Thank you to everyone who posted informative and encouraging replies in this thread in response to my upcoming diet program which I will be starting before the end of the month.
Any additional feedback, suggestions, advice, or even well-wishes would be greatly appreciated. It means a lot! Thanks.
I don't know when my province will allow strongman contests again, if that day will ever come - and I won't believe it until I see it. But regardless of what the future holds in terms of government overreach encroaching on historical freedoms here in Canada, I'm going to train with the goal in mind of placing in the top 10 in the Lightweight Strongman Nationals [<80kg / <176.4-lb], in the
CAASA Canadian amateur strongman organization.
As there is nothing doing for CAASA planned in 2021 right now, I think it's safe to say that the earliest Nationals will be in 2022 or later, and that gives me enough time to dedicate to the training required to reach my goal. I'd love to win my weight class in that contest, but if any
lightweight freak like Dain Wallis is still around, I won't be able to do that. I only won Provincials in 2017 because they held it in both Northern Ontario and in Southern Ontario, so that no one would have to travel very far to compete. Although all events were the same, and all implements weighed the same, since they couldn't standardize those weights with complete precision, they declared both the Northern Ontario winner and the Southern Ontario winner to be the provincial winner. for 2017.
I have no allusions - or delusions - of being the actual 2017 provincial winner had they calibrated all the weights [that would have been Dain], and I can't fathom ever beating Dain unless he died accidentally or was murdered on the day of the show.
This is just bonkers for a 5'8", 170-lb lifter:
But I do think a top 10 finish for me is possible if I train hard from now until contest day, and commit to my diet program outlined in the OP.
I have a few good events for my size, and I am hereby promising my friends on Getbig that I will crack that top 10 if strongman competitions are taken off the current Canadian felonies list within the next few years - and I am a man of my word.
I will train hard, commit to my diet, grind it out, and once again regain my title of...
Thunder Bay's Strongest Manlet
Attached below is a photo of me from a few hours ago at 185-lb. I started training again earlier this month, and I have 10-lb to lose, and I plan to greatly improve on my physique, while passing all my previous personal best lifts [settling at just over 315/405/495 for bench press/squat/deadlift with perfect powerlifting contest form, at 175-lb body weight], and hopefully hitting a few other personal bests for reps [for bench, either 225x30, 250x20, or 315x10], as well as successfully flipping the heaviest tire available for strongman training in Thunder Bay - the 1100-lb'er...this same tire was the heaviest of three tires they had in an ascending weight tire flip at the 2014 Ontario's Strongest Man competition - and one which I just barely missed in training, after a 52 second attempt to flip it [all because my darn feet were slipping out of my shoes as you can see in the other photo below].
I'm looking forward to getting back on track, and if the Ontario government cracks down even harder on the ability to exercise here, I might just lose whatever remaining marbles I have left.
Thanks again for the support! Keep the comments rolling in - it's great to hear feedback from some of the freaks, and some of the highly knowledgeable members [or in some cases, both] that we have here. I appreciate it!
My back and shoulders are a far cry from what they used to be, and I think I may even have a touch of Palumboism [I see no reason why drug-free manlets can't get Palumboism with age, just as juiced top IFBB pros do]. My back is glossy because I started using the prescription Retinoid cream that I just got, and it dried out my skin a little, so I've been applying moisturizer until I figure out the proper amount to use:
