The Closest Thing To Crazy

People are always telling me that they receive conflicting advice.  Well the latest edition of "The Beef" contains two interesting yet conflicting articles. Firstly there is the detailled show diet and training plan of pro bodybuilder Hunni Glanville, which lists his tried and trusted methods of fasted cardio, high reps, multiple small meals and training each body part only once a week.  Further on in the magazine is a piece from regular contributor Paul Scarborough which "explodes myths" and basically disagrees with what Hunni is doing. "You pay your money you take you choice" as the saying goes but all I would add is that I have known Hunni Glanville for many years and have always been massively impressed with his physique, knowledge, acheivements and friendly & helpful attitude to lesser bodybuilders such as myself, whereas I've never met Paul Scarborough.  In other news, I finally got a copy of the wedding photos, most were just of people that I don't like enjoying themselves on my money but there is this one picture which shows just how gorgeous Lilybelle is and that when scrubbed up I can almost pass as normal!

The Chain

During a show diet one of the most important things to consider is muscle protection.  Have no doubts, the ridiculous diets that are required to reach peak condition in today's top quality competitions will burn muscle as well as fat unless you comprehensively address the issue.  We all rely on Glutamine of course but personally I stack the Glutamine with a good quality BCAA.  The ratio of the various amino acids is crucial for the product to work properly and I have been using Matrix BCAA Raw, available from http://www.supplementcentre.com   This contains a precise 2:1:1 ratio of Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine with a small amount of Citrulline Malate, together these form a perfect Branched Chain of Amino Acids. I add this stuff to my drinks for cardio, pre workout and post workout and it works well stacked with the Glutamine to ensure that the muscles recieve maximum protection at all times.  Finally, I would just like to wish my mate Richie Goodwin all the best for Sunday.  Richie is one of the nicest guys in the business and he is competing at the UKBFF East of England show. He always looks incredible and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the finals at Harrogate. 

Take It To The Limit

Good news travels fast! I've had several people asking me about my plans to open a gym next year but its not quite as simple as that. Yes this is my last year of competition and yes I will need a testing new project next year but I must stress that it's only at negotiation stage at the moment, I will post an update when I have one. As I was in St. Albans on Thursday I trained at Body Limit gym, where it all started out for me. It's still a great gym and it was good to catch up with some old friends.  I had a very nice email this week too, from Damir Inancic, president of the Serbian powerlifting federation, which was good to recieve.  Best of luck to my mates Peter Busby and Malcolm Fraser who are competing at the Kent Classic tomorrow, and finally the pic is a still from the show prep DVD that is currently in production.



Cheating

I am often asked about cheat meals. One girl that I used to coach used to have a cheat "day" once a week, she was upset when I told her that it was supposed to be just one meal!  When Eddie coached me he always said that cheat meals were important and to have one a week.  I very much agree that they are important but these days I have one every two weeks because that works better for me. There are no hard and fast rules though, just do whatever suits you best and eat whatever you fancy at the time but its generally accepted that once a week is the maximum when dieting.  I get annoyed at people on social media trying to validate the fact that they are dieting by posting pictures of their boring diet food and telling everyone how hard they are dieting.  This picture, my cheat meal from Saturday, is just to piss off those people.

 

Worried About Ray

One of the few good things about doing morning cardio indoors is catching up with TV shows.  I favour outdoor power walking as the best form of cardio but in truth most days I just fall out of bed and sit on my recumbent bike watching TV, I'm not being lazy, I blame "Ray Donovan".  I'm now up to date with this brilliant series that is shown on Sky Atlantic HD and I can't wait for the next episode.  One hour of low intensity cardio before breakfast has always been the best way to burn fat without burning muscle, to be on the safe side I don't just drink water whilst doing morning cardio, I have a weak shake of Whey Isolate, Glutamine and BCAA, all of these things together, sipped slowly during the hour keep the muscles protected and make sure that I'm only burning fat.  I'm definitely not a morning person but as it's only just over 5 weeks to show time, needs must, as the saying goes!

New Day

I hope that you like the new layout of the website. My son Steve is too busy to run the site anymore so "MyParadox" who are the media company responsible for putting me on TV have taken it over. They have done an excellent job and I'm very grateful. It needed changing as the old site was looking a bit old and tired (insert obvious joke here!)  Secondly, a big welcome to you if you have been referred here by www.supplementcentre.com who now feature my blog http://blog.supplementcentre.com/best-blogs-brilliant-bodybuilders/ I'm very happy to be a part of their network and I hope that you enjoy my blogs. Show prep is hurting already and that's a good thing, it's all being captured on video too for the DVD that will be available sometime in November.  As soon as I start looking anything like ready I'll post pictures of my progress but in the meantime, especially for all of the new readers, here is a picture of the most important person in my life, my Granddaughter Lilybelle, who is regularly featured in my blogs.

Hurry Up And Wait

I am really enjoying being back in full show prep mode.  It's a sadistic kind of pleasure but feeling tired and hungry all of the time means that I'm doing everything right and even seeing results already but the thing to remember with show prep is that the work is hard and the results take time.  Normal people won't understand this but I will honestly miss doing show prep after this season.  I took the decision a while ago that this would be my last year of competition and because, for personal reasons, I no longer want to live where I do anymore, I'm looking forward to a new home, but that is just one of the projects that I have planned for after this season is over.  I've never been one to talk about what I am going to do, most people do these days and then never actually do anything, so as all of the parts of my new life come together I will talk about them then.  All I will say is that I have new dreams these days, I have never been so excited about my future and I can't wait for to all start happening!

2013 Herts & Beds First Timers

Trevor Chung's 2012 "Herts & Beds First Timers" show in Dunstable was my favourite show last year, it's one that I will never forget for lots of reasons.  Also, it was at that show that I first met Ediz Mehmet and he told me that he wanted the 2013 version of the show to be his first competition; so I sorted him out a diet and training plan and we have stayed in touch ever since.  On Sunday 28th July 2013 he won his class and also the overall conditioning medal of honour with an impressive display.  I can't take any of the credit for coaching him as all I've ever done for him is to give him advice by email as I do for so many people but I am very proud to say that I helped him along the way on his journey.  As you can see, he made an amazing transformation, all drug free, all down to hard work and good dieting.  Well done sir, take a bow!

Bitter

I had to smile at the latest unrest caused by one of my pet hates social media, this time Twitter. I only deal in facts so lets face a couple of those things right here.  Most people use social media for good reasons but millions of very bitter people use social media for two other reasons.  1.Generous self publicity which they write for themselves and then believe; who are they trying to convince? Themselves or their support network? And 2. To spread rumours, slag off people they don't like and tell lies about them because they don't have the balls to say anything to their face. Trolls are the scum of the earth but anyone who believes what they write is actually even worse.   In other news, I've just got back from my pre show prep fitness camp, which was great fun but hard work.  The best bit was a tree climbing assault course which I'm honest enough to admit I did struggle with but I'm now in full show prep mode and the fitness training has definitely helped.  You will never see me writing nonsense such as "#I look great" like the social media idiots do but I will be working flat out to look as good as I can over the next three months.