1 Day Out - Almost There - Vancouver Open

The time has gone by so fast in this contest prep to get to the stage foe the Vancouver Open and the work is done other than just trying to fine tune my water and fullness for show day by ramping up the carbs and filling in from a very depleted state.

No matter what happens tomorrow I will be OK with it as a little over a year ago I was not sure if I would even be a part of this world anymore. The idea of doing a show was the furthest thing from my mind, I just wanted to survive and be around for my family and be able to be a somewhat productive person for myself and the people in my life.

Well my excitations have been surpassed beyond belief, and this contest prep has solidified that in my mind, I am not only back to a state of good health but I feel better than I have can remember going back even into my teens and early 20's. Nothing short of a miracle had been bestowed upon me and I am thankful.

So what does this video compose of mainly? Some eating, some exercise, some grooming and preening, some contemplation about life and this journey in particular, Some self doubt but not too much...

2 Days Out - Bring on the Carbs - Vancouver Open

Over the next couple of days before the Vancouver Open I will try my best to vlog as much of each day as I can, or at least the more interesting stuff. At 2 days out I get to start carbing up, and so for me that is super exciting since I have been eating almost nothing but protein and veggies with very little carbs now for several months...

Today's video really focuses on me eating a bunch of carbs but I also have some walk and talk and a bit of posing which I think is really looking good now. I mean I still need to keep working on the posing but I am lean enough now that I am able to make what I have (Down sized a bit for this show) look pretty good.

I didn't talk a lot about how I am feeling in this video, that will be more for tomorrow in my 1 Day Out Video but I can say I feel really good, hunger has been very manageable and energy has stayed high even during peak week. It is amazing what a healthy heart can do for a fellow :)

3 Days Out Last Workout - Vancouver Open

As promised here is a workout video, now only 3 Days Out from the Vancouver Open. I do get requests to make workout videos and even though right now I am pretty tired in the gym, and the idea of having to setup a camera and make a point of recording workout videos is yet one more thing I have to add in to my day... That said I don't get this lean very often and having a video record of it is probably a good idea :)

So I did what I could, I again used my Insta360 GO2 Mini Camera as I can stick it just about anywhere as it has a magnetic mount setup. This way I did not have to mess around with a tripod and this was a lot less inconspicuous for sure.

Today was mainly an upper body focused workout and was my last scheduled workout before the show, so I did a quick 5-6 sets or so for Chest, Back, Shoulders and the added in a few extra accessory exercises for Traps, Abs and Calves, (Calves didn't get recorder). I did not go too hard as I don't want to get any inflammation before the show. Over the next couple of days I may do some exercises mainly just to get some blood flow into the muscles to help with Glycogen intake.

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.