JordanWFitness Contest Preparation for OPA Stratford

[JordanWFitness]

Hey everyone,

I'm starting this log a little late as I just joined these forums. I am competing in my first bodybuilding show which is the OPA GNC Stratford Championships on April 12th 2014. I have been competitive in the CPF and WPC for powerlifting but over the last year made the focus on Bodybuilding.

I chose Stratford because I have always heard it is a big show, and I wanted to go against more than 1 or 2 competitors.



I'm 23, 5'10 and started my prep 13 weeks out at 218ish. I am now down to 200.6 as of last Sunday (2/9/14) however we'll see my weigh in tomorrow.

Here is a comparison pic


My diet is currently at 3000 calories a day.
300g protein
300g carbs
65g fats

I'm not sure how MyFitnessPal works in terms of sharing but I made my account public so anyone can check it out to see what I'm eating. My username is JordanWFitness.


Training Split; muscle groups are set, the exercises and reps/sets are all subject to the day

Sunday: Chest
Incline Barbell 4 x 6-8
Decline or Flat Barbell 4 x 8-10
Hammer Incline 3 x 12-15
Tbar Upper Chest Press 4 x 15+
Press to Flies 4 x 12 Supersetted with
Shoulder Lateral Raises 4 x 12

Monday: Legs with Quad Focus
Squats 4 x 8-10
Leg Press 4 x 10-12
Hamstring Curls 4 x 10-12
Quad Extensions 3 x 15-20

Infront of body Hammer Curls 4 x 15-20

Calves or Abs

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Legs with Hamstring Focus
Lying Hamstring Curls - Stack Set 10 Reps (start from lightest pin, do 10 reps each pin until spotter has to help force reps for a set)
Leg Press 4 x 10-12
Stiff Leg Deadlifts 4 x 8-10
Hammer Strength Squats 4 x 12-15

Dips 4 x Max

Calves or Abs

Thursday: Back
Single Arm Lat Pulldowns 4 x 8-12
Barbell Rows/Tbar Rows 4 x 8-12
Upright Rows 4 x 8-12 Supersetted with
Behind the Back Shrugs 4 x 8-12

Tbar Upper Chest Press 4 x 15+ (suppersetted with)
Rear Delt Flies 4 x 12-15

Deadlifts 5x5

Friday: Arms
Rope Tricep Extensions 4 x 15-20

Barbell Shoulder Press 4 x 8-10

Close Grip Bench 4 x 8-10
Barbell Curls 4 x 8-10
Hammer Curls 4 x 8-10
Dips 4 x Max
Isolation Curls (Preacher or Cable) 4 x 12-15

Saturday: Rest

My daily supplements include

4 caps of Optimum Creatine Caps (5g Creatine Monohydrate)
2 doses of NOW Adam (Multi-Vitamin)
1 cap of NOW NAC (600mg of N-Acetyl Cysteine)
2 doses of store brand echinacea

Also I use
Bodybuilding.com's Amino Recovery (16g BCAAs, 6g Glutamine, 3g L-Citrulline)
Dymatize ISO-100 which is a Hydrolyzed whey isolate, one of the best bang for you buck isolates and great flavor
JYM Pre JYM which is a pre workout with no proprietary blends, I use a pre workout once in awhile

I do not like taking products with proprietary blends or complexes... Amino Recovery and JYM are both products which adhere to this position.


I've very active on my Instagram if anyone would like to follow on there http://instagram.com/jordanwfitness / @JordanWFitness

[Delt King]

Great results so far. Keep it up.

[Praetorian]

Nice work so far!

P

[JordanWFitness]

Nice work so far!

P

Thanks a lot Praetorian, I've read your stuff over the years very helpful much respect for you

[JordanWFitness]

Great results so far. Keep it up.

I'm not sure why my post didn't pop up for you yesterday but did for Praetorian today, said something about moderation but never made it visible...

Thanks for the kind words

[JordanWFitness]

Met Fouad Abiad on Sunday, he went out of his way to help me with my posing one on one on his own time. Can't say enough great things about the guy, he definitely didn't have to help me but he offered anyway. Also his Q&A seminar was awesome.

He tweaked a few things which make my weaker poses look really good.. He said overall I looked great and my posing was good. Felt great to have such a high level pro speak positively about my physique, more so during prep when I'm rather depleted and flat.

[DerekT]

Looking great bro, huge back!

[JordanWFitness]

Looking great bro, huge back!

Thanks a lot Derek

Yesterday was the first day I actually felt run down and tired during this prep. However it was 100% my fault. I chose to do cardio 3 days in a row, including on my off day, and this morning which was before my leg workout. Also I didn't time my carbs properly and ate far too little before trying to kill legs. Somewhere between Leg Press and Stiff Leg Deadlifts my body just ran out of energy. I was flat, no pump whats so ever, weak, sweating like crazy and light headed. I wasn't even trying to restrict my carbs I just didn't time it properly... I consumed nearly all my protein by 6pm but less than 1/3 of my carbs. I struggled through my workout finished, had my post workout shake of 2 scoops of isolates and 20g of honey and began feeling better. I got home made some "contest prep" french toast and felt amazing after, my body began to fill out and I had a better pump in my jaw from chewing than I did at the gym. Still didn't even finish off my carbs in this meal ended up having cereal right before bed.. Live and Learn right, low fat diet is the only one for me.

[JordanWFitness]

Despite all my wishes I believe my weight loss has finally stalled. Tomorrow is my official weigh-in but I've stepped on the scale 2 times this week in the AM since my Sunday weigh-in of 200lb and both times it was 200lb.

Looks like I am going to do my first diet change, not bad really I'm 7 weeks out. I'm choosing to lower my weekly total calories, but cycle higher and lower days. The reason I'm choosing to lower my calories by the total week instead of just slashing 150-200 calories everyday is because even though I am working on losing fat I am doing my best to bring up my weak spots during my prep. I have had days where my carbohydrate timing was off and had terrible and in my opinion unproductive workout because of it. In my case any unproductive workout more so my leg workouts just can't happen.

Every days protein and fat content will stay the same (though fat does vary slightly), the only difference will be in the carbs. The extra carbs will be focused entirely around the workout.

I would have loved to cruise right through my prep with the same calories. I have a very good metabolism and I think I was lucky enough to make such vast progress for 6 weeks without changing my diet. However unlike someone like Bostin Loyd I am not willing to add something like another fat burner or increase my supplements. I believe diet is the key along with proper training and cardio and supplements of all forms are there just to enhance what I am already doing. If I am not changing my diet what business do I have changing my supplements.

This week has a planned refeed meal. I have chosen Saturday as this meal as I will be in Columbus and will try out a restaurant there instead of having something local to me during the week. The goal behind the cycling was to have an average of 2800 calories a day. I have taken this average and used it as a place holder for Saturday. I calculated my calories and macros minus one meal, so I have a breakdown 5/6 of what my average day would be. See Saturday column if this doesn't entirely make sense.

Also note the workout split has changed significantly this week because of my schedule. I am heading to the Arnold Classic this year and I have to change my workout split around my travel time. I will be driving to Columbus on Friday, and that day's schedule will be very busy, so Tuesday's rest day has been moved to Friday to ensure I make the most of my workouts. Saturday is typically an off day, but once again I will be driving on the Sunday and gym hours a typically shortened on Sunday; I don't want to take the risk of missing my training. I will begin my following week on Saturday as opposed to the typical Sunday start, however I will have Sunday as a rest day and the rest of the week will go as normally scheduled.

I will be doing cardio 4 times this week. These days will including Sunday AM HIIT, Tuesday AM LISS, Thursday AM LISS, Friday AM HIIT.

My goal between my calorie drop and an extra session of cardio is to get my weight loss pace back on track. My goal for next week will be somewhere below 198.8lb.

You can see the detailed breakdown of my calories and macros on the first post of my blog here;
http://www.jordanwfitness.com/

[JordanWFitness]