James Llewellin's 'Arnold Classic' preparation thread

[supercell]

This thread is now taking over from the '2007 Contest Preparation' thread as my prep has already begun for this show at the end of Feb 2008.

I outlined the plan in my last thread but for continuity's sake I will copy and paste it into this one regarding my diet up to and including xmas.

The 'proper' diet will start (I have been informed!) the day after Boxing day, which will give me around 7-8 weeks to really dial it in. I will stay in condition that could get me ready in 6 weeks with the extra week or 2 for fine tuning.

The plan is to attempt to put on a couple of lbs between now and then, and with a slight surplus of cals and heavier training for the next 8-10 weeks this is very possible.
The last 12 weeks have seen very moderate training with no 'real' intensity, more of a maintainance phase due to calorie restriction and the rigours of twice daily cardio sessions.

Cardio is still an integral part of this short 'off season' phase and will help keep me lean and metabolise the food I will be eating.

The diet is very simple and relies very heavily on fats as the primary energy source but at the same time unlike most 'keto' diets, carbs will still be very much present, freeing up the protein to do its work of repair and growth and enabling the carbs to replenish glycogen stores.

The diet differs very slightly on training and non-training days, utilising more carbs on training days and slightly higher fats on non training days, keeping the cals identacle on both days. The diet is set out below.

TRAINING DAYS

300g carbs (derived from oats, pots, rice and wholewheat pasta, wholewheat breads, vitargo)

330g protein (derived from chicken, salmon, whole eggs and occassional steak, pro peptide, whey isolate)

130g fats (derived from virgin olive oils, natural peanut butter, fish oils and egg yolks)

Total calories = 3690 k/cals

NON TRAINING DAYS

250g carbs (derived from the same sources without the vitargo)

330g protein (derived from the same sources without the whey isolate)

150g fats (derived from the same sources)

Total calories = 3670 k/cals

On both days I will have 6 meals spread approximately 3 hours apart. The only liquid meal will be my PWO drink on training days which will be the only meal NOT to incorporate any fats for obvious reasons. Every day I will incorporate 1 whole egg meal; normally meal 2 on non-training days and meal 4 on training days.

Although carbs will be present in every meal, I may well borrow carbs for certain meals and then put them back into other meals. I always like to start the day on 100g of oats. This yields around 60g of carbs so on a non-training day I will cut my carbs in other meals to reach the daily 250g total. These will normally be taken from meals 3,4 and 5 and then I will finish the day with 50g of carbs from 80g of oats. As long as the daily totals all add up, the distribution of carbs is really at my descretion. Fats and proteins will remain fairly constant through all meals at 55g protein and 25g fats per meal (except PWO where NO fats will be present)

Below is an explaination of the theory behind the diet from Paul B, who as always is my guid and 'mentor' through to the show.

"The basic idea is that following a pre contest diet, your body has become very efficient at utilising dietary & stored fats for energy, so we just keep this ball rolling. The carbs eaten are sufficient to replenish blood sugar & glycogen stores (though not all glycogen stores) & then the body uses fats for the shortfall. It confuses some because they think that eating a lot of fats will make them fat, but this is about as true as saying eating chicken will make you grow a beak. If you look at James' macros, his calorie intake is right where it needs to be, there's just been a slight shift in the ratios. By James' own admission, he used to pile weight on like crazy after a show, but he seems to be staying tight this way. I know a week is not much of a gauge, but he could easily have put a stone on during this period using the old method.

It just seems to have kept me much, much leaner in the offseason & as a result my 'fat pants' that usually end up having the top button left undone are still falling off me at a bodyweight where I used to be carrying a sh1tload more fat than I am now. I'd never advocate a high fat/protein & low carb approach. The method James is using is far more moderate as carbs are still an integral part of the equation, just ever so slightly less than before. All the fats eaten are 'clean' sourced fats from oily fish, olive oil, nuts, eggs etc & naturally occuring saturated fats in red meat & other nuts (which we do still need in certain quantities). Virtually none of the fats have suffered heat degeneration & so will be readily utilised by the body."

Supplementation

My supplementation will remain fairly basic in this particular phase (up to christmas). I will however use the following:-

Peptide bonded glutamine
CEE
Vit C
Multivit/min
Whey Isolate (fast release)
Pro peptide/Muscle milk (slower release)
Waxy Maize Starch/ Vitargo (post workout)

Training

From the analysis of the British, Paul, Wade and Myself all agreed where my weaknesses lie.

1. Back width
2. Chest thickness
3. Hamstring separation and size (rear poses)
4. Quad sweep (bottom of list but still could do with more)

Now Rome wasn't built in a day as they say but there ARE improvements that can (and WILL) be made in these areas.

For back, out go narrow rowing movements and in come more wide grip work
For chest more advanced methods such as pre exhaustion, negatives, forced reps, partials and isolation exercises.
For hamstrings more stretching, peak contraction, negatives and partials.
Quads will remain fairly similar to what I do now as I have made good improvements with a combo of hacks, ext and lots of lunges with occassional leg press.

As a result of my weaknessess and also my strengths (arms and shoulders), training will be limited to 3 days a week.

Day 1 AM Cardio/Back and Rear delts
Day 2 AM Cardio/Rest
Day 3 AM Cardio/Hams and quads (calves will be trained every 3rd week)
Day 4 AM Cardio/Rest
Day 5 AM Cardio/Chest
Day 6 AM Cardio/Rest
Day 7 Rest (complete rest)

Although I have made improvements all round, my chest is still my 'nemesis' so I have put this at the end of the week allowing 2 full days rest to recouperate and repair before hitting back on mondays.

Cardio is to be performed 6 days a week for 30-40 mins at a failry low intensity on a combination of cross trainer and tread pre meal 1 on an empty stomach.


My weight today at 6am was 13st 12lbs (88kgs)

This pic shows my current condition taken this morning 8 days after the show and 7 days after starting the 'off season' diet as outlined above. Pics will be taken weekly and over the next few weeks condition will fade a little but is to be expected with the regime that I have in place.

[Captain Hero]

awesome James, I dont understand everything in your training plan but I have no doubt that you know what you are doing and will do well in the arnold, good luck to you.

[Fantom]

Congrats James for your invite to the Arnold, I have been many times and it is what bodybuiding shows shuld all be like, all atheletes are treated like stars and well looked after, I may just come and give you some support, if you need any photos done there then my matewho is editor of Flex Australia will do some training shots etc or whateva you need, just let me know and i will arrange it for you.

Keep up the good work, your training and diet is very methodical, i've learnt a few new things already,

All the best mate

Si

[Tinytom]

I've stickied this James.

Not being judgemental cos I dont really have long breaks either and obviously the time constraint is on you and you know the Yanks will be on pretty much year round anyway.

Would you agree that when you get to the level you're at now there's some sacrifice to be made in terms of off periods to be competitive?

I'll see you in 2 weeks for some food, seeing as you'll be on your clean diet Nic and I will eat your puddings lol.

[Tinytom]

Thats exactly my thoughts Paul.

Theres a major difference between how a recreational bber might structure there courses and pCT and how a comp bber does.

And in perspective, We dont smoke, we dont drink (to excess), we dont use other recreational drugs and we eat well and train. The only bad thing is the gear.

[Nine Pack]

True, our lifestyle is squeaky clean & the impact the gear has on us is actually quite small compared to someone out on the lash every weekend, using recreational drugs, eating takeaways & smoking. If I had a long run of shows, I'd worry far less about my health than I would if I were a 'bar room bodybuilder' (you probably see these guys all the time on the doors Tom). That's when the AAS issue unfairly gets bad press. Someone doing every drug under the sun, drinking, smoking etc and taking AAS is bound to run into trouble eventually. But what always gets the blame, the AAS. Surprise.

Anyway, sorry James, back on topic. I reckon he'll be staying very lean indeed right through to the start of his Arnold prep. So much so in fact, that I'm hoping we can maybe even postpone the start of the 'diet' to a slightly later date, but we still have the Dec 27th as a safety net date set for now.

[Nytol]

Looks very good James.

I think you will do very well with the training split you have out lined.

[RACK]

I'll keep my eye on this one seen as I joined too late to follow the last one.

[ajfitness]

this is gonna be a another sh*t hot thread to follow. good luck james

[Fivos]

Nice one James..i maybe going to this show..

Fivos

[Nytol]

Who is sanctioning the show at the Arnold? It would be a nice idea to make it an international pro qualifier.

I would not worry at all about not coming off mate.

[Tinytom]

Originally Posted by supercell

It may well be, due to my competing early next year, I may give the British a miss. We (my wife and I) have a lot planned for next summer so it maybe that I make my assualt on the title in 2009 instead....Time will tell tho.

J

Yeah I've heard that before.

I'll see you on stage next october mate.

[PRL]

Wicked news for you and Shaun.

I might look at coming out for the weekend. I know Nathan DeAsha was going and I did meantion it to DRED a while back.

Good Luck James.

[rightyho]

Originally Posted by supercell

It may well be, due to my competing early next year, I may give the British a miss. We (my wife and I) have a lot planned for next summer so it maybe that I make my assualt on the title in 2009 instead....Time will tell tho.
J

Tell me I didn't read what I think I just read?

Us little competitors cannot survive without a JL British contest prep thread for inspiration.

[Incredible Bulk]

loved your old journal James, looking forward to reading this one.
These prep journals are what has attracted me to this site and encouraged me to recommend it to my other friends.

Good luck and go for shock and awe