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Marvels PSL sponsored log

Get Shredded!
Had a great weekend. Lifting was on point for the most part and got stuff around the house done. I'm going to give smith machine shoulder press 1 more week and if it stalls I'm going to change it out. Already dropped 5 lbs. Waking up consistently motivated for morning cardio as well. Ordered a flexible tripod for my phone so I may be able to start adding video or video links in the near future. Other than I'll get back to a couple work out logs a month and maybe some bb friendly meals along with my experiences as a coach and bber myself.
 
My legs are sore today. Had a great leg workout yesterday. I'm still working my way up in weight to get the injured leg back to full strength. I've also seen that my packaged I'd on the way. Things are looking pretty damn good heading into the weekend. Here's last night's workout low volume but works if you are coming off a lower body injury.

Arms extended Lying leg curl 3 x 8-10 60 65 70
V squat machine 3 x 15-20 110 120 130
Leg press 3 x 20 6 plates +60 6+70 6+80 partials
Single leg seated leg curl 3 x 10-15 50 55 55
Adductors 3 x 10 175 175 175*8 drop set
Abductors 3 × 15-20 100 100 100

Injured leg leg extensions 3 x 15 25 25 25
 
So this ended being way off from where it should have been. Some personal stuff kept me out of the gym Saturday and Sunday. The Monday I wasn't feeling well. I did get back on the grind yesterday with a good pull workout and some cardio. I also did morning cardio today. My weight was up a lb but that's to be expected when I ate crap on Monday cause I didn't feel good. I'm hoping I can drop 2-3 this week and get back on track. This will be a short post for today. I'm also anxiously waiting on my shipment. I'll post pics as soon as I get it.
 
I'm still waiting on my package from PSL. I'm hoping it's getting close to being delivered, really want to check out my goodies. Everything has been going pretty good on the bodybuilding training side of life. My recent struggles have been with nutrition. I'm on a cut but still having those bulking cravings. Since I know I'm not actively prepping for a show sometimes it's harder to turn things down. I've noticed this is more of an issue at night. I get in trouble with sweets. I don't go overboard but I know I'm not hitting my macros. I'll usually end up eating a couple handfuls of trail mix or a popsicle. Which in the grand scheme are miniscule but when trying to cut every extra calorie counts. Some would say don't buy it but when you live with your fiance you have to have items in the house that you shouldn't eat. It's not their job not to buy them it's my job not to eat it. So that's something I'm making a priority moving forward to improve on hitting my macros. I'm including my leg day workout from last Thursday as well. Still doing my best to get them back to where they were before the accident.

Lying leg curls 4 x 8-10 55kg 60kg 65 kg 65 kg plus partials
Pendulum squat 4 x 10-15 100 110 120 130 rest pause
Reverse banded smith front squat 3 x 15-20 115 125 135
Single leg press 3 x 15 L135 R100 L145 R110 L145 T120
Derrick hamstring machine 4 x 10-12 -155 x 12 12 11 10
Seated calf raise 4 x 10-12 145 145 145 145
Adductors 3 x 20 140 140 140 drop set
 
Things have been progressing nicely for a cruise phase. My strength is holding constant on most exercises with slow upward movement in poundage. I'm getting in all of my cardio and nutrition has been good. However I am stressing about my latest package from PSL. I have yet to receive it and tracking number isn't providing a lot of info. I'm not sure if it was ceased, lost or still in transit. I've reached out to PSL for help. Usually it doesn't take this long once I get the tracking info. I hate to do things last minute so I hope to get this figured out sooner rather than later. I only have one more chance to add some muscle before I prep next year so having everything on hand is a priority for me. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
 
This week has been really busy at work so haven't had much time to post. Last weekend I had my first bikini client compete in a local show. She cane away with 1st in true novice, 4th in novice and 3rd in her open class. I'm very proud of her and we really couldn't have done much better. The girls that beat her weren't more conditioned they were just skinnier. She had a bit more curves and thicker legs so it is what it is. I disagree with some the placings but I am bias. I worked out Saturday and Sunday. Then took Monday off and Tuesday I went to a concert with my fiancee. So I had planned to work our Wednesday but after work in was so tired I decided to listen to my body and rest. I'm glad I did not only did I nap fir little over an hour I went to bed an hour early. Since then I've felt better and had a great pull workout last night.
 
Today I'll go over my knee injury. I had a physical therapy appointment last week where the head therapist checked me with measurements and exercises to see if I could be cleared to stop. She did not feel comfortable clearing me. So we narrowed down the exercises I need to focus on for 6 weeks to try again. This was disheartening because I was hoping to be 100%. I'm still doing weekly leg workouts but I'm being very careful with load. Now I have to work in pt exercises as much as possible too. I've been avoiding free weight squats and deadlifts till I get the clear on my knee. I'm hoping with consistent work I can get that approval in October. I know it'll take time for leg mass to normal it's within my control to get the knee functioning well enough to be called 100% ready.
 
The last 2 days have been pretty crappy. On Wednesday night after 3 warm up sets I strain my right trees major on my first heavy set. I had to scrap the whole workout that I had planned to do. I then trained around the injury. I did my best, dropped the heavier weight and tried to get a pump. Then Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and some congestion, decided to sleep in instead of doing morning cardio had already planned to take the night off for fiancé birthday. Today I woke up with a full blown cold. So today will be another unplanned off day maybe even the weekend. It really bothers me to miss workouts because I always feel like there is someone out there completing those workouts getting a step ahead of me. But I also know doing too much will just prolong the illness. These are all signs to me that I've taxed my recovery too much during this current cruise. So once I do get back in the gym for 2-3 weeks I'm going to move to a more volume approach with whatever feels good. I usually like to have my programs planned out with moderate volume and heavy weight but I think a short break will help. May even do a deload week.
 
It's been almost a week since my last workout. I feel like I I'm close to 100% so I'll get back on plan tomorrow. My teres major strain should be good plus I looked into some warm up exercises for it to add before back days. I still have a little phlegm in my chest but not enough to keep me from getting back on plan. Seeing the North Americans this weekend stoked my competitive fire again. I know I have a ways to go to be up there battling for a pro card but I think I can do it. Gonna ease back into cardio and lifting the first few days. Good news is I got my package from PSL. I got it a couple days after a seizure letter from the first one that was sent. Obviously I have to thank them they are an amazing sponsor. The reship was quick and so glad I got. Can't wait to blast again hopefully add a little more mass.

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I finally made it back into the gym for some lifting. I switched to my high volume approach as well as not having a predetermined routine. I hit what was open as well as what I felt like. I'll do this for my last week of cruise too. Then once my blast starts I'll be switching to an advanced version of DC. Recently Dusty Hanshaw has put out vids on his advanced DC routines which split up the workouts more than the normal DC training. I'll try to get in 8 good weeks of that before cruising again till I prep for my next competition. I haven't gotten back to my cardio routine yet because I've been needing the extra sleep but I will remedy that starting this weekend to get back on the ball. Add a couple pounds during my sickness from not sticking to clean foods but I believe I can fix that within a week too.
 
IML Gear Cream!
Today I want to cover something I'm currently doing that I don't think most physique athletes or every day people do. That's keeping track of your blood sugar. It's a very simple process and relatively cheap for the supplies. I had my blood work done and my fasting glucose was 102. The range fir normal is below 100. The optimal range is 80-99 I believe. So my goal is to drop it 20 units. This requires me to cut carbs, drop some body fat and possibly increase cardio. Once you are out of the optimal range you hinder your ability to partion nutrients this then affects adding muscle or fat. If you continue moving up in units you may even become a diabetic. The keys to keeping it low is the right amount of carbs, exercise and low body fat levels. I'm carb sensitive so I'll always have to keep an eye on it while bulking. However if I get back to were I want it then it will open up the opportunity to push carbs again and add mass more easily.
 
Today I'd like to cover what I'm doing for my current blast. I'm doing an 8 week blast which is short to allow me cruise time before my prep next year. I usually do 12 to 16 week blasts but the more I've been thinking about it I may become more of an 8-12 week blast proponent. It could offer the potential of health markers getting less skewed which means they'll bounce back to normal ranges faster. It could also be beneficial in not plateauing as much. My logic is a short blast then cruise will give you a good 8 weeks of growth instead of doing 12 weeks were you grow for 8-9 weeks then plateau or have to add more Chem to continue growing. Of course there aren't any studies of this but that's the case with bodybuilding. I'll become my own experiment. On to the dosages, I'll be using 750 mg of Sustanon weekly along with 400 mg of EQ weekly. That's a total of 1.1 grams weekly. This only my 2nd time using EQ. I'm still undecided if I prefer it over Deca. But seeing has how I know now I'm prone to prolactin it may become my go to. I'm doing 3 shots week 2 with sust and EQ and 1 with just sust.
 
Current training for my short blast is an advanced form of DC training. Dusty Hanshaw released some videos on his YouTube of what he currently does calling it advanced DC. It resembles more of a bodybuilding split with less emphasis on half the body routine. Now back gets its own day as do arms, legs and chest/shoulders. This fits my goals better because I feel my arms may be out sizing my delts so I can skip arms while doing an extra day of legs or chest/shoulders. I'm also increasing my off season lifting from 4 days a week to 5 for this blast. I'm also still cutting my carbs to get blood sugar down and doing 5 days of cardio at 30 mins each session.
 
This was a very busy week. I ended up taking all of Sunday off which meant to hit my 5 days of lifting and cardio I was in for 4 straight days of lifting so I could have my Friday night off. I got 1 morning to play with for cardio. All in all it was successful, I'm sore as hell but feel like it was productive. This week the coach and I added in some extra cardio. Instead of increasing my morning cardio time I added the 10 mins as warm up before lifting. I feel like this gives me a few more minutes of sleep, warms me up for lifting but doesn't effect my lift. Science proves if you do cardio after lifting you interrupt the hypertrophic signaling in your body. It's always better to keep cardio as far away from lifting as possible.
 
So far this week has been on schedule for the most part. Last night I decided to do an arm only workout which I've been staying away from. I feel that my arms are out of proportion for my shoulders so I haven't been giving them direct stimulation. I feel like I'll keep the size with indirect work from my compound lifts while I try to increase my shoulder mass. Last night I would have normally done a leg workout but I have my 2nd try at getting cleared from physical therapy on my knee. So my thinking was to not stress the knee and leg muscles, take a rest night tonight then go to my appointment 100% Wednesday morning. Everything else is the same 5 sessions of 30 mins of cardio trying to make them all fasted morning cardio. Then I do 10 mins of warm up cardio before lifting to get it my full 40 mins 5 times a week. Macros currently are at 250 protein, 100 mg carbs and 55 fat with 1-2 cheat meals thrown in.
 
I hit a rough spot last week, during the early part I was fine everything was moving along I was grinding. Then Wednesday morning I went for my 2nd attempt at getting cleared for my knee. I felt good and hopeful. I had 2 tests to pass strength and stability/explosiveness. Well I blew the strength out of the water the continuously failed the 2nd test. I did improve from my first try but not enough to pass. It threw me for a loop I wasn't expecting that. I got depressed and wondered if I would ever be 100% again. Looking back I took it too hard and my fears weren't based in realty. So I took 3 days off from the gym due to no motivation. My nutrition sucked during those day too. Finally I picked myself up and found the internal motivation. So the plan is the same keep trying to recomp my body and rehab my knee focusing on stability and explosiveness.
 
The end of last week and this week are crazy busy. I already know I won't be getting all 5 days of lifting in. Had a wedding and a rehearsal dinner that I had to go to last week. Then I have 2 appointments in the evening this week. Life happens sometimes so you just do the best you can. I definitely am going to hit back twice and I'm leaning towards choosing legs for the other day I know for sure I can train. When things like this happen I feel like I'm wasting a good blast cycle. Then I realize I'm working a job and having to do things normal people do and bodybuilding has to fit around that. Sure if I was a pro and that was my only job I'd have no excuse but for now I just have to do my best in situations like this. I'll try to make it the best workouts I can then recover.
 
This week was very productive for lifting. However I did really poorly on cardio. Most mornings I still felt tired and decided that sleep would be better. My conditioning didn't change so I'll attribute that to the gear. I'm just over half way thru my blast of 750 mg sustanon and 400 mg EQ weekly. Each work out I'm getting stronger while on a deficit of calories. We decided to bump up carbs again but only around the work out. Definitely going to get back on track this weekend with morning cardio.
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Last night I went to do legs at the more bodybuilding friendly gym I go to. It just so happens that my chiropractor who is also an ifbb pro was just finishing up training some clients. So I asked if he could take a look at my paused squats. I have been really focusing on form as I work my way back up in weight after the injury. I try to really make sure I am not compensating with my other leg. After taking a look at me he said everything was smooth and no issues. In fact he told me to limit my depth more than I was. In the bottom position the stretch on my tendon creates more stress that isn't useful. By stopping my depth 2-3 inches higher I'll put myself in less of a risky position but still get maximum benefit from the squat. This was great to hear. Next time I free squat I'll be on 135 which use to be a warm up set but now will be a milestone. It really helps to have more advanced and intelligent competitors around you. At commercial gyms I'm usually one of the more advanced people in the gym and that's not always a good thing. You need better people around you to keep pushing yourself and trying to get to their level.
 
Update on training: I'm still following my advanced DC training program but I have made it a little more suitable to my needs by sticking to the program layout but tweaking other things. Like last night I did back for the 2nd time this week. The first time this week I had a really good workout and really felt sore do instead of doing a different back routine I just redid the same one with more weight. It was a bit light on the compound movements but felt good.

DB pullover (warm up) 40 lbs x 20 reps 50 x 15 60 x 10
Single Arm Lat Pull down machine 60 x 15 80 x 12 100 x 10 120 x 12-7-4 R/P
Neutral close grip rows 100 x 15 120 x 12 140 x 10 165 x 12-6-4 R/P
Single Overhand Hammerstrength High Rows 50 x 15 65 x 12 75 x 10 90 x 12-5-4 R/P
Lat stretch 60 secs

I followed this with some knee rehab. Everything was up from a few days earlier when I hit the same workout. Everything feels on point, strength is building, estrogen feels under control and making progress with PSL gear.
 
Get Shredded!
Last night I had to change up my workout. I had limited time to spend in the gym. Following DC you are locked into specific exercises to keep progressive overload going. That means waiting on machines most of the time and I couldn't do that. So I did something out of the ordinary and just went by what was open and what I thought could work. I also went with a high volume approach. I don't believe in training on feel but it was a good mix up last night. I got a great chest pump and really hit my shoulders hard. Sometimes you have to fit your workout around your life and not the other way around.
 
So I'm dealing with a new phenomenon with my legs. My injured leg doesn't seem to get sore or get lactic acid build up. When doing bilateral or even unilateral work I feel the muscle but not to the same degree as the uninjured leg. The shape is still off on the tear drop and sweep but I'm hoping it's temporary until my body realizes it doesn't have to compensate then the normal look will return. Other than that I had a good leg workout last night. My coach and I have also used a new strategy with my carbs that seems to be working. Now I only eat carbs peri workout if possible. Some days that doesn't but most I do. I feel like it's helped me recomp a bit. Haven't put on new fat but workouts and strength are improving. I'm sure we'll get to a point where I can't get all of the carbs in during just that peri workout window but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Lastly donated blood this week which is a must when using AAS but even more so when using EQ. I have 1 more week left on this short blast before I go to my cruise phase until prep time. I plan on getting bloods done before prep to make sure everything is a green light. I feel like things are in a good place for a great year competing with PSL gear. I even have a client taking the plunge into AAS. Just waiting on PSL to get restocked, gear so good they're running out.
 
I haven't updated in a bit because I was sick unfortunately. After my chest workout last Monday I woke up with a sore throat and cough. So I rested the whole week. I decided I didn't want to take a chance at prolonging the illness. However it is still hanging around in that stage where you know it's almost over. So I decided today to get in some morning cardio and light lifting. Just going to listen to my body on how hard to push today. I also start my cruise phase until prep starts in January. Going to be using 225 mg of test weekly and still trying to gain muscle if possible but at the very least maintain current physique.
 
Back on the grind. I'm still not at 100% but I'm good enough to go all out. I'm back to cardio, nutrition and training with the goal of progressing each workout. I've gone back to a 4 day routine so that I can recover more. I'm running 225 mg of test from PSL weekly (cruise). I plan on getting bloods done in a couple weeks to make sure everything looks good for prep in late December. My training program now let's me hit back and legs 3 times in a 2 week cycle. My training is focused on the same exercises but not written in a way were I am stuck waiting on others. I go in with a plan and hope I can do my preferred exercises but if I have to change something out I can. They say you can train intense or long but you can't do both. So I'm gonna train as intense as I can with highest volume I can and still recover while cruising.
 
Not too much to update, just cruising along doing my best to improve. I'm always looking for info that can make me better in any way when it comes to bodybuilding. One thing I've heard recently on a podcast was when doing cardio stay at 120-130 hear rate. I never really tried to stay in a certain heart rate on cardio, I always just try to burn more calories than my previous time. However I'm going to give this heart rate zone a try. If I see good results I'll continue it into my prep. I've also set my sights on 2 local shows in 2018. I just have to wait for final dates. I'm also reaching out to PSL to see if we can keep this blog going during prep.
 
Been a really good week for training however I want to focus on something else. I got some really good news from my physical therapist. Take a look at the pic of my quads with the lines. The top line is where the injured quad sweep ends and the bottom line is where the uninjured sweep ends. There is a noticeable difference and in bodybuilding that can cost you. So after speaking with my pt the shape should come back with time and continued strength training. Even though I didn't injury my quad there was still some muscle atrophy because I was in a knee immobilizer for a couple months. I'm really happy to here this since it worried me a bit.View attachment 31032
 
Would you mind explaining your injury again?

I'm lazy
 
When it comes to the bodybuilding lifestyle this week has been bad. I've missed cardio and lifting sessions. A lot has gone on in my personal life to warrant missing days. I wasn't feeling well one day followed my family issues the next snowballed a bit on me. So I plan to correct these starting today. I also don't feel to bad about extra rest days because I only have 2-3 weeks before prep starts. Once that gets going it's bodybuilding turned up to the max. I'm happy to say that PSL and I will continue the log thru my prep for 2 shows this year hopefully leading to 2 class wins and at least 1 overall title. Gonna get back on track while still enjoying life around the holidays.
 
Would you mind explaining your injury again?

I'm lazy

Sure lol, I got into a car accident on February 1st and completely ruptured my patellar tendon on my right leg. I spent a couple months in a knee immobilizer after my surgery 2 days after the accident.
 
This week I'm just floating along. My nutrition has good meals but not really following macros, doing morning cardio and lifting. However I cut back on morning cardio time and I'm going 2 weeks without logging my workouts. This is really difficult for me because I have purpose when I lift and that's to progress on at least 1 exercise. But not using a log book has me just looking to get a pump. I don't recommend this but I'm going on vacation in a few days and plan to workout during but not with the same intensity. So my thought was get a pump, get out and enjoy vacation. Once I get back prep starts for 2018 shows. This way I can hopefully give my body and mind a break from the constant challenge of my usual workouts but still maintain strength and negate vacation eating. It's going to be a gruelling 7 months of prep for 2 shows so this break should help.
 
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