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!