Empire 2022 road to stage

So with this comp in 4 weeks, and SA's just a few weeks out, does that impact the training routine? feeding etc?

are you prepping more for SA's , or for the first comp?

so I've added my Anavar dosing now from Saturday, and chatting to LesDoctor, we have added in 10mg of tamoxifen daily to see if it is going to assist in my lower back fat patterns due to blocking the estrogen receptor in the fat, but still acting like estrogen in the body, which I feel mine is tanked currently, due to lack of sex drive (remember estrogen drives sex drive in men) but it also could be due to the fact I am fucking tired and just run down.. and I mean, 00pump, tremere, obelix and a few other can attest to the fact it's not that I don't have someone attractive to want to bang, it's just neither here nor there for me currently. I mean I went and bought condoms the other day and they asked if I wanted a bag, and I pointed at her and said, she looks like that so the bag wouldn't be necessary.

tamoxifen pre-contest for females is usually there to help assist that lower body fat they all suffer with, and I know this potentially shifts the water balance I am holding, but we will see if it has any effect by the end of the week, or even 2 weeks out, where i would add in the arimadex anyway!

so I stop my loads 2 weeks out cos I have to deplete heavily so that always is shit, and I have a wedding in this time which is going to have a lamb on the spit, 1 week out, so JESUS take the wheel is going to be shouted many times here.

the goal is to peak for SA champs, but i know how to peak for both, so i will probably keep on the fat burners and stuff leading into the natal and drop them for leading into the SA champs.

I'm tired now, so this week, i have dropped from 3 working sets to 2 but keeping the weight the same and driving hard; its a rough time cos i haven't been sleeping great, and didn't get a lot of food in yesterday due to anavar killing my appetite. already done 90 mins cardio today, and will do another 30mins between the next 2 meals

Iesh bru, sounds like a rough phase of the game.

4x 30min cardio sessions done today. the next 3 weeks its grind grind grind away. time to get that nasty peeled look

Your almost through Hell.. keep going. Your work effort is showing.

It might sound ridiculous, but have you thought of doing maybe a bit of yoga on rest days and/or stretching every day before bed? What helped my body a lot was doing simple core workouts that specifically target the transverse abdominal muscles, dynamic stretching before workouts, 20 minutes static stretching after workouts, and 30 minutes stretching before bed. It sounds ridiculous, but it really helped my body, especially the core workouts. I’m not even talking about planks. I mean really simple workouts like just lying on a yoga mat and going from an ant. pelvic tilt to post. pelvic tilt, holding the spine in neutral , “dead bug”, “cat-camel” etc… I really recommend it.

Not that I'm against this, bit no I haven't ever thought of it. I'm so exhausted on my off days, it's probably my last thought, but any thing could help.

Was wondering what "type" of cardio are you doing? What cardio should a bodybuilders do? Low intesity or High intensity and duration?

Start with dedicating significant time to stretching post workout. That’s how I started. The core I did thrice a week after my cardio. And the stretching before bed, in the beginning, it depended on how my body felt, but eventually it became such a routine that I had to do it or else I couldn’t sleep comfortably. Since it is so late in your prep, it may or may not do much for you, but once you enter a routine you’ll feel the difference. Plus your flexibility will improve which is useful when doing a posing routine.

Well there are many aspects of your question there. What type of cardio am I doing? Incline walking waddling my ass off to burn through calories at a heart rate of 120-130bpm.

What cardio should bodybuilders be doing? For fat loss see above.

For cardiovascular health? Take your maximum heart rate. 220 - age. That is the upper limit. Take your resting heart rate eg 70. And work your way up to the 220 - age ( so for me 183) and then come back off till it hits half way between the resting and the maximum. So 133bpm and then go back back up. Start with 10mins 3x a week doing that, and then build up over a couple weeks till you doing 20-25mins 3x a week. That is going to help heart health, blood pressure, overall fitness etc.

But as for fat loss, pick a heart rate you can handle that you cN still hold a Conversation and do it as long as you can, till you reach your goal and desired level of leanness.

Symfunny wrote: Start with dedicating significant time to stretching post workout. That’s how I started. The core I did thrice a week after my cardio. And the stretching before bed, in the beginning, it depended on how my body felt, but eventually it became such a routine that I had to do it or else I couldn’t sleep comfortably. Since it is so late in your prep, it may or may not do much for you, but once you enter a routine you’ll feel the difference. Plus your flexibility will improve which is useful when doing a posing routine.

1..I'm as flexible as dry pasta. 2. I have the poise and grace of a hippo in a tutu for a posing routine..

You giving me more credit than I'm worth Buddy.

Flexible as dry pasta HAHA !

This is why I love learning about hormones.

So I'm hypothyroid and when ever I prep I drop my t4 and switch to t3. This week I learnt about the t4/t3/rt3 cycle and added back my replacement t4 dose. And well I guess rt3 levels have already started to drop.

Damn those quads could kick start a boeing!

Serious definition you getting there old man! When you gonna bronze yourself for the comp? like a day or two before? day of?


Saw you bragged on Insta about your baking skills and how you bribe students. You still going for needling?

yea i was at the clinic last night, they did some needles, and some massage work, i was very sad cos the one girl i think is hot, wasn't there. boo..

so tan for the show goes on the morning before, and shower that off the night before and put another coat on, and then wake up and see if I'm dark enough and apply a 3rd coat. i usually like to go for 3 personally, as this pastey white skin doesn't look good under bright lights

I never really understood the whole tan thing, I check even black competitors get some form of tan?
I assume its to create a better look, but how dark is too dark?

Obelix wrote: I never really understood the whole tan thing, I check even black competitors get some form of tan?
I assume its to create a better look, but how dark is too dark?

The tan is to bring out the lines so to speak. You can see the separation better.

Obelix wrote: I never really understood the whole tan thing, I check even black competitors get some form of tan?
I assume its to create a better look, but how dark is too dark?

So you gotta understand those lights are bright as fuck, so if you don't have a dark tan, you reflect the light, and if you don't have some shimmer or sheen on, you don't show off muscle cuts and seperation and striations.

Think of it this way, look at a crumpled up white piece of paper from far away. You won't see its crumpled other than slight shadows etc. If you take a brown piece of paper and crumple it, you can see if from far away and looks more crumpled due to shadows. Same thing with bodybuilding.

So I heard vicious rumors that you had pics out, Showing water weight vs shredded wheat.

Do we get to see?


So, Seeing as we are 6 days out, What prep changes do you make this week? Still a load on sunday and then pure salt blocks for a week? Does your diet go restrictive for the week? or just a day or two out?

Obelix wrote:

So I heard vicious rumors that you had pics out, Showing water weight vs shredded wheat.

Do we get to see?


So, Seeing as we are 6 days out, What prep changes do you make this week? Still a load on sunday and then pure salt blocks for a week? Does your diet go restrictive for the week? or just a day or two out?
 

I may have some pics floating around from 1 week out..

So this no load cos I still need to make weight, so gotta start the process 1 week out, so yesterday was first day of 0 carb, and increased sodium and water. That happens for 4 days, day 5 I bring down water and sodium to what it was the week prior to loading. Then day before I cut that in half. So cos I'm usually on 6L of water daily, 9L does suck to get down, but when you got 0 carbs, it's ok. Added in a little bit more fats to make up the small calories changes. 

I then have cut cardio down to 30mins per day, and full body depletion workouts, so 2nd full body depletion was this morning. And let me tell you doing cardio with 0 carb and depleting the muscles of glycogen, it sucks donkey dick. 

So this year I couldn't give a fuck about testing so I'm using my tried and True diuretic protocol that works to come in nice and tight..cos my skin is loose around my lower back, it holds water, even when there is like 0 fat in there. Just one of those things. 

So I will post up some pics from previous years as to how my lower back tightens up, and will post pics of what I looked like a week out then, vs now, just to show you how much leaner I am than previous years.

I weight 91.6kgs first thing in the morning and have to make that Weight at 5pm on Friday night, so not really keen on having 0 food and water on Friday  and back loading my carbs, but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do. 

 

So in the pics with the blue trunks it's 1 week out vs show day, that is how my lower back can dry out in a week. Then the pics of the black trunks compare 1 week out to 1 week out as a comparison to show how much leaner I am.

Seeing some major differences in the uppber back area. Even in the shoulders. Looking really good man



Noticed on your lower back, How do you get that definition? Just purely fat % and water loss? Or are there moves in the gym/bedroom I should be doing?