Not too long ago, Corey Mote received a phone call with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Mote, a chiropractor whose practice is based in Clarkesville, was invited to take a break from his day job to pursue his other passion, natural bodybuilding, by competing in the MuscleMania 2010 Fitness Britain National Championships in St. Albans, Herts on Sept. 5.

“When my sponsor (U-Phorm) gave the the opportunity, I said ‘yes’ right away,” said Mote, 29, a Demorest resident and 1999 Habersham Central graduate. “I didn’t hesitate. They called and asked because it was a major show, the biggest show of the commonwealth countries, and said I was the only U.S. competitor. It feels great to be the only one and it’s a very big honor.”

The competition is open to all commonwealth country competitors, and for Mote to compete, he had to receive a special invite. U-Phorm, which specializes in fitness research and education, is sponsoring the event and asked Mote to participate. If Mote places high at the championships, he will likely be invited to another MuscleMania event, Fitness and America Weekend Nov. 19-20 at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas.

The BNS will be the first MuscleMania event Mote has participated in, though he’s enjoyed success in other competitions, most notably overall winner of Mr. Teenage Georgia bodybuilding competition in 2000, second overall in the 1999 Mr. Teenage America and champion of the 2002 National Physique Committee SeaBoard competition in 2002. In 2007, he earned status as a World National Sports Organization Elite/Professional Natural Bodybuilder.

However, Mote said the BNS event will be the most prestigious he’s competed in — MuscleMania is the most popular federation for natural bodybuilding.

Preparing for the event, and others, such as Super Natural Bodybuilding Federation and NPC events, is a year-round ordeal for Mote that requires strict dieting and exercise programs.

His workout routine consists of lifting for one hour each day, doing fast-twitch sprints and other plyometric workouts, and jogging two miles a day.

Mote uses a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet plan year-round that mainly consists of fish, ezekial bread, oatmeal, broccoli and eggs. However, during the offseason, he’ll add more protein shakes, sweet potatoes and set aside one day a week to “splurge” on less healthy foods to break the metabolism levels.

When he gets within three days of a competition, Mote adjusts his diet plan again. He ups his daily carb intake from 100-120 to 320 and completely eliminates water from his diet.

“You have to watch yourself doing that (not drinking water), because it’s not the safest thing to do,” Mote said.

The idea behind the diet and exercise plan is simple — look as lean as possible.

“(Judges) look more at definition, symmetry and proportion,” he said.

Mote, who stands at 5 feet, 9 inches and weighs 176 pounds, will compete in the middleweight division of the competition. Winners from the light, middle and heavyweight divisions will then compete in the overall finals.

Mote will leave for St. Albans on Thursday and will be there for a total of eight days.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “But I’m not thinking of it as a vacation. I’m taking it seriously, I’ll have a day or two after the show to enjoy London, but my priority is the competition.”