I am now in week 8 of my 12-week phase and will need to take pictures again this weekend. I admit that I am a little anxious about this and really shouldn't be. I know I am getting leaner, but I also feel as if my progress during the first 4 weeks might be better than these current 4 weeks. The more I think about it, though, the more that would seem obvious.
Here is how I see everything to this point:
The first 4 weeks I got a lot of my strength back and dropped a pretty good amount of body fat. I feel like this phase was very productive.
The second 4 weeks that I will finish this Thanksgiving Weekend, I do feel has still been productive, but I think I have gained more muscle and strength than I have gotten leaner. This isn't necessarily a "bad" thing, other than my main focus right now during this 12-week phase was to get as lean as I could without overdoing it and overdieting.
I know I am not overdieted - that is for sure. I am constantly satiated, always getting stronger by the week and I always have enough energy and fuel to train really hard for all 4 sessions of the week. One of the biggest or most obvious signs that I am growing and supplying enough fuel for workouts is as the week progresses, my workouts don't suffer, at all. The last workout of the week is just as effective as the first workout of the week. When I am dieting hard, that isn't the case.
Now, I could be wrong about my body fat not dropping as much as I think. The main reason that I am unsure is because I have been using a supplement that increases my IGF and growth hormone levels and it is working incredibly well. Because I haven't had elevated levels in YEARS, I am sure the water retention that is a side effect is also making me feel less lean and maybe a little more "bulky" for lack of a better word. The pumps are insane, the fullness is insane and this is likely causing my weight to remain a little higher than it would be, otherwise.
Also, it should be noted that my waist size has dropped by another weight belt notch, putting me only 2 belt notches larger than when I was prepping with a weight of roughly 210. Right now I am 223-225 and not only am I down another belt notch, but even the day after my Skipload, my belt notch remains the same. That would be unheard of in the past and even while prepping. I was consuming so much food for the Skiploads that it was common that my waist size would increase at least a belt notch and sometimes it was two notches before dropping back down as the week progressed. My regular pants belt is down 2 more notches from when I took the last set of pictures 4 weeks ago (and I still have the rest of this week, too).
I will be able to make the comparisons this weekend, though, to see where I am and how much I have progressed as far as getting leaner.
My strength continues to go up and, to be honest, had I hit this current strength level at the end of this 12-week phase, I would have been very happy. Hitting the numbers that I am hitting right now - 5 weeks before the end of the 12-week phase - is pretty exciting.
I don't get very excited about training, anymore, but it is different right now. I am enjoying the training more than at any point in YEARS and knowing that I have the ability to put up some strength numbers that I haven't put up in almost a decade - before I started having chronic back injuries - is really pushing my motivation to a new level. At the rate I am going, I am going to be putting up PRs by the end of the 12-week phase and keep in mind that my main focus right now is to get lean, not to get as strong as possible. Getting strong and growing was more the focus on the next phase that takes me well into 2019. Nothing motivates me like the possibility of putting up new numbers or numbers that I haven't reached for over a decade.
When I get the pics taken this weekend and weigh everything out as far as assessing how productive the last 4 weeks has been, that is when I can then put the plan together for the last 4 weeks of this phase.
I do want to touch on Nationals this last weekend, too.
I have been in this sport for a very long time and going to shows has always been very motivating to me - much as it is for a lot of other people, as well. However, I realized this last weekend why I haven't been going to as many shows over the last handful of years and this is because most of the time I was locked into TRT and also had very limited training due to the back injuries. Going to shows was just a reminder that I was just not a very good bodybuilder. At least back when I competed I could say that I was improving and progressing, but when you aren't progressing or improving and are TRT and getting older, going to these shows can feel pretty defeating. And I am not just talking about comparing yourself to the competitors, but also the people there to watch the show.
I think now that I am improving again, I don't have that same feeling going to shows (or didn't this last weekend) even though I am not good enough to compete at the national level. I guess what I am saying is when you are growing and progressing - whether you feel you are a good bodybuilder or not - you still feel as if you have a chance and you are doing what you need to do to be a better version of yourself. I used to classify everyone who thought this way as being arrogant or cocky, but it could just be that people feel hopeful and they just feel good about themselves because they have a chance to get better. How much better? Who knows but the feeling of just getting better is a pretty good one.