General questions (flexibility, mobility, prep, etc.)

[Aros2291]

Hello all I am mid prep right now started at 20 weeks out and this week will be 9 weeks out. I switched over to FT training last week and am loving it. I was training high volume 6 days a week bro split pretty much with Monday chest, Tuesday legs. Wednesday back, etc.

Doing cardio 6 days a week fasted in the morning on stair master.

The FT training over the 5 workouts I have done so far have been amazing. The muscle feels like it really gets worked but just doing the one set doesn't kill my joints. My body has never felt this good and I am actually stronger now than 20 weeks out. I used to just volume volume volume and not really rest much between sets. The training always feels fresh and my body feels like it's actually being able to recover now and not just beating it into the ground.

So for my questions:

Mobility and flexibility: I wake up and do fasted cardio 6 days a week on stairs and then get in sauna and stretch for 10 minutes on my legs then have meal 1. Midday I train FT style with the 4 days a week. Every night before bed I have just incorporated foam rolling and more stretching right before bed. Is this beneficial at this time and is there such thing as doing too much stretching and foam rolling. I spend an hour before bed every night foam rolling and stretching. Just want to make sure I am doing my body good and not hurting it in anyway? Or should I be doing it right after training for an hour?

Injury: My hamstring is extremely tight and trying to get it recovered and better? I know it should be rested but can't do that now mid prep and with FT training? Any tips on recovery? Should I be stretching it or not stretching the hamstring to let it rest? I am able to squat and do my big lifts. Even curling motions. I just don't want to make it worse because a lot of tightness in my left hamstring.

FT blast/cruise: since mid prep and 9 weeks left should I just keep blasting away the whole time or is it important to cruise for at least a week after blasting for 3-6 weeks. Don't want to mess anything up on both ends being prep and also don't want to mess up the FT program. Have done everything the program calls for so far and it's been outstanding.

Nutrition I am currently carb cycling with 6 low days of about 300 protein, 75 carbs, and 30 fats. One high day of 300 protein, 250 carbs, and trace fats (20 grams about). I follow my coaches plan nutritionally but he lets me train how I want to. I should keep my carbs intra, post workout shake, and post workout meal correct? Pre workout just stick with the fats and protein?

Nutrition post show: I am going to be on my own after the show so wondering if I should really blast the food and training or should I reverse diet out of the show to maintain leanness? What is best option?

Lastly I just want to say this is the best program I have ever done and feel amazing with the exception of my hamstring which I messed up training higher volume before I started FT training. Have never been this strong and really feel like I am going to add some food density to my body when switching back over to growing phase.

[scousedave]

Hello all I am mid prep right now started at 20 weeks out and this week will be 9 weeks out. I switched over to FT training last week and am loving it. I was training high volume 6 days a week bro split pretty much with Monday chest, Tuesday legs. Wednesday back, etc.

Doing cardio 6 days a week fasted in the morning on stair master.

The FT training over the 5 workouts I have done so far have been amazing. The muscle feels like it really gets worked but just doing the one set doesn't kill my joints. My body has never felt this good and I am actually stronger now than 20 weeks out. I used to just volume volume volume and not really rest much between sets. The training always feels fresh and my body feels like it's actually being able to recover now and not just beating it into the ground.

So for my questions:

Mobility and flexibility: I wake up and do fasted cardio 6 days a week on stairs and then get in sauna and stretch for 10 minutes on my legs then have meal 1. Midday I train FT style with the 4 days a week. Every night before bed I have just incorporated foam rolling and more stretching right before bed. Is this beneficial at this time and is there such thing as doing too much stretching and foam rolling. I spend an hour before bed every night foam rolling and stretching. Just want to make sure I am doing my body good and not hurting it in anyway? Or should I be doing it right after training for an hour?

Injury: My hamstring is extremely tight and trying to get it recovered and better? I know it should be rested but can't do that now mid prep and with FT training? Any tips on recovery? Should I be stretching it or not stretching the hamstring to let it rest? I am able to squat and do my big lifts. Even curling motions. I just don't want to make it worse because a lot of tightness in my left hamstring.

FT blast/cruise: since mid prep and 9 weeks left should I just keep blasting away the whole time or is it important to cruise for at least a week after blasting for 3-6 weeks. Don't want to mess anything up on both ends being prep and also don't want to mess up the FT program. Have done everything the program calls for so far and it's been outstanding.

Nutrition I am currently carb cycling with 6 low days of about 300 protein, 75 carbs, and 30 fats. One high day of 300 protein, 250 carbs, and trace fats (20 grams about). I follow my coaches plan nutritionally but he lets me train how I want to. I should keep my carbs intra, post workout shake, and post workout meal correct? Pre workout just stick with the fats and protein?

Nutrition post show: I am going to be on my own after the show so wondering if I should really blast the food and training or should I reverse diet out of the show to maintain leanness? What is best option?

Lastly I just want to say this is the best program I have ever done and feel amazing with the exception of my hamstring which I messed up training higher volume before I started FT training. Have never been this strong and really feel like I am going to add some food density to my body when switching back over to growing phase.

From someone who has just competed this past weekend and taken FT through a full prep.

Injury: Have you tried deep tissue massage or foam rolling. I've lost count of the amount of times I feel I've had a rotor cuff/front delt injury and it's been nothing more than an overly tight bicep. What's your general hip mobility like?

Blast/Cruise: you need the cruise I broke my prep up into 4 blocks; 1 six week blast, 1 two week cruise, 1 six week blast and then 1 week for peaking. First blast, no problems (Tier III turbo). The cruise was harder mentally that physically, I wanted to carry on pushing but know I needed the time to back off slightly. I used the period to target certain weaker areas (legs for me) and took my calories quite low on my non-training days as I didn't have the calorie expenditure from the usual frequency/volume of workouts. With the restricted calories the second blast was hard work especially running at tier III turbo (I was trying to avoid doing any cardio) and I had to accept I wasn't going to be beating any PBs in those last six weeks. It was more a case of maintaining.

Nutrition: Ask your coach but I kept all my carbs timed around intra and post (50g intra 125 post).

Nutrition Post Show: Again this is really individual but for me it's prime growing time: The way I'm working calories back in (bar my one meal post show pizza and icecream) is to;
a) increase intra and post carbs (50-100 intra 200 post)
b) non-training days stay the same as the contest diet plus about 500 cals from healthy fats (which i cut out towards the end)
c) Aiming to increase calories on training days slowly pre-workout and then start increasing non-training days further.

I used to go on week long eating eating fiestas but have learn better now over 7 shows so am am back to clean eating again now 2 days post show. Cardio is 60 minutes a day walking my dog (30 min am 30 min pm).

[Altamir]

Blast/Cruise: you need the cruise I broke my prep up into 4 blocks; 1 six week blast, 1 two week cruise, 1 six week blast and then 1 week for peaking. First blast, no problems (Tier III turbo). The cruise was harder mentally that physically, I wanted to carry on pushing but know I needed the time to back off slightly. I used the period to target certain weaker areas (legs for me) and took my calories quite low on my non-training days as I didn't have the calorie expenditure from the usual frequency/volume of workouts. With the restricted calories the second blast was hard work especially running at tier III turbo (I was trying to avoid doing any cardio) and I had to accept I wasn't going to be beating any PBs in those last six weeks. It was more a case of maintaining.

I will echo only my own personal experience here. I did not prep, but had a fat loss period that I took very seriously, and I treated like it was a prep. It was very successful, and I stuck to the program 100% and I agree with scousedave, the intensive cruise mentally was extremely difficult. I just wanted to PUSH harder. It felt like I was being counter productive. The week I cruised was one of my slowest weeks as far as fat loss went, I was cursing myself and at the same time holding out faith that if I just stuck to my plan, it would work out. The first week back to full training, not only did I feel 100% better (I described it as if like a haze had been lifted off me.) but it was my most successful week of fat loss the entire period. and pretty much made up for the sub-par previous week.

[Scott Stevenson]

Hello all I am mid prep right now started at 20 weeks out and this week will be 9 weeks out. I switched over to FT training last week and am loving it. I was training high volume 6 days a week bro split pretty much with Monday chest, Tuesday legs. Wednesday back, etc.

Doing cardio 6 days a week fasted in the morning on stair master.

The FT training over the 5 workouts I have done so far have been amazing. The muscle feels like it really gets worked but just doing the one set doesn't kill my joints. My body has never felt this good and I am actually stronger now than 20 weeks out. I used to just volume volume volume and not really rest much between sets. The training always feels fresh and my body feels like it's actually being able to recover now and not just beating it into the ground.

Glad you're doing well with this! It's a bit of a gamble to switch training at this point, so you'll have to be careful to adjust diet, etc. accordingly.

(Gaining weight or losing weight less slowly might be possible with what you're saying about strength if you happen to gain a bit of muscle. This is possible in a hypo caloric state.)

So for my questions:

Mobility and flexibility: I wake up and do fasted cardio 6 days a week on stairs and then get in sauna and stretch for 10 minutes on my legs then have meal 1. Midday I train FT style with the 4 days a week. Every night before bed I have just incorporated foam rolling and more stretching right before bed. Is this beneficial at this time and is there such thing as doing too much stretching and foam rolling. I spend an hour before bed every night foam rolling and stretching. Just want to make sure I am doing my body good and not hurting it in anyway? Or should I be doing it right after training for an hour?

I'd ask why you're doing all this foam rolling, etc, in the first place.

Secondarily, what stimulus *during prep* is going to help the most with your physique, i.e., is this stretching necessary for injury prevention or what have you.

Injury: My hamstring is extremely tight and trying to get it recovered and better? I know it should be rested but can't do that now mid prep and with FT training? Any tips on recovery? Should I be stretching it or not stretching the hamstring to let it rest? I am able to squat and do my big lifts. Even curling motions. I just don't want to make it worse because a lot of tightness in my left hamstring.

If it's just tight (and not painful), I'd (personally) stretch it to remedy that and be careful of any accommodation during your training (imbalances) that might make you prone to injury.

Otherwise, I'd check with a local practitioner - someone who does ART would be a good find, IMO.

FT blast/cruise: since mid prep and 9 weeks left should I just keep blasting away the whole time or is it important to cruise for at least a week after blasting for 3-6 weeks. Don't want to mess anything up on both ends being prep and also don't want to mess up the FT program. Have done everything the program calls for so far and it's been outstanding.

There are good comments in this thread already on when / how to Blast / Cruise. You'll need to cruise over the course of this 9 weeks most likely. I address what to do dietarily in the FAQ at the end of the book.

Nutrition I am currently carb cycling with 6 low days of about 300 protein, 75 carbs, and 30 fats. One high day of 300 protein, 250 carbs, and trace fats (20 grams about). I follow my coaches plan nutritionally but he lets me train how I want to. I should keep my carbs intra, post workout shake, and post workout meal correct? Pre workout just stick with the fats and protein?

See bolded.

Nutrition post show: I am going to be on my own after the show so wondering if I should really blast the food and training or should I reverse diet out of the show to maintain leanness? What is best option?

See bolded above. (Seriously - a good coach should give you some thought on how to do this, IMO. )

Lastly I just want to say this is the best program I have ever done and feel amazing with the exception of my hamstring which I messed up training higher volume before I started FT training. Have never been this strong and really feel like I am going to add some food density to my body when switching back over to growing phase.

I think you're going to do quite well after the show if motivation stays high like it is now.

-S

[Aros2291]

Glad you're doing well with this! It's a bit of a gamble to switch training at this point, so you'll have to be careful to adjust diet, etc. accordingly.

(Gaining weight or losing weight less slowly might be possible with what you're saying about strength if you happen to gain a bit of muscle. This is possible in a hypo caloric state.)

So for my questions:


I'd ask why you're doing all this foam rolling, etc, in the first place.

Secondarily, what stimulus *during prep* is going to help the most with your physique, i.e., is this stretching necessary for injury prevention or what have you.


If it's just tight (and not painful), I'd (personally) stretch it to remedy that and be careful of any accommodation during your training (imbalances) that might make you prone to injury.

Otherwise, I'd check with a local practitioner - someone who does ART would be a good find, IMO.


There are good comments in this thread already on when / how to Blast / Cruise. You'll need to cruise over the course of this 9 weeks most likely. I address what to do dietarily in the FAQ at the end of the book.


See bolded.


See bolded above. (Seriously - a good coach should give you some thought on how to do this, IMO. )


I think you're going to do quite well after the show if motivation stays high like it is now.

-S

Thanks for all the responses everyone and think I am doing well. Coach actually wants me to move to Keto so I will just be following that until he says otherwise.

As for stretching and foam rolling I am a very tight wound up person with bad mobility I would say. I feel like a robot in movements and looking to be more functional. My muscles feel so bound up so was hoping foam rolling was going to help. Do you think it's overkill to foam roll every night before bed just for injury prevention and mobility purposes? I am feeling a ton better doing it nightly but don't know the science behind it because you hear so many different opinions from different people. What's best way to utilize foam roller such as how many days a week or best time to do it, etc.?

I think the stretching is mostly for injury prevention and to help me with my squats because I always have a hard time getting ass to grass.

Motivation is super high and will stay that way. Like I said other than hamstring by body feels worked but not over killed if that makes sense!