November Recap!
11/7/2012 - shot by Jason Ellis
What's up everyone! It's been a while since I've posted on here and wanted to give some quick updates of what's been going on in my life. First off my shoot with Jason Ellis on November 7th went PERFECT! I've gotten back all of the images and they are by far my BEST work I've EVER done! I had been working with Tad the Diet Coach for about 6 months and he prepared me for that shoot as well. I've never been in that type of condition and I have Tad to thank for that guiding me and pushing me harder than I ever would have on my own. That last week or so was pretty rough but it was all well worth it! I will be randomly posting new images up from that shoot soon. After my shoot was over I didn't waste any time and was in the gym training the day after. I took a few days off from my diet then was back on it up until Thanksgiving week. I traveled up to VA to spend it with my family and friends and had a great time. My birthday was also that week and I turned 28 years old. It's hard for believe that I've now been training and trying to improve my physique for 9 years! (should be 10 years since I started at age 18 but minus the year of living in NYC when I was 24). During the holiday week I got to train with my old training partners natural pro Matt Liller, and Ben Bowles (which will be competing very soon himself). We had some really good training sessions and the day after thanksgiving we trained back and as the last exercise we did dead lifts. I hit 500lb for 2 reps then dropped down to 315lb for 25. After having some intense workouts and quite a few drinks for my birthday celebration then a 9hr road trip back to Nashville (only supposed to take 7.5 hrs but traffic was crazy) it took me a few days to recover from that trip...must be that I'm getting old lol. This past week getting back into the swing of things I could tell my body was worn down and beat up and by Thursday I had lost my motivation and could tell something was off with my body. So I decided to take off a full 3 days from the gym and it was the best decision I could've made. It's now Monday and I'm ready to get back after it and train my ass off again! Never underestimate the importance of rest and recovery. If you start to feel burnt out or just lacking the motivation take a few days off. I think if I would've continued on and not taken some time off I would have pushed my body into an over trained state which you can't continue to make progress when your body is fighting you back and craving rest. During my days off I didn't do anything fitness related and tried to keep my mind off of training and diet altogether. I've started working with a sports massage therapist in November as well. Every 2 weeks I'll be getting deep tissue and fascia stretching therapy done. Since my chest is an area that has been my main focus to bring up for the past year I've been getting the facia stretching done every session. It's a painful 90 minutes but I can already tell a difference in how my muscles are firing and training hard week after week takes a toll on you and being able to fix minor aches and pains has been a HUGE plus! As for my workouts I've kept the volume high and I feel that is the only way to train! Every workouts is anywhere from 20-30 total working sets.
11/28/2012 screenshot from members section arm video
In a couple days bodybuilding.com will be announcing the top 20 for the upcoming spokemodel search contest. I want to thank everyone that took the time to vote for me throughout the month of November! Hopefully you guys got me into the top 20 and shortly after that they will announce the top 5 around December 15. If I do make the top 20 I'm going to go ahead and start up my cutting phase again just to be on the safe side.
Also you want to follow my daily workouts and nutrition logs check out my members blog which is updated daily. Also starting last week there will be weekly videos!
11/30/2012 - "love the life you live. live the life you love." - Bob Marley
Questions -9/24/2012
Jake
Tyler, what do you suggest to take to keep "regular"? I get roughly 30grams of fiber a day, but for some reason my stool (for lack of a better word) hasn't been getting along with me. Perhaps digestive enzymes or just a laxative? Thanks man
24 September 2012
Tyler - I've had the same trouble in the past when I go very low carb. Try out dieters tea that helped me out a lot. If that does't work for you try using some metamusil every day.
Mike
How long are your cardio sessions and how many times do you do it a week?
24 September 2012
Tyler - 5 days a week for 30 minutes. I either do the incline treadmill walk, stair climber, or stairs out side. Yesterday I ran outside so I might start doing that a couple times a week
Dan
Hi Tyler, when i work out my chest i find that i feel my front deltoids working more than my chest. I have tried pre-exhausting my chest with dumbbell flys and then move onto heavier pressing exercises but i still feel the same. Is this due to poor technique or is it normal as the deltoids are a smaller muscle?
23 September 2012
Tyler - It's most likely due to trying to use too much weight. Drop the weights down and really focus on just the the chest. Once you get a strong mind muscle connection you will start to be able to use heavier weight without feeling it in the majority of your delts.
Will
know you hve moved on, great progress on yoru side, been inspiration for me in getting at the work, more than exercise but really work... like life is all in the same mind set thank you man really
19 September 2012
Tyler - Your welcome! glad I can help!
10 Weeks Out!
9/5/2012 10 weeks out from my upcoming shoots
I'm now 10 weeks out from my upcoming shoots and I'm in my second week of Cycle 2 of TMT-PHASE TWO. I woke up this morning weighing 217.4! That being said I noticed a slight bit of softness starting to occur around my midsection. Looking a little watery in this weeks pictures and my waist measurements were a tad higher so NO CHEAT MEALS THIS WEEK 
Even though I havn't started my cutting process yet like I said in a previous post I want to make this process as easy as possible so skipping my cheat meals this week is what I'm doing to harden that area back up. Overall I really like the way I look right now. My strength,endurance and pumps have been insane! Yesterday was leg day and it is by far one of the hardest leg workouts I've ever done. I got it on film and it was my last day of filming for Phase 2 videos. There will be 10 new videos coming out weekly once the book is released next week! Also wanted to say that Cycle 2's chest workout is one of my all time favorite chest workouts I've ever designed. You guys have some good shit to look forward to lol. Today was supposed to be my off day but I ended up taking a Barry's Bootcamp Class. If you don't know anything about it it's pretty much high intensity interval training. First time I ran in a long ass time and the class kicked my ass! It was a great class and the option might be there for me to teach a couple classes a week. I see now why there is a lot of hype around that gym.
So after A LOT of thinking I've decided to stay in Nashville. For several reasons but the one major reason is that I don't want to give up my business that I've built up for the past two years and have to restart in VA. As a personal trainer it takes time to build up a good clientele and it would be a pretty ignorant move on my part to just throw everything away here. I went and checked out my new place tonight that I'll be moving into very soon and I'm extremely excited about this new chapter of my life. It will be very interesting!
9/1/2012 - screen shot from upcoming arm video
A great video that I ran across tonight! Give it a watch...very motivational!
Incline Barbell Press
I explain the technique that I have been using that has yielded some great overall development to my upper chest. Give this a try! Remember it's not about how much you can lift it's how you lift the weight. Make sure your feeling your chest do the work not your shoulders and triceps. There are several guys at my gym that are A LOT stronger then me on pressing movements but they have no chest development. If your goal is to develop a chest then focus on the mind muscle connection and get strong contractions and don't worry about the weight.
Starting a New Chapter
11 Weeks Out from my upcoming shoots 8/29/2012.. 214.5lb
I look at life as one big book with several different chapters that continuously are being written as your life story. As of Monday the decision was made to start a new chapter. I will be moving back to my hometown of Roanoke,VA mid November once I get finished up with my shoots. I need to stay here in Nashville to finish out with all of my in person clients and prepare for the biggest shoots of my life. The reason for my move is that I am now single and the only reason I was in Nashville in the first place was for my girlfriend. Nashville is a great city but it lacks what I'm really passionate about and that is the fitness industry. If my dream was to be in the music industry I would be golden by being here but it's not. Moving back to Roanoke will only be temporary but I look at it as a fresh start. One of my ultimate goals is to eventually end up in Cali. The fitness industry is booming there and I absolutely love it but financially it wouldn't be a smart move right now. I am looking forward to being around my family and friends again since I havn't lived there in about 4 years. I'm very interested in seeing what this new chapter will consist of and I'll be sharing my experiences along the way!
I got my head shaved yesterday..it was time for a new look and I got tired of the mop hair lol
This week was the start of TMT-PHASE TWO CYCLE 2 and the workouts have been PHENOMENAL!! The book comes out September 14th! The concept of this book is heavy duty low rep volume training for the first 4 weeks then higher rep volume training for the last 4 weeks. The goal was to go through a mini strength builder so that you will be able to use heavier weight for the hypertrophy rep ranges (muscle growth). My chest is still sore from Monday and my legs almost gave out of my several times yesterday. At one point of the workout I had to lay on the floor because it is INTENSE! I LOVE VOLUME TRAINING!
Homemade burgers on whole wheat toasted buns
Today I woke up at the weight of 214.5lb. After increasing my food last week since I'm still trying to fill out and get bigger I ended up losing weight damnit lol. That's down about 2lb but honestly the number doesn't bother me I go by what I see in the mirror and my progress pictures that I analyze. I'm very happy with the way things are going right now and my workouts are better than ever. I feel my biggest I've ever been and I know I've said this before but I never would have thought I'd be able to eat the amount of food that I am and be in this type of condition. I've never been this size with this body fat level! Only a few more weeks of filling out then I'll go into my cutting phase. Today was my clean cheat day so I had 4 homemade burgers and they were delicious 
Questions – 7/28/2012
Mark
When you do a rest pause after a set, how long do you usually rest for?
28 July 2012
Tyler - It depends on the type of rest pause I'm doing and for which exercise. For example if I'm doing heavy rowing movements by the end of the set I'll still hold the weight but rest for only a couple seconds to complete the set. If I'm using it on something like squats rack the weight and rest 10-15 seconds between. I've also done that method with other body parts like chest for heavy presses with racking the weight and resting 15 seconds then trying to get a couple more reps.
Daniel
Tyler, why don;t update your physical stats on Bodyspace? You've made great progress since over the last two to three years.
28 July 2012
Tyler - thanks! I barely get on bodyspace anymore..I need to hop over there and update all of that.
Sam
Tyler you seem to always be very updated on new hip hop music or mixtapes that have just leaked. Do you have a site that you constantly check that keeps you updated?
28 July 2012
Tyler - Yeah..I love music..and the amount of working out that I do I need A LOT OF IT. For all of the new hiphop and rap I go to atrilli.net and hiphopearly.com lots of good stuff has came out in the past couple weeks so definitely check it out.
MIke
My gym doesn't carry a few machines that are required to carry out certain exercises can I do a similar one to that or just skip it entirely?
26 July 2012
Tyler - Substitute them for similar exercises
Anthony
email
In TMT-Phase One, about how long should it take to complete a daily workout?
24 July 2012
Tyler - anywhere from 1hr to 1hr in a half at the most. most of the workouts take me about an hour and 15 minutes including my warmups
TMT-PHASE ONE Reviews
Shaun EuJust finished my first day of TMT Phase 1. Most intense workout ever. Could barely walk after finishing my calves.
Cycle 3 is by long and far my favorite! To the point where I dont want the week to end lol. Already seeing impressive changes in my physique and its only been 3 weeks!! Hope youre having a great time in the noke with fam
just catching you up on sum progress from my side, just finished my 2nd week, and really looking forward to the "terror week" ahead. the past two weeks, ive been feeling DOMS that ive never felt before, and lasting 2 - 3 days, which i assume is good.
i know its only been two weeks, but already starting to feeling a more solid look and feel in my shoulders and chest. i just have a major concern that on the first week training arms, i felt more soreness in my bicep than my tricep, and now in week two, its the complete opposite. and after watchin that video you post on Arnold on your site a few days ago, and hearing speak bout a good pump in the gym, i was a bit dissapointed that i couldnt achieve that this past week wen training my arms, altho i pushed to the point of failure on all my sets. maybe its just my mind-muscle connection that needs for focus.
don't worry about the weights! the sequences of the exercise order are not going to allow you to be the strongest on certain lifts as you would if they were at the start of the workout. that is the point of those particular workouts. just focus on filling them up with as much blood as possible
watch my cycle 3 videos that i've posted..you still want to push yourself but obviously not going to be using the same amount of weight as cycle 1 and 2 but should still be around the same.
TMT-PHASE ONE Cycle 3 CHEST!
Here is one rotation from my CHEST workout out of my 12 week ebook training program TMT-PHASE ONE! A giant set is several exercises done back to back with no break. for more details go to http://tylermcpeak.com/store
Cycle 3 Description:
Weeks 3,6,9,12
TERROR WEEKS! A.K.A. Giant Sets. Be ready for extreme pain but in turn extreme PUMPS! This is by far the most challenging section of the program and you cannot...I repeat CANNOT be weak minded. When your mind is telling you that you can't do more or it might be getting to painful you have to fight it off and realize your muscles can handle it and the results are well worth the work. Intensity techniques and power moves will still be used in this cycle. Every workout is designed to target each muscle group at every angle possible by performing giant sets. A giant set is 4 or more exercises done back to back with no rest in between. Only 10-15 seconds in between exercises anything more and your muscles will start to recover. During these workouts it will feel like a cardio workout as well so get ready to drop some body fat while causing hypertrophy by maximal stimulation! If you are feeling all of your secondary muscles take a large workload you need to lighten the weight. Learn how to shut off using secondary muscles and only use the targeted muscle group. If possible for this week I suggest going to train at a time when it's not busy at the gym so you will be able to perform the giant sets properly. I understand that some of you will not be able to perform giant sets due to schedules and only being able to workout when there are several people in the gym so if that is your case I suggest breaking it down into super sets or tri sets it will still be effective.
TMT-Phase One Ebook Reviews – 7/10/2012
Here are some more reviews that I have been receiving via email or facebook. Please keep them coming! I want to hear you guys feedback!
Mark
Bryan L V
Tyler -- thanks for the Phase One workouts -- they are tough, but freakin AWESOME!!!
Chelsea G
I had some very unladylike choice words for you today when I got to the end of a killer quad sesh and still had to do 6 sets of 20 DB walking lunges. Burrrrrrrrrrn!!! Loving cycle 2!
Brandon P
Dude, this workout kicks ass. I've gotten a few friends to buy as well. I'd forgotten a lot of these exercises until you reminded me in the book. Kudos!
VA Trip Day 2
My view at the top of the mountain yesterday doing my cardio..Roanoke Valley
My day got started with some empty stomach cardio and as I posted the other day I did it outside and it was an nice switch up. I didn't count how many times I had to go up and down but by the end of the night the top of my ass starting getting sore and now today it feels like I trained the top of my ass yesterday lol.. Goes to show you how you can shock your body just by changing one small variable. As I'm writing this now I'm doing my cardio on my parents recumbent bike since its raining outside... Even this is a good switch up it's not so much the cardio being tough but the pump I have in my legs is uncomfortable since I'm not used to this. Back to yesterday it was an overall great day! A few hours after cardio I went and had a crazy intense Chest session with my friend Cris Edmonds over at golds. The DOMS are slowly starting to kick in this morning. I know that I will definitely make some good progress this week training with my old training partners the intensity is unmatchable. Later that night my friend josh and I went out and watched the new movie Savages. Really good movie but damn it's gruesome!
Throwback pictures I found yesterday it's from 2007 I weighed 225lb in this pic and then I found an old stat sheet that matches up for around when this picture was taken.
"Don't be afraid of change! You may lose out on something good, but you might gain something better."
Doing the Bike for my cardio at my parents house and watching Sports Center
Categories
Shoutbox
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- James
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What's the last thing you take before going to bed (food wise and supplement wise)?
- 26 October 2012
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- Shaun
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Any advice on my current diet. I am consuming 300g protein,150g carbs,80g fats with a total of 2700 cals. Currently doing TMT-Phase 2 and 6 times a week LISS cardio. Is my macro plan in check?
- 25 October 2012
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- Rick
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How low carb is actually low? Or what is the lowest you have ever gone to try and preserve as much muscle mass as possible?
- 24 October 2012
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- Sunny
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Why do you do farmers walk on your arm day? Is for your ab routine?
- 21 October 2012
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- Jesse
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Would like your advice.. Im currnetly taking a fat burner and it says not to eat anything 30-45 mins after taking it. However i do early morning cardio... do you think it's okay to take a BCAA right after i take fat burner (within the 30-45 min window) or would that constitute as "food"?
- 20 October 2012
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- Jake
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I tried doing DB pullovers and i feel my triceps get tired, why is that? I really dont try to bend them, i avoid extending them out too much too. I get the same feeling in my tris when i do straight arm pull downs.
- 20 October 2012
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- Wil
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Tyler- I am trying to comeback from a long stretch of overtraining/undereating I think it could have been definitely been considered an eating disorder. I was wondering if you had any tips on how to raise testosterone levels back up to normal naturally. I just want to build muscle back again without ballooning up.
- 17 October 2012
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- daniel g
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hey tyler do testosterone supplements actually build muscle or is it B.S thanks
- 16 October 2012
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- Rick
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How do you determine your calories for cutting phase?
- 16 October 2012
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- Jeremy
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Tyler, first off let me say you are such an inspiration. over the last year or two i have turned to your blog for ideas and drive. I have come across some bad luck recently rendering my hand in bandages with multiple surgeries and a couple of months of rehab. I wanted to know what i could do to help maintain all that i worked so hard to achieve over the last 8 years. It took me a long time to get to 205 and i do not want to loose it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
- 13 October 2012
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