Nottingham approaches

So almost three weeks after I mentioned it here in the blog we have controversy over the balls in the Rugby World Cup.  Coaches being suspended, stats showing that you can't kick the new ball, surely I'm not the only one who can see that the Kiwis are desperate to avoid what happened to Australia in 2003 happening to them?  Danny had a bit of a shock on Thursday after returning from a long weekend away, he is very soft and is now on a killer diet right up to the NPA British finals in 3 weeks.  Day 2 of my UKBFF British finals is on the same day and as you can see I'm pretty much on course, now that the man flu has almost gone too I can really get on it right up to show time.

Time to get serious

At this time of year there is a show almost every weekend and yesterday was no exception. I took Martin to the UKDFBBA show in Rugby where he competed against some over 40's and came joint 2nd which was a great result.  The whole show was excellent so well done to Lee Kemp for organising it all.  So now it is less than 4 weeks to Nottingham and I have to get serious about being ready although today I have man 'flu so the "hard yards" training will now start tomorrow.  I'll post pictures as I do them but heres one from a couple of weeks ago when someone at Golds asked for a photo of my back, as you can see, that body part is coming in early as usual!

Ready for Glasgow

All is on course for the BNBF British finals in Glasgow on Sunday.  As you can see from this picture, Martin Duckett, who is, unbelievably, a year older than me, will be presenting a whole new package this year in an effort to remain BNBF British masters champion for the 3rd year running.  I can't claim to be his coach as he pretty much looks after himself and he coaches me as much as I coach him, but we do train together at least once a week and we see each other most days to discuss progress and strategy.  The people at Golds are constantly astonished at how both Martin and I can look the way that we do and it's nice that we can help everyone in the Golds "family" with their training. 

9/11, again

Today is September 11th, exactly 10 years to the day since the 9/11 attacks in the USA and exactly 11 years since I lost my Mum. I mention it every year because neither of those two things get easier to get over no matter how many years may pass. But life always goes on so let us focus on now. Today I looked at Martin in preparation for this time next week, he looks amazing and we will be taking his best ever package to the BNBF finals in Glasgow next week. I will put the result on here on the same day if possible. Finally, the Rugby World Cup is underway and although England were not at their best yesterday they have shown that they will be hard to beat.  I felt sorry for Jonny, maybe the ball that they are using has been designed by the Kiwis for ball in hand rugby and not kicking rugby, I wonder why????

Degrees of happiness

As it's a cold wet Sunday here's a bit of philosophy. I was booked to compete tomorrow at muscle beach, Venice, California but due to the events of the year, some that I've talked about and some that I haven't, that won't happen. When I booked it I was planning to fulfil an ambition so I was really happy, then when I cancelled it I was quite low. Now, with my recovery from my latest tummy problem almost complete I'm very happy to be getting ready for Nottingham, a show that made me so unhappy last year that I said that I would never do it again. John Lennon was right when he said "life is something that happens to you while you're making plans". This year has simply reinforced my two beliefs that you should enjoy every day as if it was your last and enjoy the simple things in life as they are the most important and the most fun. Here's a pic from Friday to prove my point.

7 weeks out

Amazingly, I have got back on track so well that people at the gym are already telling me that I look closer to competing than 7 weeks out. My weight is just under 18 stone but the cuts are coming through already, even the legs are beginning to show. So tomorrow I will do my first proper posing practice, Danny will look at me for a change! Although he is also just 7 weeks away from the NPA Britain so he will do a posing practice too. I looked at Martin in the week, he is ready now, but in 3 weeks time he will look even better, I'm really looking forward to going with him to Glasgow to see if he can retain his BNBF British title. So with 3 "Britains" coming up you might think that it's taken over my life, it hasn't, here to prove it is a picture of Caden when we went to the park the other day.