5 Days Out Update Video - Road to Vancouver Open

We are in the home run now with only 5 days before I show my final result at the Vancouver Open Fitness Contest. In this video I go over how I am feeling physically and mentally, if I think I am ready or not for the show, what my plans are day to day and also how my resent carb load went and if it was enough carbs or maybe I need more?

I can say I am for the most part happy with this contest prep, I have stuck to the plan 100% and so far the results are exactly as I envisioned them to be. Health is on my side this time and it makes all the difference as my body is not fighting me anymore. I will try and get some more videos out this week but we will see how it all goes, for sure I will make some shorts so make sure to keep checking back on my channels for those videos to stay up to speed with how everything is going day to day.

1 Week Out Update Posing Video - Road to Vancouver Open

I always feel like the last week before a show is when it really starts to get real for me. At this point I am either ready or things have not gone as planned and I am scrambling to try and make the best of a not so ideal prep that may have gone poorly either by lack of planning or my body did not cooperate. I do have to say that most of the time when things are not the way I want them to be, it was because my body was not on my side and that has been the case the last few shows. I was not aware my heart was in such poor condition and it could only do as much as it could do, and then it just could not keep up with the demand I was putting on it.

I am happy to say, I believe I am ready for this show and my body is finally on my side again which has made this prep so much easier this time around. By easy I mean I am getting back what put in to it, and that is all I can ask for. In terms of conditioning, I am really happy with where I am and only really need to lose a pond or two in the right places to dial in the conditioning the way I wanted it to be for this show. Size wise, I am not my biggest version or even close to it, but I don't mind giving up a bit of size for much better conditioning and my expectation for this show was to not be that big as my health is the focus. I have put on some muscle and the conditioning is helping to make the best of it.

So here we are one week out from the Vancouver Open Fitness Contest and I am ready to smash this week and do what ever it is I need to do to peak for the show. I have included some posing in this video so you can take a look for yourself and see exactly where I am at 1 week out.

12 Days Out Update Video - Road to Vancouver Open

I made another walk and talk video, this time talking about what's going on 12 days out from the Vancouver Open Fitness Contest I will be entering into after over a year and a half off due to my open heart surgery to replace my bicuspid aortic valve and aneurism of the aortic root.

I go over how I am feeling in terms of energy and hunger. Where I am at body composition wise (what my body fat percentage is, what my skeletal muscle tissue is and what my weight is currently). I also talk about a resent carb refeed I had and how that effected me in the gym and with water weight.

For the most part I a feel I am right on track and so will keep things as they are since they still seem to be working. If anything changes, I will make whatever adjustments I need to and that could even be adding in more food or potentially reducing some of the activity I am doing depending on how I feel and look.

Legs and Arms Workout 2 Weeks Out Vancouver Open

I have been asked fairly often to post more training videos especially when I am in Contest Prep, it can be hard as I am in there doing my best to get the job done and capturing videos does break up the workout a bit. My Insta360 GO2 camera does make it a bit easier to get those quick videos and so here you are... a rare Leg and Arms Training Day. I show only one set of each exercise that I did. For Legs I always hit a compound exercise like a press or squat or the likes and then I add in some extensions and curls, generally about 6 sets of each. For Arms I just pick one exercise and crush it with around 6 or so sets.

Keep in mind I do a similar Legs and Arms workout a total of 3 times per week, just like when I do Chest, Back, Shoulders and Calves. Abs and/or core is always added in at the end of every workout.

55 Years Old Post Open Heart Surgery 2 Weeks Out

Here we are two weeks out form the Vancouver Open, the time is really flying by fast and we are getting really close now. Only two more weeks to get in peak shape and right now I feel I am on track and where I want to be. I know being the biggest version of me is not going to happen but I do feel like I will come in perhaps as conditioned if not maybe even more conditioned than I have ever been and that is not an easy task as there have been a few shows where I nailed my conditioning so that is a hard bar to beat but I will try nonetheless.

Any way, you be the judge as it gets harder and harder to be objective the closer I get to the contest, as the cutting game does begin to play with ones mind and skew reality just a bit. I still have some work to do and I am looking forward to the final results.