Wednesday 28th July

Just over 10 weeks to go and although it's all going well I feel like a need a bit of a holiday already. My plan is to get well ahead of schedule so that I can have a few days rest right in the middle of competition preparation. This may sound like a bad idea but my body responds well to rest days, probably because I slighly overtrain, so a few days rest in a few weeks time will give me a mini rebound which I can then take forward into the last few weeks up to the show. As always, as long as the diet is right it will work, it must be every day that I tell someone else that the diet is by far the most important bit but it is. Of course the hard bit is being somewhere nice and living on fish and broccoli, hard but not impossible. Here's Caden from yet another day at the park with Granddad.

Friday 23rd July

Rounded off another excellent weeks training at Golds by doing a session with my old training partner Rob, who I am preparing for the Stars show in November, we have always pushed each other and right now we are both aching from this morning! Also heard from my mate Cy who I will be preparing for the London show next May, Cy is a junior but is a big guy, if we can get his condition right he will blow them all away. We are going to train together soon, that will bring him on a bit and set him up for the rest of this year. Yesterday afternoon I had the best time, Natalie and Amy came round with all of the Grandchildren and we all had a brilliant time. Here I am with Colby and Lilybelle safely in the grasp of the giant strigglers, or hands as most people call them!

Wednesday 21st July

Still 11 and a half weeks to go and things are coming through very quickly! Both Marc & I look like we are only about 6 weeks out already so we have both added back some extra carbs into our diets, excellent! (Excited over an extra handful of rice, how sad!) I think that starting the 2 hour daily cardio early has been the key, I can see my hamstrings already and that has never happened this early before. I also have to say that training at Golds has made a huge difference. Training there has definitley made me bigger and now it is cutting me up quicker than ever before, so life is good. Here's Caden & me on the swings, he decided to push me for a change!

Sunday 18th July

Cardio with a difference yesterday! It was the Bedford river festival and a team of us from Golds gym were entered into the Dragon Boat race. This consisted of paddling a dodgy looking boat up and down the river as fast as possible several times, each time getting soaked and narrowly avoiding capsizing. After setting the best time in the first three qualifying heats we lost the final by half a second but all of the lads agreed that it had been a good laugh even if we were all knackered by the end of it! In exactly 12 weeks from now they will be announcing the winner of this years British finals so its back to normal training today. Here's Caden & I talking about playing crazy golf in the rain last week, that kid is just amazing.

Wednesday 14th July

I have to say that it's all going very well! I've only been in full competition preparation mode for a matter of days and things are already coming through. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly my body responds to a strict competition diet. Weight is back down to 18 stone already so I only need to lose about a pound a week up to the show which will be easy and there should be no muscle loss. Getting some great support from the members at Golds gym, today was particularly good, I left there feeling great, I should be so lucky as to feel like that every day. I'm feeding the ducks with Caden tomorrow afternoon at Willen Lakes which will be the highlight of my week, doesn't he look great in his Spiderman outfit?

Monday 12th July

So here we go again! Full competition preparation started today with the obligatory 1 hour of cardio before breakfast, then I trained with Marc and instructed him to do the same from tomorrow. We are actually both happier when in full contest mode and we had a brilliant workout today. After my afternoon cardio I met rugby star Gavin Henson who was doing a photo shoot for Golds at the gym. He is an absolutely lovely bloke and we chatted for ages about his diet and training, he was very grateful and is looking forward to the Rugby World Cup next year, as am I of course. I was also told today that I have a "mahusive chest" I simply replied that I know someone who's chest is even more "mahusive" than mine!

Wednesday 7th July

I cant believe that it's 5 years since the 7/7 bombings. In those days I worked in London almost 7 days every week and that day I was not far from the bus in Tavistock Square when the bomb went off. I remember hearing a sickening, deafening bang, then I remember the screams and then the police that appeared from nowhere to divert everyone away from the blast area. I remember the traffic chaos as I was driving home and I remember being unable to phone my girlfriend to tell her that I was safe as the mobile phone system was either overloaded or shut down. My thoughts and sympathies are with anyone who has ever suffered because of that dreadful day.

Sunday 4th July

I met a lot of Americans in Cancun and some said that they would keep an eye on the blog so I'll start by saying happy Independence Day to my friends in the U S of A! Now, maybe I'm worrying over nothing but my weight is way over 18 stone and the British finals are less than 14 weeks away now so I'm starting show prep from tomorrow. That way the weight loss can be gradual which will be easier and also as I will not be able to carb up anymore after what happened at the London show it will save the last minute depletion too. This new way of preparing will be a learning curve so we will see how it goes. Im sure that a lot of the weight is new muscle due to my training improving massively since I started at Golds so it will be exciting to see what I look like in a few weeks time.

Thursday 1st July

Are you missing the World Cup? Me too, but I'm looking forward to it restarting tomorrow, I've backed Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain to win in multiple bets. It must be summer as I've just heard about another friend who is getting married, how many weddings will that be this year? Loads! Training is going well, I cant believe that in less than 3 weeks I will be dieting again, this time for the British finals. I can't wait though, I love contest preparation and what it does to my body, I will be in the best shape of my life by October, guaranteed. Among my many Fathers day presents that my wonderful children got for me were some gorgeous photos, here's one of them, of my baby Princess Lilybelle, or as I now call her "The most beautiful thing I have ever seen"