The fake tan will be out and the muscles will be flexed as bodybuilders strut their stuff on Sunday at the iCompete Natural Tasmanian State Championships in Prospect.
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Launceston’s Dane Tiffin has been bodybuilding for about eight years, but became serious about it three years ago.
“I wanted to better my health and my physique and from there, I got a passion for it and a drive to better myself further and further,” the 23-year-old Launceston man said.
“Once you start seeing results, it’s something you just want to keep pushing for until you become your best possible self.”
Part of his preparation includes training four to five times a week and eating five to six meals a day, made up completely of wholefoods.
“I do carb cycling and vary my calories throughout the week to reflect my training.
“Leading up to the comps, I’ve cut out any type of desserts, including protein mousse or anything like that. That was something in my off-season that 12 to 16 weeks out, I’d indulge myself just a little bit, but I never had many cheat meals.
“Everything I have is gluten free and I try to be sugar free.”
His workouts vary, depending on his goals.
“It includes lifting weights to shed down to the body fat that I need. A few weeks out I need to start cardio as well as dropping calories to get down to that body fat, but to build the muscle, you need to lift the bigger weights so that’s everything from cables to free weights to machines, everything is included.
“My max bench press in my off-season was 145 kilograms for one rep.”
iCompete Australia hosts drug-free competitions, which is what Tiffin is involved in.
“If people want to use [steroids] in their separate federation, that’s fine if they’re open about their use, but I hate people that lie about using it. I just like everyone to be honest.”
Before his last competition, Tiffin did a deplete and water load, but he and his coach decided this time to do something a bit different.
“I’m not going down to that level of exhaustion – we’re going into it a lot easier.
“Obviously going into a comp, getting down to 5 per cent body fat, it’s not healthy for the body and that’s why you’re only in that state for a few weeks until your body fat climbs up to a healthier range.”
The competition includes fitness modelling poses and bodybuilding poses.
Depending on how he places in Sunday’s competition, Tiffin plans to compete at the ICN Australian Muscle & Model Championships in Melbourne next month.
- The ICN Tasmanian State Championships are at the Country Club from 10am on Sunday.