This is me....

• Weight Up to 71kg? – Check
  
• Body fat 21%? - Check
  
• Sleeping solid 7 hours a night? – Check
  
• Cholesterol a healthy 3.8mmol? – Check
  
• Normal regular toilet visits? Check
  
• Visceral fat levels on the up cuddling my organs? – Check
  
• Boobs are Double D’s again? –Check
  
• I have a bum (finally!)? - Check
  
• Cheeky Churpy Cheeks filled out (not my bum!)? – Check
  
• Eating all food including cake at pals BBQ? – Check
  
• Can have a Latte at Costa/Starbucks? – Check
  

This can only mean one thing....It’s off season time!!

Looking in my mirror, this is me. This is my normal everyday body. Maintainable, achievable, less stressed, softer and is reality. This is the body I need to be happy with. The body that’s going to be the norm for most of the rest of my life. 

My show body is for yours and mine entertainment. 16 -20 of extreme dieting and working out for me to see what I have sculpted over time, and for your entertainment on stage. It doesn’t stay for long.

I dieted from January to July and lost over 10 kg...to have them all and more back on in 4 weeks. You probably think I’m gutted about this. But I’m not at all. This is part of the process, and part of being a body builder.

So many people I speak to don’t understand this. You can’t look like you do in the pictures and on stage 365 days of the year. For a woman to live at 10-13% body fat or a man to do the same at their show levels of 2-5% is dangerous. Your internal organs need fat around them to function properly. A fit level off season for a woman is 21 – 24%, and a man 14 – 17%.

You also only can really grow, sculpt and correct our shape off season. When you eat properly and sleep properly. This is when all the magic happens.

And to all you young men and woman starting out who I often speak to, if you think you will have that stage body all year round your wrong. That’s a fantasy. You need to be real.

You also need to learn to love your off season shape. After all, you are doing all this good eating and training to make THIS body the best it can be. The one you live with every day, the one you wake up and see every day in the mirror, the one you shower every morning and bath at night, the one that has responded to those long hard workouts, the one you push to its limits numerous times a year ...this is your off season body the one you should like the best, the one you should be proud of and the one you should take good care of.

So back to looking in the mirror....this is me. This is my normal everyday body, and it’s great to see you again! Welcome back! Now let’s go lift some proper weights....!