40 weeks....January-September..No Cheats...To be the best I will do the most, I've heard of a few bodybuilders in the pros doing this, but I've never heard of anyone at Provincial level, training this long for one event. For the distance that I was going to do for this show I would have to mark out areas of the journey that would be land marks on where I should be at this time, and so it began. Biggest land mark of the whole training would be my wife having our second little girl 2 weeks before the show, I will get to that, first off get back into shape, some of the same, melt the fat so that I can see all the muscle, first month was slow but sure and by the end of 4 weeks I could tell that I was on my way, during the second month of my training I came into contact with a friend of mine who was the promoter of the Mr. Saint John show and he wanted to know if I would do a guest pose for him, I thought this was great, home town, 12 weeks out from Nationals and this would insure that I was going to be incredible at show time, it was a done deal, it was set for the last week of June perfect, 185lbs is what I weighed at the beginning and I didn't try to drop to fast, just real slow, a pound every other week and no real cardio just strict with food and train everyday, between the NB show and this show what I gained most of was knowledge, I now knew how to read my body by how I looked or how felt and this was awesome and made this diet alot easier, the months rolled on and the shows were getting closer and the guest pose was just around the corner, it was now June and the guest pose was on my mind 24-7, in my mind I knew that I would not just be able to be cut on stage to look impressive because I'm smaller then any other guest poser that has been there I would have to be ripped so that's what I did I got ripped, that morning of the Saint John show during the prejudging was a great feeling I was sitting up front and thinking to my self "I'm the Guest Poser" LOL I'm going to raze the roof off this place, I did the last week of the guest pose just like I would do the Nationals, carb deplete, carb up, shrink water, and there I was pumping up getting to do something on stage that I never had the chance to do before, I first started with push ups and then dumbbell curls and then chin ups, sidelaterials I could feel my shirt getting tight under my jacket "I was getting pumped!! I unzipped my jacket and off came the shirt and everyone there knew I was getting ready for the Nationals and of my friends competing they all wanted to have a look and when the clothes came off it was as if some had stopped time everyone back stage were stopped in motion big smile came from everyones face and they were saying go get them Mike, I did 2 songs one Black Betty by Ram Jam, then Animals by Nickelback, when I came out the crowd exploded talk about a good feeling they were on there feet clapping and I could hear Bruce in background and my dad my brother my wife and my little girl, then back on stage for song two and same thing I'm telling you this was the most amazing moment I ever had on stage as I always say " It was incredible! " Now Nationals, 12 weeks left and 170lbs, sounds doable, for the next 4 weeks my weight was stuck with only 8 weeks to go I was not neverous but very concerned, so Bruce said up the cardio and I did and shrink some carbs then it happened my weight was moving not fast but at least it was moving again, 2 week is out baby Clara was going to be born I remember this morning just like it was yesterday up at 4:30am breakfast then GYM for 5am, Shannon was to be booked in a room for 7am because of high blood pressure the baby was going to be born that morning no matter what, and now the waiting game, all my food made and oatmeal for most of my carbs made it real easy and microwave for my chicken, by shortly after 9 that same morning Clara was born, just as amazing as watching my first daughter being born then it was 3 days later that Shannon and our new baby girl could home safe and sound and back to the show. I had a real hard time getting down the last 10 pounds, very tough, I didn't know how I was going to be able to tear off the last few but Bruce said he had a plan with smile on his face, I'm thinking what plan and how come you won't tell me, I showed up in Saskatoon the Wednesday before the show and I was 157.5lbs still 3.5lbs away from my contest weight, now carb loading was what I was supposed to be doing and carb loading makes you heavier so that wasn't happening. I was on a different plan, Bruce showed up early Thursday morning and gave me a plan for the last few days, first off, sauna sweat it out so after my first day at the sauna I was 155.5lbs and with only 1.5lbs to go I was sure I was going to hit my weight, Friday at 1:30pm was weigh in time, first thing Friday morning I was still too heavy so off to the sauna again. When we showed up, there was a sign saying that the sauna would be turned off in an hour so we had to get to work fast, after an hour they kicked us out and back to the hotel and I jump on my scale still too heavy and only an hour or so left, off to the weigh in, now at national level you can't be over at all not even .1 so we get there and all the judges are up front and all competitors are watching, each class comes up one at a time, light weights up to bat, and we disrobe and up to the scale and I was 154.5, SHIT!! the judge says to me you have 30mins to cut the weight if not you will bumped to the next class, just by luck the Y was across the street and this is where we were doing all the sweating, I'm in the hot box and I'm thinking, how can this be happening with all time I had to get to my weight class and here it is and in this sauna, I found out later that this is what everyone does in order to look bigger in there class, is cut water weight and carb load after to fill up, so back to the show and there I was undressed and lets try this again, with just 1 or 2mins to spare the judge says 154lbs congrats you made it, YES !! I was so happy Bruce's wife Claudine throws me a 1 liter of water and I drank it all in one drink, I was so thirsty I can't tell you how good that water tasted, so back to the room and it was carb loading time it was so good like I was starving, my first meal that day was 5am and it was 3pm or so when I ate my next, oatmeal, apple peanut butter, beef eater steaks, all night. I jumped on the scale I had in my room the next morning and it was 160 full hard and shredded the perfect combo. Back stage...in the morning they put as all in our own rooms, all classes grouped, then from that room its off to the pump up room it looked like a gym, there are 6 of us in the room and it was like who's going to take there shirt off first, well it was me "lets get a pump!" if I was not ready now hats off to guys that were, there was one guy in my class that looked like he was close to my condition, and so when he was pumping up I wanted to be sure I was better I went over and stood beside him just have a look so I could see what the judges were going to see, and he was in to it as well so we didn't have a pose down but we went through a couple of poses and I think he had enough because he walked away first,,lol,,then the line up of all of us, so at Nationals there is no routine in the morning just call outs, so I'm ready and we go out, and the judges move us around and they start they went through them one time we were done!! ha ha ,,I knew that who ever was the winner it couldn't of been close so then the night show,,same thing first call outs and again just once,,then the routine I went through it with out a glitch and it was perfect, now they narrow it down to the top three, and we went out and the call outs started we went through them and I squeezed every muscle with every bit of energy I had left and then pose down,,,same thing it was like a dream here, I was at the top of the ladder at the show that I've been training for all my life and it is coming to an end and then the music turned down and the judges lined us up and they started calling names and then it happened my dream of being Mr.Canada for my weight division had come true. From the time I first I competed to everyshow I had ever done,,I wondered could I be Mr. Canada for my weight division,,and now no more wondering,,I did it!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
2006 Mr.Canada-Top of the Ladder
40 weeks....January-September..No Cheats...To be the best I will do the most, I've heard of a few bodybuilders in the pros doing this, but I've never heard of anyone at Provincial level, training this long for one event. For the distance that I was going to do for this show I would have to mark out areas of the journey that would be land marks on where I should be at this time, and so it began. Biggest land mark of the whole training would be my wife having our second little girl 2 weeks before the show, I will get to that, first off get back into shape, some of the same, melt the fat so that I can see all the muscle, first month was slow but sure and by the end of 4 weeks I could tell that I was on my way, during the second month of my training I came into contact with a friend of mine who was the promoter of the Mr. Saint John show and he wanted to know if I would do a guest pose for him, I thought this was great, home town, 12 weeks out from Nationals and this would insure that I was going to be incredible at show time, it was a done deal, it was set for the last week of June perfect, 185lbs is what I weighed at the beginning and I didn't try to drop to fast, just real slow, a pound every other week and no real cardio just strict with food and train everyday, between the NB show and this show what I gained most of was knowledge, I now knew how to read my body by how I looked or how felt and this was awesome and made this diet alot easier, the months rolled on and the shows were getting closer and the guest pose was just around the corner, it was now June and the guest pose was on my mind 24-7, in my mind I knew that I would not just be able to be cut on stage to look impressive because I'm smaller then any other guest poser that has been there I would have to be ripped so that's what I did I got ripped, that morning of the Saint John show during the prejudging was a great feeling I was sitting up front and thinking to my self "I'm the Guest Poser" LOL I'm going to raze the roof off this place, I did the last week of the guest pose just like I would do the Nationals, carb deplete, carb up, shrink water, and there I was pumping up getting to do something on stage that I never had the chance to do before, I first started with push ups and then dumbbell curls and then chin ups, sidelaterials I could feel my shirt getting tight under my jacket "I was getting pumped!! I unzipped my jacket and off came the shirt and everyone there knew I was getting ready for the Nationals and of my friends competing they all wanted to have a look and when the clothes came off it was as if some had stopped time everyone back stage were stopped in motion big smile came from everyones face and they were saying go get them Mike, I did 2 songs one Black Betty by Ram Jam, then Animals by Nickelback, when I came out the crowd exploded talk about a good feeling they were on there feet clapping and I could hear Bruce in background and my dad my brother my wife and my little girl, then back on stage for song two and same thing I'm telling you this was the most amazing moment I ever had on stage as I always say " It was incredible! " Now Nationals, 12 weeks left and 170lbs, sounds doable, for the next 4 weeks my weight was stuck with only 8 weeks to go I was not neverous but very concerned, so Bruce said up the cardio and I did and shrink some carbs then it happened my weight was moving not fast but at least it was moving again, 2 week is out baby Clara was going to be born I remember this morning just like it was yesterday up at 4:30am breakfast then GYM for 5am, Shannon was to be booked in a room for 7am because of high blood pressure the baby was going to be born that morning no matter what, and now the waiting game, all my food made and oatmeal for most of my carbs made it real easy and microwave for my chicken, by shortly after 9 that same morning Clara was born, just as amazing as watching my first daughter being born then it was 3 days later that Shannon and our new baby girl could home safe and sound and back to the show. I had a real hard time getting down the last 10 pounds, very tough, I didn't know how I was going to be able to tear off the last few but Bruce said he had a plan with smile on his face, I'm thinking what plan and how come you won't tell me, I showed up in Saskatoon the Wednesday before the show and I was 157.5lbs still 3.5lbs away from my contest weight, now carb loading was what I was supposed to be doing and carb loading makes you heavier so that wasn't happening. I was on a different plan, Bruce showed up early Thursday morning and gave me a plan for the last few days, first off, sauna sweat it out so after my first day at the sauna I was 155.5lbs and with only 1.5lbs to go I was sure I was going to hit my weight, Friday at 1:30pm was weigh in time, first thing Friday morning I was still too heavy so off to the sauna again. When we showed up, there was a sign saying that the sauna would be turned off in an hour so we had to get to work fast, after an hour they kicked us out and back to the hotel and I jump on my scale still too heavy and only an hour or so left, off to the weigh in, now at national level you can't be over at all not even .1 so we get there and all the judges are up front and all competitors are watching, each class comes up one at a time, light weights up to bat, and we disrobe and up to the scale and I was 154.5, SHIT!! the judge says to me you have 30mins to cut the weight if not you will bumped to the next class, just by luck the Y was across the street and this is where we were doing all the sweating, I'm in the hot box and I'm thinking, how can this be happening with all time I had to get to my weight class and here it is and in this sauna, I found out later that this is what everyone does in order to look bigger in there class, is cut water weight and carb load after to fill up, so back to the show and there I was undressed and lets try this again, with just 1 or 2mins to spare the judge says 154lbs congrats you made it, YES !! I was so happy Bruce's wife Claudine throws me a 1 liter of water and I drank it all in one drink, I was so thirsty I can't tell you how good that water tasted, so back to the room and it was carb loading time it was so good like I was starving, my first meal that day was 5am and it was 3pm or so when I ate my next, oatmeal, apple peanut butter, beef eater steaks, all night. I jumped on the scale I had in my room the next morning and it was 160 full hard and shredded the perfect combo. Back stage...in the morning they put as all in our own rooms, all classes grouped, then from that room its off to the pump up room it looked like a gym, there are 6 of us in the room and it was like who's going to take there shirt off first, well it was me "lets get a pump!" if I was not ready now hats off to guys that were, there was one guy in my class that looked like he was close to my condition, and so when he was pumping up I wanted to be sure I was better I went over and stood beside him just have a look so I could see what the judges were going to see, and he was in to it as well so we didn't have a pose down but we went through a couple of poses and I think he had enough because he walked away first,,lol,,then the line up of all of us, so at Nationals there is no routine in the morning just call outs, so I'm ready and we go out, and the judges move us around and they start they went through them one time we were done!! ha ha ,,I knew that who ever was the winner it couldn't of been close so then the night show,,same thing first call outs and again just once,,then the routine I went through it with out a glitch and it was perfect, now they narrow it down to the top three, and we went out and the call outs started we went through them and I squeezed every muscle with every bit of energy I had left and then pose down,,,same thing it was like a dream here, I was at the top of the ladder at the show that I've been training for all my life and it is coming to an end and then the music turned down and the judges lined us up and they started calling names and then it happened my dream of being Mr.Canada for my weight division had come true. From the time I first I competed to everyshow I had ever done,,I wondered could I be Mr. Canada for my weight division,,and now no more wondering,,I did it!
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