How Not to Peak on Show Day

It's been a little over a week now giving me lots of time to reflect on competition day for the Vancouver Island Showdown in beautiful Victoria British Columbia Canada. All in all I had a wonderful time, it was kind of like a mini getaway for my wife and I, just would have liked to have spent a couple more days there for sure.

Getting back to the show, I do like some time to think things over and in some cases come to terms with what exactly happened. This show could for sure have gone a lot worse but I know it could have also gone a lot better if I timed things better as I know I was in really good condition and had good size leading into this show, so what went wrong?

In this videos I talk about the carbing up process and how important this is since by carbing up you can either nail a full and dry look, come in too dry and not full enough, or come in overfull and spilled over. You want the first one by the way. I however came in really full and spilling over slightly which at the end of the day means I looked full and big but lost a lot of the detail and ended up being a bit bloated with too much water coming out of my muscles and going into my mid section and anywhere that I had any fat at all, so my mid section, my back and my face.

I also talk about how that happened and where I made some mistakes that I will use as yet another learning lesson. Will I use this new information for a future show??? I'm not sure at the moment, I like to relax after a show and not put any immediate pressure on myself and that's exactly what I am going to do, enjoy life, enjoy eating, enjoy my workouts and let the future unfold on it's own...

Vancouver Island Showdown - Show Day

The day of the show is here and so as always I bring to you as much as I can while doing my best to focus on the show and make some videos of the days events. There is no way for me to include any actual stage photos or video since I am on stage when this happens but I have ordered stage photos and videos of the event that when I do get them will share with everyone so stay posted for that.

I do talk a lot in detail on how I felt the show went near the end of the video but in summary this is how I placed. I placed 5th out of 7 guys in Open Classic Physique Class C. And 6th out of 8 guys in Open Physique Class D. Pretty sure I was the only Grand Master in these lineups so not bad considering.

I felt like I brought a good look to the stage, felt I added some size while still retaining conditioning but I'll wait on the stage photos and video packages I ordered before I can really say for sure.

A big thanks to everyone involved in making this event happen, it went off very organized and professional and felt more like a pre-covid type of event!

Vancouver Island Showdown - 1 Day Out

Just one day left to to go till I make it to the stage of the Vancouver Island Showdown. Today was all about checking in and loading up with carbs to fill in for show day. If you're not sure what carb loading is, it's when you purposely deplete yourself from carbs and glycogen so as to make your muscles go flat or less inflated looking in preparation for loading them up right before stepping on stage. So in effect your muscles will actually absorb more glycogen and water making them as full as possible for the competition.

That is the plan at least and getting it just right is a bit tricky as you can come in underfull or overfull. Underfull means you didn't eat enough carbs and your muscles still appear a bit flat and dry. Overfull is probably worse since if that happens the glycogen spills over into other tissues like the skin and any fat in it washing out the hard full look of the muscles. Let's hope I got it just right!!

Vancouver Island Showdown - 2 Days Out

2 days more to go till the Vancouver Island Showdaown becomes a reality! This video takes you through some of the day with us, mostly to do with our travels to beautiful Victoria British Columbia where the show is hosted this year. My wife Nicole joins me as we make the short trip and get settled in at the WorldMark Victoria where we have stayed many times before. Tomorrow will be the athletes meeting along with checking...

Vancouver Island Showdown - Peak Week Full Day of Eating

Today was a rather busy one for me and so the food had to be quick and simple. Sure it's best if you can make everything from whole foods but that takes time and at the end of the day my main concern was what where my total calories and macros for the day and for the most part I hit these goals.

I got a ton of exercise in today which put me in at least a 2000 calorie deficit which will help me get that last little bit of fat off before show day at the Vancouver Island Showdown on Saturday. I got in at least 7 miles of walking, a 1.5 hour weight training workout and over an hour of posing time.

Below is a screenshot of what my day looked like in MyFitnessPal...