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Hey Steve Let’s start by Telling us a bit about yourself (example: quick bio, where you’re from, work, and what sport you compete in, etc)?
I was born in a small town in Nova Scotia. After graduating high school, I spent 4 years at Acadia University, and moved to Ottawa in 2002 to get my Masters Degree at the University of Ottawa. It was there I met my wife, fellow Team Cygen athlete – Angela. We had our first child and just months before having our 2nd, I moved back to my home province in 2011. My work involves analysis of clinical trial and any other health related research data. Specifically I work as a senior biostatistician for a research unit in Nova Scotia. Outside of work, my focus is on my family, as well as my passion for the sport of bodybuilding.
Wow your job sounds intense…So tell me what made you get into the competitive bodybuilding?
Growing up, I was never a very team oriented athlete. I much preferred relying on myself and no one else. Any individual sport is where I excelled. As a teenager, these included mostly endurance sports. Swimming, cycling and triathlon were the first that really put effort into. Cycling in particular, where high levels of strength was needed to win sprints and therefore win road races. I actually road for team Nova Scotia in the 1997 Canada Games! Genetically, I was never built to be a cyclist. I certainly don’t have the body type of Bradley Wiggens – the current Tour de Fance and Olympic Time trial champion… Perhaps if I were living closer to a Velodrome I would never have gotten into bodybuilding, but at the age of 18, I knew that I would never excel as a competitive cyclist. I turned to the gym. At the time, my older brother had been competing in bodybuilding and powerlifting, and I followed in his footsteps. I quickly gained back any amount of muscle lost from years of cycling. Eventually as cycling became less of a hobby for me, I had more time to focus on bodybuilding.
What are some accomplishments you’ve had in the sport?
I accomplish all my goals simply by bettering my previous performance with each and every contest I compete in. To date, I’ve competed in 18 contests by my last count. Even though winning has a lot to do with who shows up, I feel as though I have had a fairly good competitive history… As a junior, I won the Nova Scotia Provincials twice, as well as the Junior overall at the 2000 World Qualifier in Quebec city. When living in Ontario, my notable wins was a best poser award at the Ontario National qualifier and back to back wins in an Ontario regional and the Ontario provincial show in 2010. Most recently I won the 2012 Atlantic championships as a Middleweight.
Those are some impressive accomplishments! So what is a typical day for you when you are training?
When dieting for a show, I typically use less rest days. When dieting, it’s harder to push yourself to 100% efforts in gym lifts compared to training for a powerlifting contest when I would not be restricting calories so much. So normally, a bodybuilding contest preparation day would revolve around my family and career schedule. Briefly, it would go something like this: Wake up, eat meal #1, prepare for work, drive to work, work, meal #2, work, pre-workout supplements / pre-workout meal #3, workout at noon, meal #4, work, drive home, meal #5, family time, kids to bed, cardio, meal #6, bedtime.
This hasn’t changed too much from non contest training / dieting. In the ‘off-season’, I typically have the exact same schedule, with more rest days as I am pushing myself way harder in the gym and need the extra recovery.
Give us a quick breakdown of your workouts and schedule…
Over the years, this has changed quite a bit from powerlifting training to bodybuilding training, dieting, and so on. This also varies week to week depending on my current schedule at work, home, etc. I take a very dynamic approach to bodybuilding and feel as though that is part of the game. Having too much structure can not only get boring, but also make it easier for your body to adapt. I have however more or less settled into a very common approach whether on or off season. Typically my workouts have been divided into 4 different workout days. Sometimes more, but if I do that for too long I feel as though I get too many days in between workouts. I have tried less but find I am not recovered enough to push myself with only 3 different splits. I normally will go either 3 days on, 1 off, or 4 days on 1 off. If I am dieting, as mentioned, this might be more along the lines of 6 days on, 1 off. Currently I have been more or less following this:
1. Chest / triceps /shoulders
2. Back
3. Legs
4. abs/calfs/biceps.
I will often throw biceps onto my back day, and sometimes eliminate tris/shoulders from my chest day and throw in those on another day depending on how I feel and how much time I have. Again, my workouts are during my lunch break so I often won’t have the time to get in longer than 45 minutes. I never follow a specific structure, but listen to my body more than anything. Sometimes I don’t even know what I am doing in the gym until I get there!
When you are not training, what do you enjoy doing?
Having 2 young kids takes up a lot of time. Spending as much time with them as I can when I am not working is usually a priority. It will be fun getting my kids involved in sport as they get older.
For protein, I rely mostly on eggs, tuna, beef, chicken and whey. Growing up I never liked fish too much, however each time I diet I seem to be experimenting with different things. I often throw in some fish at least a couple times per week in my meals.
Most bodybuilders will follow a low to no carb diet aside from the fibrous carbs. I am no different. When dieting I am not as strict as some might think though and as long as my carbs come near workout time, I honestly don’t limit the foods that they can come from. For example, many protein bars do contain quite a bit of carbs, and I will never restrict these from my diet – even a week before a show. I often eat apples or bananas on my diet. However, like most bodybuilders, the majority of carbs will come from veggies / salads. In fact when I am really low on carbs, most of the carbs will actually come from the small amounts found in condiments, spices, etc. But of course, that is only for a very short period of time. I try to keep the sport healthy for as long as possible – realizing that the final week or two is not what any nutritionist would ever call ‘healthy!’….
Fats usually come from beef, fish oil, olive oil, fatty fish, nut betters, and almonds. I do keep my fats fairly low as well, especially in the last few weeks. In the past my fats were almost zero, however my 2 most recent diets I have kept my muscles fuller for longer by keeping fats up.
If you can have 1 cheat meal, what would it be?
When dieting, I quickly get a sweet tooth. Anything high in simple carbs would be high on my list. I usually like things crunchy, so a cheat meal for me might be a box of cereal (ex. mini-wheats). When in the off-season and my brain is not quite as ‘carb-starved’ I often have cravings for something a little more fatty, greasy – (ex. pizza, hamburgers with bacon/cheese, etc).
Pizza...burgers? Sounds like a perfect cheat meal! Ok on the other hand what is currently in your Supplement Cabinet?
Funny you should call it a supplement Cabinet. We actually have nearly an entire pantry dedicated to our supplements! Much of it is stacked with whey protein - Many would call it a supplement, but I call it food. My favorite is both Chocolate and Vanilla Iso-90. In addition, we have all the most important supplements stored here: Multi-pack, Anabolic Link, Decimate, Fish oils. As contest time approaches, I am sure to add Toragen in their as well. Cygen’s line-up is second to none.
When do you take them?
A better question is when do I not take them! Many people who aren’t involved in the sport might laugh at the fact that I spend most of my day consuming supplements of 1 form or another. It’s important that one gets their regular intake of ‘real food’ - however in a typical day half of my meals are in fact protein shakes or a combination of protein shakes with a small meal. I will often consume my shakes before and after working out and later in the day in between larger meals or as my final meal before bed. Multi-vitamins in the morning when I wake up, fish oil capsules 2-3 times daily with meals, decimate pre-workout and anabolic link is how I normally consume ALL my water. And since I will always get at least 4 liters daily, quite simply put, I am always consuming a supplement in 1 form or another!
Finally, what’s next for you?
My plans for 2013 include the NSABBA provincials / Atlantics – depending on how I do there and the gains that I have made in the off-season, I may in fact do my first CBBF nationals that summer. My focus is to do Nationals when I have reached the top of the middleweight class. Once I am near that cut-off, I will do nationals – otherwise I become the lightest guy in a class that is separated by 22 pounds from bottom end to top end!
I have had some difficulty in recent years with injury, but I may focus some time on powerlifting again in the future.
Awesome good luck and stay healthy. We all cannot wait to see you back on stage.
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