Week 27 (3 weeks to go) Leaving to the USA

Suddenly the date of the show gets closer and I see the end of the tunnel.
Most of my photo shoots and appointments are fixed and I can leave with the good
feeling to present myself in America in my best possible shape.
I worked hard for every tiny success so far and yet I don't know how rich the harvest will be.

Most of all it is exciting to experience a whole new episode of my life and I am blessed to have
the chance of working with the best photographers of the scene and competing with the idols of the sport of bodybuilding.
At 23 years I achieved already, what seems to be impossible for so many others and it is a great feeling to have prooven all the
sceptic people wrong. I made it to the Pros and my journey has just begun.

As planned by my trainer Francisco Guerrero we are almost ready to go on stage and just because of the stressful flight and travelling this week,
we kept a little extra pounds.
Basicly I could get ready for the stage within a few days, but it makes no sense to take a risk of overdieting.
Though I am feeling tired and of course some days I cannot even stand seeing myself in the mirror, but this is the moment when the mentally strong have the chance to proove their inner strengh.
Athletes with a weaker mind start to mess things up, start to do unlogical things in order to get better in the last weeks, but in most cases they destroy everything.
Every day I keep telling me, that I am going through a process and on the contest day, everything will be alright.

I am proud to announce my new website: www.bigdanhill.tv (coming very soon)


You will find a new video of my journey every few days there and I want you to be part of the first almost "Live-Documentary" in the world of real PRO Bodybilding.
Enjoy the movies and maybe it will motivate some of you to also take their courage and live their dreams.
Everything is possible !!!



See you in Phoenix

Dan

Week 24 (6 weeks to go)

It has been a while since I was posting my last entry on my blog.
The reason I was not writing anymore is simply that my trip to the USA gets closer every day and I can almost count the hours until my flight will leave from Frankfurt to my favourite country. There are so many things to do right now. It starts with practising posing even harder from now on, making appointments for the photo shoots and making the final bookings for hotels, rental cars and flights. All this needs to be planned as perfect as possible, so it will not negatively influence my diet routine when I am finally there. If you fail to plan ahead, it will cause a lot of extra-stress and this would be the worst nightmare for the last days.

Nonetheless everything is going better than expected. I dropped a little bit of weight in the last weeks and so I am staying around 260 lbs by now. I believe this happened by switching from chicken to fish as my main protein source.



I realize that my energy levels are really low. After my morning cardio and posing session I first of all need at least 1.5 hours of sleep before I can really start into my day. I am getting tired really fast but the same time I cannot sleep in the nights. At some days I am even a bit afraid of the night, by knowing that I won’t sleep well for sure. Those are the worst nights. Staying in bed hungry, unable to sleep and fighting against the doubts in your mind.
This is a major fight which has started now as well. The battle of yourself against your mind. When looking at yourself in the mirror the mind will give you a wrong picture of your progress. You don’t see how your shape gets better and you just see that you are getting smaller when loosing the weight. Still you have to go your way, to keep your diet and to continue with what you were doing. Otherwise you won’t be looking good on stage.

It is just about 6 weeks until my Pro debut now. The moment I was fighting for since more than 2 years. It feels unreal to be close to this point and at the same time I already feel like a winner. I have to push my limits for only a few days more. At this point of the diet it is all about your mental strength. Your body is already exhausted. You cannot expect it to reach perfection if there is not a strong force from behind. This force can be only created by your thoughts and goals. You must be driven to do this by your very own skills of staying focused and motivated. Nobody will go this way for you. Every great success demands sacrifice before. I already demanded total dedication from myself for over two years now and I got it in my own hands to create a satisfying result or to disappoint not only my friends, family and fans but most of all ME !!!
Failure is not an option and in the next few weeks I have the chance to achieve something extraordinary. Something I can be proud of forever.

Week 21 (9 weeks to go) Merry Christmas !!!

First of all I would like to say thank you to all my fans and friends who are writing me Christmas letters and those wonderful wishes for 2010.
2009 was a great year for me already and I can honestly say, that I never enjoyed that much being a professional Bodybuilder like in the last few months.
Looking forward to 2010, I know it will become an even more successful and better year for me. I met so many great people this year who taught me to be more positive, to use this mental energy for reaching my goals and who showed me what it means to be strong. I still need to become a lot stronger in so many ways, but even this process is somehow quite magnificent. I learned again to enjoy the small things of life and at this moment I can say that I even enjoy the daily “boring” routine of doing cardio or preparing the same meals again and again. It became a pleasure again to do every single step into the direction of my Pro debut.

Almost half a year has passed already since I started dieting and still I am at 270lbs.
I didn’t expect to be in such a good condition already with this relatively high bodyweight, but basicly it shows to me that I did everything right so far. Day by day it is getting harder now but day by day I also start to motivate myself more and more.

Last week I also had another great photo shooting with my good friend Reiner Dahms.
Actually the first photographer who ever took pictures of me (in 2006) and so we have a long history of our photo sessions already.

I hope you will also follow my journey in 2010 and before I wish some happy holidays to everyone. Stay positive and realize your dreams !

Week 20 (10 weeks to go)

Two weeks have passed again and time is running. I keep myself really busy these days with photo shootings and filming footage for my DVD. Day by day I practise my Posing routine, besides my two training sessions and every day I feel completely exhausted in the evening, but at the same time completely proud of myself having accomplished another big step on my way to the Pro debut. I feel tired and great. It is hard to explain, but the more I work and the more I feel the progress, the more excited I get, regardless if the cravings are getting stronger or the energy level is quite low.



In the morning I feel really bad usually. I can hardly sleep and usually I only sleep 4-6 hours during the night. I run into the gym as soon as possible to get my metabolism accelerated again. Just in order to be on track with my meal schedule. During the day the business of Pro Bodybuilding continues. Emails without end reach me these days and I need to make phone calls every day to realize all the plans and appointments I have scheduled so far and of course I also spend some time to answer emails of other athletes. I prefer to call them athletes instead of fans because basicly I still feel like the little boy that I have been a few years ago, who just loves the sport of Bodybuilding and not yet really like a Pro Bodybuilder who is officially one of the best in the world. Thinking about this motivates me again to give my best and my very best only.



I just returned from an amazing Photo Shooting in Finland this week and I am really proud to show some impressions again. Moreover there will be a Training series published in some Magazines and Websites. Keep looking forward to it and enjoy the great Photowork of Mike Siren. I consider these pictures as true art.
We had lots of fun at the shooting, I am really honoured to work with him and of course I am more than glad to receive such great pictures already, more than 10 weeks out of the show.



Keep looking out for more and check out Pakkotoisto.com regularly for more articles…

Week 18 (12 weeks to go) AGAIN !!!!

Being completely right on track with my schedule, a few days ago I read the sad news about the IRONMAN 2010. It is really sad that such an event has to be cancelled and especially in the MECCA of Bodybuilding I would have never expected that. I focused my offseason and whole diet completely on this day and I can honestly say, that every time I walked into a gym, my inner voice was telling me: YOU WANT TO GO TO THE IRONMAN! SO DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO AND TRAIN !

After a little moment being totally confused, I refocused myself and so I keep looking forward to my new goals. Like it is always, when one door is closing many others do open for you.
I still hope the Ironman will be re-scheduled in February between the Phoenix Pro and Arnold Classics, but I am not really optimistic about it. But nonetheless there is the Phoenix PRO for sure.
One day before my birthday it is a great timing to have my Pro debut.

As my DVD is also a big issue for me and I am totally convinced it will be a really great one, I will moreover compete at the Melbourne Pro in the middle of March. Wayne Gallasch is of course filming there and so we can also add some footage of my Australia trip. This week I finally booked all my flights and now it is again my turn to improove as much as I can until those big days for me.

The diet is going great and in the last month I did not loose a single pound whereas my shape improoved dramatically. It is just going perfect so far and I am doing my very best every day.
Somehow it seems to me like the Pro card is giving me some wings. The diet goes more easy than usual and I have not a single moment when I loose my focus or my motivation.
Combined with the great results I see at my photoshoots and the motivational emails I receive every day, I am staying in a totally positive mood.

Maybe its also the new system of my trainer who is tormenting me mercilessly by eating SUHSI right in front of my nose.



I am also very pleased that I can post another link to a new training video, published at Probodybuilding.com
Thanks to Adam for this, who filmed my Shoulder Workout, after a really stressful photoshoot and Expo day, in Las Vegas at the Mr.Olympia two months ago.

http://www.probodybuilding.com/video/workouts/exclusive-power-shoulder-workout-with-daniel-hill-ifbb-pro.php

Week 15 (12 weeks to go)

After having spent a great time in America again it was really hard for me to return back to cold Germany.
My girl Tonya and her five kids... I mean dogs, made me forget about the stress of dieting almost the whole time.





Arriving in Frankfurt after having had a broken seat on the plane, one of my first stops, after taking care of my food naturally, was the gym of course.

By chance Phil Heath was also visiting Frankfurt and so he trained in the XXL-Bodytown just when I arrived.

Did I mention that my Gym is something like the Venice Golds of Germany? Without sun and without beaches of course. But at least it has enough history and raw iron to be called like that.

Of course I was exhausted from the flight and flying east is much harder than going to the US, but this is simply the life of Pro Bodybuilding.
You have to get used to long flights, you need to find ways to take care of your meal schedule as soon as you arrive somewhere and even when being too tired to walk, you need to stimulate your muscles, having at least a small workout.
Even at my level it starts to become a big influence and I do have much respect for all the top Olympians doing this almost every weekend.

On Monday, still having a bit problems with jetlag my next important appointment was scheduled.
Wayne Gallasch who is producing my DVD travelled to Germany to visit me in the "Dungeon", the XXL Bodytown and also the Ottwald Gym, which is my other gym, where Marcus Ruehl used to train.
12 weeks out of the Ironman we filmed the training of every entire muscle in only 2 days.
Divided into four videoshootings I spend over 10 hours lifting weights at maximum intensity.
The results turned out to be even better than expected at this point of my diet and it is a great opportunity to work with Wayne, a real legend in the Bodybuilding-Videobusiness.
Needless to say that I was falling into my bed at 8pm already after this workout-marathon and it felt like heaven just to close the eyes and do nothing anymore.

For the next 8 weeks I am dedicating my whole time on improoving my condition to the maximum.
On the day I go back to the US I need to be ready. Basicly on that day I need to be in the condition that I could walk on stage immediately. All I need to do in the last 3 weeks before the contest in America will be
to conserve the condition. In this way I will be on the safe side and I know that all the upcoming photoshootings over there will only make it better.




The final countdown has started: 12 weeks to go

Week 14 (13 weeks to go)

My bodyweight finally went up to 270lbs again and surprisingly the condition was not getting any worse.On the contrary I am feeling like I look much fuller now.

The training since I am back in the US gets better day by day as well.It is still quite warm in Vegas and the temperature level helps a lot to improove my training especially when you are still training as heavy as you can.

Every training I am thinking about the contest day now. I started to practise my posing routine and I will increase my diet in one week again.The "12 weeks out" mark will be some kind of special. Many athletes start their diet then and for me this means basicly another big step ahead to my Pro debut. I will force myself to be even more motivated, more dedicated and absolutely determinded from this moment on.

The though phase for the mind starts now. The contest gets really close and you always want to be in a better shape as you currently are. I keep painting pictures in my head. How I will look on the Ironman stage? Which placing can I achieve? No matter what happens in this period now, you have to believe in yourself. Keep working for the ultimate goal.

I know that some hard weeks are directly ahead of me but I also know about the exciting moments I have already marked in my calender. Almost every week there will be a photoshoot in Europe from now on already. This will motivate me with every new picture taken.Up to that day, when I leave to America again.
Until this moment I have only 9 weeks to bring myself as close as possible to contest shape as I want to travel to Las Vegas 4 weeks before the show. At this moment I want to be ready. I have to be prepared for the honour to work with famous American magazines and photographers.

And of course I have to be at my best, when my name is called out the first time on a Pro stage.

Some days ago Muscular Development published my "In The Trenches" Video which was filmed by Robbie Durand during the Olympia weekend.For those who haven't seen it yet, I invite everyone to take a look. Maybe it can show my attitudes, my opinions and my plans a bit more detailed to you.

Dan