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.