RXMUSCLE.COM

Hey all,

For my final post of 2010 I thought I would endorse a website. I would like to highly recommend that you check out rxmuscle.com.

rxmuscle.com has tons of podcasts, incredible content, great historic knowledge, interviews with men and women bodybuilders and they cover the sport of strongman too. The site is the brain child of Dave Palumbo who is was a world class bodybuilder and he knows his shit from A to Z. Check him out he rocks. He's funny too. He's got it all going on. Since network TV doesn't have the balls or brains to cover bodybuilding we need a man like Mr. Palumbo to keep our the sport alive and well, better yet we need him to help the sport grow.

For now I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR and I hope you had a great holiday season! I'll catch in in 2011 both online and at the gym!

Peace be with you.

FROM CONCAVE TO BULKING

As the year comes to close I feel compelled to look where I have been. Lately from a physical fitness point of view I can’t help but to be proud of what I have accomplished. Ok, I’m neither Jack Lalane or Jay Cutler but all things considering my body is doing well. So I thought that in this post I would share a little more about myself.

When I was a kid (elementary school and on) I was “that kid”. By that I mean the kid that was tiny. I was the smallest in the class. Anytime we lined up I was always first no matter what grade. (At least in High School) we were not lining up anymore. Growing up I wasn’t just the short kid, I was the short skinny unhealthy looking kid. I was the kid that should have gotten beaten up but luckily I was so small that the mean kids would beat up the next smallest kid.

One of the things that I always had going for me was that I was athletic. I excelled in little league baseball. I was small, short and skinny but I pitched and won games and I was an all-star first baseman. I was a pretty good hitter. I had zero homers but I had plenty of singles. My role as a leadoff batter was lucrative for the team. When I got into Junior high I was always asked to be on the wrestling team. Not because I could wrestle but because I was small. The coaches just wanted me on the team so the school could compete in all weight classes. I had no interest in being their token small kid.

My other passion growing up was music. Aside from my small stature & excelling at sports I was also excelling as a guitar player. I graduated High School in 1982 and back then kids had to choose their identity. You were either a Jock or a rocker. I chose Rock N Roll which automatically (within the social structure of the kids and teachers) excluded me from playing sports. Coaches didn’t want the long haired rockers around they assumed we were all trouble. Years later MTV broke down those barriers with the MTV rock and jock classic specials. After those aired then you could rock and play sports but before then there was a harsh line in the sand.

I grew to a whopping five foot 6 inches in High School and my weight topped off at 117. As my wife says when she met me in 1983 my chest was concave. My arms had potential but they didn’t have any definition. Shoulders? I guess that’s what they were. My legs were thin and looking back I’m not sure I can come up for a name for my calves.

As years went on I managed to weigh 122 pounds. I rocked hard across the country and loved sports. Rock N Roll is hard work, there’s a lot of lifting to be done. Then one day about eleven years ago I woke up one morning and could not move. My back totally gave out on me. I could not even tie my shoes.

I went to multiple Chiropractors and Doctors and nobody had a cure nor were they very helpful. Everything just hurt. By the way I was now tilting the scales at 127 pounds. Then the revelation came while I was trying to help my Aunt pull up her carpet. I realized that my back was weak. My back muscles were weak and although the Doctors could not tell me this I figured it out. I might be small with a concave chest but I’m not dumb. So I joined a gym. And over the next few years my back started to get better, I got stronger and looked better too. Hey, no more concave chest. I was serious about working out but I wasn’t crazy serious. I can’t complain my weight was about 135 pounds. I felt huge but most important my back (it took time was doing much better. Then about two years my gym closed down and I had to switch gyms. I learned quickly that the new equipment in the new gym made me gain (over time) more muscle. I now topped off at about 137 pounds. I could dumbbell bench press using 60 pound weights; EZ bar curl using sixty pound weights and Leg press about 400 pounds. But then something hit me. It was about a year and a half ago I said that I wanted to re-invent myself. I wanted to get bigger and stronger and I started to study diet, (legal) supplements and bodybuilding. I incorporated that with tenacity and a new vision. I went from eating a minimal amount of food to taking in seven meals a day and today at the age of 45 I am the biggest, fastest and strongest version of myself. When I started at the gym my Biceps were 10 inches flexed. At the beginning of 2009 my biceps were 14.25 inches flexed and at the end of 2010 my biceps are 15.5 inches flexed. I also have shoulders to speak of, a chest that’s far from concave and legs that reached their goal of pressing 1,058 pounds. It doesn’t seem like much but I now weigh 153 pounds.

I certainly don’t think that I’m great or should be put on a pedestal for my accomplishments. There are many people out there that have dome more than I have. But these are my accomplishments and I’m grateful. My mindset is that of a bodybuilder and I plan to continue to grow. To an extent I have defied my genetics and at the age of 45 I’m certainly defying the stereotype of a typical 45 year old male.

I can’t stop now nor will I. I plan on putting a new set of goals together. Over the Christmas holiday I was thinking about the things I need to do to increase the peaks in my biceps, get a little more out of my triceps and push my shoulders out a little more. As I thought about it a big smile came over my face. With my body type life is a bulking phase. Once again I plan on going to Olympia this year. As a fan, I’m certainly not competing but I know that I will walk the event bigger and stronger than I did in 2010.

New goals, new visions bring on 2011!

My Thoughts on Robb Wolf and Iris Kyle

Normally I write about body building and when I think about it this post won't be much different but there will be a little bit of a twist.

What do Robb Wolf and Iris Kyle have in common? They both rock!

First I would like to tip my hat to Robb Wolf. barb (my wife) has discovered Mr. Wolf and he's made a huge change in our lives. barb originally found Robb Wolf through some cross fit training sites. Over time Robb's name and career took off and as that happened she discovered the Robb Wolf pod casts and while listening to the pod casts she learned about a Robb Wolf book. I really like what Robb Wolf says and and how he uses his nutritional ideas. I love that he talks about nutrition but he also talks about working out. He's into cross fit, he has done power lifting and simply put you can say he's an athlete. Robb even gives a lot of solid advice on supplements and working out. Most important his nutritional theory (which I'm not going to go into I suggest you pick up his book) has really changed barb's life. As barb posts in her blog (girlsraiseirontoo) she has autoimmune issues. Robb Wolf's nutritional theory has changed barb's health for the better. She has a greater understanding of how foods specifically Gluten has a negative impact on her. Rome wasn't built in a day but with Robb's assistance a new barb empire is being built. This is evident with her everyday health as well as her gains at the gym. Thank you Robb, we owe you one.

The next person I need to tip my hat too is Iris Kyle. Who's Iris? Iris is the seven time Ms. Olympia champion.

I was getting to a point where I was starting to hit some plateaus at the gym. My lifts were strong but I wasn't going over the top. Within a couple of weeks I started to get my edge back but I still feel I need to ad more to my biceps, specifically the peaks of my biceps. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but I felt that I should seek some professional advice. While at was Olympia Iris Kyle said during a press conference that she will always try to make herself available to her fans to help them/us out. So I got up my courage and wrote her an email over the Thanksgiving weekend. I was shocked when only seven days later she replied. Iris didn't just reply to my email, she was kind and wrote back to me giving me the advice that I was looking for as well as inspiration that we can all use. Let's be honest, how many NFL players or MLB players are going to make themselves available to their fans and teach them tricks of their trade............FOR FREE!. Body builders are known for this and Iris has proved to be a class act. She's a seven time Ms. Olympia champ and she could very possibly be an eight time champ come September 2011 and she took some time for a fan. That rocks. Thank you Iris. I owe you one!

Back in the Saddle Again

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything. The last post that I wrote was all about my shoulder injury. I did see the Dr. about my shoulder and he determined that I didn't have a tear nor did I have Bursitis he thought it was Tendinitis. He gave me script of a NSAI called Indocin. The stuff worked great and within three days and a lot of ice the shoulder was feeling better. I wasn't able to take the all the medicine, that stuff killed my stomach and it was very strong. In order to help the shoulder along I added a lot of shoulder stretches and I took a week off from the gym. I hated doing that but long term it was in my best interest. When I returned to the gym I did everything at half weight. I hated doing that too but again I'm thinking long term. Once all that was done I went back to full blast. I will admit that going all out was pretty tough. I felt that my shoulder was tired but overtime I felt the strength coming back as well as my stamina. While I was going through the healing I felt like I lost a little bit of confidence and some of my bodybuilder mentality. Along with that I felt a bit weaker overall. Then it hit me. As I started my rest week I was also ending my 42 day cycle of Animal test. I can certainly say that when I'm off cycle there is a difference. I have already bought another can of pills and I will go back on it on around December 15th. As for now my focus and outlook has returned 100% and most important my shoulder is feeling great. I'm still going to keep the shoulder stretches as a regular part of my stretching routine and for a while longer I will ice my shoulder right after working out.

Now for something very important. Knowing that my shoulder is on the right track and that the Animal Test has positive results is leaving the window open for me to intensify my workouts. I'm adding in new things and more sets. Of course I'm not competing at Olympia but my goal is to be bigger by the time Olympia rolls around in September 2011.

While I was on my shoulder rest week I got sick. I feel like I got lucky with that. It was great luck to get ill during my rest week. I didn't miss any gym time due to illness.

Last week was a terrible food week. My work hours were long and that caused me to miss a few meels and drop two pounds. I'm looking forward to getting back to my proper food routine.

Injuries Suck!

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted anything so I'm glad to be writing again.
In the last couple of weeks my right shoulder has been bothering me. Nothing terrible but I was keeping an eye on it. As time was passing by I was having totally hardcore and strong workouts. I seemed to be having personal bests with everything. The problem is I think I had too many personal bests because my shoulder really started to bother me. I was at my Chiropractor for my regular tune up, he said to be careful with it. He cracked my back but put more effort into relaxing my shoulder. It was after that visit that I decided that I need to take action. My first step was to make a Dr. appointment to really get it checked out. I was able to get an appointment for Oct 29th. I also knew that I had to take things into my own hands. I kept going to the gym but I worked out smarter to guard the shoulder. I also started to do some major shoulder stretches, I applied ice on a daily basis and I started to do some basic physical therapy movements for the shoulder. As the week went on my shoulder was starting to feel much better. I was still stoked for my Doctor's appointment, I was feeling that the appointment would be the perfect icing on the cake. Unfortunately I was unable to go to the Dr. on Friday. Ya see, Slomin's came to repair the house alarm but when they did that they also took out my DSL internet connection so I had to wait around for them ALL DAY to repair what they screwed up so I ended up missing the appointment. I did plan on doing a light shoulder workout that day but it got late and I decided to skip it. Looking back it was probably a good thing. By Friday night my shoulder was feeling pretty good. I did go to the gym for a chest workout out and my shoulder did very well. When we got home I was up on the ladder cutting down tree branches overhead, this caused me some discomfort in the shoulder but overall it was nothing. I'm very pleased with the way my shoulder has progressed in the last week but I also know that I need to be very careful with shoulder issues so I have decided to to skip my workouts on Tuesday (heavy chest and back), Thursday (bi and tri) and Friday (Shoulders, traps and forearms). Monday I am off and Wednesday is abs so I will still do that work out. My goal is to return to the gym on Saturday. Since I got back from Olympia all the workouts have been solid so I don't feel too bad taking some time off. Rest is good for healing and it's also important component to building muscle. The great thing about all this is that through this injury I have never lost any range of motion. I'm pretty sure that I don't have any tears but I know for sure that I have inflammation and maybe some Bursitis (Inflammation of the bursa sack in the shoulder). So that's the story of my shoulder, I hope to see you at the gym on November 6th!

Superpump 250 vs. Amino Energy

It's been two weeks since I have been home from Olympia. This also means that I have had plenty of time to start to try new products. For those who may not know, the expo center portion of Olympia is a blast. There are tons of companies giving free samples of their products both old and new. So in the future I will be comparing products. Today I'm going to compare Superpump 250 by Gaspari Nutrition and Amino energy by Optimum Nutrition.

At Olympia I taste tested the grape Flavor Amino Energy. That was yummy. So I grabbed myself some sample packs. I was pretty stoked to try this stuff, I have never dabbled in N.O. energy drinks but I'm up for it. So when I got home I tried the Amino Energy and I was blown away. I ended up with Fruit Punch flavor. I drank it down and about a half hour later I worked out. I had a slammin' work out and also got an amazing pump. This pump was visible for hours after I worked out. I had such a great time on the Amino Energy that I of course had to try one of my sample packs of Superpump 250. Once again I had an amazing workout and a great pump. The pump didn't last as long as the Amino Energy pump but it was a great pump none the less.

Now I will compare these products side by side.

Flavor : I used fruit punch for each brand. Amino Energy Fruit punch is OK. Nothing fantastic but it's OK. Superpump250 seems to have a bitter taste. I found it tough to drink. I could take the slight bitterness but it gave me small felling of nausea as it settled in my stomach.

Stability: Both of these products are powders. Amino Energy is very dusty. What I mean by that is when you put the powder into your shaker a lot of powder goes into the air. That also happens when you open the container. Amino Energy is messy that way. Superpump 250 is much more stable. You put the contents into the shaker and it all stays in the shaker.

Positive Effects and Negative effects: 2 scoops or one sample pack of Amino Energy gave me an awesome workout and a pump that lasted a long time. I felt like I had good clean focused energy and strength. I loved it. The same dose, 2 scoops or one sample pack of Superpump 250 was a bit much. One packet (2 scoops) scared the hell out of me. My heart was racing far too fast, I thought my heart was going to bang through my chest. I had a good workout but it was a scary workout. At times I lost focus because I was scared of the adrenalin that I built up. There was no way that was good for you. I had a great pump, but that was way too scary for me. I also didn't like that I got got red in the chest (that what I was working out that day).The redness means that my blood pressure shot up. That's not good. I didn't feel too good that night or the next morning. I counteracted this by drinking a lot of water and flushing my system. I did try the Superpump again using one scoop or half a sample pack. That worked much better.

Ingredients: Both products pretty much have the same ingredients. They both have the BCAA's that are needed but Amino Energy doesn't have Creatine in it and Superpump 250 does. I rather not have the Creatine in my drink because I take my Creatine with my protein shakes. Optimum Nutrition only has 25mg of caffeine per scoop. Gaspari doesn't state what the amount of caffeine their product has. When I called Gaspari to ask them they said each scoop contained about the amount as a up of coffee. To that I say hogwash. They may put that much caffeine in the drink but I think it's loaded with a lot of other stimulants.

Safety : My experience tells me that Amino Energy is safer.

The winner is: Optimum Nutrition's Amino Energy. Amino Energy is safer and smoother and it gave me awesome results. With the right dosage Superpump 250 gave me great results but I suggest taking the product with caution. Only take one scoop. So I will give the nod to Amino Energy. I have always been partial to Optimum Nutrition products and once again I think O.N. has come through with another awesome and safe product.

Drink up, lift hard and stay focused.

Back Home From Olympia

Well, we had five days in Vegas for the Mr. Olympia contest. The first thing I must say is congratulations to all the competitors and I mean all of them, body building (all genders and weight classes), Figure, Fitness, Bikini, Power-lifting, Grappling and strongman. There wasn't a competitor out there that didn't give their all. I also want to give Jay Cutler a big shout out for retaining his Mr. Olympia title and becoming a four time champion.

The Olympia experience is amazing. I went in there thinking this is a once and a life time experience but I left saying come hell or high water we will do this again. It's an amazing event, well organized and done to perfection. From the press conference, to the expo and the ending seminar. Damn! We had the perfect vacation.

The expo was amazing, I left the house with about eight or nine shirts for our trip. At the Expo we got about another fifteen FREE shirts and more free samples of powders and pills than I could imagine. I still don't know how we crammed everything into our luggage but it's safe to say that our luggage was screaming for mercy.

Me and barb got lots of singed autographed pictures and barb also got a lot of the athletes to sign her work-out journal. Mega cool!

We are back home and feeling very energized, I can't wait to get back to the gym tomorrow. The only downside to the trip was that I wasn't able to eat my seven meals a day. I did good by staying away from junk foods and sinful deserts but I came home about five pounds lighter than when I left. I will gain the weight back by the weekend and then I will continue my quest to 160 pounds.

While I was away my weight belt arrived and now that I'm back home it's day one starting my new supplement Animal test. It's a testosterone booster and estrogen suppressor. I will take that for 42 days and then report back.

It's great to be back home, we missed the dogs. Now it's time to SHUT UP AND LIFT!

REST IS IN MY FUTURE.......SORT OF

2010 has been the year where I have taken weight lifting to new levels. I'm pretty sure I expressed that in past posts. This has been the year where I went for it all and hit the supplements too and I have had wonderful results but this has also been the year where I have backed off of my traditional rest weeks. I normally take a rest week the week of Christmas but I didn't do that and I normally take a rest week sometime in August. The reason I didn't do a rest week in August was because I knew we were going away in September. Right now we are eleven days out from hitting the road and going to Las Vegas for the Mr. Olympia weekend and contest. This also means that a much deserved rest week is on the way. My right shoulder has been yelling at me and my left elbow has a bit of an attitude too. I think this rest will shut them up for a long time. My original plan was to work out all next week and then start the rest week on Monday the 20th. We fly out on the 22nd and return the 27th. That would be eight days rest and then I would also hit the gym hard on Tuesday the 28th. But now I'm thinking of starting my rest week Saturday the 18th. I think the extra rest would do me very well and of course when your muscles are resting it gives them a chance to fully heal and grow. I'm strongly thinking that ten days of well deserved rest is the way to go. I also know that my workouts when I return will be hardcore. I'll be energized from Olympia and on Tuesday the 28th I start using Universal Nutrition's Animal Test.

So rest is in my future and so is the vacation of a lifetime.

Against The Grain

WOW! I can't believe it, tomorrow (Sept 5th) I'm going to be 45. That's right forty effin five! Talk about middle age.

I feel like once again ( this is a good thing) that I'm going against the grain. Legend says that I should be slowing down, maybe I should start to take it easy but I don't see any point in that. The human body is a machine that likes to be used and to me I can't see putting actions to a number and stop doing things that I enjoy. So that puts me in the category of a forty five year old weightlifter, maybe someone that will even compete in a contest under the Masters division some day. I feel great about things. I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm stronger than I ever have been. Each week at the gym I accomplish gains in the weights I can lift and actually there are more people commenting on the way I look. Thankfully they are positive comments.

Years ago I never thought I would be using dumbbells that had such crazy numbers on them as 90 or 100 and I never though I could do the things that I'm able to do. This is good stuff, I can't wait to see what I can accomplish at the gym at 45.

A few weeks ago I posted about goals. Goals are important and with forty five turning the corner and knocking on my door to greet me I thought I would review some of those goals. How am I doing? Where am I headed.

The first goal I posted about was to get to 150lbs by July. I put on seven pounds of muscle when I changed my diet and I'm at 152. My goal is still to get to 160 by January. I'm in the process of revising some diet things to reach that goal. I'm such a hard gainer this is going to be tough no matter what. I also spoke about doing 90lb Preacher Curls by the second week of September. Actually I have already reached that goal but I have decided to back that weight down and accomplish a stronger form. I'm still very proud that I made the goal ahead of schedule. I also hoped to be using 85lb dumbbells for bench pressing by the second week of September but I smoked that goal in August. My new goal is to be using 90's sometime in October. Another goal that I smoked was legs I was hoping to leg press 800lbs (45 degree) by the second week of September but I'm already up to 850.

So my goals are going well which means I'm focused and that's a great thing. This also makes it easier for me to maintain positivity through all aspects of my life. That's not always the easiest thing for me to do. I'm going to try to maintain where I'm at for now. Then on September 22nd we fly out to Vegas for Mr. Olympia which will also equal some well deserved rest time from the gym. Then by October I hope to work on some more serious gains.

Wish me luck!

Halodrol MT and Animal Test

Roughly 21 days ago I posted that I was going to try a different supplement. The supplement was Halodrol MT. Well I finished my cycle and here's what I think of it.

To be honest I was pretty pleased. No I didn't gain ten pounds of muscle like some of the exaggerated reviews and advertisements say and I didn't have strength gains through the roof but looking at this product from a realistic spoint of view I can say it was pretty cool. There's no doubt that I had some gains in strength at the gym and although my muscles didn't grow to Mr. Olympia status I can say that the Halodrol MT rounded the muscles a bit and gave me a slightly thicker look and since it's a test booster there were some changes in my libido. The problem was that as I was no more than half way through this product Gaspari Nutrition decided to discontinue it. This is the third generation of the product and now they are coming out with a new formula. Gaspari is known for always changeing things up. Technically I'm supposed to do a 42 day cycle but I'm going to stick with a 21 day cycle because I don't want to get in with a product that wont be on the shelf in a month. Normally after my cycle I would take Gaspari Novadex but that got discontinued too. So what's a guy to do? (See next paragraph for the answer.)

I have decided to change brands and take a product by Universal Nutrition called Animal Test. Universal has been around a long time and this T booster has been called a high quality product by almost everyone. It's actually a T booster and estrogen suppressor all in one. The product is all natural and totally legal.

So today I will order up a can of the stuff. (Universal's gimmick is pills in a can) and I will start it after I get back from Mr. Olympia. So for now by body can cycle off the Haldrol and and I can patiently await Universal Nutrition's Animal Test.

Reviews to come in late October after my first cycle.

Let's Hear It For The Women!

In Bodybuilding and so many other sports and professions there's not enough attention and credit given to the female athletes. Truth be told female athletes have a lot to offer and the sport of bodybuilding is no different. So today I wanted to raise a glass of Gatorade and toast the women of bodybuilding. These women hardly make 5% of what their male counterparts can pull in yet they still work their ass off. So today I have put up some pics of some killer female bodybuilders.

Top Left - Melody Spetko
Top Right - Betty Pariso
Bottom Left - Betina Kadett

Dedication Don't do It by Half

Alright, everyone knows that there is dedication in bodybuilding. The dedication is there regardless if you are trying to be an IFBB pro or you are just a regular dude like me trying to push himself to another level.

It seems that everyone knows about the dedication at the gym. You try your best to to always hit the gym hard and when you reach a goal then you need to work on surpassing that goal. It's a wonderful never ending cycle but the more you get into this the more it takes over different parts of your life. I'm not complaining, I'm just talking. Take Sunday for example, We could be out bouncing around town but no. We get up hit the gym and then come back home to cook. Cooking seems to take all day on Sunday. First I need to cook all my chicken tenderloins for the week. These chicken tenderloins are additional protein in the course of my day. I will eat two or three of these tenderloins at 2:00 every day. Then after the chicken is cooked then I start to make the London Broil. This week I cooked up two because barb was going to do London Broil this week too. Every day for lunch I have London Broil and brown rice. Lunch is at 11:00AM. On this particular day I also cooked a whole chicken for barb. This is so she can alternate with the London Broil. Then when all that's over I'll cook some ribs for dinner. Before we settle in for the evening barb will also cook brown rice. This of course is the brown rice that goes with my London Broil. Then there will be the Ricotta cheese or cottage cheese prep for the week. Normally I do Ricotta cheese. Barb will mix it up good and then either turn it into a lime flavor, lemon flavor orange flavor, or vanilla Nutmeg flavor. This is so I can have my 9:30 meal before I go to bed. I will have about four or five teaspoons of that. This will help my body from going into a catabolic state.

For me this is all part of the dedication. Knowing that I'm going through these food steps (by the way I didn't even talk about the doling out of vitamins and supplements nightly or the protein shakes that are

made the day before) brings this all together. Everyday I'm doing something for me, each day I'm making an effort to obtain my goals. Each time we work on this food prep is another way of mentally prepping to hit the gym damn hard.

It's a lot of work and the rewards are more internal than external. I'm proud of myself and I'm proud of the changes that are happening to my body. On a small hard gainer such as myself the changes are not always not always dramatic. But over time people notice and those words of encouragement mean the world.

Dedication is where it's at, the food prep and the lifting helps create the proper attitude to get the job done. In the words of the great Henry Rollins, “Don't do anything by half”. In this case, if you are going to do physical fitness and or bodybuilding then go all out do do it by half!

I look forward to lifting again on Tuesday!

Goodbye Old Friend

In my quest of bodybuilding, muscle growth and meaningful calories I am now saying goodbye to a dear friend. That friend is good ole Coca-cola. For decades I have guzzled coca-cola (NOT PEPSI) with great joy. In the past couple of months I have been weening myself off coca-cola. First I stopped having two liter gulp bottles in the fridge and now I am down to my last can. This is a sad but great step. Now, I will admit I'm not going to ditch coca-cola all together. If I'm out to dinner or a movie I can treat myself or if I'm at a club seeing Motorhead some Coca-cola would be better better than a beer but those are special moments in life. My everyday life will soon be coca-cola-less. barb has packed the last can in my lunch bag. So for now I say to my dear friend coca-cola, goodbye, so long, farewell, auf wiedershen.

Trying a New Supplement

Well I have been kicking around trying a natural test booster for a while. Typical of me it takes me a while to get my nerve to try new things. This is a natural test booster that can be bought anywhere. Rite aid, GNC, Bodybuilding.com or at your local food establishment. Oh, I better explain that one.

I have been trying to decide if I should take Cryotest by Muscle Tech or Halodrol MT by Gaspari Nutrition. Well just when I thought I made up my mind to try Cryotest I decided to walk in to Muscle Maker Grill in Matawan. I thought since I was in the area ( same complex as my gym) I could compare the two products but as luck would have it they didn't carry Cryotest. The owner who I sort of know sees me having difficulty with the box. Actually the box was ok it was the tiny little writing on the back of the box the rendered me helpless without my reading glasses. The owner told me that he has had good results with the stuff. He said he got some extra energy, decent pumps and it did a nice job of rounding his muscles. Now in my mind I'm stiill leaning towards Cryotest but then out of the blue he says take it and pay me whenever. I told him I can't do that ( I only had $3.00 on me, I wasn't planning on purchasing anything). He would not take no for an answer, then he politely pushed me out the door with the box of Halodrol MT. All this while onlookers smiled at us with their lucky bastard expression. Pretty cool if you ask me.

When I got home I told barb about this and she simply said well I guess you are going to try Halodrol MT.

Like all of these products they get mixed reviews but I'm game. I got the product on Thursday but I decided to not try it until Monday. I planned on taking this weekend off from the gym, it was time to listen to my body and take a rest. So I have rested and my goal is to go full on hard starting on Tuesday. I'm going to take my first dose of Halodrol on Monday. I have chosen Monday for two reasons. First I can take it and make sure there are no side effects and second I can have two days worth in me when I hit the gym on Tuesday.

So, wish me luck. I will be posting more about this product. If I'm not happy with this there are plenty of other LEGAL products to test. (Get it, test?)

A Great Day

Today was a great day. Me and barb had a killer chest workout and I bought some hot new Nike sneakers too. The ultimate part of the day was going to the Muscle Maker Grill's grand opening. We both had great meals (we got free T-shirts to0) and we got to meet Victor Martinez, IFBB pro/2007 Arnold Classic champion. We got our picture taken with him and we each got autographed photos too.

YES! This was a rocking day!

GOALS

One thing about bodybuilding is you need to stay on top of your goals. This past Thursday I surpassed a goal. I actually had a fantasy lift. Somehow, through eating, training and the proper mindset (on that day) I cranked out two sets of 90 pound preacher curls. Sadly this came with a bit of an elbow strain but it was nothing Ice could not take of. (And some TLC from barb).

I have been thinking a lot about goals so I thought it would be best to write some of them down.

My first goal was to get to 150 pounds by July. In the last month I gained almost four pounds. I conquered that goal. I'm very pleased about that.

My next set of goals is as follows:
I want to get my weight up to 160 by January 2011.

I want to increase by flat dumbbell bench press to 170 pounds. (Currently I'm using eighty pound dumbbells on a flat bench) I would like to be using 85 pound dumbbells by the second week of September.

I would like to feel comfortable doing 90 pound preacher curls by the second week of September. I will be increasing my current preacher curl weight (currently at 85) pounds in small increments starting next week.

I also need to set a goal for my dead-lifts but I'm not sure where I'm at on that.

Last but not least I would like to be able to do an 800 pound leg press with ease by December. Currently I'm up to 755.

These goals along with eating and having a proper mindset should get me to where I want to be.

Without goals how can we move forward?
I could use your help with all this. Any support is greatly appreciated.

I DON’T WANT A SPA I WANT MY CLANK

Currently I work out at a Retro Fitness in NJ. Most of the time I go to the one in Matawan it’s ok but it’s small and lacks some gear. None the less I call it home. On Saturday I work out at the Retro in Woodbridge. That gym is a hardcore gear filled monster. It’s sad that I can only get there on Saturday.

There’s a new gym opening in my neighborhood so I had to check it out, it’s in the same 30,000 square foot location as the old NYSC before they closed. Oh how I miss that gym. I went to the sign up office for this new Club Metro and they told me how great they would be (The gym opens in September). They said they would have multiple leg press machines, multiple squat racks, Smith Machines, platforms and they would even have bumper plates. The guy said that this gym was going to be for bodybuilders, Power-lifters and of course the average folk that want to just try to stay in shape. The sales rep told me this and I was stoked. My initial thought was sign me up but I stayed reserved. The guy said to visit the East Rutherford location and that this new location would be the same as East Rutherford except bigger. So over the weekend my wife and I hopped in the car and drove forty miles to East Rutherford to check out the gym. It was obvious that this guy never expected us to do that. Not only was this gym very small there was no way it was geared to bodybuilders or power lifters. They had no bumper plates, they were short on additional bars and they didn’t even have a decline bench. What they did have was a rep that was proud to say that their weights are rubber coated so there would be no sounds of pots and pans in the gym. I just wanted to scream I like my clank! The clank is the music of the gym. The clank is the sound of hard work; the clank is part of the spirit. My wife and I were very disappointed.

After that I decided that we should also investigate the Gold’s Gym in our neighborhood. That gym was sad. This gym only had pin loaded Hammer strength machines, they hardly had any plate loaded gear, everything was carpeted and their fixed weight EZ bars only went up to sixty pounds. I’m not big, I only weight 150LBS (trying to get to 160) and I do a standing curl with seventy pounds. How can sixty pounds possibly cut it? There leg press machine could only hold about 400 lbs of plates. My wife and I each do up to 800lbs on a Hammer Strength plate loaded leg press. Again, we are not the biggest or remotely the strongest. It’s shameful that this Gold’s gym dares to use the same logo that Ric Draisen designed. This was the moniker that so many great ones worked under and strived to build an awesome culture and now it’s brought down to the perfect housewives of NJ spa with some weights tossed in for extra measure.

I believe that there is a place for Snap and for Curves. Those gyms look for a specific market and cater to it but too many gyms have lost their way. They rent all this space but don’t use it properly. They just want to say that they have a spa like atmosphere. All they want is for people to sign up and then not show up. The less the gear is used the less work and maintenance they need to do, meanwhile they collect their monthly dues. Well I don’t want a spa at my gym I want harcore machines and weights. I don’t need towel service, I own my own towels and I sure don’t need anyone telling me not to grunt (Planet Fitness) when I’m going heavy.

When did the gym industry become so soft? I know that there will not be a dungeon style gym opening up in the near future but I think these gyms should at least allow us the chance to feel hardcore and give us the chance to push ourselves. For now Retro will do the trick. I still hold hope that the Club Metro will be amazing but I’m not holding my breath.

I WANT MY CLANK!

Just Say NO!

It's a hot Sunday and my wife and I are back from working legs at the gym. This was an excellent workout but it was tough and yes it's hot out.
After doing leg presses and Deadlifts I really could have just gone home, not that my wife would have let me but I was feeling tired. One of the things that popped into my mind to energize me was Ric Draisen's webisode where he was talking about choices and just saying no. I think that a third of bodybuilding is actually saying no. No I wont go home because It's really hot in the gym, no I wont go home early because those Deadlifts kicked my ass, no I wont eat fast food because I'm hungry now, no I wont reach for soda when I can get water and no I wont skip a meal because I'm tired.

When I talk about physical fitness and commitment too often people just say they don't have the time. When did it become acceptable to not take the time to take care of yourself. If you don't take care of yourself how can you take care of others.

Just say no to the voices that say you cant, just shut those voices down and lift!