16 1/2 stone on 15/10/06	16 1/4 stone on 22/10/06
15 stone 12.5 pounds on 12/11/06	15 stone 12.5 pounds on 12/11/06

Dec/2006

I have established my new off season weight. Body fat is in 10-15% range (15 stone 12.5 pounds) and is sufficiently low for me to start specialising lagging body parts (in my case Triceps, Traps and maybe some Quads). This will happen over the next couple of months, and I will post new photos at the end of this specialising period (hopefully with improved arm & leg measurements!)

Feb/2007

Specialising routine has produced significant results! In under 2 months, I have added half an inch to both arm and leg measurements. And traps have gotten much stronger. Fat is still in 10-15% range, and I have only put on 2mm of fat on my abdominals. I will now switch to specialising biceps, and continue with legs a bit longer. However photos won't show this sort of detail, so no need to put any up.

June/2007

I've dieted down to 14 stone. I have MUCH better conditioning, but still need to lose 1/2 - 1 stone. As part of planning my training and nutrition, I have spoken to various people over the years. One of the very few who knows what they are talking about is Oggie, from Cambridge. I'm using his advice to help plan my nutrition and training.

August/2007

Competitions aren't far away! Down to 13 stone 2 pounds and I hate being this light! Not far from competition condition, but wow I'm hungry. Been dieting on and off for over a year and can't wait to finish and start bulking up again, but with some new techniques I've learned to help keep fat accumulation to a minimum. The main reason for my dieting down wasn't actually to compete, but to implement the first of these remodification techniques, the first requirement of which is to diet down to a low body fat condition.

Dec/2007

After all the dieting.... the competition was cancelled. I received an email from Musclemania (the federation responsible for the competition) informing me that "most of the entrants in the U.K. had returned their forms, but hadn't paid". Musclemania is a multi-national event and one of the few countries that couldn't get it's act together and pay up is the U.K.

If you look here you can see that there isn't a U.K. competition planned for 2008. If I wanted to enter I would have to enter the European Competition.

The good news? I was very much in two minds if I was going to compete anyway. I had a look at one of the NPA (Natural Physique Association) 2007 competitions, and wasn't impressed with the judging. However, the physiques on display were very impressive! Natural bodybuilding is under rated as most of the contestants aren't 'freakishly huge' - but even so, there is no denying some of the guys on stage were big, and very ripped. However, in my opinion the judging was way off. I've been told bodybuilding has a high level of internal politics which can be reflected in the judging. I think I witnessed it.

This in itself isn't a problem if you can accept the unfairness and take the whole thing light heartedly (hard for anyone to do after dieting for several months!). I can't. If I think I deserve a top three placing, and don't get it on the day, it would play on my mind for a long time and actually colour my perception of the whole bodybuilding scene.

So as a result of all this, I've decided that if I were to compete in the future, I would line up a whole series of competitions, and if the judging in one of them was biased, hopefully the following competition, which would soon follow, would be less so.

The other good news? I dieted down for two reasons, and to compete was actually the lesser of these. The main reason was so  I could bulk up to a heavier weight while accumulating far less fat (details above). But to do this re-modification means I have to diet down to a low body fat level before I can start adding muscle. This is now done and I can't wait to get stuck into this new regime!

Another technique I'd like to play around with is 'Occlusion Training'.