NZ's most Aesthetic Powerlifter

[Optimass]

- some learnings are your post show condition if you felt you looked better. I almost think we need to have a prep in pose the day before - then relax on the day of the show like it was the day after lol.

agree with Android on being a little washed but to be honest you were still very much in the zone - some guys can just come in dry as a bone, others have freaky thickness - but then also you were a give in for the southern hemispheres so why conditon 100% for a provincial. The minor tweaks you do now, moving forward - will be interesting to see how you get a different result.

It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile - winnings winning. Welldone SG

[Grover]

:clap:

Congrats SG

[HarryB]

Looking at the pics you dwarf everyone.. so wide and thick... just not grainy hard. It's definitely a hard one to work out but you will get it right.

Well done!

[Mcmass]

Well done mate you look like you out muscled everyone on stage. Like you say the lighting we very subpar, couldn't see your conditioning and maybe made worse with you opting for the dark side on tan.

Symmetry looked great, upper body looked much improved from your previous outings :nod:

[genetic freek]

Mass?

Mate you looked sick as f*ck on Saturday!

THere were some great bbers in those overalls and anyone of them on their day could have won that it was close. But your right sometimes shit don't go in your favor (lighting, stage position etc) next time (maybe in aus) things will go more your way!

Big ups to your bro too, for a young guy he looked great and massive in the lower body! Getting up there at 15? is a great achievement in itself

[nzmusclemonster]

Agree with above comments. Width and thickness to burn. Most potential on the stage.

[soundsgood]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone :grin:

The comp was a blast but it was back to the slog as I prepped for the Southerns this weekend.

Tried a slightly different approach this time. I've dropped all oats and just using Kumara and Sweet Potato as my only real carb source. Started the week on 150g and have been slowly lowering in down. Yesterday was only 80g, today will be 50g then nothing tomorrow till I start filling up on Satirday night.

The carb load will be a Shit load this time. It worked quite well for me in 09, making me tight and not as washed out as a clean load tends to do. So at 6pm Saturday I will have 2 burgers and chips and some sushi.

Sunday morning I will have Hot cakes with maple syrup followed by rice cakes with jam.

Most of the week has consisted of 1hr depletion workouts as well as 2 x 40 min cardio sessions mixed between med intensity crosstrainer and low intensity walking. Yesterday was a bit more tricky as I had to fly over to the GC. Only had 3 hours sleep then caught the shuttle up to the airport at 3am. Flight at 7am got me to the GC 3 and a half hours later but I couldn't Check in for another 4 hours so I lumbered around town feeling tired but still got a bit of cardio in I guess.

This time I wore full length Canterbury Compression clothes when I flew. Got a size under what I would comfortably wear so it was really tight. It seemed to eliminate any bloat I may have got from the flight so I was stoked.

Had a full upper body depletion train then went back to my apartment and was happy with how I was looking. Nice and vascular all over, already a lot better than last weekend.

Met the Show Organiser, Mark Ryan. This show is gonna be massive. 142 competitors. Apparently just in my class Ill be sharing the stage with Aussies World Rep - Jake Nikopolous, and Former Mr World and IFBB pro Charlie Duca. What an awesome lineup. Should be fun.

Put on first coat of the new tan we are trying - SunTanOn. It is very dark and dry, looks great!

It's 5am over here now and I'm itching for some cardio. Sorry about about the jumbled post, it's from my phone and I've got a million thoughts running through my head this morning

[Gym rat]

Good luck bro and kick some Aussie butt.

[HarryB]

Sun Tan on is an awesome colour! Better than the dream tan, that crap smooths you out.

Be awesome to see how you dry out for this show. Charlie is an awesome bodybuilder but you're going to dwarf him. The other guy I don't know at all. Actually I heard Charlie is doing masters, doesn't matter you have anough muscle to stand next to anyone anywhere!!! Big Props!

[Android]

Good luck bro and kick some Aussie butt.

+1

Give it heaps and watch the cramps mate (did I read you got them?). Sounds like you're in great company, they'll be impressed with what you bring to the comp mate :pfft:

[soundsgood]

So I depleted pretty hard on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Only 1 medium sized Sweet Potato per day. 1kg chicken breast and about 18 egg whites and 3 yolks a day.

Got a depletion session in on Thursday and Friday but very little cardio other than walking round the streets. Felt very lethargic and looked very flat which is what we wanted.

Missy has applied 4 painstakingly thorough costs of sunTANon I have to say it looks great. The best tan I've ever used. We will do one more coat tonight then a light top coat of dream tan tomorrow morning.

Went to registration earlier and made sure I was all good to go. Met the promoter again and the Aussie President. They have competitors from all over the world competing tomorrow. 150 in total , gonna be a huge show! Not sure who else is in Class 3 apart from the 2 I mentioned earlier, I guess I'll just have to wait and see tomorrow.

After registration I went and got 2 big Greek burgers and large fries. Washed it down with 250 ml of water. Will continue to drink water with each carb meal as it helps shuttle the carbs into the muscle.

Going to see how that sits before I decide on my next meal.

Already filling out a bit and quite a bit more vascular from throwing all the sodium into my body.

Gonna be a big day tomorrow so I will try get a good night sleep tonight

[HarryB]

Good luck bro, my mate Victor is going up tomorrow to help out Charlie Duca, be sure and say hi if you've got the energy.

[hjp]

Sounds like your ready! Great experience, look forward to the report an pics!!

[Ninja]

Good luck sg. You sound well prepared. Were all cheering for ya back in nz

[soundsgood]

So I finished off last nights burgers with some sugar carbs.

Went back to the apartment and although I just wanted to crash I was buzzing and couldn't fall asleep till late into the night. Got up and pee'd heaps despite not drinking except for with meals.

Woke up in the morning and looked a whole heap drier. Upper body had filled out and looked hard, legs were coming out well but not as hard as upper body.

Went down to Maccas and had a hotcakes with maple syrup and a small black coffee.

Went and ran a few errands for things we needed for the day which swallowed up most of the morning till Missy applied the top coat of dream tan. Only a real light tan on top of the sunTANon which made it glimmer.

Heres a pic, no pumpup but you can see how thorough the colour coverage was

I was having small sugary carb snacks every hour at this stage.

Went down to the venue and settled in to watch the first few categories. '

The venue was Massive. At a guess the auditorium could fit 1500+ ppl and it was about 3/4 full with ppl coming and going with each class. The novice and junior men were outstanding quality and large classes. (10 in novice).

There were several women classes including NABBA figure where ChCh competitor Annette Parnham won very convincingly.

Went backstage to touch up dream tan and Begin pumping up.

There were just 2 other competitors in my class.

Jake N who won the Australian title last year, Overall Melbourne title last week and placed 5th at the worlds last year and Charlie D who is a former Mr World and Former IFBB Pro. So it was going to be a killer class.

Got my pump on with the aid of a Full Strength red bull and a few Wine gums.

Went out and did my routine very confidently and then compulseries which I kept thinking 'Think Big', keep the judges looking at my width and quads. In the end although I had ample size, the superior conditioning of the other 2 guys pushed me into 3rd place. Charlie placed 2nd and Jake won the class. Jake later went on to win the Overall Southern Hemisphere title convincingly so I am definately not ashamed to have been pipped by both of these guys.

I know where I need to improve to compete at this level now and I relished the experience. At the end of the day placing 3rd in Open men Class 3 at the southern hemisphere champs is pretty cool. And Ive got a big trophy to go with it. When I get some pics I will post them up.

Chch competitor Richard Parnham also looked great and placed 2nd in a tough lineup in the Open men class 2. :clap:

So after the show I thought I owed myself a binge. I'm not going to post up everything Ive eaten and drunk but its fair to say it would be in the vicinity of 8000 cals lol. It should hopefully pass right thru me :shifty: Now thats done and dusted Im actually looking forward to eating normally tomorrow.

I made the decision ages ago that I wasn't going to make any decisions on my next move for 2 weeks after this show. I need to sit down and debrief to think about what I need to do to bring a better package into my next show. I now have belief I have all the right body parts, I just need to dial it in that last 10% and I will start taking some big titles.

[Android]

That's incredible experience for you mate.

Just got to work out what that 10% is, that mysterious final tweak, am sure if you knew you would have put it into your preparation.

Did you glean anything useful from them while you were over there like how did they come in so much better? Is it a last minute/ final week thing or is it just greater fatloss and longer fat-burning walks in the lead up?

Will have to hunt down the photos and check out the lineup.

:clap:

[Gym rat]

Thats awesome bro and good learning experince at competing at a international level :clap: :clap: and looking forward to seeing more pics from the show.Wow that is a big venue where the show was held.That just give me a very good idea when I come to Aucks hit maccas for some hotcakes and coffe =P~ .What was the name of the venue where the show was held?

[musclenz]

Well we have just put SG back on the plane to Ak. I reckon the "Eating Machine" has put on at least 10kg in body weight in 24hrs. So, big boy the diet starts again tomorrow We have had a great weekend & SG has had an amazing experience competing in Australia's largest & most respected show....the NABBA/WFF Southern Hemisphere's. He certainly deserved to be up against some of, if not the best competition in Australasia. His size & shape gave him a lot of respect among st the locals with commentators describing him as "the big Kiwi boy with a lot of muscle & unbelievable lower body development". With 2 shows back to back it was always going to be a mission to dial in the condition but retain his size & thickness in a arena that demands rock hard condition. In the end the mark was missed by a small margin. However, much has been learned, many invaluable contacts made & the future has been lighted by this experience.

May I take this opportunity to congratulate Annette Gallaher who blitzed the NABBA Womens Figure Classes with her trademark condition & flawless performance to take out the NABBA Womens Overall. Also to her partner, Richard Parnham who got a very respectable second to a top contender, Phil Primmer, in NABBA Mens Class 2. These two "old campaigners" & NABBA Promoters are the epitomy of what BBing is all about. No injuries, fallen houses, or any adversity seems to slow these guys down. Much respect to you Rabbit & Richie.

[soundsgood]

That's incredible experience for you mate.

Just got to work out what that 10% is, that mysterious final tweak, am sure if you knew you would have put it into your preparation.

Did you glean anything useful from them while you were over there like how did they come in so much better? Is it a last minute/ final week thing or is it just greater fatloss and longer fat-burning walks in the lead up?

Will have to hunt down the photos and check out the lineup.

:clap:

Yeah I met heaps of new contacts over there and sort of got my name out there. Next time I will be coming in leaner and harder so I can make more if a dent on stage. I haven't decided exactly how I'm going to do that yet but I will come up with a plan. A few of the execs have some stage pics of me but I'm yet to get my hands on them. The official photographer wanted $AU110 for his pics. On top of everything else I thought that was a bit too dear. The DVD will be sent out in the next couple of weeks though.

Special thanks to MuscleNZ for being my rock over in Aussie too. Putting up with my moods and ensuring I had everything I needed and keeping me focused and motivated. I cant thank you and Missy enough for making it all possible for me.

Flew back in this Morning, got home about 3am.

Felt pretty tired most of the day so just did a few errands, shopping, caught up with my nutritionist and debriefed and got a nap in.

Woke up and felt reinvigorated and ready to smash some weights! \:D/

Took a scoop of the old 1MR and flew down to Flex. My XXl shirt was struggling to keep my water bloated physique inside of it so I jumped on the scales to see where I was at. 110kg. That's about what I expected. I didn't weigh myself on show day but I would estimate I was around 101 do that's a good solid 9kg gain in a day or 2.

Jumped on flat bench to start. Warmed up with easy sets of 60kg and 100kg.

Loaded up 140kg and pumped out 14 reps a little too easy so I paused the bar on my chest and then pushed out the 15th to make it a bit harder. Could have kept pushing into PB territory but thought I better up the weight instead.

Loaded up 190kg. Got a spotter just in case. Racked out the weight and pushed out an easy double with a slight pause on the chest.

Cool, looks like 200kg+ will fall in the next couple of weeks (my PB is 197.5kg). I just love the post comp strength rebound \:D/

Dropped the weight back to 165kg and did sets of 6/6/5 then a drop to 140kg and finished with a set of 10.

I realise low rep flat bench is not going to help me build my chest up, but after being so serious with my bb training for so long I am allowing myself a few weeks just to have fun and do what I feel like doing for a weeks till it all becomes serious again.

I did heavy cable flies, DB incline press, DB incline Flies and incline press machine to finish. All pretty close to PB range. Had a string singlet on and chest was pumped to the max with crazy vascularity. Still have a really dark tan too. Looked pretty mean.

I walked out straight after I finished with protein shake in hand. No cardio. Good feeling

Tomorrow I am tossing up whether to attack the squat rack or the deadlift platform. See where I am at with those lifts.

[steak]

Just catching on your journal man...faurk! what a ride

Congrats on doing so well and always mirin your dedication :clap:

[soundsgood]

Just catching on your journal man...faurk! what a ride

Congrats on doing so well and always mirin your dedication :clap:

Cheers bro. It's nice to just throw around some weights for once with no real focus lol. Expect to see me up at CBC at some stage soon.

Had a Quad train tonight

Weighed myself when I went in. 111kg. :shifty:

Warmed up in the squat rack with sets of 20kg, 60kg, 100kg, 140kg and 180kg

Loaded up 225kg. Popped out a double which was a bit harder than I thought it might be.

Loaded up 235kg then walked it out. Didn't feel like it was seated right so I reracked it and dropped the weight back to 180kg and did a set of 10. Yup basically pussied out on it. Gonna take me a few weeks to get my squats back up to where they were pre diet. That is to be expected. I don't need to rush it, I haven't squatted heavy for a few months now but I know it will come back.

Couldn't be bothered loading up the leg press and the gym was pretty busy so it would be pretty arrogant to load up 15pps and leave nOne for anyone else so I did leg extensions. 5 sets of 12-16 with full stack.

Then I did Walking lunges with an 80lb DB in each hand. 3 sets of 16 paces

Finished with 4 sets of 50+ reps on seated calf raise.

Not a lot of volume just cruising at the mo.

[hjp]

Awesome work in here over the last few weeks, can't wait for some pics from southerns! Looked awesome in the chch ones :nod: well done man, great physique and with your efforts its only going to get better. Can't give enough props bro, got the right attitude and dedication, going to go a long way :clap:

[Shutupandsquat]

If I were you, I wouldn't go too heavy having just come out the diet. Yeah, you haven't squatted heavy in months, but the reason your body can't lift nearly as much is because it still isn't really back up to scratch because of the diet. It would just be safe not to try and tear your glute again.

And for leg press, go 50-100 reps after squats. Shit burns hahaha.

Good training, and looked good at your comp. Looking forward to seeing you come in with better condition at nationals. :nod:

[soundsgood]

Awesome work in here over the last few weeks, can't wait for some pics from southerns! Looked awesome in the chch ones :nod: well done man, great physique and with your efforts its only going to get better. Can't give enough props bro, got the right attitude and dedication, going to go a long way :clap:

Cheers bro. Been watching your numbers go up and up. It's motivating me to start hitting some decent numbers again!

If I were you, I wouldn't go too heavy having just come out the diet. Yeah, you haven't squatted heavy in months, but the reason your body can't lift nearly as much is because it still isn't really back up to scratch because of the diet. It would just be safe not to try and tear your glute again.

And for leg press, go 50-100 reps after squats. Shit burns hahaha.

Good training, and looked good at your comp. Looking forward to seeing you come in with better condition at nationals. :nod:

Thanks Dad :pfft: I'm sick of high rep workouts man. That's what ive been doing what I feel like at the mo without pushing it too hard.

[soundsgood]

Tonight I smashed some shoulders

Warmed up with some light rotor cuff stretches and flexibility was at about 50% of normal due to all the fullness I'm still carrying.

Did a couple of warmup sets of DB shoulder press with the 50lb and 80lb DBs.

Popped up a set of 12 with the 100lb DBs pretty easy so I made up the adjustable DBs to 56kg.

I put them on my knees then when I went to flick them up they came apart and the weights splattered on the floor.

Made them back up again and got a couple of guys to pass them up to me. Banged out a set of 8 good reps.

Couldn't be bothered with the hassle (and danger) of using them again so I dropped back to the 100lb DBs and did 3 more sets of 12-15 reps with a dropset to failure with the 50s on the last.

Moved onto Standing Military press. Warmed up with 60kg x 12. Loaded up 100kg and only managed 4 reps before racking it. Shoulders were still fried from the DB presses.

Dropped back to 60kg and did 4 sets of 12 behind the neck presses

Did 4 sets of 12-15 side raises with the 50lb DBs

Finished with Facepulls. Used about half stack and did 3 sets of 18 reps.

Nice strong session today. Got a killer pump and delts were popping out big time. 111kg again today Still looking hard and vascular. Long may it last lol