For those who don't know me, I'm a nutritionist and coach for bodybuilding athletes. I also participate in other forums and recently decided to share here a story about the preparation of one of my professional athletes who is seeking his spot at Mr. Olympia. Last weekend, Ulisses competed in the IFBB Pro League FLORIDA PRO, in Sarasota - FL.
Almost three years have passed since the last championship, where Ulisses had placed in a highly debated TOP 4. The work has been hard in the meantime. As many know, Ulisses, unfortunately, does not have a sponsor, which ends up making it difficult for him to compete more frequently. Even so, he did his best during all this time.
It was about 16 weeks of cutting, considering that his body fat was already very well controlled at the end of his bulking phase. We reduced calories and increased cardio practically every two weeks. Since he was already quite lean, with just over a month to go until the championship, we still had time to increase his calories and reduce his cardio to get some extra breathing room and then get ready for the championship.
In the last championship, in 2021, Ulisses had received feedback from the judges that he was already very big and that he didn't need to worry too much about volume, but only about the aesthetics of his physique. With this in mind, we prioritized every finish in search of the maximum possible conditioning, holding his waist, trying to make his physique more aesthetic (it's not easy to make such a big guy aesthetic lol). Because of this, we ended up giving up some of his volume, but we managed to get a conditioning level that was even above what we expected.
Considering the very high level of the championship, I would say that the top 6 was not a bad placement at all. But, honestly, I'm honest in saying that, for me, Ulisses had the potential to be at least among the top 3. And why didn't that happen? In the other championship, Ulisses was by far the biggest on the stage. In this last one, the volume we gave up while focusing on a more conditioned and aesthetic physique may have been missed. Of course, it's not just volume and conditioning that make a champion, but this is something we can and will, without a doubt, adjust for the next championship. The goal, then, is to climb in the next championship, which will be in 10 weeks, bigger and more conditioned, with a preserved waist and an aesthetic physique.
The good thing about the forum is that, unlike Instagram, here we can talk more openly about what we'll be doing in preparation. However, I can't promise that I'll be as present here as possible to report to you how it's going to be, but I'll try to post as much as I have time, even if it's once a week or with each update of the planning.
In this last championship, we started cutting the week of May 19th, with around 3000kcal and 30min of cardio per day. As I mentioned above, every two weeks, on average, we increased our calorie deficit both by reducing our calorie intake and by increasing our aerobic activity. In the week of July 27th, Ulisses was already on a carb cycling plan (also with calorie cycling), with an average daily intake of 1950kcal (3 days a week consuming 2150kcal and 4 days with 1800kcal), while cardio was already at 90min/day. In the week of August 4th, we decided to increase his calories again to 2500 and reduce his cardio to 45min/day, considering that he was already getting close to a good condition to move up. In the week of 08/18, we went back to 2100kcal and 75min/day of cardio and in the week of 08/25 we did carb cycling again also with an average of 1950kcal/day and cardio at 90min/day. In the week of 09/01, which was the week of the championship, we did a depletion, maintaining only the low carb diet, with 1800kcal/day, which gave around 252g of protein, 33g of fat and 123g of carbohydrates approximately.
As for the thermogenics, we started on June 23rd with just caffeine and yohimbine, with Ulisses gradually increasing his dose every 5 days or so (starting with 5mg of yohimbine and 200mg of caffeine). Two weeks later, on the week of July 7th, we added clenbuterol (40mcg/day, increasing by 20mcg/day every 5 days) and on the week of July 21st we started with thyroids (still at a low dose, 100mcg of T4 and 25mcg of T3). We weaned off all of them (except for the thyroids, which were already at a low dose) during the period in which, as I mentioned above, we increased calories and reduced cardio. As soon as we started reducing calories and increasing cardio, we also started increasing all thermogenics again, increasing T4 and T3 to 200 and 50mcg/day respectively. The maximum dose that Ulisses reached was 600mg of caffeine, 20mg of yohimbine, 120mcg of clenbuterol, 200mcg of T4 and 50mcg of T3. All of them were reduced during the week of the competition.
As for AEs, we used enanthate, oxandrolone, trenbolone, masteron, oral stano and propionate (not at the same time lol). We started with enan, oxan and tren, then we included masteron and removed oxan and, closer to the championship, we started with oral stano and replaced enan with propionate. It will be a bit complicated to give more details, but I can say that we started the first week of the protocol with about 900mg/week of androgens and the last week before the championship (the week with the highest amount of AEs) contained about 1850mg/week of androgens.
As for the week of the championship, we basically did hyper-hydration with increased sodium intake, then we normalized the intake of both and reduced it until the day of the championship (we didn't get to zero at all). As for diuretics, Ulisses practically didn't use anything. He only used 100mg/day of aldactone during the week and consumed vodka and horsetail the day before the event. No hydrochlorothiazide, much less furosemide. The carb up was done on Thursday and Friday, with rice, raisins, tilapia, papaya and a little olive oil. We ate a little more on Thursday, since it was the first carb up, and a little less on Friday. There was no junk food the night before the championship. On the day of the competition, as expected, Ulisses only ate a packet of rice cake with jam in the morning and then just some snacks a few hours before going up. As we were evaluating his physique, we were drinking a little water to try to keep the pump going.
Well... honestly, I think I gave more details than I would have imagined, lol. Since I promised I would do this, I didn't want to miss out on this report. From now on, as I can, I will add updates here so that it will be easier for you to follow, if you are interested.
This week, Ulisses is only on enan 400mg/week, 3000kcal and 30min/day of cardio, while he weans himself off of thermogenics. His next check-in will be by the end of this week. There is a 99% chance that I will increase his caloric intake next week and that we will also start NPP. The idea is to do a kind of metabolic readaptation, which will also favor the hypertrophy process, for about 4 weeks and then we will reduce calories again, in addition to increasing cardio and also returning to more aesthetic AEs, just like we did before.
Well, I think that's it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will answer as soon as I can.
Hugs to all.
Link to photos:
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_wRnhSpDXx/
Almost three years have passed since the last championship, where Ulisses had placed in a highly debated TOP 4. The work has been hard in the meantime. As many know, Ulisses, unfortunately, does not have a sponsor, which ends up making it difficult for him to compete more frequently. Even so, he did his best during all this time.
It was about 16 weeks of cutting, considering that his body fat was already very well controlled at the end of his bulking phase. We reduced calories and increased cardio practically every two weeks. Since he was already quite lean, with just over a month to go until the championship, we still had time to increase his calories and reduce his cardio to get some extra breathing room and then get ready for the championship.
In the last championship, in 2021, Ulisses had received feedback from the judges that he was already very big and that he didn't need to worry too much about volume, but only about the aesthetics of his physique. With this in mind, we prioritized every finish in search of the maximum possible conditioning, holding his waist, trying to make his physique more aesthetic (it's not easy to make such a big guy aesthetic lol). Because of this, we ended up giving up some of his volume, but we managed to get a conditioning level that was even above what we expected.
Considering the very high level of the championship, I would say that the top 6 was not a bad placement at all. But, honestly, I'm honest in saying that, for me, Ulisses had the potential to be at least among the top 3. And why didn't that happen? In the other championship, Ulisses was by far the biggest on the stage. In this last one, the volume we gave up while focusing on a more conditioned and aesthetic physique may have been missed. Of course, it's not just volume and conditioning that make a champion, but this is something we can and will, without a doubt, adjust for the next championship. The goal, then, is to climb in the next championship, which will be in 10 weeks, bigger and more conditioned, with a preserved waist and an aesthetic physique.
The good thing about the forum is that, unlike Instagram, here we can talk more openly about what we'll be doing in preparation. However, I can't promise that I'll be as present here as possible to report to you how it's going to be, but I'll try to post as much as I have time, even if it's once a week or with each update of the planning.
In this last championship, we started cutting the week of May 19th, with around 3000kcal and 30min of cardio per day. As I mentioned above, every two weeks, on average, we increased our calorie deficit both by reducing our calorie intake and by increasing our aerobic activity. In the week of July 27th, Ulisses was already on a carb cycling plan (also with calorie cycling), with an average daily intake of 1950kcal (3 days a week consuming 2150kcal and 4 days with 1800kcal), while cardio was already at 90min/day. In the week of August 4th, we decided to increase his calories again to 2500 and reduce his cardio to 45min/day, considering that he was already getting close to a good condition to move up. In the week of 08/18, we went back to 2100kcal and 75min/day of cardio and in the week of 08/25 we did carb cycling again also with an average of 1950kcal/day and cardio at 90min/day. In the week of 09/01, which was the week of the championship, we did a depletion, maintaining only the low carb diet, with 1800kcal/day, which gave around 252g of protein, 33g of fat and 123g of carbohydrates approximately.
As for the thermogenics, we started on June 23rd with just caffeine and yohimbine, with Ulisses gradually increasing his dose every 5 days or so (starting with 5mg of yohimbine and 200mg of caffeine). Two weeks later, on the week of July 7th, we added clenbuterol (40mcg/day, increasing by 20mcg/day every 5 days) and on the week of July 21st we started with thyroids (still at a low dose, 100mcg of T4 and 25mcg of T3). We weaned off all of them (except for the thyroids, which were already at a low dose) during the period in which, as I mentioned above, we increased calories and reduced cardio. As soon as we started reducing calories and increasing cardio, we also started increasing all thermogenics again, increasing T4 and T3 to 200 and 50mcg/day respectively. The maximum dose that Ulisses reached was 600mg of caffeine, 20mg of yohimbine, 120mcg of clenbuterol, 200mcg of T4 and 50mcg of T3. All of them were reduced during the week of the competition.
As for AEs, we used enanthate, oxandrolone, trenbolone, masteron, oral stano and propionate (not at the same time lol). We started with enan, oxan and tren, then we included masteron and removed oxan and, closer to the championship, we started with oral stano and replaced enan with propionate. It will be a bit complicated to give more details, but I can say that we started the first week of the protocol with about 900mg/week of androgens and the last week before the championship (the week with the highest amount of AEs) contained about 1850mg/week of androgens.
As for the week of the championship, we basically did hyper-hydration with increased sodium intake, then we normalized the intake of both and reduced it until the day of the championship (we didn't get to zero at all). As for diuretics, Ulisses practically didn't use anything. He only used 100mg/day of aldactone during the week and consumed vodka and horsetail the day before the event. No hydrochlorothiazide, much less furosemide. The carb up was done on Thursday and Friday, with rice, raisins, tilapia, papaya and a little olive oil. We ate a little more on Thursday, since it was the first carb up, and a little less on Friday. There was no junk food the night before the championship. On the day of the competition, as expected, Ulisses only ate a packet of rice cake with jam in the morning and then just some snacks a few hours before going up. As we were evaluating his physique, we were drinking a little water to try to keep the pump going.
Well... honestly, I think I gave more details than I would have imagined, lol. Since I promised I would do this, I didn't want to miss out on this report. From now on, as I can, I will add updates here so that it will be easier for you to follow, if you are interested.
This week, Ulisses is only on enan 400mg/week, 3000kcal and 30min/day of cardio, while he weans himself off of thermogenics. His next check-in will be by the end of this week. There is a 99% chance that I will increase his caloric intake next week and that we will also start NPP. The idea is to do a kind of metabolic readaptation, which will also favor the hypertrophy process, for about 4 weeks and then we will reduce calories again, in addition to increasing cardio and also returning to more aesthetic AEs, just like we did before.
Well, I think that's it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will answer as soon as I can.
Hugs to all.
Link to photos:
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_wRnhSpDXx/
