Road to the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic 2021 - 4 Days Out

On one hand I am super happy I am now only 4 Days Out from the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic since I am pushing myself so hard and there is only so long I can keep it up before my body says nope we are done now :)

But on the other hand a bit more time may be needed to get into the shape I really want to be in for the show. I am hoping I am able to accomplish more than I think in these last few days of hard dieting and busy activity...

Right now it is all about eating as little as possible and being as active as I can. Yesterday I only ate around 1200 calories yet I burned close to 1700, combine that with a BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) of around 2000 and that puts me in about a 2500 calorie deficit. If I can keep that up Today, Wednesday and Thursday that will accommodate a 3 pounds of fat weight loss in 4 days. Friday will be carbup day!

My mind is for sure playing tricks on me especially since I am so depleted and flat that even though I lost weight the last couple of days I actually look less defined since I have zero muscle fullness right now. I have to keep this in mind as I will not have that muscle fullness again until I carb back up.

In this video I go over my day focusing on what I eat and I am doing for exercise. 

Road to the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic 2021 - 5 Days Out

We are now well into Peak Week with only 5 days left before the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic and so far the plan is progressing well. This weekend I knew was going to be tuff as I needed to stay in an aggressive calorie deficit even with some social stuff going on and no actual workout on Sunday. I did manage to get a lot of walking in on Sunday and keep my food take-in really low so over the weekend I would estimate I burned 3500 calories less than I used which would yield around a 1 pound of fat weight loss. I am currently sitting at 194 pounds so around 5 pounds under where I stated just over a week ago and I should loss another sold 2-3 pounds of fat by show time settling in just a hair over 190 before carbing up.

Carbup will be conservative and I plan to leave a little extra carbing up on show day if need be as I will probably not step on stage till around 11am-12pm based on past experiences with this type of show format. I did manage to book everything I needed to for the show on Sunday including tanning hotel stay and which categories I will be competing in (More to come on that next video).

This next 4 days is going to be harsh in terms of super low food intake and high activity but I feel really good and seeing the progress happen before my eyes almost daily is super motivating and will keep me on track.

Road to the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic 2021 - 1 Week Out

Today was the day I planned to decide if I was in fact going to compete in the upcoming Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic and much of it depended on how my body responded to a hard week of fairly severe calorie deficit dieting and I have to say I am pleased with how it went and can say I will be in fact competing 7 days from now.

I for sure have my work cut out for me but based on how my body responded this past week or so and how I feel at the moment I am fairly confident I can lose an additional 3-4 pounds of fat for the show which should place me at a competitive body fat percentage on stage. I don't expect this week to be easy but it will be an interesting learning experience finding out how a short and intense cut works for me as I have never prepped for a show in only two weeks. That said I was maintaining a fairly low body fat and decent amount of muscle going into this so I was not super far off the mark.

Watch my update video and take a look for yourself and see what I am looking at 7 days out from the show! I will be posting more videos this week as it is peak week and lots will be going on to talk about...

Road to the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic 2021 - 11 Days Out

I am now only 11 days out from the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic and the question is have I left it too close? Is there any way I can get lean enough to be contest condition? If I had been prepping for this show the way I normally would done, I would be a lot leaner at this point but I would have also been in a much harsher diet deficit for a much longer period of time making my body less responsive to continued dieting.

The advantage I have not being in so much of a diet deficit leading into my last two weeks before the show, means when I do push my body into a hard diet deficit this last two weeks, it will respond to it much better as my metabolism is healthy and my body will be more willing to respond well to the harsh dieting at least for the two week leading up to the show.

So in theory I am hoping to see really dramatic changes over the next week and by this coming Saturday I hope to have a better idea on if I will be ready or not for the show. I hope everything goes as planned but at 52 years of age sometimes my body doesn't always do what I want it to do! Fingers crossed and see you on Saturday when I do another check-in...

October Update Video - Possible Upcoming Show

I have been missing in action for the past several weeks mainly as I have been spending a fair bit more time taking care of my other YouTube Channel or should I say past YouTube channel. My Replica Airguns YouTube channel was taken down by YouTube with no notice other than a termination notice and so we are now in the process of uploading over a thousand Airgun related videos to Vimeo which is another video streaming platform.

On a more positive note I just might be doing a Fitness show, the Leigh Brandt Muscle Classic in a little over two weeks from now, I have my work cut out for me for sure and so it really depends on if I can get into the shape I need to be in and I probably won't know until about a week out from the show as my prep time is limited but I feel I can make the changes I need to as I was not super far off going into the process.