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.

Vancouver Open Show Stage Photos

No narration in this video, just some background music to set the mood a bit, they are not really in too much of an order other than they are some of my favorite photos from the ones I received and start off with Men's Physique and end with Classic Physique.

They are a mix of the morning pre-judging and evening awards shows but it is hard to tell the difference really all that much. Maybe I was a smidge fuller in the evening show?

Vancouver Open Show Video

Review of Vancouver Open Video:

• The video quality was good but not super high quality (1080p), as it was 6 hours long.
• My body conditioning was good but my size was not on par with the other competitors or other shows I have done.
• There are some areas that can be improved for sure.

Classic Physique 45+ Competition Analysis:

• Participated in the Classic Physique 45+ competition with three others.
• Thought I was the most conditioned but the winner had better size and conditioning.
• I was pleased with my conditioning and third-place finish.
• Felt I should have perhaps gotten 2nd place based on what I saw.
• The judges prioritized size over conditioning, 2nd place was not that well conditioned in my opinion.
• The winner displayed a balanced physique with well-developed legs and upper body and good conditioning.

Men's Physique Open and 40+:

• Participated in two categories: Men's Physique 40+ and Men's Physique Open.
• Secured third position in the Men's Physique Open category.
• Did not place in Men's Physique Masters 40+ (got 4th).
• Again size was awarded over conditioning, I was in my opinion the most conditioned on stage.
• My posing did let me down a bit and also the shoulder issue I was dealing with which was a big part of it.

Shoulder Impingement Issue:

• You can see I drop my shoulder a bit on my right side and it is hard for me to get it into the correct position.
• I have had a shoulder impingement that affects my posing and overall balance for some time now after an injury going back several years.
• I did train the affected shoulder more intensely to compensate for the issue but the imbalance was still present.

Other Areas I Need to Work On:

• Abs could be tighter while posing.
• Chest and back size needs to come up and of course shoulders, Arms and legs held their own compared to the rest of my shape for this show.
• Posing always needs to improve.

Prejudging Versus Awards Show:

• I was for sure much fuller for the awards show as I got more needed carbs into me.
• My body handled carbs very well with my improved health, so I need to eat a lot more carbs now to carb up fully, lesson learned.
• I may have placed better if I was fuller n the prejudging section of the show.

What I Liked About What I Brought to the Show:

• My conditioning was as good if not better than most of the other competitors.
• I am very satisfied with my overall balance and proportions, I just need to add another 10 pounds of muscle overall.
• My Classic Physique posing transitions where improved for this show.
• Leg balance is usually an issue but leg balance was about right for this show.

Chose to Compete with Younger Competitors:

• I moving down a couple classes to avoid competing alone.
• In Men's Physique I went from 55+ down to 40+, also competed in Open.
• In Classic Physique I went from 55+ down to 45+.

Vancouver Open Post Show Thoughts

Now that's the Vancouver Open is all over, what are my thoughts on how everything went? Did I meet my expectations? Was there more I could have done? How did I compare to the other guys on stage and was I perhaps at a disadvantage as I am restricted to an actual TRT dose rather than a bodybuilder dose? Can I even be competitive under these circumstances? Does it even matter since this was a personal goal to get back to the stage and at the end of the day, that is exactly what I accomplished so I would say it was a major victory if only a personal one...

What is next for me? I am not even really sure, but health will always be priority number one, followed closely by quality of life. I am a bodybuilder that lives a bodybuilder lifestyle, this can put some strain on the body but it also brings with it positive health impacts. It is about finding that perfect balance, and that is what I plan to do.

Show Day Vancouver Open

Show Day! What all the hard work is for, It's not about where I place, well at least for me this time around but rather, did I accomplish what I set out to do? My goals where simple this time around, firstly, to make it to the stage without compromising my health in any way. If health concerns arose then my plan was to shut things down.

My other goal or focus for this show was on conditioning oversize as I knew bring a lot of size to this show (as I am limited to a very low dose of TRT - 60mg per week) which keeps me in terms of muscle building ability on par with what a natural athletes should be able to accomplish. Keep in mind I am not able to compete in a natural show due to the fact that I am taking synthetic testosterone which is not allowed in natural shows even when prescribed by a doctor.

So here I am competing with guys taking body builder levels of gear while I am limited to a very conservative replacement therapy dose of Testosterone. It is what it is and I knew that going into this show and so my expectations where in line with my limitations.

I will be making a full video going over my thoughts on the show and what my plans are moving forward from this experience. I can say I am extremely pleased with how my body dealt with the stress of preparing and competing in a bodybuilding show. The additional exercise, hard dieting and then the incredible demand right before and after the show where I need to manipulate food and macros in a way that is not healthy to say the least. My body took it all in stride and didn't even flinch. I can not remember a show where I felt as good during prep and all the demands put on it during the show.

Oh ya, I also got a third place in both Men's Open Physique and Masters Classic Physique 45+. There where only 4 people in each of these classes and they all looked really good so third considering my limitations going into this show I feel is a good result.

I don't have any photos or video just yet but will post them when I do have them so stay posted.