My current lift stats, diet, cardio and how my mindset is at 3 weeks out.

I have been getting more questions about my training lately and how I stay sane during my prep and keep my workouts up.  My mindset is simple. I train the same regardless of if I am in prep or not. I smash out heavy weights, maintain quality form and dont use the excuse of having "lack of carbs" prevent me from lifting what I know I can get.  I have pushed my body to extremes , but I also am very aware of pains and aches and will take rest days and back off training sessions if my body doesn't feel up to par. 

I train hard.  I always do warmup sets of about 10% my max weight I plan on pushing or pulling and then build from there. I like the feeling of being sore the next day, I like the thrill of seeing what my body is capable of as it leans out and drops bodyfat each week. 

I am very simple when it comes to training.  I dont sugarcoat or do some crazy functional exercises or movements. I do simple,  old school style training. Isolating a single muscle group with each training session. This allows my body to develop best.

Here is my current workout schedule:

Sunday: legs (quad dominant)

Monday: Back

Tueaday: shoulders

Wednesday: Legs (hamstring dominant)

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Arms/abs

Saturday: chest 

This is what works best for me. After this upcoming season and future plans with my coach,  my training will most likely intensify to bring up my weak areas. My offseason is when I focus of lifting goals and hit my PR's and try to get new lifting goals to use throughout my prep season. 

As my mentality has been in a fog for a good portion of this prep , it's good to just stick with what your body knows. Dont throw anything crazy diet or training wise into your prep to close to show as it can potentially be detrimental to your progress. Experiment offseason (that's what we have them for). Mentally. I try and stay sane, as many competitors know lethargy, comparisons of competitors, and opinions of others fuck with your head. My advice. Stay your course. If you need to have a mental breakdown, do it and get back on course. 

Trust your coach. Bill Tocco and I have done a ton of show preps together and this season we finally found a method that works best for me. It takes time and patience to figure out how to bring out the best conditioning for your body. I have tried it all all. Carb cycling, ketosis, no fats, etc. No two individuals will ever be the same. As I have repeatedly said before, find a coach you trust and stick with them. It can take years to crack your genetic makeup and conditioning. 

As I grind out these last 3 weeks of prep my main focus is to keep lifting as much as I can to keep my muscle bellies full and be very cautious of movements that could potentially injure myself. My current diet rotation is not for the week minded as I am running sub 1000cals a day.  No fats or carbs and currently at 75mins of fasted in the morning and 30 mins of HIIT cardio at night plus my lifting which is about 60-90mins. I have 200g of carbs every 3-4 days to shock my metabolism back and for me that is what is working. 

Again, may I remind you. This works for me and is not catered to your body type. It may work for you, but for the best results please talk to your coach. 

As for current max weight I am able to put up with the standard lifts at 3 weeks out:

Squats: 405lbs x 4

Bench: 275lbs x 4

Deadlift: 315lbs x4

Offseason I plan on hitting 500lbs for squats, 350 for bench and 455 for deadlifts. Those are my offseason goals. I have played with the idea of powerlifting  however as my goals are going for my IFBB pro card, I have 100% focus on that and perhaps in time may flirt with the idea of doing a powerlifting meet. 

Thanks for reading xo

 

P.s. please excuse the grammar errors as I am in prep and my mind isn't working as fast as I would like it too.