Mens Physique 14 Weeks Out
So this year I decided to sign up for a Mens Physique contest.
For this of you who do not know this is essentially bodybuilding.
But with board shorts.
I think the judges created this category looking for the ultimate male beach body.
Hence the board shorts.
It has been a category that has been growing in popularity the last few years.
Popularized by Jeremy Buendia, Christian Guzman, and a lot of other dudes who have made more popular on YouTube.
Along with social media.
And I am one of this dudes influenced by these influencers.
That’s when I said hey why wait!
I coach Men and Women who are looking to get in to the best shape of their lives.
However I myself have never coached a physique athlete.
Nor have I ever competed.
So this year I said screw it lets do it!!
Starting Stats
Im 6 feet tall and came into this prep weighing 205 pounds.
Im writing this article after the show so let me tell you something I didn’t realize off the hop.
I was way fatter than I thought!
I didn’t do a body fat percentage measurement from the get go as I decided that I would use pictures.
And my reflection in the mirror.
To guide me.
Oh and my waist was solid 36 inches.
These are the only stats that I actually viewed as relevant.
And to be honest the reflection is the only that really matters.
Why?
In a bodybuilding competition unless your in a category determined by weight.
Weight is pretty much irrelevant.
It can mess with your head.
And keep you to focused on something that may not be as important as one might think.
However at 14 weeks out I did see it as important..
And I was able to log it into myfitnesspal which was my best friend during prep.
The Tools
Everyone wants to know the secret tool used to find ultimate success when it comes to fat loss.
So I will give them to you straight.
The silver bullets.
My secret tricks to achieve the magical results of getting ripped.
Here they are!
- Cell Phone (myfitnesspal app, Notes, Pictures, Logs)
- Food Scale
- Measuring Tape
- A White Board
- Notebooks
I would love to tell you that I truly had something magical to share with you.
But I don’t.
It all came down to planning.
Designing my plan and then sticking to it.
All the tools above were used to make sure I stuck to what had been designed.
MyFitnessPal Allowed me to track my macros which we will go in more in depth in the next paragraph.
My phone gave me the ability to take pictures.
However I used the mirror more and didn’t always take pics or videos.
The FOOD SCALE by far is the most important tool in the plan though!
Why?
Because it allows you to track everything right down to the gram.
Which gives you a very in depth view on what you are consuming.
Measuring tape for the waist.
The white board helped me to visually see what I needed to do on a daily basis.
And notebooks because keeping a log or a journal is extremely helpful when looking at what you do.
From week to week.
Sometimes we can forget and it allows us to see what we did right.
Along with what we might of done wrong!
Diet at 14 Weeks Out
I decided to start my diet off at 2000 calories.
Which may seem low for lot of people.
However I felt very comfortable at this number.
Plus I was throwing in a reseed day every Sunday.
Which looking back at it in hindsight actually bumped my calories up to 2200 calories.
Macros consisted of 2200 calories
- 193 grams of Carbs
- 193 grams of Protein
- 73 grams of Fat
I kept it linear and used this for my initial fat loss
Supplements
At this time I was taking a pump supplement.
Along with GHOST Warheads pre workout.
I was also taking a creatine monohydrate at the time.
Which tasted like salty ass.
Oh, and protein that you can get from Costco.
For 50 bucks a tub.
As Iam a natural athlete that was all that I needed.
For the homies that are all geared up the PED and supplement list is much longer.
But for the natty folk its quite simple.
Get your protein in.
Sleep good.
And workout hard!
Honestly, if I slept well I wouldn’t even take pre workout on this days because I felt fantastic!
The Workout at 14 Weeks Out
The workout at 14 weeks out was extremely simple.
It was usually a compound movement of some sort per body part.
On Legs I would Squat.
On Shoulder Day I would overhead press.
And on Chest day I would Bench.
All compound movements were 4 to 6 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
Typical Hypertrophy approach.
I would then switch over to super sets after the heavy lifts to get that pump.
My workout split was:
Days 1 to 5
- Day 1 – Chest
- Day 2 – Back
- Day 3 – Legs/Core
- Day 4 – Shoulders
- Day 5 – Arms
Post workout I only did 20 minutes of cardio
The Cardio
Cardio was kept to a minimum.
Why?
Because eventually you want to milk as much of the low hanging fruit as possible.
What I mean by this is too many people do everything all at once.
And what happens is that the body adapts.
Because it is its job to adapt.
It is literally working to keep you alive and healthy.
So, if you throw everything at it all at once.
You will lose fat and then your body will figure out what’s going on.
And then it will make it more difficult to lose it in the future.
But, if you follow a slow approach you will be able to get a lot more out of it.
With the body requiring less.
Your body is smart and is always looking to protect you.
So, I did very little cardio.
20 minutes incline walk and that was it.
And 10 minutes for my warm up.
At this time I didn’t even track my steps wither.
In the beginning the main focus was all about sticking to the plan.
learning the routine and developing discipline.
Closing Thoughts
I was excited at first.
And looking forward to seeing major changes.
But the truth is I really didn’t.
However I was a pillowy 195 pounds and underestimated the work required to getting stage lean.
But on the bright side this was only the beginning of the journey.
Meaning that I had no idea what I was in for.
And had totally underestimated the amount work, effort, and discipline this journey at 14 weeks out would entail!
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