Raising the bar

Sadly, Danny didn't place in the top 3 on Sunday, despite most people thinking that he should have. But neither Danny or I have any complaints simply because the standard was so high. How high? Well the lad that won Danny's class went on to win the overall and a junior winning the overall is as rare as rocking horse dung! Danny looked at his best ever on Sunday, I was very happy with him and he will only improve for his next show. I've always been very proud to be Danny's coach, in a world where other people close to me have let me down badly, he never has and he is already working hard for his next show, that is a measure of the mans impressive character. Finally, a big welcome to the newest member of the team, Natalie Mayling, who has a great attitude and a big future ahead of her.

Ready!

Well it's been touch and go but Danny is ready at last for tomorrows show.  He's had to hit the diet very hard for the last week of prep but it has been worth it and he looks much better than he did for this show last year.  At the end of the day all you can ever do is be better than the last time and he is certainly that.  I'll put the result and a picture on here as soon as I have both things and the same will apply to the other members of the team that will be competing in the next few weeks.  As the next few blogs will be full of pictures of others then I thought I'd best just put one last up to date one of me on here!  Finally, great news about the documentary, it will be show on The Community Channel (Sky539) at 9 p.m. on September 1st!

Busy season is nearly here!

I know that you wouldn't believe it from the weather but it's the middle of summer now and there are regional contests every weekend at the moment.  After an intense training, posing and inspection session at Olney on Saturday all of the team are on target and there will be news about every one of them as their shows get near. However, Danny is the next up so he is the main focus of my attention at the moment.  As you can see from this 2 weeks out pic he has work to do yet, especially on bringing his legs through, but on Saturday we adjusted his diet and training to make sure that he comes in better than he did at the corresponding fixture last year because we want him to place higher than 5th this time.  He will have a tough 2 weeks no doubt but he is up to it I'm sure and July 22nd at St. Albans should be a good day for him.

Baton passed to Henman

We now turn our attention to Daniel Henman, the next member of the team to compete, this will be at the BNBF show in St. Albans on July 22nd. Dan did well last year, winning the NPA Midlands junior title but that is history now and I want him to have an even better season this year. He will go up to the 70kg class at this years NPA Midlands show and will compete with Marzio and Amrit, two other team members, on August 19th. I'm looking at all three guys on Saturday, Danny knows that however good he looks I'll cut his diet and he will whine no doubt but he knows that I know best and that his career means as much to me as it does to him. I'm more than 30 years older than all 3 of the lads and I'm no longer competing so all I ask at this stage is that they look as good as I do in this picture taken today. Is that too much too ask?

Time to be controversial

After Sundays UKBFF show at Bedford going so well for Sean I've started to get a lot more requests for personal training, including one from Brentwod which may or may not be related to the fact that I spoke to Jodie Marsh backstage, she and I have the same coach, Eddie Abbew, and it was good to talk to Eddie and Jodie. Under Eddie's guidance Jodie has worked very hard and she deserved her 4th place. However, I have to say that I was not impressed by the bikini class. As far as I’m concerned Sunday’s show represented a new low in the sport. There were several of the country’s top bodybuilders there but the show didn't sell out because of any of them and when a page 3 girl wins a category that has been invented simply to sell more show tickets at a prestigious show like this because she is a page 3 girl it is a slap in the face for those of us that love the sport and have worked so hard for what we have achieved in it. What will they think of next? Best boob job maybe? Smallest bikini bottoms? Why not?! It’s not bodybuilding it’s soft porn, and that's why there is no related picture attached to this blog!

A very proud coach

Today's blog is all about the latest success story that I'm proud to say I am part of.  SEAN BETTS has been a friend for a couple of years but when he said to me last summer that he wanted to compete, I told him what I tell everyone "we'll spend some time working hard together at getting you some muscles and then we'll see if you can do the diet."  If that sounds harsh it's supposed to, because most people can't do any of those, especially the diet.  What can't speak can't lie and as you can see from this picture Sean proved that he could do all of them, and how! Yesterday he placed 4th in his class at the UKBFF Bedford show, behind three of last years British finalists, and this was in his first show! If I was proud that was nothing compared to the pride and love shown by his family and friends who supported him superbly yesterday and throughout his long journey. Well done mate!

Showtime approacheth

So here is the latest news on the 2012 team after I spent some time yesterday with four of the guys who will be competing over the next couple of months.  Dan Henman - ahead of schedule, somehow we have to get 5 kilos off of him but it's hard to see where from, he's already pretty ripped. Amrit Ubhi - looks so much bigger than last year, needs to lose 9 kilos in 9 weeks, I have no doubt that he will do it.  Marzio Barberio - I just call him the beast, biggest legs you will ever see on a 19 year old and definition coming through nicely with 5 weeks to go. Finally, Sean Betts (pictured) has gone from a 103kg gym rat to an 88kg genuine tall classic contender, Sean has impressed me over the last few months and I'm looking forward Sunday 24th June nearly as much as he is!