Brandon's Contest Prep: Week 1
This is the first official entry for my “Contest Prep Diary” for 2019.
intro
Before we get into the purpose of this series, I want to answer an important question:
WHY am I doing this?
I recorded a video going into my motivation in detail, check it out to the right!
Otherwise, the purpose of this series is to just get my thoughts down and dive deeper into the philosophy of what I am doing to get to the bodybuilding stage.
This could be a HOST of topics, but for the most part they will be bucketed into:
Nutrition: What comprises my diet and how I approach dieting in itself
Training: What kind of training I do as I’m dieting down
Mindset: Helpful Mindset philosophies that have helped me get here
Lifestyle Events/Stressors: How I manage the every day life such as work, events or unexpected roadblocks
I will try and provide something NEW each week about what I do as well as an UPDATE on how I am feeling/looking. Which is a good segway into what I wanted to touch into first!
my current status / starting point
Before I dig into the details, I want to give a DISCLAIMER:
I think it is important to give some background information about myself and how MY starting point and situation is different than anyone else reading this:
Macro Tracking:
I have been tracking macros about 85-90% of the time since Late 2015 (pretty much 4 years!!!)
Bodybuilding Focus:
I have been doing exclusively bodybuilding training since April 2016, which is when I finished the last half-marathon I did.
Prior Training:
Before that, I did a combo of distance running and bodybuilding/strength training for 2-3 years.
One cool accomplishment was that I deadlifted 405 lbs for the first time and then ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) at around a 7:35 min. Mile pace within 2 months of each other.
My Stats:
To start prep, I am weighing around 176-177 lbs @ 5’10-5’11 and 25 years old.
Life Priorities:
I have a full-time job as an Engineer at Stryker Orthopedics in Mahwah, NJ and do online coaching on the side when I am not working there.
Previous Diet:
I did a “diet” before the REAL prep diet starting in Early November @ 195 lbs. 12 weeks of being in a calorie deficit with 2 full diet break weeks where I ate at maintenance after every 4th week.
After the 12th cutting week, I did 5 full weeks at maintenance where I held my bodyweight of 176-177 lbs.
my coach
One last point is that I have NEVER done a contest prep diet, although I have ran numerous successful diets for myself throughout the years. (What does it mean to have a “successful diet”? Read THIS)
Because of this, it was important to me to get a coach that shared a similar philosophy in me as well as someone I could relate to and TRUST.
I have been working with Steve Hall from www.revivestronger.com (IG: @revivestronger) since July of 2017 who has handled my nutrition and my training (until recently where I started making my own programs with Steve’s Guidance).
Steve has a fantastic podcast and has a lot of experience with working with people like me to get them bigger AND diet them down to stage. Steve himself has even competed a couple of times and is going to absolutely kill it next time he diets down:
Steve hitting his signature Crab Pose at the British Championships in 2017.
Nutrition
Taken from my IG stories (@brandonjod)
MACROS
The most common question I’ll probably get is:
What are your starting Macros?
Before you try and analyze and pick apart the meaning behind them, understand these are MINE and not yours. With Steve, we have formulated a good starting point based on a plethora of data of working together (remember why data is important Section 2 HERE).
Training Days: C: 240-260, F: 55-65, P: 200-220 calories: 2400-2500
Rest Days: C: 200-220, F:55-65, P:200-220 calories: 2200-2300
Considering my Maintenance Calories are about 2700-2900 at this bodyweight, this probably puts me right at losing around 1 lb (or 0.6% Body Weight) per week
In general, Fats are staying at a little above 0.3g/lb, Protein is a nice round number and >1g/lb and then the rest comes from carbs. VERY Simple philosophy.
In terms of CHOOSING foods to hit those macros, I structure my meals using two neat guides that I created from www.scarletmass.com:
CASEIN PUDDING
One new thing I am incorporating is a Casein pudding before bed as a little experiment:
Disclaimers:
Macros and total protein are still similar to end of last cut.
This would just be taking some protein and fats from my midday snack and dinner to “donate” to this 5th meal
(my usual cutting meals are actually in this: Video )
Reasoning:
Test Run Ingredients
Primary:
I ate ice cream nearly every day before bed in my maintenance phase.
I found this helped me get in a good routine and helped me unwind from the day.
I would eat it while watching shows on my Ipad (currently watching the Sopranos).
Sleep is CRUCIAL while dieting. So I want to see if this further helps me stay in check with nailing that every night.
The casein is also slower digesting so it will help me feel full if I still have some lingering hunger after dinner.
Benefits:
5 protein feedings now instead of 4
Eating more protein closer to bed so I don’t have to consume as much when waking (i like to lift in the AM)
I Don’t like drinking protein sources (perceived as less filling by the brain) so eating it as pudding is the next step
Drawbacks:
I have to be more careful with my macros during the day so I can have it.
Easy during the week, but weekends if I am out of the routine is a little tricker.
“Food Reward”:
having something to look forward each night could potentially hurt me with cravings and “food as a reward” if I do it for too long.
So therefore, I am going to monitor how this makes me feel psychologically and physiologically.
Takeaway:
The main thing is to help with sleep and having a “ritual” each night.
Training
There is a decent amount to go into with training, so I figured I would just briefly touch on a couple of concepts each week.
split
First, the set-up:
2 Rest Days During the Week:
Right now I am in the gym 5 days a week with 2 rest days.
This is down from 6 days previously.
I found that having that extra day to sleep in during the week was beneficial to just being more consistent with work and getting away from the idea of the gym being a “chore”.
I focus on my Stryker job and side-job work a little more on my rest days just to get away from it all and make sure none of the important areas in my life slip.
Split:
I am running a Pull, Push, Legs (rest) Upper Lower (rest).
Exercises
I hit every body part at least 2 times a week with some of the smaller muscles getting a little more work. Primarily compound movements first with my main exercises this rotation being:
Pulling Movements:
Wide Grip T-Bar Rows & Parallel-Grip Assisted Pull-ups
Pressing Movements:
Paused Bench Press, DB Bench Press, Military Press, Incline Hammer Strength
Leg Movements:
Good Mornings, Dumbbell RDL, Paused Squat, Feet Low Leg Press
I’ll start with these for MOST of my volume and then finish up most workouts with the smaller muscle groups such as:
biceps, triceps, side delts, calves, and abs
OR lighter machine work (chest supported rows, pull-downs, seated hamstring curls for example).
I will structure these in a particular way to make sure that there is appropriate rest and recover before the muscle is hit again. This is the underlying principle of managing your “SRA” (stimulus, recovery, adaptation) curves (SEE video for an explanation)
Here are some training clips from week 1. I’ll be sure to get more in the future:
mindset
Lastly, I wanted to touch on a couple mindset things topics of things I have been working on for a bit, but even MORE so now that prep is starting.
Singular Focus:
This concept dips into the practice of trying to NOT multitask and concentrate on one thing at a time. Some examples:
when watching Netflix, don’t mindlessly scroll on Social Media.
when at the gym, don’t answer texts or notifications on your phone.
when writing (this blog for example), don’t listen to music or podcasts until you finish a section.
But what if you NEED to answer someone when you are the gym? Then of course you can break the rule and multi-task.
Where it becomes a problem is when you are trying to finish up a skype meeting with a co-worker while resting in between sets of Paused Squats. In the extreme examples, you can see how potentially half-assing two things simultaneously yields a shitty product on both ends.
Priorities:
The singular focus is not supposed to make you HANDLE more things, it's to help you realize WHAT your priorities are day to day.
The more I do this, the more I see how this has an impact with my success on the diet.
I’ve found my first week of training to be super productive and enjoyable with a singular focus.
Not to mention, I am still able to excel at my day job because I am leaving bodybuilding behind (aside from my meals) when I come to work.
This way when I’m not at work, I focus on the rest of the boxes I have to tick.
I am no expert at it, but I’m still able to get done my daily tasks without multitasking as much and within that I am cutting out some “fluff” in life that I don’t need, which is refreshing to see!
Music🎵:
The next mindset tool I want to talk about is “music periodization”. Essentially, this deals with the selection of songs in my workouts that correlates with how “intense” the workouts NEED to be on a given week.
Sub-Max Training:
I am a proponent of using Sub-maximal training throughout the bulk of my training blocks.
This means that I will execute my exercises short of failure on an average of 1-3 reps left in the tank. To further this nuance, I will start my earlier training weeks training a full 3-4 reps from failure for most of my movements (meaning if I can do a 10 rep max on a given weight, I will stop at 6-7 reps) and then ramp up the effort and proximity to failure as the weeks go on.
By Week 4, most, if not all my exercises are close to 0-1 reps left in the tank. To some, this is seen as the TRUE bodybuilding style training. But based on the evidence that is out there, and my personal experiences with myself and working with my coach, I don’t think it is necessary to train like that all the time.
Mood Switch:
Even if I PREFER to train hard (because who doesn’t?) I have to have the INTENT to purposely reserve my training in the earlier weeks. To do this, I’ve been using MUSIC as my external cue to dim the mood.
Therefore, week 1 of training was a lot of Christina Perry, Lady Gaga, Slow rock ballads, or just NO music at all. Here are some examples of songs that I found are really chill and allow me to focus that I listened to in week 1:
Hoping to give an update on future weeks at how my Music selection has changed over the course of this first leg of the contest prep (week 4 should be VERY different).
Conclusion
Thanks for Reading!!!
Not too much going on Week 1 and I will be sure to talk about adjustments or what progress has been made in coming weeks.
Next week I will be going more into my meal plan, fatigue management, and dealing with hunger.
Any further questions, ask me on Instagram: @brandonjod
