Name; Brian Harris (age 33)
Gym you train at and location; Auchenharvie Gym in Stevenston, Ayrshire, it sports the nickname “best in the west” which must be true of course bcause I train there!
Q.1 Why did you start bodybuilding and did you have any goals of competing to begin with?
I actually started training when I was 16 purely because a friend had joined the gym and asked me to come along with him, I was more interested in martial arts at the time but thought I'd join anyway. At the time I had no concept of bodybuilding and on my first night at the gym I set eyes on a guy called Micheal O'Hanlon who at the time had just come of the back of winning every junior title in sight and I couldn’t take in what I was seeing, suddenly i wanted to be like that and dropped martial arts like a hot potato!
Always had dreams of stepping on stage but ultimately never thought I'd be good enough.
Q.2 What is your current training schedule like? How does it differ between pre-contest and off season?
Basically train each body part once every ten days (which horrifies some people to know!) each session will vary slightly in the order of which exercises are used and we are believers in the less is better theory so far as amount of sets are concerned as well, variances between offseason and pre contest is literally the addition of cardio, nothing else changes training wise as whatever built the muscle will keep the muscle I believe, the only time there is a significant change to the training is in the last week or so when its more on a safety level than anything else as the body is in such a fragile state by that point.
Q.3 How long have you been competing?
I'm still just a pup, this was only my second year competing, the first year being 2006.
Q.4 What are your main competitive achievements?
2006 NABBA Scotland first timers 1st.Was the best feeling in the world, when you consider as a person I have all the self confidence of a wet piece of toilet paper I can’t put into words how overwhelming it felt to win that class.
2006 NABBA Novice Britain Class 2 2nd. All I can say about that show is that I didn’t think fat people were supposed to beat shredded people lol ;) Still I was happy and it was an excellent experience.
2008 Prolab Classic, Over 85kg, 4th. First step into the Mr's class and also heavyweight class and was overjoyed to get the unexpected 4th place as I thought I was out of the running altogether.
2008 NABBA Scotland class 2 2nd.A nerve racking and amazing experience and the show where I finally learned to enjoy being up on stage instead of being terrified.
2008 UKBFF Scotland over 90kg 1st. Overwhelming and emotional end to my first season in the Mr's and I'm still in disbelief now, but very happy!
Q.6 What weight are you off season and contest time?
I've only had one off season so far, so based on that my bodyweight peaked out at 234lbs,i was 229lbs at the beginning of prep and I stepped on stage for the first show of this year at 209lbs,i tend to stay fairly lean year round, my rule of thumb is to keep sight of my abs, once they start to disappear then I'm carrying too much weight and I rectify it, I don't see the point in carrying 30 or 40lbs of excess body fat as we are supposed to be bodybuilders, its only making for a harder pre contest diet otherwise.
Q.7 What are your current competitive goals?
Short term to compete in 2009 with a few more lbs on my frame and sporting the condition i did in 2006 with a view to qualifying for the Britain and see what that brings me.
Ultimately the dream goal at the moment is to be good enough to eventually stand on stage at the Universe and get a top 6 placing in class 2 but that is many moons away at the moment, but I'm chasing it!
Q.8 Why do you feel you have been able to make continuous gains over the years?
One word, consistency! It is the most important thing any bodybuilder will ever realise as without consistency you will get nowhere. I also like to think I keep an open mind as bodybuilding is ever evolving on an almost daily basis and too many people keep their heads stuck in the sand by having found one way of doing something and sticking with it, there are so many methods for gaining size dieting, supplement use etc, no one person can say that they have nailed the best way of doing things as it simply doesn’t exist.
Q.9 What supplements do you use?
I basically use a good protein powder and some form of creatine along with a multi vitamin/mineral supplement, I've currently started using the Extreme range of supplements, although I've been using their performance whey for a couple of years recently I tried Liquid Fury and I'm astonished at just how effective this little gem is, crippling pumps just the way I like 'em! I'll be using Kr-evolution shortly due to the good results and reports i have been seeing from other users.
Q.10 How much do you feel supplements and sports nutrition help your training?
In my opinion they are essential if you want to have any chance of realising your true physical potential, it’s simply unrealistic to think that you can get all the essentials that your body demands as a hard training bodybuilder/competitive athlete. I myself rely on them certainly on the nutritional side I would estimate around 50/50 of solid food to shake/mrp ratio in order to get in my set amount of protein, carbs and fats each day.
Q.11 What is it that motivates you through a gruelling workout?
Firstly my biggest motivation is to be the best that I can be, secondly it has to be my (bitch) training partner Ramsay Strachan. We have been best mates forever and he is always able to make me dig deep and fire on whenever I may be feeling demotivated or down about something, I bounce everything off him and to be perfectly honest feel he is an essential part of my bodybuilding as a whole, that and the fact he gives me face ache from making me laugh so much.
Also corny as it may sound I have a little daughter who has had a very unfortunate start health wise to her life and in truth she is one of the foremost things in my mind whenever I want to give up, if she doesn’t give up after all she has to go through then what excuse does her daddy have?
Q.12 Who, if anyone, do you want to thank over the years for their help?
There are so many I couldn’t list them all, but I'd begin with my training partner Ramsay Strachan, Sarina my other half and my constant support, my family ,everyone who has came to support me at the shows, Michael O'Hanlon, Avril and Gary Keith and Raymond Brand for all their help and guidance and support, Scott Liddle for helping at an impossible time in life for me and last but not least Dougie Black for taking the time out from his hectic life to help and advise me.
To everyone else I haven’t mentioned, a great big thank you, you all know who you are and you all know also that I am very scatty and haven’t left your names out on purpose!
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