[Andy]

I’m spending the weekend of this weekend off down at my other half’s flat in Liverpool. It took me just over 6 hours to get her due to a closure on the M6, so I’m behind on meals, but I’ll be able to tick everything off.

There’s nothing worse than sitting in stand still traffic on country roads! I love driving my car, but that was just appalling, not to mention bursting for a piss for about 2 hours.

Anyway, Nick and I have agreed to nudge the food up a bit, but to also add in NPP at 400mg per week, so the cycle is looking like this;

Test E – 1000mg

Primo – 600mg

NPP – 400mg

GH – 6IU pre-bed

T4 – 100mg/day

Lantus – 20IU/day

Humalog – 10IU pre and post

Telmisartan – 40mg/day

Metformin – 500mg/day

MK677 – 1 tab AM

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[Andy]

I’m pretty bored of this week off now. . .

I feel completely rested and ready to go with training next week (which was kind of the point to be fair).

I’ll be checking in tomorrow with Nick to put the game plan together for the final lap of this off season.

I don’t chase scale weight any more, but I think I’ll be around the 295 range once the push is over, and leaner than I was 12lbs lighter.

100% I put this down to the very controlled reverse I done post show, and I’ll be looking to refine it further coming out of this year.

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[Andy]

I think I have the most boring blog on here. . .

Day 5 of my week off. I feel brilliant – other than a mild cold I picked up from the rugby no doubt.

The last time I took time off it was new year, and there was a lot going on socially, now though, I feel like this week is dragging a touch, but that means that I’ll be raring to go come Monday.

I have 5 weeks left of this push, so I’m think one last bump in PEDs, and a little bit more food – knowing how my appetite will be come Monday.

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[Andy]

A 30 minute walk every day isn’t excessive, a lot of people have that in their offseason, let alone their fat phase loss phase – it is all person dependant mind you.

Assuming your fat loss hasn’t stalled and continues to progress and there’s no impact on your training output then you can leave as is, or alternatively add more down the line if you feel you need to in order to stop any stalls.

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[Andy]

Another chilled yet productive day on this week off. Appetite is in a much better spot, (aided by the drop of about around 10% of CHO from my NTD). I’m 3lbs down from my last check-in weight, and visually fresher as well, so clearly a good bit of lingering inflammation was sitting around my physique.

My shoulders and knees feel like they’ve had a good break as well.

It’s nice being able to get multiple naps in through the day, and not be rushed by my training window.

I even went and viewed a flat down the road with the extra time I had (the bathroom is too small)

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[Andy]

There’s not much to report, that’s the first day of the week off completed. That’s been 3 days since my last session, but with the tiring weekend, I don’t feel that much more recovered, as I’m typing this, my eyes are stinging!

I’ve pulled my NTD back by 10% via CHO. It’s enough of a drop to give my gut a bit of a rest.

I’ll be doing 20 minutes of cardio per day, as I usually do 20 minutes on my NTD (so 3x per week).

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[Andy]

Hilly is probably the best man to ask here, but I’ve found that over the years I’ve become intolerant to a lot of your traditional BB sources. I find that when you’re on prep your digestion is much more efficient for a whole variety of reasons, it’s not until you start increasing food and putting a little more demand on the gut that you start to see that your body isn’t liking a particular source(s).

An elimination diet based off of the observations of a digestion diary might help.

I can’t touch chicken, oats, most spices/flavourings, potatoes, some fruits. With your condition as well it might be even more prevalent if you’ve got some kind of intolerance there.

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[Andy]

You can be ready in 7 weeks, no problem at all!

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[Andy]

Touchdown in London for the Scotland/England game. I’m taking today off plan just to enjoy the day and soak it up a bit. This trip is my brother’s 30th birthday present, so I don’t want to make it about me, and have to dive into tupperware every 2 hours.

I’ve got next week off training anyway, so this break from my diet for the day will go down well!

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[Andy]

I checked in at 293.6 today, which is a matched offseason high, but I am absolutely done in. As I mentioned in previous blogs, all of the signs of being fatigued are there, my joints are killing me, shoulders are both giving me bother, tricep tendon is wrecked.

This past offseason, I’ve been having a week off every 7-9 weeks, and that’s worked brilliantly, so Nick and I have agreed to take next week off, and I can’t wait for it!

I’m down to Twickenham to watch the Scotland England game, so a nice break from BB for a day haha!

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[Andy]

Micro-loading, and changing the order would be my choice before swapping a movement out. If you’ve been training for a long time, and perhaps don’t train in the most kitted out gym, you have limited options of exercises that you enjoy and feel (I feel this is a big aspect of exercise selection).

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[Andy]

A few tweaks to today’s shoulder dominant push.

Standing iso-lateral cuffed raises – 2 working sets, 12-15

Cuffed cable rear delt raises – 3 working sets, 15-20

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

HS flat PL chest press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 12-15

*HS PL machine side raises – 3 working sets, 12-15 + double drop

Bent over rope triceps extensions – 3 working sets, 12-15

*Overhead rope triceps extensions – 3 working sets, 12-15 (I used to not feel these at all, but I demonstrated them with a client a few weeks ago and they felt incredible. I also can’t jam anymore plates onto the cable stack {I’m not allowed to use a gym pin})

I am feeling a little beat up now. That’s been 7 weeks since my last week off, I think it’s approaching, so I’ll discuss with Nick at my check-in.

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[Andy]

3 days off will do you the world of good. If you’ve been training at full capacity then your body will probably look and perform better after the 3 days off.

Like Nath said, I too prefer just complete days/weeks off from the gym as opposed to deloaded sessions. For example, if I’m pulling 6 plates from the floor and I go with a 50% devolumed session the following week, then that’s still 140kg I’m pulling off the floor, it’s hardly a rest.

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[Andy]

A pretty easy NTD today. I had 2 PT cancellations, so that freed up my day a bit more.

I feel like I’m starting to notice the usual over training markers – constant tiredness, brain fog, digestion being slightly sub-par – it’s been 8 weeks since my last week off, so that does make sense, and I usually take a week off – like my training partner is doing next week. Although I made this a non-negotiable, I still feel I’ve got a bit more to give before I take the week off.

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[Andy]

Agreed, with the guys above, the average intake ranges 3-6L from what I’ve seen, and that’s from all fluids

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