Road to Canadian Nationals - 1 Day Out

Only 1 more day to go, this is when it gets really exciting as all the fun stuff starts to happen now. Today I traveled to the host hotel the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford where I will be staying at for my duration at this years Canadian Nationals. Friday for me is more of a get organized day but there are a few things I had to do like pick my team BCABBA jacket and get a group photo with the team. I also had to get signed in during the athletes meeting so I am fully registered to compete on Saturday. Somewhere in there I also had to fit in my first coat of spray tan.

Oh an I also got to have a pretty damn good dinner at Red Robin this time around, a nice juicy lettuce wrapped beef burger with bacon and cheese and a side of yam fries :)

Road to Canadian Nationals - Bod Pod and FIT3D Testing

There is a lot of info in the video so make sure to watch it for all the details. The short version is I tested at 7.6% using the Bod Pod which was a bit higher than I was expecting since I feel as lean if not leaner then I have been in past competitions. At the end of the day the Bod Pod is just a machine that spits out a number you can use to help you track your progress but it does not indicate what you look like in real life or how you present yourself on stage. That is what is ultimately the most important!

Comparing last year's FIT3D to this year's FIT3D results at 3 days out from the Canadian Nationals, it kind of looks like I have brought up my upper body just a bit and may be heading into this year's Nationals a little bit leaner and more conditioned. Again checkout the video for more info and a look at my FIT3D Animated Avatar that I had done at the Tsawwassen Springs Health Club.

Road to Canadian Nationals - Peak Week 4 Days Out

I have officially made it to Peak Week for the Canadian Nationals and today was my last Leg day for training and will also be my last low carb and super low calorie day. Tomorrow I start to load back in my carbs which will bring the calories up a little but I will still be at a calorie deficit at least for tomorrow since I will be getting one more upper body weight training workout in. After tomorrow there will be no more workouts unless I feel I need to do a little bit of cardio to work off some of the high carb foods I will be eating.

I am not only excited about getting tot eat carbs tomorrow but also my body testing starting with the Bod Pod in the morning and the FIT3D later in the afternoon. I wonder what these test will show, hopefully all good and that my hard effort has paid off!

For the most part I am still feeling pretty good but I can say my has started to fight back a little bit today which is a good sign as it's telling me I am getting very close to pushing it as far as I can. Just in time for my carb reloading so I think I nailed it!

Road to Canadian Nationals - 8 Days Out Update Video

Closing in on a week from the time I get to step on stage at the Canadian Nationals and defend my 1st place title. I have been hard low carb dieting since Monday so 5 days now and so far I have been a good boy and sticking with my 2000 calorie deficit each day, the weekend will be a bit tougher since I won't be doing any weight training workouts but hopefully I can get some other activity in to make up for some of it. I'm still pretty sure I will be down about 4-5 pounds of fat by Wednesday which is exactly where I feel I need to be to be sage ready shredded. It will be interesting what the Bod Pod says my fat percentage is when I get tested Wednesday morning?

Next week will be a short workout week, Monday to Wednesday and then it's carb back up time, looking forward to that!

Road to Canadian Nationals - 10 Days Out Update Video

I am now on my third day of low calorie and low carb eating as I get closer to the CBBF Canadian Nationals where I am hoping to defend my 1st place title in Men's Masters Physique Tall Division.

I am only taking in about 1500-1600 calories per day while I am expending closer to 3500-3600 calories per day so this puts me at a deficit of around 2000 calories per day. This will shed the remaining fat very quickly, about a pound every two days. My protein intake still remains high (over 200 grams) while my carbs and fats are very low, about 100 grams of carbs and around 30 grams of fats.

So far so good, it took a couple days for my body to adjust to the low carbs but my energy felt good today so I am pretty sure I am in ketosis (burning fat as fuel).

I also made arrangements to get some body composition testing done next Wednesday which will be 3 days before contest day so I will be in pretty much peak shape and about as lean as I will be getting. The two composition tests I am doing are the "FIT3D" Body Scanner and the "Bod Pod" Body Composition Pod.

Last year three days out from the Canadian Nationals I also had the "FIT3D" Body Scan which creates a 3D avatar with all of your body dimensions. So this time around it will be really cool to see what has changes since then, hopefully for the better!

The "Bod Pod" is something new that I have never done before but is claimed to be the gold standard in body composition testing to find out lean body mass and overall body fat percentage. It does this by figuring out how much volume of air your body displaces to figure out your mass and only takes about 5 minutes.

In past shows I have guesstimated that I'm right around 5% or just a hair under, I guess we'll see what the "Bod Pod" says?