Three from three, an overall near-miss and a stomach bug nine days out

Prep Diary of a Masters bodybuilder - Episode 5

Saturday, October 3, 2026 – PCA Masters show day

Sleep has been disrupted four or five times because I'm up to the toilet with more water flowing through me than the Trevi Fountain. Yesterday we put in 100g asparagus in four of five meals and 1g of vitamin C per meal. No Peak Max this time either but we wanted to be a touch sharper, because the PCA lean towards condition over anything else. I've dropped more water with this protocol than anything, but I am still nice and full.
We arrive at the venue, Connexin Live in Hull, early. I have to urinate in a plastic cup after parking my car because I'll never make it to the toilet in time. The glamour is never far away in bodybuilding.
I meet lots of friendly faces – competitors in my class and in other classes – as the build-up begins. One thing that always stands out to me at bodybuilding competitions is the mutual respect and camaraderie among competitors.

My coach, Nathan Smart (above), is in attendance for this one. He has a look at me. Everything is on point. We agree to hit the pre-stage pump up a little harder to close the gap to my post-workout look, the one that has me in the best bog in Thurrock. He gives me some of his Engineered Muscle Turbo Pump supplement, which I sip while flogging myself with bands backstage, in between a few trips to the toilet, of course.
On stage I get moved. I look down. The tape to mark the competitor line is in a cross. I'm in the middle. Good sign. Former England captain and World Cup winner Phil Vickery (below, right) is in my class. I mention it to the PCA MC who says he recognised the name. As Phil finishes his routine, the PCA MC gives him a congratulatory message. The rest of us walk back on stage for our posedown, all shaking his hand as we return. I take the victory - three from three. The feeling of winning never gets old. Phil is very complimentary about my physique, which feels surreal given his stature.
We hang around another five hours for the overall, drip-feeding four rice cakes, 80g chicken and 15g honey twice, all with just sips of water now, having already put in 2.5 litres. I believe I have a genuine shot at the overall. Indeed, it is close. I am convinced I have it. It goes to the brilliant Over 40 winner Zack Gibson. Top bloke and who has a very similar shape to me. He wins his PCA Pro Card. I have to wait for my chance to win mine at the PCA British in two weeks.

Sunday, October 4 2026

Laura, thankfully, did the four-hour drive home. I had an off-plan meal at a services on the way - the first since May. We are up early and standing at Oliver's football match by 9.15am. He scores. That's another fiver for Robux. I give him another pep talk.
Watching the overall video back Zack is a touch sharper than me. He deserved the overall. Nathan messages: "We won't miss next time."

Monday, October 5, 2026

I have another shot at an AGM job. Thurrock branch, where I work as a PT/FC, is becoming available. I'm told to apply but temper my expectations. From yesterday, I'm back to baseline diet; 1900 calories. Cardio is back in, this time a modest 20min. Steps at 10k. This will remain for the next few days as for the first time in three weeks we do not have a show this weekend. The PCA Brits is next on October 18.
The school texts. Now my daughter has a detention. She's not had one in the three years she's been there. I send a reply; not in my time she isn't. In yours. We receive a lengthy email from a teacher which is very intimidating and aggressive. It gives me an insight into what this place is really like. The school’s reply was blunt: no debate, no parental input and, if I didn’t like it, I could take it up with Ofsted. In other words; 'you will comply. If you don't like it, bring it on'. All additional stress none of us in the house need, nor asked for. More stuff I have to deal with while preparing for a British finals.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

The email tirade with the school continues. I'm calm. In control. Purely because I wasn't making a request. I was telling them what would happen. I'm also no longer interested in anything they have to say. I consider pulling them out of the school system entirely, moving further afield to clear the mortgage and therefore setting up an easier financial situation whereby I can homeschool the children.
I have a disagreement in the gym. I ask how many sets someone has left, while with a PT client. "I've just started," they say. OK, but how many sets do you have? "I've just told you I just started," she shoots back. We walk away and do something else, realising quickly we would have more success howling into the void.

Wednesday October 7 2026

With the baseline diet returning, so does the need to prep spend. I buy two cheap games for my Steam Deck totalling a tenner. They will no doubt sit in my library unplayed for months. Honestly, I think it is the act of spending which is better than doing anything with the things you actually buy.
I stumble upon a YouTube video analysing the PCA Masters. I'm in it. My ego is massaged nicely. "Look at this guy!" "Gary just needs more back" is ringing in my ears. But it's a positive assessment.

Thursday, October 8 2026

Last day of baseline diet before a brief top up tomorrow with a high day. Face is really starting to come in now, even more than it has been. Feeling in a good spot though. Cruising in. I have no idea of what is about to come...

Friday, October 9, 2026 – 9 days out

High day drops. Good deal of food here. Meal 1, for example, is 175g rice pudding [Hydrorice from Engineered Muscle], 50g whey, 30g honey, 10g dark chocolate. Meal 2 is 300g basmati rice [cooked weight], 150g cooked chicken breast, 30g raisins, 20g honey, 100g green veg and four rice cakes. I swap meals 1 and 2 purely because I'm waiting for my delivery. Midway through 175g hydrorice I start to feel like I can't finish it. Still, I do. I go to train about 3pm, two meals in. But when I arrive I'm feeling off. I'm flagging pretty quickly during training; back with some arms to push carbs in specific places. I'm taking longer and longer between sets. I feel rough. Energy tanks. I message Nathan about whether cardio is still required because I feel I'm about to puke any second. It is. I get through the work out somehow but I'm not right. I feel ill. I do my post-workout pics but need to take a long rest in between each one. This is not like me. God only knows how I manage to drive home. I slump on sofa. Stomach all over the place. Laura checks my blood sugar. It's super low. I eat four rice cakes but cannot manage the rest of meal 3. She checks it again before I'm allowed to fall asleep. Upon waking about an hour later, I take myself to bed. I've clearly got some sort of tummy bug. Stomach is upset and I'm belching large clumps of air. Not pleasant. Eight days out I'm bed ridden from 5pm. Temperature slightly raised too. In eight days, I go for a PCA British title and my PCA Pro Card. This is not a good spot to be in.

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Masters Bodybuilder Prep Diary – Episode 4: A second win, a school disagreement and Phil Vickery in the tanning queue

Two wins from two, one battle at home

Saturday, September 26 – 2Bros debut show day.

I wake at 4am. Same routine because Nathan is stateside with Yinka at the Olympia. It's 8pm there. Pics, weight, back to bed till 6am. Plans drop alongside the comment: "Absolutely crazy look. Hard, full and vascular and you've only just woken up. This is only going to get better." Before Meal 1, I have a strong, sharp coffee. The plan is to have two meals before stage and two litres of water. Salt remains consistent. I'm relaxed. No stomach pain today like last week at my opening show.

Laura and I both wake, dress – I can't shower due to having a base coat of tan from the night before – and make our way to the venue. It's like a who's who of Instagram. The base coat of Pro Tan has me looking ridiculously dark, but even so the tanner asks if I've even had a base coat. Top coat goes on. 2Bros run their show with an iron fist. Officials patrol the tanning area calling numbers, telling relevant competitors to get their glaze, then get backstage to pump up. It's warm backstage, which really helps — you're more vascular when it's warm, and pumping up is more manageable.

I know I need to pump up more for this one, as we try to match the post-workout look we've tracked every day for two weeks. I start with biceps, then shoulders, then move into my weakest bodypart – chest. Four to five sets of 15-20 reps with bands. Then press-ups. Officials have us queueing two classes deep, ready to go on. At this stage I'm just keeping the pump by posing hard, squeezing the muscle.

We're on. I wave to the crowd as if I know them all and they know me. I only know my wife, Laura. Quick comparison of the four of us. Not even quarter turn side poses. Then off. Back on for 20-second individual posing. I show them my best front poses but not my back, which is generally weaker. Before I know it, we're off stage. Then I have to wait more than an hour just for posing routines and awards.

I'm chosen as the winner. Such an addictive feeling. Two shows, two wins so far on this return.

Sunday, September 27

We're up early for my son Oliver's football match. 9.15am arrival and it's a 40-minute drive. Some other football parents have a bit of banter about my tan — looks like jaundice, apparently. Ollie plays well but has an issue with his plantar fascia. He gets through it. Another strong showing. Back to baseline diet today: 1900 calories today and tomorrow. We will likely start loading again on Tuesday into the PCA Masters in Hull next Saturday, October 3.

Monday, September 28

Baseline again. I'm starting to feel washed out, for no other reason than the two shows, I'd imagine. Post-workout look is strong again — wild, in fact. Condition just keeps getting better.

It's Fudge's birthday today, one of my four cockapoos. She is four. Laura and Georgia, my daughter, insist on going out to buy her some bits. I choose to stay because I have a ton of writing to do for FrontDouble and News Uncut. They return with doggy cakes and film themselves singing happy birthday to Fudge, who seems to sit there attentively until they've finished, before grabbing her cupcake and padding off down into the living room.

Tuesday, September 29

Day 1 of PCA load. Higher carbs. Raisins and honey back in with my rice and chicken. Gorgeous meal. Rice pudding doubles from 50g to 100g. Must remember to buy some more — always get caught short needing some urgently. Post-workout pics are insane again. Really need to nail this look for the stage on Saturday.

Wednesday, September 30

Hugely tired today. I'm assuming it's the extra carbs, because there's no cardio at this stage and steps are moderate.

I get a text from school while I'm at work — Ollie's been given another detention. A few minutes late in the morning because the traffic on the school approach is appalling. Why does the school think it's OK to book detentions in my time? When the school day ends, that is my time. Turns out they have government permission and don't need parental consent. We live in a dangerous world where schools and government can override parental consent. He will now miss football training because of this, and no one can collect him when detention finishes due to work. That is why these things must be arranged with parents and not forced on them.

Laura calls the school and they are, as usual, unhelpful, but promise to wait with him until someone gets there. I'm waiting at the school for an hour. No sign of Ollie. Laura can't reach them on the phone because the school is now shut. I find a teacher and, staying calm, explain how disappointed I am that the school seems to want to crush him and ruin his experience so early on. I express my fear that I have no idea where my 11-year-old is. Turns out the school did not wait with him as promised, and he made the decision to walk home alone. He is now in trouble. And so is the school. But hey, they got their 30-minute detention.

I receive my feedback from the 2Bros head judge. Pretty awesome: "Conditioning was good, your physique is balanced, shape is good and skin still good also. Nothing wrong to say except keep growing if you can while preserving that balance and aesthetic." Noted. Off-season pending.

Screenshot

Thursday, October 1 – PCA Masters, two days out

Two days out. I remember I am competing Saturday. I finish and publish my 2Bros colour piece from last Saturday, set up Sibel Osman's Road to Milan piece, and start on a feature with the excellent Official Body Muscle Art. All before client work and my own job.

I see some other Over 50s competitors on social media and the nerves start to kick in. Everyone is telling me how good I am and that they can't see anyone beating me. The positivity makes me uncomfortable, and I know it's never as clean-cut as that. I also know not to focus on others. But that is always easier said than done.

Friday, October 2 – PCA Masters, one day out

The day got progressively worse as it went on. Dropped Ollie to school in plenty of time. Daughter unwell so didn't go. He finishes at 2pm on Fridays, so we planned to get him picked up by his mother-in-law, then travel to Hull early.

No work today as overtime finished, but had to go in for a team meeting — AGM role up for grabs. This gives me something to think about. Had to buy more whey protein and more asparagus on the way home; we're putting in 100g of asparagus over four meals today, together with 1g vitamin C, as both work as a mild diuretic, although I'm not a fan of diuretics. Muscle is 70% water and needs water to be hard and full, so pulling water never makes any sense, even mildly.

Late getting back home and still need to take the dogs out. On the walk, I get a text from the school: Ollie was a few minutes late to a lesson and now they want to give him a 30-minute detention today after school. My blood hits boiling point in record time. This is the third time they have tried to enforce an arbitrary same-day detention in my time. I have already written to them saying they have no authority over my time, and all they said is they have government permission and don't need my permission to keep my children after school. This is a dangerous route to go down. The government does not own my children either.

We still haven't left for Hull, so plans for an early departure are now scuppered. We eventually leave but it takes us more than five hours to arrive at the Airbnb. I reach the base-coat tanning venue at 8pm, only to realise former England rugby captain and World Cup winner Phil Vickery is competing. I make a mental note to try and nab him for an interview tomorrow. He's competed before but never at a show I've done.

I finally sit down at 9.30pm to eat Meal 4 — two meals behind and two litres behind. I still have writing to do. And I remember, finally, I'm actually supposed to be competing again tomorrow.

Want a coach who's living the prep alongside you? I'm taking on clients. DM me on instagram @gary_chappell76 or email info@dietplanman.com to apply to work with me.

Prep diary of a Masters bodybuilder Ep.3: Teeth falling out, a prep kitten and my opening win

A week of contest prep, family life, work, fatigue and increasingly precise attempts to get my physique right for the next four shows – with the next one my 2Bros debut

Saturday, September 19, 2026 – show day:

I wake at 6am. No tan on the white bedding because both coats are being sprayed this morning. But as has happened once or twice over the past few weeks, I get sharp pains in my stomach. I struggle to find decent lighting in the Airbnb but take pics and weight and fire them over to Nathan, who has just landed in Vegas as he plots the 212 Olympia debut for his client Yinka Majolagbe. They are eight hours behind, he's had a 10-hour flight and it's getting late stateside. Without fail my phone lights up within minutes; espresso and 5-10min walk to get things moving. I venture out into the morning light, wander round a park, past a squirrel ruffling the feathers of a flock of hungry pigeons then, of course, a Ghostbuster van.
Meal 1 goes in; 100g Hydrorice – rice pudding to you and me – whey and honey. Pics and weight in two hours. Water and salt consistent.
As I prise the kids out of bed and the family gets ready, I wash up, make sure the place is clean for check-out and gather my bits together for the day ahead. I have tanning at 9am and expect to be on stage at 1.30pm. Short drive to the venue – seven minutes or so.
Tanning is, as it always is, delayed. I chat to mass monster Don Valley in the changing room as we both wait to stand together, naked, except for a sock. Amiable chap. We talk bodybuilding and its problems. We're clearly on the same page and I reflect how these shows always create friendly bonds with people who live the other side of the country. It is one of competitive bodybuilding's positives.
I finish tanning at gone 11 and realise the show has started and they are rattling through classes. That means they are ahead of schedule. I rush to get pics and weight to Nathan waiting more than 5000 miles away across the pond for my update. Messages struggle to go through due to dodgy reception and I'm feeling increasingly rushed. Finally they go through. I get my meal plan. Then I find out I'm going to be on much earlier than planned. We halve the meal and I just start pumping up. I'm now on in 30 minutes roughly, not 90. I stand behind the stage curtain as some guy I have never met rubs glaze into my skin. They call me on straight into my posing routine. I perform it to a backdrop of my wife and daughter's support. No rest as it finishes as they want me straight into mandatory poses. It is just me in the class. Happens sometimes. You just get on with it. At least I've won.

I'm surprised by my posing fitness - this never happened in 2024 BC [see previous diary entry]. My midsection control is excellent and breathing nicely under control. I'm confident, happy. It has gone well.
As the chance is there, I step into Class 2 - open bodybuilding - just for extra stage time. It is me and the friendly Don Valley. What a battle. Don outmuscled me. I out conditioned him. Today they want muscle and he takes the win. I'm pleased for him. He messages me later with very complimentary words about how I've helped him realise what he needs to do condition-wise to achieve his PCA Pro Card. I always struggle with people being positive. That and self-belief. I am working on it. Later, I win best poser, even though in my head I cannot pose. Overall, it is job done as we prepare for two more shows back to back.
I ditch my flip flops and change back into trainers for the three-hour drive home. As I drink a sugar-free energy drink and sugar-free fizzy to help navigate the M6 and M1, I start feeling more human again. I walk through the door at 8.30pm. Two meals to go and we reset for another competition in six days.

Sunday, September 20, 2026:

Back to baseline diet today. 1900 calories. Fully expected. I take my son to his football match for 9.15am. He is captain for the day and opens the scoring. The weekend seems to continue in a positive vein. He misses out on man of the match and seems upset afterwards. But I ask him: 'Did you put in a man of the match display today'? He did. I say: 'This is what we want. You keep your standards high, put in performance worthy of man of the match every single game, the rest is out of your hands. But do everything in your control to be the best'. It seems to lift him. I tell him he's done a good job, bank it and move forward.
The depleted feeling starts rinsing through me late in the day as the lower food starts to bite. The dog walk gets hard when this feeling returns. I do what feels like mountains of washing up and fold what also appears to be two tonnes of washing. Full client check-ins too. Many have cheated on their diet this week. It reminds that I haven't done that ever. And had nothing off plan since May. I get an insta message asking me to do a podcast. I'm told some people think I'm an icon. I wonder if she means eyesore. Who knows.

Monday, September 21, 2026:

Baseline diet again. More food expected tomorrow as we polish for the next show, my 2Bros debut. I need to do this UK regional qualifier so I can compete at the NPC European Masters in Milan. Last leg session today. Lots of writing too as I catch up from the weekend's exploits. Son got in the school football team, albeit the reserves. That'll do. He can build from there. Things are looking up.

Tuesday, September 22, 2026:

Carbs start going back in after two days on baseline diet. Regardless, I start to feel washed out. Strange, because there isn't even any cardio at this point. I have an overtime shift until 1pm, then a PT client, training, then straight to get the kids. Tuesday is always manic. I need to take my youngest to football training by 5.45pm. I try to eat first – but there's no chicken already done so I have to prepare more. With my wife on a 12-hour ambulance shift, I'm juggling plates. I put washing on, wash up the mess left from the morning rush, eat – finally – then dash out the house for football. I take my laptop so I can do some writing in the car but the laptop is low on juice and it dies quickly. Training ends earlier than usual because of the fading light but I'm still not home till nearly 8pm. Then I prepare dinner for the kids, eat again and take the dogs out. It's now 9.30pm. I have one more meal left, my head's spinning with stuff I need to do and haven't done, a million emails from the kids' school [why do they insist on sending so many?!] and a message to deal with after my son was given a detention for forgetting to bring in a whiteboard. This is his third week of high school. Their arbitrary rules are just so unnecessary.
I keep checking emails to see if anything has dropped from the literary agents I pitched. It's been about seven weeks since I finished re-polishing my children's picture book. I need another income stream and this idea has been in the works for years. I've had one rejection and silence from six others. Nothing from The Times, either, after two job applications for sports production and sports news editor; roles I have close to 20 yeas' experience in. At different points I remember I'm prepping for another four bodybuilding shows.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026:

I'm up at 4.30am to do fresh pics and weight to ping to Nathan, who is eight hours behind in Vegas and who has been up since 4am himself preparing Yinka for his 212 Olympia debut. We exchange a few messages, then I go back to bed until 6.45am when I take more pictures, this time in the garden for natural light. They are so much better. I keep referring to my post-workout pics in the best bog in Thurrock and how I believe that look is even better than the stage look from Saturday. I never think official photos do the physique justice somehow. Or maybe I'm never happy. I sent Nathan some stage shots overnight and his reply landed: "Some of these shots are crazy". He mocks up our 12-week transformation from when we started working together saying "crazy 12 weeks work" and "should be super proud of these". Still, the thought persists that I can improve that stage look.

I'm tired at work today. Client at 9.30am, train, then straight into holding a circuit class. I eat soon after then retreat into my shell for a bit. I clean the treadmills and crosstrainers as it helps me think. I leave at 4pm and head straight to collect my son from school football training. His training overruns and I'm nodding off in the car. Three days out from show number two of five.

Thursday, September 24, 2026:

Up before the alarm today at 4.15am. Pics sent across the pond to Nathan. Then back to bed for all of two hours. Weight holding after two days of higher carbs so a few more going in today. We are trying to land a similar look to my post-workout fullness; dry and vascular. I take them after two meals and 2.4litres of water. So what I need to do on Saturday for my 2Bros debut is improve my pump-up routine. I won't be working out obviously. But in the past I have not pumped up very much for fear of blurring detail in the muscle when in fact, with me, the opposite appears to be true – and these post-workout pics prove this. As the day goes on, I get that empty, quiet feeling again. So I hoover and clean the gym simply to be alone with my thoughts. I feel rushed when I leave; writing bits for FrontDouble, preparing stuff to get to Milton Keynes on Friday in time for tanning and registration. My mind is not clear. I don't like this feeling.

Friday, September 25, 2026:

One day out from show two of five, my 2Bros debut. I wake groggy after a bad night. Dreams were wild and weird. First, I dreamt my teeth suddenly starting falling out one by one. Then I dreamt my plans dropped from Nathan for my next show and he wanted to me to buy a kitten. I can remember thinking, why the hell do I need this? I already have four dogs.
I work the early shift today 8-12. Food is pulled back slightly. We are trialling the look without Peak Max this time. Everything has looked ideal day after day, following two meals, two litres and a workout. So we are not adding any more variables. On Saturday we just repeat, two meals, two litres and I fix my backstage pump-up protocol by doing a bit more and not worrying whether I'm going to blur any lines. Looks like I need more of a pump up, not less. These two qualifying shows will serve the perfect purpose of refining for the more important trio to come; the PCA Masters next Saturday, October 3, the PCA Britain and the NPC European Masters.
I finish work at 12, get home, get my bits together, collect the kids from school at 2pm – early finish Fridays – then head to the venue at Milton Keynes. Loads of motorway traffic as usual. And once again I have to stop at a services to use the toilet, which they helpfully locate 400,000 miles away from the car park. I switch to passenger and let Laura [my wife] drive. I click the heated seat button and doze off, waking on M1 to yet more traffic. We arrive just in time for me to dash behind an outbuilding and because I'm busting for the toilet yet again. Base coat of tan goes on. The spray is freezing. We then get diesel but due to a couple faffing at the pump and then the pump not reading the debit card, I somehow lose my reading glasses. Stress after stress. We finally reach the Airbnb, I eat and settle down to get some writing done ahead of tomorrow's second outing.

Prep Diary of a Masters bodybuilder - Episode 5

Saturday, October 3, 2026 – PCA Masters show day

Sunday, October 4 2026

Monday, October 5, 2026

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Wednesday October 7 2026

Thursday, October 8 2026

Friday, October 9, 2026 – 9 days out

Want a coach who's living the prep alongside you? I'm taking on clients. DM me on instagram @gary_chappell76 or email info@dietplanman.com to apply to work with me.

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Two wins from two, one battle at home

Saturday, September 26 – 2Bros debut show day.

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A week of contest prep, family life, work, fatigue and increasingly precise attempts to get my physique right for the next four shows – with the next one my 2Bros debut

Saturday, September 19, 2026 – show day:

Sunday, September 20, 2026:

Monday, September 21, 2026:

Tuesday, September 22, 2026:

Wednesday, September 23, 2026:

Thursday, September 24, 2026:

Friday, September 25, 2026:

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