NZ's most Aesthetic Powerlifter

[soundsgood]

Haha cheers guys.

The trial still continues this week. The challenge is to drop all the water weight I have gained this weekend and be back in show condition by this weekend because I have a show the following weekend after the Chch show in Aussie. It's going to be interesting. I did have a bit of a binge last night and combined with my body going into survival mode and holding onto all the water I put in it after sodium loading and dehydrating I was full as a house when I went in to Flex to train this evening. I jumped on the scales and I was 106kg, that's 9kg since Friday morning :shifty: . I'm sure i will drop right back down if I jump straight back on the diet and continue my cardio regime.

Trained chest tonight. Had a scoop of 1MR which was the first pre workout I've had in like 3 weeks. It fizzed me up and I felt like I could bench the world.

Warmed up with a set of 60 @ 60kg and 15 @ 100kg

Used 142.5kg for working sets

Did 12 reps first set, 10 reps second set. Third set I pumped out 13 and a half reps, got halfway down then thought I might not have it so popped it back up because I didn't have a spotter.

I followed this up with incline DB press. Used the 100lb DBs, I wish we had bigger ones, I'm sure they aren't far away.

Did 18 reps first set, 15 reps second and 12 on the third then dropset to 60lb DBs and popped out another 12 reps.

DB flies - 3 sets of 12 w the 50lb DBs

Machine Flies - 3 sets of 16-20 w 150lb

Finished on Machine chest press. Did 21s with 200lb. Chest was pumped and all done in under an hour.

10 minutes crosstrainer and 20 mins incline treadmill then out of there.

Straight back into the 2 x 1hr cardio sessions tomorrow. Actually looking forward to it lol

[Optimass]

Awesome pics as always SG > (iphone gui underpants who would have thought!)

Legs and abs are just crazy ... 9kg jump goes to show how much room you have in your muscle bellies to fill. Real advantage in doing these tests given your conditioning.

:clap:

[Ninja]

Quads :shock:

Awesome job looking shredded you are probably close to my ideal physique. Inspirational. :clap:

[Android]

Awesome quads in the first pic, HUGGGGGGE

Could really do with a pair of those at a PL meet :pfft:

[soundsgood]

Awesome pics as always SG > (iphone gui underpants who would have thought!)

Legs and abs are just crazy ... 9kg jump goes to show how much room you have in your muscle bellies to fill. Real advantage in doing these tests given your conditioning.

:clap:

Yeah I tell all the girls they are touch sensitive just like an iphone :pfft: Not SRS

There is a fine line between filling up and spilling over isn't there. I also think drinking more water with the sodium meal will help fill the muscle bellies up, as long as it doesn't flush my skin and make me look soft. I can only try :shrug:

Quads :shock:

Awesome job looking shredded you are probably close to my ideal physique. Inspirational. :clap:

Cheers Ninja, I'm glad you enjoy my journal

Awesome quads in the first pic, HUGGGGGGE

Could really do with a pair of those at a PL meet :pfft:

Lol cheers bro, I'm sure you will add a few more inches to yours with all the powerlifting training you are doing. Now you see why I do it in my off season aye! \:D/

[soundsgood]

Went in to Flex at 6am this morning and did 40 min crosstrainer and then a 5 min sprint on the rower.

Pretrain I had a scoop of 1MR and a sugarfree V

Went back in mid afternoon to train Quads

Warmed up in the squat rack with sets of 12 @ 60kg and 12 @ 100kg

Working sets I used 142.5kg

Did 3 sets of 15 then on the fourth set I only managed 12.

I was feeling pretty crook after the squats. Felt like spewing up and had a mean back pump. Had to take a breather before moving onto the next exercise. I sat down and noticed my quads had blown up like massive vascular balloons. They had never looked bigger lol.

Loaded the leg press up with 8pps

Did 4 sets of 30 reps

Leg Extension next. 3 sets of 20 w 2/3 stack.

My quads were screaming at me by now and I still felt incredibly crook like throwing up so I called it a day. I have been so dry up to now and hardly even sweat when I train anymore but today it was pissing out. All that water retention is slowly eeking out. I was down to 103.8kg this afternoon, so Ive dropped 2.2kg since yesterday.

Went home and had my first taste of my new tub of Myofusion Chocolate Peanut Butter. Fuarrrrk it was awesome. I have 2 scoops of it in the blender with 3 cups of ice and only about 100ml of water. Makes it really thick and icy cold. I highly recommend this flavour!

Gonna have a nap then go and do an hour walk if my quads are up to it. They are a bit achy now, probably ten times worse tomorrow though

[nate225]

Talk us through the load? If not details just if it worked & what you learnt?

[musclenz]

Talk us through the load? If not details just if it worked & what you learnt?

You could pay Charles Glass for that sort of information, Nate. I heard he's pretty reasonable :pfft:

[soundsgood]

1hr cardio at 6am this morning

10 mins incline treadmill (shin splints real bad)

10 mins boxing bag

10 mins rower

30 mins crosstrainer

Weighed in at 102.8 when I first went in

Weighed in at 101.8 after cardio. Had sweated out 1kg of water, it's crazy I hardly even sweat anymore but I guess the water retention has to come out somehow :shrug:

Went back in this evening and did Delts and Triceps

DB shoulder press to start

Warmed up with 40 reps w 60lb DBs

Working sets used the 100lb DBs

Did 4 sets of 15/13/12/9 then dropset to the 50lb DBs to failure then the 25lb DBs to failure.

Was hoping new DBs were coming as my gym owner announced we had new gear arriving but it turned out to be new treadmills with TVs in them :cry:

Anyway moved onto DB side raises

5 sets of 15 w the 40lb DBs

Superset of Bent over rear delt raises w Face pulls

3 sets of 12 w 30lb DBs and Half stack for face pulls

Finished Delts on a single set of behind the neck Barbell press w 85kg. Did 8 reps

3 sets of 21 Shrugs w the 100lb DBs was all I did for traps. I think they're okay and they tend to seize up when I overwork them

Started tricep with Closegrip bench. Did flat bench only 2 days ago so chest still feeling that

Warmed up with 40 reps of 60kg

Used 142.5kg for working sets

Did 7/6/6 then dropset to 100kg to failure then 60kg to failure.

Not as high reps as last week but wrists were feeling tight and didn't want to push it

Did DB skullcrushers next. 4 sets of 15 - 12 with the 50lb DBs

Finished triceps with a killer set of 30 reps of cable pulldowns with the rope. Used a weight I would normally do about 15 reps with and just rest paused till I finished the set.

Went home, had a shake then went for a 40 min fast walk. Killer shin splints again. I wish there was an easy remedy for them. Just bought new Nike Free's but still just as bad.

[nate225]

Damn!

Big day at the office boss! Solid volume & 100mins of cardio!!! Boom!

KUTGW bro! :clap:

[M.T]

Looking sharp SG massive effort being put into your training and diet much respect bro all the best :clap:

[BIGKIWI]

Your going to nail the show Sounsgood !! looking awesome

[soundsgood]

Thanks heaps MT and Bigkiwi. You guys rock!

Yesterday I just did 2 x 1hr walks. I have had quite an upset stomach all week and have been throwing up quite a bit. I am still holding a lot of water bloat from the weekend too.

15 days out tomorrow so I will be pulling finger big time!

Woke up this morning to do cardio at 5:30 but I looked outside and there was a frost so I pussied out. That's not good enough. I will not be doing that again.

Big day at work then went in to Flex and trained back.

Warmed up with a couple of sets of 12 Widegrip pullups. Full extension and stretched real slow.

Set up the Deadlift bar and warme up with sets w 20kg, 60kg and 100kg

Loaded up 180kg, added a belt and took off my Shoes. Pulled 8 reps pretty easy so I added another plate per side and went to pull 220kg. Cracked it then lost grip so went and got chalk. Got chatting and never got my mojo back so I stripped the bar and did a few Clean and presses with 100kg.

Next exercise was Barbell rows. Did 5 sets of 12 w 100 kg with 1 min rest between sets.

Finished back on Widegrip Behind the neck pulldowns.

4 sets of 15 w 2/3 stack.

Pretty pathetic train, in and out in 50 mins but didn't have a lot of time today. Got home, did some paperwork and had a shake then went for an hour walk.

Weighed in at 104kg tonight. Eeek! Not good, going to drop carbs right back from tomorrow and get back on track.

Training with Nate tomorrow and Saturday. I will be carbless so I hope he goes easy on me :pray:

[soundsgood]

Fucking freezing this morning at 5am but rugged up with 2 tshirts, jumper and a big ski jacket and did my morning 1hr walk. Frosts till next week apparently, at least it's not raining.

Got a phonecall from Missy - East Coast Muscle. She has scored me tickets to Ronnie Colemans seminar next Friday. Then Wendy from Evolution systems threw in another ticket so I can take a friend too! Had a smile on my face all day, really looking forward to seeing the 8 time Olympian :grin:

Massive day at work then shot out to Flex to catch up with Nate for a delts train.

Was not high intensity, sorry about that Nate, I was pretty hammered from work. It would be nice to taper the work back at this stage of the prep but being self employed and taking 2 weeks off over the shows doesn't leave me much choice but go as hard as I can at the moment.

Anyway started off with DB shoulder press.

Warmed up with sets at 50lb and 75lb. Used the 100lb DBs for working sets.

Did 3 sets of 12 (last couple of reps on last set spotted) with a dropset to failure w 50lb DBs then 25lb DBs on the last set

Standing Side DB raises next

Did 3 sets of 12 w 45lb DBs

Bent over DB rear raise superset w Facepulls to follow up

Used the 30lb DBs and around half stack for Facepulls. Did 3 sets of 12 of each exercise.

Finished w Cable behind the back side raises. Only used a light weight, did 3 sets of 12 on each side.

Not much volume but in the gym for about an hour. Fit Chest tomorrow Arvo, hopefully be a more intense session \:D/

Got home had a shake and went and did another 1hr walk with the occasional run thrown in until shin splints set in.

Weighed in at 102kg tonight. I shouldn't be to worried about the scales. I know I'm over the weight I should be but my muscles are still really full and I don't look bad, I just need to drop the water out.

[steak]

Looking as hard as a hammer..a sledge hammer!

The next 2 weeks are going to awesome to watch as switch it all for the big day..all the best of course bro and TBH I find it quite intriguing the process you have to through.

You earn every fibre :clap: 8)

[whiterhyno]

Awesome updates

All the hard yards done now mate, just the final polishing

You'll be looking great come show time

Enjoy it and especially looking so lean and tight while it's there

[soundsgood]

I try and log as much about my prep as I can Steak, bodybuilding is way more than just training in the gym.

Thanks for your support whiteryno.

AM cardio at 5am this morning. It was 0' and felt every bit of it. 1hr walk but trudged on thru.

Worked till 12, had a bite to eat, a scoop of 1MR then headed into Flex. Unfortunately Nate had shot up to Auckland so it was just me.

One of the boys had the vertical box out when I turned up and he stacked a couple of plates on top. He then jumped onto it from a standstill. He is 5'11 and the box measured 1.25m. I was very impressed.

Anyway got stuck into flat bench.

Warmed up with sets at 60kg and 100kg. Used 165kg for working sets.

Did 3 sets of 6/6 and 5 good reps.

Dropped back to 140kg and did a set of 12 then a set of 8 with a dropset to failure with 100kg and another dropset to failure with 60kg

Moved into Incline DB press next. Started with 75lb DBs and did 8 sets of 10 with 45 sec rest between sets then dropped down to 70lb for 2 more sets of 10.

Next I did a tri-set of Incline DB flies (12 reps w 45lb DBs), incline press machine (12 reps w 75kg), Machine Flies (12 reps w 120lb).

Did 3 rounds of these tri-sets with 1 min rest in between rounds.

Finished chest w Dips leaning right forward, legs as parallel to ground as poss.

First 2 sets I did 20 reps then on the last set I threw everything at it and did 30 reps.

Bloody good train, pretty stoked with the bench - 165kg for 6 is not far off my all time PB reps at the weight, I think I may have done 9 or 10 but I was at least 10kg heavier at the time. And the intensity was really high throughout.

Home now and I've just had a shake, a quick meal and about to go for another 1hr walk while the sun is still shining :dancing:

[Android]

Awesome benching for being so close to showtime as well mate!

You ripped and walking in the sun = veins popping out everywhere, don't scare small children while you're out there :pfft:

Keep up the good work bro, not long until you reap the reward of your efforts. It'll be a photo-fest that day I hope someone from the forums is taking pics and posting them as the show transpires for those of us that can't make it.

[Gym rat]

Enjoying the updates which are just as good as any good article in Flex mag and looking forward to seeing the massive quads at the Pan Pacific show when I come to Aucks for the show.Mean beaching dont scare any old ladys or kids while your out walking

[soundsgood]

Cheers Android. I have a few ppl travelling down with me so I'll be sure to get heaps of pics.

Looking forward to catching you at the pans Gym rat although at this stage I'm not planning on doing that show so I'll be the guy in the crowd eating Burger King :pfft:

So I'm still having issues with water bloat and a really acidic stomach. I have something similar to reflux and have been constantly bringing back up my food. It's really burning and is a big pain in the butt.

I was up all last night vomiting so I had an emergency meeting with Jake this morning. I think it might be the Protein powder causing an balance in my acidity but to be on the safe side we rewrote my diet. I've dropped all protein powder, pre workouts, sugar free drinks and red meat. I'm basically on 1kg chicken breast, a dozen egg whites, 100g oats, 250g brown rice, 1 banana, half cup berries, 1kg green beans a day spread over 6 meals.

Macros are approx 230P 170C 25F which is around 2100 calories

I have run that today and the reflux seems to have disappeared which is great although the bloat is still there. Weighed 104 tonight.

1 hr walk first thing this morning. 2hr stroll around the zoo this Arvo which I count as cardio too lol.

Trained biceps this evening.

Did a mixture of really heavy low rep sets and (80lb db bicep curls for 5 each arm) and lighter higher rep stuff. Did about 20 sets on them and Got a great pump, 50 mins purely on biceps which is the longest I've spent on them in a long time.

[Android]

that change in diet looks good mate. You suffered this last year from memory as well so hopefully you find the cure

2 things I use to combat acid reflux and high protein diets...Losec and Raisins

Losec is what works for me when I get acid reflux...it just works and it's on the shelves at chemists now you used to have to ask for it and give your name and address etc.

And Raisins...Dean Geddes told me high protein diet is so alkaline it invokes creation of more acid. So raisins being acidic offset the high protein...but your diet change looks ok too.

I found raisins convenient cos you just carry the little boxes around and have like one pre-workout and post-workout of whatever....Markus Ruhl buys raisins in massive bulk on a clip of him shopping

[soundsgood]

Thanks for the heaps up Android. I will go get some Losec tomorrow and I've got plenty of raisens in my pantry for my young fullas lunches so I'll pinch them lol.

Yeah I had major stomach and bloat issues the night before the nats last year too but that was probably because I was dehydrating and tried drinking a whole glass of smirnoff along with a diuretic :doh: That experiment failed lol. It's crazy because I eat a high protein diet all year and it's only an issue just before comps.

[genetic freek]

How's th flexibility in your shoulder after massage? Did it stay loose?

[soundsgood]

How's th flexibility in your shoulder after massage? Did it stay loose?

It is fantastic now bro. That Masseuse was awesome. I've had a couple more sessions back up here but none were anywhere near as good. Side triceps are actually easy now :grin:

Did an hour walk this morning. Not as cold as it has been thank god. Just a single jumper.

Went and got some Losec Extra from the chemist. Didn't have a single reflux all day \:D/

The water bloat still remains though. Looked at myself before I headed off to the gym and to be honest I think I looked better 12 weeks ago! Could just be my mind playing tricks on me. The scales said 103kg so the water is moving a little bit hopefully.

Trained Hammies, Calves and Triceps with Loochi. He's looking boss as per usual even though he's not training for any particular show. He only needs 2 weeks to get in show condition though the bastard!

First exercise was DB stiffleg deadlifts. Warned up with sets at 50lb and 75lb DBs. Working sets were with the 100lb DBs. Did 3 sets of 10 reps.

Moved onto the Leg press next. Used 4pps and did 5 sets of 30 reps with feet high up on the plate, on the outer edges with toes pointing inwards really targeting those hams.

Finished Hams w sets on the Seated leg curl machine. Did 3 sets of about 12 reps (wasn't counting) with 190lb then one more set with 175lb and just repped failure.

All I did for calves was the calf press machine. Set it to full stack and did 3 sets of 50-60 reps.

Triceps was high reps.

Warmed up on Closegrip bench with a set of 30 @ 60kg

Working sets I used 100kg. Did sets of 20/18/14

Tricep Dips were next. Did 3 sets of 25ish

Finished on one big set of Cable Pulldowns w the Rope. Set the stack to about halfway and did 30 reps with a couple of rest pauses.

Home, bite to eat then I'm off for another 1hr walk.

I'm tempted to post a pic of how I'm looking now with the water retention. Full as f*ck but softer than before.

[soundsgood]