One week before start of diet

Pictures are taken one week before I start the tough part (read: diet & cardio) and 14 weeks before I will be on stage in the 55-64 class of IBFA WC in bodybuilding in Rome.

Diskusjonstråd på treningsforum.no

The toughest part starts next week

Believe it or not. I am only 12 weeks behind my friends Eric and Patric

My Wife and my two friends

My two friends Eric Orrao (48) and Patrick Viel (56) is preparing for the IFBA Universe competition in Sapri, Italy, in two weeks. The last time Patrick competed in Sapri was in 2006. Now he is a retired police officer with time to train for a comeback. My wife could not resist joining in this posing

Low Chest training

Training in Menton

Two weeks training at Univers Gym in Menton.

Personal Trainer this Autumn

I have signed up for the Personal Trainer course at The Norwegian School of Sports Science this autumn. I just wanted you to know.

On track after one week back injury

Monday previous week, quadriceps day, hack lift, without warming up, first set 20kg no problem, second set 20kg (still warming up), gluteus touching my heels (too low I know), lower back moving 5cm forward when starting upward movement, SHIT, My lower back goes to hell!!!

Ever experienced something like that?

Did some more workouts that day but ended the workout session thinking that this was the beginning of two weeks hell and no training.

That evening I got to bed with my lifting belt on. Lucky me because that saved me through the night. I don’t know if you have been on low carb diet but for me it has the effect that the water keeps flowing (read: have to piss every third hour) so the lifting belt helped med get out off bed during the night.

Made Thursday a training free day, kept my lifting belt on during the day and the following night.

Wednesday is normally a training free day but I got to the gym and did my Tuesday training. On Thursday I was back on track. This had not been possible for a normal person. I’m not normal.

This week I changed from 4-days a week to 5-days a week workouts.
I have the same 4-split but skip resting on Wednesdays. On Friday this week I redo my Monday workout and so on. Saturday is FOOD day and the weekend is for avoiding workout except for gardening.

I still do not do cardio (fat burning) training. The diet is low on calories and carbohydrates and that keeps me on the planned track to 7 % fat under the skin 1.st July.

My Coach tells me that I am on track and that I will be below 5 % on contest day.

On track towards BB World Championships in Rome

I have said it before and I say it again:
The main goal this year is to get ripped to the bone when I’m on stage in Rome for the World Championship title in BodyBuilding 55-64 years.

If I start the last heavy 3 months workout and diet 1.st July at 7 % bodyfat under the skin I will be below 5 % on stage. Stone hard and best in class. You can bet on that.

Today my weight is approximatly 93 kg and bodyfat under the skin is 7,4 %. Workout is done at 80 % intensity to avoid injuries. I feel I’m in really good shape and is comfortable with the low carb diet. I don’t do cardio training for the moment because it is not necessary. I save it for the tough months from July.

7.4 % bodyfat under the skin

During my almost three weeks eastern holiday in Menton I managed to rip more fat. Unbelievable. My goal was to keep the weight and the fat percent I had come down to before the holiday. My plan was to have good dinner and wine every night. We have an apartment with a good Kitchen and I love to make good of all the fresh vegetables and meat you find in southern Europe.

From breakfast until dinner at 19:00hrs I followed a strict diet on low carb.

In this way I feel I missed nothing of the good life. And still I managed to reduce weight and almost 1% of under the skin fat which means I have 7,4 % at the moment.

So what the h… do I do now?

• I continue with the same diet.
• I skip cardio training
  
• I train with more reps and only 70-80% of maximum.
• I eat good from Saturday evening until Sunday lunch.
  

In this way I will continue fat reduction, hopefully without loosing mass.

I don’t know at what point my body will resist ripping more fat. And my original plan was to start the three months contest preparation 1st of July wit 7 % fat under the skin.

Just now I don’t know what status will be at 1st of July. I have never been lower than 7 %. Last year it was hell to reach 7 %. This year it feels too easy.

Pictures are taken early morning on low carb:

If I get ripped enough I can win

I am training with Eric Orrao in Menton and Eric told med today that I I get ripped enough I can win the IFBA World Championship in bodybuilding October 18th. My class will be 55-64 years.

“Every time I you come to Menton you are bigger than before” he says. “Incredible”.

6 more months to go. I keep going with hard training and a strict diet. Slowly my under-the-skin fat is going away and by July 1st I will be slightly below 7%.

Do I train as hard as Bjørndalen ?

Well, I really don’t know. He is a professional and sponsored to train, eat, sleep and compete 24 hours a day. The question arised last night, playing card with very good friends. I train to win the world Championship in Bodybuilding and I have only one sponsor. I train for free at Condis.no and I buy nutrition directly from manufactors.

What I can confirm is that any sport is extreme if your goal is World Championship.

I don’t think I train as hard as Bjørndalen in common sense. Bjørndalen is training for  hard cross country and shooting. I am training for being the fittest man on earth, two minutes on stage, once a year.

The main difference is not the basic preparation training, but the three months ahead of the yearly competition(s). Most of the todays top athletes, football player, weight lifters etc, would not stand the effort.

I know. I have been there and I am going to to do it again. Preparation for tyhe bodybuilding world championship i Rome in October has started long tine ago.

I started in January. More cardio training and a diet low on carb. 10 months ahead of competition. Please comment on this article if you know of someone training that hard. ( Sure I know some  but not many).

I have to rip 5kg fat and gain more muscle mass from now to October.

Today I did a three hours bicycle training. From sea level in Menton, France, up to 800 meters and down to La Turbie and Roquebrune. Fat burning before breakfast . Please repeat after me.

Do you know someone? If you do, please share the recipe with me. Because I’m addicted to this sport of bodybuilding.

Can you imagine the title line of a Norwegian Sports Magazine: World Champion in Bodybuilding 2009, Gunnar Brathen from Rasta, Norway.

Kuul

8,4% bodyfat

Yes, 8,4% bodyfat under the skin. I’m just where I planned to be. The last four weeks has been very hard. Not visible hard for my wife but for me Yes. I have learned to hide the tough part. It has become a part of this mission. I have a goal that is beyond everyone else’s goale and the consequence is that i have to hide it.

Today I am much better prepared for a competition than I was last year at the same time. The difference is that last year I competed in the end of May and this year I will compete in september and october. At this time last year i had to promise my Wife not to compete next year (this year). She did not like to see me so tired and exhausted.

The difference this year is that I do the same with less struggle. But I know that from July 1.st the tough part will repeat. But I am confident that I will start July 1.st at 7% bodyfat under the skin. Without any struggle.

Last Thursday I had a journalist from Romerike Blad www.rb.no following me the whole day. He arrived at 9 in the morning. Just before I started my morning cardio training. And he followed me during the day. Through meals and through the periodic two weeks weighting and fat measuring at Rune (my coach), and endig up in the wardrobe after chest and shoulder training at Condis Gym. The newspaper Romerike Blad will publish a story about me preparing for World Championship in Rome.

I am exited

Training for a World Championship

I am training hard, I do cardio every morning, I eat less cabohydrates (but enough) and I give my body enough time to recover from one workout to the next. The result is what I have planned for. I have ripped one kilo fat the last two weeks without loosing mass. On the contrary, I believe I have gained some mass on my back. The measuring is done by my Tanita body composition monitor.

The progress is coming without much pain. Of course I miss one more meal and of course i miss a glass of wine on weekdays, but the diet this spring is much easier than last year when I competed in the end of May. The astonishing fact is that I can easily reach last years fat percent at 7% at the end of May. I believe that this will be easier year by year.

But from 7% to 5% will be another ballgame. This is not what any body wants to do. And I know that my body will resist going “the last mile”. I both look forward to and do not look forward to the period July-October.

What drives me is the thought of winning. I know it is possible to win the class 55-64 years this year. If, I am lucky with my competitors and if I get hard enough. I can not gain much more mass this year so ripping fat to the bone is my premium goal from now on. If I succeed on this I may very well become IFBA World Champion in bodybuilding this year.

Going strong

I continue my early morning cardio training. It is necessary for me to maintain this as a routine. The reason is that when the tough diet starts in July it has to be one hour cardio workouts. I reckon that if 40 minutes becomes normal, one hour will only be a slightly modification.

I also continue training hard. Even if I have reduced the daily amount of carbohydrates I have prioritized the meal one hour before workout and the refilling of fast carbohydrates after training and for dinner (within one hour after workout).

This week I broke my record and did 130kg (2×3reps) in upper chest workout (machine).  At last I feel that prioritizing upper chest since last summer is bringing some results. The same goes for deadlift (from knee level) where the last set is 220kg. It is time to move up to 230kg next week. Stifflegged is now 180kg and ready for 190kg.

And the fat? The fat is running away

Will I be ready for WC in Rome in October?

Looks like I will be in very good shape and hopefully more ripped than my competitors in the IFBA World Championship in Bodybuilding in Rome, October 2009.
Todays measuring shows that I am in much better shape right now than I was one month later (april 11th) last year when I competed in IGP the last weekend of May.

April 11th 2008:
Weight: 90,1kg
Lean weight: 69,9kg
Bodyfat under the skin: 10,26%

February 27th 2009:
Weight: 93kg
Lean weight: 72kg
Bodyfat under the skin: 9,4%

Bottom line: 2,1kg more muscle mass and on schedule to be very ripped on stage in the IFBA World Championship in bodybuilding in Rome in October.

I have to slow down the the ripping process from what I do just now. It is simply going to fast. I do 5-6 cardio workouts a week, each burning 700kcal. And I have reduced the carbohydrates to 120gr a day.

My coach Rune has ordered me do increase the amount of carbohydrates to a level that gives me good and effective workouts and so that I do not loose any mass during diet. Rune also tells me from his own experience that if I diet too hard already now I will not be able to go through the last months from July.

So, in other words. I will slow down the ripping process, train hard, and plan for 7% under the skin bodyfat by July 1st.

My Wife Knows

During this two-week holiday in Menton I told my Wife that I intended to compete in the World Championships in Bodybuilding in Rome in October.

It was inevitable. I have trained four days a week and I have NOT tasted French Cheese. My diet has been as normal with cereals, tuna (two times a day), chicken breast, whey protein, omega-3, olive oil and very very little bread and cookies. I admit that some of the carbohydrates has come from wine. She has probably understood this since I started my cardio training in January.

But she did not argue it at all. This is my new way of living and I make very good dinner every day. I love cooking and I think this makes it up. My wife loves my cooking.

So now it is back to normal. Back in Norway there is no wine on workdays and I plan to reduce my weight with 3-4 kilos by Easter. Hopefully it will be fat reduction

In Menton I have trained heavy weights. I love to train harder and heavier than the younger competitors at Univers Gym. Eric is 48 so I will not meet him in the same class (45-55, 55-65, 65-+). But I will meet Patrick, I hope in The World Championships in Rome this Autumn. He is a newly retired Police officer. Smaller than me but in good shape and he will be ripped for sure. He plan to compete Mr. Universe in Sapri in July and has not decided for Rome yet.

I think; If I manage to get ripped enough. I can possibly be World Champion this year. That’s what KICKS ME OFF! I Know I can Do It because I am Crazy Enough.

Two training weeks in Menton

It has been two nice weeks here in Menton during the Citron Festival. But of course I have been doing my regular workouts, four mornings a week, at Univers Gym together with all my training buddies. Nothing special about the training these two weeks, only hard work as usual. The only problem beeing here is keeping the diet. I try as best I can and I don’t think I have gained fat. But I haven’t lost any fat either. So March will be a tough month where I plan to reduce fat by 3-4kg by April.

Here is some pictures and a video. Eric will not compete before WC in Rome but Patrick is now preparing for the Sapri Mr. Universe contest in July. If he decides to compete in Rome he will be in the same class as me 55-65:

From left: Eric Orrao, Me and Patrick Viel

The owner of Univers Gym Marck Ctesiphon and me (at the left)

Training upper back and rear deltoides:

My next Posing Routine

I have always dreamed of including backflip og frontflip in my posing routine. Either as a intro arriving on the scene or as a finish when leaving the scene. Either way have to train on this during the summer. Here it goes:
Backflip

Frontflip

Ripping too fast – maybe

I started cardio three weeks ago at near 10 % fat-under-the-skin and near 97kg. Now my weight is 95.8kg and I have 8.9 % fat-under-the-skin according to my 3-point caliper measuring. Caliper measuring is not accurate but if you do it without trying to cheat it shows your progress. I have a feeling that my mind is too focused on ripping this year and that I do this too fast. With this pace i will reach 7 % by the end of April and my plan was 7 % on July 1st. The problem is that I can’t stop this process. I am crazy about being ripped this year. What if I reach 6 % on July 1st. Maybe I can reach 4 % on October 18th. The WC in Rome is moved one week from October 11. to October 18. And the Norwegian Championship is scheduled at September 26.

“Rocky” Stallone vs Arnold Schwarzenegger

This is a photo taken of Mr. “Rocky” Sylvester Stallone one week ago at the age of 62. He is not big but he is definitely ripped and in good shape the old action hero

But for the former Mr. Olympia Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger the aging is coming fast: