How I Prepped To Crush Shit At A Meet

Jamie Chaos

September 17, 2010

First, a disclaimer- this is not what I suggest everyone does, but rather what I did in preparation for this meet for a month. Frankly, it didn’t deviate all that much from my normal training, and it’s certainly not exact, as I detest recording my daily workouts. With those things in mind, I’m not a powerlifter, so I’ve no idea if this shit is in any way ideal for that sport, but it afforded me the opportunity to kick a bit of ass. As an fyi, I technically started my diet 5 weeks out, as I knew I would take 4 days off before the meet.

I’ll have that.

First, the diet. My diet was essentially low carb and low fat for the duration of the prep, as I needed to cut weight. As such, I ate between one and two lbs of 93% lean ground beef a day, supplemented with 3 to 5 Matrix 5.0 or Myofusion Shakes a day (including one overnight). This meant that I was consuming roughly 32 -64g of fat and 92-184g protein from the meat, and 138-230g protein, 12-20g carbs, and 12-20g fat per day from shakes. For the first three weeks, I ate probably more along the lines of 2-2.5 lbs of ground beef a day and had around 3 or 4 shakes, but it depended greatly on my level of hunger. To keep my carbs as low as possible, I made the burgers into patties and topped them with low carb beef gravy for the first 2.5 weeks, and then switched to Sriracha sauce and Piri Piri sauce to lower the carbs further. Additionally, since spicy foods speed the metabolism, I thought this might aid with last-ditch fatloss. In the event that I was particularly exhausted or hungry, I supplemented the beef with either beef ribs with a dry rub or my ubiquitous chicken wings, which helped stave off hunger and gave me a needed calorie influx to aid training. Though it wasn’t an exact science, I found that although I dropped visible bodyfat, my weight didn’t really change until I started cutting down on my cheats.

Best. Diet Food. Ever.

I had one cheat meal a week, friday night, during which I generally ate pizza and went to the movies, and then had one or two additional low-fat, medium carb days thereafter. Prior to my cheat meal, I generally kept my carbs as low as I did during the week, but on the weekends, I made low-carb Flatout pizzas with low carb pizza sauce and had the occasional Chicken Schwarama, which is essentially a burrito, topped in this case only with the hottest Lebanese hot sauce. If I drank, I’d do it on Saturday, during a medium-carb day, and drank vodka in Minute Maid Light Lemonaid to keep the carbs low. I also ensured that I took extra fatburners on those days to facilitate more thermogenesis with the influx of the alcohol calories. My fourth cheat was really just 93% lean ground beef made into taco meat, and eaten with Tostitos scoops after being slathered with Taco Bell hot sauce. I washed that down with a liberal amount of Minute Maid Light Lemonaide and Vikingfjord, which got me hammered to pieces in very short order, and had me asleep before I was able to wreck much havoc.

For fatburners, I was taking 25-50 mg ephedrine, 200-400 mg caffeine, and 25 mg aspirin. In the last week, I switched to a diuretic caffeine pill, Kranker2, to help me shed water in the last couple of days, and bumped my water intake up to 2-3 gallons a day until the Thursday prior to the meet.

I stopped eating and drinking on Thursday night around 10, and had nothing until weigh in. That fucking sucked, but chewing gum the entire day definitely helped.

For training, not much changed. I never lifted fewer than 8 times a week, and believe I lifted 11 times a week for the first two. My morning workouts generally consisted of either bodyweight exercises or light barbell work for 20-30 minutes, usually done in a circuit fashion. Evening workouts were 3 reps or fewer on everything, and I dropped arm workouts altogether during this time. I squatted light in the mornings 2x a week, and heavy twice a week as well, working partials at various heights. To my recollection, I might have done full squats three times in that month, which was ill-considered, given my subsequent inability to gauge my depth.

Monday after the meet.

For the most part, I abandoned direct arm work. I would occasionally do a few sets of pushdowns here and there, and frequently did curl and press in the mornings, but more or less abandoned my arm supersets. They appear, however, not to have hurt my arm development at all.

If I had anything approaching a typical routine, it looked like this:

Monday:

AM: 30 mins

Curl and Press 4×10, 4×5, 3×3

Bodymaster Machine Squat 10x10x225

Shrugs

8x5x775

Reverse Grip Bench Press from the bottom position 8x3x315, 5x1x335

Tuesday: 30 mins

Abs and Donkey Calf Raise (superset)

Dips and Pullups (superset)
Grip

1/2 Squat 15-20x1x775

Weighted Dips 5×5-8×3 plates
Grip

Wednesday

Clean and Press 10x3x225
Grip

BTN Press 10x3x295

200 pullups

Abs
Grip

Thursday:

Machine circuit for 20 mins, on whatever machines struck my fancy. Found myself doing pullovers a lot, for some reason.
Grip

Jump Squats 10x5x225
High Pulls 10x3x315
Grip

Friday
AM
I occasionally skipped this, due to exhaustion, but would come in and work anything that didn’t hurt horribly.

PM
Either Reverse Grip again, or Flat Bench Press for 45 mins, doing singles, doubles, and triples. I only flat bench pressed with a regular grip 2 or 3 times, due to the fact that 1) I fucking hate the flat bench press, 2) I was dealing with a weird shoulder issue, and 3) I fucking hate the bench press.

Saturday
Either a Pull and Squat or Push and Squat Fiesta. This workout usually lasted 1.5-2 hours and consisted of whatever exercises I wanted to do that day, be they cleans, deadlifts (which I only did once in the 5 weeks leading up to the meet, for reasons I will describe in a second), rack deads, shrugs, or one arm lifts. For presses, I mostly stuck to overhead work and weighted dips, and for squats, I worked off the pins at various heights ranging from parallel to just below lockout, but always singles on everything. I also hit grip on this day, exactly as I did on the other days- a mixture of heavy wrist rollers, plate pinching, baseball curls, and simulating the lever with a sledgehammer with a cambered, preloaded barbell. I never went to complete failure, but made sure I hit them hard every day.

My gym sucks ass, so it closes on Saturday at anywhere between 12 and 2 (they like to change their hours) and is closed on Sunday, which fucked me in my prep. I let them know about it, loudly and frequently.

That was pretty much it. I trained everything as heavy as I could, as often as I could, with as much volume as I could, for between 1.5 and 2 hours a day, every day. As far as deadlifts, my back cramps horribly, as I’ve mentioned, when I deadlift heavy. Additionally, I couldn’t train without straps because I’ve bent all of the bars in my gym into a U shape, and they’re all bereft of knurling. Thus, I stuck to a shitload of heavy grip work, squatting, cleans and high pulls, and shrugging.

Though I see things I might have done differently (like practicing full squats, for instance) and adding in more full squatting with front squats, I’m pretty pleased with my efforts. I can’t guarantee you’ll all see the same results I did with this style of PL meet prep, but I can tell you that it seemed to work for me.

One last note- you do not need to carry on like a fucking lunatic whilst setting up to complete a lift. As you’ve seen from my videos, I don’t fret like a fucking bitch about foot placement, the clothes I wear, or take a minute and a fucking half to set up for a lift- I grab the bar or get the fuck under it and lift it. I saw more ridiculous bullshit while people much larger than me prepared to lift much lighter weights than I, and couldn’t help but wonder if they felt as embarrassed as I felt disgusted. It’s akin to setting up a press conference to display to the world the “artwork” of a 3 year old artistic kid. You’re embarrassing yourself when you do that, and it’s fucking pointless- if you’re not strong enough to lift the fucking weight, no amount of fucking carrying on will allow you to be. If you’re confused, I’m not talking about the slapping and and the poppers, which are simply amusing- I’m talking about the 30 seconds to set one’s feet, then an ultra-dramatic rise of the arms in the air and equally slow and dramatic lowering to the bar on deadlift… the 2 minute setup underneath the bar to squat an opener… the 90 seconds spent getting a beautiful arch while benching. I opened with weights I could lift cold, and still fucking crushed everyone. Don’t be that fucking guy- just lift the fucking weight already so everybody can go the fuck home.

See? No shenanigans. Grab it and fucking lift it already.

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Jamie Chaos

I am a former all-time, all federation world record holder in raw powerlifting at 181lbs, a record I broke just to say fuck you to the internet’s “lifting” community and the powerlifting community at large. Over the last ten years I’ve written over 500 articles on strength training, nutrition, and supplementation, and continue to do so simply to fight the tide of weakness and sadness that currently pervades the scene I’ve called home for the better part of three decades. I’ve got personal trainin certs, BodyPump and BodyCombat certs, a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, and MBAs from the Vienna University and University of South Carolina on my side, in addition to some sick lifts and a hell of a lot of rage. What the fuck have you got?

39 responses to “How I Prepped To Crush Shit At A Meet”

Anonymous

September 17, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOBSTWb4IA0

Jamie is that the chick that you said puked all over?
Anonymous

September 17, 2010

were you taking psylliuum husk or anything during your diet or did you just not shit for five weeks?
Anonymous

September 17, 2010

This is an acceptable warm up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tOxtGCrx4s
Dray

September 17, 2010

I'm actually…fairly sure that's the same chick. I remember seeing the video he confirmed as being her in the comment thread for the LAST article and it looks like her.
rejuvenile21

September 17, 2010

Great article, like how your training didnt deviate to far from the norm.

When your a strong mofo, your a strong mofo plain and simple.

Benni is the man, had that pic of him holding that weight he pulled (to easily i might add) as my background on my comp for ages lol. really inspirational.
Anonymous

September 17, 2010

ON3 LAST NOT3- U DO NOT NED 2 CARY ON LIEK A FUKNG LUNATIC WHILST SETNG UP 2 COMPL3T3 A LIFT!11!!1! WTF AS U SEN FROM MAH VIEDOS I DONT FRET LIEK A FUKNG BITCH ABOUT FOT PLAECMANT TEH CLOTHES I WEAR OR TAEK A MINUT3 AND A FUKNG HALF 2 SET UP FOR A LIFT- I GRAB TEH BAR OR GET DA FUK UND3R IT AND LIFT IT!1!!! I SAW MORA RIDICULOS BULSHIT WHIEL PEOPLE MUCH LARGAR THAN MAH PREPAERD 2 LIFT MUCH LIGHTER WEIGHTS THAN I AND CUDNT HELP BUT WOND3R IF TH3Y FALT AS EMBARASAD AS I FELT DISGUSTED!!1!!!!!1 WTF ITS AKIN 2 SETNG UP A PR3S CONF3R3NCE 2 DISPLAY 2 DA WORLD TEH ARTWORK OF A 3 YAAR OLD ARTISTIC KID!111!1 LOL UR EMBARASNG U WH3N U DO TAHT AND ITS FUKNG POINTLES- IF UR NOT STRONG ENOUGH 2 LIFT TEH FUKNG WAIGHT NO MOUNT OF FUKNG CARYNG ON WIL ALOW U 2 B!!11! OMG IF UR CONFUESD IMM NOT TOKNG ABOUT TEH SLAPNG AND AND DA POPERS WHICH R SIMPLEY MUSNG- IMM TOKNG ABOUT DA 30 SECONDS 2 SET ON3S FET TH3N AN ULTRA-DRMATIC RIES OF DA ARMS IN TEH ARE AND EQUALY SLOW AND DRMATIC LOWERNG 2 DA BAR ON DAADLIFT.!1!11!1!!!1!!!!1!!1! TEH 2 MINUT3 SATUP UND3RNEATH DA BAR 2 SQUAT AN OPENAR.!!111!1!!!11!111!!1 OMG TEH 90 SACONDS SP3NT GETNG A BAUTIFUL ARCH WHIEL BNCHNG!!!1!!1 LOL I OP3NAD WIT WAIGHTS I CUD LIFT COLD AND STIL FUKNG CRUSHAD EV3RYONA!!!1!1 OMG WTF DONT B TAHT FUKNG GUY- JUST LIFT DA FUKNG WEIGHT ALR3ADY SO AVERYBODY CAN GO DA FUK HOME!1!!! WTF LOL
Cameron

September 17, 2010

Anonymous: When pizza is on a bagel, you can have pizza anytime.
Simon Adebisi

September 17, 2010

Does this anonymous caps lock cocklick, with his interwebz typing actually think anyone is going to read that mess?
P.J.

September 17, 2010

How did you shit during the week with the low carbs?
Anonymous

September 17, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DchUE6Wy67s&feature=player_embedded

Benni hits 400kg x5…
Jippo

September 17, 2010

Talking about monster deadlifts, does anyone know when that andy bolton open challenge is taking place? I remember reading about it but can't seem to find the date.
Mars

September 17, 2010

P.J…

Do your research. There's fiber supplements. Although you don't exactly need 'em 100%. I can live off of meat for weeks and shit normally as long as I give my stomach a break every now and then with a short fast..

Peace
Anonymous

September 17, 2010

PJ. Lots of water helps digestion. Also, if you find you have irregularity problems benefiber has literally nothing in it except fiber. You can dissolve it in water and it doesn't have any taste.

I had to use some while I was leaning up and had to push so hard there was blood in my shit one day.
Christine

September 17, 2010

I fuckin love that video. Knocking over the chalk was the best part. Benni is a total beast, and jumps pretty damn high considering his size, haha.
Jamie Lewis

September 17, 2010

To shit, I pulled my pants down, then sat on the toilet. From there, I shit while I read a novel, and then when I was done, I wiped, pulled my pants up, and flushed.

And yeah, that's the chick.
P.J.

September 17, 2010

I set myself up for that one way too easy 😉
Anonymous

September 17, 2010

God damn you're short
Glen MacCharles

September 17, 2010

I wish someone would shit in my mouth while i play with my cock.
Boni

September 17, 2010

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, Hulkamania shirt!!!

Saying your prayers, eating your vitamins, believing in yourself and believing in the power of Hulkamania is really the impetus behind that impressive showing.
Glen MacCharles

September 18, 2010

Scat porn doesn't do anything for me actually. I don't mind seeing it once in a while but I have no interest in ever trying it.

Interesting that that's the kind of thing that pops into your mind while you're pretending to be me though. I turn you on in a pretty weird kind of way, huh? It's freaks like you who give all homosexuals a bad name and actually perpetuate homophobia with your disgusting behavior. You should think about that.
Anonymous

September 18, 2010

This blog entry is diet related, so whatever.
I've been doing this keto shit for about 4 weeks.
Meat and fat Sunday thru Friday with carb ups on Saturday.
My numbers are like 55% fat and 45% protein.
I also, drink wine and whiskey on Saturday nights most weekends with the random beer thrown in, but figure it all into my macro.

I really haven't lost much weight at all judging by the scale.
Am I doing it wrong or should I base my progress on how I feel and look and leave the scale alone?

I've read every entry you've made on the subject and have read info from other sources…still perplexed.
Anonymous

September 18, 2010

Glen is right. That's a big fat Freudian slip right there, fake Glen. You should be ashamed.

See, that's the kind of thing I don't understand about the song Fuck with Dre Day. Dre and Snoop Dogg's comeback to Tim Dog is to have him suck their dicks. What the fuck is that.

^ Keto guy–
If you feel OK doing keto and you're losing body fat then you're doing OK.

You could also try throwing in some 3 hour cheat windows during the week.
Anonymous

September 18, 2010

As much as your gym sucks, the other ones in the area must really be worthless if you chose to join the one that is closed on Sundays.

That guy in the video – special olympics or just off of his meds?
Peter “Fucking” Baker

September 18, 2010

You probably would be better off not drinking, champ during your first go at doing Keto Runs. It's supposed to be a refeeding type of deal, regardless of your cheat meal schedule. Andthe boozing wont help. I cheat once only at the end of my refeeding weekend, the numbers on the scale are dropping.
dray too lazy

September 18, 2010

That's Benedikt Magnusson faggot.
rejuvenile21

September 18, 2010

If you haven't lost much weight thats prob a good thing, keto diet uses up alot of water so water any weight you do lose would be that the first couple weeks.

If your strength is stable or going up thats also a good sign. people have trouble the first couple months going on keto and losing strength.

A couple sites that talk about the keto aspect of the diet are

http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2010/02/art-of-keotgenic-dieting-part-1.html

http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2010/02/art-of-ketogenic-dieting-part-2.html

http://www.chaosandpain.com/forum/3

(theres a forum section with some advice etc)

Also, some not CnP sites…

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61

http://stronglifts.com/anabolic-diet-101-the-definite-anabolic-diet-guide/

Also, i found pdf books easily online (thepirtatebay) of

The Anabolic Diet (dr Mauro diPasquale)
Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution (dr Atkins)
The Art of the Ketogenic Diet (lyle mcdonald)

Also, it takes time for some peeps no body reacts the same. I usually go 3 weeks with >30g of carbs (coming from shakes and spninach or other veg) and than do a carb up. Depending how long you haven't been in ketosis the longer the prep period should be. It's advised that you go longer till your body says okay ill use stored gylcogen as a source of energy.

Some people also never go back to eating carbs.

Also, the keto diet is just another way for your body to USE energy if you arn't USING up that energy dont expect results. IT takes time something a few wont cure.

IF you need to LOSE wieght, read how not to cut wieght as cited above lol.
Anonymous

September 18, 2010

yeah, i can read the words that say who the guy is, my question is what is the reason for the spastic dance before the lift (which kind of goes contrary to c&p's point)
my guesses are along the lines of either down's syndrome or too little thorazine
Simon Adebisi

September 18, 2010

Chaos and Pain said:

" If you're confused, I'm not talking about the slapping and and the poppers, which are simply amusing"

Can you read that?
Do the words make sense?
Is English your first language?
It doesn't contradict the video.
Why thorazine?
Isn't that an anti-psychotic?
The Down's Syndrome might be on your side.
Anonymous

September 18, 2010

Holy shit that chick is hilariously puking! Also, dude, you're looking like a miniature Dave Draper.
meeksreward

September 18, 2010

I am starting a blog myself. I included a link to yours in the first post, cause I think your site is great. I have been hating Nate Green for quite a while myself. Sorry to see he copied off of you. The last bit of nonsense on his site pushed me over the edge. Cheers man.

– Robert, http://educatedstrength.blogspot.com/
Earl Gerlach

September 19, 2010

Hey, I searched your blogs with the nutrition tag but couldn't find it. Do you count vegetables in your total carbs? Like when you said you are eating 12-20g of carbs a day from your shakes, were you having any vegetables?

Thanks
Jamie Lewis

September 19, 2010

There were no veggies, just multis. It might not be the healthiest thing in the long run, but it works wonders in the short run.

As to the weight loss question, I find that I maintain my scale weight pretty well on a high calorie keto diet, due to the fact that I'm slowly gaining muscle and losing fat. In short- the mirror is your guide, not the scale.

Thanks to whomever said I'm starting to look like Draper, haha. Random, but cool.
meeksreward

September 19, 2010

Oh and i forgot to say, i'm into gay shit too. Not sure about the skat stuff mentioned in a previous post though, not really my thing! But i plan on blogging about fucking hard core lifting with a gay twist, maybe naked pictures of myself and others, maybe bumming. Anyhow it rocks here, i fucking love it!
Anonymous

September 19, 2010

Keep writing these blogs, this shit is great. I can't stand these cock smokes that get up to the bar and start looking at it like they are about to attempt a 100ft put on the 18th hole of the masters for a win only to look and see I'm lifting more than him except he's using multi ply gear. I watched a guy get stapled in double ply gear with my raw opener. Time to take up knitting! Keep kicking ass C & P! You should come down to the SPF Southern Alabama on October 23rd in Enterprise and watch me kick some ass.

Robb Hensel
Anonymous

September 19, 2010

Sorry, i meant 'lick your ass', not 'kick some ass', my bad.

Robb Hensel
Anonymous

September 19, 2010

Hmmm….this stinks of a JC post!
Anonymous

September 22, 2010

Dear Mr. Lewis,

Please write a road map for young boys who wants to be a real man like you. I am a young man with low testosterone and feel like I need to man up.

Please write what should I do, eat, drink, watch, listen? I really need to change. please help.
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