Another training journal recap, another week closer to the NABBA North Britain 2014. Damn, literally, 5 weeks to go now. This is crazy. It sounds cliche, but before I know it, ill be writing up my post show recap. Well here we are, 5 weeks of prep left, lets dig into this weeks training recap.
Diet & Supplements
I ran out of glutamine. My gains are gone! Ok so this past week I ran out of glutamine, and i’ve been drinking ass tasting water consisting of BCAA, Creatine, Taurine, Beta Alanine & EAA. Not all in 1 drink, but a combination of them all.
The Glutamine I usually use is the My Protein Berry Blast, and it tastes great. I foolishly waited until I ran out before I put my order in, so im waiting out for delivery on that, but it’s all good.
My protein shake consumption has been lowered a little this past week, as my hunger has increased. I’ve now been carb cycling for a couple of weeks, using a 3day protocl which I outlined in last weeks training recap. I’d been doing ok with it, but this past week my hunger seems to have increased, especially mid afternoon / evening. I can only put it down to an overall lower calorie intake, and my training volume and intensity remaining high.
As such, i’m trying to eat more foods to fill me up, and relying less on shakes. Im sticking with a casein shake before bed. I like having this, as sometimes I don’t eat my last ‘real meal’ of the day until around 8. If im going to bed at around 10.30-11.00 I don’t want to eat anything too heavy. I find that a casein protein shake hits the spot. The reason I have casein before bed is due the slow releasing nature of the protein, pretty standard. You can read my review of Micellar Casein Protein from MyProtein, and find out why I use that.
I’ve actually lowered the amount of carbs im having post workout from maltodextrin, opting to have them from white rice of sweet potato instead. Up until this week I was taking 70g of maltodextrin following my afternoon weight session, and then having a meal consisting of 70g carbs from white rice shortly after. My carb intake following my evening workout has been very low for pretty much all of my diet. What I’ve started doing this past week is reducing my maltodextrin intake, and having some extra carbs following my evening weight session, around 60g of carbs.
Of course my diet is currently changing daily due to carb cycling. A typical look at my diet now however, 5 weeks out is as follows
Meal 1:
Eggs, Cornflakes & Banana
Meal 2:
Turkey, Brown Rice & Greens
Meal 3: (Post Workout)
White Rice, Chicken & Greens
Meal 4:
Brown Rice, Fish & Greens
Meal 5:
Sweet Potato, Ground Turkey Breast & Greens
Meal 6:
Casein Shake
The quantities of carbs differ daily, however protein and fat’s remain the same. On cardio days i’ll have some hydrolysed protein following my evening weight session, before hitting cardio. I’ll deduct this amount, usually around 20g from my casein shake.
I’ve yet to get any cravings for bad foods, and I hope things stay that way. I definitely don’t want a repeat of my diabetus cheat day from last year:
I have however planned some of my cheat foods following the show. What are they? Reeses of course! Good old Mr Reeses (I’m pretty sure he’s not real), has provided me with some Reeses Pieces and an Easter Bunny. I bought my Fiancé one, and it looks phucking unreal. I can’t wait to hammer this in a few weeks.
Speaking of cravings, by the time the weekend comes, im craving some ground rice. Americans may know this better as cream of rice. I made a video and wrote an article explaining how to make home made cream of rice. Definitely check that out.
Training
Im fully into the swing of training now. You can check out my training split, which i’ve covered in the past, so I won’t go into too much detail here.
Last week I loved my high volume leg session. For the first time in the longest time I did Front Squats. This workout was a killer, and gave me that naughty but nice feeling the next day. Who doesn’t love crying from pain when standing up after taking a dump?
The high volume leg workout from last week was as follows:
Standing Hamstrings Supersetted with Lying Hamstring Curls 5 x 12-20
Front Squat Supersetted with Leg Press 4 x 15
I actually failed on my last set of front squats on the 14th rep. It felt good.
Im used to separating each muscle group out now, and training weights twice a day. It makes each workout shorter, and allows me to put more effort into each muscle group. The thought of 40 minutes cardio following an evening weight session isn’t as bad either when my weight sessions are shorter. Its an all round winner.
On heavy days, im still lifting heavy, and likely won’t stop lifting heavy until maybe 1-2weeks out from my show. You can check out some of my workout footage from the past week in the following videos:
Outside Of The Gym
I’ve not really been up to a great deal this past week. I was feeling super tired this past weekend and just couldn’t be bothered to do anything. Like I mentioned earlier, the toll of carb cycling, reducing overall calorie intake, whilst maintaining the same level of training has started to hit me. I’m sleeping easier on a night, which is always a good thing, but this past weekend I just couldn’t be bothered to do anything.
I’ve been playing some PS4, Metal Gear Ground Zeroes, which I actually finished the main mission for. I’ve not played anything else however this past week.
I spoke about how bodybuilders can be geeks in this video this past week;
This is because… I am a geek! As many of you will know I love gaming, pokemon, anime, wrestling. Pretty much a lot of stuff that people consider to be ‘geeky’ I love. If you’re a geek, leave a comment down below and let me know!
My geekiness started as a teen when I was overweight and then got super skinny. You can check out my Skinny to Muscular transformation which has received a pretty good response so far!
I’ve managed to catch up on some youtube videos and fitness reading this past week to. The boys over at Dynamic duo put out a great round up post that you should check out. Mike Samuels put up a great post about getting fat while eating clean. It definitely describes me from a few years ago! I read a great article that my good Twitter Fweeeend Mike Matthews from Muscle For Life shared on twitter this past week about speeding up the metabolism. I also read this insightful post from Layne Norton looking at pre diet macros. A very interesting read, and actually had me recalculating my macro’s this past weekend. Lastly, Mario Kart & supplement reviews in 1 blog post? It’s gotta be Nerd Fitness. A great post looking at what supplements you ought to be taking.
I’ve really been digging Rich Piana’s & Marc Lobliner’s videos this past week as well. Marc has been giving some home hitting truth’s about people who want to be a bodybuilder, whilst Rich talks candidly about supplementation, sharing his own experiences. Definitely worth a watch.
That’s it for this week guys. As always you can follow me at the following
http://www.facebook.com/shreddybreklol
http://www.twitter.com/shreddybrekgym
http://www.youtube.com/shreddybrek
Adam Foster is an aspiring bodybuilder, and has been training since a teenager. As the founder of the website & youtube channel 'Shreddybrek' he shares his experiences and knowledge via informative videos and articles. Get in touch if you have any questions!
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