(view from our deck and kitchen window)

As most of you know, moving is likely the worst thing to do other than ….. well… something else really shitty. I think it ranks right up there with stabbing myself in the face with a butter knife, repeatedly. I was out of commission most of last week due to a move from the city to the mountains here in the Denver area. I figured it would be so much easier and less stressful to pay a moving company to pack us up, tear down beds, unpack us, build up beds, etc.. It was quite a bit less stressful and it made the move, itself, much quicker. However, there was no getting out from under the stress. Add to it that I was 4 weeks out from a big show and you can imagine who wanted to be around me last week. Remember that butter knife idea? Yeah, I got that idea after waking Thursday morning to find my wife standing over me with said butter knife. I asked her what the *^&%$ she was doing and she mumbled something about making me a sandwich. With it being dark in the room other than the moonlight through the window and it being roughly 3:30am …. and my being 4 weeks from a show… I couldn’t figure out why she would think I wanted a sandwich so I slept with one eye open the rest of that night.

I knew I would miss cardio on Thursday but had no real idea of how much more cardio I would actually do unpacking boxes and getting everything put away. You see, I am one of those really anal people that can’t stop until something is completely done. I balance out my wife, nicely, because she can start a large project and after 5 minutes needs to stop and have a drink and a smoke and she might get back to it next Tuesday or so. Not me. I had to get every damned box unpacked and put in it’s place. Not just put the BOX in it’s place to be unpacked later but get everything unpacked, boxes cut and folded and everything stored in the garage that wasn’t going to be needed anytime soon. I did so much that I decided not to do cardio on Friday after my glutes and hams were cramping from going up and down stairs most all of the day. I figured I had a leg workout on Saturday to tend to and really didn’t want to have a bad workout.
Now, instead of getting long-winded like I usually do I will just say that we moved out of our old house on Thursday around noon and we were unpacked completely with pictures hung on the wall and everything in it’s place by noon Friday. Not bad for 5 bedrooms and about 4k square feet. I wanted a beer, badly, but left that to Sissy when friends came over Saturday night to see the new “crib” (yeah, I am pretty cool). Suffice to say that she drank enough for both of us. I felt sorry for the girls that she seemed to be trying to convince that the new tub in the master bathroom was big enough for both of them but yet didn’t feel too badly for the guys as they were hoping like hell she was serious. Was she serious? Hell, I don’t know and I wasn’t going to ask her, either. Remember, just a couple days earlier she was standing over me at 3am with a butter knife asking me if I wanted a sandwich. That bitch can do whatever she wants to do.

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This weekend, TEAM SKIP client “MaxxMuscle” will be competing in a NABBA qualifying show and I anticipate that he will be doing very well given the condition he will show up in. He is in the process of a 2 day load that will take him through Wednesday and Thursday for the Sunday show. This prep has been more of a challenge than usual due to MM being diabetic. There is rarely a meal that he doesn’t have to somehow balance his blood glucose levels with insulin. Of course, this has been especially challenging for the SkipLoading days every week, as well. None-the-less, we teamed up together and between the two of us we figured everything out quite well and the end product is one that we are both very proud of.

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I have been training for 25 years and competing for about 20 of those years.  I have trained people since I was in high school though hardly on the level that I do now.  I can’t stand cardio so I am pretty sure that most can’t stand it, either.  I could weight train for 4 hours a day if I had to (though I hardly have that kind of time – still, you get my point) but doing an hour of cardio makes me want to slit my wrists.  You just sit there and do the same damned thing 3000 times for an hour.  I have tried to come up with variations over the years and like most guys out there, you can bet I worked hard to convince my wife that I needed more “cardio” in the bedroom.  It didn’t work.  She told me that at only 7 minutes a session, I wasn’t going to get very lean that way, anyway.  Bitch.

After working very hard for quite a long time to try to figure out a way to enjoy cardio, I decided to conceed that it simply had to be done to get lean and that I better get used to it, so I did.  I strapped myself in, buckled myself up and with my head down the entire time (unless I am watching Dr Phil or Oprah – shut up), I would trudge through.  One day while staring at the floor I figured with everything I know about nutrition, couldn’t I find a way to rely on the diet instead of all of this cardio to get lean?  So, I started cutting back on the cardio and working harder at lowering calories and it was working well…. for me.  Problem was, it wasn’t working as well for all of my clients as it was for me.  I ended up prepping for a show in 04 and only did 6 cardio sessions, total and I was in incredible condition as this is what I am known for.  I figured I was on to something and even though I had some clients still requiring a lot more cardio than other clients, for the most part the majority of my clients were doing far less cardio than a lot of people out there and were consistently coming into shows in top condition.  Fast forward to 2007…..

My sister passed away unexpectedly in May of 2007 in her sleep.  It was pretty rough on the family and I didn’t train for a few months opting for the long-used coping mechanism of drowning your sorrows in alcohol.  After deciding one day that I had thrown my pity party long enough, I figured it was time to put down the brown bottles and get my very fat ass back in the gym.  When I came back into the gym I had only one mission, really, and that was to get lean.  I didn’t really care about how much size I got back but I wanted to get lean.  I decided to play with cardio again to see how increasing loads of cardio would work and figured it would likely speed up the process in combination with my diet.  I worked from single sessions into longer, single sessions and then into double sessions each day and was getting into pretty good shape again in only a matter of a few months.  However, I did notice that my energy was in the crapper and that I didn’t have the strength in the gym that I usually had but chalked that up to coming back with less focus on the weight training and more focus on getting the fat off.  As the weeks went on I kept losing strength but was getting very, very lean.  As most know, I decided at the last minute to get into the last show of the year here in Colorado and did very well.

Now, I have covered the “no cardio” or “very little cardio” phase and I have covered the “tons of cardio” phase and the difference in conditioning was very subtle – hardly different.  So, as I came into this prep season getting ready for the Jr USAs I figured the plan would be to start high with the cardio and if it was working, great, and to keep it going and if not, to cut it back and focus more on restricting calories.  Keep in mind that my brain works differently than most brains.  I want to learn and experiment no matter the situation and even though I might have a proven plan that I know will yield great results, I want to learn and try anything and everything that I can.  I started high and worked into double sessions as early as 15 weeks out.  I knew something was up when my weight wasn’t moving much, at all, and my condition was only slowing progressing – never mind that I was doing a ridiculous amount of cardio to the point that my leg training started to suffer.  I actually was over training my glutes and hams and this was getting in the way of my leg workouts even more so than my quads being exhausted.  I was perplexed because calories were plenty high, energy was high and my strength was great except for leg strength.  I decided I better re-evaluate and see if this much cardio was really needed.

At the same time, I had several of my current clients taking the same approach figuring we would get a jump on their condition by getting cardio higher, keeping calories higher and then after cardio was high, to only have to reduce calories as the show got closer.  Oddly enough, I had several clients responding about as I was:  not terribly well given the large amount of cardio.  Now, they were getting leaner but just not at the rate that you would think they would (or that I thought they would).   This obviously needed to be re-evaluated, as well.

I decided to cut the cardio drastically – about in half – and it took only about 2 weeks before things started turning around for me in my prep.  First, my leg training started progressing as my glutes and hams weren’t holding me back during leg sessions.  Second, the cardio was actually bareable in that I wasn’t feeling like I was going to drop over from both boredom and exhaustion.  It was when I cut the cardio to only 5 sessions per week of 1 hour that my progress started to move again and condition was improving at a much better rate.  I changed some of my client’s cardio plans and the same thing happened in all but one case.

My point to this very long entry is that doing a ton of cardio isn’t the “key” to getting lean or amping your metabolism, in my experience over the years.  As with everything else, it has to be balanced and be only a part of the overall picture or plan.  You would think that the more cardio you do the leaner you will get but I assure you that it is not that cut and dry.  There comes a point where the cardio is as efficient as it will get and when you do more than that, it becomes less efficient and becomes a bit of a waste of time and energy.  Just as you can go too low with your calories and slow your metabolism, it is my opinion that you can do too much cardio and, basically, do the same thing AND exhaust yourself in the process putting your muscle gains at risk of being dieted away, as well.  Right now I am only doing 5 hours of cardio a week and my progress and condition is great and the same thing is happening with clients, as well.

Use cardio as a tool instead of coming to rely on it for losing bodyfat.  Your diet has to be in check and just as you would cycle carbs or calories or adjust your diet in relation to what your weight is doing, you need to do the same thing for cardio.  There are many times that my clients will tell you that if they are progressing on any given week too quickly, I don’t usually up calories but rather have them cut some cardio later in the week from cutting the sessions in half to cutting them entirely.  It just depends on each specific situation.

The only thing worse than doing cardio and hating it is doing cardio, hating it and having it not work as well for you as doing half the amount of cardio you are currently doing.

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I know I shouldn’t do this but I am going to do it, anyway.  This blog should be about things related to bodybuilding, nutrition, weight training, etc., but sometimes something happens that pisses me off so bad that I just can’t stand it and I am going to break the rules and post about it tonight.

I  want to say THANK YOU to Miss California for having the backbone to give her opinion on national television and honestly answer the question she was asked at the Miss Universe Pageant last night.  Good for her for putting the crown on the line and being honest.  Now, I want to be VERY clear here:  I don’t care that she is for or against gay marriage – it doesn’t matter to me.  What does matter to me is that she gave her opinion based on her beliefs and potentially lost the crown due to her answer.

Let’s think about this for a minute:  You have a homosexual judge on the panel asking a question about whether she (Miss California) supports gay marriage.  Apparently, this gay judge figured there was only one answer but I thought that when you asked a question, you did it to get that person’s opinion or answer.  Not so at the Miss Universe Pageant.  Apparently, she GAVE THE WRONG ANSWER.  That’s right, she gave the wrong answer.  She didn’t agree with gay marriage and said so in a very articulate and, I thought, sensitive and well thought out answer and yet the word is that she was not given the crown due to her answer???  I mean, are you fucking kidding me??

So,  I am laughing all day today when I read something or see on the news that she lost the crown.  I think it says a lot about her (much more than the idiot that asked the question and expected only the one answer – fancy that, not everyone is for gay marriage – shocker) that she was honest and stood her ground by giving her honest opinion.  She was quoted afterwards as saying:  “her God tested her with that question” and I thought that was a great answer.  In the bigger picture, that crown means nothing while she can stand firmly on principle.

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I have written about this in the past and figured it is so vitally important and so easily forgotten that I should bring it up again.  I get clients that approach me on occasion and they have the typical mentality that they want to blow everyone off the stage, dominate the show and leave no one standing.  It is great to hear that a potential client is so motivated and wants to pour himself or herself into a show leaving nothing undone.  However, words are just that and I don’t have to get into their background and information too much further, sometimes,  before I see that it is highly unlikely that this person will succeed.

Now, I  am not one to bust anyone’s dreams no matter how far-fetched I might think they are.  You could be training for one year and tell me you want to win the California State show and I would say that a goal like that can lock you into a zone where you can pour 100% into your training and show up in the best condition you absolutely can.  Remember, it isn’t my job or responsibility to predict whether you or anyone else will “win” or how you will place or even if you can be competitive.  I help you build a house that we plan to be the best house in the area.  If, while building that house,  you ask me what the market will be for your home in a year how the hell can I know?  I help people build.  I can’t possibly know who will show up and what their “house” will look like.  Point is, I will support you completely with whatever goal you set.  When I will shoot you down is when you come to me wanting the world and yet have no pattern, at all, that will even remotely predict that you can accomplish this.

What gives you away as likely not being successful at reaching your goals?  If you don’t have your life in order you can forget it.  I am not even talking about winning an insignificant bodybuilding show.  I am talking about ANYTHING you are setting your sights on and setting goals for.  First things first, this sport is expensive if you are going to do it right.  I am damned expensive and so if you come to me and you say,  “Skip, I can’t afford any supplements and I can’t afford that kind of meat because I had to pay you”, you are off to a really bad start.  This is your first sign.  You have to have your money in order and you have to be able to fund everything from the food to the supplements to the travel, etc..  You must know going in that you can handle it financially.

Next order of business?  Is your life a chaotic mess?  Your job killing you?  Extra hours?  Sometimes guys have all the money they need but they don’t have a lifestyle that allows for 100% commitment to get the training done, the cardio done, the tanning done, the posing practice, etc..  You can’t tell me 5 weeks into a prep that you can’t do double cardio sessions because you don’t have the time.  I don’t really care about your time.  I care about you getting into your best shape that you possibly can to represent you AND to represent the name that I have worked so hard to cultivate.  An addendum to this is travel for your job.  If you have spontaneous trips for 4 days at a time to other cities this isn’t going to allow you to prep the way that you need to.  Keep in mind that we aren’t talking about giving your best, here, we are talking about someone coming to me and saying that they want to dominate a show and destroy everyone.  There is a HUGE difference between doing a show for the experience vs. owning a show but that is for another blog.  : )

As there are a ton of variables that I could write about I am only going for what I consider the top 3 today and number 3 is likely the most important one:  You can’t have a spouse that doesn’t support you.  If I have a client that laughs and says his wife is a bitch: HUGE red flag.  First, he might be laughing but he is likely serious.  See, calling your wife a bitch and laughing at the same time allows guys to think that this is ok if they were somehow overheard saying it.  The typical response is “Honey, I was laughing”.  We might not be smart enough to put the toilet seat down but we are damned sure smart enough to know if we call you a bitch, there better be a smile married to it.  If your wife or husband isn’t on board, you are not going to succeed, period.  Why?  Because when you are dieting and cranky and shitty, you will want to pick at her for EVERYTHING.  You will make up things to give her shit about.  Plus, you have to keep in mind that the last thing she wants is to see you getting leaner and “hotter” because she already doesn’t support this and now you are catching other people’s eyes.  Trust me, that does nothing to encourage support.   It becomes a never-ending cycle of resentment:  You resent her because she doesn’t support you and she resents you because you are a prick to her every chance you get.

People say to me sometimes that they don’t understand how I can be enjoying competing with so much going on in my life.  With 4 kids, a business, competing myself and helping my wife compete it can get hectic but I have had more success now than when I was young and had far more time on my hands.  Why?  Structure and having my ducks in a row.  Financially, I am in a good place and my wife has been supportive of me for all of our 17 years so I am very fortunate in that regard.  I also have learned to manage my time as efficiently as possible because without doing that, I would literally have no time to train.  I simply have too many things to do in a day as a lot of you reading this also have to deal with.  It is time management and it sometimes has to be dead on with little flexibility for an entire day like on Mondays.  My kids know that Dad’s Mondays are rough and to take care of their business so that I can take care of mine.

Before you decide to step to the plate and hit a home run, make sure to assess your situation HONESTLY and ask yourself if you are in a position to focus on the show that you have set a goal for.  It just doesn’t make sense to set yourself up to fail.  Maybe instead of focusing on a show with 100% dedication you should first work to balance your life and THEN decide if taking on something like a show is a good idea.  Imagine what you could do if you turned that motivation from a show to your relationship or managing your time better?  Trust me, the pay off for the latter is far more than what it is for a show.  Plus, your wife or husband will win, as well.

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“4 things you will find at every bodybuilding contest across the country for the last 20 years, Alex.”

Listen, I get bored blogging or talking about the same shit over and over like how cardio is best utilized, what protein is the best (we all know that it is the TEAMSKIP blend from TrueProtein that even outsells Dante’s formula 3 to 1) or what exercise works the sweep of the quads the best.  I will blog about that boring stuff, too, but in the meantime I gotta reminisce a little bit and I gotta show my age a little bit and I gotta show how incredibly rediculous things in this sport can sometimes look.

Bodybuilders look in the mirror more than anyone else but yet we don’t see the stupid stuff that others are laughing at us for.  Let’s get something straight right now:  If you are still training in Otomix, give them back to Troy Zucolotto.  He can’t find them and he is pissed.  Gary Strydom called and he wants his string tank top back with matching yellow and black striped spandex – full length, yes, the ones that Stryper wore in the video.  It doesn’t matter how big your legs look it should be at least a misdemeanor to wear them to the gym.  I don’t want to look over and see your giblets crammed in spandex.  Oh God, Oh GOD…..  And one more thing:  weight belts shouldn’t be used as a corsett.  You use a belt to support your lower back for BIG lifts (and even that is debatable).  You don’t use it to hold your gut in while doing curls or kickbacks.

Even though I think that major crimes are committed in the gym, they are misdemeanors compared to the felonies I see committed OUTSIDE of the gym by bodybuilders.  Seriously, can someone teach bodybuilders how to carry themselves and how to dress??  I am here for you, guys and gals.  I am going to help you.  First, ditch the tight swinger shirts.  Nothing wrong with a big collar on your shiny shirt that says “I’m a disco fag” but let’s be real here:  It really does have to fit.  If I see a shirt so tight that buttons are being raped, I want to see it between 2 mammoth tits on a hot woman, not on you.  There is also the jean shorts and Affliction t-shirt combo that has just come out in the last year or so.  You can go to the department store and ask for it by name – “the white trash, Saturday night dress up combo”.  It is kind of like when people with money wear a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and khaki shorts but  yet …. it’s not.  It’s not because this is supposed to be their “go out attire” on a Saturday night.  A couple other things to consider not doing when you go out:  Please don’t pump up to go out.  That is just … really wrong.  No baby oil on the arms, either.  Another really bad idea.  Do not walk like your nuts are the size of bowling balls.  No one’s legs are that big and when you walk like that, no one THINKS you are walking like that because your legs are big.  Why?  Because we can all see the size of your legs you retard and they aren’t big.  If you want to look big, get big.  I know, odd, isn’t it?

I know, I know, you have all been waiting on the fanny pack and I left it for last.  Please, for the love of God, can someone explain to me why these are still being made?  Where does one acquire one of these?  Is there a store that sells fanny packs?  How can someone not know how stupid these really look?  Even I know how much my earpiece irritates the shit out of people so I take it out whenever I think about it so that I don’t look like a fool.  I am not terribly bright and even I have the ability to say “hey, I don’t want to look like a bodybuilding dumbass today”.

Now, I haven’t seen it yet but I have heard about it and I hope to God I never do see it.  After 25 years in this sport I have been fortunate to never have witnessed the guy that puts on protan to go out so that he looks like he has a tan.  Yes, it sounds rediculous but it happens.  That smell, as any competitor will attest, is so universally known that I don’t know what I would do if I smelled it at a club.  I would probably stand there confused for a minute wondering what that smell is and then when it hit me, I would SCRAMBLE for my phone because I would be TAKING A PICTURE OF THE DUMBASS THAT WAS WEARING IT SO THAT I COULD POST IT RIGHT HERE ON MY BLOG.  If you do the crime you better be able to do the time.

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Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the show this last Saturday and usually can’t get to the Spring show due to commitments here in Colorado.  I do make the fall show every year but I will get to that in a minute.  I am grateful to Jeff Warren and Darron Williams for taking the responsibility of running the IntenseMuscle.com booth at the show and basically representing myself and the site.  I always rest easy knowing that Jeff has things under control and that we will be represented well.

This year TrueProtein.com teamed up with IntenseMuscle.com to hand out iced, blended TEAMSKIP protein drinks from TrueProtein.com at the booth.  Jeff and Darron manned the blenders and handed out FREE protein drinks the entire night.  They also passed out TrueProtein.com shaker cups and TrueProtein.com ready-to-drink protein drinks, as well.  I have heard from quite a few people that this was a huge hit with the Michigan fans and we plan to do this again in the fall for the Southwest Michigan show that we title-sponsor in September.

I had a client in this show representing TEAMSKIP and he came away with a 4th place finish in a well-contested middleweight division.  We were pleased that this was his best condition to date so congratulations to Zach Young for a fine performance.  I hear he destroyed a sushi bar after the show.  lol

I want to thank my long-time friend, Hans VanderGronden the promoter of this show for having IntenseMuscle.com be a part of these Michigan shows.  I was raised on this show and wanted to win this show more than anything in the world when I was a teenager just starting out.  The show has a nostalgic feel to it for me and I admit that when I stand on stage handing out trophies it just isn’t the same as if I were to compete in this show.  The Michigan crowds are INSANE and they are loud and very supportive of the competitors.  It is a great show to go to and it will motivate the hell out of you to want to get on stage, yourself.
I look forward to the Fall show and hope that anyone in the area that is into bodybuilding will come out to see a great show.

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Look, everyone that does what I do likely thinks they are the best in their field or industry.  I damned sure do.  However, how do YOU know who is the best or better yet who is the best for YOU.  There are a lot of nutritionists out there that can get you to your goal but …. can you function at work in the meantime because your brain is in dead mode?  Are you going to potentially ruin or hurt a relationship because you are being mean and bitchy all the time?  What about your kids?  Treat them like shit and they don’t care if you are dieting and certainly won’t understand that dieting = mom’s a bitch.  This brings me to my checklist of how do I pick the right prep guy/nutritionist:

1.  If his name rhymes with “blip” or “Sip” then you are ok.  : )  Ok, number 2…..

2.  Seriously, the first issue is what is the EXPERIENCE of the guy that you are considering working with?  Does he have hands on experience in the same area as your goals?  Example:  I know that if I was going to compete as a bodybuilder I would not care to work with someone that competed 15 years ago in a novice class because it is very possible that this guy doesn’t understand and can’t relate to being on stage and what it takes to get there.  I know that some say things like “well, they have put so many clients on stage … “.  Hey, I said ME.  If it were ME, I would want someone that can walk the walk and can relate, directly, to what I am feeling and going through during my prep phase for a show.

3.  This one relates to number two in that if you have someone that you want to work with that is a competitor, IS HE OR SHE GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO?  It sounds silly but there are so many people in Denver that call themselves prep guys and nutritionists but yet can’t get shredded themselves yet people PAY them for advice.  WTF???  lol  I have never understood that.  What is the thought process behind it:  “Um, that guy looks 5 weeks out but is going to take 2nd simply because he out-muscled most everyone on stage, oh, I gotta work with the fat guy”.  I don’t think I will ever understand that one.

4.  Obviously, PRICE  is an issue and an important one to consider during these difficult economic times.  You might find the perfect fit for a trainer and yet they are just too expensive.  Right now, we all have to watch our money a little closer and cut corners when we can.  Now, even though you have to consider the fees, what do you get for the fees that are listed?  If someone is 1000 bucks but someone else is 600, do you go with the 600 knowing you won’t get the attention that the 1000 dollar guy will give you?  Price isn’t always indicative of how good someone is but …. it is safe to say in MOST situations that the more expensive a trainer is, the likelihood of him being higher on the food chain in this sport is very likely.  I mean, if fees are high but that trainer wasn’t worth it, he would go broke because people wouldn’t pay that much or they would find out quickly that the trainer wasn’t worth the money and let everyone know about it and ….. the trainer would go broke quickly.   Word of mouth travels fast so the bad ones do tend to get weeded out that think they are worth more than they actually are.

Shop around.  Compare fees but ASK WHAT YOU GET for your money.

5.  DOES THE TRAINER DO TRAINING ON THE SIDE OR IS THIS HIS BUSINESS/LIVELIHOOD?  Speaking for myself, if I was not good at what I do I would damned sure not be able to afford to do it as my job/career until 5am every night (4am now so I have to hurry….).  You can bet that response time to questions is far higher when a trainer doesn’t have a “regular” job and does the training job on the side.  This has to be taken into consideration with price, as well.  I mean, if you pay more but you have your trainer corresponding with you several times during the day if need be, that price may be justified depending on the attention you are looking for.

6.  Is the trainer PASSIONATE  about what they do or just in it because it is “easy” and can make a little gear money on the side.  Ask questions but this one is tough to see ahead of time so references or word of mouth is going to be key for this one.  Ask others that have worked with this trainer what they think and whether they were supported and whether the process of working with that person was one that the trainer was invested in and not just working with as many people as they possibly can.

7.  Lastly, and this one is high on the list of importance and it is: METHODOLOGY.  In a nut shell, are you going to pay someone to starve you and torture you and help to put your career on the line along with your marriage or other relationships?  Some trainers still do the “eat less and do more cardio” approach thinking they are badass trainers.  All the while their clients are zombies.  Check the methodology of the trainer and find out if you get cheat days or cheat meals or higher carb “refeed meals” or in my case:  SkipLoading meals, etc..  Find out if they are known for no carbs or if they love carbs and keep fats real low, etc..

I am certain I could come up with more points to consider but just know before you go pay someone a grand to starve you and tell you how great you look and then put you onstage using diuretics and everything they can use to “get you peaked”, that you can ask and ask and ask more questions.  Just keep asking them.  I mean, they want to work with you, right?  It is your money, right?  Make them jump through a couple hoops by asking them everything you can think of so that there are no surprises.  You are the one paying so YOU are the one that deserves to be 100% comfortable with the person that you are accountable to for 10-20 weeks.

EDIT:  This also goes for people that aren’t even going to compete.  These questions are important no matter what your goals are.  It is your responsibility to make sure that you have the right trainer for your situation.

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It is almost 5am as I finish another long day but I wanted to be sure that I was able to post this announcement:

Kevin Deiner and I started working together again for the Collegiate Nationals this July just a couple days ago.  As some of you know, he and I worked together 2 years ago when he won the Teenage National light-heavy and Overall and took 2nd to Casey Fathi in the light-heavies for the Collegiates the same day.  I am looking forward to working with Kevin for his entire prep this time as we only worked together last year to stave off a train wreck created by another trainer that will remain nameless.  He came to me about 3 or 4 weeks out last year and we had quite a task at hand but pulled it off in typical fashion.

Kevin’s potential is ridiculous and with him being so young, his future is very bright in the sport and in life.  Along with being a great, young bodybuilder he also has a brain in his head and is pursuing a college education, too.

I am looking forward to bringing him into this show at his all-time best.

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I am old school.  Well, I am old, too, but I prefer being called old school.  I come from the era where the gyms were covered with dumbells and chalk and instead of neon there were pictures of bodybuilders on the walls from the magazines.  There was no internet so I just figured that bodybuilders were big and ripped all the time, all year round, because those are the only pictures that were in the magazines.  Much like Rich Gaspari in the pic that I posted, as a teenager I assumed that he walked around like that all the time.  He was my motivation and I wanted to be JUST LIKE HIM but it wasn’t Rich that I thought about for years it was other people that I will get to in a minute.

I worked hard in the gym thinking that if I just trained hard, I would get big and ripped, right?  I mean, logically it made sense to a 15 year old, at the time.  I didn’t eat much of what I was supposed to but there wasn’t a huge emphasis on nutrition then like there is now.  You could still get protein powder but it tasted like ass and you had to open it like it was basically a coffee can – you had to use a can opener and I am not kidding.  The other old guys are laughing right now because they know exactly what I am talking about.  I bought everything I could afford (which wasn’t much) and would stand in GNC and dream of being able to afford Joe Weider’s Dynamic Life Essence.  That shit was 22 dollars a bottle so I figured that was probably about as good as steroids.  I just couldn’t afford even one bottle because 22 bucks then was like 60 now.  Can you imagine?  About 30 capsules of BCAAs for 60 bucks.  That is why that shithead got so rich.  Joe Weider was stealing from the wannabe meatheads of the 80’s.

So, I am working hard in the gym at the local Y Center and I am hanging my Rich Gaspari pictures on my wall in my bedroom and I am journaling my workouts which, in that day was pretty gay (it wasn’t accepted and normal like it is today) and I am working out with my shirt off – not because I am buffed but because any little muscle that I didn’t notice before but would find during a workout was a HUGE deal to a 15 year old that was going to win the Olympia at 26.  I gave myself until I was 26 because … well. ….. 26 was a nice safe number as I was only 15, so …. 26 was married and almost dead for the most part, right?  I felt like it was far enough away to not sidetrack my pipe dream.  So …. I am training and minding my own business and talking to all of the regulars, pretending to be one myself,  and I have to get a drink so I head over to the fountain (water bottles were gay, then, too – alot of things were gay in the 80’s but damned sure not spandex, string tank tops and mullets for some really weird reason) so I head over to the fountain and this cat is standing in the doorway leaned up against it like guys used to do if they didn’t train that day – they would just come out and hang out at the gym looking suupr fly in their Z Cavarrichi pants and showing off their bigness… I don’t pay any attention to him because I am into my workout but this guy is huge.  His name was Steve but I can’t remember his last name or I would out him completely right now.  He hung out with a guy named Tom Bennett and I remember Tom’s name because he was such a dick so I will definitely out him hoping he googles his own name (because bodybuilders do that sort of thing) and comes across my blog and sees me calling him a dick.  Unlike Steve, Tom was a dumpy kind of guy that was tall and top heavy and was not made for bodybuilding.  He ended up wrestling for a little while and took a kid named Rob Szakowski under his wing and if you recognize the name Rob Szakowski, he would later become Rob VanDamme.   Rob was an ok guy until fame got him and then I hear he turned into a real dick, too.  Either that or it was just contagious, I can’t know for sure but to this day I don’t have dicks as friends.  You can never be too careful.  Anyway …. back to my LOOONG story ….. Tom’s fat ass is standing there with Steve’s pompous ass and Steve says to me “hey Skip” (ok, he didn’t call me Skip but the rest of the story is true, I promise) “you are looking pretty big today” and he says this sincerely or so I thought.  I stopped, looked him over to see if he was kidding and he seemed to be serious so I said very happily while looking down at my chest and arms “you think so??”  Steve starts laughing and says “no, of course not” and then dickhead number 2, better known as Tom-fat-ass-Bennett-dumpyass-goofy fucker, starts laughing his ass off along with him.  Now, I need to paint the picture accurately and tell you that these two thought this was the funniest shit they had heard or said in a LONG time.  Of course, I stood there looking at them like that cat in Shrek with the big eyes and just walked away.  I can’t say I was devastated but I was embarrassed and in of all places, MY gym.  They might as well have said those things standing in my living room and it may not have had the same impact.

Do I have a point to all of this?  Not really.  I just like to hear myself talk.  Seriously, of course there is a point and the point is that Rich Gaspari was just a picture on my wall that I could strive for and that I wanted to emulate and look like.  My motivation for years was to continue on in this sport and show fuckers like Steve and Tom that they were wrong and I was going to succeed and the joke was on them.  Oh, there were MANY other instances where I was laughed at or cheap shots were taken but I have to say that without them, maybe I wouldn’t have had the motivation to push so hard for so long.  Sure, I love the gym and I have a passion for it – it is my therapy of sorts but maybe I would have traded it in if not for the turds that I came across that mocked me early in my life.  What ever happened to them?  I was asked this earlier today by a client and I didn’t give much of a response.  They were both tragically killed by a car door while they were both changing a flat tire along the highway.  They were both holding hands acting really 80’s gay and wearing string tank tops and otomix shoes and as I was driving down the highway I swerved at just the right time, opened my door and killed both of them.  At least that is how it panned out in my dream.  What REALLY happened to them?  Who gives a shit.  I have a cool wife of 17 years, 4 great children, a business that I love and am incredibly fortunate to have, and I have done ok on stage by my own standards.  My life is good.  Funny, because with my position in the industry and all of the people that I know and that know me, I have never once heard of Steve name mentioned in the sport. Karma really can be a fun thing.  : )

These days, my motivation is much different.  As with anything, motivations change and evolve.  I was an insecure kid when I got into this sport and likely remained that way for some time into adulthood.  It wasn’t until I got married and had children and started having little successes in life that I really became secure enough that my motivations changed in the sport.  My motivations now are very much personal.  I am in the public eye more than most but I truly try to keep my bodybuilding personal and about me.  That is why I like to sneak into shows and that sort of thing.  I can do without the fanfare and attention.  Funny, too, because the more secure I got and the more my motivation became personal, the more I progressed and the better I have gotten in the sport.  When you stop comparing yourself to others and start challenging yourself to beat your previous best, the motivation turns inward.  It makes the journey of doing a show or just besting yourself in the gym so much more rewarding.  Oh, and you will NEVER find me being a dick to anyone in the gym for being small or not in great shape, etc..  If you are there busting your ass, you have my support.

What are YOUR motivations?

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