First off, I’ve now been on my diet for little over three weeks and at my last body composition reading, the Parrillo 9-sites caliper readings landed at 4.84 % body fat. The Jackson/Pollock 7-sites actually say 3.06 %, which is wicked (and pretty inaccurate.) A picture from the weigh-in is posted to the right. I’ll update on the diet and training soon.

Besides striving to become really shredded, I’ve been working hard on some new services. We at reFORM recently opened a community for our clients and I will open up for new clients again within a week or two. Stay tuned for more information and how to sign up.
We’re also working on an exclusive supplement line that, to begin with, will only be available for our clients and our competition team. You can say that it’s in the try out/pilot stage and if it turns out well, it will be available to the public within a few months.

 
Just typing a few lines to let you all know that I’m back from my Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The autumn, and especially November, was very hectic for me. Therefore I allowed myself a few weeks off from work, which was much needed.

On January 2:nd I began the final phase of my diet to get rid of that last few pounds of stubborn and hardened fat. At the start of the diet I was around 160lbs at 6.8% Body Fat (Parrillo 9-sites Caliper) – or 4.7% according to Jackson/Pollock 7-sites Caliper reading. The picture to the right was taken on January 6 after five days of very low carb dieting (only fiber). I’ll give you more details and some new pictures as I progress.
 
 
 
 
 

 
As you might have noticed, I’ve added quite a lot of articles and readers Q&A:s to the website archives. The last two months have been pretty hectic with huge orders for winter sport specific articles and extra deliveries of training articles because of the upcoming Christmas holidays (the magazines need to stay two months ahead.)
I also caught my first cold which turned into sinusitis and a throat infection. But it was inevitable since most people around me had been sick for months… Since I had to work 10+ hours a day and do some photo sessions it took about two weeks to recover from. I did however stick to a balanced diet and although I missed three weeks of training, I managed to stay in pretty good condition. I’m now doing full body circuits with three or four compound exercises four to five times a week. My workouts take no more than 25 to 30 minutes. I’ll write more about my training in a few days.

 
I just added two of my articles as well as the Q&A columns from BODY Magazine #9 and #10 to the articles archive.
The first article, from issue 9, deals with self exclaimed experts (internet forums, anyone?) and how to separate the fakes from the real deal. The second article, from issue 10, presents the basic ideas of periodization and training blocks and gives you an example of how to construct your training for a full year. In issue 11, which is out in stores as we speak, I go through the basics in putting together the perfect training program based on your experience and current goals. If you haven’t read them, make sure to check them out!

 
Once again I’m sorry for the lack of updates. The last two weeks following the Nationals has been crazy. During the Nationals I worked as a photographer for BODY Magazine as well as the official stage photographer for the Swedish Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation. In effect, each athlete could sign up for 7-10 stage photos of themselves for only 100 SEK. That’s about 15.5 USD or 10.85 Euros. That’s very, very cheap.

So far, about 50 contestants have signed up for this deal. These photos that I deliver are reduced from the original 3872 x 2592 pixels in 300 dpi (10.2 megapixel) to the PC-screen standard of 96dpi and 1239×830 pixels. That’s a file-size of about 400kB and a full-screen picture on most monitors. I also added some sharpness and colour correction. And to be honest, most athletes received close to 15 pictures. And even if you placed last in your weight class and only got called up for one comparison round, you got at least 8 pictures delivered from me.

Doesn’t sound like much work? Well, if I could work without interruptions, finding and choosing pictures, copying them and process them, I could at best deliver photos to about two people an hour. So, 50+ contestants equals an additional 25 hours of work – for only 100SEK a person. That’s probably my lowest hourly wage ever. But at least everyone was happy with their pictures!

If you competed at the Nationals and missed to sign up for photos, please contact me and I’ll set you up with the same deal. If you want to buy the rights of one or several of the original 300dpi high-res photos, please contact me for discounted prices.

Well, I have about six articles to write during next week and a lot of questions to answer for the columns. I’ll do my best to write/blog some more during the week. New articles for the article archive should be arriving soon also. Until then, take care!

 
Here’s a quick update before the weekend. I’ll be off to the Swedish Athletic and Fitness Nationals in Karlstad in a few hours. Since I’m car-pooling with Luke Ray (of eSunless/Jan tana), I might not show up until late evening due to stopping at every gas station along the way for a cup of coffee (inside joke).
I’ll be taking some photos for BODY Magazine, but since I’m somewhat practicing with my new photo gear and since I have +10GB of memory cards, I’ll probably be shooting like crazy. If you compete this weekend and want some photos of you in action, please feel free to contact me for a delivery on CD or DVD. Each photo will be in 3872 x 2592 pixels (10 MP), 300dpi and in jpeg format (about 4.5MB in size.)

And for all of you that have requested new updates from OLB II, please be patient. I have a lot of data collected and a few notes that I need to put together. The last couple of weeks have been really hectic, so that’s why there have been only a few updates. I also caught a little cold and took about two weeks off from the diet. I’m back on it now though, at about 5% body fat.

That’s it for now. Thanks’ for reading!