Swollen Dolan

[Shutupandsquat]

Bloody hell, are you STILL a junior? It's the same with Leeroid. When are you guys going to grow up?

 

 

/feeling elderly

Hahahahah yup! They've put the age up to 23 by the 31st of December so next year will be my last year as a junior

[Shutupandsquat]

Trained legs today. A little over 9 weeks out now. Feeling pretty good. Weight has been holding at 76kg for a few weeks but still getting leaner which is good.

Started off the workout with Romanian deadlifts. Getting as much of a stretch as I can and then going about 80% of the way up so my glutes didn't get too involved.

60kg/20 x 2 sets

100kg/15

100kg/failure which was about 25 reps

Went on to lying leg curls afterwards

30lbs/20 reps

50lbs/20 reps

80lbs/10 reps

125lbs/7 reps + partials til failure

50lbs/20+ reps

Onwards to quads. Did a tri set here consisting of leg extensions, close stance leg press and close step walking lunges. Like really close steps. So the front quad gets a lot of tension while the back quad stretches like a sissy squat.

30lbs on leg extensions for 50 reps

2pps on leg press for 50 reps

25 steps each leg for the lunges

Final set of that, the leg extensions ended up with the final 15 reps being partials. The leg extension seat slopes up from the ass to the knees so the stretch burns the f*ck out of the quads lol.

Did some sissy squats afterwards, unweighted. Standing on a small platform, my heels elevated against a wall so my toes were more directly underneath my body for greater tension. Also on a platform so I didn't need to worry about my knees touching the ground (although they wouldn't have). Conveniently had a window sil behind me so I could do a triceps dip to spot me.

Did 10 reps on the first set to get used to it and then did failure for 2 sets which was about 25+ reps

Did another set of lying leg curls, 50lbs for about 30 reps

On to the adductor/fanny machine did 125lbs or something like that for 30+ reps x 3 sets and the same for the abductor/glute machine.

Went to finish off with squats, but one the first rep of 60kg my vastis medialis locked up so no thank you lol.

Workout took 40 minutes.

Switched cardio up to 2 times a day as of last Thursday so looking forward to seeing the difference

[Shutupandsquat]

Just a little update of where I'm sitting at the moment. Currently sitting just under 75kg at 6 and a half weeks out. Really looking forward to competing again but energy levels are pretty average on a daily basis now. Not toooo bad but it'll get worse in the coming weeks. But that's how it goes, I think? Lol

[Gym rat]

Nice back thickness

[Shutupandsquat]

Nice back thickness

Cheers, GR.

Trained legs tonight, whole lotta volume.

Started off with hack squats superset with hack Romanians

1pps/15 for both

2pps/15 for both

3pps/15 for both

3pps/failure for both. Lower back was tightening up and quads were too on the squat so 4 sets was enough

Leg extensions superset leg press. Kept a short range of motion for leg press to keep the tension on the quads

70lbs/15 -SS- 3pps/30 x 2 sets

100lbs/15 -SS- 3pps/30 x 2 sets (last 5 reps on leg extensions were partials on both sets as that's as far as my les would go)

70lbs/failure + holding the weight as far up as it would go for as long as I could -SS- 3pps/failure

Lying leg curls -SS- Barbell Romanians. Romanians were coming up 90% of the way to focus on hamstrings and lessen glute tension as I'm glute dominant.

50lbs/15 -SS- 41kg/15 x 4 sets

80lbs/failure + partials/failure -SS- 41kg/failure

Adductor machine -TS- Abductor machine -TS- machine leg press. I bring my feet up towards me on the abductor machine to hit the glutes better

150lbs/15 -TS- 150lbs/15 -TS- 225lbs/15 x 2 sets

195lbs/15 -TS- 195lbs/15 -TS - 285lbs/15

Finished off with unweighted lunges. Lunges for about 35 meters before collapsing. Laid down for about 40 seconds before getting up and lunging back 25 meters and collapsing again.

Workout took an hour

[Pseudonym]

^ Did that photo (which looks good, btw) ever appear on the front page? I'm not sure it did...? :think:

[Shutupandsquat]

^ Did that photo (which looks good, btw) ever appear on the front page? I'm not sure it did...? :think:

Thank you. I'm not sure if it did. I'm not too bothered

[Pseudonym]

No, but I am! I feel like there might be a bug in our code, but I'm having difficulty pinning it down.

 

Besides, we need to make sure you get the attention you deserve.

[Shutupandsquat]

No, but I am! I feel like there might be a bug in our code, but I'm having difficulty pinning it down.

 

Besides, we need to make sure you get the attention you deserve.

Ah right! Well I hope it's not a bug.

Hahah not sure if is deserve it but thank you, Pseud

[Shutupandsquat]

Currently sitting at 2.5 weeks out now. Carbs are down to about 50g per day, fats around 35g and protein about 275. Didn't really want to get this low on calories, but it's a price I have to pay to get in condition.

It's difficult, but it's the final stretch, so not long to keep pushing.

[Gym rat]

Looking good bro and keep it up

[trainlikeafreak]

Quads look awesome

[flexrondorianzenegger1]

NZIFBB Wellingtons. I'll do juniors

was looking foward to seeing you go head to head with johnny starkey or is that the other brother that competes with him?.either way you looking awesome bro.nice balance.Respect

[Bigken1985]

Keep pushing brah

[Shutupandsquat]

So I guess it's about time I made a post.

I came last place in at the NZIFBB Wellington show (second out of two) in the junior category. The lighting wasn't ideal so I looked way more smooth than I was, but I could have been in better condition regardless. There wasn't many photos posted of me and this was the only comparison picture posted. Ross (pictured right) went on to win juniors at Nationals so he deserved the win.

Just have to continue to improve. I'm feeling a bit more gutted about losing the more I think about it but ah well. Someone has to win.

[HarryB]

what did you do in the last week in terms of loading? 

[Shutupandsquat]

what did you do in the last week in terms of loading?

I was having 4.5 litres of water daily throughout prep so I didn't increase it during the final week as I saw no point. The weekend before the show, I dropped my carbs to 0, but I after serious thought, it was stupid idea and I went up to 70 Monday and Tuesday. I went to 350g of carbs on Wednesday and woke up 800g lighter, and I hadn't filled out. Thursday I went to 500g and woke up slightly fuller. Friday, I went up to 700g of carbs. My last meal was a burger from burgerfuel and two scoops of fries. I kept my sodium at about 10g a day through prep and was getting drier. I didn't want to drop the sodium because I'd risk playing with too many variables and cramp on stage which would prove counter productive to squeezing on stage.

I dropped water at 5pm the night before the show and I didn't even have a drop of sweat come off me on Saturday. I was the driest and hardest I'd been but the lighting didn't quite show it. It is what it is

[HarryB]

I thought you looked harder in a couple of the pics preceding the comp day. Most specifically the one where you're showing off your tan lol which I believe was 2.5 weeks out. Interesting having a variable carb plan like that. It's something similar to what you have done in the past right? 

 

It's a constant learning process. For a naturally lean guy like yourself it's quite a balancing act!

 

You have certainly brought up your imbalances .. even though your legs are still off the hook  

 

I think you looked hardest when you did that show I came over for, but now you are a whole lot more complete. 

[Shutupandsquat]

I thought you looked harder in a couple of the pics preceding the comp day. Most specifically the one where you're showing off your tan lol which I believe was 2.5 weeks out. Interesting having a variable carb plan like that. It's something similar to what you have done in the past right? 

 

It's a constant learning process. For a naturally lean guy like yourself it's quite a balancing act!

 

You have certainly brought up your imbalances .. even though your legs are still off the hook  

 

I think you looked hardest when you did that show I came over for, but now you are a whole lot more complete.

Cheers, Harry. Under good lighting, I actually looked really dry and relatively hard, you could see everything. Glutes, hams, quad feathering. My quad feathering is very prominent, but barely showed under the lighting they had at the show.

I could have definitely looked better, but I did bring a much more complete package this time round, which I'm going to continue to improve on. I still need to figure out what I need to do to bring condition, but that will come with more experience and knowledge and I'm trying to learn as much as possible.

[Shutupandsquat]

So far, high intensity training has been going well. Strength is progressing consistently after the first 3 weeks and currently in week 4 of training and it's going well. Either weight or reps have increased each week on compound movements, so I'm happy with that.

So here's how I'm looking at the beginning of offseason. Very watery as I psychologically and physically needed a little break from everything for a couple weeks after show, but since then, my eating has been consistent. Not on any type of exogenous supplements at the moment, just creatine srs.

Weight has held at 80kg and I feel I can hold this weight while adding size before adding in the supplementation.

[Pseudonym]

Still looking pretty lean though, Kyle. Good position to be in for summer!

 

What's the plan next year?

[Shutupandsquat]

Still looking pretty lean though, Kyle. Good position to be in for summer!

 

What's the plan next year?

That's a good question.

At this point, I'll just focus on adding size. I want to save up to put a deposit on a house next year, so at this point, I have no plans to compete because it will become an extra expense. I love competing so if I'm able to afford it while saving for a house, then it may be on the cards, but we'll see how it works out.

[Shutupandsquat]

Good afternoon everyone. Hope you all had a Christmas as special as yourselves.

Lately, I've found myself in quite the financial struggle and I've had to resort to temp work (though I'll be personal training at Snap Fitness, Paraparaumu in a couple weeks time). I've been working at the Wellington Port coldstore which is basically just lifting boxes all day and due to the repetitive bicep curl motions and pulling boxes down etc. my elbows have been given quite a bit of grief so I've had to do quite a bit of pre-exhaustion for pushing movements and I've not been able to train biceps directly due to the pain, but today it felt pretty minimal so I was able to hit biceps after chest. The workout went as follows.

Cable flyes
40lbs/15

50lbs/12

65lbs/12

80lbs/12
95lbs/10 Rest-pause 90lbs/5

Incline DB press
20/10
28/10
40/3 (fuk lmao)
24/failure

Incline DB flyes
16/10 x 2 sets
22/9
 

Flat hammer strength (kind of) press
20kg per side/10
40kg per side/10
42.5kg per side/8
20kg per side/ failure + partials

Pec deck
100lbs/10
130lbs/10 (I think. It was failure anyway)

Machine preacher curls
30lbs/10

50lbs/10

70lbs/10 partial reps
20lbs/failure

Alternating DB curls
12/10

16/10
16/10 dropset 8/failure

Cable curls
50lbs/15
65lbs/10
80lbs/failure + partials

Then did a couple sets of those forearm role things with the weight tied to a stick. Dunno what it's called but you know.

Concentration curls (One arm rests while the other works)
7kg/12 x 3 sets
7kg/10

Barbell curls
26/10
23/10

All in all a good workout. Took me 20 minutes to get through chest and 15 minutes to get through biceps. Almost a set per minute so you can tell I was having short rest periods.

 

[Pseudonym]

On the plus side, an active job means you can eat more Christmas food! Nice one on the upcoming PT work, though.

 

Do you vary your rest periods with any particular purpose in mind?

[Shutupandsquat]

13 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

On the plus side, an active job means you can eat more Christmas food! Nice one on the upcoming PT work, though.

 

Do you vary your rest periods with any particular purpose in mind?

Hahah can't really afford too much but it's keeping me alive.

 

As for the rest periods question, I look at a lot of top tier pros - past and current - and they all seem to say, keep your rest periods short, get in and out. You may not be as strong in terms of the weight you're lifting, but you'll break down the muscle fibres as well as create more time to eat/recover.