Family is the key to my success | Relentless Pursuits
Relentless Pursuit
By IFBB Pro Josh Wade
Presented by Allmax Nutrition
Family Is the Key to My Success
Q: I’ve been following you for a few years now and you are someone I highly respect for your work ethic, family values and you even responded to a message I sent to you which meant a great deal to me. How do you stay so focused on training and competing at such a high level?
A: Thank you for following and for those kind words, as that’s exactly how I’d like to be known! The one thing that has made the biggest difference in my life is exactly what you said you respect about me: family! Having an opportunity to enjoy activities with my wife and kids is what’s made me so successful in the weight room these last few years and why I’ve made the biggest improvements in my physique. I don’t skip meals or training, but instead time them around activities. When I’m ahead of schedule for conditioning for a show, I’ll even enjoy a cheat meal with the family, which I never used to do in the past. That gives me a sense of normalcy. I’ve found it helps in reducing stress when getting ready for a show. I truly enjoy it more and feel more relaxed, which helps control cortisol and has allowed me to get even more peeled than I have in the past. What worked for me is to find an outlet outside of bodybuilding on which to focus my energy and attention. For me, it’s family. But it could be anything in which you’re interested and that gives you positive energy. For me, my focus on “family first” has reduced my stress and even hunger. That’s why I try to stay so busy and involved all the time. For me it makes prep and training easier and more fun than in the past! Find whatever that may be for you, and the whole process becomes so much more enjoyable.
(Left to right): Sydney, Shannon, JJ, and Josh.
Building Bigger Legs: Train Hard, Heavy and Smart
Q: When getting ready for a show do you ever increase your rep range, or do you always train heavy with maximum intensity?
A: Generally, I always train the same way that built my dense muscle in the first place: hard, heavy and as intensely as possible. But at the same time, I always need to take my recovery into consideration. There are certain times, depending on what phase I’m in (meaning when calories are reduced and I’m beating myself up on cardio) that my legs might not be able to be hammered into the ground doing crazy hard intense leg sessions on top of tough cardio without extensive deep tissue massage therapy on a weekly basis. Until recently I didn’t put as much focus into keeping the muscle loosened up with deep tissue massage work, but while prepping for the Arnold Australia, my legs were flattening fast and losing separation because they were not recovering from all the weights and cardio. So, to coincide with the deep tissue work the last two weeks before the show, I started training legs every third day. I would not take my sets to total failure, and I also slightly upped my carbs on just those days by about 100 grams in the form of Carbion, Allmax Nutrition’s carb powder. I would sip on those 100 grams while training legs to help fill them back out, but not tear them down too far. After two workouts I noticed it was working. They were looking fuller, more separated and the pumps were nasty now that the tissue was getting loosened up and I was flooding them with carbs and blood the day after getting them worked on. I think this becomes more important as you get older and have put in decades of work in the weight room! When building or in the early stages of prep when calories are still high, you should train as intensely as you possibly can, but be smart toward the end of prep. I don’t mean lighten up the weight, but you might need to take it a tad easier, as in not going to failure on all your sets or using too many intensity techniques like drop sets or supersets. Pay attention and don’t just get stuck on the “more is better” approach, as that can backfire!
This is not a typical workout I would be doing to build muscle, but this is the workout that I did to bring the fullness back in my legs. As with any workout I feel the most important variable is effort. So, even this workout can build muscle if full effort is given. Remember to work hard, get a burn and a great pump (which is the purpose), but don’t take the sets to failure so you can still recover!
Leg Extensions
8x12
superset with
Seated Leg Curls
8x12
Leg Press
4x12+12
(I do 12 reps for the leg press with feet wide and low for quads, then immediately walk my feet up close and high for outer sweep and ham/glute)
Abductor/Adductor Machine
4x15, going back and forth as a superset
Lying Leg Curls
4x12
superset with
Walking Lunges
4x20 steps
Josh’s Pre, Intra- and Post-workout Supplement Stack:
Pre-workout: ½ scoop Carbion (25g carbs), 1 scoop Impact Igniter
Intra-workout: 2 scoops Carbion (100g carbs), 1 scoop Impact Pump, 1 scoop Aminocore, 10g Glutamine, 5g Creatine
Post-workout: 2 scoops Isoflex, 10g Glutamine
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Website: www.teamwadefitness.com
Instagram: @ifbbprojoshwade and @teamallmax
For more information, visit allmaxnutrition.com
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