|
My second competition of the 2004 season
was the Natural Olympia on November 13th, 2004 in Henderson, Nevada.
Unfortunately for me, it was my worst showing of the year. Timing
is everything, especially in the dynamic sport of natural bodybuilding,
and my timing was well off the mark for my biggest competition
of the year.
After
winning the Natural America’s Cup in Highland, Michigan on October
23rd, I continued my diet in order to be really ripped and hard
for the Natural Olympia three weeks later. I knew the competition
would be tough for this show as the promoters were expecting ten
professional natural bodybuilders who would be challenging for
the title.
My bodyweight at the America’s Cup was around 205 and my waist
was at 33 ¼”. I was in good shape, very full and thick
but not hard enough yet. I felt with three more weeks of dieting
that I would be right on the money. Up to this point, I had been
losing approximately 2 pounds and a 1/4” off my waist each week.
With this rate of progress, I expected to enter the Natural Olympia
around 200 pounds which my training partner Joe Silzer and I figured
would be my best “fighting weight” for the competition.
What
I didn’t count on was the change to my metabolism after my first
competition. After going out and eating a good meal on the evening
of my victory in Michigan, I went back on my normal diet the following
day when I got back home. I weighed 202.5 lbs on Tuesday following
the show, 200 lbs. on Wednesday and 199.5 lbs on Thursday. I actually
had to slightly increase my calories and carbs around mid-week
to avoid losing weight (and possibly muscle) too quickly. By the
end of the week, I was back up to 201.5 pounds and looking much
improved from my competition a week ago.
|
|
|
|
|
Front
Relaxed |
Front
Double Biceps |
Front
Lat Spread
|
Relaxed
from the rear. |
With
two weeks to go, my bodyweight continued to drop. I was 199.5
lbs on Sunday, 198 lbs. on Tuesday and 197.5 on Thursday. My waist
also went down with my bodyweight. It was 33 inches the week following
the Michigan show and 32 3/4” one week later. Here is how I looked
on November 6th with one week left until the Natural Olympia.
I was now down to 197 pounds with a 32 ¾” waist.
|
|
|
|
|
Front
Relaxed |
Front
Double Biceps |
Front
Lat Spread
|
Relaxed
from the rear. |
What
was amazing was that my bodyweight was going down despite an increase
in my overall caloric intake and my carbohydrate intake. My metabolism
was really stoked and I was losing weight and bodyfat at a very
fast rate. Unfortunately, for the natural bodybuilder, muscle
can easily be lost at this point and this is what happened to
me.
I
left for Las Vegas on Wednesday, November 10th because we were
supposed to be on hand for the filming of the movie/video on natural
bodybuilding called “Pumping Up – The Natural Story”. I hate to
travel when I am dieting for a competition because I am required
to bring all my food with me or I have to be ready to prepare
my food when I am on the road. Eating in a restaurant is a no-no
for a bodybuilder who is getting ready to compete due to water
retention from the sodium and just not being sure how the food
you are eating is being prepared in the kitchen of the restaurant.
Since
the filming of the movie was going to be done at the Gold’s Gym
on Flamingo road in Las Vegas, I decided to spend the first two
days at a hotel on the strip. Then, on Friday, I would drive to
Henderson, Nevada and stay there for the competition.
 |
 |
 |
|
Line-up
of the Natural Olympia. First place winner Phillip Ricardo
is to my left. |
Relaxed
from the side. |
I
weighed in the low 190's for this contest, lean and ripped
but too flat. |
It
was tough staying on my diet during my three day stay in the hotels
because I was limited
in the food I had available. I had brought with me cooked chicken
breasts, steaks
and turkey and just kept it on ice during my stay in Vegas. I
also brought some oatmeal and sweet potatoes for my carbs. Unfortunately,
I couldn’t get a microwave oven in either one of the hotels I
stayed in so I had to boil the sweet potatoes in water using the
hot plate I brought with me.
I
was down to 195 pounds on the Wednesday that I left for Las Vegas
and by Thursday, my waist had shrunk another ¼”, down to
32 ½”. I don’t know how much weight I lost over the three
days I was away but I’m guessing it was probably another 3-5 pounds.
I thought I looked great in the hotel mirror but, in hindsight,
I can see that I was becoming too depleted and flattening out
due to restricted diet and my super fast metabolism.
The
contest itself was very tough. First place went to Phillip Ricardo
who won the Natural Mr. Universe the previous year. Phillip was
taller than I expected him to be because I know he competed as
a light-heavyweight in this year’s NPC Team Universe. Although
not the biggest guy on stage, Phillip looked great due to his
shape and extreme hardness. His glutes were striated from top
to bottom and he had some big quads with crazy vascularity running
through them. Phillip has the kind of physique that looks great
when he is onstage and posing.
 |
 |
Front
double biceps comparison with Chad Martin (5th place) on
the left and Moses Ajala (6th place) on the right.
|
Side
chest with Chad Martin and Moses Ajala. |
 |
 |
| Rear
Double Biceps comparison.
|
Hands
on Hip Most Muscular pose. |
 |
|
Top 3 at the Natural Olympia. From left to right,
David Whittaker,
Danny Chau and Phillip Ricardo.
|
Second
place went to David Whittaker, last year’s Natural Olympia champion
in the pro division. David is a BIG guy, at least 6’3” and the
tallest bodybuilder onstage. He has a huge upper body and was
hard as nails. He had big pecs, delts, traps and arms and an eight
pack for his abs. His quads were in proportion to his upper body
but his calves are too thin for the rest of his physique. This
is made even more dramatic due to his extremely tall height. For
the night show, David looked much improved from the morning pre-judging.
I don’t know what he did in those hours between pre-judging and
the finals but he looked both bigger and harder. He looked like
he belonged in the NPC Nationals with the physique he presented
at the Natural Olympia finals.
Third
place went to Danny Chau who traveled from Australia in his attempt
to win the Natural Olympia title again. Danny won the title for
the first time in 2000 and took second last year to David Whittaker.
Danny was very thick and was also in hard condition for this show.
He was not quite as conditioned as Whittaker and no one was close
to the conditioning of Ricardo so he ended up in third place.
These
three athletes were compared over and over again by the judges
so it was obvious that this was the top three at the Natural Olympia.
Since I was in the second group being judged, I knew that I was
out of the top three. I was compared with Rico Browning, Chad
Martin and Moses Ajala after the comparisons for the top three
were finished.
I
ended up in seventh place because of my depleted condition. With
my physique, when I look flat, I also look softer than I really
am. I knew I was over depleted after seeing the photos of the
contest in comparison to the other athletes. Needless to say,
it was an extremely disappointing showing.
 |
 |
 |
|
Side
chest comparison with the top three.
|
Rear
Double Biceps comparison.
|
Phillip
Ricardo during his posing routine at night. |
In
hindsight, I can see that I flattened out due to losing too much
weight too quickly. I wasn’t doing anything different with my
diet as I prepared for the Natural Olympia. In fact, I was eating
slightly more calories and carbohydrates than when I was preparing
for the Natural America’s Cup in Michigan. However, because of
my increased metabolism, my body continued to burn calories and
fat faster than I anticipated.
 |
 |
 |
|
David
Whittaker looked great at the finals.
|
The
line-up during the finals of the Natural Olympia.
|
Receiving
a medal during the awards presentation.
|
Of
course, being away from home for the three days before the contest
definitely didn’t help matters out. A competitive bodybuilder
needs to closely monitor his condition in the days before competing
and the only tools we have available to do that are the mirror,
the scale and the measuring tape. The mirror is the most valuable
because how you look is obviously more important than what you
weigh or measure. However, when you are basing your condition
on a mirror you are accustomed to looking at, everything is thrown
out of whack when you are away from home and have to look at “strange”
mirrors in your hotel room.
After
the contest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to compete the following
weekend in California for the Natural Universe. I had a photo
shoot scheduled with Mike Neveux of IronMan Magazine on the Monday
following the contest but I was contemplating skipping the show
and just showing up for the photo shoot instead. What did I decide?
Read the 2004 Natural Mr. Universe report to find out!
Important
Note : A drug testing organization called WADA did some limited
drug testing at the Natural Olympia this year. They tested the
top three competitors in the pro division (Phillip Ricardo, David
Whittaker and Danny Chau). According to Denny Kakos and the ABA
website (www.naturalbodybuilding.com), on December 6th, 2004,
WADA reported that there were some positive results on the drug
tests. This means that the final placings in the competition are
still preliminary until the test results are revealed.
|
