2018 Mystery Show Prep Phase

[Ken Skip Hill]

I am closing the journal from last year and changing over to this journal for 2018. I just started a prep last week and I will be detailing everything I am doing for this prep here. I always want to post daily in these journals but it doesn't always work that way. I will commit to at least 3 posts a week, though, and I will work for even more than that.

One of the posts each week will be an updated Coach Log post for EliteFTS.com, as well. I have to be careful with the things that I discuss in my EliteFTS Coach Log because there are strict rules that I need to adhere to and that includes talking about gear and other compounds that are not allowed. I can, however, discuss those topics openly here because, well, I make the rules here.

I will also include some family stuff that may be going on and some of this stuff will not be related to bodybuilding, directly. I do this to show my normal side and also to encourage others to talk not just about everything bodybuilding, but to have other things going on outside of bodybuilding, as well, to live more of a balanced and fun life.

In a nutshell, this prep is planned to be TRT, as has been the last handful of years since 2013 due to the blood issues that I began dealing with at that time. Though it has crossed my mind a few times to go back to "just one cycle" again for a show, I have yet to do that. I just cannot bring myself to gamble again after getting everything worked out so that I am doing very well on TRT for quite a while, now.

Though I am doing this prep TRT, I will admit to using other ancillaries for either fat burning, anti-estrogen, possibly diuretic use for the show, etc.. If you deem this not "TRT", you may not want to follow my journal. I do consider it still TRT because when I use the term TRT I am saying that from a hormone standpoint, I am not cycling and causing my past blood issues to become an issue again. I will detail everything I am doing here.

I will detail all diet changes and adjustments, training and adjustments, cardio, supplements - EVERYTHING. I will hold nothing back and be completely transparent - as I have ALWAYS been. EG: Last year I did decide prior to the show (after getting deep into my prep phase), that I was going to add a small amount of EQ and anavar and I detailed the dosing protocol and my thoughts as to why I did that. Obviously, that was NOT TRT and I was clear on that.

My definition of TRT is simple: My testosterone blood levels are at or less than 1200 which is the upper end of the allowable range for most endocrinologists. Anything over 1200 I consider to be cycling.

I have journals almost every year since 2004 posted here at IntenseMuscle.com. I would like to think that I provide more free information in the world of bodybuilding than not just most, but almost anyone else out there over the last 18 years. You can also check out my 2 FREE online DVDs at TEAMSKIP.com - one from 2010 (Longevity) and the other that just came out last year in 2017 (TRTbodybuilding). Both DVDs that are available to view directly from my TEAMSKIP.com website have approximately 30 chapters per DVD and well over 25 hours of free information on a myriad of topics.

You can also follow me on FB at "Skip Hill" and on InstaGram at IntenseMuscle. I also write articles bi-monthly for EliteFTS.com and I am a Coach for EliteFTS.com, as well.

Any questions you have about anything that I post can be asked here in this thread.

I hope you enjoy yet another of my prep journals.

Skip

[Ken Skip Hill]

I am going to make my first log entry with my Coach Log from just a couple of days ago on EliteFTS.com. It details my current diet that I am using to start this prep and gives some insight into what I am doing from the start of my prep.

https://www.elitefts.com/coaching-logs/my-keto-prep-diet-detailed/

Skip

[doug1]

Wow, I "stepped out" for a few months. Boy did I miss a lot! Welcome to sunny Florida! Been enjoying your articles that I missed from being gone. Glad to see you are still plugging along. Also that you got rid of that insane commute to the gym, haha!
My wife reunited with her birth mom about a year ago, after 40+ years, she lives in Ft Lauderdale too along with another daughter she had to a different man. They are actually coming here this saturday for a country concert with Jake Owen and Dustin Lynch. The Valspar Golf Tournament.

PS, that's weird seeing your location now under your avatar. lol

[wakejump4me]

Will be fun to follow you. Thanks for sharing. Have fun with your prep bro...

WAKE

[Ken Skip Hill]

And we are loving it here!

Glad to see you back!

Skip

Wow, I "stepped out" for a few months. Boy did I miss a lot! Welcome to sunny Florida! Been enjoying your articles that I missed from being gone. Glad to see you are still plugging along. Also that you got rid of that insane commute to the gym, haha!
My wife reunited with her birth mom about a year ago, after 40+ years, she lives in Ft Lauderdale too along with another daughter she had to a different man. They are actually coming here this saturday for a country concert with Jake Owen and Dustin Lynch. The Valspar Golf Tournament.

PS, that's weird seeing your location now under your avatar. lol

[Ken Skip Hill]

Thank you!

Skip

Will be fun to follow you. Thanks for sharing. Have fun with your prep bro...

WAKE

[Ken Skip Hill]

Update for the week is an entry in my EliteFTS.com Coach Log. I will update again early next week about the weekend and maybe even something surprising that might surprise more than a few of you.

https://www.elitefts.com/coaching-logs/how-is-this/

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Skip

[Henke_prytz]

Looking forward to following you Skip!!! Keep it up

[Ken Skip Hill]

Thank you!

Skip

[Ken Skip Hill]

Monday, March 12th 2018

That's right, fuck TRT. Not entirely, but at least for this prep.

I have been contemplating this for a while - to the point that I planned everything out as early as before leaving Colorado for Florida but I figured I would let the idea simmer, especially with everything going on with the move, having to see if I was even going to compete after moving, etc.. As the pieces started to fall into place during the last couple of months after arriving here, I decided that I was giving myself until the start of my prep to make my final decision. The decision was made and I am now 2 weeks into my prep. I have stepped on the gas after 5 years of being TRT.

Now, I know what some people out there will say and I am not going to spend much time or effort defending it. I don't have to justify a goddamn thing to anyone, but I will explain my thought process around this for those who care:

Yes, I understand that I am going to have elevated blood numbers. That is pretty much a given. I feel that after 5 years of TRT, a prep cycle is not taking a huge gamble. Is it a gamble? It's all a gamble - trt, riding my motorcycle, sleeping with your Mom, etc.. Let me make this very clear: It isn't anyone's fucking business what I or anyone else does. I am going to list everything I am doing and going to do (as I do it), dosing, compounds, etc.. Some will find this dosing high and others will feel it cautious or moderate. I can't satisfy everyone and I don't care. I am doing this for ME - selfish ole' me. If you think it's stupid, kiss my ass. If you think I am putting my life on the line, think about something else. I have thought about this for a long time (since last prep) and I am curious if it will make a difference and how much of a difference it will make. I could have just lied and not said a word but that isn't how I work. That type of shit happens all the time - lying about what people take - especially right now as TRT is gaining popularity. It is very popular right now to take as little as possible and stretch it as far as you can (and that is a great idea), but I am going to experiment to see what I can do with higher dosing for this prep - like it or not. And I am being honest about it.

With that out of the whey (you see what I did there?), I will list what I have started to do and the results so far. Obviously, this is just my take on how things have gone so far as I will not be posting "before" and "after" pics - I'm not a before-and-after-pics kind of guy. That isn't to say that I won't post pics, but I am not going to commit to posting weekly updated pics and that sort of thing. I think anyone that follows me knows that I am not delusional and won't make claims about my size or condition that aren't true (and you can read into that statement any way you wish).

I am not going to win the show and I am not going to come into this show 20 pounds heavier than I am now. I will TRAIN and PREPARE as if I am going to win it, but I have been doing this far too long and I am realistic with what I can accomplish. What are my goals? To get as close as I can to my best condition ever or possibly even surpass it. When I say "condition" I mean leanness and fullness but obviously not size. I am not going to regain all of the size I had when I competed 10-15 years ago in one cycle during a prep phase. I am good with that. Hell, I might not even respond all that well considering my age, my training limitations, etc.. Still, I want to see what I can do and how it will all work in the end. When I am done, I will come off completely (no TRT) and get my bloods back in line as quickly as possible and then go back on TRT.

I have been prepping for 2 weeks and have posted about not Skiploading for 2 weeks and won't until this next weekend for the first time. I did this because I did another run of DNP for 12 days that will finish tomorrow night - low dose at 250mg per day. I admittedly was anxious because I had great results using it last year and then I also had a shitstorm happen, as well. I felt relatively comfortable that I knew why I had the problems that I did last year and that it wouldn't happen again and nothing happened. I have been just fine and responded much like I did the first time that I took it last year. The results won't fully be known until probably the weekend after next due to loading this coming weekend. However, I can tell that even though I am holding water on the DNP, I am leaning down, as well. This is with no diet change and no cardio.

I also did something that I have wondered how it would work for a while now and finally got the opportunity to try it: I ran anadrol with the DNP for a few of reasons:
1. I wanted to use it to stay full or hold some fullness while on DNP
2. I wanted to hold some strength while on DNP (though admittedly, my strength doesn't fall much on DNP, anyway)
3. I wanted it to dull my appetite while on DNP due to not Skiploading

I started the Anadrol at a low dose of 25mg twice a day 2 weeks ago and will run it for another 4 weeks for a total of 6 weeks before switching to low-dose anavar and winstrol for the duration of the prep.

So far, I have been reminded of my long-lost love for Abombs. I haven't used the compound for over 15 years and it took only about 4 days to see it start working. I am running keto right now and I haven't gone over a week of not Skiploading in almost a year (maybe longer) and yet as flat as I feel I am, when I bend my arm it feels like I have a pump. It is insane and I love it. My strength started to show this last weekend - though not in dramatic fashion - but still showed. I was able to hit a PR on a machine squat that I haven't ever hit and this is a big deal to me because I have had limited poundages for legs for years due to my chronic back issues.

I have done no cardio yet and won't start it until at least next week and possibly the week after. I am letting my diet do the work right now until I can accurately evaluate the results of the DNP cycle. I will also start clen in about 2 weeks so any water weight I might still be holding from the DNP (and then the Skipload this weekend) will definitely be gone after a week on clen as I pull a lot of water when I start clen. I do not want to run these two compounds together. I want to see what I can do gassed this year, but I am not going to do dumb shit, either. I shouldn't say "dumb", but I feel that running both of these compounds together is not the best idea and not needed. They both work so well that I don't see a reason to run them together.

I plan a pretty good-sized Skipload this weekend considering it will have been 3 weeks that I haven't loaded. As much as I will load for a longer period of time (1 to 1.5 days), I will also not stuff food into me for the sake of stuffing it in me. I am going to be more controlled and instead stretch the time out longer to make sure that I don't overload my system after being keto for 3 weeks. I am unsure how I will respond to loading so I am going to be cautious. I will be using the SCGS compound while loading if you were curious.

Whether I continue to load weekly after finishing this DNP cycle is yet to be determined. I might stretch it to every other week or even every 3 to 4 weeks but I am not sure yet. I like to figure these things out more reactively than proactively, so I will simply decide what I will do based on how I am progressing.

I will detail my starting cycle in the next log update later this week with compounds and dosing. Even though I have a plan for the gear for the entire prep and it will likely not change, I am going to update the things that I change in my gear protocol as they happen, instead of laying out the entire protocol in one post. Why? Because we live in a time where everything anyone does is stolen and used for profit, so at least if you are going to do that to me (yet again), you will have to be patient and keep checking my logs for updates.

One more thing to note for this prep so far: Even though I haven't gone this long without loading before and I have not been keto while prepping, I am remarkably not hungry or even craving any carbs. The hunger is minimal and manageable. I am not counting the days to my Skipload, I guess you could say. I think I am more so looking forward to seeing what the visual change from the carbs is going to be and wanting to see how my training will be affected because obviously coming off of DNP and then loading and filling out should have a profound impact on my visual and also on my strength and training sessions. I mean, if I am already feeling "pumped" from the abombs while on keto and not loading, I can only imagine what I will feel like the week following a Skipload.

That's it for now. Check back in 2-3 days.

Thanks for following.

Skip

[winnie]

Good stuff Skip...

All but the cooked lettuce part! :eek2:

I enjoy shrooms when on Keto to get some carbs.

Okay, I'll come back and post in another 5 years.

[Iabadman]

Awesome share ...this is going to be a fun prep to watch ......you coolest log in 15 yrs my friend ...lol ...all the best .....You still one of my favorite people in all of bbing and I sure you always will be .....

[Ken Skip Hill]

LOL

Skip

Good stuff Skip...

All but the cooked lettuce part! :eek2:

I enjoy shrooms when on Keto to get some carbs.

Okay, I'll come back and post in another 5 years.

[Ken Skip Hill]

Always good to hear from you and I always appreciate your support!

Hope you are well, my friend!

Skip

Awesome share ...this is going to be a fun prep to watch ......you coolest log in 15 yrs my friend ...lol ...all the best .....You still one of my favorite people in all of bbing and I sure you always will be .....

[Ken Skip Hill]

TWIBB Notes (this week in bodybuilding) for 3/11-3/18

Distention, Skiploading, small diet adjustment and more detailed in my EliteFTS Coach Log for the week:

https://www.elitefts.com/coaching-logs/twibb-notes-for-week-311-318/#.Wqo9gatNc4E.facebook

Skip