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 – 2 weeks out.
Sunday weight was 74kg, plan today was to have a nice chilled day after cardio as I had a busy week planned ahead of me with work, training and body power. Sundays are a day where I like to get up early as the weather is nice and bright early in the mornings now making this process less painful! I do a few rounds of posing and head to the gym for my 60 minutes fasted cardio. Normally I’ve already been food shopping the night before as by the time I’ve finished my cardio the stores still not open so I’d rather get straight home and cook for the week ahead. I can usually cook 4-5 day’s worth of meals which are 4-6 meals each in just over an hour. Taking a little bit of time over the weekend or whenever you can to complete this very small but very important aspect will make all the difference in reaching your goals! Loads of people go off track right here and wonder why they’re not making any progress! Do the basics, do them well, do them on a consistent basis.
A few food changes happened in Sunday’s prep which were
- 30g decrease of rice
- 10g decrease of oats
- 50g decrease of potatoes
- 120g white fish post work out (replaced of 25g whey)
- 10g increase of peanut butter
Changes like this remind of me of last year’s prep where your starting to get to the last stages and have to keep pushing on very little food. The total amount of calories is just over 1600! Carbs are very low along with energy and strength however if your mindset is strong then you just power through and tick the boxes!
Gratefully that Sunday night my coach gave me a burger and fries as I was looking a little flat and the drop in food in the upcoming week was only going to do that more! The burger and fries went down a treat, it was a good way to close off another injury-free successful week and look ahead to another battling week!
Monday morning my weight had risen 0.8kg and I looked a lot fuller in my posing pictures that morning which is what we had hoped for after the re-feed Sunday night. Last year’s prep I never had burger and fries, then again, I wasn’t as lean as I am now but it’s always good to try a new approach and see if they pay off like it has done this year. Mentally I always love the session after a re-feed as I know the carbs are in me to use – I had a back session planned where I aimed to use all the carbs in the system with compound movements with good control and weight. Then when I start to fade out I’ll head onto some accessories to burn out and push the carbs completely out. The session went really well, full and strong and good tempo throughout! As it was a bank holiday Monday, I finished work earlier so had time to go home and put my feet up before a nice early night to start the next day.
Tuesday my weight dropped by 1kg overnight bring to 73.8kg. Today was my last low carb day before a high on Wednesday. Tuesday was back to normal with a long full day working with cardio – posing – weights. The day started well with cardio and time flew by in the morning. I had a strong posing session which was another increase with intensity from the week beforehand, by cutting down on rest times and holding the poses for longer and focusing on keeping everything tight. Over the last couple of months working with my posing coach/training partner I have really fallen in love with the art of posing and the different types – mainly classic style!
After the posing session, we had a push session planned together, this was a high tempo session with many supersets and drop-sets allowing as much blood flow into the muscle as possible. It Was good having someone there to push me and spot me as I was a little flat and tired from posing beforehand. It Was fair to say after that session I felt like I was hit by a train! The evening clients I trained were a battle in terms of energy levels but it’s something which I expected to happen at these later stages. When driving home I go over a checklist in my head making sure my cardio, meals, weight session, posing (if it's Tuesday) and clients were all completed to the best of my ability!
Wednesday morning, I dropped another 1kg overnight bring me down to 72.8kg. Today was the start of a high carb day with the normal protocol of double carbs and half protein in each meal. Having a day like this ahead of me always makes my morning cardio a little easier knowing I have a big bowl of oats waiting when I finish! During prep the only food I want to eat is oats… and lots of it! The plan today was to train legs but a few things had changed and legs were pushed back to the Thursday so it was back to a pull session. When doing a push, pull, leg split I always make sure the sessions are not the same when the second half of the week comes around! A split like this is great to always focus on your compound moves (off season and prep – both having benefits) but also having the ability to cover more exercises over the week, working different body parts by doing so. The carbs were put to good use by focusing on heavier movements as my muscles were full with glycogen and energy levels were up! Really enjoyed the session and also threw in some biceps at the end to make sure I had nothing left to give before heading over to the cardio area for my 30 minutes post workout cardio. Again, even though it was a high carb day my energy levels had hit rock bottom by the end of the session, in a way which is a good thing but also one thing which I hate as my evening work with clients was tough again. However, I had an extra 120g oats with my last meal which was also double carbs which kept me smiling!
Thursday was the start of a very long day as I was traveling to body-power that night after work. My weight had crept up to 73.2kg which was expected after the high carb day and also extra oats at night! In a way this was a blessing as I had a long day ahead of me and also had legs to train. In my pictures that morning, I still looked a little flat so the coach decided to throw in an extra 120g oats pre bed again. Cardio was a nice wake up that morning as I think the early start and carbs from the day before was making me a little tired and sleepy. After the cardio session fasted for 30 minutes (which has been the same all prep) woke me up the day started to fly by. Legs was a successful outing in the afternoon, pump was good and the focus and tempo I was very pleased with. I knew I would pay the price the next day standing at the booth at body-power but oh well! Before I knew it, I had finished my evening clients and it was time to make the journey up north to Birmingham to meet up with the rest of the PharmaFitness team and settle in for the night before the weekend of body-power. Being this close to a show I had to bring many things with me, I couldn’t stop my routine so I had all my meals cooked and weighed for the whole weekend which totaled around 12 tubs and post workout fish wrapped in tin foil to save space plus rice cakes in sealed bags. Along with this I had my supplements, weighing scales for morning weight, posing trunks for check ins and a load of training kit for cardio in the morning and weight. in the evening. One I unpacked everything and ate my last meal it was time to get to sleep as it was already gone midnight and it was already a long day. I had to be up early for my check in/cardio, then off to body-power with the team for the first day.
Friday morning was shortly here as I was up bright and early to start my day. My check in weight was 71.6kg (lowest all prep) which I was pleased about. My posing pictures were taken in the kitchen with the world’s worst lighting! I was determined that I would not miss a single thing this weekend by being at body-power. If it means me getting up at 4am to get my weight and pictures done and drive to the gym for my morning cardio then so be it! After the check in it was a 25-minute drive to the 24hr gym I had brought a 3-day pass for. Completed my cardio as normal (30 minutes fasted on the stepper) then was back to the house to wait for the team to get ready and eat my first meal.
I was very excited for power-body and when the doors opened at 9am I wasn’t disappointed by the buzz and feel of the place. After a short time, our booth was in full swing having all of us working to the max! I had taken 2 meals with me to eat throughout the day, so a quick meal of cold rice + fish and potatoes + chicken was on the menu. It Was very hard smelling the lovely food around our stand as we were next to the food stands all weekend. After a very long and busy day we got back to the house just after 8pm. It was time to quickly eat another meal before going to the gym for a push session. By this point, I was completely wiped out and had to find some energy from somewhere. Finally got into the gym just after 9pm and managed to have a good productive session considering the long day and my low energy levels. Finished up my post workout cardio at just got 11pm and it was time to quickly get back to the house to eat and get to sleep. That night I was also given an extra 120g oats post workout which I felt like I earnt!
After being in bed a short time and starting to fall asleep, my girlfriend suddenly suffered from an anxiety attack which carried on for a couple of hours leading into the early hours of the morning. (details id spare as are personal). All I can say is I felt helpless! There was nothing I could do to help nor nothing she was able to do to calm this random attack down. I’ve never seen anything like this and my thoughts are seriously with those who suffer from this horrific condition.
After a couple of hours sleep and a rough night it was soon 4am again and my alarm was going off for check in weight/pictures and cardio. Even though the night before was horrific I still needed to tick the boxes I have. This is the selfish side of bodybuilding where you still have to carry on with your routine like nothing has happened. Although loved ones will always come first over anything in life if needed to be! I had the same start to the day on Saturday as I did on the Friday. In fact, the whole day was mirrored apart from the expo being even more busy than the day before. Time flew by and before I knew it the expo was finishing up for another busy second day. I was driving to the gym that night and had legs planned which was getting me fired up. I knew I needed to have a good session as I’ve always dreamed of becoming a bodybuilder and travelling to expo’s. They still have to train after being run down and tired so it’s a good test to see if I can handle it. Needless to say, the session didn’t slack! It was a very strong / high tempo hamstring/glute session finishing off a tough week/weekend of training. It’s so important to have the right mindset walking into the gym, I didn’t want to think about the long few days I’ve just had, minimal sleep and other things. It was music on, head down and time to get to work!
After the leg session while sitting in the car with girlfriend (who is also part of the PharmaFitness team) the anxiety started to come back. The helpless feeling came over me again as the symptoms started to increase. I felt so sorry for her as all I wanted to do was to help, but I couldn’t! Driving back to the house the symptoms got worse and worse and the decision was made to travel home to seek medical attention and change back to a normal environment.
It was a horrible feeling leaving early and didn’t want to let the team down. The Director and close friend Sam was so supportive and understanding and advised to travel home. Driving home at 1am in the morning wasn’t the best of ideas as I’ve been up since 4am that day with minimal sleep from the night before. Driving while being tired is something I will never do again! Finally got home at 3am where we had to stop a couple of times due to Olivia feeling sick and struggling for breath.
After a few hours’ sleep Sunday morning cardio needed to be done. I woke up feeling very tired with a headache and just in an overall state of tiredness. I powered through my morning cardio for 60 minutes (as today was no weight training). Today was needed to relax and sort some bits out for work. I’ll await new instructions from my coach for next week which is my last normal week of training and diet before peak week, getting very close now! I was happy that over the weekend, with everything that happened I never missed a beat! Stayed on track and ticked my boxes!
Overall the weekend was a great experience, I am very grateful to be a part of such a brilliant team and lucky enough to of experienced being at my first expo with a company. I’m pretty sure it will take a couple of days for my weight to level out due to the lack of sleep as it had risen up to 74kg. I was also holding onto some water in my Sunday morning posing pictures which are due to driving so much over the weekend and being on my feet all day. Something like this is nothing to worry about – within a couple of days everything will be back to normal including my routine for the final push towards the show. Bring on the last normal week before peak week and let’s keep pushing and ticking them boxes!
Once again, thank you to Sam for the experience at body-power! Thanks to PharmaFitness for being epic during our first expo today and I’m sure there will be many more to come! Also, thanks to everyone who came by our booth at body-power, we hoped you enjoyed our stand and enjoy our products even more!
