And here we are again, for the 4th year running, thankfully logging in another national title in the IFBB Men’s Physique (up to 1m70) category. My 4 titles now belong to 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018, with 2016 being the year during which I was happily busy experiencing my trip of a lifetime in Australia.
My 4 national titles in IFBB Men’s Physique
2018 IFBB Malta Nationals – Men’s Physique (up to 1m70) – Champion
2018 IFBB Malta Nationals – Men’s Physique (up to 1m70) – Top 3
Furthermore, this year I’ve also competed in the IFBB Diamond Cup for the first time. With Malta happening to be one of the few hosting locations on the international route for this cup, I decided to put my name down, taking silver in the same category.
2018 IFBB Diamond Cup Malta – Men’s Physique (up to 1m70) – 2nd place
2018 IFBB Diamond Cup Malta – Men’s Physique (up to 1m70) – Top 3
A successful April for which I am very grateful. Now it’s time to slowly reverse diet while I maintain a sustainable and lean healthy shape through summer.
In the meantime here’s some info which the fitness nerds might find relevant to their journey…
Before this season my previous best stats were as follows:
Max lean bulk weight 76kg (Feb’17)
Max shredded/stage weight 70kg (Apr’17) at a height of 1m62
My goals for this season were to further improve on the above. I knew it was far from easy since it’s been years that I’ve been giving my best in terms of nutrition, rest and training, meaning the window for natural gains is always getting narrower. However, this being a passion of mine and a lifestyle I truly enjoy, I am always eager to raise the bar, setting new personal bests & benchmarks, and in the process learn more about our body.
Now, after this year’s competitions I can update my stats to the following:
Max lean bulk weight 77.5kg (Jan’18)
Max shredded/stage weight 71.5kg (Apr’18)
Back pose – 3 weeks out, front pose – 2 weeks out from the IFBB 2018 Malta Nationals
This therefore equates to a gain in lean muscle of 1.5kg over the span of a year, which to me is precious on a number of levels.
1 week out from the 2018 IFBB Malta Nationals
One fact I’d like to point out is that during my 9 week competition prep I did not eat a single piece of meat, with my protein intake predominantly coming from fish and egg whites. Prior to that, since October, when I decided to drastically reduce meat consumption (red meat, chicken, turkey etc), I only ate it a handful of times. I also very rarely consume dairy products and that applies to the whole year.
No I’m not a vegan athlete, nor am I vegetarian, but I’ve definitely become plant-based as I am confident it is healthier. And I believe fitness should not come at the expense of one’s health, rather the two should be seen as complimentary to each other.
The devil in body composition is in the detail, be it fat loss or muscle gain. So before you start giving up or believing you’ve hit a wall or reached your peak, question what you first can improve in terms of nutrition and rest, and then in terms of training. I am pretty sure there’ll be many details you can improve upon en route to becoming your next best version.
To fitness with love,
Andrew
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