Today is an update on my recent competitions and also a bit of news regarding my upcoming shows.
Lakes Open - 5th May 2013
This is a non-affiliated show and as such will not qualify me for further shows, however it is very competitive due to its timing. It is two weeks before the biggest NABBA qualifying show in the country (North West) and is used very much as a warm up/ practice run for the British Qualifier. Which is exactly what I did.
I entered the Over 40s because there wasn't an Over 50s category. In doing so I was up against a very sharp looking Steve B, who pushed me very hard but I feel that my overall size carried me through to take the Over 40s title.
Another good thing about this show is the Open class, mainly because it is truly is open. The winners of all classes are allowed to enter, unlike most shows where only the winners of Mr Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 can compete. There were thirteen of us on stage and I (by far the eldest) took 3rd. I was absolutely delighted.
As ever I didn't rest on that success and felt that my preparation wasn't completely right. I was carrying a little too much water and as a result looked too smooth, but thats exactly what this show was all about. The practice run went well, but I felt that I could look even better.
NABBA North West - 12th May 2013
This was the important one. The Britain qualifier. The show is not only big due to its importance, but also the sheer number of competitors and spectators. Its one of the best (if not the best) regional qualifier in the country, and the setting (Southport Theatre is just by the pier) is great.
The show was organised by Mike Sullivan (NABBA North West Rep) who is helped by many local gyms. Most notably Iron Man Gym in Preston. Iron Man Gym is where I train and is one of the best equipped gyms in the country, no frills, just lots of very good kit!
This time I was competing in the Over 50s and I was one of six competitors. My preparation has gone much better this time having learned my lessons from the Lakes Open (I will go into detail about my competition prep at a later date). I was holding less water and so looked much harder. I was actually taken aback by the reaction I received from other competitors back stage, the feedback was all very positive and complimentary.
I took 1st place and qualified for NABBA Britain which is to be held on Saturday 25th May at the same Southport Theatre.
All of the pictures for the show will soon be available on the NABBA website under the gallery link.
I wanted to end with something that I am extremely proud to announce. As I was walking off stage, the MC called me over and I was met by the show promoter Mike Sullivan. He offered his congratulations and then invited me to join the British Team to compete at the NABBA World Championships to be held in Turin, Italy on Saturday 8th June 2013.
So I am now a World Championship competitor, which I have to say, feels fantastic!
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Training and Nutrition Basics
Thank you to everyone who has been following me on twitter and reading my blog, its been fantastic seeing so many people taking an interest.
Anyway, as promised, this post is going to be about training and nutrition. The first thing that you should do is to decide on your goal. What do you want to achieve? For me, my goal was to become one of the best Masters competitors in the country. In a previous post I said how I identified my weaker areas and tailored my training regime accordingly.
So what do you what to achieve? What are your goals?
I am aware that people of different training backgrounds will read this, and as such I think its important to start fairly basic. But even if you are experienced you may find that you can improve your own fundamentals.
It is important to try and enjoy your training. Its not essential, but a long term commitment to your goal is. Bodybuilding, or just general body conditioning takes time.
My training will fall into two distinct cycles - competition and off season. Competition has specific requirements which are for another time, today will be about the off season. In the off season I like to train Monday to Friday, weekends are for growth and recovery, along with family time. This is not to be undervalued, and forms an essential part of your training life.
Training
Below is a basic three week plan to show you what sort of things need to be incorporated, and to show you how you can build from week to week.
Week 1 - Heavy weight for 8 to 10 reps with the last 2 being negative reps. I will explain about negative reps at a later date or you can contact me.
Week 2 - Still heavy weight, but one that you can do for 12 to 15 reps with the last 5 being negative reps.
Week 3 - 20 reps at your heavy weight.
Your week should look something like this -
Monday: Chest & Calves
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Legs & Hamstrings (Hamstrings first)
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms & Calves
It is very important that you keep a record of your progress because training programs are not a 'one size fits all'. If you are not making progress then you simply need to change something.
Food & Nutrition
This is a big subject, but as before it will be basic to start with. This example would be a typical weekday workout day.
Meal 1 - 40g of cooked oats, 1 1/2 scoops of whey, 1 banana.
Meal 2 - 135g of drained tuna in brine (1 can) and 100g of sweet potato.
Meal 3 - 150g of cooked chicked and 150g of sweet potato.
Meal 4 - 25g of uncooked oats and 1 1/2 scoops of whey.
Train
Meal 5 - 25g of uncooked oats and 1 1/2 scoops of whey.
Meal 6 - A chicken breast, broccoli (as much as you need), 200g of sweet potato.
Meal 7 - 125g of low fat yogurt and 1 1/2 scoops of whey with 25g of all bran mixed in.
This will hopefully either give you some direction in your current training or even give you a place to start.
Anyway, as promised, this post is going to be about training and nutrition. The first thing that you should do is to decide on your goal. What do you want to achieve? For me, my goal was to become one of the best Masters competitors in the country. In a previous post I said how I identified my weaker areas and tailored my training regime accordingly.
So what do you what to achieve? What are your goals?
I am aware that people of different training backgrounds will read this, and as such I think its important to start fairly basic. But even if you are experienced you may find that you can improve your own fundamentals.
It is important to try and enjoy your training. Its not essential, but a long term commitment to your goal is. Bodybuilding, or just general body conditioning takes time.
My training will fall into two distinct cycles - competition and off season. Competition has specific requirements which are for another time, today will be about the off season. In the off season I like to train Monday to Friday, weekends are for growth and recovery, along with family time. This is not to be undervalued, and forms an essential part of your training life.
Training
Below is a basic three week plan to show you what sort of things need to be incorporated, and to show you how you can build from week to week.
Week 1 - Heavy weight for 8 to 10 reps with the last 2 being negative reps. I will explain about negative reps at a later date or you can contact me.
Week 2 - Still heavy weight, but one that you can do for 12 to 15 reps with the last 5 being negative reps.
Week 3 - 20 reps at your heavy weight.
Your week should look something like this -
Monday: Chest & Calves
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Legs & Hamstrings (Hamstrings first)
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms & Calves
It is very important that you keep a record of your progress because training programs are not a 'one size fits all'. If you are not making progress then you simply need to change something.
Food & Nutrition
This is a big subject, but as before it will be basic to start with. This example would be a typical weekday workout day.
Meal 1 - 40g of cooked oats, 1 1/2 scoops of whey, 1 banana.
Meal 2 - 135g of drained tuna in brine (1 can) and 100g of sweet potato.
Meal 3 - 150g of cooked chicked and 150g of sweet potato.
Meal 4 - 25g of uncooked oats and 1 1/2 scoops of whey.
Train
Meal 5 - 25g of uncooked oats and 1 1/2 scoops of whey.
Meal 6 - A chicken breast, broccoli (as much as you need), 200g of sweet potato.
Meal 7 - 125g of low fat yogurt and 1 1/2 scoops of whey with 25g of all bran mixed in.
This will hopefully either give you some direction in your current training or even give you a place to start.
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
My Bodybuilding History
So, yesterday was an insight into what got me started with training and how I came to specialise in Bodybuilding in particular. What I wanted to do today was expand on that a little and focus more on the specifics of my Bodybuilding history. Then over the next few days I will put up a basic training and nutrition plan for anyone to use. Its taken me many years to get to this point, so if your looking for somewhere to start, or a bit of direction in your workouts, then id recommend having a look.
Back to todays post....
11 years after winning Mr Boston I was now working for British Aerospace in Saudi Arabia. My training had advanced but my nutritional knowledge was very poor. The gym in Saudi was once again very basic, so a group (30ish) of us got together to form a coop, which worked very well. It is a sad fact that in the whole of Saudi Arabia nobody makes gym equipment! You could buy it from main dealers but at around £4,000 for a low row machine from imported brands such as Trotter, Cybex, Weider and LifeFitness it was proving to be way out of our price range. So we had plate loading kit (because we could get cheap 20k plates) shipped in from the UK.
As I now had a good gym to use I decided to look at competing again, and it was at this point that I finally got my nutrition under control. In September 2001 I did my next competition, it was an EFBB show in Leamington Spa. The U90k Class was my weight category, but on the day I was 84K so to be truthful if I had been in top condition I should have been in the U80k Class. As it happens I took 3rd.My next outing was in 2004 again it was an EFBB show, but this time in the Leicester O40s Class. I won and qualified for the British Finals but as I was still living abroad I decided not to enter as to compete in the finals would have meant flying at great expense to me.
In 2011 at 48 years old I decided to take the plunge again, although now I was living in Preston and Training at Ironman Gym. This is a fantastic gym and I would go so far as to say that it’s the best Bodybuilding gym in England!
I competed 3 times in 2011 the first show was non-affiliated, but very well regarded in the area , and I placed 3rd in the Over 40s. I had the biggest and most well-formed physique but I did lack the condition so 3rd was fair. Next was the NABBA North West, a Britain qualifier in May 2011. I had a further 2 weeks to improve my condition and it paid off with a 2nd place in the O 40s and qualified for the Britain Finals (the Big time). The finals were held at the same venue as the qualifier but only 6 days later and there in laid the issue, “prep time”. There were only 4 days to deplete and carb up again and I have to admit I didn’t get it right. But that being said, the results were a little odd, the guy that placed 3rd in my qualifier won the Britain the winner of the qualifier only placed 5th. All this in 6 days, so I wasn't too hard on myself!
After my no place result in the Britain Over 40s I made the decision to go for the Over 50s class in 2 years time. So I made a plan.
Around August 2011 my training started to take on a new intensity. The first thing I did was to identify my weak areas like hamstrings and shoulders. I addressed the hamstring issue by moving them to the beginning of the leg workout, I did consider doing them on a separate day but I think pre-exhausted hams react better to the continued use during the rest of the workout. As for my shoulders the focus was my rear delts. It is an aspect of the shoulder workout that is often overlooked which is a shame as good rear delts add so much to the balance and overall impression of size of the shoulders. My on stage weight for the Britain in May 2011 was 13st 9lbs and by June 2012 my weight peaked at 17st 11. Yes that was too much body fat but I had also made some good gains. So the plan now involved getting my body fat under control before I started my contest prep. I had made that mistake in previous years and it can cost you muscle mass if you have to hit the diet too hard. My advice to anyone competing is that you should be able to see your abs before you start you competition prep!
I will end with a flyer to my next show. Sunday 12th May, hope to see you there!
Paul Rowe Photoshoot or Paul Rowe Photoshoot (Antimo)
Monday, 6 May 2013
How I Got Started
I had always been reasonably active, having attended a Judo club from the age of around 9 to 14, but then the teenage years kicked in and I couldn’t be bothered anymore. It wasn’t until I joined the RAF at age 17 that my interest in exercise was rekindled. Having the use of a fully equipped gym and enforced PT played a part, but the real turning point for me was after my trade training. About a year into my first tour (age 18½) I had just arrived back from the pub via the chip shop and I looked down and couldn't see my feet.....my life changed at that point!
The gym at RAF Leuchars left a lot to be desired. It consisted of and old (1970s)York multi gym and some loose weights but it was the start of my journey.
As an 18 year old, my main drive to be in the gym was to look good for the ladies. Although as time went by it became apparent that not only was I strong, but I was getting stronger. This was where I got a bit of direction from my then mentor, a Paul Beattie who worked on 111 Squadron with me.
About 7 years later I decided that it was time to compete at something and I saw an advert in the RAF news for the RAF Powerlifting championship. The year was 1990 and the event was to be held at RAF Cosford. I have obviously deadlifted, squatted and bench pressed as part of my training, but never attempted them competitively. So, I turned up on the day, stood on the scales (I didn’t know why at the time) and was told I was in the under 90k group. I was the asked for my starting lifts so I just said what I was training with at the time - 180k for the bench. The official looked up and said “are you sure?” I thought that I must have said something wrong so changed to 170k. He noted it down and then we had the same back and forth with my answers to the deadlift and squat questions.
Whilst doing my Powerlifting training at a gym in Boston I noticed a big bronze trophy that was given to to the winner of the local body building contest. 'I had to win it" I thought.
The gym at RAF Leuchars left a lot to be desired. It consisted of and old (1970s)York multi gym and some loose weights but it was the start of my journey.
As an 18 year old, my main drive to be in the gym was to look good for the ladies. Although as time went by it became apparent that not only was I strong, but I was getting stronger. This was where I got a bit of direction from my then mentor, a Paul Beattie who worked on 111 Squadron with me.
About 7 years later I decided that it was time to compete at something and I saw an advert in the RAF news for the RAF Powerlifting championship. The year was 1990 and the event was to be held at RAF Cosford. I have obviously deadlifted, squatted and bench pressed as part of my training, but never attempted them competitively. So, I turned up on the day, stood on the scales (I didn’t know why at the time) and was told I was in the under 90k group. I was the asked for my starting lifts so I just said what I was training with at the time - 180k for the bench. The official looked up and said “are you sure?” I thought that I must have said something wrong so changed to 170k. He noted it down and then we had the same back and forth with my answers to the deadlift and squat questions.
I went on to win the competition by a considerable margin and looking back I think my final numbers were; Bench 205k; Deadlift 260k; Squat 210k.
That performance put me through to the British Finals at which I took the U90k title. It was just after this that I decided powerlifting was not for me because as I pushed to increase my totals I was visited by the injury monster. Lower back issues mainly but also shoulders from heavy benching.
Although I was first exposed to the world of Bodybuilding in 1984 whilst training at Olympia in Leicester, it wasn't until my Powerlifting days were over that my Bodybuilding life begun.Whilst doing my Powerlifting training at a gym in Boston I noticed a big bronze trophy that was given to to the winner of the local body building contest. 'I had to win it" I thought.
I won the 1990 Mr Boston (Lincolnshire) title and looking back I was very lucky to win as I had no clue about dieting!
I have lived and trained in a lot of places all over the world, but I can honestly say that with all of the knowledge and experience I have gained over the years, having recently turned 50 I have never felt, or looked, better.
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