Bodybuilding Classic Physique Division Offseason log
You know you who it is already. Can't recall my old password or even what email I used so here we are. I promised I'd start logging if legend n1h did. So that's why I'm logging.
Short term goal:
Successfully formulate a relatively optimized and easy to adhere to offseason diet model. In terms of food selection, I am more or less following Chris Tuttle's recommendations. Our very own BGP has been getting some free diet stuff from Chris since he has a full client load but will send a handful of emails to people for free if you ask nicely and want help. If you don't know who that is, go on youtube/instagram and see the man's work.
Remain injury free, which is easy with my new exercise selection which loco would describe as "leg press and lat pulldown 4 lyfe"
Adjust to a more strictly bodybuilding programming style as opposed to a "powerbuilding" style.
Here is the medium term goal:
2024 summer on stage in classic physique division at a level that would be competitive for winning a pro card. Winning the card itself is immaterial for the medium term, it'll happen when it happens and I will be patient.
Possible obstacles to this goal are gym closers due to continued zero covid policy, possibly moving countries and being unable to focus on prep in the interim, or international political disaster. All of which are legitimate risks.
Ostensibly we will start competition prep late winter 2024 and do a very long slow 20-24 week prep where I never need to bring carbs lower than 200g/day.
Long term goal:
Compete in one professional level show in the classic physique divison in the next 10 years. Don't really give a **** about placings.
Natty: No. Test, deca, mk677, humalog, cjc with 1295 with DAC, berberine (although the last one is both a PED and a general health supplement). Low doses. high dose AAS are massively overrated for hypertrophy, the real magic is the insulin and gh (or gh secretagogues in my case). less than 1g of injectables with PEDs that work on the IGF pathway is much better than 3g of injectables, for example. I'd advise anyone who wants to go down the PED route to incorpoate gh or gh secretagogue peptides along with insulin while they are still taking 1cc of test per week before you ever add any other AAS or increase test dose. You can keep your AAS doses much lower if you actually address this very critical muscle building pathway rather than solely relying on AAS, which are harsh... man...
No prep drugs or harsh AAS until the aforementioned 2024 late winter date.
Diet: High carbohydrates with carbohydrate cycling (2 high days the day before my 2 leg days, 1 low day on the day off, 4 medium days per week offseason), moderate protein around 1.125g/lb of bw, low to moderate fats. I tried a high fat Palbumo approach in both offseason and precontest this academic year. It was a ****ing disaster; this is a terrible way to diet for bodybuilding. Although if somebody is not trying to look lean/dry/hard on stage and maintain athletic performance in the gym, it'd be a great diet to follow because antecdotally it can lead to very high compliance for some individuals because it just destroys so much of your physiological cravings and lowers appetite considerably. Somebody like the apple-pied obese woman who's username I don't even remember might do well on this because she could probably eat 80/20 ground beef bunless bacon cheeseburgers twice a day for an emotional high, not feel hungry the rest of the day, and have only consumed like 1800~ calories daily.
More detailed post with training program and food log to follow. I'm a busy man.
I had the resolve to not go to the gym yesterday. I needed the rest; stimmed out doing 13k+ steps and averaging around 40 minutes of 140+ HR cardio/day plus training 5.5 days a week in a deficit is a lot, even as geared up as I am. So I finally skipped a push session like I've been trying to for the past few weeks. Other people resolve to go to the gym; I resolve to stay out of the gym and let myself heal.
Pull
Underhand rows (back to no straps; will be permanently no strapping everything except paused sldls or conv dls on the rare occasion I do them): 90kgx16, 11, 9
Chins: 9, 8 supinated. Tried rings and it felt like ****. Supinated with a fairly wide grip felt okay on elbows
Row machine: 67.5kgx22+f, 16, 10
EZ curls: 20kgx31, 16, 13
Hammer curls: 7.5kgx17, 11, 7
Wrist curls+dead hangs
As soon as I did the first few reps of hammer curls I got a pleasant pain relieving sensation in my elbows. Elbows are complicated and all linked up with triceps, shoulders, forearms, and biceps. My pain started as soon as I stopped hammer curling regularly and the movement acutely made the elbows feel good, so obviously adding these back in. I'm also gonna start leg day with 3 sets to failure of strict hammer curls. Maybe use 15kg initially but I could probably do 17.5 or even 20 strict as first movement.
I got super burned out on chicken/ground chicken and sweet potatos and ****ing hate meal prepping it. So now I'm doing beef stew as my main daily meal. 4x beef stew with potato+carrots 1x oatmeal+frozen blueberries with protein powder and skim milk. It's the lean beef I posted before, but some peices come more marbeled than others. I'm kinda estimating my macros but I'd guess I'm around 350g protein, 250g carbs, 60g fat per day which is around 2940 cals. That's fairly high for a diet, but super intense cardio+high step count+lotta stims+active job and starting at a relatively heavy bodyweight with a lot of muscle so of course my dieting cals will be higher than a lot of people's bulking cals. I didn't have many days below 3k on that successful late 2020 cut either and got my best look ever. Cals gotta stay high and I think around 180g carbs is a floor for a daily average to maintain performance. Any lower than that performance goes to **** and muscle loss starts happening.
Prob gonna replace one of those beef meals with greek yogurt+whey but also maybe not because 100g of your protein from whey per day is kind of a lot while in a deficit. Maybe find something I can get from a restaurant that isn't beef+potato but still approximately fits those macros cleanly. Subway is an option but they're wildly inconsistent with meat portions
Something occurred to me earlier yesterday: Why not try training biceps BEFORE back on pull days? A lot of the criticism of ppl style training is that people tend to end up with underdeveloped arms from it and torsoes that are a bit more developed.
After doing some research I have found that most elbow pain from chins/pullups is from 4 factors:
1. Weak forearms
2. Biceps weaker than back muscles, insufficient stability as a result
3. Wrist flexion during the movements (I'm very guilty)
4. Pulling on a bar rather than rings.
My arms aren't as much of a weak bodypart as they used to be. I do remember never getting elbow pain when I was doing dedicated arm days. Maybe I can address both the elbow pain and the comparatively overpowering torso by simply putting biceps+forearms before back movements.
Triceps before pushing movements might be another animal, but hypothetically it might be worth trying Triceps first->delts and then flies to let triceps recover->hit machine presses+dumbbell presses last.
The point of bbing is not to set prs on compound lifts, it's to develop a balanced aesthetic physique and a lot of muscle. I'll definitely give the biceps+forearms first change a go for a few weeks. The triceps one I'm less sure about but it seems worth a shot. Maybe do 3 exercises for biceps 3 sets each and same for triceps. I'll start this rotation; also gonna hit one bicep exercise and one forearm exercise before each leg sesh too.
Settled on something different than what I just posted above
Day 1 Biceps first then delts+chest
Day 2 legs as normal
Day 3 Triceps first then back (throw in one bicep exercise at the end)
Day 4 off
Repeat
Forearms "as often as possible"
Also after watching sum dr. mike videos I gotta change my bicep exercise selection to get more isolated.
Here was the test run, but I'm sure I'll tinker with this
Incline db curls: 10kg16, 8kgx12, 6kgx15
EZ curls: 20kgx20, 14, 12
Incline db hammer curls: 5kgx21, 14, 10
wrist curls
Lock 3
Prone delt raises: 4 sets
Machine press: 72.5kgx17, 9, 7 (2 rep pr on the first set)
Incline db: 30kgx14, 10, 7 took it way submax and low rest
Incline cable fly machine: 20kgx 3 sets failure
So incline db curls are the GOAT, but unfortunately they bother my right bicep/pec tie-in (proximal bicep tendon) and that aggravation continued throughout the workout. I think this is among the best bicep exercises in the game as far as really hitting the peak of the bicep and not all the surrounding musculature and I want to do it. I'll try to do it as final exercise next time and see how it feels. Next time I'll try something like spider curls or spider hammer curls or hammer curls followed by ez curls second followed by incline db pronated curls. Maybe cable curls first. I have time to experiment and see what gets the best pump without pain from now until March. When i start prep in march ideally my exercise selection and routine are both locked in already.
Wednesdays I can't do morning cardio because I teach the first period and I finish work later on wednesdays too making cardio post lifting hard too. Still did 20 minutes post workout at max inlcline and 4 speed. Tomorrow I can show up at work late at 9:30 so I'll hit stairs firs thing AM around 6:45 for an hour then eat, nap for 25 minutes, then go to work.
Best I've looked at 95.5kg morning fasted weight. I guess I didn't realize how much muscle I had actually added during that near 2 year bulk, even despite a lot being suboptimal and too powerlifting.
Next back day I'm gonna stay off the chins for a while. 3 tricep exercises 3 sets each->lat prayers->rows->pulldowns->machine rows. unless my elbows magically feel great. They felt totally fine pressing, jsut don't feel fine pulllup-ing.
I'm finally depleted enough to actually benefit from scheduled high carb days/refeeds/cheat meals. Friday I'm gonna take out added fats, do about 125g chicken+350g rice+300g pineapple for 3 meals, sip on my favorite fruit juices, enjoy some dried fruit/ granola+green yogurt, maybe some kids cereal, and then finish off with a cheat meal in the form of sushi. I'm gonna shoot for around 750-800g carbs before the cheat and around 1000g after.
Still want to do some sort of annual review/reflection/goal setting post. One section will definitely be titled "Powerlifting isn't useful for bodybuilders, but bodybuilding is useful for powerlifters". My biggest mistakes not just of 2023 but my bodybuilding career more generally was way too much powerlifting style workout and emphasis on trying to get strong on big barbell compounds. This just isn't a really effective strategy for building the most lean tissue nor the most aesthetically balanced physique. Obviously it depends on what you mean by barbell compounds, but as a general rule, dbs, machines, bodyweight exercises, and sets of at least 8 with a lot of focus on mind-muscle connection, tempo, and feeling the targetting muslces on exercises that are not exceptionally systematically fatiguing are the ways to accomplish this, not getting your deadlift up to 500x8 or your incline barbell bench up to 110kgx10.
Roman Fritz going over his gear. People's gear knowledge has advanced greatly over the past 5 years and it seems a lot of people are settling on the strategy of very clean/healthy offseason compounds and emphasizing test, gh, and insulin as the main muscle building drivers. Then add in Masteron, Primo, or EQ for estrogen control and a little bit of extra anabolism. If you are younger and can tolerate it without sexual or mood side effects, add some nandrolone on top of that. No orals or trenbolone.
If you really push stuff like trestolone, orals, and tren you can look totally sick in the offseason and super full and huge and add a lot of weight to your lifts. But its not really actually building a dramatic amount of muscle and its mostly cosmetic improvements that are temporary and then you don't get that big boost when you do add in harsh compounds before the contest.
For him, he's at 1750mg test and 1400mg primobolon per week, but these are his starting doses and it could easily go up from there.
Was completely exhausted all day despite the fact that I was allowed to sleep in and show up at work at 9:30. Didn' do cardio in the morning. Didn't feel shiet from my stimulants in the morning. Burning the candle at both ends. Ate a bit more than normal today but not dramatically so. I'm gonna put off my refeed/high carb day until saturday. After more bro-science analysis, I've decided the best strategy is to do mild cardio fasted AM on refeed days, don't train that day, don't take any stims, steps under 10k, and just focus the whole day on eating and napping. Insulin at every meal. I'll try to do it on weekends when possible but I think every 2nd rest day (so once every 8 days) is gonna be a good frequency for refeeds/loads. Even when I'm prepping and early in the diet before I'm depleted I'll do them, but I will keep it fairly low cal at the beginning of the diet and do like 400-500g carbs in the beginning and then more than 800-1100g carbs toward the end when I'm super depleted.
Legs
Hip thrust 1.5p+a 5er: 25, 15, 12
Leg extensions: 27.5kgx26, 15, 17 did em more strict without any reset at the bottom and longe rpause at the top
Leg press: 4ppsx33, 21
skipped third set, went home. Trying to get to sleep early.
Day 1 Biceps, delts, chest:
Spider curls: 3 sets
EZ curls: 3 sets
Incline hammer curls: 3 sets
Shoulder prehabs: lock 3
Prone delt raises: 5 sets
Machine press: 3 sets
Incline db press: 3 sets
Machine fly of choice: 3 sets
Optional one tricep exercise
Day 2: Legs
Leg day 1:
Hip thrust: 3 sets
Leg extensions: 3 sets
leg press: 3 sets
Maybe a 4th exercise for glutes/hams but light
Leg day 2
Hamstring curls: 3 sets
Paused SLDL with toes elevated: 2 sets
Leg extensions: 3 sets
FRont foot elevated glute focus split squat with dbs: 3 sets
Day 3: Triceps+back
Dual rope tricep extensions: 3 sets
Tricep pushdowns: 4 sets
DB Skullcrushers: 3 sets
Pullup variation: 3 sets
underhand or overhand rows: 3 sets
Machine rows: 3 sets
1 bicep exercise optional
The structure is obviously 3-on-1-off repeat, so everything get hit twice every 8 days. Except arms and hamstrings which are getting hit slightly more often if you count barbell rows/presses respectively, which I do.
People talk a lot about why Ronnie was so successful. I mean I'd say Phil was a marginally better bodybuilder at their respective peaks, but Ronnie had a much longer peak and is still better overall. People have mostly agreed it was just genetics nearly as good as Flex Wheeler or Kevin Levrone, but a lot better work ethic than either. Morons like to say it was because he lifted heavy and did deadlifts/squats with a ton of weight, bro. James Hollingshead is a much stronger bber than Ronnie ever was but reached nowhere near that level of muscle, so that's not it. One thing nobody mentions is that he was among the first bodybuilders in the ifbb pro league to utilize higher frequency training. He was kind of the legs/push/pull pioneer way back when nobody else was doing it in the 90s. I'm sure it played some part in his success, and it's perhaps telling that both Flex and Kevin switched over to push/pull/legs/off routines during their respective comebacks.
I'm sure bro splits are fine, but just that extra few % difference in results from more optimized training does make a difference at the highest levels, even high amateur levels. I'm noticing much more dramatic results from this but maybe somebody who doesn't have a skeleton made of glass would notice less of a difference.
Today I did triceps+back. Left elbow still hurts a bit, but right totally healed. Should be back to doing chin-ups within the month. Couldn't do skullcrushers on left side either so did single arm pushdowns instead
Dual rope pushdowns: 17.5kgx20, 12.5kgx13, 10kgx15
Pushdowns: 25kgx16, 15kgx3 sets failure
Single arm pushdowns: variousx3x6-12
Lat prayers: 3 sets
Paused underhand rows: 80kgx16, 12, 9 leave the ego at the door and do it strict with a pause at the top...
underhand pulldowns: 60kgx16, 50kgx10
Row machine: yeah didn't go well.. got distracted
Spider curls: 3 sets
Spider curls felt good and can definitely replace the incline db curls. I'll try hammers with the incline or just sitting up straight, not a big diff.
I got too fat this offseason. I think where I am now is actually probably near the upper limit of how high I'm going to allow my bodyfat to get next offseason. I'm 95kg now and I think where I was around 97-98kg is about the maximum level of bodyfat I should be carrying to have an optimal offseason. I won't even start the contest prep cut for around 7 weeks, but I'm expecting stage weight will be 87kg or even under. Going into the offseason following that, 102-104 will probably be my top limit, just obviously a much higher quality 104kg than the sloppy 104kg I was this offseason. I need to send check-in pics to myself via email every single weekend even in offseason, both for the posing practice and to get a better idea of bodyfat. It's easy to fool yourself into thinking you're less fat than you really are if you just take pumped selfie mirror pics in good lighting when your muscles are super full... gotta see unpumped/fasted morning pics with neutral lighting to really get an idea of where your bodyfat truly is.
Ideally I don't gain more than 6-7kg over the 8 weeks after the contest, too... Take things very slow with the weight gain and gain only as much weight gain as is needed to make reasonable strength progressions; don't try to eat more to make super fast strength progressions and just end up fat/injured.
Do you have any overhead pressing? That always bothered my shoulders which is why I don't do it, and most of what I've seen says incline bench and regular pressing is all you need for front delts anyway.
OHP is basically worthless for me. My delts are already overdeveloped from oly lifting. Even for other people I think its suboptimal; if you're already doing pullups and rows you're getting enough rear delt work. Front delts are getting worked enough from all your horizontal pressing. Delt raises are fine for your side delts.
I guess you can make an argument for ohping for people who are flat benching heavy and need to work on stability and scapular health; but bodybuilders don't flat bench heavy rendering it kinda useless as a prehab exercise in the way it can be useful for powerlifters.
Biceps, delts, chest
EZ bar spider curls: 20kgx21, 2 more sets I forgot to count reps
Seated hammer curls: 9kg dbsx16, 11, 9
Cable curls: 10kgx19, 19, 11
Lock 3
DB prone raises: 5 sets
Machine press: 72.5kgx18, 12, 9
Incline db: 30kgx15, 10, 8
Machine flies: 3 sets
Incline db curls: 10kg16, 8kgx12, 6kgx15
EZ curls: 20kgx20, 14, 12
Incline db hammer curls: 5kgx21, 14, 10
wrist curls
Lock 3
Prone delt raises: 4 sets
Machine press: 72.5kgx17, 9, 7 (2 rep pr on the first set)
Incline db: 30kgx14, 10, 7 took it way submax and low rest
Incline cable fly machine: 20kgx 3 sets failure
Cable curls felt good. I just discovered that the distance you stand from the cable apparatus totally changes whats getting recruited. I'll stick with these 3 as my main bicep lifts for a few months; the incline db work just doesn't work well for me because of the bicep tendon.
Push
Lock 3
forearm stuff+hangs from a bar
banded external rotations
Prone delt raises: 7kgx22, 4 more sets
Machine press: 62.5kgx16, 10, 11
Incline db bench: 30kgx14, 9, 7
Pushdowns: 5 sets
single arm overhead tricep extensions: 3 sets
Incline db press painstakingly slow 5 second eccentrics+2 second pauses. Left 1 rep in the tank first set and 2-3 on subsequent sets. I like the idea of only doing 2 exercises for chest... two that I feel a lot and I
just over 2 months progress. I was around 102-103kg morning bw then, now around 95-96. I'm not pushing the incline dbs hard the last few workouts and have done 17 or 18 reps at one point. Crazy amount of strength gains while dropping bodyfat running nothing more than test, mast, gh, and stims/fat burners. I'm also just feeling a ton better compared to when I was on nandrolone and/or low dose tren. I mean wow I lost 7-8kg and got stronger on every single lift. There's definitely some muscle memory to that but I'm sure I've exhausted those muscle memory gains by the end of november.
I think a big part of the reason was very simple: I was too fat at 103kg morning bw and it's easy to not lose muscle when you are dieting if your starting bodyfat is high. Still kinda cool to look back. My quad training has been very consistent without any real breaks or injuries and seldom needing to deload; even crazier gainz there. Never thought I'd be up to 5ppsx20+ reps or 4ppsx30+ reps so quickly, even if I'd kept bulking. It's even more surprising while losing weight.
Less toxic peds, higher doses, less calories, more protein, very little added fat, moderate carbs to not feel like I'm suffering.
Legs
Ham curls: 47.5kgx17, 12, 12
Paused SLDLs: 100kgx16, 13
leg extensions: 27.5kgx20, 12, 13
FFESS: 12.5kgx10x3 each side
Felt very sluggish today. But also if I have a leg workout on Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday night I really have to keep some in the tank to be able to get proper sleep that night, which is fine. I've kinda realized that leg training really shouldn't be RPE 8+, honestly session RPE 6-6.5 is about right for leg sessions. I also did hit my prescribed weights on SLDLs with long pauses. Gonna ride it all the way up to 100kgx20 paused then add 20kg and drop down to 12 and 9 reps and start over.
Another mediocre session. Not nearly as bad as last leg session, but wasn't feeling my best. This morning I literally couldn't even remember my phone pin. Feel drained and out of it. My right bicep/pec tie-in is a little bit tender so I need to slow down on the biceps+push sessions. I messed it up on the incline db curls, that was a mistake. It's definitely not injured/super painful, but one hard session away from being so probably.
Triceps+Back
Dual rope pushdowns: 17.5kgx15, 12.5kgx15, 12
Pushdowns: 25kgx16, 15kgx3 sets failure
Single arm pushdowns: 7.5kgx3 sets failure
Lat prayers: I forgot but 3 sets
Underhand rows: 80kg17, 12, 11
Underhand pulldowns: 60kg15, 10,7
Row machine: 3 sets but kept a lot in the tank
I do like the idea of beef stew for something that van be vaguely identical but can vastly vary in macros depending on what you add in. (Fattier meat/proportions of veggies/etc)
Taco-esque recipes can be very similar. Ranging from grilled chicken and pico, to some nice fatty bits with sour cream and cheese.
I need to take some time off but it's so hard to not go to the gym. I did manage to exercise restraint and just deload push. Went full on biceps+delts+forearms because it felt fine.
Lock 3
Hammer curls: 15kgx17, 7, 7
Facing away cale curls: 12.5kgx15, 2 more sets
ez spider curls: 15kgx15, 11, 10
Prone delt raises: 8kgx5 sets supersetted with FOREARMS. Need to be consistent with my forearm training if I want to be able to do pullups regularly.
machine press: 62.5kgx10x3
Incline db press: 25kgx10x2
Machine flies: 2 sets
30 minutes cardio 4 speed max incline.
If I were very smart, I'd stop the diet now and go down to 3-4 training days per week, and rest up then go at around ~80% during my Thailand break then back to 100% effort in march when I start the big cut. Naturally that will mean I put the pedal to the metal for months straight and don't take enough breaks/deloads.
Anyone know a good sports physio in BKK or anywhere in Thailand? I need to get my bicep/pec thing taken care of. I've tried 2 pts before but neither really helped.
[QUOTE=GuyThatGoesToDaGym;58412575]I need to take some time off but it's so hard to not go to the gym. I did manage to exercise restraint and just deload push. Went full on biceps+delts+forearms because it felt fine. /QUOTE]
That was my takeaway when reading about your subpar sessions. I feel the same way if I'm not going to the gym, but a full and proper deload would probably serve you well.
[QUOTE=GuyThatGoesToDaGym;58412575]I need to take some time off but it's so hard to not go to the gym. I did manage to exercise restraint and just deload push. Went full on biceps+delts+forearms because it felt fine. /QUOTE]
That was my takeaway when reading about your subpar sessions. I feel the same way if I'm not going to the gym, but a full and proper deload would probably serve you well.
You're psychic. Coming down with something. Got that scratchy burning sensation in my lungs and body aches/fever coming on. It was tolerable at work/in the morning, but by the time it came to train I was feeling messed up and couldn't get any productive training in at the gym. Did hip thrusts with 2px10x2, leg extensions up to 27.5kgx17, and leg pressed 2ppsx20. I still think going to the gym and doing *something* is worthwhile and a tiny amount goes a long way in preventing detraining and loss of fitness. Even just getting up and walking the 3500 steps there and back makes it worthwhile. I also did my forearm training as I had planned and I need to prioritize that/put that near the beginning of every push and leg session; not realistic to do it first on pull day without performance loss in the big lifts but I'm not using straps on pull day so I'm probably getting a decent amount of forearm work already on those days, but just not enough to keep my elbows totally healthy.
I agree that going in for a deload is better than doing nothing. It also helps maintain sanity if you can't not go. Dr. Mike has a good YT on deloads. IIRC, he recommends regular volume at half the regular weight first half of the week and half the reps/sets at half the weight at second half of the week.
Feel better.
Up today and respiratory symptoms are very mild. Fever and body aches are bad. Might be covid again but at this point covid/cold/flu are basically indistinguishable. Skipping cardio and probably gonna be less than 5k steps today, which feels bad. Part of the reason I have trouble going too hard is that I definitely do have some exercise addiction. My cardiovascular fitness is literally the best I've had in my life rn, my diet has been very good as far as covering micronutrition, and my bodyweight is still down at 95. So my immune system will probably kick it super fast. My sleep wasn't great a few days last week which is probably why I got sick in the first place.
So now the question is if I should continue the diet/cardio/weight loss after I recover or just cut the diet short now? Next week tuesday begins end of semester exams and I have a deadline on grades so it would actually make sense to stop the diet, slowly "reload" into my workouts, and plan to get back into the swing of things training at full capacity once I arrive in the Land of Smiles.
I have an interview with the highest ranked private "international" school (the kind that sends chinese abroad, not the kind for expats although they have a solid 2-5% foreign students) next Friday. The best schools often don't pay the highest salaries. It's in Shenzhen where my cousin lives and pays about 3k rmb less per month than some of the lesser known private schools in the area, but still a lot more than I make now and enough to live very comfortably and stack sats. I've learned in my 9 years that monthly salary is not even close to the most important factor.... A nice pleasant campus, good colleagues, good students, good working hours and conditions, etc. Also I talked about how important social status is... If I tell local Chinese where I work they freak tf out because this school (both my current school and the one in shenzhen) are very well known and have turbo-selective admissions. You might tell them about some privately owned british school that pays close to 85-90k usd/yr but will admit literal ****** students and they're like 'what? never heard of it..."
My current situation has excellent students, but a dogshit location, colleagues that are just above average, and the worst campus and facilities ever. Super depressing spending 9.5 hours a day on our campus.
The new school has both student AND private staff gyms that are fairly well decked out, amazingly modern and high tech campus, tons of space, work VPN, good restaurants (mostly irrelevant for me since I cook almost everything), great housing for the kids, actual sports and PE (my current school has neither). And it's in a super ideal location which also happens to be about 2.5km from my cousin's apartment. I haven't been there yet or anything, but this is the type of place where I could work for 20+ years until or if I decide to retire. Salary scale is good and room for advancement.
And ofc you can get on a train and be in HK about 90 minutes after leaving your door if you need to get away from mainland bs once in a while. I'm not at all guaranteed the job as they will have a **** ton of local Chinese applicants. I pretty much MOG 99% of foreigner applicants, but some of these Chinese will have overseas PhDs and near-native English and will want the job a lot for the social status and extremely high job security.
Last night I came to a realization that I might literally never retire or just retire if I become to physically or mentally incapacitated to continue. I actually like what I do and I can see myself getting super depressed and bored if I'm 64, retired, and coaching people part time mostly just for something to do. I'm kinda imagining what I could be like in my 60s, fully fluent in Chinese and more localized, still lifting but not competing anymore, and still getting up at 6:45am every morning and sticking to a routine and having a fun and social job where I'm surrogate parenting Chinese kids and teaching them about economics (and hopefully got a squad of young lifters I turn into demi-gods over their 3-4 years of high school drug free). Continuing to work in a high school into my old age would probably be very good for the mental and physical health for somebody with a more extroverted disposition like myself.
The joy of "retirement" isn't to sit on your ass and do nothing, but rather to do whatever you want to do. They call it "**** you" money for a reason. Aside from managing money I spend my time working on interesting garage projects with frens (currently a gamer tea project, some AI GF thing, and some derpy crypto ideas I'm kicking around), and providing advice to people who want me to advise their startups. (Somehow I've gone full circle from El D being an advisor on mine to me being an advisor on his. As the world turns I guess.) So I wouldn't really fret about training derps and doing crosswords 24/7 unless that is literally your dream, which sounds pretty awesome tbh. On another note, I'm currently trying to watch basically every meaningful WW2 doc ever made. So I know all sorts of useless factoids which are only mildly interesting when someone needs clarification on what bridge was the bridge too far in Operation Market Garden.
On the lifting side, I assume by stopping the diet you mean to move to a position where you're only at a mild deficit? I think you mentioned that NEAT keeps you in a reasonable deficit on vacation. I'm not really sure how much this would affect anything other than the fact you clearly need a deload atm and diet infinite that process. I guess schedule it according to your overall plans and when you wanna lift hardcore vs see pingpong shows or whatever people do in Thailand?
Yeah, basically don't go hardcore sub 300g carbs average 45 minutes of hard cardio and take a bunch of clenbuterol, yohimbine, and caffeine. Still gonna eat fairly clean, but maybe enjoy some Chinese lamb stew and italian subs once in a while. In Thailand we'll stay off stims save for maybe a morning coffee the whole time. I'll do at least 45-60 minutes of moderate 120-140 BPM cardio every morning fasted, but actually eat at a moderate surplus for about 4 weeks to rinse off some fatigue and let my metabolism reset for a bit before starting the big contest prep diet.
Had to google ping pong show because I first assumed you were talking about competitive ping pong matches haha. My cousin and his parents might be coming for a large part of that trip, so definitely no ping pong shows!
Still pretty sick and might not be back in the gym until Tuesday/Wednesday, which is fine with me.
I got right back on the diet. I'm finding clen helps a lot with respiratory symptoms/cough... which is exactly what the medicine was designed for. Bodyweight low of 93.8kg... haven't weighed that since late 2022. But it's just because I stopped lifting a few days, obviously. I switched to brown rice as my main carb source. Sweet potato just got kinda boring and white rice isn't filling enough. Brown rice cooked in chicken broth is delicious, however.
I'll just keep going right up until 1-3 days before I fly, which I finally booked for the 27th. Super excited and happy RN despite being sick.
Got my job interview tomorrow which I know I'm going to absolutely obliterate/smoke. The only risk factor is they have some ****tard HOD who gives preference to FOB candidates, which does happen occasionally. The money is very good, but the location is GOAT and 2 gyms on the campus. I'm ready to get some kids high exam scores and then turn 15 year old boys into natural demigods. I'm going to have at least one kid who cleans 2.5 wheels weighing less than 200lbs from age 15 to 18, so long as the school allows students to allocate real time to training after classes and doesn't bog them down with bullshiet like my Suzhou school did.
