Officially a Sponsored Athlete

With BodyPower 2013 a distant memory and being such an amazing weekend it got me thinking about the previous 12 months as it was at BodyPower 2012 where I had my first fitness shoot with Justin Taylor. Following from this I started to receive more and more emails and messages from people asking questions regarding my training, nutrition and general advice regarding the gym which prompted me to set up my blog on 10^th June as a place people can come to ask me questions, find out more about me, my training and hopefully answer more than their original question. Since setting up the blog I’ve loved writing all kinds of articles covering different aspects of fitness and trying out new recipes too.

For anyone that knows me or follows me on twitter that’s ever asked my advice/opinions on supplements you know that I have always used and recommend Bodybuilding Warehouse. They offer great quality products, competitive prices and free delivery on all orders plus weekly offers on their newsletters. So it gives me great pleasure to announce that I’m officially a Bodybuilding Warehouse sponsored athlete and couldn’t be happier, plus the fact that I'm from Manchester it's good to represent a North West company.

I met up with everyone from Bodybuilding Warehouse at the BodyPower expo and also worked on their stand the Sunday of the show and had an amazing time, great banter, great atmosphere compared to other stands and a perfect way to finish the weekend.

Here’s a few pics from the show:

Representing BBW and Warrior Supplements

Talking mens physique with Steve Cook

Gregg Plitt

Men's Health cover model comp

Me and Matt Gus

As a sponsored athlete I’ll be writing articles and recipes solely for Bodybuilding Warehouse and they’ll also be offering a unique discount code for AestheticLifestyle followers. In the mean time check out my interview with BBW and all their latest products and deals- Bodybuilding Warehouse

Lee

UKBFF Mens Physique Class Video

I’ve finally got round to editing the videos from my Mens Physique show and got them up on the AestheticLifestyle YouTube channel. Just watching the video back gives me a real buzz to get back on stage again, I’m still undecided if I should compete again in a few months time or hold out until early next year and carry on with my current training and calorific surplus. I’ll write a separate article discussing my current diet and training program, which I’m loving at minute but check out the video and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndl_-Koir80

Lee

Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try.

I’m currently 6 weeks away from my first Mens Physique show and have been dieting now for nearly 11 weeks, its definitely been an experience cutting down for such a long period of time but the science behind why I chose this approach (to maintain as much muscle as possible) has been successful judging from my current condition.

One question I’ve been asked a lot during my prep is about my social and work life, a lot of people seem to presume I work in a gym or a part time job somewhere which allows me to do cardio in the mornings then weights in the afternoon. This really isn’t the case; firstly I cook all my meats on a Saturday/Sunday and prep all my meals the night before. The huge advantage of being this organised helps me wake up at 6am, hit the gym for my cardio session then back home for a shower and first meal of the day, followed by my job as a Specialist Recruitment Consultant (8.30am – 5.00pm) and finally back to the gym after work for my weights session. I’ll be honest I also used to presume the guys I’d see in the magazines and on stage didn’t have ‘proper’ full time jobs and that it wasn’t achievable for someone in full time university or work. How wrong was I??

This also brings me on to my social life, obviously I haven’t touched alcohol since the start of my prep and I’m not going to lie, I’m dying for a vodka! However this hasn’t stopped me going out with friends and family, not only on nights out but also for meals too. I’ve had my brothers 18^th, poker nights, friends birthdays and work nights out where I’ve kept to either drinking water or diet coke and still had a top night. I have had occasions where I’ve been close to just knocking the prep on the head and calling it a day. That could be down to parts of the diet like low carb days, my general mood being affected by things around me or personal issues that I’ve gone through during the prep which made it really hard for me to keep everything and on track. However like I said in my ‘Finding your inner switch’ article I’ve used the gym as a place to help me get away from personal issues and use that time to really focus on myself and goals I’ve set.

So basically, it's all about finding that balance between your set goals and lifestyle. There's no need for me to sit in every night incase I'm tempted to stray from my diet, that's not a healthy way to live or a fun way. Enjoy yourself and don't take things too seriously!

Heres's a raw update pic from this Sunday morning (24/03/2013), as I said 6 weeks out and looking pretty lean, "too lean" as some people might say!  ; )

Lee

17 - 10 weeks Contest Prep

As of today I’m 10 weeks out from my first Men’s Physique show. I started my prep from 2^nd January, after a solid 9 weeks of lean gains and working on my weak areas before Christmas using the Y3T program and adjusting my nutritional intake accordingly. The reason why I starting my prep so early (17 weeks out) was to slowly cut whilst maintaining as much muscle mass as possible, If I’d made the decision to cut from now at 10 weeks out it would be a much harsher cut on my body and would guaranteed result in a loss in muscle as well as body fat.

So what is Mens Physique?

Mens Physique is more about that fitness model/beach body look so too much muscle is marked down. Theres also not as many poses as a regular bodybuilding class and competitors wear board shorts as oppose to posing trunks or thong.

2012 is the first time a Mens Physique class will be introduced to the UK qualifiers for the UKBFF, it was first launched 2 years ago in America (think Steve Cook) and has grown so big its now featured in the 2013 Olympia. I'll be competing in the North West qualifier on Sunday 5th May, once all qualifiers have taken place both 1st and 2nd place from each qualifier compete in the National final at Sportex in October, where they'll have the chance to compete for an IFBB Pro card. The chances of the pro card being awarded to a Mens Physique competitor is highly unlikely though as they only hand out 1 pro card each year out of all the bodybuilding categories and always goes to a 'proper' bodybuilder.

I decided to compete this year as I love hitting the gym and seeing my body develop from the skinny kid I used to be, and thought rather than just going to the gym for the sake of going to the gym why not add that end goal so I have something to work towards and as you know from my previous article its made me more focused as a result of that. I also choose the Mens Physique class as my body type is an Ectomorph, so I naturally stay lean, have a high metabolism and struggle to add muscle mass.

I'm not going to lie I am nervous about stepping on stage for the first time and not knowing what to expect and yeah I could say that I'll be happy where ever I place but then whats the point in taking part at all with that mind set!? I've set this goal, I'm working harder than ever and I'm coming for that number one spot!!

Steve Cook #Swoldier

The last 7 Weeks

So over the last 7 weeks I’ve noticed a difference in my conditioning and that’s resulted firstly from my nutrition, I know there’s different protocols out there and different things work for different people but I find carb cycling works best for me. It’s something I’ve used in the past to get me in shape for photo shoots and holidays so it was always going to be the route I was going down. I originally started off with a split of low and high carb days and have recently introduced medium carb days into the mix as well. I have factored 2 refeed days during the cut and if you follow me on twitter you would have seen the X-Large dominos pizza I had and almond cheese cake after a ridiculous legs session!

And secondly from my training, having seeing such success on Neil Young’s Y3T program and considering I’m slowly dropping my calories my training split was week 1-Y3T, week 2 Y3T and week 3 DTP then repeat. The first two weeks were based on hitting different muscle switch fibres to try and maintain and even slightly increase strength, the third week was gruelling and added to really target body fat, if you haven’t heard of DTP before check it out on the bodybuilding.com web site and give it a try. It really does get your heart rate going, pouring in sweat, digging deeper than usual and feeling like you’ve been hit by a bus at the end of it.........but it’s all worth it!

I’ll talk more in depth about my nutrition and training in articles closer to my show, for now I just wanted to briefly touch on my progression so far. Here’s a comparison pic from the morning I started the cut until this morning, bang on 10 weeks out.

82kg (17 weeks out) - 76.2kg (10 weeks out)

Leg comparison 

Back comparison

As my final weeks get closer I will be working with a coach that also competes so understands fully what I’m going through both physically and mentally. I’ve decided to do this not only because its my first show and I want to pick his brain about what to expect, tanning, posing etc but to also help make relevant tweaks in my final weeks as I felt I lost quite a bit of muscle when I experimented with fluid manipulation last year before my holiday.

I also have three photo shoots lined up around my show (with amazing photographers)  so I’ll be posting the pics up as soon as I have them and I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that’s tweeted me or sent me messages wishing me good luck in my show, I really do appreciate the support and look forward to sharing the rest of my prep with everyone!

Lee

Goals for 2013, what's yours?

 Firstly I hope everyone has had a good Christmas, spent lots of time with friends and family and ate amazing food without feeling too guilty.

With 2013 under way I just thought I’d right a little something looking back on 2012 and focusing on 2013. I can imagine around this time of the year most people are thinking of new year resolutions that they’ll try and stick to in order to better themselves in the new year.

So how was 2012 for you? Did you stick to the new years resolutions that you set? Did you achieve all the goals you set, whether they’re related to fitness, work life or personal life? After reading this article spend a few minutes thinking back through 2012 and ask yourself “what did I get out of this year?” This particular question is something that you could really get into a good habit of asking yourself, “what did I get out of this month? This week? This day?”

This then brings me on to the subject of setting goals, around 2 years ago I stopped making new years resolutions and started setting goals, prioritising them and giving them deadlines. For example, a goal I’ve had every year as I’m sure many people have is to save money, easy right? It’s just saving money, putting a bit away each week/month. However what if you were to set an amount with a deadline, £5,000 by December? Then you can work out exactly how much you need to put away each week/month. Or what if it’s to spend on something in particular, like a new car/house/holiday? When I started my new job 2 years ago I printed off a picture of an Audi A3 and stuck it to my computer screen, seeing that everyday motivated me to work harder so I could earn better commission and 5 month later I pulled up in the car park in an Audi A3 with more extras that I could imagine.

Thinking and working this way will help you reach your goals a lot quicker, guaranteed. A close friend of mine and gym partner, Stuart mentioned something to me around September time last  year. Come half way through the year look back at what goals you have set and see how far away you are from achieve them. By reassessing your goals and progress so far, it will help keep you on track and also re-motivate you for the remainder of the year, and if you've already achieved your goals you can always set new ones.

As you can see I’m aiming to compete within the UKBFF Men’s Physique class in 2013 and I've put together my diet and training plan with a few close friends that we’re all taking part in, but I’ll talk about my contest prep in more detail later in January. I’m also in the process of launching the AestheticLifestyle web site in the New Year and possibly a YouTube channel to document my prep.

To help keep me focused on my goals both in and out of the gym I refer back to two things I was told when I was younger-

Fitness/Sports related:

“Don’t cheat, your only cheating yourself” My Dad told me this when I use to cheat at doing press ups and sit ups in the living room.

Work related:

“Would you be doing this now if you were your own boss?” An old manager of mine cemented this into my head as from an early age I could get easily distracted so thinking like this helps me use my time more efficiently whilst I’m in work.

Finally I just want to say thank you and shout out to Nathan Warburton, Craig Briscall, Dan Wheeler, Craig Dickinson and Bleddyn Escott who have helped motivate me throughout 2012 and all have the exact same love for fitness and a healthier lifestyle. Also a huge thank you in particular to Stuart Rogers, my gym partner who helps push me to the next level and has also be a really good friend for years and has always been there for me, cheers mate.

For updates and motivation to help you throughout 2013, Like the AestheticLifestyle Facebook page and follow on Twitter.

Y3T Program - Week 4

With week 3 out of the way its on to week 4, which is very similar to week 1 of the program as it’s a 3 week cycle with a few amendments.

So its back to heavier weights and high reps, targeting my 2B fast twitch muscle fibers. On the program you should be looking to increase your weights by 5%-10% from the first week, however only do this if you can handle the weight whilst still maintaining perfect form and focusing on the muscles your targeting.

2 things I have added to the program this week is a short abs circuit on day 5 after shoulders and calves and also a light 4k run outdoors on Sunday morning after a small meal and some foam rolling to warm up.

DAY 1 – Quads & Hamstrings

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
(warm up) Leg Extensions	42kg x 15	42kg x 15	42kg x 15	42kg x 15
(warm up) Squats	30kg x 20	30kg x 20	40kg x 15	50kg x 15
Squats (8-10 reps x 4)	70kg x 10	70kg x 10	75kg x 10	75kg x 10
Seated Leg Press (10-12 reps x 4)	88kg x 12	88kg x 12	88kg x 12	88kg x 12
Leg Extensions (8-10 reps x 4)	63kg x 10	63kg x 10	63kg x 10	63kg x 10
Lying Leg Curl (25 reps x 2)	30kg x 25	30kg x 25	XX	XX
Stiff Legged Dumbbell Deadlifts (10-12 reps x 4)	22kg dumbbells x 12	22kg dumbbells x 12	22kg dumbbells x 12	22kg dumbbells x 12

DAY 2 – Chest & Triceps

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
(warm up) Incline Dumbbell Press	14kg x 15	14kg x 15	14kg x 15	14kg x 15
Incline Dumbbell Press (8-10 reps x 4)	30kg x 10	30kg x 10	26kg x 10	26kg x 10
Incline dumbbell flyes (8-10 reps x 3)	16kg x 10	16kg x 10	16kg x 10	XX
Machine Press (8-10 reps x 3)	63kg x 10	56kg x 10	56kg x 10	XX
(warm up) Tricep Push Down	12kg x 15	12kg x 15	12kg x 15	XX
Straight Bar Tricep push down (8-10 reps x 4)	26kg x 12	29kg x 10	29kg x 10	29kg x 10
Seated Tricep Extension (8-10 reps x 4)	18kg x 10	18kg x 10	18kg x 10	18kg x 10

DAY 3 – Rest Day

DAY 4 – Back & Biceps

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
(warm up) Wide Grip Pull downs	35kg x 15	35kg x 15	35kg x 15	35kg x 15
Wide Grip Pull downs (8-10 reps x 3)	56kg x 10	56kg x 10	49kg x 10	XX
T-Bar Row (8-10 reps x 3)	30kg x 12	35kg x 10	35kg x 10	XX
Rack Pulls (8-10 reps x 3)	80kg x 12	90kg x 12	95kg x 12	XX
Seated Cable Row (8-10 reps x 3)	63kg x 10	56kg x 10	56kg x 10	XX
(warm up) Barbell Curls	15kg x 20	20kg x 15	20kg x 15	20kg x 15
Barbell Curls (8-10 reps x 4)	25kg x 10	25kg x 10	25kg x 10	25kg x 10
Standing Dumbbell Curl (8-10 reps x 4)	10kg dumbbells x 10	10kg dumbbells x 10	10kg dumbbells x 10	10kg dumbbells x 10

DAY 5 – Shoulders & Calves (Abs to finish)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
(warm up) Seated Side Lateral Raise	6kg x 20	6kg x 20	6kg x 20	XX
Seated Side Lateral Raise (12-14 reps x 3)	10kg x 14	10kg x 14	10kg x 14	XX
Standing Barbell Front Raises (12-14 reps x 3)	20kg x 14	20kg x 14	20kg x 14	XX
Seated Dumbbell Press (12-14 reps x 3)	20kg x 14	20kg x 18	22kg x 14	XX
Lying Reverse Flyes (12-14 reps x 3)	8kg x 14	8kg x 14	8kg x 14	XX
Smith Machine Calf Raises (20 reps x 3)	64kg x 20	64kg x 20	64kg x 20	XX
Single leg calf raise (20 reps x 3)	20kg plate x 20	20kg plate x 20	20kg plate x 20	XX

Abs-

Barbell Roll Outs (12 reps x 3)

Rope weighted Crunches (12 reps x 3)

Windscreen Washers (12 reps x 3)

Overall this week seemed a lot easier than week 3, I’d say my weight has increased since week 1 and I’d personally like to think since week 1 my size has increased too. The last time I weighted myself was for my first amateur mma interclub on 23^rd September (which I won by arm bar), I cut weight to make the under 75kg category and came in at 74.2kg and this morning I weighted 80.3kg. Here’s a picture taken today after I’d had a protein shake with 30g oats, a pop tart, chewable aminos from Optimum nutrition, been on a 4k run along the river Mersey and had a shower!

As you can see, there is quite a difference since my last progress photo (left), and although my abs are still visable you can clearly see some fat has been added around my waist.

Since starting the program I’d say I’ve seen a huge amount of development in my Quads and Hamstrings, my arms seem thicker and my shoulders are really starting to come on which are a personal weak area of mine so its good to see the hard work is starting to pay off.

Any questions feel free to comment below or hit me up on Twitter @lee_malone and @AestheticLifest.