Our athlete Rory Golden is going to compete this year and we have decided to follow his journey. A diary from start to finish, 18 weeks out until stepping on stage.
Rory Golden - The Prep files
Blog – 1 week out.
So, this was the last normal week of training before peak week starts. I can’t believe where the time has gone during this prep and writing this blog series. I am Writing this at the end of the week on a Saturday night, thinking back at the last 17 weeks has me smiling. I’m also very thankful I had no injuries and no problems along the way in training/diet/work and personal life. It’s been a great journey and I’ve enjoyed every minute! Even though I have the biggest week in front of me coming up, the work has been done over the last 17 weeks.
Monday morning was back to routine after a very long and tiring weekend. My weight was still 74kg, however I can tell my body started to let go of the water I was holding as my stress levels were decreasing and my check in pictures looked better. Monday was a calm day to just use as recovery before heading to Hemel for a pull session in the evening. I like training in the evening sometimes as I’m able to get a couple more meals in me before training and I can use this to a positive effect. I was also given 120g oats post workout so I really wanted to make more room for the extra carbs to go in. Little mental thoughts like this really help me to keep pushing and squeeze out an extra 1-3 reps per set / increase weight / shorten rest time – and it just allows me to keep digging harder. Overall it was a great pull session – felt focused and motivated in a great environment and ticked the boxes, good start to the week which I always bang on about!
Tuesday my weight dropped down to 73.6kg. This was another good start to the day leading on from Monday. I think the extra carbs helped the night before giving me a good night sleep which was needed as I felt my energy levels were good during cardio and also throughout the morning and afternoon with clients. Today was a push session – I knew the final count was on and time ticking away in terms of normal training sessions and I was fuelled and ready to attack this workout! The session went very well focusing on upper chest and shoulders. Each day I’ve started to get the excited feeling that were getting closer and with the pressure of that I’m pushing as hard as I can in every aspect. After training for the last 2 weeks or so, my energy levels decrease massively. This is one feeling which I hate, having to work in the evening in a busy gym but it is all part of the process. It helps when clients come in focused having completed their check ins and plans and ready to work, this is what puts a smile on my face that and that we’re all in this together no matter what levels and what end of the scale.
Wednesday morning started very sluggish and cardio was a struggle! My weight had dropped down to 72.4kg. Today I had a posing session at body limit gym and legs after with my posing coach. In a way this was a blessing and something I needed to kick me a kick up the backside and pull some energy out from somewhere. We did posing a little different that day, I did a 15-minute pump up in the gym (as if it was backstage) then went to pose. He told me that he was going to push me the hardest to date and he wasn’t lying, I had sweat dripping from everywhere. We discussed after why my body reacted like this which I never normally does and it was still water from the weekend being pushed out – at the start of posing, my Christmas tree (lower back) and hamstrings weren’t that visible by the end but after the water was pushed out everything was clear to see which was good!
Needless to say, after 60 minutes of that, it wiped me out and it was time to quickly eat and then go train legs. The focus of this week’s leg session was mainly quads however still working on the glute and hamstring tie in. It was a struggle! - I had no pump throughout the workout and my legs were very sore from posing. It helped to have my posing coach/ training partner pushing me and making sure I gave a little bit more every set. After the leg session and cardio, I limped into work and started my evening clients – overall Wednesday was a draining and painful day and even though my carbs were taken away that night so I only had fish and veg to eat all the boxes were ticked.
Thursday morning there was a slight drop in weight pushing me down to 72.3kg. I had a very early start to the day with cardio and was all downhill from there. I had minimal energy throughout the day with headaches constantly pounding away. I had my last proper back session of this training week before peak week next week so I had to find the energy to smash it out. Monday’s session was great so I knew to better that I had to be focused and ready for it. The session was good, I still hit my compounds with respectable weight and reps however I had no pump and after each set, I felt my energy levels dropping.
At this time music is so important to me, I know there are many studies showing music limits muscular contraction which is true – however, it keeps me focused and pushes me through workouts like these. Thursday was another tick box day I didn’t feel too great from the moment I got up but everything was completed – from cardio / work and weights.
Friday was the lowest weigh in of the week at 72.2kg. It was my check in day with clients so mainly just sitting in front of my laptop all day and waiting for my training session to come around. My cardio session was a little bit later than I’d normally do in the week and I felt all the better for it as I needed the extra sleep. I also booked my tan for the show and sent my music in which made the whole process seem even more real! I headed to the gym for my last push session of the week and was given an extra 120g oats post workout with my white fish. I had a really good session with my mate who helped push me further than I thought and finished my upper body cycle this week on a high and I was very pleased with the session and the tempo and execution of it – focused now shifted onto the last leg session of the prep that day after.
Saturday was here and my last leg session was upon me! It was great to sort a session with my close mate Tom who I work with and mainly train with at work. Me and tom are very close mates and he helped me through my few prep sessions the last couple of years by training with me, supporting me and traveling to the shows with me. It was great to smash the last leg session with him – we focused all on compound movements (stiff legs, squats, leg press, lunges and some accessories). The idea being, you need to place the legs under stress as I won’t be training them for the next week leading up to the show to allowing the swelling to go down. So, a heavy rep session is needed. Today is also a high carb day as well as Sunday so I want to earn these carbs and allow them to fill out my muscles by depleting myself as much as I can.
The session was great! We really pushed each other to the limits – even myself being able to stiff leg deadlift 180kg for a few reps. Crazy being 8 days out and still shifting that amount of weight. I do understand that it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do and I should know better to train a little smart in general and so close to a show, however sometimes when you have the fire in your belly you just need to roll with it! I earnt my carbs for the next couple of days to say the lease! Overall it was a great week in terms of training and dieting. The week did start a little slow due to the effects of body power but all the boxes were ticked and that’s another week ticked off and another week closer.
I just love bodybuilding, the pain, suffering, process, all just pulls me in and gives me the reason to be better every day. I’ll await the plan for peak week and let’s see what happens… 1 WEEK TO GO!
