Relentless Pursuit: More Is Not Always Better

Train Hard, But Smarter

Presented by Allmax Nutrition

Drop the Intensity If You’re Looking Flat

Have you had to change anything during contest prep from year-to-year or show-to-show, or do you always follow the same routine to a T?

For most of my career so far I’d say I’ve followed the same protocol of training hard, increasing cardio, and reducing calories slowly until my skin is as thin as possible and then worked on “filling up” at the end to find my best look. I’ve recently had to change up my training a bit for the first time in my life. I’ve actually backed down the intensity of my workouts, because all the supersets, drop sets and high-rep intensifiers were burning too much glycogen, especially as calories and carbs are being reduced to lose the remaining body fat. As a result, I was looking a little too flat, especially in the legs. If I kept going that route there is no doubt I’d be sacrificing muscle tissue as well as losing fullness. That’s never a good thing when you’re going to be up against some of the best pros in the game. I had to go back to what built my muscle in the first place, which is heavy weight in the 10-12 rep range, doing mainly straight sets without supersets or drop sets. In doing that I got that deep muscle soreness but didn’t burn out all the glycogen leading to a flat look from which I couldn’t bounce back! If you follow a lot of top competitors, you will see a lot of them flatten out during prep, and in many cases it’s because they were training with too much volume and intensity while they were on low carbs and doing tons of cardio. So, my point is even after so many years I still need to learn how to watch and listen to my body and adapt by making changes and tracking the results. As they say, sometimes more is not better. Train hard, but smarter! 

Improve Your Physique Without Adding Muscle

You had a great year and competitive season, but before that I didn’t know much about you. When did you turn pro, and what are you doing to beat your 2018 best?

I like to joke that I’m a 12-year overnight success! What I mean by that is I started competing in 2006 as a middleweight, and over the next 10 years worked my way up before finally winning the 2016 NPC Universe over 35 heavyweight and overall divisions and earning my IFBB pro card at 37 years old. When I turned pro as a Masters competitor, most people wrote me off saying I would never do anything in the pro ranks. I get that, because most of the men and women who turn pro as Masters don’t do very well in the pro ranks, and a lot of them never even compete again once they turn pro. It’s very competitive, and a lot of the best athletes do tend to be 25-35 years old. But in my second full pro season I made it all the way to the 2018 Olympia. I believe I’m the only person to have turned pro as a Master and make the open Olympia!

So, now the pressure is really on, right? After training for over 20 years and competing for more than 12, I know the muscle I can add at this stage is going to be minimal. That’s OK, because improvement can come in many forms. The biggest thing I’m working on— which has made a tremendous difference in my physique— is training my transverse abdominis by doing vacuums. I exhale out all my air then draw the abdomen in without inhaling and hold it for up to 20 seconds at a time for 10 rounds. My goal is to train my core muscles to keep my waist tighter, which also creates an appearance of length. When the waist appears to be smaller, everything else looks bigger. As an unexpected side benefit, I breathe a lot better and not through my belly but up through my chest/diaphragm. It’s not something that happens overnight. I practice it every morning religiously and now it’s a part of my daily routine. I feel this will be the most dramatic change I have ever made in a single season! Give it a try and let me know how it works for you! If you do, be sure to start off with just a few rounds of 10 seconds and work your way up.

Best Protein Shake for Post-workout Recovery

What is your “go-to” for post-workout nutrition?

With the intensity I train with it’s that much more important to immediately supplement with a protein shake post-workout for recovery! My go-to is ISOFLEX, which is a fast-digesting immediately usable isolate protein powder! It’s the “Choice of Champions” with 27 grams of protein out of a 30-gram scoop. It’s as pure as it comes and is no doubt the best-tasting isolate on the market with lots of flavors to choose from, which is important to me during prep when our shakes are our only treats! My personal favorite is Peanut Butter Chocolate, but you can’t go wrong with any flavor!

Please send questions for this column to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.teamwadefitness.com

Instagram: @ifbbprojoshwade and @teamallmax

For more information, visit allmaxnutrition.com

DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE ON THE MD FORUM

FOLLOW MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT ON:

FACEBOOK: MuscularDevelopment Magazine

TWITTER: @MuscularDevelop

INSTAGRAM: @MuscularDevelopment

YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2fvHgnZ