Mr iForce Dusty Hanshaw...journal to the USA's

[dustyhanshaw]

I've been getting a lot of emails asking me to keep a blog leading into the USA's that will give people a better feel of the process that I personally go through leading into shows. After thinking about it I decided to give it a go so if you are interested in following along be sure to check back regularly because I will be posting at least four times per week and will be answering questions daily.

At the moment I am 23 weeks and three days out from the 2013 USA's in Las Vegas. It has been 2 1/2 years since I made a pretty good splash at the 2010 NPC Jr Nats and USA's and since then I have had two shows and neither have panned out well for me. This year obviously i am looking to change all of that and within this thread I will share as much of the journey as I can as well as who I have on my "team" making the decisions on my training, diet, cardio, and supplementation.

As it will be until I retire I have "The Technician" Chris Aceto controlling all decisions on diet, cardio, and supplements. Prior to this year I have always been working with Dante Trudel on my training and although I love his programs, all he has done for me, and still look to him for advice on the regular (not to mention he is a personal friend) I have decided for the first time ever to hire a trainer who will literally be writing all of my workouts and even training me a few times a month between now and the USA's. After sitting down with a lot of awesome trainers I felt the best connection and shared my vision best with Chris Cormier. I hired him about two weeks ago and will be discussing my training with him often and visiting him in Venice at least 1-2 times a month for both training and posing between now and the USA's. Hiring Cormier has already proven to be a great decision and I have great faith that hi gives me the best odds of bringing up my lacking bodyparts, bringing down my waistline, and learning how to better present myself on stage.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you here and hope that you will ask questions and make comments along the way.

DH

 

[dustyhanshaw]

A lot of people ask me about my diet at this stage so here it is.

M1-
1 scoop Compete
1 scoop Maximize Inntense
3 scoops iForce Protean
2 cups oats
2 pop tarts

Train
2 scoops iForce Compete

M2-
3 scoops iForce Protean
2 pop tarts

M3-
10oz lean ground turkey
2 cups jasmine rice
2 Athletic Multi

M4-
10oz lean ground turkey
2 cups jasmine rice

M5-
10oz chicken
1 cup rice

M6-
12oz flank
8oz green beans

2 lights out

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Liking the Pop Tarts big man. Being a resident Az person I have been rooting for you these last couple years. I hope the Chris combo can bring it home for you champ!

 

[criticalbench]

Awesome bro, nice to see this up! Props for being such a role model and inspiration to many, including myself! By your side for this run bro!

Mike

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Liking the Pop Tarts big man. Being a resident Az person I have been rooting for you these last couple years. I hope the Chris combo can bring it home for you champ!

Thx! I know they will both do their jobs to the fullest so it is up to me to follow through and make it happen.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Much appreciated as always. This year is a lot different as I feel I am actually off the radar from the judges standpoint and it is up to me to make some HUGE strides to end up on top from where I am now.

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Quick question: You stated that you wanted to bring up your lagging body parts. Where do you see your physique lagging big man? I know that the higher up in the levels you progress it's the weak spots and not the strong ones that separate winners and losers.

 

[Montego1]

Subbed! Love your vids on FB. Really excited about the new DVD.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Quick question: You stated that you wanted to bring up your lagging body parts. Where do you see your physique lagging big man? I know that the higher up in the levels you progress it's the weak spots and not the strong ones that separate winners and losers.

Sorry for the delay in answering this. I am still getting used to logging my process on a daily basis. Anyhow, with my complete lack of flowing symmetry it is key for me to be extremely big and conditioned on stage or everything gets lost. The issue there is that over the past few years we found a formula that worked amazingly for my upper body and although my legs have improved it has not been at the same pace so they are now a weakness. Another issue that I have is that from playing hockey as a kid plus my natural genetics I have a ghetto squatters ass and because of that my hamstrings look very under developed from the side. Honestly they are not that impressive in the first place but having a giant ass just highlights the weakness they are in my physique.

So to answer your question my biggest weaknesses are my legs as a whole, my hams in particular, and my less than wasp like waist.

The key for me is to show noticeable improvement from one show to the next.

DH

 

[dustyhanshaw]

As much as I love training I have to admit that on days like today when everything is hurting and mentally i am, exhausted i am very grateful for days off from the gym. Between the hectic weekend last week at the Arnold, travel, and an awesome first three days of training this week I woke up this morning feeling like I had been put through a meat grinder. Today is a rest and recover day and tomorrow we will be back in the gym hitting arms and abs before the brutal leg day that Sunday has in store for my training partner and I.

Weight is slowly climbing back up after being off of the diet a bit last weekend in Columbus and I am back to a pretty solid 295lbs. This year I am not worried as much about the weight as I am what it looks like and at the moment things are looking pretty solid. In a couple of weeks I will start sharing more pictures on here between travel, training with Cormier, and of course progress shots.

DH~8

 

[VaughnTrue]

really awesome inside info you're providing here Dusty. This blog/log is awesome to watch and see how a guy at your level really does things.

 

[chedapalooza]

Interesting read subbed

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Once again I am out in Venice Ca to train at the Mecca with Chris Cormier. I have only been working with Chris for about two months and have only been in the gym training with him about six times but I have taken everything he showed me and have been putting it all into good use and it is showing on my physique already. As many of you know Chris went to his good friend Dorian Yates when he was considering making a comeback a few years ago and although he never did make it back to the stage he did take a lot of what he learned training with Dorian and has been passing that along with his own variations of his training down to athletes for the last few years at Golds Venice.


Since I have started training with Chris the biggest changes include the fact that my form on a lot of movements is completely different as far as how I set the seat, how I stand, where I focus on the contraction, and even how I let the weight fall into the stretch. He also has me VERY focused on how I move the weight with every rep. Rather than just heaving a crapload of weight around I am very focused on the contraction of each rep, the negative speed, the stretch, and the explosion through the positive portion of the movement. These changes have forced me to really cut back on the weight I am using but so far I am really loving the changes that I am feeling during the workouts as well as the changes I am seeing so far with my physique.


This morning was our first back training day together and although I had already really modified how I was performing each rep from start to finish he still had plenty of changes for me to make with how I positioned my body on each movement. By the end of the workout my forearms were so smoked from all of the rowing that I was literally feeling the weight slipping out of my fingers with each rep.


Now I have about 30 minutes before I need to head back to Golds for a 90 minute posing practice with Chris. I dread this more than anything because like all bodybuilders I am my own worst critic and there is nothing worse than having to pose when you are paste white and in the dead of your off season BUT I also know that presentation is a huge weakness of mine and if I want to see my placings change I had better suck it up and learn how to perform on stage as well as how to present my physique to it's greatest potential.


DH~8

 

[Montego1]

Awesome update Dusty. What's the worst part of traveling to you? Meals, rest?

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Awesome update Dusty. What's the worst part of traveling to you? Meals, rest?

Honestly my least favorite part is attempting to sleep away from home. I am a serious creature of habit so changing my sleeping arrangement sucks. I have always struggled to sleep when I am on the road but I have found a few things that really help. 1- I bring a fan everywhere I go because I use one at home and the sound helps2- I bring my own pillows when I travel in the country3- not a shameless plug but iForce's new sleep aid Lights Out has really helped.As far as food goes I never have an issue when I am in the country but when I travel overseas it gets a bit more difficult. This year I will be going overseas twice during my prep but the owner of iForce has already handled a way for me to get all of my exact meals while I am in Germany for FIBO and in England for Bodypower.

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Totally relate to the fan as well big man. My wife cracks up when I pack it. Big props for the will to change things up and learn new methods of weight training.

 

[Alinshop]

Interesting log so far DH, and I appreciate the opportunity to view your daily prep routine.

You mentioned wanting to bring your waist down. What does it normally measure, while competing?

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Totally relate to the fan as well big man. My wife cracks up when I pack it. Big props for the will to change things up and learn new methods of weight training.

Never stop learning right? I'm grateful I don't know it all because if I did that would mean my physique was already maxed out and I know it is far from that.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Interesting log so far DH, and I appreciate the opportunity to view your daily prep routine.

You mentioned wanting to bring your waist down. What does it normally measure, while competing?

I've never actually measured it but I know from the front it looks a bit blocky. It will be better this year but sadly it will never be a strong point. I just need to focus on getting my quads sweep bigger and shoulders wider to hide this physique weakness I have.

 

[AZMIDLYF]

I've never actually measured it but I know from the front it looks a bit blocky. It will be better this year but sadly it will never be a strong point. I just need to focus on getting my quads sweep bigger and shoulders wider to hide this physique weakness I have.

I would be interested to learn the method for doing this^^

 

[dustyhanshaw]

I would be interested to learn the method for doing this^^

lol, I know you were not being sarcastic but I laugh because I have always been one who said that your shape of the muscle is your shape and there is no changing that. With that process in mind my only option would have been to get my legs as big as possible knowing they would never have great sweep but hopefully they would become so large it would not matter. WELL, since starting with Chris my tune has changed a bit because I am seeing slight changes to the shape of my legs through focusing extremely hard on where I am pushing from and making sure I am keeping constant tension on the quads. If you see my latest quad training video you will see he has me using much less weight but exploding through the positive, giving a hard ssqueeze on the contraction, and really controlling the negative so I can work ALL of the muscle fibers. Cal it bro science if you will but it is working and although I will admit I do not believe my sweep will ever be a strong point I do thi k it will be be noticeably improved.

 

[Montego1]

I liked the part in that video about the guy doing eighty six sets at the same weight. Hilarious.

 

[booneman77]

Subbed. Loving the insider look at the lifestyle man. Keep up the great work and best of luck with the ride!

 

[criticalbench]

lol, I know you were not being sarcastic but I laugh because I have always been one who said that your shape of the muscle is your shape and there is no changing that. With that process in mind my only option would have been to get my legs as big as possible knowing they would never have great sweep but hopefully they would become so large it would not matter. WELL, since starting with Chris my tune has changed a bit because I am seeing slight changes to the shape of my legs through focusing extremely hard on where I am pushing from and making sure I am keeping constant tension on the quads. If you see my latest quad training video you will see he has me using much less weight but exploding through the positive, giving a hard ssqueeze on the contraction, and really controlling the negative so I can work ALL of the muscle fibers. Cal it bro science if you will but it is working and although I will admit I do not believe my sweep will ever be a strong point I do thi k it will be be noticeably improved.

Solid, just solid!

 

[dustyhanshaw]

I liked the part in that video about the guy doing eighty six sets at the same weight. Hilarious.

I tend to get a little sarcastic with the way some members take up space in the gym and will never make any progress due to having no idea what they are doing.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Subbed. Loving the insider look at the lifestyle man. Keep up the great work and best of luck with the ride!

Thanks! I will try my best to keep the updates coming. Be sure if you guys have any questions or suggestions for content that you let me know.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Just finished up another successful weekend in Venice training with Chris Cormier. Our final workout of the weekend was delts and like always his way was a ton different than how I had been doing everything. The majority of the changes we just in where I was holding the DB's, machines, or BB's but a couple of the movements I had never done before.

On the smythe press he had me take a lot more narrow grip and keep my elbows facing forward throughout the movement rather than letting them drift outwards. By keeping the elbows in front of me I was keeping the majority of the tension in my front delts. The other alteration was that he set the stoppers so that I could bring the BB down to just about chest level before it would hit the stoppers. At this point he had me take all pressure off of the bar before exploding the weight upwards as hard as I could...squeezing for a two count at the top and then slowly lowering the weight back to the starting position.

As most of you know the first rep on a hammer shoulder press is the hardest rep because you are moving the weight from a dead stop. What we were doing here is activating those "start muscles" by essentially making every rep "the first rep." By the time we were done with our five sets there my delts felt fried and we were just getting started. From there we did 5 sets of machine side laterals, 3 supersets of two variations or rear DB laterals, and 3 sets of a BB rear lateral movement. Needless to say I learned three new movements, two different variations of movements I had already been doing, and because of this I am already feeling the pain set into the muscle.

DH~8

 

[Mack411]

Subbed!

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Are these workouts being taped by any chance?

 

[booneman77]

Just finished up another successful weekend in Venice training with Chris Cormier. Our final workout of the weekend was delts and like always his way was a ton different than how I had been doing everything. The majority of the changes we just in where I was holding the DB's, machines, or BB's but a couple of the movements I had never done before.

On the smythe press he had me take a lot more narrow grip and keep my elbows facing forward throughout the movement rather than letting them drift outwards. By keeping the elbows in front of me I was keeping the majority of the tension in my front delts. The other alteration was that he set the stoppers so that I could bring the BB down to just about chest level before it would hit the stoppers. At this point he had me take all pressure off of the bar before exploding the weight upwards as hard as I could...squeezing for a two count at the top and then slowly lowering the weight back to the starting position.

As most of you know the first rep on a hammer shoulder press is the hardest rep because you are moving the weight from a dead stop. What we were doing here is activating those "start muscles" by essentially making every rep "the first rep." By the time we were done with our five sets there my delts felt fried and we were just getting started. From there we did 5 sets of machine side laterals, 3 supersets of two variations or rear DB laterals, and 3 sets of a BB rear lateral movement. Needless to say I learned three new movements, two different variations of movements I had already been doing, and because of this I am already feeling the pain set into the muscle.

DH~8

This sounds intense. Always looking for creative new techniques for rear delts as they're really hard to isolate and grow. Definitely shoulders are a lagging part for me so I might have to look into some of these techniques more. Another solid post^

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Are these workouts being taped by any chance?

We did not tape any this weekend but we are filming when I am back in Venice the first weekend in May and you will be able to see those videos on iForce Nutrition's YouTube page.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Today is a MUCH NEEDED day off from training. Currently I am not on a set split as far as how many days I train before taking a day off but I never train more than three days straight because to me that tends to hinder workouts if you are training at your highest intensity. My back is beyond smoked from Tuesday's workout with Chris which is great but more importantly it is sore in places it typically is not which I love. My back is no doubt a strength of mine on stage but that does not mean that it has no room for improvement, in fact I think it is one of the most important areas for me because between it, my delts, and my quad sweep I can try and take away the negative attention my waist gets in the front poses.

FF (fun fact)- I love when internet experts comment on a weakness in an athletes physique as if the athlete and their team are not painfully aware of all weaknesses and strengths. In my camp we spend almost zero time discussing what is good with my physique and as much time as possible focused on the areas which are lacking because we know that if we can get the weaknesses better that will impact my overall package in a more positive way than causing further imbalance by putting to much effort into areas that are already strong. That may sound backwards after just having said my back is a strength and we are focused on it but the reason for that is there is only so much I can do to bring my waist down so improving my back in the front shots is something more easily controlled.

DH~8

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Absolutely...widen the top and bottom of the X and the middle gets less notice.

 

[dustyhanshaw]

So far Easter has been amazing because all I have done is eat and nap since waking up this morning. I'll be getting in three more meals before training as well as finally having the chance to try my new and improved flavoring system iForce Nutrition Maximize Intense. I would have had it yesterday but after a really late training night Friday I did not have the opportunity to get back to the gym Saturday before heading to my training partners wedding where I was his best man. The wedding was awesome and I really enjoyed spending some time with our friends from the gym in a different environment but tonight it is back to work blasting away at my quads trying to get as much new growth as possible before stepping on stage at the 2013 NPC USA's.

DH~8

 

[Montego1]

Did the dog get to hunt Easter eggs?

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Did the dog get to hunt Easter eggs?

Lol, sounds like something i would do. Damn dog has a better life than most humans.

 

[Distilled Water]

Dusty, are you rice/oats amounts pre-cooked or cooked measurements?

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Dusty, are you rice/oats amounts pre-cooked or cooked measurements?

oats are dry measurements and rice is cooked measurements...all meat is cooked measurements as well

 

[Epolis13]

Hey Dusty!I'm new to the iForce rep team and just wanted to pop in and say "hi." I'll be following along

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Hey Dusty!I'm new to the iForce rep team and just wanted to pop in and say "hi." I'll be following along

Nice to "internet meet you"...lol. Just getting this rolling but with prep officially beginning next week prior to me heading to Germany for FIBO this will get interesting fast. Welcome to the team.

DH

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Just finished blasting quads and damn was it a good workout. I had my first experience with the newly reflavored iForce Nutrition Maximize Intense and it was delish. As always I mixed it with my Hemavol preworkout and then sipped on the Compete while training. As always the volume on the training was very low but the intensity was very high. We started out with five sets of extensions with a two count pause at the contraction of each rep. The sets were all to 20 reps but only the final two were working sets done to complete failure and even with some forced reps. From there it was five sets of leg press and once again only the final two sets were all out intensity that also included some forced reps. Next up was hack squats and for these the reps were dropped down to 12-15 reps. Did four sets here and by the time these were done I was feeling pretty well smoked so we opted to finish with two additional sets of extensions to failure before crawling out of the gym.

Now I am slamming down my strawberry soda and my Vanilla Cupcake Batter Protean. In about and hour I will eat my final meal of the day and then take my ZMA, Intimidate, and Lights Out before crashing for the night.

DH~8

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Is the foot placement on the narrow side for the press and hack?

 

[dustyhanshaw]

Is the foot placement on the narrow side for the press and hack?

Yes, we are doing a more narrow stance at the moment to keep as much focus as possible only on the quads. We are also trying to keep my feet a bit lower on the platform to keep from bringing the hams and glutes into the movements to much.

 

[criticalbench]

Yes, we are doing a more narrow stance at the moment to keep as much focus as possible only on the quads. We are also trying to keep my feet a bit lower on the platform to keep from bringing the hams and glutes into the movements to much.

Narrow stances have been what I've been doing this past offseason to bring up the sweep also.. love it.

Mike

 

[dustyhanshaw]

...I was going to post an image but apparently I need to post 150 times first...ughhhhh

16 weeks out now and excited to finally be starting my dieting down. Thankfully I stayed very lean with such a short off season so at this point the only thing that has changed is that I have started some light cardio and have pulled any extra meals out of my diet. Typically when I diet what I do is diet down by decreasing calories more and more but eventually once my metabolism is really going I end up doing extremely high carb days to keep from losing fullness or size. Some guys have a structured plan for that but in my case we just watch my pics and make these decisions based on how I look. I may be having a high day 0nce a week, twice a week, or possibly only once a month or less. At the end of the day the idea is that we never tell the body what to do but instead we ask it.

Today was quads and I am beyond happy with how much size I am starting to see adding to my quads under the guidance of Chris Cormier. As my most recent quad training video showed I am really focused on controlling the negative portion of my reps, squeezing hard on the contraction of each rep, and exploding through the positive portion of the movement.

DH~8

 

[AZMIDLYF]

...I was going to post an image but apparently I need to post 150 times first...ughhhhh

16 weeks out now and excited to finally be starting my dieting down. Thankfully I stayed very lean with such a short off season so at this point the only thing that has changed is that I have started some light cardio and have pulled any extra meals out of my diet. Typically when I diet what I do is diet down by decreasing calories more and more but eventually once my metabolism is really going I end up doing extremely high carb days to keep from losing fullness or size. Some guys have a structured plan for that but in my case we just watch my pics and make these decisions based on how I look. I may be having a high day 0nce a week, twice a week, or possibly only once a month or less. At the end of the day the idea is that we never tell the body what to do but instead we ask it.

Today was quads and I am beyond happy with how much size I am starting to see adding to my quads under the guidance of Chris Cormier. As my most recent quad training video showed I am really focused on controlling the negative portion of my reps, squeezing hard on the contraction of each rep, and exploding through the positive portion of the movement.

DH~8

DH, are these on the IForce website?^^^
Also, are your rep ranges higher now with Chris training you?

 

[dustyhanshaw]

DH, are these on the IForce website?^^^
Also, are your rep ranges higher now with Chris training you?

I cannot post links yet but the videos are all on the iForce Nutrition video page. If you post on my FB fan page wall and ask for the link I can give it to you there.

Yes, rep ranges for quads and hams are higher now

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Thx big man. I will look on the IForce page. I don't FB so no help there...generational thing I guess. Lol

 

[Distilled Water]

Thx big man. I will look on the IForce page. I don't FB so no help there...generational thing I guess. Lol

Meh, I don't have Facebook either AZ

 

[3clipseGT]

I cannot post links yet but the videos are all on the iForce Nutrition video page. If you post on my FB fan page wall and ask for the link I can give it to you there.

Yes, rep ranges for quads and hams are higher now

Love following your journey/FB page dusty, you always have great stuff.