No More Fitness Competitions For Me

This is another one of those video you really need to watch as I go into a lot of detail on why I will not be competing in any more fitness shows.

A lot of it is because of personal reasons, I simply want to change direction and focus more on a balanced life which is really hard to do when you are training and preparing for a show like this.

I also talk a lot about my disappointment in the organization of this latest show the IFFB Elite Diamond Cup Vancouver. Like the lack of competitors at the show, how disorganized the show was in terms of knowing what was going on, the misinformation I was told about how they would be handling IFBB Elite Pro Cards that where promised for Masters Division when there were no masters for me to compete against?

I came away from this show extremely disappointed in how it was handled and even a little bit in myself because even after what I feel was one of my hardest worked for preps, I still did not feel like I brought my best to the stage, perhaps father time is catching up with me a little bit. Yet another reason to focus on other areas of my life.

I will still be pursuing Health and Fitness but in other ways, maybe even better ways that are more relatable to my audience?

Road to the IFBB Diamond Cup - Show Day

Watch and see what happened during my Show Day at the IFBB Diamond Cup in Vancouver BC Canada.

I want to thank my Family, friends and supporters that have been behind me during this last few years while I worked my way up the official organization ladders from show to show to get to where I am now.

It has been rewarding in many ways, personal challenges where made, goals where achieved, many of the simple things we take for granted in life where set aside for the greater goal, some I regret now and some I am better off without.

I will be making a separate video going over the result and how I feel about them and the show in general but for now here is the summarized version:

• 1st in Masters Physique. (I was the only contestant)
• 1st in Open Classic Physique C Divisions. (I was the only contestant)
• 5th in Open Physique C Division. (There where 5 contestants) 

All the athletes from around the world at this show looked great and deserved to be up on that stage. This was a high level show.

Road to the IFBB Diamond Cup - 1 Day Out

This video is a bit longer so you're best bet is to watch it for all the info and my thought on the day. In summary, the video starts out with me and my Wife Nicole at Tim Horton's Eating a Blueberry Explosion Muffin, of course this was after walking to Timmy's. The next clip is some update posing in the "Tanning Room" followed by a short Athletes Meeting clip. I then show you some video of my dinner at Wendy's where I enjoyed a lettuce wrapped double cheese burger along with a baked potato and small chili - so good! Then the video gets kind of serious and I talk a fair amount about the IFBB Diamond Cup show. It's not a big show and there are very few Masters competitors which means as a Master I won't really be competing with anyone. Because of this I will also be entering the open classes so that I have the chance to compete with other athletes. There is a bit more to it then that so make sure to watch the entire video to find out the details...

Road to the IFBB Diamond Cup - 2 Days Out

2 more days till Contest Day where I hope to smash the IFBB Diamond Cup stage in both Masters Physique and Masters Classic Physique!

To be honest, today I was a bit concerned that I would have trouble getting my calories burned for the day since I was not doing a weight training workout where I generally burn close to 1000 calories. Because of this I set a slightly lower goal of around 1500 calories which I thought was fair enough.

To help boast my burned calories for the I decided that when it was time to take my son to his Math session, we would bike it down rather than drive. The round trip for me ended up being almost 12 miles and I ended up burning just over 800 calories riding my bike today! That combined with 17,000 step (5.65 miles) of walking and some posing (33 minutes) added up to just over 2100 calories burned for the day.

Now my food intake at 2700 calories was higher than earlier this week because I am carbing up and it just has to be that way to get in the needed carbs but I still figure I was in a calorie deficit of around 1500 for the day, not bad and perhaps close to another half a pound of fat scrubbed off, it all adds up and helps the finished product. My food macros for those that are interested in that sort of thing where 171 grams protein, 425 grams carbs and 50 grams of fats.

I hope I can get in as much activity tomorrow as I did today since my food and carb intake is going to even be higher...

Road to the IFBB Diamond Cup - 3 Days Out

Day 3 this week of my big calorie deficit and my last weight training workout completed before my showing at the IFBB Diamond Cup Vancouver! Things kind of get better from this point on. I get to eat a bit more food including carbs, no more weight training to do but I still need to be active and burn calories to make up for the extra food I will be eating while I carb up.

Today's Calories where around 2300 with a little over 300 grams of carbs, just under 200 grams of protein and around 35 grams of fats. Tomorrow carbs go up to around 400 grams and on Friday I will hit 500 grams of carbs. Protein will come way down to offset total calories eaten a bit.

In terms of activity I walked over 26,000 steps today totaling around 8.5 miles traveled, total activity was 5.5 hours with over an hour of weight training today, total calories burned where just over 2000 most of which was form walking. I did wear my 5 pounds ankle weights today which did help me burn a few more calories walking...

I am for sure leaning up, will it be enough? I sure hope so because it has been a lot of hard work!