Road to the Canadian Nationals - Peak Week - 5 Days Out Text

We are now well in to Peak Week, only 5 more days to go till I get my spotlight on the stage for representing BC in Men's Physique Masters and Open classes at the CBBF Canadian Nationals. I sure hope I will be ready? I have done everything I believe I need to do to be prepared and I feel I'm on track with only just a little bit more weight/fat to drop over these last few days.

Energy today (Monday) was actually pretty good during my workout but I did find it hard to get my heart rate up where I am use to it being and so my calorie count for today's near 2 hour workout was a bit lower than usual. Nothing a couple of fast paced walks couldn't fix :)

I also wanted to mention that on Wednesday I will be visiting my friend Mike Green who works at Tsawwassen Springs Fitness where they have this super cool body mapping device called the FIT 3D which captures a full 360 degree body scan in 40 seconds using a non-invasive infrared light depth camera. The gym at Tsawwassen Springs Fitness also has a second body composition device I will be getting tested with, using the two of these devices I should be able to get a really good indication of where I am at just days before I step on stage! I should have a video highlighting this by Thursday so stay posted...

Road to the Canadian Nationals - 7 Days Out - Update & Posing

We are so on the home stretch now with only 7 more days to go till I get my shot at the CBBF Canadian Nationals in New Westminster BC on August 13th! I will be competing in Men's Masters and Open Physique representing "Team BC" after placing 1st at the BC Championships in Masters and 2nd in Open.

This past week has been a tuff one with very low food and carb intake. My workouts have been long and drawn out but I have been getting them done and putting in the work to get the volume in. My weight has not dropped too much which is good but I feel the fat melting away :)

Next week will be prep-week and so I will only workout Monday to Wednesday mainly getting a good pump but being careful to not overdo it since my body will be in a more delicate state from being very low in body fat and depleted. On Wednesday evening I will start my carb up with Thursday and Friday being full on high carb days where I will intake close to 600 grams of carbs per day with much less protein than I am used to since I will not need protein as much with the lack of training. I will be getting at least 3500 calories per day from the high carb loading which will also help protect my muscle.

Of course there is the other body prep like hair trimming, exfoliating and my spray on tan that I will need to apply before Saturday's show.

Road to the Canadian Nationals - 12 Days Out - Goals and Expectations

This will be my last week of regular high intensity full workouts which is always hard at this point since I have started my heavy food and carb cut. As I progress through this week I will start to feel weaker and weaker as I get more and more depleted. My calorie cut is close to a 2000 calorie deficit per day at least for the first while till I drop a lot of the last bits of stubborn fat and water, and deplete my muscle of glycogen.

But that's not what this video is about. Like my BC Championships series I wanted to make a video where I talk about my goals and expectations for how I hope to do at the CBBF Canadian Nationals. I am presented with a huge opportunity since there will be IFBB Pro Cards being offered to the overall winners for each category and that also includes Men's Masters Physique. What this means is that if I win first place in my Men's Masters Physique tall division, I will then be compared on stage with the other Men's Masters Physique height divisions and the overall winner will get their IFBB Pro Card. I am also entered in Men's Open Physique and will have this similar opportunity but I am expecting the Open division to be even more competitive so my best chances for an IFBB Pro Card should most likely be in Men's Masters Physique.

IFBB Pro Card aside I am really hoping to place first in my Men's Masters Physique division and top 5 in the Open division at the Canadian Nationals so I can stand up on stage with all those young bucks and show them us old coots still got it. I do not expect anything but I have high hopes and I know going into this that the competition will be amazing so if I do achieve my goal it will be that much more rewarding.

In terms of how my progress has been going between the BC Championships and up until now... I feel I have added a little more size while still remaining lean and should not have any problem getting back to stage shredded condition for contest day. I will also have some improved posing, a few little corrections that will make me look even fuller and more balanced on stage.

Road to the Canadian Nationals - 15 Days Out - Update and Posing

We are almost at the two week marker and the end of my mini-bulk has arrived. I will be starting my hard cutting in the next day or two and have my work cut out for me but that was the plan all along as I really wanted to be able to train hard for at least three weeks to put on some more size for the CBBF Canadian Nationals on August 13th in New Westminster at the Massey Theatre.

I am sitting around 6 to 6.5% body fat right now and need to get down to 5% or even lower so I need to lose a good 2-3 pounds of fat which for me should be pretty easy with the low calorie high protein, low carb and low fat diet I will be on for the next couple of weeks. Keep in mind, my metabolism is pretty healthy since I have been on cruise control and for the most part getting decent amounts of food during my mini-bulk. With this in mind I should respond really quickly to the diet and cut.

As of the day this video was made (Friday July 29th) I am about 193 pounds and I feel I am not holding much water so after my cut and re-carb I should be right around 190 pounds on stage day which is where I was hoping to be as this is a few pounds heavier than I was at the Vancouver Pro Am BC Championships.

Road to the Canadian Nationals - 19 Days Out

We are almost midway point between the BC Championships I just completed in and the Canadian Nationals where I will be competing in both Men's Physique Masters and Open Classes. There was no way I was going to stick stay at sub 5% body fat for another 5 weeks so my plan was to do a mini bulk and then a soft cut for the Nationals. If everything works out the way I want it to I should be able to add a couple more pounds of muscle to my frame for the Canadian Nationals and still come in super conditioned.

I feel I am on track and at least when I look in the mirror at this midway point I feel like I have already added some muscle yet stayed pretty lean. I still have 19 days more to chip away and this week I have started my cut but even so I will progressively overload my workouts and hope to keep adding muscle at least for the next couple of weeks.

You be the judge for yourself and see what you think as I have included a short posing video at the end...