Relentless Pursuit By IFBB Pro Josh Wade

Written by Team MD

05 November 2020

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Relentless Pursuit

* By IFBB Pro Josh Wade *

Presented by Allmax Nutrition

A Few Tricks for Sticking to and Having a Successful Prep

Even after competing for over 14 years, dieting for competition is never easy! Cravings come and go; and energy has its ups and downs especially when body fat starts getting low and you have less slow-acting energy from fat stores. I’ll talk about fast-acting energy and how I still have very productive workouts throughout my whole prep later, but for now I’ll explain why when body fat gets low you feel like you are asleep on your feet.

When I first start prep, I usually cut out dietary fats first like avocado and olive oil to rely on my body fat store as my slow energy fuel source. This is how I start removing body fat, but at this point I am still keeping my carbs as high as I can to ensure my workouts are productive and the muscle tissue is full. Most people know that in times of rest or while exercising with a heart rate below 65 percent of your maximum heart rate, fat is the primary fuel source. That’s why while doing all your cardio, when your legs start feeling heavy and you feel like you're falling asleep on your feet you are getting pretty close to ready. It’s not an enjoyable feeling but one that is necessary and gives you a sense of knowing you’re almost ready. The way I get through those periods is plain and simple: STAY BUSY! It’s kind of funny but I get the most stuff done around the house and even look for projects to do just to keep myself busy and active. Two things are accomplished through this. First, I’m staying active so I’m continuously burning body fat and calories. Second, I stay so busy I don’t get bored and think about food. Boredom is when most people get hungry, or because they are dehydrated. Another thing is to make sure you are drinking plenty of water. A little trick I do to get some flavor is to add some Aminocore (BCAAs) from Allmax Nutrition to my water and sip on it when needed to take the edge off of dieting, as even that sweet flavor makes me think I’m getting a treat. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with staying a little more anabolic throughout the day!

Now back to the fast-acting energy that keeps me productive throughout my workouts. There are a few supplements I use for this purpose but the two I feel are the most important here are my Impact Igniter pre-workout from Allmax Nutrition, which has enough caffeine to get me moving, and cognitive ingredients to keep my focus. I also add Carbion+ by Allmax Nutrition for the fast-acting carbohydrates to fuel my workout, keep my endurance up, and help aid in recovery. Plus it keeps me hydrated as well, which is a win-win!

Build Muscle Without Progressive Overload

Q: How often do you vary your reps and sets?

A: Most of the time I keep training fairly similar, using a standard pyramid style based on effort more than anything else. So I might do 15 hard reps, followed by 12 hard reps, then 10, then eight and usually some sort of shock technique added to the last set like a drop set or forced reps, etc.

I’m going to piggyback this answer off of some concepts I’ve learned from two people who I highly respect in the industry: John Meadows (my coach of over five years) and Neil Hill’s Y3T programs. While getting older and beating my body up for so many years I’ve learned that progressive overload isn’t the only way to get super sore and build muscle. That’s when you need to put more thought into your programs. For me it’s usually when I’m battling through injuries or aches and pains that I need to put more thought into my training. I’ll give you an example of what I’ve done recently to help my knee start feeling better without using tremendous loads. Plus I’ve been enjoying this process of varying reps and intensities to make training fun again, as I feel I can give more energy to lower rep (not failure) warm-ups and then an all-out set of slow, focused, meticulous reps for a nasty burn and pump without using a load I can’t control through every rep.

I watched a YouTube video from John Meadows (@mountaindog1) called “How to build your legs without free squats,” and I had to give it a try as the progressive overload I was doing on squats weekly wasn’t allowing my knee to heal. The concept was to work your way up plate by plate with very minimal rest for like six sets until you find a hard six, then rest and do one all-out set with the weight you found for a hard six, and do 25 reps with it. When you can’t get full ROM, get out of the machine and shake your quads out. Then get back in and do that as many times as it takes to make 25 reps, then move on to the next exercise. For me on the leg extensions it took me nine sets to find the hard six reps, which just gave me extra warm-up sets. This was an amazing workout and now I’m using it or a variation of it and bringing back progressive overload to it every week to improve from week to week.

Try this. Use very minimal rest between warm-ups sets, just enough time to change the weight!

Leg Extensions

120x6, 135x6, 150x6, 165x6, 180x6, 195x6, 210x6, 225x6, 225x6, 240x25 with as few pauses as possible with full ROM

Hack Squats

0x6*, 90x6, 140x6, 180x6, 230x25 with as few pauses as possible with full ROM

Dumbbell Walking Lunges

30#x24 steps, 40#x24 steps, 50#x24 steps

Lying Leg Curls

120x10, 140x10, 160x10, 180x10+10 partials+20-second isometric hold

Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deads

55x10, 65x10, 75x10, 85x10, 100x12

*No weight, just the hack squat machine. Josh doesn’t count the machine without plates as having any weight.

Strengthening the Immune System

With the COVID-19 situation, I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries as to which supplements can strengthen the immune system and help prevent infection. These are the supplements that I take every day year-round for immune system function and antioxidants, but they are even more beneficial at times of stress or sickness.

Allmax Immune-Boosting stack

Glutamine: 10g 3x day, upon rising, post-workout and before bed.

R+ALA: 2 caps (300mg) with first and last meal.

CytoGreens: 1 scoop upon rising.

Vitastack: 1 multipack with first meal.

Omega 3: 2g with first and last meal.

Josh all max stack