Latest News

July 18, 08

I started an undertaking - at age almost 34 I am planning on training to gain more than 20 lb of lean muscle mass - naturally. I have given myself 9 months for that.

It's all based on applied science. We'll see if science and determination in combination work well.

I will be posting my progress and photos.

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June 23, 08

A couple of days after Musclemania Universe'08.. I did not make the finals this time. I competed in a strong group of 15 competitors in the light weight class - the largest group in the entire bodybuilding show.

Pictures from the show are now posted.

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June 15, 08

Six days out. I took these photos today after a carb-up today yesterday. If you compare these pics with the ones below you will see how I look fuller due to the glycogen retention, although I still hold a lot of water.

If things go according to plan, and if nothing goes wrong in contest day I will look just as full, but without the subcutaneous water.

Watch video from the same day.

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June 8, 08

About 10 days before the Musclemania Universe in Miami. I asked my wife to snap some pics of me today. This is my current shape. Compare with the pics from 3 weeks ago below this post...

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June 5, 08

During the Fitness Atlantic in April'08 I was advised by the Musclemania promoter Louis Zwick to compete in the Musclemania Universe in June.

I thought about it for a couple of days and took the decision to compete. I was eight weeks out, and since I stay pretty lean throughout the year, the length of time I had to prepare seemed plenty.

The pictures below are taken 5 weeks out of the show. Dieting and training are going pretty well.

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December 16, 07

I haven't updated the "news" section in a while. It's been almost a half a year.. Let's see.. I don't really have an excuse for half of that time, but I somewhat do for the last two months.

In the beginning of October I started working for the Vitamin Shoppe. At first I was a part time associate, but soon after that I became an assistant store manager.

Now I get to do a lot more of what I like - learn as much as I can about sports nutrition, herbs, etc. It's like getting paid for doing what you'd do in your free time any way.

As far as competition goes, I did not compete this year and I don't plan on competing in 2008. Competing isn't priority right now. However, I plan on staying very closely involved with the sport of natural bodybuilding - I will judge a major natural BB contest, I will continue to grow my membership site, I will learn as much as I can through my work at the VS, and I will stay in top shape.. At least these are the plans for 2008.

If there are any changes (and there might be) I will post the most important news here. Thanks for reading..

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July 1, 07

My web site was transferred to the new template quite awhile ago. In the private area I added fat loss programs for beginners, intermediate trainees as well as for people who are stuck and can't lose an oz. They are all combined with FitNA.

I also uploaded muscle building programs with instructions for how to set up the nutrition software as well as instructions and training logs for the very programs.

Learn more about these programs by clicking here.

On a personal level I am not planning on competing this year. May do some fitness and physique modeling. The rest will be continuing to develop this web site.

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April 12, 07

I am working on changing the face of my web site. I am currently in the process of transferring everything from the old template to a new lighter one. This will ensure that the web pages load a lot faster than before. Not to mention that the site is going to look a lot more professional and complete. I love the new look. I hope you do too.

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January 18, 07

Today FitNA was tested thoroughly after the major upgrades we made to it, based on the users reviews. These updates include:

- possibility for choosing 0 to 6 workout sessions and 0 to 7 cardio sessions a week;

- pie-graph, showing the macronutrient ratios

- macronutrient ratios and grams customization for advanced users

- grocery list

- kick-boxing classes; full calories

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December 1, 06

FitNA BETA was released today. FitNA stands for Fitness Nutrition Advisor. It's a very complex in it's nature program. The functions that it performs are numerous, but that's all keep behind the scenes. What the user sees is a very intuitive and easy to navigate through interface.

The final output is a customized meal plan for the entire week, with your workouts and cardio session factored, calorie cycling if chosen, "carry-out" snacks generated and so much more...

If you want to know more about it go here

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September 22, 06

I just checked the results list on the Musclemania.com web site for Superbody’06 – the competition I did in June. As you all know (or at least those, who follow my “news” page) I took the disappointing 4th place in the lightweight class…

Well, guess what? I just saw on the results page for my class that the guy, who won the category, has been disqualified. Uh, it was sooo obvious that he was not natural!!! Any way, I guess there is justice in some cases… And by the way in this situation I am now technically third in the world for my weight class ;-)

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June 29, 06

Now I know the results from my contest in Miami - I placed 4th in what wasn't a big class but it was very competitive. There was another reason, however, for which I couldn't finish better - I didn't show the condition I had two years a go. I still have to do some more analysis, which will ultimately help me determine what I did wrong in the last several weeks or may be days... Any way, you can tell I am not happy at all with my placement especially having in mind that I've been third two times in Musclemania world events. More on that in my most recent newsletter. If you want to see photos from the contest go to my photo gallery and find Superbody'06. If you want to watch my routine go to the "Videos" section. You will find it there...

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June 19, 06

Hi everybody. I'm posting a snapshot, taken yesterday - five days before my competition in Miami. I appologize for the bad quality and light. This was the best we could do (my wife took it). Also the shadow behind me is funny, isn't it? I look more like Batman...;-) Keep in mind that what you see is not what is going to be on stage...On the photo I am carb depleted and appear rather flat. On top of that I still eat a lot of sodium and I'm retaining a lot of water under my skin. Any way, this is just for you to see a raw image of how I look like several days prior to competition. I will post photos from the contest as soon as I'm back (and I get a chance). They are going to be in the gallery section. This way you will be able to compare between no glycogen and water under the skin and glycogen loaded and no water under the skin. Soon, gang;-)

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May 31, 06

About three and a half weeks to Superbody in Miami. I weigh 174LB. After the beginning of my preparationI found that there won't be a welterweight class this time. That class was for competitors, weighing up to 170LB. I was perfectly falling into it. So, later it turned out I have to lose 5LB more in order to qualify for the lightweight class, which is up to 165LB. That's alright, though. I will still show a progress of about 5LB muscle mass, compared what I weighed in my last competition in LA in 2004. Any way, I will try to post again a week prior to Superbody with some snapshots so you can get an idea of the shape I will be in down in Miami;-)
Later;-)

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March 27, 06

I've started my pre-contest diet a week a go. I was 191 lb at that time. My initial goal was to get up to 195 lb but I decided not to push it that much as this was going cause mainly increase in my BF percentage. So, I thought it's smarter not to deal with extra fat at the end and just stayed where I was. But, finally I was pretty much at my goal -- 191 is pretty close to 195, keeping in mind that I started at 170 lb.

Wish me luck while dieting down, and for the competition in June as well.

Yours,
Ivan

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January, 06

Hi everybody,

I apologize for not writing here for a few months. I've been extremely busy with my personal training, my own training as well as with another part time job that I had. I say 'had' because I don't have it any more, which lives enough time for me training and web site updates and improvement.

As you can probably tell my web site has been changing in the last couple of weeks. I changed my web host and now I have very, very cool tools that I can use and implement. The newest thing I added was the Guestbook. So, now everyone who wants to leave a comment or personal opinion can do so.

But that's the beginning. I have a ton of new things in mind a perhaps every time you re-visit my web site you'll be finding it quite different. So, keep checking for changes and updates. I'm sure you'll like it. And I can't wait to see it the way I want it.

As to how my training goes there is some progress here as well. I am now 190 LB. My goal is to reach 195 till the end of March. It's not a lot left but I'm also very close. I get very excited when I think of the bigger and improved physique, which I'm going to display on the Muslcemania-Superbody'06.

Love you all ---

Here are some recent pictures: