4 weeks out from BC Body Building Championships

So here I am four weeks out. cardio is up to 75 min a day seven days a week at 75% htr. Diet is tight now 10 g carbs a day for five days then two days carb loading, also white fish 5x/day on those days. training has been going well but starting to get tough now with the low carbs. To complicate matters the BC Strongman has been moved to July 27 so five weeks after the BB show, as a result I have started to add a bit of strongman to my training but it is a balancing act. Body building show is of the most importance right now so any strongman I add has to support that, but hopefully also prepare my body for the training coming up in July. Body weight in this pic is 195 and I hope to stay around this weight through July to compete in the under 200 lbs weight class at the strongman meet. There is no way in the time frame I have that I would be competitive in the 230 class  The low energy level were tough at the start, and I was moody ( poor Gwen) but my body is adapting and I am doing better again. So far I have learned a lot about myself again and I suggest that everyone find something that they are passionate about and push themselves once in a while, it is uncomfortable but you will never know how great you can be if you don't try. One word of advice surround yourself with people who share the passion and will support you, for me it has taken a huge team of people to get me here. I would have quit long time ago without their help. I am down 53 lbs and have lost 11 inches off my waist, learned how much harder I can push my body and still recover, seen the positive impact I've had on others who were on similar paths but were struggling with seeing themselves achieving. It doesn't matter on June 22 if I win or not I will have gotten on the stage and done the best I could and that is all I expect of myself. The path to the stage though will have changed me forever I have grown and I will be stronger physically mentally, and spiritually in the future and that is exciting. 

Here is a link to a video of last weekends including of strongman into my BB training.

Last weekend training  

six weeks out

Not much to post, six weeks and a few days out now. Training about twenty hours a week, and the diet is dialed in. Moving on I have committed to BC Strongest man in sept. So looking forward to eating and training heavy again. I will start to post more again when I am actually doing something.  sounds like we may get a group together again to go this meet. 

10 weeks out from provincials

So not much to post bodybuilding is not all that exciting. The pic here is 10 weeks out from the contest. Cardio is 65min a day 7 days a week right now, weight training is 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day 6 days a week. Posing practice is half an hour three days a week and tanning three times a week. this plus making and eating 6 meals a day and work is all I am doing right now. I have to say that we hear all the time that bodybuilding is a life style, well you have no idea until you actually walk the walk. It has been challenging and I will see if I will use the word rewarding when this is over, but I will say now that so far I'm glad I have tried to do this 

Meet prep stars

So contest prep starts today. I gained a bit of weight over christmas so we have decided to  start 4 weeks earlier. Since Nov we have been trying to bring up weaknesses in my body, It has gotten better and now the dieting starts. 19 weeks and 5 days counting down already. This is going to be an adventure, and a test of my resolve. But if it were easy I likely wouldn't be interested in doing it.

jan 23

well the Christmas bulk up is slowly coming off, opps. I had to start doing cardio already, at 22 weeks out instead of the planned 16, I guess that is the price I will pay for eggnog. Bodybuilding is quite boring compared to the strength sports, pick light boring weights up and put them down, not much to write about. As I start to lean out I may post some pics. Having a coach has certainly helped, already my physique is starting to balance out. It has meant doing a whole lot of exercises I would rather not do, which is why I had those imbalances to start with. So big thanks to  Dawn Alison ( Fit Body BC) for all her support

Jan 3 2013

Strength, determination, perseverance, commitment,  I thought I knew these words was a master of these words. Twenty plus years of competing in strength sports, training, dieting, recovery, doing whatever it takes to be the best I could be. Then I start this bodybuilding adventure and I realize that I have much to improve. Thinking back it was a process like it is now, but as I became more proficient  at what I was doing it had become more of a habit than a discipline. Now I am learning all over again much to my surprise. I fell  off the BB wagon through December, diet went for shit, reps fell on the big three so I could lift heavier. As a result three weeks later I have gained ten lbs and injured my low back. This is one of the reasons I have decided to do a BB meet, three years ago when I went back to school to become a RMT I quickly learned that I had become complacent with my view of myself. I thought I was constantly reading and upgrading both at work and in training myself and others, I was sure school would be no problem. Boy was I wrong. I now find myself here again, although like before nothing is new but man is it different. So now once again baby steps, and with some help of the people I have supporting me I will have to find a new level of strength, determination, perseverance, and commitment.

post worlds

So didn't have the meet I was hoping for, still managed to win my class and set a world record on the bench while battling a stomach flue. With that being said I have retired from powerlifting. I am going to try and do a body building show in june, and will try to get a highlands game comp in before the year. So far the training is going ok, very different from what my body is use to. diet is a struggle as I am use to eating what ever I want most of the time coupled with the fact that I dropped from 240 down to 205 all ready this year so continuing to watch what I am eating is getting old. The hardest thing right now for me is learning how to pose, I have never really cared what I look like and not the kind of guy to be running around in a muscle shirt so it has been difficult to make myself stand in front of a mirror and pose. I must get better because I truly suck at this. If anyone wonders why I am doing this it is because it is forcing me out of my comfort zone, and it was something I wanted to do as a youngster. If I get this done it will be completing the circle.