[Andy]

Each time I’ve gone through TSA flying into the states I’ve not brought any injectables, even in checked luggage as they can still search those bags, which has happened to me twice, luckily I didn’t chance bringing injectables into the US.

When I competed at the Arnold US amateur, I brought orals in checked luggage, in a bottle of multivitamins.

If it’s a case of flying into the US I personally wouldn’t bother chancing it.

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[Andy]

A very easy and chilled Sunday. I tried to do as little as humanly possible, and I feel great for it. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Sunday this chilled.

I’ve got a chilled week to follow it, so some big numbers are on the cards.

I have a feeling December is going to be done before we know it, and it will be time to diet

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[Andy]

Feeling a touch tired today after the gym’s night out last night, but it was great one! It’s the first time the gym has went to a big function for the Christmas night out.

I went in and done light shoulder session as I felt I was festering in the flat – it’s rare I have 2 days off at the weekend. It was superb, and made me feel 100x better!

I checked in with Nick this morning, and we’ve agreed to put a little more insulin in pre workout, so current levels are sitting at;

20IU lantus AM

5IU novorapid pre workout

10IU novorapid post workout

Plenty of room to play with, although I don’t go nuts with it.

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[Andy]

Weighed in at 280.8 so a 0.5’ish drop from last Saturday. It’s the gym’s Christmas night out tonight, so I checked in a day early. It will be a quiet affair for me though, but I didn’t want my look skewed.

I’ll send everything over to Nick tomorrow to see what his thoughts are. I think a PED push is on the cards. I feel like my digestion is in a good place, but I’d rather not add more food in at this moment in time when training is in such a good spot progression wise.

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[Andy]

Hi Jamie.

I feel once muscle tissue is there, it’s there. I do however like to spend 4-6 weeks at or finding maintenance rather than dropping from the surplus as you may still be dropping into the surplus itself, and only losing weight from gut content/water.

If you have your maintenance point sussed, then a drop from there is (or should be) from fat – as well as the other areas we drop weight from.

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[Andy]

Back in the bag today, and another very nice session. Back never really seems to be a bad one, I literally remember the last bad one, I was on prep in 2018 around 6 weeks out, and I only remember that because I thought, “Christ, I must be in a bad way because I never have a bad back session”.

I t-bar rowed 8 plates for the first time in the while, for a clean 6.

My SI joint has been a bit funny for a few days, nothing bad, but I know it’s slipped like a toilet cubicle door. While warming with deadlifts, I could feel my left side pulling down, so I stripped the weight back a touch and worked up to a nice 12 reps.

Close grip lat pulldowns – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Conventional t-bar row – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Chest supported t-bar row (upper back bias) – 1 working set, 8-12

SA DB rows – 2 working sets, 8-12

SA Nautilus row – 1 working set, 8-12

Prime rear peck deck – 3 working sets, 12-15

Conventional deadlifts – 1 working set, 6-10

As I mentioned, I have my gym’s night out tomorrow, so I’ll get a shoulder in on Saturday afternoon.

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[Andy]

I’ve been doing some sort of delt isolation 3x a week for about 18 months now, and they’ve grown really well from that. Nothing taken to failure though, keeping rest periods short and working in a few ranges (12-15, 15-20)

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[Andy]

A busy NTD wrapped up. I mentioned last week I tweaked my left shoulder correcting the bar on a BB squat and it’s been a dull ache ever since, which obviously strikes fear into someone who has had their shoulder operated on.

My physio went through it pretty aggressively, and as he was working on it, you could actually feel the knots leave the tissue and now it’s not sore at all, and I have a full ROM.

I must have just braced so hard in the fear of tipping the weight to the side that my shoulder must have went into some mad cramp I’ve not experienced before.

I also had a session with my mobility coach, working the same ranges/directions that we put ourselves in an abs and thigh, as I couldn’t get into it during my check-in on Saturday, and I also saw immediate improvements.

A successful day all round!

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[Andy]

Prep/Photoshoot/Holiday deadline(s) should be the driving factor to ensure you get everything done, and the knowing how you should look for that goal.

When a timeline goal is distant that’s when I have to be a bit more stringent in “almost” forcing myself to do certain things.

Nutrition: I prep my meals first thing in the morning, not at night or meal by meal as I won’t do it. If I’m having 6 meals I know what time I need to get up and go to bed in order fit all of the meals in, so that sorts the times I get up and go to bed. If I don’t have set times, I’ll sit on my phone.

I’ve even set alarms in previous offseason to remind my self to eat at specific times.

Cardio/Steps: If it’s set cardio get it done first thing in the morning, and/or a vast chunk of your steps done first thing in the morning. Leaving it until the end of the day more often than not ends up in you not doing them.

Training: You should book out your training for the week, the week prior. I know more or less what time I’m training 2-3 weeks in advance – unless my training partner has some work emergency.

Mindset wise, that’s always been one that’s been hard to answer. If your goal means enough to you, then you should have enough intrinsic motivation to get through. If you don’t, and you’re relying on external motivation – which I think a lot of modern competitors do via social media – then you need to ask yourself why is that internal motivation not there or as high as it could be?

I wanted to be a professional rugby player growing up, but I didn’t have enough internal motivation to do what was needed to be great, i.e I wasn’t passionate enough or want that goal bad enough.

Not sure if that helps haha. . .

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[Andy]

As I mentioned in previous posts, I’m changing the way I train legs slightly. The difference being is that I’m using what I consider feeder sets, instead of low rep (6-4-1) warm ups. This is to avoid the poundages I was doing using this warm up method.

Now, I’m essentially – and this maybe sacrilege saying this on a TBJP forum – but chasing a pump. I feel I’ve got the mass in my legs, now I just need the lines and separation.

So this is how it looked;

Leg extension (rest pause set) – Pick a weight you can get a comfortable 15 reps, pause for 45s rep to failure, pause for 30s, rep to failure, pause for 15s, rep to failure, pause for 5s lean forward and perform 15 partials (I let my training partner decide how many to do here).

BB squats – 15 – 12 – 8 – 8

Pendulum squat – 12 – 8 – 10

Prime PL lying leg curls – 15, 12, 10 + dropset

Cybex seated leg curls – 15, 15, 15

Seated PL calve raises – 3 working sets, 20

Decline bench crunches

I didn’t come away feeling like I had been hit by a train, maybe just a car this time. . .

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[Andy]

On top of what Jordan said, stay off your phone or any visual stimulation at least an hour before bed, if you can. It’s not always feasible, but you will notice a big difference.

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[Andy]

A great start to the week with a chest/shoulders/bicep session in the bag. My weekend was beyond chilled, and I managed to get a good amount of sleep/rest in over the 2 days, so my strength today was ridiculous, as was the quality of the pump I got in the session as well.

I’ve got my gym’s Christmas night out on Friday so I’m having to do 3 sessions this week instead of 4, however, I don’t intend to go nuts at the night out, so I’ll be able to train shoulders on Saturday afternoon. I am really not fussed with drinking, I never really have to be honest, but I’ll have a few to be social and then call it a night.

A few of the boys from the gym are away to Amsterdam next Friday as well, so I don’t want to rip the piss.

Seated cuffed cable flys – 1 working sets, 12-15, 1 back-off set, 15-20

Incline DB press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

High incline SM shoulder press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

Standing cable chest fly – 2 working sets, 20

SA standing cable side raises – 3 working sets, 20

SA standing cable rear raises – 3 workings sets, 20

Seated alternating DB curls – 3 working sets, 15-20

Standing EZ-bar curls – 3 workings sets, 15-20

Shallow decline cable crunches – 3 working sets, AMRAP

I’ll post some footage tomorrow morning.

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[Andy]

A great weekend wrapped up, I’d probably say it’s been the quietest and most chilled weekend since my show back in June. I’ve now got something every weekend until the weekend before new year. None of these social occasions impact my setup though, I just have to tweak things ever so slightly. I’ve found over the year that I’m a better all round BB if I allow myself to be this flexible, rather than a stress ball 24/7. Obviously on prep none of this happens, but in my offseason(s) typically I like to have things planned here and there.

After the small calf tweak last Tuesday, I’d say my body is pretty fresh, but I am going to tweak the way I train legs going forward, which I’ll touch on Tuesday’s blog.

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

My legs got crushed by a truck will knee sleeves reduce pain and pressure

Yes potentially, but don’t use them as a second pair of knees.

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[Andy]

Hi Tony,

They add support to joints and midsection when they are compromised. For example, I use a lifting belt for weights where I know my midsection is the weakest link in the chain of support. My legs can squat more than my midsection can effectively deal with if you want to look at it like that.

Past that point if we’re still using BB squats as the example, I need a little extra support on my knees via sleeves once I pass a certain weight.

Use as and when needed.

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