What a Difference a Year Makes

This is me (obviously) and Phil Heath at my last competition on October 1, 2011. Below is me (yet again, surprise) with Phil last year at a competition on October 2, 2010.

In both instances it was immediately following The Olympia, so he was in prime condition. I thought that this year, the year he won, he looked amazingly bigger on stage, and looking at these pictures, I see much bigger arms this year, although they are huge in both pictures.

I often wonder what it must feel like to have muscles this big, how it feels to move around in the world with such amazing mass. I have no desire to become this, yet I find it so fascinating. 

Think of the sheer amount of food it must take to support a metabolism such as this!  How much weight can a body this size push and move? Where does he buy clothes to fit his physique?


But a year can make a huge difference, it did for me. Here are my placings:

2011 NPC San Francisco Bodybuilding, Fitness, Men's Physique, Figure & Bikini Championships
Figure Class C 3rd
Figure Masters 50+ 1st


2010 NPC San Francisco Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure & Bikini Championships
Figure Class C 4th
Figure Masters 45+ 3rd

I placed higher in both "Open" and Masters this year! Why? I think that working with Roy really helped, I was able to sculpt my physique better. I added some size, but still not enough in the legs. We are fixing that though, we are now training three times a week instead of twice. I didn't have a trainer last year, I was completely on my own and I have always thought a trainer was a very important part of lifting and weight training, I just hadn't found the right one until now.


I have 7 months to train, to add size, to think about my new goal of competing in Women's Physique. I will need to learn to pose like a bodybuilder, I will need to design a routine.


I am looking forward to the challenge.