53 Year Old Contest Prep 5 Days Out Update Peak Week

One day closer to the Vancouver Fall Classic and today I am in a better mood! Getting back on the low carbs has flushed out a ton of water as I am done almost 5 pounds literally overnight sitting at just under 195 pounds. Still got another 3 pounds or so to lose but it is happening for sure, leaving no stone unturned!

In this Vlog styled Video I take some random video of my day starting with a morning chat at A&W about what's going on, then I go over what my day will look like, some food shots and talk, a little bit of tanning booth posing video, a look at my new posing shorts ending with dinner and a little more conversation...

53 Year Old Contest Prep 1 Week Out Update Peak Week

We are in the home stretch now and this is generally the time I start to get really excited for the show as I am so close to stepping on stage and enjoying all the hard work that has gone into the full prep.

In this video I cover days 7 and 6 out documenting what I am eating and some of what I am doing each day alone with an update posing video. Normally even though at this point in the prep I am super fatigued I seem to find my second wind and get kind of reenergized. Unfortunately not everything is going exactly as I want it to but life does bring challenges and it's how you deal with these challenges that really tells what kind of person you are.

I plan to make video logs of each day during Peak Week so do join with me on this last Peak Week and hopefully you will get an idea of the ups and downs, joys and disappointments that go along with it. Life is not always what you want but it is what you make it to be.

53 Year Old Contest Prep 2 Weeks Out Update & Posing

We are nearing the home stretch with 2 weeks to go until the Vancouver Fall Classic and so it's time once again for an Update with some Posing so you guys can see how things are looking and if I am on track to be ringing hopefully my best size and conditioning to date on stage?

Yesterday I gave myself a higher calorie refeed high carb day to give my body a bit of a break and also see how it would react to higher carbs since I have been low carbing it for several months now. In the past when my body is struggling from a hard prep adding carbs in to carb load and fill in my depleted muscles has not always gone as planned and if I'm not really careful I can spill over even on a moderate carb load.

Yesterdays test run carb load was around 500 grams of carbs as compared to my 75 or less tropical diet I have been doing. To be honest I barely notice the carbs this time and only gained maybe a couple of pounds form the addition of glycogen and water filling my muscles. This tells me everything is working well and I should be able to carb load even a bit higher come contest day but I will still be somewhat conservative just to be safe.

I am happy with things overall and according to my body fat measuring devices I am somewhere around the high 6% or low 7% body fat right now. I want to be in the low 55 or even high 4% come show day so I need to lose around 3 to 4 pounds of fat still which is very realistic since the last two weeks I tend to be aggressive with my diet and usually lose at least 5 pounds during this time from past show experiences.

I feel I look a lot better from 2 weeks ago when I made my 4 weeks out posing video but you be the judge!

Road to the Vancouver Fall Classic 3 Weeks Out Update with Bello 2 Introduction

So we are just under three weeks out from the Vancouver Fall Classic where I will be stepping on stage to compete in Open and Masters Men's Physique and Classic Physique classes (if all goes well). In today's update video I introduce an interesting Health Tech product from Olive Healthcare called the Bello 2 which is claimed to have Dexa Scan Accuracy. This is not a review video for it as I will be making one after my show once I have been using the Bello 2 for a bit and can give me feedback on how it works and how it compares to my at home and gym based InBody body composition scales.

I also talk about how my prep is going sitting at just under three weeks out. What my plans are for fine tuning my calories in and out so as to hopefully get really close to where I need to be when I hit 2 weeks out in about a week. Right now I am for sure seeing the fat coming off and I am really liking what I am seeing but there is still a good deal of work to do and so I need ot stay focussed and on track especially now.

53 Year Old Contest Prep 4 Weeks Out Posing

So here is my latest Posing Update Video exactly 4 weeks out from the Vancouver Fall Classic where I plan on competing in both Physique and Classic Physique in a mix of Open and Masters Classes.

I have been eating 2000 calories for 6 or 7 weeks no (kind of lost count) with a lot of exercise (generally 1500+) each day.

So I can see the fat coming off and even my scale is going down so I know I am losing weight. Sometimes during a contest prep your mind plays tricks on you so it is hard to be realistic about what is actually happening. Even these update posing videos don't always tell the truth as lighting and water retention can play a roll but it is what it is so you be the judge and see if I have made improvements from my 6 Week Out Posing Video.

More importantly am I on track? Will I be lean enough in 4 weeks? I feel like I am on track sitting in what I believe is the high 7% to low 8% body fat mark. I need to get into the 5% body fat ranges but this should not be a problem given I have 4 week to go...