5 Weeks Out - Vancouver Island Showdown - New Date

We are back to 5 weeks out to the Vancouver Island Showdown with new date in place (July 17th 2021) so I kind of guess it feels like we are again moving forward in our timeline :)

Last week went really well, I have been planning on not cutting too hard over the extended extra three weeks since I figured I would take advantage of this extra time to put on a couple of additional pounds of muscle which means a hard calorie defect would not be as productive. I still wanted to chip away at some of the fat so the game plan over this three weeks has been to be at a round a 500 calorie deficit each day for the most part. I managed that and perhaps a little bit more without feeling overly tired in life and at the gym.

Next week will be much of the same and then once we hit 4 weeks out things may change but I will figure that out when I get their based on how I look and feel. I'm still holding close to 200 pounds which is more than I usually am at around 5 weeks out yet I feel I am about the same lean as I usually am so I am hoping I am holding more muscle going into this show, that is always the goal but I find every show my body responds just a little bit differently each time, life is constantly changing and so will the changes to my body as I prep. I have not checked by body fat at my gym in a bit since the InBody scale has been acting up but I hope it will be working again this week so I can see where I am at,  am hoping to be in the 8% body fat range, even 8.9% would be good!

Starting at 4 weeks out I will switch to my posing trunks so I can showcase my legs a bit better and I will also start tanning which means it's time to trim some of the leg and body hair :) The lighting in the tanning booth I go to is awesome so I will for sure be making some update posing videos and selfie photos that I will be posting over on my Instagram Channel to take advantage of the anabolic lighting!

Any-how, I am very happy with how things are going and really feel like I am going to nail this show with more size and conditioning then previous years and that's about all I can hope to really achieve...

6 Weeks Out New Date Vancouver Island Showdown

With the new July 17th date we are now just under 6 weeks out to the Vancouver Island Showdown. Prep is going good, the extra time has for sure taken a little bit of pressure off of me and I feel it will help me to come in with a little bit more size for this show as I have three additional weeks to focus on building rather than cutting hard.

At the moment I am sitting at just a hair over 200 pounds and according to my InBody home scale I am right around 10% body fat but generally it is. At least a point higher than the Pro InBody body compositions scale I have access to at my gym. Last week I was just over 9% so I am hoping this week I may be just under 9%? I am not cutting hard but I am hoping to be redistributing some fat for muscle so it is possible even not in much of a calorie deficit right now. I do feel like this is in fact happening based on what I see in the mirror...

Over the next two weeks I will be in a slight calorie deficit each day of around 500 at least Monday to Friday with a bit higher calories on the weekend but not going over maintenance. The 4 weeks out I will begin to push things more hitting around a 1000 calorie deficit most days with more gerneal activity increasing as I get closer to the show.

Well that's the plan for right now but it can and most likely will change a bit as I get closer to the show, every show is a little bit different than the one before and my body even though I understand it well likes to throw some curveballs at me that I will need to adjust for on the fly!

7 Weeks Out - Vancouver Island Showdown New Date

We are now 7 Weeks out from the Vancouver Island Showdown which is kinda weird since last week we were at 5 weeks out! If your math is correct then somehow 3 weeks magically got added to the show date.

And yes that is exactly what has happened for a few good reasons... The promoters have decided that by adding 3 weeks to the timeline and now having the show on July 17th 2021, they will have more likelihood of being able to not only have the show take place as planned but also have more options that would not be available to them 2 weeks earlier, like actual buts in the audience seats!

With our British Columbia reopening plan, we will have a lot more option in terms of larger events so I agree that delaying the show just 3 weeks is a good plan and although I was a little bit discouraged at first, I quickly was able to come up with a new prep plan that I believe will actually benefit me for this show allowing me an additional 3 weeks of being able to add a bit more muscle while slowly leaning out making the last 4 weeks (which would have been now), a much easier cut.

Road to Vancouver Island Showdown 2021 - 5 Weeks Out Check In

Just under 5 week out from the 2021 Vancouver Island Showdown and I feel like everything is going as planned. It can be a bit mentally difficult at this point because I know how I want to look for the show and this far out I can't be there yet or I will be suffering in way to low of a body fat for too long. The goal is to nail it for that last week getting to a really low body fat and then simply scrubbing off that last couple of pounds and hitting the stage as lean yet full as possible. Right now, yes I am cutting and want to see the lines come in but I am also not focused on drying out so seeing those line even if they exist is not going to show as much a this stage in the game.

Over the last week I did drop my calories down to around 2000-2300 per day depending on how much activity I got in with the goal being Monday to Friday of staying in a 1000 calorie deficit with a bit more calories on the weekend but still trying to be in a 500 calorie deficit Saturday and Sunday. My InBody home scale says I am just over 10% body fat but it has shown to be a bit high when I test myself on the professional gym InBody scales, around 1-2% high. So I would assume I am somewhere in the single digits either in the low 9's or high 8's at the moment which is right on track at this stage of the game.

I did have a bit of a scare last week doing some Barbell Bench Press, not super heavy but heavy enough to get a slight tear in my Shoulder/Peck area. You may notice in this video some bruising on my right side. Lucky for me it does not seem to be affecting my training too much and even feels pretty decent considering how it looks. I won't be doing any traditional bench for a while, at least not till after the show so it will be Dumbbells and flies for me when it comes to chest exercises.

I am holding my weight which is good, around 198 to 199 at the time of this video but it should drop down to closer to 190 right before the show as I lean out and dry out. I will probably hit the stage closer to 195 after carbing back up a bit for show day.

Road to Vancouver Island Showdown 2021 - 6 Weeks Out Check In

Here we are 6 weeks out from the Vancouver Island Showdown 2021, the last couple of weeks have been mainly focused on adding a bit of size while losing a little bit of fat. Kind of like a mini bulk to jump start my body for the contest prep. My best shows have always been when I grow into a show, meaning I add muscle while cutting rather than do a traditional bulk well ahead of a show and then try and lose all the excess body fat (generally more than normal) leading into a show.

I am for sure up several pounds from 8 weeks out and I know I have lost a bit of body fat, perhaps about 1-1.5% but I have also gained some water in the short term since my diet has not been super clean focused, eating more carbs than I would normally have be doing in a traditional cut up until this point.

That said I have for sure gained muscle, I can see it and I can feel it in the gym! The goal now is to continue to grow into the show but get a bit more aggressive on the fat loss by eating less calories as is always the case. My goal will be to be around 1000 calories under each day Monday to Friday with a bit higher calories on the weekends but still under budget by around 500 or so. This should lead to around 1 1/2 to 2 pounds fat loss per week which in 6 weeks should drop me around 10 pounds of body fat which should be close to the target and get me right around 190-195 pounds depending on how much actual muscle I gain by then.

Take a look at the comparison photos between 8 weeks out and 6 weeks out, you can really see the size but it is hard to see any real fat lose changes mainly because of the water gain, alos the the lighting and cameras where different so that makes it hard to tell too.