Lifting Nerds
Adrian Ma and Brandon Emslie share discussions and interviews with the fitness community's best science-based researchers and coaches.
Lifting Nerds
S3E14: Why Your Next Bodybuilding Offseason Could Make or Break Your Progress
Brandon and Adrian discuss their current offseason strategies, challenges in building muscle naturally, and optimal approaches for long-term physique development.
• Brandon is currently at 180-183 lbs, aiming to reach 190 lbs by December/January
• Adrian has gained about 10 pounds post-show and plans to reach 71-75 kilos in his offseason
• Both agree natural bodybuilders may need 2-3 years between shows to make significant improvements
• Brandon aims for 0.25-0.5 lbs weight gain per week to maintain a healthy approach
• Pushing beyond your body's comfortable weight can negatively impact health markers like blood pressure
• Maintaining 7,000-8,000 daily steps helps with digestion, mood, and nutrient partitioning
• Addressing muscle imbalances through unilateral movements is important during offseason
• Using machines like hack squats and leg press can be more joint-friendly than barbell squats
• Research suggests dumbbells may provide better chest development than barbells or machines
• Both will attend the upcoming Calgary show, with plans to check out The Realm gym
For beginners, gaining 1-3 pounds per month might be appropriate, while experienced lifters should aim for 1-2 pounds monthly. Focus on giving yourself enough time in a gaining phase rather than trying to stay shredded year-round.
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@_adrianma
@brandonemslie
Did you just use Chachi to gen you that fat ass one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just put it into. I think it was Grok and I was just like, can you make me look fat? And it's just like there's so many weird ones at first and it took me a while to get to that one, but I was just like thinking of like why people get a photo that is going to be captivating, because like you know how social media is like it's.
Speaker 2:It's really hard to get draw people in with that first like if you're doing a carousel, like trying to have like really poppy like carousels, to like have people like, oh, this is weird, let's keep scrolling. So trying to make it eye catchy rather than just having a title.
Speaker 2:So that's where I was, was like oh I wonder if this I don't know if this is going to be offensive or if this is going to be like catchy or what, but I've just been playing around with that kind of stuff, same with like the content, like sometimes I feel like I'm too serious.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, okay, let's add some like funny things into it and see if it gets, if more people like that kind of stuff, or if they like it more like formal, or so I've just been like playing around with it when it comes to the carousel well, speaking of that photo, that fat ass photo, do you look like that now, or are you far from it?
Speaker 1:you?
Speaker 2:know the reverse went real bad. No, um, no, that's I am. I'm 180. I was 183 this morning. Last week I was averaging around like 182. So like still going fairly gradual. I think my plan is to kind of get up to 190 by the end of like December or like into January and just kind of keep the gaining going and try to avoid cutting until then. Or I'll probably gain to 190 and then hold that for like two to three months and then kind of come up with a game plan on what I want to do for a competitive season, either for like 2027 or 2028. I know Emma kind of wants to do the 2026 and I'm like, but we'll, we'll see. Like if I make some substantial, like some big changes or big improvements, then I might do that season, uh, just for fun.
Speaker 1:But uh, I just don't see myself making enough progress to like make it worth it yeah, it's been what like since I think this is the sixth week or the seventh week now post my show and I've only put on about, I think, less than 10 pounds. I was like what, 63 kilos. I said 138 pounds and I weighed myself this morning I was 66. So I put on three kilos. That's a little bit. Yeah, just shy of 10 pounds, yeah. So it's always been difficult for me to put on body weight, but at least, um, you know we're getting there. But I think you're right.
Speaker 1:I was actually talking to tyler honestly and then he did mention that you know, like what did you want to do? I said I want to go pro show and then go to worlds and see how that, what that looks like. And he's like, yeah, like, even though in my category everybody in worlds are superiorly competitive, you know he did was encouraging me to continue with the muscle development and if you want to be a little bit more competitive, then yeah, just keep doing that. He did. He said it much better. I'm not nearly as close to where we should be and I think he makes a good point.
Speaker 1:You know, tyler won his uh, national championship for masters men's physique at worlds last year. So with a physique like that, I think it makes a. It creates a really good benchmark on what the standard is, and I think we talked about this before. We uh, we have a lot of newer blood coming into the federation now, so we've got all these genetic freak suiters coming in and I was like you, look at them and are you for real? They're natural. It's just uh, yeah, we just want to step up the caliber. So, yeah, I can see why you meant you. You wanted to take 2026 off and perhaps think about 27 or 28. I think that makes sense.
Speaker 2:I think I would do the same as well, yeah, and I I feel like a lot of, even like top level bodybuilders too, like I've seen guys taking like five, six years off just so that I can, they can make substantial changes which, like I feel like for me, like for me to make like crazy changes, like yeah, I'd probably need to be like that amount of time.
Speaker 2:I don't know immensely if I could handle taking like a full five, like six years off of competing, just because I know like when you, when you're in the off season, like I just noticed, like if you don't have that goal like too close in mind, sometimes that motivation can start to fade.
Speaker 2:And then it's just like all of a sudden, like trainings, like you find yourself like maybe skipping out of training sessions, or like eating habits are kind of not the best and like you're not quite at your protein goal. So I find sometimes, like having things a bit more locked in or like having a closer goal in mind is is helpful. Like last, like couple offices, I've done like I've really been trying to prioritize, like staying on a trajectory, because I know for I think it was like anywhere before 2019 all my off seasons were kind of just I was training hard but like the nutrition was kind of like whatever, as long as I'm getting enough protein and I'm just gonna go with that um and a lot of times, like I would gain up to a certain weight.
Speaker 2:I just hold for a really long period of time, which I think still like. I still made some results that way, but I'm trying to be a lot better about it. Um, especially this year, just continue to ensure that I am gaining. I'm'm going through these gaining phases and making sure because, like I mentioned, I'll probably go up that 198, hold for a bit, probably do a mini cut and then go back into a gaining phase after just to try to spend as much time in that calorie surplus, because I know right now, especially this late in the game it's going to take a long time and if I'm not making everything relatively close to optimal, like, I'm probably not gonna see much of a change.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, how about you like how well, how heavy are you planning to get up to for for your off season?
Speaker 1:that's a good question. So, uh, the honest answer is I don't know. It's just as heavy as I could possibly get. Last offseason, my, when I was still working with Brian, we peaked up to 71 kilos. So what's that? 150 or something like that. And then my body showed a little bit of resistance. It wouldn't go any further up and actually started coming down. And then we did a mini sort of a mini cut or pulled back a bit. And then it was January and then you know what, if you got, if you want to compete in Kelowna that was mid-may might as well start the slow prep now. So that was a suggestion, and so we went with that and turned out great. Yeah, we turned out great it was, we turned out great. It was a very easy, very slow, gradual deficit. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry and it was actually much easier for me. So either that my offseason wasn't long enough or just a little bit resistant to that surplus, and then we had to do a mini cut and then just recomp a little bit and then feed back into it again. That could possibly be one of the reasons which I would do plan to try within this off season.
Speaker 1:Now. I think you make a decent point in taking the two years off, and I do think that in the world of natural bodybuilding we talked about this many times it's the time you put into it and before you can see a significant difference in between your two stage presentations. So it's unfortunate, but it is what it is. The other thing is, uh, I would like to see the opportunity myself in. The short-term goal is to put up past the 71 kilo mark on my off season and maybe perhaps get into 75 kilos.
Speaker 1:So 75 kilos, that's about like what? Nine, ten pounds of just overall body weight. We don't know how much muscle we can put on, so in that matter, uh, every pound counts at this point and in the off season there's just no way to tell. So I can see how you wanted to take two years, three years, and having that goal locked in. It just brings everything together because, as an experienced athlete such as ourselves, we usually have a set date or a set show that we wanted to do, or that year that we wanted to compete, and then work our ways backwards. So that's how we come up with our timeline, um, and it just I think it just puts everything in more in much clearer perspective. There's much more clarity and we know what we have to do to get there uh, nutrition wise and training wise. Uh, cardio, I'm not sure if that's something that you still have to do.
Speaker 2:I I do notice with cardio, just from like a health standpoint, like if I'm getting enough steps and like I generally feel like better, um, not as like bogged down and stuff like that, because I know on previous off seasons like I literally wouldn't do any like extra steps, like I just do the amount of steps.
Speaker 2:I just naturally get in the day and like I would be getting like maybe like 3 000, 4 000 steps a day and I know from just like a health perspective, like being sedentary for that long isn't going to be great, um, and I'm sure for like nutrition partitioning and stuff like that's probably not going to be great and if your cardiovascular health isn't like great, like when you're training, you're going to feel like you're going to need longer rest periods.
Speaker 2:So it can just kind of tie into a lot of other aspects of training and like overall health. So I've been really trying to focus on just continue getting around like seven to like 8k steps per day just to keep that up. I do notice like digestion's a little bit better with getting more steps in moods a bit better. Um, it's helping to slow down the rate of gain as well, because, like I'm really trying to like get my rate of gain even kind of smaller than I have in the past, where I'm like like I was getting about like 0.5 to like a pound gain after the show per like for the first like two months or so, but now I'm trying to get it down to like where I'm gaining 0.25 to 0.5, so one to two pounds per month.
Speaker 2:That's where I'm trying to keep it in, so I have a longer time to continue gaining, because I know if I continue gaining two pounds or say three pounds per month, I'm going to reach that 190 real quick and then all of a sudden I'm going to have to just hold for a bit, because I don't really want to go past 190, because I've I've been up to like 210 before, I've been up to 200 and I just noticed like then I just have so much time to have to cut back down to a certain weight and it's just I, I don't know like, because anytime you go into a fat loss phase you're going to be losing a little bit of muscle mass, like no matter what. So I'm like okay, if I can just continue gaining up like 190, holding around there like that's still only like 20 pounds above stage weight.
Speaker 2:Um, that way when I cut down again, like there's less chance of losing as much muscle mass as if I would bulk up to like, say like 200, 210. So and I, just from a health standpoint, I find I feel really good, like 190 is 200 to 10. So and I, just from a health standpoint, I find I feel really good, like one 90 is starting to get to like the top end of my natural body fat set settling point.
Speaker 2:So if I push past that appetite, for me it just becomes really uncomfortable, kind of like you know where it's like.
Speaker 2:it's like force feeding, like to the point where like food feels like it's coming back up so like I don like to the point where like food feels like it's coming back up so like I don't know for me. And then even when I get past that, to like blood pressure. I've had my blood pressure get up to like one, like yeah, I think it was 135 or 140 over like like 90 when I'm up at those levels. So I'm like okay, like just from a health perspective, I don't think we are pushing that high up with my weight is going to be like just healthy. And I do notice like training when I'm way up there, like those certain like big movements, like my leverages are a bit better, I can lift more weight. I'm having to rest a lot longer in between sets and I'm just feel like just not the best.
Speaker 1:I'm sweating like a ton, so like I feel like 190 is a good point to get up to where I feel comfortable, whereas when I push past that like everything just starts to kind of go downhill from there yeah, uh, it does beg to ask the question because this is something that I think, uh, for myself and, I think, some of my other athletes, it also has this problem.
Speaker 1:Well, not a problem, but during prep there is a time and space where we do forget or we put aside on some of the imbalances that we potentially have on our bodies, because it's something that we cannot fix during prep. We will leave it during the offseason, before we prep. Now the thing is, some imbalances will include shifting of the hips, imbalance like one side of your shoulders rounded, the other can external rotate, and these are all the imbalance between the left and right. Now some of my clients have an upper body that shifts to the left and then the lower body shifts to the right and then overall it will affect their off-season bulking because one side is going to be bigger than the other side. Now would you say, or how would you recommend athletes will move around during their off-season in fixing these problems and also keeping on track on their training intensity.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I would say switching to some like unilateral movements where you're doing like single arm stuff, can definitely help. Um, I know, with a lot of like the imbalances from side to side, sometimes they're, they're perceived as like larger than they actually are. So you just want to like, be like okay, like is this actually an issue or is this something that like is like the imbalance between side to side, is it like large enough to actually like visually see from, like, especially with like bodybuilding for athletes might be a little bit different? Um, because I know like for me, for example, like my right biceps always just been smaller than my left bicep, but I think it's also due to um, I don't know if I'm they may have like partially torn my right bicep, but like it just physically looks different than my left. And I think most people have something like that too, where it's an imbalance from the right to left, and I remember seeing somewhere how it could be a neurological thing rather than actually being like just like training, like inappropriately, like one side's being more trained in a different plane of motion, or like you're doing something wrong with that other side, because a lot of people think, okay, I've got to like twist a little bit more this way or have it more in line.
Speaker 2:But sometimes it might just be due to neurologically you can't fire quite as hard on that side compared to the other side.
Speaker 2:And when it comes to those kinds of things like there's not too much you can do, so like. And when it comes to those kind of things like there's not too much you can do so like for a lot of people if they have like one side that's bigger than the other, I'll usually just have them do a little bit more single arm movements and just see what the strength is looking like from side to side, um, and just starting with weaker side, um. But yeah, for things like hip shift and rotation and stuff like that, um, I find like I don't try to focus too much on that when they're performing the actual exercise. I try to do other things. If it's like an ab movement or something in isolation from like actually performing the exercise, because I do notice sometimes if somebody has like a hip shift and stuff like that for too high or focused on that, I do notice that sometimes the weight gets reduced to such a significant degree that they can start to regress.
Speaker 2:So I find trying to do things specifically for that, like corrective, you could say like a corrective exercise, and then with that specific movement, not trying to focus too too much on it, um, because it's weird because I've in the past I've had a lot of things where it's like hip shifting or one side feels a little bit different than the other, and I would overly and overly focus on it and it would always always, would always, over correct.
Speaker 2:So like I was like, oh, like this arm is slightly too flat, okay, I'm gonna pull it down, and over time this got pulled down too much. And then same thing with the other side. So I found personally for me I had a tendency to over correct things, uh, where it would feel good at first and then all of a sudden I'm like checking my phone, like, okay, I'm doing that way too much now and then, yeah, I'd have to. So I try not to focus on it too much and just try to focus on performing exercise in a way where I can still target those tissues through a great range of motion. But just yeah, if that makes sense yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think that's also the beauty of bodybuilding. There is it, it's. It's a different type of performance. Um, training, now let's. For. I'll give you guys an example. Just as a barbell, something that we do program from time to time in our training. If our hips are shifted to one and one of these caves in and the other is okay, the other hip is externally rotating nicely, but your squat looks weird and there, you know, over a longer period of extended time, more load adds to the bar and you find yourself a bit of a, there's a bit of a joint pain, either the knee or the hip or the ankle, whatever.
Speaker 1:Now, that's also something that we could replace. It is a squat movement at Scott, centric movement at the end of the day. So we can supplement that with a leg press or a hack squat, something with a machine instead of actually having to get yourself under the bar. So in bodybuilding, we can supplement that. Now, in powerlifting, that is something that we may have to fix. That is the sport at the end of the day. So that's. I think that's also why there's much more room for error, as I think Brian Miner did say in one of his podcasts with us. There's just more room for error and hypertrophy just building. So, all in all, I do think, though, we can supplement the squat stretching with a leg press and still make gains on our lower body without actually having to lose any gains. What would you say from a health perspective on how beneficial the squat movement is like getting a bar underneath you and then do squatting, if not even just a goblet squat like.
Speaker 2:From a health perspective, how would you prioritize it could be just a little bit more practical, yeah, for somebody to be able to perform like a squat with load, in terms of just like a balancing act and like everything.
Speaker 2:Uh, from that standpoint, um, so, like I, I don't.
Speaker 2:I still because I know a lot of people are under the impression that, like k-bar movements are more functional um, there's still a lot of functionality of doing like light press and all that kind of stuff. You're still building the muscle, you're still going to be stronger going into a squat position after spending months and months in um doing a leg press. Um, though, like the doing a barbell squat is going to have a lot of mastery with it. So if you're say, for example, you've never done a barbell back squat and you've only done leg press and you got really strong leg press, it's still going to take you a while to get used to doing the barbell back squat and you're probably going to have to start decently light um just to get the coordination down. Um, and uh, yeah, being able to that motor unit of recruitment down too, because, like, yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on. So if you're just thinking, okay, I'm just a little bunch of weight and I can do it, like, yeah, it's probably not going to happen, or like something bad.
Speaker 2:It's probably going to happen if you do that, so yeah, like I would say it's important like if, especially for sports like powerlifting, like you have to do the barbell back squat so you can't just just rely on doing the leg press. If barbell back squats do give you a lot of pain, you could essentially lower the frequency or lower the amount of time you're doing with the barbell back squat and then push a bit more to like hack squats or leg press, but still making sure that you're doing um, the back squats in the lower rep ranges. So you're getting used to having heavier loads on your back and everything like that and still getting some mastery um. So I think that's important. But, yeah, in terms of like injuries, like especially if you have to do the back squat understanding what's the issue. Is it something to do with your ankle mobility? Is it something to do with hip? Is it something to do with, maybe, your upper body not sitting correctly?
Speaker 2:There's so many different factors that could come into play there. For sure.
Speaker 1:When was the last time you used back squat?
Speaker 2:Dude, it's been a long time. To be honest, I was never a good squatter. I think it's just the way I'm like built. Like my ankle mobility was always bad, like I did get squat shoes and stuff like that and um, but yeah, I would always have to fold over quite a bit just to keep that bar within midfoot, so my glutes and lower back were taking a bit more um than my actual quad, so I never found I grew my quads too well with it like.
Speaker 2:I did do front squats for a little bit. There I think it was pretty much back in 2020 was the last time where I was actually having it in my program all the time front squats or back squats. But I found when I switched to hack squats and pressing, especially with manipulating the machine a little bit to make it really quad biased, like I just found a lot more comfortable. I could do a lot more volume with it, um, without as much like back issues or knee issues and stuff like that have you thought about low bar?
Speaker 2:squat lower I. It messes my shoulder up a lot and uh I also.
Speaker 2:I have this um pump on my spine from doing back squats for so long. I remember going to the doctor about it and they just said it could be just the skin like callus, like a big callus on my spine there. But it's weird because if I do high bar back squats they generally tend to feel a little bit better than low bar on my shoulders, but it lands right on like that big hump on my spine so all I feel is like force going right into my spine. If I use just the barbell, even if I try to get my traps in place where it's like resting on my traps, it still pushes like directly into that position. And then low bar, it feels better on the spine, like because it's not directly on that point, but my shoulders just get real messed up from it. Yeah, same, but um yeah.
Speaker 1:So, being asian, I couldn't even uh, I couldn't even do a high bar squat properly. I just the dorsiflexion isn't there and I know it feels weird, like I know maggie tells me like no, your squat, look, your high bar looks fine. But then I also feel like when I actually do it I tend to have the tendency to lean forward even just a little bit more. I find more success in just the comfort of the squat movement at low bar. Now I had the same problem. I can't really hold the bar nicely, like nice and tight. I have to hold it a little bit wider. Just my shoulders wouldn't allow it and but I just kind of played around with it and I didn't really put it in my program. I'd still stick with the leg press during this off season. I think I would try different types of um just hack squat machines. So like the pendulum squat, the hack squat, the leg press, I think I'll just incorporate these leg exercises as my main compound squat centrics and then RDL. I think we're okay with Single leg RDL and I'm actually putting a little bit more lunging into my off-season program. Now, during our off-season we have a little bit more fluids in our body. We have a lot more body fat and joints just don't feel as achy compared to us in deep prep.
Speaker 1:Now I think just the unilateral movement as we just talked about, as you just did mention, it, will help with the imbalance between the left and right side. And for myself, I do find my right side is really messed up. It's very unstable. Right side is really messed up. It's very unstable. So actually I can, I can do a very, a very slow step up with my left, but I can't do it my right. I tend to drop. I need a little bit more of a boost jump in order to get it.
Speaker 1:Now all the strength is in the right so I can kick really hard with it and then I just have like zero stability on it and the ankle at the bottom of the foot anywhere. So I think during the off season and how we program ourselves is working on the weaknesses that we previously had. At the same time we progress, overload and put on as much mass as we possibly can. So, as yourself, if you guys have looked at um brandon's story, he does his chest and delts on. Is it chest and delts and triceps, or what else do you put?
Speaker 2:in. So yeah, I was doing which day was that? Here I can pull up my program on the phone. Yeah, I've been doing it a little bit different. Most days are kind of like you could call full body, but it's only really like three body parts usually getting targeted.
Speaker 1:Are you using Excel? Yeah, are you using excel, or?
Speaker 2:using um. To be honest, I've been just using notes for just because I'm like I was using um, what was it train of heroic before? But I I just got lazy and I just started putting it on my notes. But yeah, because I'm doing like day one right now is like back, hamstrings and calves, and then day two is like quad, delts, arms. Day three is chest glutes, calves, so pretty much all the body parts I'm really trying to focus. I put at the beginning of the workout and then the ones that are like decent for me, even though technically calves I should probably have at the beginning of the workout.
Speaker 1:But I'm still doing it like three times a week.
Speaker 2:But yeah, then I'll do like quads, delts, arms, then chest, glutes, calves, and then the rest day, and then I do like a even though it's been kind of out of order lately but back, quads, hamstrings, and then chest, shoulders, arms, so that's yeah kind of what I'm doing right now.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool. That what I'm doing right now, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. I've done my program and focusing a lot more on I'm putting a lot more volume on my arms. So I'm basically doing a little bit of arms on every upper body session which is before, three, four times a week, and then legs for two days. I know I should do more, yeah, I know I should do more, and then but just doing these unilateral legs they take so long to recover from me. But I can see why that.
Speaker 1:We had this conversation earlier I think it was like two, three episodes ago on programming for yourself and how it's the challenges that we face Now during this off season, when things are just getting slower and we have a lot more flexibility in our time, effort and food. I can see why that you wanted to just get somebody to program for you and then you just can't. You can follow it blindly. Uh, yeah, so the tendency of having programmed to yourself. You know you, you tend to make adjustments because you made it and there's just no accountability there. Who would you turn to if you just wanted to get an off-season program? Any recommendations for our listeners?
Speaker 2:besides yourself, besides yeah, um, yeah, like, because like for that one like I technically created myself, but I sent it to anthony just to be like okay, like what are your thoughts on this? Because we had a little call and and I was just chatting I'm like, hey, I find every time I program for myself I keep swapping. Well, yeah, we had that little call.
Speaker 2:I was just like picking his brain and I was like okay. And then he's like yeah, just make your program, send it over, and I can modify some things if need be.
Speaker 1:And it pretty much stayed the same.
Speaker 2:I think we swapped out a couple exercises just for either cable even though I kept a couple of demo ones in. He seems to be a bit more cable and machine oriented. He doesn't like barbell, stuff too much there's no need for it.
Speaker 1:honestly, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I remember actually listening to a podcast with chasm about chest pressing. Um, I can't remember exactly what he stated, but he was saying that like dumbbell pressing might actually be a little bit better than like a typical machine press just due to, I think, shoulders and it like tries to getting a little bit more involved with like the machine press. I was do you know exactly the reason behind that? I can't remember what he he said yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, uh, the research was done by, I think it was brad schoenfield and a whole bunch of other people, I don't know. I think meta was also in it as well. So the, the, this, I think, was back. Oh, holy shoot. I think 2018 or something like that. It was a long time ago.
Speaker 1:So they were doing barbell, dumbbell and machine on the chest development and delt and tricep development. They saw a significant size increase in, I think it was. I think the most was dumbbell on the chest and triceps and the delts, so the maximum was dumbbell and then I forgot. I think machine was the second, but then they seem to see a lot more growth on the triceps for the machines compared to the barbell. I think that was the case. So they compared the three. Then, yeah, dumbbell did the best and machine they were just kind of locked in in the, in the just not really like, not like peck decks or those machines that give you like, really good range of motion, the very standard ones. That, I think, is I don't, they didn't mention the brand of it. That was that was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wonder if the resistance profile was in the shortened position with the machine. I think it was just full res. Yeah, I think it was pretty consistent. Yeah, I think that was it?
Speaker 1:yeah, because I remember reading uh they're listening about, they're not reading it though I was listening to listening about it and then, um, I was a little bit lazy, so I just fast forward until like pretty much the end of it and then just, yeah, just tell me what the result says. And then so, dumbbell, were, was, was the, had the had the best outcome?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, for that is because like the dumbbells can be very lengthened bias and like it's gonna be easy at the top and hard at the bottom. If that was the main thing that triggered that, or there was, or I think coach chasm talked about like something to do with the stability component was actually beneficial to the pecs as, like the shoulders and like the triceps couldn't be as active, just to I don't know. There was. There's something that he stated in one of the recent podcasts I listened to with him, but I would have to review back and see exactly what it was.
Speaker 1:The problem I'm talking about, like the dumbbell to show the most hypertrophy. I think it was very dated and I think, yeah, it was like 2018, and I'm pretty sure there's a couple more researchers that came out within the recent years and I'm pretty sure that after these new research came out within the recent years and they're I'm pretty sure that after these new research came out with like low length and quote-unquote length and partials has showed, uh, much more hypertrophy, it probably does explain why that dumbbells have a much higher muscle growth compared to, let's say, machine. So in some machines I think some machines do pretty well and I think now, when I use chest press machines, I have this foam that I bring with me and I just slip it on my back and so I sit a little bit more forward, so the default bar just comes down lower onto my chest. It's a little uncomfortable for the front delts, but it does the trick.
Speaker 2:Makes sense man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because the dumbbell, it would be more lengthened and biasing in terms of the resistance profile too. Right, because it's going to be hardest at the bottom and easiest at the top. And then I know a lot of machines, especially with their plate load. It can be hardest at the top and easiest at the bottom, so you almost have to go into partials to get the most out of it. But I know, like the plate loaded ones, depending on, because there are some plate loaded machines where you can add to like the length and position or to the short position and you can adjust for that, making it kind of like the dumbbell in terms of the resistance profile. I know like some will have like the cams on, like the machines I know what is that brand, strive I think, has like it, where you can make it heaviest in the length and position and easiest in the shortened position. So you're going to do things like that to manipulate the resistance profile. Um, but I wonder.
Speaker 1:I'd be curious to see you have a machine at uh with the gym that you go to no, that was at global like um.
Speaker 2:They had a chest bus machine there where you could do that. I know certain ones will have. What is Prime? I think Prime has the ones where you can adjust to have the cam or have a plate loaded where it's either heaviest at the bottom or heaviest at the top or in the middle.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I don't have the privilege in playing with the Prime one here down at the West. Now in Calgary there's a new gym that was newly built called the Realm. Have you heard of it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they actually just changed the one in Kelowna, like the Iron Nation, to the Realm as well. The old Iron Nation.
Speaker 1:Wait, wait, the Iron Nation.
Speaker 2:It's not the one that uh brian owns.
Speaker 1:It's uh different yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they have one here too, in, uh, in another city here, in vancouver. It's crazy, yeah, yeah. So the in colonna, the old iron nation. Did they just leave or did they just change a place they?
Speaker 2:just changed the place. Okay, yeah, yeah. So they got the same machines and everything, yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh shit, Okay, so if now the Realm is one of the one of the gyms I've seen online, that is a very exciting gym. They have machines from Panata, so that's another. I've got a chance to play with some Panadas in another gym that's local here in Vancouver. It's called Vitality. If you guys want to see, check them out. They're not cheap for their memberships but they provide a shit ton of Panada machines within their premise and they're quite a lot of fun. But the Realm is one of the gyms that I would wish to see. Are you going to be at Calgary For the Calgary show?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'll be out there.
Speaker 1:Okay, where are you staying?
Speaker 2:We'll probably end up just staying in one of the hotels by the venue, probably the one we stayed in last time, where it was just across the street, not.
Speaker 1:Weston. Right, weston was the venue. Is the venue hotel?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah yeah, so I'll probably stay in the one that's just across the street. I can't remember the exact name of it, but yeah, because I stayed.
Speaker 1:The one, yeah, right across from it's in the same sort of block, and there's two more. There's two more hotels just right beside the western, uh, I think one of them's called the Hotel of Cliché or something like that, and then there's the other one I think is called the Hyatt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Anthony Statham and the Hyatt yeah.
Speaker 1:It's all within just like five minutes or ten minutes walking distance. It's really really close. Now I haven't booked mine, anyways, but I will be at Calgary too, but I do hope to go and visit the realm and go to leo's uh gym and perhaps let's um, if I don't know how long you're staying there, uh, but I do hope to go there and get a lift in and just film some stuff.
Speaker 2:yeah, gotcha, yeah like I'll be probably leaving there on the friday and then we'll probably head out on the sunday. So, like friday, I'll probably be able to get a lift in. Like friday, probably head out on the Sunday. So, like Friday, I'll probably be able to get a lift in, like Friday evening or something like that. Right? After check-in oh yeah, that's true. We have athletes meeting and all that.
Speaker 1:So Friday daytime probably, right, yeah, probably daytime. Who's going for you at Calgary?
Speaker 2:Oh, bradley, he's doing that show as well.
Speaker 1:Travis ain't going.
Speaker 2:No man, he's done. Yeah, he was after Because he did the uh tnt show. Yeah, uh, for like the cpa after. And then he's like, yeah, like I'm good with this um, and uh, yeah, we were starting to get to points in prep because like he was having some like back stuff happening, some foot stuff, I'm like, yeah, his body's starting to not hold on too well.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's probably a good time to color um and then he's, he's like gonna potentially competing next year, um, or maybe the year after, like we'll, we'll see. He, he does seem to want to compete sooner than later. Um, we'll see. Uh, I still think probably, if we can wait two years, it'll probably be prime spot because we can have add a little bit of tissue, kind of set them up nicely for that, for that cat where's. If we do it next year, it's just yeah, I guess there's just over a year um in between the his last show and um that show next year but it's a lot of that's just recovery.
Speaker 2:Like probably take three, four months to fully recover and then actually start getting to productive work.
Speaker 1:So yeah, okay, so you only have bradley, anybody else? Yeah, bradley so far.
Speaker 2:I'm sure I'll likely pick up somebody before then. I don't know, we'll see. I have a couple guys that I have a couple calls and stuff for individuals competing later in the year, so we'll see. It's always tough when they reach out though last minute, because then it's like I got to see where you're at, see what you're currently doing, see if it's going to be feasible. Um, but I have a couple guys yeah, going to be competing next year too, so it should be good then.
Speaker 1:That's fun yeah, I am same, I'll be there. I don't have, um, I have one bikini, so I'll probably be there for her. Uh, she did the winnipeg and so, yeah, we'll see how she does this year, and same, I was hoping to have a call by the end of this week to see if they want to do Calgary, and yeah, we'll see about that. But then at the same time I have another client who needs to do a powerlifting meet, I think next weekend. So I'll be out at Kamloops to do a powerlifting meet.
Speaker 2:I think next weekend.
Speaker 1:So I'll be out at Kamloops in the next week. So, yeah, fun summer, very productive, I would say. This summer I felt like this year we've done quite a lot. I think it's a good half year and then I just finished really, really strong for the next half of the year. I can't wait for Calgary. I think I might start, I think I might even go there. I'm still thinking, because I don't want to fly, I don't want to drive there. So if it's a 12-hour drive, I'm thinking what time or which day I should start driving there. If you want to lift on Friday daytime, then I probably just start driving Thursday, thursday here and then just get there Thursday night. So I'll be staying there on a four nights or three nights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, yeah, I'll see like. Uh, yeah, if you're getting like Thursday night, then I might as well just get come like Friday morning. It's only a three hour drive for you, no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's not bad at all. Yeah, yeah so I might. Yeah, I wanted to drive there, so, yeah, we'll see. Yeah, okay, any last words for our uh listeners for their off season and things they should pay attention to, um I would say off season main thing is just give yourself a good runway.
Speaker 2:Try not try to avoid gaining too quickly because, like you can, if you kind of just eat whatever and just kind of go and ham with the food, um turning into a dirty ball like you can gain weight real quick and a lot of that's going to come from fat mass. You just want to make sure for most people, anywhere between one to three pounds per month, um three pounds being more. So if you're a bit more new to working out like you got a lot of potential for growth that's probably a good rate to gain per month. If you're somebody that's been at it for five, ten years.
Speaker 2:It's probably going to be closer to that one to two pound gain per month. So, yeah, just make sure you give yourself enough time and spend most of your time focusing on gaining rather than trying to stay shredded.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I agree with that, and the more you do it as it's just like training the more you do it, the more easier it's going to get, and, as I think we just talked about this on our last episode with eric, I think biofeedback is something that is fairly very important. Now, if you're new to this, then having someone to guide you through the the entire process is more beneficial. It's just listening to your bunny may not be that accurate in, let's say, hunger levels and things like that, but the more we do it and the more prep you go through um, you'll start to understand your body more what feels full and what doesn't feel full, and what is cravings and what is not um, one thing for the fullness like I feel like people that are newer to like nutrition and hunger, queuing is like they.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they think full has to be just uncomfortably like stuffed full, yeah. And then hunger is just on the extreme end of the spectrum. So like being able to get those closer and being okay with a kid having a meal and feeling like, okay, I could eat more, but like I'm, I feel good with the amount of food I ate, rather than like eating for the point where, like man, I'm not like throw up. So like there's there's a spectrum of like what we mean by saying full.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so yeah, keepers, keep that in mind, um, and if you need help with, uh, any sort of like reverse diet or recovery diets, feel free to reach out to us. We have an awesome plan for our recovery diet. And if you're also going into any of the WIBF remaining shows for the end of this year, there's coming, I think, in two or three weeks. There's the Ontario show coming, I think in two, two, three weeks. There's the ontario show, um, and then there's a new show called the east coast show down at newfoundland. And is that? Is that where it is, newfoundland?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think that's that's gonna be happening next year right, is it this year or next year?
Speaker 1:uh yeah, let's we'll look at that again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah but that's going to be a new show at the end of august uh, I think it was the 28th or 29th or something like that and then the saskatchewan show is going to be coming up, and then I think it's somewhere in september, and then, to finish off the season, it will be the calgary pro-am show and then, finally, it's going to be world, which is going to be in la this year. So if you have now la in, worlds is also going to be a pro-am show. So if you want to get your pro card within this year and you've got these opportunities left, if you're in canada, yeah, so feel free to reach out to us. Uh, we'll leave our all your dms are here, all available to you guys. Okay, so that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anything else you want to say no, that's good, then okay, all right, thanks for listening, guys. We'll see you, guys, you.