Turned 56 Years Old - 3 Months Out From the Vancouver Open

So I turned 56 this past Saturday April 5th. This birthday thing is starting to get old, a bit like me I guess. To be honest, I really don't care all that much as long as I feel good and I'm taking care of myself and the way I look. My modeling days are over, well they never really ever began, my bodybuilding days still seem to be hanging in there but my health is first and foremost.

As of April the 5th, I am three months and one week out from the Vancouver Open Regionals, the real contest prep will start three months out but I am on track for sure. I figure I am somewhere in the single digit body fat percentage, probably the mid to high 9% which means I need to lose around 10 pounds of fat and put on 5 pounds of muscle. This is pretty standard contest prep numbers for me and three months gives me lots of time to get there. I am right around 195 pounds currently so adding 5 pounds of muscle and losing 10 pounds of fat should put me right at 190 pounds, this will be my weigh in weight which will go up a bit as I carb up to probably around 195 pounds on stage. That's the plan for now but we are a ways out so the actual numbers may be a little bit different.

It Begins - 2025 Vancouver Open - 56 Years Old - Post Open Heart Surgery

So it begins yet at least one more time! Last year I did a show called the 2024 Vancouver Open Regionals and competed in the regionals which is "Open" to everyone, no qualifications required. I competed in Classic Physique 45+ along with Physique 40+ and Physique Open.

The goal of this show for me was to see how my body would respond now after the open heart surgery and to see if I could get anywhere near being somewhat competitive on stage. I did end up placing 3rd in Classic Physique 45+ and 3rd place in Physique Open, which I was happy with but more importantly I was very happy with how my body responded to the contest prep as it is very stressful on the body and I have to say this contest prep was probably one of the easiest and most comfortable I have ever done.

That brings us to this year and I have decided to compete again at this years Regional Vancouver Open which is on July 12th, so that gives me over 3 month to contest prep which is perfect. Last year I only had around 5-6 weeks to prep and my starting weight was 185 pounds with a body fat percentage in the high 9%. Right now I weigh 195 pounds with a body fat percentage in the mid to high 8% so I am in a much better starting place with an extra 10 pounds yet around the same body fat percentage.

With all that in mind my expectations for this years Regional Vancouver Open will be much the same as last year. Which is first and foremost to not stress my body out too much and to come in highly conditioned and with as much muscle as is healthy and realistic to expect, knowing that I can not rely on drugs to do much of the work for me. I am just not willing or prepared to jeopardise my health for a plastic trophy a the end of the day. This means I will more than likely not be holding as much muscle as some of the guys that have less to risk, so I will have to focus a lot more on conditioning to make the muscle I do have look as good as possible.

Hopefully at this years show the judges will be awarding conditioning a bit more than last year as in my opinion they were looking more for size over conditioning based on what I saw in the judging and placing of those on stage.

If at any point I do not feel good or have any health concerns I will be shutting down contest prep, but I am confident that it will go well this time around as I do have more time and can take things slow and adjust along the way.

2 Days Out - Bring on the Carbs - Vancouver Open

Over the next couple of days before the Vancouver Open I will try my best to vlog as much of each day as I can, or at least the more interesting stuff. At 2 days out I get to start carbing up, and so for me that is super exciting since I have been eating almost nothing but protein and veggies with very little carbs now for several months...

Today's video really focuses on me eating a bunch of carbs but I also have some walk and talk and a bit of posing which I think is really looking good now. I mean I still need to keep working on the posing but I am lean enough now that I am able to make what I have (Down sized a bit for this show) look pretty good.

I didn't talk a lot about how I am feeling in this video, that will be more for tomorrow in my 1 Day Out Video but I can say I feel really good, hunger has been very manageable and energy has stayed high even during peak week. It is amazing what a healthy heart can do for a fellow :)

3 Days Out Last Workout - Vancouver Open

As promised here is a workout video, now only 3 Days Out from the Vancouver Open. I do get requests to make workout videos and even though right now I am pretty tired in the gym, and the idea of having to setup a camera and make a point of recording workout videos is yet one more thing I have to add in to my day... That said I don't get this lean very often and having a video record of it is probably a good idea :)

So I did what I could, I again used my Insta360 GO2 Mini Camera as I can stick it just about anywhere as it has a magnetic mount setup. This way I did not have to mess around with a tripod and this was a lot less inconspicuous for sure.

Today was mainly an upper body focused workout and was my last scheduled workout before the show, so I did a quick 5-6 sets or so for Chest, Back, Shoulders and the added in a few extra accessory exercises for Traps, Abs and Calves, (Calves didn't get recorder). I did not go too hard as I don't want to get any inflammation before the show. Over the next couple of days I may do some exercises mainly just to get some blood flow into the muscles to help with Glycogen intake.

Getting it Done in the Gym - Vancouver Open / Pro Am 2024

I often get requests to make more Workout Videos or at least some video of me in the gym doing my thing. Usually when I am at the gym I just want to focus on the workout and so setting up and recording video can be a distraction so I rarely record my workouts.

I do have a very convenient camera for the task. My Insta360 GO2 and with its magnet case and built in mini tripod, I can fairly easily set it up almost anywhere which is what I did for this workout video. It actually was not too much of a distraction, so I will make the effort moving forward with this contest prep to get some more workout videos recorded for everyone. Not too many as they do get kind of repetitive after a while...

In this workout I recorded one set of the main exercises I performed starting with chest using the bench machine (also hit my lagging calf with it), then I moved on to back with some cable rows, followed by a mix of shoulder accessory work, I then finished up with some barbell shrugs and cable ab work.