Universe Prep – A good first week of dieting

Universe Prep – A good first week of dieting

What do I mean by a good week?

I have trained well, my diet has been on point, I haven’t missed a meal and most of all a niggling shoulder injury I have had for a month is starting to settle down.

Sometimes the start of the diet is the hardest part as you don’t visually see the results your hard work deserves but stick to the plan and true to yourself and the magic starts happening.

As far as my stats go my bodyweight hasn’t deviated at all and as for my other stats remember I don’t take skinfold measurements or photos too regular to ensure I see progress when I do! I am sure many of you out there will wonder why I’m so happy as surely it’s all about the scales going down on competition prep. Not necessarily!
It’s a bodybuilding prep so it’s not just about the weight loss via the scales (the scales don’t show what type of weight you are losing ie. body-fat or healthy tissue).

The idea of a body-building prep surely must be to isolate fat loss and maintain muscular size. When you start cleaning up your diet you tend to consume more highly nutritious foods and your body can find that easier to utilise in a positive manner. It often alarms me when I see competitors on social media boasting of large weight drops over a short period of time. If you are doing this either you are starting your diet in an obese state or you are cannibalising muscle tissue (my opinion). My rule of thumb generally is to avoid losing more than 1lb to 1 1/2lb a week to ensure minimum risk of muscle loss. Think about that one!

I didn’t mention the shoulder injury on my last blog as really it is just a minor hurdle to overcome and expected when in contest preparations and pushing in training. Nearly everyone in the Masters classes these days have injury hurdles to overcome that forces them to adapt their training style (just like I have). At the end of the day injuries are the enemy and can undo any positive progress that has occurred in off-season so we always try to prevent aggravating the problem and change specific exercises and styles.
I do tend to train a lot smarter these days compared to how I trained in my youth. When I was young it was all about ego lifting and trying to push the heaviest weight possible even if style suffered a bit. Now, after learning the hard way (injuries) it’s all about using my brain and listening to my body. This makes my training instinctive and I am a big believer in mind to muscle connection through movements (keeping the muscle tensed through complete movement).

My diet this coming week will be exactly the same as last week as I have had no reason to fix what aint broke. I have monitored my energy levels and strength along with bodyweight and everything is where I want it to be. Have a look at last weeks blog if you want to see my current diet.

One thing I did say in my blog last week was that I would cover my supplement usage from my sponsors Active Sports Nutritions own brand Muscle King. I have to give a big shout out to my supplement sponsors as they are very generous to me and have certainly been instrumental in moving my physique onto world level.
This is my supplement regime at the start of my diet:
On waking – L-glutamine followed by BCAA’s
With Breakfast: Multi-Vitamin, Creatine (CEE), HMB, Whey Protein
Mid-Morning: CLA
Meal 3: HMB, Super Cissus (for injuries)
Pre-Training: BCAA’s, L-glutamine, CEE, Multi-Vitamin
Post-Training: Muscle King Evolution X (all-in-one)
Last Food: Whey Protein, L-Glutamine

I may introduce thermogenic fat burners in the last few weeks if I need them for that final push.
Occasionally on leg days I take a pre-workout formula (either Nitro Frenzy or Zombie Juice) dependant on my energy levels.

As I mentioned on my last blog if anyone wanted any particular subject covering I would try my best to answer. I did get a question regarding how I deal with those CBA training days where I just don’t feel like training and what motivates me to train.
I think everyone at some time suffers with a loss of enthusiasm when it comes to training.
How I deal with those days is simple really, I make training a habit. It’s not a chore, it’s not a hassle, it’s just something I do to keep healthy (just like eating) and I just make it part of my lifestyle. Obviously the fact I work in a gym and I am surrounded all day by people training does make it easier for me to stick to the plan. When I was a mechanic I went through a phase of being on and off with my training due to going home from work before training. I would find myself delaying going to train until sometimes it became too late to go. I addressed this by going to the gym straight from work and avoiding sitting in the comfy chair at home and making training a chore. I would put heavy rock music on in my car as I was travelling to the gym which would put me in the right mind-set to train! Try it! We all know that once you have finished training you feel a whole lot better having released those positive endorphins into your body. The hardest part always will be walking through those gym doors. If you want results consistency will always be the key to success! So find a system that fits into your lifestyle without questioning whether or not you can be bothered training. We can all find excuses not to train but if you want results once again we have to think of that golden word “CONSISTENCY”!!!

Think of it this way, the only bad training session is the one that never happens. In other words if I miss a training session my fitness goals get further away but if I train (even if I consider it a bad session) I am staying on target to achieve what I set out to achieve! So I repeat make it a habit and fit it into your lifestyle.
If you struggle with focus give yourself monthly fitness goals. This could be your bodyweight, the weight you lift, or the amount of reps you do and mark it in a book or even put it on your kitchen wall.
I have done this myself when getting ready for a show. I had notices on all my kitchen cupboard doors keeping me focused on the job at hand. Some were just slogans that struck a chord with me but it worked.

So all in all with my first week of prep down and 11 to go I would consider all is going to plan so not much to report really let’s see what this next week brings.

Thanks for looking 🙂

Next week I will give you examples of my training sessions and how they differ on a weekly basis along with more updates on my progress.

There is a change of running order to my training regime today as I am training legs at another centre (I normally train legs on a Sunday at my centre). I generally work every day except Monday at Tops Fitness & Rehabilitation which means 99.9% of the time this is where my workouts take place.

Going to another gym on occasions gives me an opportunity to work on different equipment and hit my muscles at different angles. This tends to keep me sharp and the change of scenery allows me to solely focus on my training. I am very lucky to have some good friends in the industry who welcome me to their centres and today I am going to have a nice trip over to Karl & Shazzos Taylors Ziggy’s gym in Rotherham where they always make me feel welcome and are very supportive.

Let’s see what different bits of kit I can use do to hit my legs in a different way (shock tactics). I will let you know how I get on.

Again remember if anyone wants me to cover any issues by all means message me through private message on facebook (I always answer these first) or feel free to e-mail me at steve@stevejohnsoncoaching.com
Generally there is a delay in me getting to e-mail messages as most are business related and are dealt with in order of priority.
THE MISSION TO WIN MR UNIVERSE CONTINUES!!!

PS. Big thanks to my other sponsors muscletricks.com for my latest bits of kit. I love their shorts and they are virtually all I wear so to get a couple of new pairs in the post was a real buzz. I also have them for sale at Tops as they are a big hit with our clients too. If you fancy a pair pop down as they generally disappear fast.