me through intense weeks of dieting on UD2 over the winter), I can't really go out and drink with my friend from my fraternity who happens to live right by me (because drinking is a damn hard thing to fit into a contest prep), I don't have a car, and I don't really have much to do with my time. Goal is just to not stress out about that, try and chill with whoever's around, spend this time working on some aspects of my life that merit improvement (getting back into routine MBR, cutting some negative elements out of my life, etc.).

Progress pictures: (Taken April 26th)

Thought this might serve as a nice little reference point moving forward. I'm feeling pretty good about physique so far; while I haven't been able to apply the dietary strictness, training intensity, and other details I would've liked (college gets in the way), I'm still starting this prep at a morning weight of over 190 (vs. the 180 starting weight for my show 3.5 years ago) at a much lower BF than last time. Still suboptimal leanness coming into a contest prep, but I trust the process and am willing to give 110% to this. As my dad put it: worst comes to worst, we both get freaky lean for the summer and don't do the show. But I'm set on making this happen.

[TGreggors]

In. You've made a ton of progress

[DJaRiHardstyle]

In. You've made a ton of progress

Much appreciated man, you're looking awesome for 6 weeks out! Glad to have you again, and yes I was referring to Devils hahaha.

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Friday, May 6th, 2016 (15 weeks out)
Diet: 202c/57f/237p

Just one more day left until 1st cycle of UD2 begins. Still tossing around ideas for how to run our UD2 cycles for the 15 weeks leading up to the show, but right now what seems most logistical is doing 4 weeks on, 1 off, 4 on, 1 off, 5 on (with the last week or 2 weeks switching back to Lyle's normal day template so that we wake up Sat morning looking full and lean, although some manipulation will definitely be warranted so as to prevent the risk of spilling over that such a drastic carb-up presents).

Picked up SF jello today and immediately realized I'm going to be living off this stuff until August hahaha. 0g sugar, tastes great, although obviously it doesn't leave a dent, satiety-wise. Maybe some diet sodas too and whatnot, idk. My dad prefers to eat a lot cleaner, which is probably a good thing, as our goal as of now is to carb up on unrefined starches like Russet potatoes, pasta, white rice, etc. with the obvious bagel binge, and our low carb days are going to include lots of dark green, fibrous veggies and varied lean protein sources. Nice thing is he's a pretty good cook, so I don't have to rely solely on my own piss-poor cooking.

Put the order in earlier today for a bunch of supplements for this cut. Specifically (and don't chastise me, I like to bro out from time to time):
-BCAAs (Xtend) for something to sip throughout the day
*Not taken during depletion workouts, as I'm under the impression there's a CHANCE BCAA intake could signal to the brain to stave off glycogenolysis in muscle*
-High EPA/DHA fish oil (NOW), as I'm running low and Lyle's one supplement requirement is 6g fish oil a day
-Dextrose (NOW) for PWO on the carb-load
-Greens powder (Ultimate Nutrition) just as something to sip on and put something in my stomach on low carb days with no calories, a nice "insurance" for phytochemicals and micronutrients
*Again, I won't be taking these during low-carb, or any workouts really, as anti-oxidant intake during or post-exercise is probably pretty counterintuitive*
-Multi (NOW's ADAM), I've been out of these for a minute and I'm going to want this as I start starving myself

Besides, what better time than during a potentially boring next ~16-17 weeks spent at home (see last post for why this is going to be so boring), hungry as all get-out, to start buying and testing out supplements?

Still trying to get something done over the summer, though. I'll probably be shadowing a nutrition counseling service at a USAPL-recognized facility (it has quality equipment for personal training, the NKT I get done every now and then, and, lo and behold, nutrition counseling!) for at least one session, but I also want something semi-regular I can do to get a bit more experience under my belt in the nutrition field. My mom has gotten me in contact with a reporter who collects stories on health matters, and the woman got back to me with interest, although that's admittedly not what I was going for and may not even play out to involve me doing any writing or anything. We'll see, though, the search is still on!

Training: Upper body (OHP max, 4 set depletion practice)

OHP
135 x 1
155 x F
*If I were still balls deep into my powerlifting-specific training, I'd be a lot more butthurt over this than I am now. Kinda sucks having my OHP not move up at all in years, but that's also not exactly my goal right now, especially with my left trap acting up constantly, as it did throughout this workout.*

ST incline chest press
1 plate x 20, 5, 4, 4
*ST = Star Trac, although I constantly mix them up with Hammer Strength, which I'm a much bigger fan of and have been abbreviating as HS thru-out my notes, even when using these. If I mix them up, my sincerest apologies.*

Pull-ups - angled, neutral medium grip
BW x 12, 2, 2, 2

Overhead rope triceps extension
31.5 x 20, 6, 4, 4, 4

BB curl
95 x 7, 2, 1, 1

Depletion sets practice:
-ST pec deck x 15 x 4
-ST lat pulldown x 15 x 4
-ST lateral raise machine x 10 x 1 --> Left trap started acting up way too much to keep on going
-ST dip machine x 15 x 4
-ST curl machine x 15 x 4

-So, left trap was bothering me quite a bit again. This is going to be a constant struggle, in terms of figuring out what I can and can't do for training it here on out.

-These were all pretty grueling, and the low-carb days haven't even started yet. But doing this with my dad, and lifting with him, definitely helps me get that rush to keep pushing.

Goals for tomorrow:
Thought rather than just reiterating thoughts I'd already started to put in the intro of these logs, I might as well use this space to establish some goals for the next day. They could be concrete or abstract, doesn't really the matter; the end result is to hold myself accountable to getting some stuff done even when I'm not at school being forced to get it done.

Not quite sure whether I want to dedicate an entire section to telling whether or not I actually hit the previous day's goals, as I'll probably just mention it in the intro, but we'll see how this goes. Anyhow, here goes:

1. Start weighing myself daily, starting tomorrow AM.
2. Get a mother's day present finally (I have the corny card, which is half the battle).
3. Clean up my room (it looks like a tornado struck due to my inability to finish unpacking, and I've always noticed an orderly living space leads to an orderly mind.)
4. Final HIIT cardio session (won't have the necessary fuel to do these effectively once I start UD2, although I may be able to fit one in over the weekends, when I still have carbs in me from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM's carb-up).

[Kameronn]

Looking forward to the gains in this log mayne! My next meet is August 14th, so we'll be struggling together to get through our preps, no matter how different they are. What flavor BCAAS are you using? I'm using the same brand and loving the green apple. Also, how do you like the Dextrose? Do you notice a difference?

I expect great things in this log. Keep it up!

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Looking forward to the gains in this log mayne! My next meet is August 14th, so we'll be struggling together to get through our preps, no matter how different they are. What flavor BCAAS are you using? I'm using the same brand and loving the green apple. Also, how do you like the Dextrose? Do you notice a difference?

I expect great things in this log. Keep it up!

Heyy, what's good? Your squat's getting mighty impressive haha. I put an order in for the Blue Raspberry. Safe, I know, but it's the only flavor I've ever got from them and it's absolutely 10/10. It's been a while since I've used dextrose, tbh, but I don't recall any noticeable differences. It'll probably be a bit easier to take note of when I'm in a caloric deficit and nutrient partitioning becomes that much more important. Glad to have you in!

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Saturday, May 7th, 2016 (15 weeks out)
Weight: 185.6
Diet: 344c/111f/234p [+54 fiber]

**The goal is to "know" my body by the time the final cycle rolls around**
Nice to see the weight down 6 lbs. since about 1.5 weeks ago, even though working with Izzy has taught me better than to look at day-to-day weight changes without averaging things out. As such, I will be keeping track of average weekly weight from here on out, although I'll be posting my AM weight daily, as UD2's characteristically huge fluctuations in carb intake render day-to-day weight fluctuations a little more worthy of noting, in that looking at weight jumps from Wed AM to Thurs AM (midway thru carb-up) to Fri AM (when you should theoretically wake up looking full and dry) one week vs. the next could clue me in to what exact carb intake and even food combinations work best for me. The goal is to, come the 3rd and last cycle, have these variables down pat and know exactly (as Lyle gives ranges and rough estimates for most of the numbers) how much of each macronutrient to eat each day, which foods to go to (i.e. which foods I carb-up on best, which complex carbs I respond to best, in terms of digestibility and whatnot, etc.).

Also, I want to have training down pat as well. While Lyle doesn't exactly emphasize specific progression protocols for the training routine included in UD2, and only really says to worry about progressing on the power workout, I do have a tentative 4 week progression scheme in mind for this day that I threw together using Prilepin's chart and whatnot. It's only in place for the deadlift, flat bench, and OHP and looks like this:

Week 1
6 reps @ 80%

Week 2
5 reps @ 82%

Week 3
4 reps @ 85%

Week 4
3 reps @ 88%

Then, I increase bench and OHP max by 5 lbs. and DL max by 10 lbs. I can spend the week-long break "deloading" a bit before starting the cycle over (this effectively makes peak week, even though I tentatively have it planned as being the 5th concurrent week of UD2 - only cycle we extend that long - a "deload" week, which is a perfect way to go into the show).

The sets vary from exercise to exercise, but I believe I so far have planned that I'll be doing 3 sets for DL, 3 sets for flat bench, and 2 sets for OHP. I purposefully kept intensity low (also keep in mind this is for multiple sets, as I just said) b/c A) I'll be dieted and that's an important variable to keep in consideration and B) it allows for mobility in terms of keeping progression going without stalling too soon. I may at some point implement a scheme for other lifts, but I also don't want to set myself up for failure; the reality is that you can't progress on everything each week.

**Legs are a big priority this time around**
Speaking of goals, both my dad and I really want to focus on coming into this show with the most impressive legs we can. That's a huge one for me, as legs are a glaring weak point. The increased frequency should help with that a lot, but I'll be keeping a close eye on that moving forward, to make sure I'm never putting too much work into my upper body and not enough into my lower body.

**Had my "last supper(s)" today**
So my macros today look pretty high, which is because I used this day to eat some foods I won't really get to eat on the diet. Tried not to go too overboard, but I did end up having 4 slices of large pizza and 2 breadsticks for dinner lol. Here's 2 pics from my snapchat story:





Training: HIIT (Stationary bike)

3 min warm-up
7 sprints (Scheme: 1:40 low-resistance and light pace, 0:20 high-resistance and all-out sprint)
3 min cool-down

Goals for tomorrow:

Accomplished all of my goals for today, except did a pretty piss poor job of cleaning my room. Boring goals for tomorrow, but here they are:

1. Finish cleaning my room (earlier in day).
2. Start a book, maybe.

So, tomorrow my dad and I officially start the diet. I'll be getting lunch with my mom and brother for Mother's Day, so there comes the first test lol.

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Sunday, May 8th, 2016 [UD2 C1W1D1]
(15 weeks out)
Weight: 188.0
Diet: 75c/30f/245p [+17 fiber]

**Left trap is absolutely killing me**
Throughout tonight's workout (which I'll go into more detail about below), my left trap was acting up like CRAZY. Really bummed about it, b/c not only does it limit the amount of upper back, rear delt, shoulder pressing, or DL work I can do (among other things), but the act of worrying about it and constantly having that in the back of my mind really takes a hit on the intensity I'm able to apply to my workouts. Need to somehow get this figured out, but so far not even my NKT has been able to help me with it. Might require some time off of DLs and OHP for a while, unfortunately. One big thing I want to get done soon is to have a mobility/stretching routine down that I can do daily, because injury prevention is huge; not to mention, that should aid in building/maintaining muscle greatly.

**Improving myself daily**
So one big thing I've had on my mind and really want to put into action this summer is to somehow work on improving myself each day. I'm going into this prep with a lot of baggage (some mental health stuff that's crept back into the limelight as of recent, my natural irritability even without the diet, my isolationist tendencies and negative thinking, so on and so forth), and the last thing I want is to return to campus in the fall having spent the summer doing nothing but sitting at home all day, obsessing over prep and brooding over the food I can't eat, while just becoming even more irritable and anxious.

Not quite sure of how I'm going to do this, nor do I think a cute "30 day challenge" is necessary per se, but I have some things written down that I want to make a point of working on over the summer, some big ones being getting back to doing regular MBR, doing some more reading, and spending less time in front of the computer.

**Work this summer**
If I haven't discussed it already, I've been scrambling recently to find an online summer course my school will actually accept to fill the void left by this past semester's 3 course load (Advanced Nutrition and Anatomy proved to be too much for me to excel in them in the context of a full 4-course semester). I've just been made aware of at least one pilot online course the school is offering, so I e-mailed the professor about that and am waiting to hear back.

I've also been reaching out to dietitians, both in firms and private practice, about potential shadowing opportunities. I still have the shadowing for this nutrition counseling at the USAPL-recognized facility near me coming up, but the more the merrier (both in terms of filling up my time and racking up experience). We shall see on that as well!

**Intense dizzy spells - very concerning**
Final thing before I get into the 1st workout of UD2 is that for about a month and a half, I've been getting progressively more intense dizzy spells. I'll get them about once a day really bad, where everything starts spinning and I lose all grounding, but I've also been noticing more and more that I just feel off balance and dizzy just walking around. It's extremely unsettling and I'm making a doctor's appointment for it tomorrow.

Training: Full body depletion 1

Leg press
(3 plates x 15) x 3

Lying leg curl
60 x 20
75 x 17
75 x 15

Seated calf raise
1 plate +25 x 15
1 plate x 15
1 plate x 20

Adductor machine
100 x 20

Ab machine (Technogym)
80 x 20
120 x 17
120 x 15

Incline chest press machine (plate-loaded)
1 plate x 20
1 plate x 15
1 plate x 11 -> 25 x 6

Cable row
143 x 17
143 x 12 -> 121 x 3
121 x 15

Leg extensions (Hoist)
65 x 15
65 x 20
85 x 20

Lying leg curl
(70 x 20) x 2
70 x 15

Adductor machine
120 x 20

Seated calf raise
(1 plate x 20) x 3

Ab machine (Hoist)
185 x 20
185 x 15
*Started aggravating my left trap, so I switched back to Technogym*
120 x 20

Pec deck
90 x 20
90 x 15
90 x 11
*Again, left trap started freaking out so I called it quits after that set of 11*

Row machine (plate-loaded)
(1 plate x 15) x 2
1 plate x 12 -> 25 x 5

-First UD2 depletion workout in the books. Feels pretty good, and my dad and I were able to push each other throughout the entire thing and were pretty time efficient (rest was just as long as it took the other person to finish their set).

-We'll see how things fare out in terms of my left trap tomorrow, but if it stays like it's feeling tonight, I might have to cut out back and shoulder exercises. Huge bummer, but I have to think long-term here.

Goals for tomorrow:

Didn't accomplish either of my goals for today (nice!), so I'll keep those down here, plus another.

1. Finish cleaning my room (earlier in day).
2. Start a book.
3. Start back up with 20 minutes MBR a day (in the morning, ideally).

[NaturalPursuit]

IN for this brother!

[IK9]

You've put on some mass.. I'll be following!

[DJaRiHardstyle]

IN for this brother!

Awesome to have you in here, that just means for motivation to step my game up haha.

You've put on some mass.. I'll be following!

Much appreciated brother, following you as well!

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Monday, May 9th, 2016 [UD2 C1W1D2]
(15 weeks out)
Weight: 186.8
Diet: 75c/29f/244p [+17 fiber]

**Dieting is 80% thinking you can do it**
Before I start blabbing on about myself, I thought this might be a pretty helpful video for anyone else dieting. I came across this a while ago, but on the drive back from the gym, listening to my dad and myself complaining about how low on energy we already are 2 days into the diet kind of brought this back to the forefront of my mind.



tl;dw - A huge part of conquering any tough diet is not resigning yourself to the notion that "well, since I'm dieting, I'm inevitably going to get weaker." While that's admittedly much easier said than done, finding some way to keep up the intensity and reject the tendency to expect negative outcomes is massively important for retaining muscle during a cut, especially one as drastic as a contest prep.

**Update on summer work**
So, to update on the developments since yesterday, the prof of the pilot online course has forwarded my e-mail requesting to enroll to the registrar, so if the class does happen, I'll be in it. That would obviously be a huge weight off my shoulders, so we'll see. One of the dietitians I reached out to also responded to me today and said if I could come in for an interview and to go over some HIPAA-related matter (obviously private dietitian work is fairly confidential), I could probably shadow a few appointments. Very happy about how all of this is playing out!

**1/2 my supplements are in**
So 1/2 of the supplements I ordered just came in. The other half, for one reason or another, missed the shipment and just now got shipped. Oh well, a few days without a "Cyclone shaker cup," multis, or greens isn't going to kill me lol. For pretty visual purposes, here's what came in today:



It's been a long while since I've had Xtend, and it's not quite as good as I remember (could be a slightly different formula), but still delicious. I'll probably throw that in my intra-workout for tension and power workouts. Always nice to stock up on Omega-3 fish oils as well, considering Lyle prescribes 6 a day as a requirement.

**Article on my findings on IF**
So I've decided I'm going to crank out an article, probably tomorrow and Wednesday, that basically summarizes my findings on IF's effects on weight loss vs. traditional CR in that huge research paper I did for Advanced Nutrition. Think that could be interesting and maybe helpful to some, so I'll definitely share it here!

Training: Full body depletion 2

Leg press
3 plates x 15
(3 plates x 20) x 2

Seated leg curl
80 x 20
(80 x 15) x 2

Calf press (on leg press sled)
(3 plates x 20) x 2
3 plates x 15

Incline chest press machine (plate-loaded)
25+10 x 20
(25+10 x 15) x 2

Cable lat pulldown
(88 x 20) x 2
88 x 15

Rope pressdown (cable machine in astroturf area - no back support)
90 x 20
120 x 20
120 x 10 -> 100 x 5

Straight-bar cable curl (cable machine in astroturf area)
90 x 20
(110 x 20) x 2

Seated leg extensions (Hoist)
85 x 20
85 x 15
85 x 20

Lying leg curl
70 x 20
(80 x 15) x 2

Calf press (on leg press sled)
3 plates x 17
(3 plates x 15) x 2

Flat chest press machine (Hoist)
105 x 20
125 x 15
125 x 11 -> 115 x 4

Lat pulldown (Hoist)
(105 x 20) x 2
85 x 15

Dip machine (Hoist)
125 x 20
(145 x 20) x 2

Curl machine (plate-loaded)
10 x 20
10 x 15
5 x 20

-A lot of annoyance coming from this left trap. Replaced the machine lateral raises and face pulls we had planned to do with chest. I'm setting up another app't with my NKT for this, and this time I really want to leave her office knowing how to deal with this moving forward (sessions are hella expensive as is).

-My dad and I both hit the wall right around that flat chest press exercise. This diet's taking a toll already but, as Loomis alluded to in the video, we can't afford to have a self-defeating attitude this early in prep.

Goals for tomorrow:

This whole cleaning my room thing is proving 10x harder than I had anticipated. I guess the insane amounts of work and studying I've had leading up to summer break are finally paying their toll. Energy is not exactly through the roof, lol. Still managed to clean it up a bit and got some MBR done, but the book thing has yet to happen.

1. ACTUALLY finish cleaning my room.
2. Full 20 minutes of MBR (get in the routine).
3. Crank out the IF article.

[Kameronn]

Great watch man. Ever since I saw the Izzy's video on how to gain strength on a cut I've subscribed to this belief 100%. It's a mental battle more than anything - I've seen lifters gain strength on a massive cut and experienced it myself, all though I'm not a super advanced lifter, I'm sure there is always something to value when thinking about psychology in lifting, especially in the bodybuilding world. Great to see you realizing what you were doing and correcting it. Srs, love coming in here and gaining value from this log haha. Keep it up.

[TGreggors]

Have tried really hard to keep that video that Loomis put out in the forefront of my mind throughout my prep. You can maintain so much of your performance if you fight like hell

[NaturalPursuit]

Great watch man. Ever since I saw the Izzy's video on how to gain strength on a cut I've subscribed to this belief 100%. It's a mental battle more than anything - I've seen lifters gain strength on a massive cut and experienced it myself, all though I'm not a super advanced lifter, I'm sure there is always something to value when thinking about psychology in lifting, especially in the bodybuilding world. Great to see you realizing what you were doing and correcting it. Srs, love coming in here and gaining value from this log haha. Keep it up.

THANK YOU!!!

I couldnt agree more…everything thinks you cannot gain strength during a prep which is ludicrous

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Great watch man. Ever since I saw the Izzy's video on how to gain strength on a cut I've subscribed to this belief 100%. It's a mental battle more than anything - I've seen lifters gain strength on a massive cut and experienced it myself, all though I'm not a super advanced lifter, I'm sure there is always something to value when thinking about psychology in lifting, especially in the bodybuilding world. Great to see you realizing what you were doing and correcting it. Srs, love coming in here and gaining value from this log haha. Keep it up.

Have tried really hard to keep that video that Loomis put out in the forefront of my mind throughout my prep. You can maintain so much of your performance if you fight like hell

THANK YOU!!!

I couldnt agree more…everything thinks you cannot gain strength during a prep which is ludicrous

EXACTLY. Fortunately the whole "high reps when cutting, low reps when bulking" mindset (along with the static bulk/cut model in general) has become such a thing of the past, it's now fair game for click bait articles and YouTube videos playing devil's advocate. i.e. an article titled "Why high reps during a cut and low reps during a bulk might actually be a good idea!"

My point, if I had one in the 1st place, being that this mentality of "dieting = bland foods, bad moods, and crappy workouts" is next on the chopping block.

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Tuesday, May 10th, 2016 [UD2 C1W1D3]
(14.5 weeks out)
Weight: 186.8
Diet: 77c/30f/250p [+19 fiber]

**Accidentally getting my cardio in... wut do**
My dad and I had agreed to minimize cardio during this first cycle so that we have room to play with things when the next cycle strolls around. However, I opted to include cardio once a week still, as having only 15 weeks and starting from a less-than-ideal BF% doesn't give me the kind of leg room I would've liked. So I decided I'd keep Wednesday AMs in for fasted cardio (as that's the point when you're as glycogen depleted as you'll be and so fasted cardio may have some slight hormonal advantages which obviously aren't as prevalent in an individual running a more conventional diet).

But I ended up doing a ton of walking today, half of it spent shopping (if I didn't know better, I'd be fully convinced I'm a woman based off how much I enjoy this). Sooo now I'm wondering if I should even keep tomorrow's AM cardio session in. I probably will and, unless weight is dropping like crazy, I'll probably increase cardio to 2x a week at the 2-week mark. I just really want to step on stage a ton leaner than I was last show.

**2nd half of my supplements just came in... aaand my closet is now better stocked than the local supplement shop. srs**
Finally.



The vegetable greens shake was just something I figured I'd buy to try it out. Has a ton of great stuff in it, even including some EFAs and protein (so yes, it has to be factored into your diet). That said, it tastes like grass, very unsettling.
Pumped to try out the Cyclone shaker cup tomorrow.

**Box squats.... why didn't I think of this before?**
So it just hit me last night, during the ~6 month period leading up to my last meet (the push/pull one), I used box squats (under Izzy's guidance) as a method of training around my knee injury. I was able to do those, granted it was with a safety squat bar, virtually pain free. So I'm thinking I'll implement those again for the power workouts. There goes that concern!

**Update on IF article**
I still really want to get another article out, but sitting and trying to work further on the article I had been slaving away at for about 2 months' time (with a ton of work put into it at the end) has so far not proven to be too fruitful. It's just draining, but I'll give it another try tomorrow.

**Helms' Muscle & Strength Pyramid books**
Just bit the bullet and bought them. So far reading thru the Nutrition one (obviously) and I'm loving it. Will give more of an in-depth review for each once I finish them. Definitely stuff I'll be doing for my offseason after this show.

Goals for tomorrow:

I've decided the amount of cleaning I got done today, while minimal, is sufficient for now. Beyond this, it's just finding crevices to shove my shoes into and throwing more stuff into my already jampacked closet. ...Wow, never would have thought I'd be discussing the state of my room's cleanliness in so much detail on a bodybuilding forum. The MBR didn't happen, plain and simple. It's proving very difficult to motivate myself to do even basic things these days... hopefully I'll learn to work thru this, b/c if this is only going to get worse, I'm in for a rough ~14.5 more weeks.

1. 20 minutes of MBR.
2. Read a bunch more of Helm's M&S Nutrition book.

[TGreggors]

GAAAAAHHHH so jelly of you having those books. I've been wanting them for a long time. Excited to hear what you think of them.

[jpfaherty]

I got a lot of catching up to do but its nice to have you back in the CP section!

PS - Tinder could keep ya busy for the summer

[DJaRiHardstyle]

GAAAAAHHHH so jelly of you having those books. I've been wanting them for a long time. Excited to hear what you think of them.

Definitely make the purchase if you're considering it. Have only peaked into the training one so far, but both are extremely insightful and user-friendly. Would be great investments in terms of coming up with a post-contest nutrition and training strategy.

I got a lot of catching up to do but its nice to have you back in the CP section!

PS - Tinder could keep ya busy for the summer

I actually just re-downloaded it. So far not looking so good... either the "like limit" thing is making girls more selective with their swipes or I've gotten uglier with my old age. Both very likely realities lmao. Glad to have you back in, my man!

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Wednesday, May 11th, 2016 [UD2 C1W1D4]
(14.5 weeks out)
Weight: 186.0
Diet: AM: 49c/18f/181p [+11 fiber]

**Babby's 1st carb load of prep = tired and SpaceCadetMode.exe**
So the macros listed were what I ate prior to the 30c/15p pre-workout meal Lyle outlines. Needless to say, many egg beaters, turkey breast patties, protein shakes, and veggies were had. Got my AM cardio session in at 30min low-moderate intensity (reading about this a ton in Helms' book... excited to implement a lot of the factors that don't interfere w/UD2 during prep and then a lot more of them post-contest).

The lift was exhausting, as it was the first one I've ever done correctly, in that I saved the big PWO carb shake for after the lift, rather than during. In an attempt to be more time efficient and think I could run the program, my first time mind you, better than Lyle wrote it, my first cycle ended up with me entirely defeating the purpose of the tension workout: to deplete the last bit of muscle glycogen still left and provide an immediate signal to increase insulin sensitivity in the muscle. Doing it all right this time, which I'll get to in more detail once I'm coherent.

Anyways, my dad and I drove back home both wiped from the lift and ready for our carb loads (the macros and chunk of the discussion of which will be in Thursday's log). Eating so many carbs in such a short period of time when we were already tired just did wonders, for me at least, to get me all nice and ready to call it a night. I'm now officially in space cadet mode and my mind is on another planet (also just took my sleep medication and a muscle relaxer, so I'm not quite sure how much of a human I am at this current time). I'll make the rest of this concise, and I'll get to more of the specifics tomorrow.

Training:
AM Cardio
30min low-moderate intensity

Tension (PM)

Leg press
(4 plates x 12) x 2

RDL - belted + straps
(275 x 8) x 2

Hack squat - close stance, focus on VLOs (Freemotion)
100 x 12
140 x 12

Seated leg curl
90 x 12
110 x 11

Seated calf raise
(2 plates x 12) x 2

Calf press - on leg press sled
(4 plates x 12) x 2

Kneeling cable crunch
88 x 12
93 x 12

BB decline bench
185 x 7
155 x 12
*First time doing this in ~2 years; felt awkward on my traps and shoulders, so might have to switch it out next time*

Row machine - plate-loaded
(1 x 12) x 2

Incline DB press
(60 x 12) x 2

Lat pulldown machine - plate-loaded
1 plate +10 x 12
1 plate +25 x 12

Unilateral cable lateral raises - in astroturf area
(20 x 12) x 2

V-bar pressdown
(71.5 x 12) x 2

DB cross-body hammer curls
25 x 12
*Both my dad and I found these put our shoulders in unnecessarily painful positions, so we each switched to our own respective favored bro exercise, mine being...*

DB concentration curls
20 x 12

Goals for tomorrow:

Need to find a way to actually go about getting this MBR done. Usually when I put it in the morning, it's easy and it gets done, but with the diet, first thing on my mind in the morning these days is weighing myself and then stuffing my face. Might have to just find a better time for it; nonetheless, it remains on here.

I was actually able to sit and crank a bit out of this revised summary of IF findings, motivated mainly by my mom's proposal to share it with some friends who work at a Fight Obesity initiative. Will try to get more of that done tomorrow, read a decent amount more from the Nutrition book (which is amazing, btw), and eat and chill. So stoked to finally stuff my face, even if it needs to be pretty damn low-fat, low-fructose, etc etc. Doing this diet right this time.

1. 20 minutes of MBR.
2. Read a bunch more of Helm's M&S Nutrition book.

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Thursday, May 12th, 2016 [UD2 C1W1D5]
(14.5 weeks out)
Weight: 186.6
Diet: (Starting Wed PM) 1249c/39f/296p [+49 fiber]

**Change in format, effective next week**
So this is all pretty trial-and-error, obviously, and I'm quickly realizing how unproductive it both is (in terms of time spent writing these) and looks (aesthetically) to write in-depth logs every single day. In order to make this much more to the point and precise, as well as easy to look at once I look back at this log moving forward, I'm going to switch to putting together full log posts weekly. I know that's a drastic reduction, but I will still be throwing some stuff in here every now and then when something important comes up (a major change/event/milestone/low BW, an interesting thought, etc etc.), and I'll still be compulsively checking through the contest prep section for the journals of everyone I follow.

What the major weekly logs will include, then, will be (as far as I know, for now):
-Average weekly weight
-Macros for the respective days of the week
-Highlights/important things to take note of from training
-Full write-out of the "power workout" (as this serves as a good tool to measure strength retention)
-Additional thoughts and other things I didn't put down in b/w time since the last log
-MAYBE progress pictures
-MAYBE some eats from the week

But this should all take effect Sunday, rendering this Saturday my last daily log.

**Carb load**
As you can tell from the macros, it was quite the day of eating. I took pictures of nearly everything I ate, in hopes I'd post them here for the lulz for 1st carb load of prep, but then realized half of them were just crappy shots of plain bagels lol. So the carb load was comprised of:
-Light&Fit GY + crispix
-The 190c/~60p PWO shake, including whey and dextrose
-9 bagels (3 cinnamon raisin, 6 plain)
-Cream of Rice w/strawberry jelly
-4 servings gemelli pasta w/diced tomatoes and FF mozzarella
-2 protein bars
-4 servings crispix + skim milk
-7 apple cinnamon rice cakes

Pretty delicious, and bloating/stomach discomfort has been all but absent so far, though I did make note of some things that merit adjustment for next week. First and foremost, protein was way too high (nearly 300g for me, w/o any direct protein sources outside of the GY, whey, protein bars, and FF cheese). Most of that seemed to come from trace protein from the bagels and pasta, so I'll probably include a lot more CoR meals next time around (maybe some baked potato as well). Next thing is I need to space my meals out a bit more; I, like most everyone on these forums, love to eat, so I got a bit excited and started stuffing my face really early on, not leaving a lot left at the end of the night. Ended up engulfing the 7 rice cakes and 2 bagels a little before 8pm tonight just b/c the cravings were getting crazy. Probably didn't help that I haven't had any stimulants, including my prescribed ADHD medication (prescribed for another reason, but that's neither here nor there), so thereby no appetite suppression.

Goals for tomorrow:

WOWZA, no MBR again huh? It's crazy how far my motivation levels plummet when I go from studying a minimum of 8hrs a day on weekdays and 3-4hrs a day on weekends in school to having all this free time. Another reason the daily logs are becoming less and less productive... the end is now spent just reminding myself of all the ish I should've gotten done today.

Anyways, I'm getting up early tomorrow to help my aunt and uncle move stuff into their new house. That's gonna easily be a 5hr affair (I am getting paid thooooo) and it's supposed to thunderstorm and my dad and I have our power workout that night and we had both planned to finally get some Chipotle (which I'll take the Ogus approach for and weigh out) and my friend wanted to grab a few drinks (aka I'll sip on one light beer and account for the macros, etc etc. so I'm not a total buzzkill). Should make for quite the eventful day.

No goals, then, really, as this whole concept will be gone Sunday when I switch to weekly logging. Time to find another method of keeping myself focused and studious! Gosh I'm zonked. PEace

[TGreggors]

Was wondering if you planned to keep up such detailed logging this whole time! I enjoy the reading personally but that definitely has to be tedious...no GI issues after THAT many carbs. dayum. impressive

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Was wondering if you planned to keep up such detailed logging this whole time! I enjoy the reading personally but that definitely has to be tedious...no GI issues after THAT many carbs. dayum. impressive

I think it boils down to choosing the right foods. Last run of UD2, I had carb-ups where I'd go over on fat, load up on candy, or otherwise find some way of screwing it up, and I almost always had some level of stomach irritation throughout (and that was on less carbs). Cutting out the refined sugar and other junk makes a world of difference.

[DJaRiHardstyle]

Date: Friday, May 13th, 2016 [UD2 C1W1D6]
(14 weeks out)
Weight: 189.8
Diet: 346c/48f/250p [+32 fiber]

**Manual labor gainz**
Today was pretty draining. Spent a good chunk of the day (9:30am - 2:30pm) helping my great uncle and aunt move stuff out of their house into a storage unit. Turned out to be me doing all of the work (carrying heavy bookcases and boxes down stairs in the rain, unloading the truck like it was a WOD because it had to be returned by a certain time), but at least there was money involved... lol. I also ended up really screwing with my already screwy left trap and tweaking my left hip and right knee a bit, which was exactly what I needed before tonight's power workout.

**Plan for fat loss moving forward**
As I've briefly mentioned in here, I'm very concerned about losing the weight I need to lose by August. I'm nowhere near as lean as I'd like to be at 14 weeks out and am really only this determined to push thru with prep because I rarely get the opportunity to diet for this long (and I've been dying to do another show), plus I couldn't possibly give up on my dad or pass up on the crazy opportunity so few other BBers get to actually have my dad join me in doing this show.

So to prevent myself from ruminating on this and freaking out over it, letting it sway my mood, etc. I've taken the liberty of writing down what exact adjustments I can make as weight loss stalls or slows down past the rate I would like. My goal weight, so far, is looking like mid-160s (upper 160s if I can just dial every little factor in and bring a ton of intensity to my workouts).

Before I get into the potential adjustments moving forward, I want to first quickly state which ones I've already put into effect for next week:
-Switched carb load macros from 1285c/40f/200p to 1100c/35f/190p
*Reason being, I think there was some pretty noticeable spillover this morning and the weight increase (while I still need to check it Saturday morning to make sure) was a little greater than I'd have liked the day after, at a whole 3.8 lb increase*
-Switched Friday macros from 360c/50f/200p to 333c/50f/230p
-Switched Saturday macros from 228c/50f/200p to 265c/50f/230p

-I also made some exercise changes, as my dad and I have sort of figured out, tentatively, what things need to be changed with the split as written (nothing detracting from the main template of Lyle's program, a point I pushed for heavily in the process, as I'm well aware the program has to more or less be run as is to reap the benefits). These will be discussed tomorrow probably, as I still need to finalize them in writing, along with an updated and simplified template I'm going to make tomorrow to cut away at some of the convolution this level of micromanaging inevitably carries with it.

So here are the rough adjustments I've jotted down, in order of priority (i.e. the first one on the list would theoretically be the first thing I go to when weight loss stalls/slows):

Diet (First priority)
-Cut carbs on the carb-up (this is dependent on how I look Friday morning, how the carb-up itself went)
-Cut calories by 20% on Friday from TDEE (right now it's only 10%)
-Cut calories by 20% on Saturday from Friday (right now it's only 10%)
-Cut calories by 30% on Saturday from Friday

*And obviously I'll adjust maintenance calories after each cycle, as is necessary for the UD2 Addendum-prescribed breaks*
-Going off this, depending on how things look at the end of week 4 for my dad and me, I may even opt to run this for a total of 6 weeks straight, then break, and then 8 weeks straight into the show (drastic approach, but I think my dad might be underestimating just how freakishly lean you have to be to step on stage)

Cardio (Last resort - I don't see this taking effect until the following cycle, unless fat loss is just absurdly slow)
*As a reminder, my current cardio is 30min LISS on Wednesday mornings, fasted, and 7 HIIT sprints (1:40 :: 0:20 scheme) on Saturdays*
-Add 30min LISS Monday AM (and switch the sprints on Sat to 30min LISS as well)
-Add 30min LISS Sunday AM
-Add 30min LISS Tuesday AM

-Beyond these, I can just up those sessions (and I have a nice estimate of how many calories that would equate to, so I should be able to factor it in accordingly, based on just how much fat loss has stalled)
*I'm not really willing to add in cardio on Thursdays or Fridays, as the former is the carb-up and the latter is the all-important power workout (the importance of which grows exponentially once recovery starts getting cut into hard near the end, so I'd like this to be a constant)*

Goals for tomorrow:

1. Make the updated template w/updated exercises, etc. that I talked about.

2. Get my check cashed, groceries, get to work on the IF findings article, read a bunch more of Helms' masterpiece. Aaaand there you have it.

[DJaRiHardstyle]

So, just to have it in writing, this will serve as the first official weekly update, in the tentative format that subsequent weekly updates will come in. This is an edit of the post where I updated with the power workout weights I forgot to put in Friday's post.

Weekly check-in: May 8 - 15, 2016 (14 weeks out)
Avg. weight: 187.26
This week's macros:
Low-carb (Sun/Mon/Tues): 75c/30f/250p
Carb-load (Pre-workout meal Wed --> Thurs PM): 1245c/40f/200p
Fri: 360c/50f/250p
Sat: 265c/50f/250p

Training/Cardio

SUN - Depletion 1

MON - Depletion 2

TUES - N/A

WED - Tension
+AM 30min fasted LISS

THURS - N/A

FRI - Power

A1. Box squat
(225 x 6) x 3
*Working back from square one on these, so keeping things extremely conservative and just making big, healthy jumps back to where I was*

A2. Lying leg curl (Freemotion)
100 x 10
(120 x 8) x 2
*We were at a new gym, so I was feeling out the weights but ended up going way too light. It was hard to remedy this during a superset, so it'll be fixed for next time.*

Hack squat - plate-loaded, close-stance + focus on VLOs
(3 plates x 6) x 3

Standing calf raise
(220 x 6) x 3

B1. Bench press
205 x 6
(185 x 6) x 2
*Could've been the 5 hours of lifting stuff in the morning, but these felt like complete crap*

B2. Ab wheel - from knees
Knees --> standing:
5
Knees:
(15) x 2

C1. Decline DB tricep extensions
35 x 6
(35 x 5) x 2

C2. EZ-Bar curl (assuming 25 lb. bar)
(75 x 6) x 3

SAT - Stubborn Fat Solution (SFS)-type HIIT/LISS hybrid

Thoughts

That's really it, not much for this first update since I've already logged daily (bar Saturday). Feeling good so far, but I know more or less what's in store. I'm just relying on the fact that I'm much more informed coming into this prep than I was last time, when I basically knew nothing (did a spur of the moment 3 week-long Palumbo-style keto diet in the middle of it, ffs).

[Gett01]

In! Looking forward to the return to logging, and looks like I have some catching up to do! I haven't posted anything in forever, too, but now that it's summer time I'll also be starting a new log soon

[NaturalPursuit]

Always following along for support brother

[DJaRiHardstyle]

In! Looking forward to the return to logging, and looks like I have some catching up to do! I haven't posted anything in forever, too, but now that it's summer time I'll also be starting a new log soon

Glad to have you again, and congrats on graduating btw... I'll be following your log partly as incentive for you to keep logging, partly to see what kind of gains you continue to make with your methodical approach to progression, and then partly to see updates as far as PT schools

Always following along for support brother

Ooh, just saw this morning you have a pretty saucy video up on this whole BCAA controversy. Gonna carry on my ritual of watching your latest video while eating me egg beaters n cheese lol.