JAN WILLEM: A SECOND GAME PREPARATION

JAN WILLEM: A SECOND GAME PREPARATION

May 20, 2021 Off By Oliver Lester

My first race in a year and a half. In the past year and a half a lot has happened in my life and a lot has changed in the situation I find myself in during my prep compared to my prep 1.5 years ago .

Because I am now preparing for a second match and because I have learned a lot in the meantime, it seemed fun and educational for you to make a comparison; What things do I do differently now than back then that make the difference? In other words: how can you make your prep easier?

NOT JUST ABOUT PREPPING

I am writing this article, along with the previous one from 2017 from my perspective, focused on a contest preparation. But the information I give here can of course also be applied perfectly to the cut you are working on, or your preparation for a photoshoot or a big summer sh .. er, winter shape!

A match prep is of course just an extension of a cut; you go deeper and further than you would with normal cutting, but the tips I give you here will certainly help you to cut easier, longer and / or deeper! Regardless, it will be a matter of stamina and willpower, but a little help is always a bonus!

THE SAME NOW AND THEN

In the previous article I covered a number of aspects of competition preparation; many of these points I have also taken into account in this prep, and I recommend that you read this article . Points like being able to make only minor changes in your physique, or start well ahead of time, with plenty of leeway when it comes to metabolism. Or how about adjusting your training volume to your work capacity and injuries? I have discussed all these things in the previous article.

DIFFERENCE NOW AND THEN

Yet a lot of things have also changed, as I have already indicated. I would like to go through this point by point with you and then discuss which lessons can be learned from this. In this way I hope to give you an extra push towards that fat shape!

SLEEP

Now of course I hope this doesn’t apply directly to you guys, but a huge lesson I’ve learned is that sleep is important. MUCH more important than I always realized and probably more than you realize.

I have previously written articles about why sleep is so important and especially how you can improve your sleep, but even after writing and reading this, I did not realize what a huge impact being well rested has on your physically.

Mentally you are more resistant to setbacks, to hunger, to exhaustion. Your willpower and perseverance are better, your joints hurt less, you can turn more training volume and you can function better at work even if you are low in calories. Really folks, I can’t stress it enough; Take an extra hour of sleep!

By the way, check for yourself at what time of the day you go wrong with your diet the most; probably in the evening, right? When you are hungry and bored and watching TV? Just go to bed! That saves you hungry hours and having to resist packing food!

RHYTHM

A subject that links up somewhat with the one above, but I would like to mention it briefly; make sure you have a rhythm! In my previous prep my day-night rhythm was very unstable; some days I had to get up early for college or work, other days I had the day off and went to bed at 5 in the morning and got up around 2 in the afternoon. This can also have a huge impact on your mental toughness. Humans are creatures of habit, whether you want to admit it or not. I always thought I wasn’t a morning person and I still think so.

Still, I now go to bed around 1 a.m. every day, regardless of whether I have to work or have time off. And I get up every morning between 7:30 and 8:30, whether I have to work or be free. Your body gets used to a rhythm, and the release of certain hormones is regulated through this rhythm. A fixed daily rhythm will ensure much more stable hormone levels. In addition, you also teach yourself in this way when it is time to go to sleep; in my previous prep it sometimes happened that I had to get up early the next morning and go to bed in good spirits, and then lie awake for hours. Because yes, the night before I had gone to bed at 4 am.

So try to create a fixed rhythm every day! It will definitely benefit your motivation, hunger and productivity!

Second competition preparation JW

STRESS

Another point that, even after writing a number of articles about why stress is so bad for you and how to deal with it, I have greatly underestimated; the two previous points also relate to this point; a good night’s sleep and a steady rhythm can make you a lot more resistant to stress and also take away a lot of stress. Yet it is impossible to take all the stress out of your life. That’s a shame, because stress can be one of your biggest enemies when it comes to cutting. Losing weight is very stressful for your body, especially if you go very deep. You can only deal with so much stress before it becomes too much and you have to throw in the towel voluntarily or forced by a burnout.

So managing stress is certainly important for achieving optimal results!

A year and a half ago I was in a very stressful period, over which I could not exercise much control. I had a hard time with the loss of my mother, my studies went badly, I was not feeling well, I did not know what I wanted with my life and my future. This cost me an enormous amount of energy, which I could also have invested in recovery, progression and willpower.

At the moment I work 3 jobs, together good for more than 40 hours, I am busy with online coaching and I am writing my thesis, in addition to having about 20 hours of travel time per week; and yet I pull all of this even while in the middle of a prep. I have control over my life, manage stress, make schedules, sleep better, have a steady rhythm. You will be amazed at what you can handle physically and mentally when your stress, sleep and rhythm are on point!

PREPPING

During my previous prep I did almost nothing to prepare; I lived on shakes, raw vegetables, and groceries that I did the day myself. Supplements and shakes I prepared in a hurry 5 minutes before the bus left, I had to pick clothes in my wardrobe like a whirlwind because I was actually already late.

Prepare things. Boil a number of vegetables and put them in large containers in the refrigerator. Easily stays good for 3 days. Cut a kilo of chicken into pieces, fry the whole kilo in 1 go and put it in a container in the refrigerator. Lasts 3 days. carbohydrates can also be prepared in advance. Weigh potatoes (roast in the microwave) or rice or macaroni in advance, prepare, weigh again and write down the factor and put in a large container in the refrigerator. Do you cook 200 grams of rice and does it weigh 440 grams after cooking? Then you have to take 60 * 2.2 = 132 grams of prepared product for a meal of 60 grams. (Also apply this calculation to meat, by the way, but then the other way!)

Preparing your food (and other things like supplements and clothes) in advance saves a lot of time and stress. You no longer forget food, you no longer have to go shopping with hunger and you no longer end up in a situation where you have to put together your post-workout meal in a supermarket where they also sell pringles, wine gums and microwave food. This makes sticking to my hunger diet much easier for me!

Second competition preparation JW

STARTING POINT OF THE SECOND GAME PREPARATION

And finally, the starting point. I was fairly dry at the start of the JBC prep, but not nearly as dry as I was at the start of my current Hercules prep; Before the summer holidays I started cutting, because I wanted to spend less time training and I don’t find bulking useful if I only train 3 times a week. This went smoothly for me and I reached about 6 to 7 percent by combining cardio and diet, with training 3 times a week. When my coach and more people around me told me over and over that I ‘just had to do a match’ I was already so dry that the first part of my prep really went without a hitch.

Not that I’m telling you to train less often, but the lesson I’ve learned and you can learn from this is: Take more time than you think is necessary. Make sure you reach the fat percentage up to 3 to 4% above your target fat percentage slowly and gradually. From there it is a matter of choosing each other and accelerating, instead of having to suffer for many weeks. Together with the points mentioned above, this brutal shape becomes just that little bit easier to achieve!