Activ8tion Fitness

What a night! Second call out and in the end 13th place at first ever bikini Olympia. That is an AMAZING achievement - 13th best in the world. I think we may have even been able to nick a couple of places higher if we had nailed the carb up (shoulda coulda woulda) with a touch more fullness but let’s just look at how amazing she looked and to get the “nod” from the IFBB and be in the second call with such an amazing line up of names. Multiple time Olympia champ Ashley K, Jen Ronzetti, Breena etc is off the charts good. Then you look at the names behind her in the 3/4/5 calls and it’s something to be so proud of. Our goal was to get to Olympia and try and get in the places - meaning get a number 1-15 which amongst the 40 odd pro show winners (many multiple show winners, arnold champions and bikini Olympian champions) is still a super difficult task. I must admits I shouted out pretty damn loud when the name after Askleys was Nittaya! So I’m super proud as a coach and so happy for her. Even more so as she can be better still - at this level the seperation between places is razor thin. So any minor improvements can have a big effect. It was a super competitive event but she was a winner on so many levels. The first bikini Olympian from Thailand, to have prepped through everything that’s going on in the world and the crazy travel to get here (4 flights and over 40 hours!) and to also not get blown away by the big stage on only her 4th Pro show! It puts her firmly as the No1 Bikini Pro in Asia and should be another example to people that you can achieve your dreams. Even the way you carry yourself on social media - no kissing butt of people. No semi p**n pics or tagging everyone in the hope of some effect on placings. Not needing to be part of some far away Team to further tour placing with false promises. Not needing to fly to other countries for the same reasons. Step by step we have improved and it will be the same again for the next qualifier and hopefully the next Olympia. Put the work in and let your physique do the talking! I am super excited to see what’s next and so proud of what she achieved today !ifbbpro @ Orange County Convention Center

A year ago today...consistency and tenacity alongside hard work and making improvements gets results. A week before at the both ladies took second place, wind forward a week and both won their classes at the in Macau. It’s the first time I have been in a situation where I had two of the three in the overall (and a good feeling that one of them was going to win) - so as a coach and a competitor it’s a strange feeling. As one will be ecstatic and the other slightly disappointed. So I was nervous too (coaches do get emotional!) So it was great to see both ladies .ifbbpro and hold hands for the result and then be the first to congratulate Karen on the win. It’s was literally a point apart that’s how good both ladies were on the day. With shows coming up remember you see the last 5/10 percent onstage . Much like the tip of the iceberg - the vast majority of what it takes is hidden. The hours of cardio, the hours of intense training in the weights room. The dieting. The posing The mental strength to stay focused for months. The drive to be better and make improvements without complaining. All winners have this mentality. So learn from it. Too many want instant results and no work. To get to this stage both ladies had to work their ways up. Neither just walked on stage one day and got gifted a pro card! No chest meals. No diet breaks or whatever the current fad is for basically trying to make it easy ! So always remember you don’t see what it takes to get here - as that part is HARD! @ Venetian Macao 澳門威尼斯人

And another great showing. Yang takes second place 🥈in his Men’s Physique competition. Our second show together in two weeks and this is off the back off a 19kg total weight loss since we began working together at the end of the summer - so the stage was an end goal - a motivation , a target for the fat loss and he enjoyed Himself so much the other week that he decided to enter another show just for the hell of it. Great attitude and a big well done.

So on day 2 Bella takes a 4th place in the overall - basically the top 3 of each height class do an “overall” mixed height competition and she came 4th out of the 15 class medalists which isn’t bad at all. Time to rehydrate (2 day shows aren’t kind to the body) have a little treat meal (planned an approved sushi and ice cream) then back on track and ready to make some improvements for her next show in 4 weeks time. Few things to work on but a very very positive weekend 💪🏽😎

Our weekend competitors in China continuing to do well! It’s a Top 6 and into the final for men’s physique novice Yang (blue shorts) in his show in China today! Improvement from 2 weeks ago so fingers crossed for the finals in a few hours! 😀

Great showing from He Xi who takes 🥈in his classic physique class in 🇨🇳. Really proud of how much progress we have made and he was the most conditioned guy on the stage (far left) with the winner out sizing him (far right)- which give us some good focus for improvements. You can only be the best version of you each time and control your own variables. So I am Very happy for him and he’ll be back onstage tomorrow for the overalls competitions (top 3 in each class). Then it’s possibly another show in China or the Pro qualifier in Hong Kong 🇭🇰 if we can get travel sorted @ China

Actually got it slightly wrong. We are back tomorrow but the class was decided so it’s a well deserved 🥈second place finish for Bella. The lady In the pink took first (on the left in pic 1) and on the far right in pic 2 (with Bella on the far left and the 3rd place in the middle). We are very very happy with the look we brought and this wasn’t an IFBB Show so the judging criteria are clearly a little different - however that’s the risk you take and we have to respect that. It does give us some great feedback for how to prep Bella for the stage and we have another show to jump into in a few weeks. Let’s hope by then we get some good news for 🇨🇳athletes to be able to travel to Hong Kong so she can join the Global Classic Pro Qualifier as her look is much more suited to the NPC worldwide/IFBB Pro League criteria. So fingers crossed 🤞. None the less a great experience and we go again tomorrow on the same stage for the overall placings @ China

Why so serious ?

as a coach the best, most rewarding thing isn’t just results or medals it’s when a client is absolutely serious. As you then know you can work with them and really make a difference. No serious coach likes the people who vanish or check in sporadically (unless you’re just short term money orientated - which on social media it’s easy to find plenty of those) I have always wanted to make payments minimums of 12 or 16 weeks but I decided to go against that grain - as many people don’t like to feel contracted in and have to do something - I would always rather have the client who wants to stay with me as they feel it’s a good fit instead of tied in purely financially. However there are upsides to the longer contract method in that it’s motivating in itself. Still a lot of clients pay me for blocks at a time which I appreciate as it show they are serious. however today I felt kinda chuffed when one person just paid me outright for the year as their goals are to improve and continue working together. I felt flattered and also excited as i KNOW I can make a real difference over 12 months vs 12 weeks. So a big thank you to that person for having faith and showing their commitment to the process. It’s really not about the money as such it’s more a big sign they are 100 percent serious. That’s the kind of thing that gets me excited. 1 year of hard work is going to see a big change. I can’t wait 😎

Another fortunate chap who has gym use available over in Singapore (albeit whee you have to queue and wait for entrance - so he’s a committed man!) is a guy who im sure will be making some placings this year in the Pro Qualifiers and pushing for a card. Again keeping it fairly lean and just slowly going to creep things up to keep it healthy (something I’m a big fan of right now with the virus about, be sensible with supps and don’t add unneeded weight as high BP, breathing issues etc make you MORE at risk). August is pencilled in for the first show of the 2020 season and I genuinely excited to see what we can bring to the stage and then refine it until we get that card #2020

Over in the mainland Team China lucky enough to be in the gym and training hard. Mens Physique Pro on the right (and classic physique Pro in the middle) both getting ready for August shows too. Adding a little mass as both look to make their pro debuts. Most of us are jealous not just at the physiques but at the ability to be in the gym training like normal ! Again staying ready so that once shows are confirmed (as they have been) or moved to new dates we aren’t too far away from stepping on the gas to@get ready for The stage

As I’ve been saying to most clients the next few weeks will be a bit awkward. So focus on what you can do - with virus worries and limited kit for sure the one thing everyone can do is a bit more cardio. Use this period as a mini cut of sorts as very few people (unless you’re in a country with open gyms or have a great home set up) have the ability to train the same way as usual. So why not incorporate that post cardio 10-15 minute stretch that you don’t have time for usually but will pay dividends . Of course get in what you can resistance wise but let’s not kid ourselves it’s plain BS that bands and some children’s DB are the same as shifting some proper gym weights. So just do what you can and don’t sweat it. If you train hard and intensely a bit of a back off to rest tendons and push enthusiasm to get back at it even higher than normal. You might be a bit flatter but that will return once you start lifting heavy again - if it doesn’t guess what it was probably not muscle 😜
In the grand scheme of things it’s just a small pause , after all Bodybuilding is a marathon not a sprint. Plus let’s remember there are many globally who don’t have the money for their next meal, who would love to have a Warm bed even for one night. We are all in a pretty fortunate position.

Keeping it lean and ready. IFBB Pro effectively cruising now with the goal being an August show (fingers crossed) using the time to just use minimal supps and keep the body fresh without adding extra bulk or blowing out the waist - something that happens to some MP guys who just ruin their lines and get too blocky then wonder why they aren’t winning shows. Puwanat is in lockdown in Thailand right now but we are doing what we can to just tick other during this period - maybe we can’t train as heavy but we can be diligent on our diets and stick to the plan, not giving into temptations and of course getting some cardio in and posing practice. Once things resume we can crank it up a notch until then it’s be smart and be safe.