Jin
Retired UG Staff
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2017
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Went from 299 in March to 240 stage weight in mid August. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Priorities:
Bodybuilding is a selfish sport. Unless you’re getting paid to do it I suggest keeping the more important aspects of life ahead of your bodybuilding goals.
Set other goals during your your prep to keep you even keeled and sane. Mine was to practice Stoic philosophy daily and to make sure I kept a daily journal of my personal failures and successes: when I failed to treat people right. When I succeeded in overcoming adversity with grace instead of frustration etc.
MIND>everything else
You create your own reality daily. Even contest prep doesn’t have to suck. I was actually enjoying veggies with vinegar and skinless chicken breast. 6 times a day. Food actually started tasting better the more strict my diet became.
There is no consensus on prep week protocol
I have always found Layne Norton’s articles to be scientifically sound so I went with his prep week advice with some tweaks.
There are are dozens of prep week protocols with nearly no agreement on sodium/potassium, carb, fat and water intake.
You need to learn by experience. I was lucky that I came in in the condition that I did: my protocol worked for me and I will employ it next year with some minor tweaks.
Water manipulation
I drank at least 1.5 gallons daily. Two days before peak I drank 3 gallons and woke up seven pounds less than I’d been all year.
233
The day before peak day I drank 1.5 gallons, finishing at 5pm. Then limited my intake to 5 8oz servings before peak the next day at 10:30am.
240
Four days later (and after a double dose of test) I hit 264
This worried me so I drank 3 gallons of water that day, pissed all night and woke up back at 253.
PRACTICAL TIP:
want to look good for the beach? 3 gallons of water two days before. 1.5 gallons the day before ending at 4pm. You’ll wake up lean AF.
Nutrition
Bodybuilding is mostly diet. Like it or not.
My approach to losing 60 pounds in 5 months was to start off with a low carb, high protein, high fat diet. Then switch to nothing but veggies and chicken breast for about 6 weeks (really I needed 2-3 more weeks to get lean enough).
Eating no carbs is easy. Eating no fat is rough. I would need 10 almonds 3x daily not to feel sick while on that diet but it definitely took the fat off. I had plenty of energy to do 80 minutes of cardio daily and 5 weekly lifting sessions.
The final week I carb loaded about 300g daily. The night before the photos I woke up at 2am, 4am and 6am to eat sweet potatoes and chicken breast. I had two ham sandwiches at 8am. Then rice cakes and PB then a candy bar right before “stage” time.
Overall I came in dry but probably not as full as I should have been. Especially considering what I looked like 4 days after.
Priorities:
Bodybuilding is a selfish sport. Unless you’re getting paid to do it I suggest keeping the more important aspects of life ahead of your bodybuilding goals.
Set other goals during your your prep to keep you even keeled and sane. Mine was to practice Stoic philosophy daily and to make sure I kept a daily journal of my personal failures and successes: when I failed to treat people right. When I succeeded in overcoming adversity with grace instead of frustration etc.
MIND>everything else
You create your own reality daily. Even contest prep doesn’t have to suck. I was actually enjoying veggies with vinegar and skinless chicken breast. 6 times a day. Food actually started tasting better the more strict my diet became.
There is no consensus on prep week protocol
I have always found Layne Norton’s articles to be scientifically sound so I went with his prep week advice with some tweaks.
There are are dozens of prep week protocols with nearly no agreement on sodium/potassium, carb, fat and water intake.
You need to learn by experience. I was lucky that I came in in the condition that I did: my protocol worked for me and I will employ it next year with some minor tweaks.
Water manipulation
I drank at least 1.5 gallons daily. Two days before peak I drank 3 gallons and woke up seven pounds less than I’d been all year.
233
The day before peak day I drank 1.5 gallons, finishing at 5pm. Then limited my intake to 5 8oz servings before peak the next day at 10:30am.
240
Four days later (and after a double dose of test) I hit 264
This worried me so I drank 3 gallons of water that day, pissed all night and woke up back at 253.
PRACTICAL TIP:
want to look good for the beach? 3 gallons of water two days before. 1.5 gallons the day before ending at 4pm. You’ll wake up lean AF.
Nutrition
Bodybuilding is mostly diet. Like it or not.
My approach to losing 60 pounds in 5 months was to start off with a low carb, high protein, high fat diet. Then switch to nothing but veggies and chicken breast for about 6 weeks (really I needed 2-3 more weeks to get lean enough).
Eating no carbs is easy. Eating no fat is rough. I would need 10 almonds 3x daily not to feel sick while on that diet but it definitely took the fat off. I had plenty of energy to do 80 minutes of cardio daily and 5 weekly lifting sessions.
The final week I carb loaded about 300g daily. The night before the photos I woke up at 2am, 4am and 6am to eat sweet potatoes and chicken breast. I had two ham sandwiches at 8am. Then rice cakes and PB then a candy bar right before “stage” time.
Overall I came in dry but probably not as full as I should have been. Especially considering what I looked like 4 days after.
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