since my last post a long time ago I went to wpc worlds in Baton Rouge Louisiana in 2016  where I won my weight class and broke a bench wr and said good by to competing at this level. 2017 I was struck with Ramsay hunt syndrome which I struggle with today. Took almost 2 years to deal with the health issues around this and to learn how to squat with constant vertigo as my inner ear is no longer works because of the nerve damage. I did get to gpc nationals last year and manage a wr squat bench and total. This likely marks the end of competition for me. I would like to get one more in next year which would give me 30 years as a competitive lifter. time will tell. No telling where the next adventure will lead. I'm still training daily but as I'm not competing I've added in so much more life

My god it's been over two years sine I last posted here. Much has changed in my life and much is still the same. Had my two year check up to confirm that I am still cancer free, and now in the clear. Shortly after my last post here I was diagnosed with prostrate cancer had it removed ect. Was told that I would never be able to lift heavy again and certainly would not be able to compete again. 2014 was a year of rebuilding managed nationals and did a all time squat pr at this meet. 2015 found me back on form again although at the highest body weight I had ever been at 250 lbs. Manage to break two world records at nationals this year as well as winning best overall equipped lifter. I the last six months I have dropped 40 lbs body weight and with the help of a great nutrition coach have bee able to keep my strength high. Next year will find me making one more run at worlds hoping to break a world record that has stood for 32 years, I tried in 2012 and fell quite short, and this has been a torn in my side since.

This bench was from last week at 210 body weight the weight on the bar is 635 or three times body weight The pic below is a weekly update pic for my coach. doing ok for almost 54 years of age

One of the biggest changes in my life has been my shift away from promoting the strength sports as a result I've not been posting much these days. As this now is a personal journey I'm not sure how much I will continue to post

 

The 50th year celebration

So didn't have a big party didn't go on an exotic trip somewhere, I celebrated my 50th year my way. First I was done school by this point and the prospects of working for myself in Vernon were slim at best, so Gwen and I both had opportunities in Prince George and because of the amazing support of our families this was the move that made sense.  In July R&R Massage Therapy moved to PG and I have spent the year building it and loving my new work. The first of my planned adventures happened the Aug long weekend after my birthday Tiffany and I took Hang Gliding lessons something I had wanted to do for a long time.

In September I started preparing for WPC Worlds in powerlifting they were held in LasVegas in November. Although this meet didn't go quite as planned with the help of Mike Webber choosing my attempts and Kevin Lutz helping with my gear we manage to win my division and set a world bench record. Powerlifting is what I have loved the most in my years of training and this meet was my major focus of the year.

 Next was preparing for my first body building show. With the help of a trainer we started in December. Seven months of hell and support from many people I got on stage at provincials in June. I manage a third place finish in the grand masters division, which was awesome since I went into this hoping not to make a fool of myself. Body Building was a bucket list thing, when I start lifting I wanted to Body Build but I was one of those skinny kids and it became apparent that I was never going to put the size on that is need to be competitive. It has taken a long time to get here and if I didn't do it now I never would.

 Then with five weeks after the body building show I had to bring my weight back up and try to gain back the strength I lost from dieting down so far to get ready for BC strongest man. I manage to win the 405lbs deadlift for reps event with 21 reps and I also won the log clean and press for reps with 13 reps I was middle of the pack on the other events except my nemesis the stone load where I had a poor performance which bumped me from third over all to forth. still I had a great day so much fun. Those of you who know me, know I've had strongman equipment since the mid nintys, but I've never really competed mainly because there was always another oylimpic lifting meet coming up and then powerlifting meets after that. I did some small stuff, but this year I finally made the big show in BC

This was my present to myself the accumulation of more than thirty years of training and twenty one years of competing in strength sports led me to my toughest and most rewarding year of competing at the age of fifty

So I finally got the shots from my meet and this is what  51 looks like for me, well a month short of. Well for a couple of weeks anyway. Putting some size back on for the strongman meet coming up on July 27th two days before my 51st birthday. Strongman training is going ok but my body really needs a break from this. I will post some video of our training in the days to come.  

So I survived the Body Building adventure. But to be honest I would have never made it without the support of many others. So THANK YOU first to my loving wife Gwen Tomra for not killing me in my sleep, she did so much to help me though this. to Karley Green for helping me with my posing Brandon Best for putting my posing routine together Dawn Alisonfor the diet and training programs, Michelle Mcbeth for the countless times she was on suicide watch so many times I was ready to give up. Dezeray Tomra tomrad photograpy for the great pics she took because this may never happen again, well maybe once more (sorry honey) and everyone else who kept me on track by showing intrest in what I was doing, many times someone would ask how it was going and it would spur me on again.

So here is a pic from yesterday, nine days out. The count down is on now for sure. Learned something about myself on tuesday. It was squat day and day five of no carbs. I got to the gym and felt like crap took everything I had just to start. In the end I hit all the numbers I wanted and the reps it just took me about twenty minutes longer. A year ago if someone told me I would be able to get though a workout in this state I would have said they were nuts. But this day proved to me that we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. Well off to do cardio five more sessions to do

So 12 days out not much to report Still putting in about 25 hours a week training. The dieting has become very hard no carbs 5 days a week making it very hard to function well. Also affecting sleep as I am unable to sleep because I am hungry all the time. This pic I'm totally carb depleted and flat I will post another friday after carbing up for a couple of days. That is about it I will be glad when this is over