[Marc]

Rest day for me today. It’s been a productive day, posing client this morning in person putting together his posing routine, client check ins, sports massage and a few other bits of admin to get done. Stepped ticked off, last meal gone in and shortly off to bed as my sleep was crap last night waking up during the night

[Marc]

This isn’t terribly low for your body weight. If you are making progress on this then that is fine. You can always try increasing and see how your digestion and progress is. You’re about 3.5-4oz portions per meal so you can try another 1oz per meal

The portion sizes have been slightly higher in the past. I purposely lowered the quantities so as to promote digestion and indeed digestion has been very much improved. When it comes to recovery, i havent really noticed all that much of a difference. However i have been running the diet for close to two weeks

[/quote]
To promote digestion i would ensure you have a daily step goal and take short walk between each meals. Also some cardio will help to keep digestion good and for cardiovascular health

[Marc]

Morning leg session today because an afternoon physio appointment 1hr30 mins from home. I felt tired going into today’s session, I think I’m
Around the mark now where a pull back is likely going to be needed. But anyway for after it in the gym. Had a good session, hit good numbers overall on my exercises. A few back of sets with my isolations were down on numbers but the top sets were progressed so this could be a factor. Midweek check in, steps up to 12.5k from 12k and food also lowered. The plan was a 7 weeks primer phase, but today Kuba said it could be more like 9-10 weeks but we will see how things go. Either way it needs to be done, so it will get done !

[Marc]

I definitely don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here. Considering the amount of years you have been training for I would imagine you have a good idea of which workouts style you enjoyed the most. I would choose this as you will be more likely to stick to it and also you can work it around your family life which is important.

[Marc]

Upper session for me today. Felt tired going into today’s session, sleep time last night was close to 8 hours but sleep quality was down with sleep being disturbed with waking up during the night. Anyway, 1 scoop of DNFM and got after it. Progression across my lifts, this was a more chest dominant upper session and I could really notice more stability in my shoulder. I’ve got a physio session tomorrow, which I think has come at a good time to try get some inflammation down which was the reason for me having a bad sleep last night.

[Marc]

Is this your current exercise order and is this all you do in a week for chest if it’s a weakness?

[Marc]

Family day today with my girls and kerry. Shopping trip and went down the park for a short while. Not too much to report today it’s been a nice relaxing day… well watching the England game too that a whole different story but hopefully now they win!

[Marc]

I agree with the comments from the team here, let us know how you get on

[Marc]

Started my day with a morning walk, followed by putting together two posing routines for my posing clients. Two in person posing clients also this morning, really enjoying helping male bodybuilders perfecting their craft.

The rest of my weekend will be spent with my daughters / family so looking forward to that family time. Almost 1 week into my cut, looking forward to seeing the changes over the coming 6 weeks.

[Marc]

Set up looks good. You could potentially add in some veggies like peppers / mushrooms to your egg whites so you have some additional micronutrients.

[Marc]

Last session of the week incoming soon. Lower + 1 bicep exercise. This is the session that when it’s over I look forward to the rest days over the weekend. Previously I’ve trained 5 times a week, but since being coached my Kuba 4 sessions seems to just right for me in terms of progress and recovery capabilities. Got some feedback from Kuba today to put in place for hack squats, now that I’m training at a different gym the Watson hack squat they have ruined my knees last week so I’ll make the adjustments to set up and see how I get on.

[Marc]

Impressive work, a huge well done to you with your weightloss so far. I agree with the team pop some pictures up or send over on instagram and we can give you some constructive feedback for your next steps

[Marc]

Already racked up over 7k steps so far out of my daily 11k target. I like to get a good chunk in the morning and then short walks during the day so I don’t have loads to do in the evening.

Client check ins and posing replies this morning. Currently getting my haircut then back home for my pre workout meal and Upper session for me this afternoon. Back dominant with a chest exercise also.

Day 4 of cut, nothing really to report weight has dropped off a little but for now at least it’s nice eating less food

[Marc]

Hiya Alan!

You absolutely don’t HAVE to train legs if you don’t want to at this point in time! If training upper suits you better right now and is more enjoyable go for it. Louis mentioned more of a bro split focusing on separate body parts in each session (chest, back, delts, arms) which could be enjoyable. You can also continue with your rotation of push pull rest repeat, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple! It might also be beneficial to look at your physique and bring up areas you might want to improve with this period of time focused on upper training. By all means you can send pictures over and we would be happy to help make suggestions. At the end of the day if you’re making progress you’re happy with, and you actually enjoy your training then you’re good!

I would love to train legs, but my cartilage is worn down and I have loose bodies which cause tons of inflammation even after body weight squats. It’s an unfortunate situation and prior to this leg day was my favourite.

That being said, I want to focus on my upper body (and make the absolute most of it) during the time leading up to surgery.

Considering hiring a coach for this period that would be understanding of this- could you point me in the right direction? [/quote]
I completely understand your position, as my shoulder has pretty much zero cartilage and I have underwent two operations in the last 6 months on my shoulder.

I’d be happy to speak to you regarding coaching, if you are on instagram if you can drop me a message my name on there is marc__hector

[Marc]

Hi Alan

I am very much in agreement with Rich in regards to cross education, so training the opposite side to the one you need surgery will help actually speed up the recovery process.

I completely understand your frustration, although not the same as I didn’t need surgery on my knee but I had major inflammation in my knee a few years ago and my knee locked up. I also had a small loose body, but it’s not flared up again. During this time I trained the opposite side of my body, single leg – leg extension, leg press, lying leg curl, adductor. This is something I would encourage still, when I was able to train both sides again my leg size can back pretty fast.

I’d have a chat with your surgeon about doing pre-hab exercises before your surgery. This is a very important part of the process prior to your operation. If your surgeon is unsure, take your information to a physio as this will honestly help the entire process.

Your push and pull workouts can remain as they are, as long as you’re progressing and enjoying this. Alternatively you could do an upper body session choosing different exercises over two sessions. I would still highly recommend doing a lower body workout that includes pre-hab exercises on the side you need surgery and single leg exercises like I mentioned earlier in this reply