2004 is shaping up to be a big year for me. Not only is my first book, appropriately titled “Natural Bodybuilding”, scheduled to be released in December, but I have been training and dieting like a demon for the greater part of this year in preparation to compete again.

Anyone who knows me fully understands that the last five years have been extremely frustrating for me as a bodybuilding competitor. Since my last win at the Natural Olympia in 1998, I have been beset by injuries, obstacles and poor contest conditioning year after year. Disregarding excuses such as “old age”, “my body is too beat up” and “it’s time to give it up and move on”, I have decided to achieve the best condition of my life at 41 years of age and win again!

I am now in the final countdown of my contest preparation, a schedule that includes competing three times in a period of four weeks. First on the agenda is a pro qualifying contest in which I must win the overall in order to move forward. This contest is the ABA America’s Cup which will be held October 23rd in Highland, Michigan. If I am successful at the America’s Cup, I will then travel to Las Vegas on November 13th to compete at the prestigious Natural Olympia. One week later, I will step onstage again at the Natural Mr. Universe in Los Angeles, California.
The proposition of competing in peak condition and coming out on top again is very challenging. I had to re-learn my body as I have matured and make some changes in my training and diet program in order to achieve top condition again. I am very aware that “conditioning” is the name of the game when it comes to winning bodybuilding competitions and I intend to achieve the best conditioning of my life this year.

I have been watching my diet since the beginning of May which amounts to over six months of dieting. I also was very careful not to get too heavy during the off-season. One of the big problems I had during the last few years of competing (2001-2002) was that I bulked up to over 240 pounds in the off-season. This strategy may have worked ok years ago but it isn’t cutting it any more (no pun intended).

I looked at past competitions in which I was my leanest and hardest and I was never over 230 pounds at any time during those years. In both 1992 (when I won the Natural Mr. Universe for the first time) and 1998 (when I won the Natural Olympia), I began my diet in relatively good condition. That made getting ripped much easier compared to when my bodyweight is over 240 pounds.

I will be posting pictures of my physique as well as some occasional training shots over the next 10 weeks. This will be 6 weeks before my first competition (America’s Cup) and 10 weeks before the last show (the Natural Universe). This will give you some idea of the progress I am making as I close in on the competitions. It’s been a long and tough road this year but I’m truly enjoying the ride this time. I hope you enjoy it with me!