I’m starting a mini-series documenting my two-week cut leading up to my trip to California. I’ll be traveling to Sacramento and Los Angeles, where I’ll be coaching a friend at the Muscle Mayhem competition. I also won this show and my Pro card two years ago, which is wild! I have a couple of photoshoots planned, one in each city, and that’s my main motivation for this cut. For the past few weeks, I’ve been maintaining my weight, using a mix of rough tracking and intuitive eating.
Unfortunately, three days ago, I decided to get back into deadlifting after being inspired by the IPF World Championships. I started light, with just 135 lbs on a rack pull, but five minutes later, my mid-thoracic erectors completely seized up. I ended up on the floor, unable to move for about half an hour. Eventually, I needed help getting out of the gym and went to the hospital. They gave me painkillers and told me to rest. Today, I’m finally starting to regain some mobility, so I’ll be doing some light gym work.
We arrived in Kelowna about a week ago and are loving it here. The scenery is stunning. It’s hard to believe this is Canada! We celebrated Canada Day last night with fireworks and explored downtown Kelowna. One thing we’ve noticed is that Kelowna is quite small. We appreciate the quaint, slower pace, but there isn’t as much to do in terms of shopping and attractions. However, the beautiful weather and overall pleasant atmosphere more than make up for it. We’re here for at least six months, and after that, we’ll decide whether to stay longer.
I haven’t finalized my macros for this two-week cut. I want to be fairly aggressive. I woke up this morning at 162 lbs, but that’s after a surplus and high-sodium foods on Canada Day, so it’s likely about 2 lbs over my true weight. I’d like to drop around 5 lbs, down to 155, and then refeed for the photoshoots. I’m thinking of starting around 2200-2400 calories and adjusting as needed. I realize these calories might seem low, but I’m only 160 lbs and have a fairly sedentary lifestyle. To increase my energy expenditure, I’ll be incorporating daily half-hour walks, something I enjoy anyway.
I’ll end this vlog with some training footage from today’s workout.
My friend from the East Coast is visiting Kelowna for a few days. We caught up and he commented on my recent Instagram growth.
I had a pre-workout meal at Booster Juice and stocked up on some C4 pre-workout and whey protein.
This is my first workout back after my back injury. I started with incline chest press on a machine, doing sets of 25-30 reps with very light weight. Focusing on back support is key with my injury, and higher reps help achieve fatigue with less weight.
Light weight incline chest press workout
Next was the machine shoulder press. I’m not fully extending the movement to maintain constant tension on the muscle, maximizing the metabolic stress with lighter weight.
Machine shoulder press workout
Then, machine lateral raises. I’m internally rotating at the start to improve mind-muscle connection with the side delts, and finishing with a drop set. While I don’t typically use intensity techniques like drop sets, they’re helpful for achieving fatigue with a back injury.
Machine lateral raises workout
After chest and shoulders, it was on to triceps. The weight was incredibly light, even less than half of what I usually use. It felt awkward and difficult to control because of the lightness. For biceps, I stuck with machines for core stability and injury prevention. I did preacher curls, focusing on minimizing cheating and maximizing bicep activation.
Light weight bicep curls
I finished with spider curls, which provide a great stretch and target the long head of the bicep.
Post-workout, I tried a new mint chocolate chip protein. It’s cheap and not amino-spiked, which is rare. We also went grocery shopping, picking up staples like chicken, kiwi, potatoes, and root beer. For dinner, we had green beans and extra lean ground beef made into a sloppy joe mix with low-sodium seasoning and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.
Dinner with green beans and lean ground beef sloppy joe
My macros for today were roughly 1900 calories and 165g of protein, though those numbers are estimates. With another serving of cottage cheese, it’ll be closer to 2000 calories and 200g of protein. I’m not hungry, so I won’t force any extra food. Tomorrow, I’ll refine my tracking.
Cottage cheese with apple and peanut butter
Let me know if you have any ideas for a name for this series. Thanks for watching!
