contest prep 2013

[man-united Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close man-united]

Damn!! Sam keep it up bro, feel out of place in this thread lol too high level for me, but one day

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

Damn!! Sam keep it up bro, feel out of place in this thread lol too high level for me, but one day

oh come on bro. the first step to improving is to believe in your mind that you can get where you want to be. if you want to gain 30 lbs of muscle, the first thing you need to be able to do is imagine what it feels like to carry that muscle. think it, feel it, know it. if you can't see yourself reaching that goal, you probably never will. so no more negative self talk!!

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

hey guys, i'm in the middle of 6 wks out now and things are coming along. tightening up a little at a time, day by day, session by session. we added in the tren this wk. i'm only taking 50mg EOD for now. in a few wks, i may up it to 75mg EOD. we'll see how i look and how i respond. tren and i have never really been best friends. i know a lot of guys around here love the stuff. i get a real toxic feeling on tren. i can just feel that it isnt good for my body. i do like its effect though and i find that if i start low and add a little as i go, i dont suffer much more than night sweats. that i can deal with. i also stopped the sust270 and replaced it with 1/2 GP test cyp and 1/2 GP test prop. I also dropped the EQ this wk.

t3, clen and everything else are the same for now. my coach and i think i made good progress last wk, so outside of the AAS changes, we didnt make any other changes for the wk.

so far, i'm down about 6 lbs since the start of the prep. heres a pic from last wkend..

[tsek0s Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tsek0s]

wow sam that great bro!!!lean and big as hell!!!and i cant tell anything about the legs they are just great i hope one day i can make my legs big enough too!!!keep the hard work coach give everything!!!!

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

not a lot of progress to report this time around. i feel like this wk wasn't the greatest. although i felt hungrier than ever this wk, it did not translate into the progress i wanted to see. so as of today, we added a little more clen and t3. we upped the cardio by 10 min. we swapped one protein out for fish. this should get be back on track. it gives me a little anxiety when i dont see myself progressing where i wanted. once i can see some more improvements, i'll be able to calm down a little. so far, everything has been good. this is just one wk. ok, moving forward..........

[ODB Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ODB]

Here is a quote for ya Sam from The Making of a Guru By Chris Aceto
http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/lat...of-a-guru.html

Here are the paraphrased Rules I have pasted next to my computer monitor and I actually read them fairly often.
.....
#8) WAIT! Another way of saying “be patient.” It takes time to change the body, and changes the guru may make with diet or cardio may take a few days, sometimes up to ten days, to really make a strong visible impact on the body. As a guru, you need to exercise patience and sit back and wait to see if what you are doing makes a visual impact on the body.

[tprice Member Find all posts View Profile Close tprice]

calves look huge bro

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

thank you for that, ODB. I figured out what the issue was that wk. I started using this new green curry sauce that was loaded with sodium. I try to keep my salt high, but because it was so far above what my normal high dose is, I was holding a ton more fluid. rookie mistake hahaha. It just tasted so good and had almost no cals, so I was dumping it on everything! After I cut it back, the progress began to become more noticeable. oh man, how embarrassing to admit!

Here is a quote for ya Sam from The Making of a Guru By Chris Aceto
http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/lat...of-a-guru.html

Here are the paraphrased Rules I have pasted next to my computer monitor and I actually read them fairly often.
.....
#8) WAIT! Another way of saying “be patient.” It takes time to change the body, and changes the guru may make with diet or cardio may take a few days, sometimes up to ten days, to really make a strong visible impact on the body. As a guru, you need to exercise patience and sit back and wait to see if what you are doing makes a visual impact on the body.

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

Sorry for the lapse in posts, guys. I can't believe how fast the weeks and days are flying by. Things are coming along well. I'm under 3 wks out now. Everything is coming together. I just can't believe how busy I am this time around. I'm down to about 5 hours of sleep, just to get everything done on a daily basis. Training has still been good. I'm starting to dial back my long sessions at this point. Normally, I train for about 2 hours plus cardio. Now I'm trying to knock it out in 1.5 hours. Cardio was up to 1 hour, but I started a low dose of DNP, 250mg ED, and we back cardio down to 45 min. Its enough DNP to feel the warmth, but not a high or uncomfortable dose, by any means. I'll be running this for several more days, then up it to 500mg for 5 days before coming off of it at one wk out. I started the Geneza halo last wk at 20mg. On thursday, I plan to up that to 30mg. It's some strong stuff. For the first few days, I noticed i was a little more edgy. I've since gotten used to it though.
Things are so busy that I often can't even focus on everything I need to do in one day...hard to plan 3 or 4 steps ahead. I just am trying to keep it simple. I ask, " whats the next thing i have to do to be my best?" and then i follow through with that task. I usually find that time to take a couple of brief naps through the day. 15 min here, 30 min there. It makes a difference.

Today, I went in for a 2 hour massage. I've been hitting the iron pretty hard and wanted to free up any adhesions that might be keeping my muscles from looking their best. I've also started some ART for my right lat, which seems to want to stay in a retracted position, making my lats in the Front Double Bicep shot look asymmetrical. It seems to be working well, but GOD, is ART work painful haha. I swear that it brings tears to my eyes, each session.

I will post up some new pics this wkend. It looks like my glutes and hams are just about in now. They've been the last part to get lean on me. From there, it'll just be about slowly losing the fat between the muscle over the next couple of wks, hopefully taking on a more freaky look!
thanks for following my progress guys and I'll look forward to sharing some new pics this wkend. If you have any questions, feel free to post them up!!

[Pauliuch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pauliuch]

Just curious Sam, you say you've been training 2 hours plus an hour cardio? Not to sound dumb but isn't that overtraining? Wouldn't that hurt your size? I assume your splitting it up? Also what do you do that takes you two hours, a lot of volume or just training all body parts? I know your busy but it's got me curious.

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

really good question. I didnt just start out training that long. It was an evolution. Over time, I started adding more. Not all the exercises are all out heavy. I try to hit every area of a muscle and try to target fast and slow twitch fibers. There is a ton of volume. Much of what I'm doing has been inspired by Mountain Dog Training. Lets look at back, by biggest workout. On back day, I'll start out with something like pull downs, using a rep range of 10-16, focusing on warming the muscle and joints up plus pre fatiguing lat width, which is what I need to work on most now. After a good warm up and 4-5 sets of 10-16 reps, I'll move to pull ups. I can do far less pull ups than I can pull downs plus, the lats are already a little tired. I might hit 3 all out sets. Next, I want to go heavy and target the fast twitch fibers of back thickness. 4 sets of BB rows for 10 reps, followed by 4 sets of tbar for 8-12 reps. Now that the heavy stuff is out of the way, I want to focus on pushing as much blood into the muscle as possible. Maybe seated wide grip cable rows for 4 sets of 20 reps and 4 sets of hammer strength pull overs for 15-20 reps, really focusing on the stretch at the top. Then finish with 3 sets of 20 reps on smith rack pulls, using perfect control, up and down. because back was a weak point, I come back later in the week on shoulder day and spend 30 min hitting other variations of back movements, using higher reps, around 15-20, to force blood and nutrients into the muscle again. Nothing I do on the secondary back day is joint taxing. Its more of a active rest.
It took time to build up to this and my body is used to it. I move fast, with short rest periods and am eating a lot more because of the way I train. In the off season, while training this way, I was up to 7000 cals and not getting fat. I've been able to keep food high, all the way into the show. so far and I believe I've had to do less cardio as a result.
In true Mountain Dog training, they dont always use cardio, but use more training, eventually training 7 days a wk, closer to the show. Not all days are heavy, hard days. Some are active rest days, like my secondary back day. Its really a cool idea and has helped me with my back a lot, while staying safe and injury free

[ODB Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ODB]

Sam we r Hungry for an Update ?

I have to totally agree with u; once u have a solid foundation from heavy basic's I have personally found the only way to grow is with more volume - specific to Chest/Back/Legs. For me legs + Back r a strong point so I have been training chest 2xwk for the past 6 months with great success.
The 2nd chest workout is just 4-5 sets 15-20 reps of inclines with 135-225# just to get a pump/blood in.

[ItalianMuscle Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ItalianMuscle]

whats up guys! last year, i competed in 2 shows and chronicled the events leading up to my first show, here at JM. to fill everyone in that hadn't read it, last year was my first time moving into the LHW division. i was happy with the improvements i made, but i still have a lot more to strive for. this is a slow process and i am still hungry to reach the vision i have for myself. there were a few areas that i wanted to focus on in my off season, back being the main body part. i took 2nd place in my class last year and may have had a chance of doing better, if i had an impressive back. it isnt that i wasn't working back. i lifted heavy, looking to guys like dorian for inspiration. still, last year i came in with a narrow and shallow back. i had brought up legs some, but they still needed more work. although i earned a national qualification, i decided it would be in my best interest to keep plugging along and get bigger before i went that route. i am far from having developed the perfect legs and back, but i did spend a year working my ass off, and learning what works best for me. through this time, i've been eating more than i ever have and training with a new intensity. i've run geneza gear and am pretty happy with the results i achieved over the course of this off season. the gear i used though my off season was the GP test/eq blend, GP injectable dbol, and GP NPP and GP deca. not all at once and not in that order.

now its time to start dieting again, and i'm excited to see how the new muscle looks on me. i want to share with everyone here, the progress i've made in a year's time. at this point, i am 13 wks out and still able to eat a ton of food. i'll be running all GP gear from here to the show. i also have some of Naps' hyge's and i'm interested to see what difference they make. gh is a new addition to prepping for me. heres what i'm currently using...

GP Sust
GP aromisin
GP EQ
GP NPP
Hyge 5iu 5 days on, 2 days off
GP clen, i've been using 40mcg and as of tomorrow, i will go to 60mcg

in the future, i will add in GP t3, and swap out the NPP for GP Mast 200. eventually, i will drop the EQ and add in tren ace and eventually GP halo for the last 4 wks.

i will update this regularly though the prep with pics and details about my experience. i hope that it is an entertaining and informative read. if you have any questions along the way, feel free to ask! i think the only thing i'd like to avoid is talking about dosing of AAS. i'm not going to lie. i'll be using more than the average newer AAS user and i dont want to give them the wrong idea. the drugs help, but it all comes down to diet and training. i am busting my ass every day to eat exactly, down to the OZ, that i need to eat, to achieve the best look i can.

thanks for checking this out

Improvements everywhere. Very noticeable in the middle back and legs.. Awesome work bro!

[Time Bandit Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Time Bandit]

Man thats a world of definition difference.

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

thanks guys!!

So things are said and done. I want to thank Naps and Geneza, for always coming out with top quality gear. No question in my mind, everything that I used this year was high quality, as always. Adding in the Hyge growth helped me to be able to eat more while getting lean and therefore, stay fuller and add more mass. I have been using Geneza gear for another year straight and came in several lbs heavier on stage and in a little better condition. I ended up making first call out and took 4th. I've never complained about judging, but I will say that this year, I'd much rather take 4th with my conditioning vs having gotten 3rd and been out of shape like the guy who took that position. (see the first pic). Overall though, I wont lie. It was a very tough class, toughest in the show. 12 guys and a lot of talent. Overall, Im happy with how things turned out. I learned a good deal too. I've continued to move up in the placings and I think net year, I should be able to win my class on the right day, in the toughest line ups in my state. I wont be using DNP again, until I move to the national level. I also found that 40mg of halo was too much for me. I think that 30mg is my sweet spot for high end dosing. At 40mg, I was getting splitting headaches. I also wont mess around, using low doses of tren. For whatever reason, I've made it my personal goal to not use much tren, but it works well at drying me out and hardening up. The sweating alone makes a difference in how tight my skin gets. In the future, I'll go back to using a standard dose of tren, 50mg ED. It just works!

Here are a couple pics that a buddy took. I should have some better ones, once i get my hands on the professional shots. in the first shot, I am on the right. The guy on the left beat me for 3rd place.