[Andy]

Wednesday, and a much needed NTD is done. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m feeling quite beat up, and I’ve decided to take a deload this week. I had thought at the start of the week the week that it would be foolish to take the entire week off, but I’m regretting that decision now haha. I mean it’s still not too late to do so, but I’ve committed now so. . .

Tuesday’s leg session was okay, my hip was still playing up during BB squats, so I pulled out the leg press variation and just ran with the PL leg ex (as you might have saw from my Instagram).

With a little massage treatment today, I’m hoping that I’ve ironed out the issues and can heal for the rest of this week before getting back after it next week.

Shoulders tomorrow won’t be far off my usual as I’ll simply avoid failure, and maybe only pull my presses back a little bit, but nothing too drastic.

Have a good one guys!

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[Andy]

Another week!

Nick and I have decided to take a deload this week. That’s been around 6-7 weeks since coming off the back of that prep, and it would make sense that I feel like this. My training partner Chris takes a week off every 6-7 weeks without question because we have found he’s needing that.

I thought about doing the same thing myself, however, I’m 13 years younger than Chris, so I don’t think a full week off is needed just now, but it will be something I incorporate once we’re in scale offseason.

Chest/shoulders/biceps today, and there’s zero changes to it other than dropping the weight down a touch as a part of the deload;

Seated cuffed cable flys – 1 working set, 15-20

Incline DB press – 1 working set, 8-12

Prime flat PL press – 1 working set, 8-12

SA cable side raises – 3 working sets, 15-20

SA cable rear raises – 2 working sets, 15-20

Iso-lateral cable curls – 1 working set, 12-15

Decline crunches

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

Saturday is check-in day for me, and my weight has dropped back down, again.

So, Nick and I have agreed to add another 200cals into my TD and NTD. I keep pinching my lower back first thing in the morning, and it doesn’t seem like I’m adding fat in my most compromised area, so that’s always a plus as that’s usually where it goes first.

I think it’s another 6 weeks before the offseason truly starts, and I’m not itching to get started, but that voice is drowned out by there other voice saying to just enjoy this limbo period before it’s full on OS.

Training was insanely good this week with me back up to shoulder pressing the 70s! I haven’t done that in over 2 years.

I’m going to deload my training next week. I don’t need a week off, I just need a bit of WD40 to keep the engine moving. I’ll scale back the weight and not take movements to failure, easy!

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[Andy]

This week has flown, it never fails to amaze me how slowly time goes when you’re on a contest prep. In an offseason the weeks become days.

Back day today, and I think I’ll go with an extra movement today. I’m thinking of pulling the chest supported row out of my 3 row variations, and tagging it in 3rd in the routine, as I feel it in a different part of my compared to conventional t-bar and BB row.

So;

1 working set, 8-12

Shoulder width grip lat pulldowns

90 degree BB rows

Chest supported t-bar rows

SA DB rows

Conventional deadlifts

Decline crunches

Let’s see how this goes. . .

I always feel the opposite, off season always seems to go so slowly for me, but time escapes me on prep maybe it’s because of the faster progress haha[/quote]

That makes sense. I hate Sunday’s on prep, they feel like they last years at a time

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[Andy]

This week has flown, it never fails to amaze me how slowly time goes when you’re on a contest prep. In an offseason the weeks become days.

Back day today, and I think I’ll go with an extra movement today. I’m thinking of pulling the chest supported row out of my 3 row variations, and tagging it in 3rd in the routine, as I feel it in a different part of my compared to conventional t-bar and BB row.

So;

1 working set, 8-12

Shoulder width grip lat pulldowns

90 degree BB rows

Chest supported t-bar rows

SA DB rows

Conventional deadlifts

Decline crunches

Let’s see how this goes. . .

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[Andy]

As requested, here’s my current TD diet plan;

M1

100g beef fillet, 2 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, 2 slices wholemeal bread, 100g TBJP COR, 1 banana, 40g almond butter

M2

200g 2% turkey mince, 50g white jasmine rice, 1 apple, 1/2 avocado, 100g of this polish veg thing (it just says Dinner salad on the jar)

M3

200g 2% turkey mince, 100g white jasmine rice, 1 banana, 100g dinner salad

INTRA

5g creatine mono, 15g TBJP EAAs, 45g TBJP Performance Fuel, 5g taurine

PWO SHAKE

5g creatine mono, 3g HMB, 45g TBJP Performance Fuel, 30g TBJP Performance protein

PWO MEAL

30g TBJP Performance protein, 140g Coco Pops, 100g blueberries

M5

100g – 5% beef mince, 100g white jasmine rice, 50g pasta sauce, 50g sauerkraut

M6

130g salmon fillet, 380g white potatoes, 10g EVOO, 100g pasta sauce, 1 microwave bag of veg

Roughly 4900cals. As you can see there’s plenty of room to push not only overall calories up for the next push, but also room to push protein higher. Post show, I decided to drop my protein down as low as feasibly possible just to give my gut a break

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[Andy]

A pretty busy day today. Wednesday is always a NTD. I tend to do a bit more in the way of 1-2-1 sessions just because there’s no training session. It’s also massage work and physio day, so it’s nice to get ironed out. My massage therapist says I don’t need to go every week, but I think even just mentally, it helps.

My left hip (the torn one) is still insanely tight, but Ricky thinks it’s only tightness – trust me, he’d tell me if it was anything more sinister, he’s the most blunt man I’ve ever met.

The good thing is that it feels much better.

Sleep has been a bit up and down, and it was very noticeable in my sessions on Monday and Tuesday, so I’m making it a top priority to get to bed, and turn my phone off. I just remind myself that nothing interesting happens after 9pm.

Shoulders tomorrow thankfully!

Have a great evening guys!

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[Andy]

What is a full day of eating on a training day look like? If you have time to list each meal, thanks!

Hi Mark! I’ll put a full day eating in with my post tomorrow morning.

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[Andy]

I was pretty happy with yesterday’s chest/shoulder/bicep session. I was by myself which is a nice change sometimes as I’ll just stick music in and go, whereas when I’m with Chris I have to put up with the gym’s horrendous music! Trying to squat to Lewis Capaldi is not fun. . .

Anyway, it’s back to legs today, and the only difference compared to last week is going to be the incline leg press being swapped out for the horizontal/pendulum leg press;

BB squats – 1 working set, 12-15

Horizontal/Pendulum leg press – 1 working set, 12-15

SM hip thrusts – 1 working set, 12-15

Prime PL lying leg curls – 1 working set, 12-15

EZ-bar walking lunges – 1 working set, the longest distance in the gym and back

Standing calve raises – 3 working sets, 15-20

Cable crunches – 3 working sets, 25

Hopefully my hip niggle doesn’t play up too much!

Have a great day guys!

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[Andy]

Back to Monday after a pretty busy weekend. It’s always good to get down to a show and bump into everyone from the scene.

I feel pretty fresh today, and going into another week, I’m excited to see where training lands.

As I touched on yesterday, I’m slowing starting to regain the offseason mindset of pushing, but for now it’s just a few baby steps at a time.

Dieting is a doddle compared to offseason, even those last few weeks of a prep aren’t as bad (to me) as peak off season when you’re forcing food down, hence why I’m just taking my time.

Chest/Shoulders/Biceps today, and we’re running the exact same session as last week;

Seated cuffed cable flys, 1 set 12-15

Incline DB press, 1 set 8-12

Prime PL close grip press, 1 set, 8-12

SA standing cable side raises, 3 sets, 15-20

SA standing rear cable raises, 2 sets, 15-20

Iso-lateral cable curls, 1 set, 12-15

Decline crunches, 3 sets, AMRAP

Have a great week!

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[Andy]

A great day at the MK Classic yesterday, and being called up onstage with Kuba, Jonny McKenna, Max Johnson and Rob Taylor was pretty cool. After which, it was a long drive back up for a night out for my mate’s birthday.

I’m very much now passed the reverse diet phase and in a limbo phase for sure. I’ve never really been here before in 12 years, but I’m using it to socialise a bit more, and to take a break from full throttle BB.

I still eat and breath it, but I need a bit of downtime before I go hard in September when the offseason starts. I think it’s important for me to be honest about that, as we look at those at the top of this game or any sport and just picture them as machines, but the reality is, you’ll burn out quickly. Yeah it took 12 years for me to win my card, but my passion for competing and training is still as good as it was when I started.

I do feel like I’m slowly starting to lock-in, another few weeks and I’ll be there!

Have a great week guys!

Nice to hear that mate! There needs to be room for life and bodybuilding and just like anything in life balance comes from times of focus and times of relaxation. Thanks for sharing![/quote]

Absolutely mate!

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[Andy]

A great day at the MK Classic yesterday, and being called up onstage with Kuba, Jonny McKenna, Max Johnson and Rob Taylor was pretty cool. After which, it was a long drive back up for a night out for my mate’s birthday.

I’m very much now passed the reverse diet phase and in a limbo phase for sure. I’ve never really been here before in 12 years, but I’m using it to socialise a bit more, and to take a break from full throttle BB.

I still eat and breath it, but I need a bit of downtime before I go hard in September when the offseason starts. I think it’s important for me to be honest about that, as we look at those at the top of this game or any sport and just picture them as machines, but the reality is, you’ll burn out quickly. Yeah it took 12 years for me to win my card, but my passion for competing and training is still as good as it was when I started.

I do feel like I’m slowly starting to lock-in, another few weeks and I’ll be there!

Have a great week guys!

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[Andy]

Can you tell your offseason cycle?

Back to my rest day/NTD, a bit of cardio, physio/plunge/sauna, filming for Youtube with my client, a few plans to write/tweak and then a few more PT clients. “Non-training day” is definitely a better way to put it.

I recorded the Scottish Silverback Podcast (get subscribing) with Jack Gunn last night. Fellow TBJP athlete Erin couldn’t make it, but be sure to watch future episodes to hear her opinion on an array of topics!

Jack is THE future of Scottish/British bodybuilding, I have 0 issues saying that, I’ve always said that since he came to me for posing when he was a junior, and it was great to compete with him twice this season, both at the first Scottish 2 Bros show, as well as at the Amateur Olympia Spain.

Have a great day guys!

Peak Cycle which ended November 2023;

Test E – 750mg/week

Primo – 800mg/week

NPP – 200mg/week

GH – 6IU (3IU PWO, 3IU pre-bed)

Novorapid – 10IU PWO

Lantus – 30IU/day[/quote]

Hey mate was that lantus used on rest days as well? Also when do you implement them, is it BG based or do you add in at that start of a push up almost as prophylactic[/quote]

Hi pal,

Yeah, Lantus was used every day. I usually put Lantus in if I see consistent readings of between 5.2-5.5mmol/L. I’ll start at 10IU and taper up if needs be.[/quote]

Ah i figured as much.

Do you lower dietary fat intake when lantus is at play? There a lot of mixed opinions around this as some belive dietary fats consumed during when insulin is active can be easily stored as body fat (heard it on a scott stevenson podcast).

Also is the difference between TD and NTD diet mainly stem from an intra shake?

Very excited to see you on here![/quote]

Nope, I don’t adjust fats while using Lantus.

And yeah, the drop in carbs is from the intra shake and PWO shake on the NTD.

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[Andy]

A greenback session today, however, instead of SLDL I pulled them out and put in a SA Nautilus row. I NEVER have low back pain/pumps etc, even at my heaviest in my offseason, but today my lower back, right through the crack of my arse was killing me – it’s not how it sounds.

It was really nagging me, so instead of powering through, I decided to listen to my gut, treat myself like a client and pull SLDL out. I’ve not even started my offseason yet, so the last thing I want to do is hurt myself before it’s even started.

Back is probably the lowest volume session with 4 working sets, with 8-12 reps.

Shoulder width grip lat pulldown

Conventional t-bar rows

SA DB rows

SA Nautilus pin-loaded rows

Decline crunches

I think next week I’ll add something in, but I’m not sure what, I just know we can start adding things in.

Have a great weekend guys!

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[Andy]

Can you tell your offseason cycle?

Back to my rest day/NTD, a bit of cardio, physio/plunge/sauna, filming for Youtube with my client, a few plans to write/tweak and then a few more PT clients. “Non-training day” is definitely a better way to put it.

I recorded the Scottish Silverback Podcast (get subscribing) with Jack Gunn last night. Fellow TBJP athlete Erin couldn’t make it, but be sure to watch future episodes to hear her opinion on an array of topics!

Jack is THE future of Scottish/British bodybuilding, I have 0 issues saying that, I’ve always said that since he came to me for posing when he was a junior, and it was great to compete with him twice this season, both at the first Scottish 2 Bros show, as well as at the Amateur Olympia Spain.

Have a great day guys!

Peak Cycle which ended November 2023;

Test E – 750mg/week

Primo – 800mg/week

NPP – 200mg/week

GH – 6IU (3IU PWO, 3IU pre-bed)

Novorapid – 10IU PWO

Lantus – 30IU/day[/quote]

Hey mate was that lantus used on rest days as well? Also when do you implement them, is it BG based or do you add in at that start of a push up almost as prophylactic[/quote]

Hi pal,

Yeah, Lantus was used every day. I usually put Lantus in if I see consistent readings of between 5.2-5.5mmol/L. I’ll start at 10IU and taper up if needs be.

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