[Ellis]

Glad you’re back to logging Jordan. I love how you document walking the line of recovery. Do you ever begin a session and after a couple of movements realise you are still under-recovered enough for it to be productive?

And if so, do you generally crack on with the session and adjust the set up after, or would you park it there and re-approach it the next day for example?

I occasionally find that even if I feel fresh entering a session, after an exercise or two, I can feel I could have done with one extra day’s rest and it pisses me off that I have to have a sub optimal workout haha

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[Ellis]

Hi Nathan, lovely to see you’re covering this post show period, it’s one that can be more mentally tough than prep itself sometimes.

The look was incredible and you bring something unique to the stage that you can be proud of. I’d be interested to know what the judges feedback was for you and Cal to take away and work on?

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[Ellis]

So here we are, thick of the off-season for me now. I’m not an off-season guy. I like to stay lean yes, but moreover it’s a case of discomfort. Not the kind of discomfort where you’re not hungry and you still have to eat, that’s a given at some point, but the discomfort when my auto-immune condition kicks in and fights back.

Unfortunately this was bound to happen at some point and to be honest this is the longest I’ve gone in an off-season setting without a ‘flare up’, but essentially my body will react to accumulated stress by shutting down my digestion HARD. This results in extreme bloating, cramping, constipation, bleeding, fatigue, the list goes on.

I’m not here to complain, in fact I don’t like to be ‘that guy with the condition’ but sometimes I think it’s interesting to share so we can learn and so that others that may be suffering can see something that’s relatable and not be too discouraged with their own obstacles they have to overcome.

This is one of the reasons why I decided to step away from competing a few years back. I needed more size, so I needed to eat more food, and I knew that would be a problem.

But I’ve committed to this come back, and I know my body better than I ever have. This is going to have to be a dance, a delicate practice of push and pull.

On the upside the look is where I want it to be. Training is improving, although not so much this week, and surprisingly scale weight is still slowly trending up.

I think I’m out of the woods now with this flare up as I managed my baseline diet in full yesterday (whoop-de-doo)

Unfortunately it still won’t let me attach images, so you’ll have to either use your imagination or visit my insta

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[Ellis]

Yo yo yo!

Here’s a quick update on the last month for anyone interested…

Weight is now up at 105.2kg, over 20lbs up from the start point. It’s held around here for over a week so just letting it sit and marinate before attempting to push a bit harder. Nothing too aggressive though.

Current diet:

P – 328g

C – 762g

F – 90g

Fibre: 65g. Totals: ~5,085 kcals

PEDs:

Test – 525mg

Mast – 480mg

Primo – 480mg

GH – 4iu (2iu on wake, 2iu pre bed)

Lantus – 15iu daily M1

NovoRapid – 8iu TD only (4iu pre, 4iu post)

Telmisartan – 40mg daily

Still nursing torn hamstring and now my adductor is playing up, but apart from that all good 9 weeks left of this push before a short holiday.

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[Ellis]

Hope you have a speedy recovery brother. BPC is a god send!

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[Ellis]

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

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[Ellis]

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!

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[Ellis]

Just curious Nath, how long has this cycle been for you, minus the few weeks you did at 300?

Are you of the opinion that if bloods are good then you’re happy to keep pushing?

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[Ellis]

Little bit off topic maybe. But I’m quitting vaping this week coming. I’ve done it for nearly 2 years now mainly because of prep but it deffo has a negative effect on my appetite when trying to eat like now so that aswell as I want to obviously not smoke/vape for the health reasons too. So taking the first step and quitting next week … wish me luck

Semaglutide instead of vape for next prep? haha!

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[Ellis]

Hey man, it’s been a while so I’ve just been catching up on your recent posts. How are you feeling now after the crash, thank god you’re okay and your family weren’t with you

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[Ellis]

Another day of the same routine for me

Arm day today which is a pretty quick session for me completed in around 40 mins

Started a 200mg per ml primo which has given me quite a big lump on my glute so think it may have a slight infection which will have to ring doctors to get some antibiotics not ideal but it happens time to time

This happened to me a while back and went down without anti-biotics slowly over about 10 days. Was it quanta by any chance?

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[Ellis]

Unfortunately it won’t let me upload any photos. Any admin help here would be greatly appreciated! If not you’ll just have to use your imagination like the old days

Hey mate, are you uploading from phone or desktop? Louis[/quote]

I’ve tried both, it reads ‘unable to create directory’. Although on phone I’m using my browser, I can’t seem to re-download the app from Google Play and can’t find it when I search?

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[Ellis]

So my current goal in terms of training is mostly just to establish a decent level of intensity again. I’ve not really trained what I’d deem to be hard in two years (maybe one set to failure per session haha). Unfortunately I tore my hamstring 4 weeks ago, a week before my shoot so leg training is still sub-optimal right now, hence no deadlifting, but luckily I can train them again after 3 weeks off. So frustrating as my legs and back are what need to improve the most. I’ve torn the hamstring 4 times now so I’m genuinely debating if I should do MPD when I come back to stage but we shall see…

Currently running a PPL, 6 Days On. I will do this until that level of intensity and strength has progressed enough to warrant more recovery and then I’ll likely drop to 5 days training per week.

Sun – Legs A
Seated Calf Raise x3
Seated Ham Curl x3
Plate Loaded Leg Ext x2
Pendulum Squat x2
V-Squat x2
Abductor x2
Adductor x2

Mon – PUSH A
Pec Deck x1
Incl DB Press x2
Plate Press Machine x2
Incl DB Flyes x1 +DROPSET

Dip Machine x2
Rapunzel Pulldown (against pad) x2
Flat DB Skulls x2 +REST/PAUSE

Lat Raise Machine x3

Tue – PULL A (Lat Focus)
Pullups x1
DY Row x2
Hammer Strength 1 Arm Pulldown x2
Medium Mag Grip Lat Pull x2
1 Arm DB Row x1 +REST/PAUSE

1 Arm Cable Curl (behind body) x2
EZ Bar Curl x2
Incl DB Hammer x2 + DROPSET

Wed – Legs B

Smith Calf Raise x3
Lying Ham Curl x3
Leg Extension x2
Elevated Lunge x2
BB Back Squat x2
Leg Press x2

Thu – Push B
Incl Cable Flyes x1
Incl DB Press x2
Incl DB Flyes x2
Chest Press Machine x1 +REST/PAUSE

Tricep Pushdown (bar) x2
Dips x2
Overhead Cable Ext x2 +DROPSET

Incline Lateral Raise x3

Fri – Pull B (Thickness Focus)
Neutral Pull Ups x1
BO BB Row x2
Bench Supported Dual DB Row/T-Bar Row x2
Overhand Lat Pull x2
Seated Cable Row x1 + REST/PAUSE

Incline DB Curl x2
Cable Curl (bar) x2 +DROPSET
Cross Body DB Hammer x2 (not sure if I like this yet)

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[Ellis]

Just sped read through the log Andy, loving it so far. I’ve had a bit of time away from the sport but always have followed you for the past 10 years since I started competing when I was a junior and you were a big name in the junior BB scene!

Ibiza looked wicked and I’m sure the rest did you good. I was in Turkey that same week and by the end of it I had decided I was going to compete again after what will be 4 years away. That’s how much a holiday gives me the itch to ramp things up haha!

Very excited to see you in the pro ranks and although I haven’t followed the BB circuit closely for the past two years up until now, I was elated when I saw you finally got what you deserved.

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[Ellis]

I have always wondered this. Whenever I’ve flown I’ve injected my weekly dose in a bolus or split the night before and the day of flying. Not ideal but never wanted to risk it. I assume GH is out of the question when flying?

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