I am heading to Charleston for the Jr USAs early this next week. I will be there for a few days after the show and then when I return I will be on vacation for another week and half. I appreciate all of the support that I received and want to thank everyone for reading my blog on a regular basis. I will not be updating the blog for a couple weeks due to the show and vacation but I will be back full force when I return from vacation and will bore the shit out of you with worthless drivel.
Count on it. Now, where did that Girl Scout go with all of those damned Samoas….

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I am always torn at this point in my prep. I love that the hard and heavy sessions are over because my body needs to stop or I will be asking for trouble. This one was 22 weeks and NO cruises the entire time. I was on the brink the last few weeks as I felt I might just have an injury. I think I pushed it about as far as I could push it and still stay healthy. At the same time, the work is basically done and now it is just the minor fine-tuning. Cardio is done and the heavy training is done. Problem is, I don’t compete for the stage or the trophies. I compete because I truly love the 22 weeks before the stage. Yeah, I know, I am a bit warped but you have to be to do this for any length of time.
I will spend the next couple days resting and just relaxing and getting things in order for the trip next week. I can already feel the stress lifted and it has been one hell of a prep. Absolutely the hardest one to date. Between the move at 4 weeks out and the teenager issues for a couple months along with a booming business this year, it has taken everything I have to keep things in order and keep my sanity.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wife for her part in this prep because in the past she has been very standoffish with my preps – not that she isn’t supportive but just …. indifferent, I suppose. She was a blessing for this prep at times when I was overwhelmed she was the calming voice to say that things were cool and to tell me to settle down. She constantly reminded me that things were fine from my condition to how the move was going to go to the home that we worked so hard to get into. I would not be where I am right now if she didn’t step up. Now, get the hell away from me because I am still dieting and your breathing is pissing me off. : )
I also can’t forget the kids because sometimes tracking into the new house with your shoes on isn’t that big of a deal or letting the dogs out when you weren’t supposed to and Mufasa takes a little shit on the carpet shouldn’t be a big deal but when you are dieting and I just told you not to come into the house with your shoes on, those types of things wear on you. I will be taking them out to dinner and having a little fun with them for the first time since we moved in. I haven’t been a lot of fun.

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Oh brother… Just when I was being nice and maybe even getting soft, I remember that I have to post on this over-rated topic. I have been asked about this quite a bit, lately, so I figured I might want to get my thoughts and opinions up here for all to read and ….. know from now on that my opinions are fact because I said it. Obviously, when I say something it goes from mere opinion to fact. Yes, I am in one of “those” moods so you are just going to have to deal with it.
I read some blob of crap the other day that basically laid out in fancy jargon (well, fancy to bodybuilders, anyway, so obviously it was over my head) how the time after a show can best be utilized to grow muscle tissue like no other time of the year. Now, the pseudo-article went on and on about hormones and the bodily processes that were going to manufacture all of this new muscle in only a few short weeks and pretty much made it sound like it was even better than taking steroids. Problem is, a lot of people believe that this time is “magical” and they must take advantage of this growth spurt or miss out on pounds of new muscle. Where this came from, originally, I still don’t know. Wanna know what is REALLY going on in the post-show window? Yeah, I bet you do….
The post-show window is an excuse for fattys to watch their weight blow up after a show while they shovel calories into their pie-hole and tell everyone around them how much they are “growing”. Yes, your fat ass is growing but it isn’t muscle tissue. I get tired of this, really. I hear it all the time and it is always the same bullshit story: “I have put on 30 pounds since my show and it is all muscle”, etc.. Now, some people will put on a lot of weight and not be fat but it isn’t common and it doesn’t last long before they do get fat. They are simply filling out from the depleted state they were in while dieting. If you know anything about this you will know there is a point that it doesn’t keep going. At that point you just start to get fat. Those guys don’t bother me as much as the fat ones, though. It always seems the fat ones are the first ones to look in the mirror and not see how fat they are. Why is that? The fat is RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU IN THE MIRROR and yet you don’t see it??? You look and think you are growing muscle tissue? You call yourself “smooth” and “I am holding water” and “I am bloated”, etc.. It amazes me what the mind will convince us of, sometimes.
Now, on paper this theory works out really, really well. I mean, hormones are ripe for gaining, appetite is there, etc.. However, if you spend any amount of time in this sport experimenting with different things you find out very quickly that just because something works out great on paper, doesn’t mean shit when it comes to applying it and getting results. The list of things that I have disproved over the years is sad, really. It is sad because I read all of those things growing up in the muscle magazines. What does THAT tell you?
Back to the fat asses…. I don’t care if you are fat and fat people don’t bother me. Fat people bother me when they don’t know they are fat or deny they are fat and try to pretend that it is muscle, instead. Why does it bother me so? Remember, I am a prep guy so I have heard it all. I get guys that come to me and tell me they are sub 10% and then I see their pictures and wanna say “are you fucking kidding me?” If your wife is having sex with you and you are on the bottom and she grabs a hold of your man-boobs like they are reigns on a horse, that is not muscle, ok?
Let’s cut to the chase, here: What you should be doing after a show is resting. You rest because if you are like most of us you have beaten yourself to shit to get ready for this show and your immune system is likely just about in the toilet. It is a very vulnerable time and you can get damned sick if you aren’t careful. I have had everything from bronchitis for 2 months to shingles that I still have nerve pain from, to this day. You need to rest, period. You don’t go back in the gym to push for new muscle that won’t grow no matter what you do, anyway. Take the time to let the injuries that you acquired during your prep, heel up completely so that you can come back at 100% and rip the gym apart. Spend some time with the wife or family that you had to put on the back burner while prepping and have a little fun – they deserve it. They put up with your ass for 12-20 weeks of your dieting. Act normal and have a chili dog without thinking to yourself “this will make me fat”. Go the entire day at the amusement park with your kids before you realize you better eat and grab a Mountain Dew and a pretzel just to make the nutrition Gods pissed. Enjoy yourself and rest – not just your body but your mind. Prep is psychologically draining as well as physically draining. Take care of yourself on both ends.

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This will be short and sweet but I want to show off some of the TEAM SKIP clients that have started the year out well and some of the clients that will be hitting the stage over the next few weeks:

I already posted about MaxxMuscle winning the Northern Britain Championships and qualifying for the British Nationals and he will be on stage in 3 weeks. We plan a slightly grainier condition than last week and a tad fuller, as well.

Jackie Morrison will be hitting the Jr USA stage for Class A Figure in 2 weeks and is so much improved that the poor advice she received from another trainer about a year ago is going to be shown to be ridiculous when she hits the stage. I have heard the advice was that she couldn’t stand on a national stage because she didn’t have enough muscle and yet this trainer sends people to the national level all the time not prepared to compete at that level. Apparently, Jackie just needed to work with TEAM SKIP because as her posing coach and personal trainer will attest, her muscle is much improved and I have her condition better than ever. This is all the while not being tortured with 2 hours of cardio a day and a starvation diet. In fact, the last few weeks have been 12 hour refeeds and she is only getting leaner and leaner every week. Yup, those of you doing the archaic dieting, go ahead and keep it. I won’t make predictions about placings because I have no control over that. I can say that her condition will be night and day of what it was 1.5 years ago and I will provide the pictures here to prove it by contrast.

Crissy Garland is also going to be competing in the Figure E Class at Jr USAs in South Carolina in 2 weeks. She won the E class at the Colorado State last year to qualify for national level shows. She has a different perspective on doing this show and just wants to do it for the experience but she has made some very solid improvements in muscle size especially in the legs and arms and shoulders and that is where our focus was. These improvements came all while she was transitioning to full-time student from her full-time job and she has 3 children. Not an easy task, at all.

I will be hitting the stage at the Jr USAs, as well, but who knows what weight class. By tomorrow I could be a bantamweight. : ) I am pleased with my condition at this point and I am excited about hitting the stage for my first national level show. I can say this has been the hardest prep I have ever done with moving and a very busy business and other “teenage daughter” issues so it will be very gratifying to finally hit the stage. It will be even better when I come back home and can spend time with my mother who will be in town and my brother and his family. I am very much looking forward to this.

Franny will be hitting the stage for her Figure competition at the Atlantic States in about 5 weeks and is working as hard as ever. I anticipate things to go very well for her, too, and I am excited to put a package on stage that is improved over her past showings, as well.

I will stop there so that I don’t go too far out and not have more updates in about a month. I don’t want to forget Shanique in Jamaica or Shinobi waaay on the other side of the world but I will leave those updates for a later date. TEAM SKIP is off to a great start for 2009 and I anticipate the year only getting better.

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I am a good looking bald man. No one else thinks so but I do. I started balding when I was 21 and I never had one of those hang ups with my hair somehow being attached to my manhood. Some guys fight it and try to regrow it and others fight it by combing it over, etc.. I shaved it off and didn’t really give it much thought. So, I have been bald not only for years (now that I am 39) but by choice …. well …. sort of. This might get a little long so I will try my best to hold your attention…..
I signed up for Facebook about 3 months or so ago. Didn’t think much of it and thought it would help to expose my business and that sort of thing. I really didn’t care to meet up with anyone from the past as I had already done the Classmates thing and that ended up pretty lame. Anywho, I get on Facebook and I start getting “friend requests” from people I went to school with and thought it was kind of neat to catch up with old friends in a “text message on the computer” sort of way. However, there seemed to be a pattern that I was finding very obvious and quite … bothersome: Everyone was ….. how should I say …. in case they are reading this ….. old? Some of them were REALLY old. I mean, we are talking like ALMOST 40 YEARS OLD. Wait a minute …. WTF? (my texting skills come into play) ….. I am 40 *&()*&^ years OLD? Ok, I am only 39 but, dammit, that is close enough to call your old ass 40. To say 40 is shorter and faster than saying T-H-I-R-T-Y-N-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-N-E, anyway.
I am looking at these pictures and thinking “he is bald” …. “he is not in good shape at all” …… “I wish I had taken that girl when I was in school and destroyed ….” oops, sorry. I got a little carried away. I figured that I am MUCH younger looking than these cats and in pretty good shape given that I have trained for 25 years but then I looked a little closer and was surprised at what I saw. I may not look “old” from the neck down at first glance but from the neck up, I have aged considerably. I would say about … oh, 40 years or so.
Which brings me to my point as I told you this would get long-winded: The body does not work or respond like it did when we were younger. Speaking for myself I am bigger, stronger and have moved up the ladder considerably since I was in my 20s in the sport of bodybuilding. I beat 20-somethings on stage all the time. However, it takes MUCH more to get to the point to be able to do that and for every year that passes it takes that much more. Now, I am not complaining or whining about my age and how “hard it is”. It has never been easy to get into sick condition for a show but I am not just talking about a show, here. I am talking about losing some weight for summer; losing weight after a baby; getting back in shape for a reunion or getting your health in check because your lipid panel is out of control. The older you get, the harder it is.
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like you can’t get into great shape later in life and it isn’t like you will work your ass off and get nowhere. My point is that things change and hormones change and it is hormones that control aging, body fat distribution, metabolic efficiency, etc.. In fact, if we could control our hormones and keep 20 year old levels we would likely live for a very long time. That is another blog entry, though. I am making these points for 2 main reasons: First, I don’t want to hear older people say that they can’t do anything about their declining health or their increasing body fat and, second, I don’t want people to think that it will be easy because it likely won’t be. You need to know going in that the years of damage that you have done to your body will not be undone in a few short weeks or likely even a few short months. For those that are just starting a workout plan it will be difficult but if you can look down the pike and be able to commit to a change of lifestyle, it WILL happen.
For those like myself that have competed and take their training to another level, age still plays a part in “keeping up with the boys”. I know I have to diet harder each year to get into better condition than the previous year and one thing that stands out to me that I have to struggle with is the elasticity of the skin. Basically, my skin isn’t as tight as it used to be. I have to be careful because the skin will get loose if I am not careful. I also have to deal with a different distribution of body fat. I find that every year that goes by it is harder and harder to get my back to look like everything else. I can be ready to step on stage from the front but I need another 8 pounds before my back is ready to go. As early as 2002 this wasn’t the case but it sure is now.
There are a lot of good bodybuilders in their 40s and I plan to be one. I think that a change of game plan is needed to continue to keep a youthful looking physique, though, and the main one is staying lean all year round and keeping the diet tight. If you don’t go up and down with your weight the skin won’t have to stretch so much and this will keep the skin from looking loose or having that “old ball sack” look to your skin. I also believe that with age comes the responsibility to take care of your health better than in your 20s and keeping a clean, healthy, well-rounded diet is a great idea to keep blood lipids within range and keeping the risk of heart disease and stroke to a minimum. A good diet can also be a solid defense to cancer, as well.
I can’t say I am depressed after realizing how old I really am but I do find my mind wondering sometimes. I think to myself “Maybe I need a 23 year old to make myself feel younger, too” or “Maybe I need to go back and get another Ninja and do wheelies down the highway at 80 miles an hour again” …… Thing is, I couldn’t be happier right now and my wife is much hotter than any 23 year old “girl” that has no idea what a mortgage is, no idea of what being a mother of 4 is and isn’t anywhere near as dirty as the filthy bitch that I met 17 years ago. For those that may not know me well, trust me, she will take that comment as a term of endearment. I have 4 beautiful and very cool and fun kids and a beautiful home in the mountains outside of Denver, Colorado. My business is successful and continues to grow and I get up when I damned well feel like it in the morning. I have it GOOD. In fact, the more I think about it, I actually LIKE being old. If it is this good at almost 40, bring on the 50s. You 20 year olds can have the low paying job, working up the corporate ladder, high debt from all of your credit cards and the shitty, beat up car that you drive. Well, at least that was MY 20s. : ) Now, leave me alone as my bowels are getting loose and my prostate hurts like hell.

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I am going to throw a teaser out here and let you know that a friend of mine has come up with a very catchy and very cool logo/brand/design and a very cool look for some t-shirt designs he has put together. I decided to help him out and I will be selling these shirts in the TEAMSKIP.net store in a couple weeks in addition to the TEAM SKIP clothing and IntenseMuscle.com clothing that I touched on a few days ago.
He will have a male theme and a female theme and they both are very cool with nice graphics and a quality shirt, as well. I wouldn’t help him out, friend or no friend, if I didn’t think they would catch on and people would like them. What does FG Wear stand for? Not sayin’ just yet but I can tell you that the FG, when you find out what it stands for, will make complete sense and will make the shirt logo/design that much more appealing.
Please check back for updates but they should be run next week and on sale in as little as two weeks.

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Sitting at just under 3 weeks out from the Jr USAs I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my long-time sponsor for backing me for what is now the 5th year. I am very picky about my supplementation and that of my clients because my reputation is based on the condition that I show up in on stage and I am judged just the same on my client’s condition, as well. I can’t have them using second-rate supplements and I damned sure won’t use them, myself, either. I would go so far as to say that my condition would not be as good as it is on stage without the high quality supplements that I use from TrueProtein.com.

A huge thank you to TrueProtein.com for handling my supplement needs and I highly recommend to anyone that is looking to get into their best condition to use their products, as well. You will not find a higher quality supplement at a lower price.

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Just wanted to update a few things real quick before the start of the week:

First, I am still an arrogant dick and the best at what I do but you likely knew that, already.

Second, the IntenseMuscle.com shirts and the TEAM SKIP shirts (both Siren shirts and the guy’s shirts) will be arriving at the Skip Mountain Headquarters on Wednesday. I will be sending out the first orders by the weekend and they will be sent priority mail so there won’t be a big wait to receive them. If you are interested in seeing the shirt concept, please click on this link and it will explain not only what they will look like but the pre-order information is there, as well. If you want to wait a couple days I will be taking pictures of my hot wife modeling the girl’s shirts and I will model the guy’s shirts and the pics will be posted here in my blog and they will be in the TEAMSKIP.net store, as well, to purchase. Here is the link to view the logos, etc.,: http://www.intensemuscle.com/35535-taking-orders-im-team-skip-shirts.html
Shirts are 25 bucks no matter the size and the priority shipping is included in that price. If that is too expensive for you, you need another fucking job.

Third, I just checked and I am still an arrogant dick. Just wanted to make sure that was updated.

Fourth, MaxxMuscle, a TEAMSKIP client that I just posted about in my blog a few days ago, won his class and the overall and is now qualified for the British Nationals. If you know anything about the British Nationals you know it is a conditioning game that blows away the US version of the Nationals, in my opinion. They do not fuck around over there and the guys that take last place are still ripped to shreds. He is discussing the prospect of going to this show in 3 weeks and I hope that he does. I will keep you all posted on his decision.

Fifth, I hear through the grapevine that a prep couple here in Denver are going to compete in the Colorado State competition this year. If this is true, it would have the guy half of the “prep duo” competing for the first time in over 15 years after he won a small novice show that I believe wasn’t a national qualifier. I hear he is looking tan and getting lean and would guess that he will be competing in this show. Guessing about who is going to compete in the Colorado State is a popular thing to do in Colorado and even though it is usually a stupid little game played by people that swear they have other people figured out, it is still fun to turn the tables and let the cat out of the bag. Remember: I am an arrogant dick. I love this sort of thing. Good luck to you and God forbid, don’t go up there with that God damned fanny pack.

Ok, enough of my drivel.

Skip

Not everyone is a fan of Skip. Why? Who gives a shit. Ok, for the sake of this blog entry, I do. Otherwise, I completely understand why some don’t like me but … I am a very likable guy … unless you consider yourself a competitor of mine calling yourself a prep guy or nutritionist in the industry.
I train and put a LOT of guys on stage every year. Though my reputation is clear and has been built over many, many years by putting a ton of clients on stage looking like they have no skin, I always get that one wannabe prep guy that wants to pick at me on some website somewhere by posting the worst possible picture of one of my clients on stage to show that I just don’t know what I am doing. Never mind that there are very few that can stand next to me on stage and hang with my condition and never mind that 49 out of 50 of my competitors will stand on stage and destroy the competition with their conditioning, that doesn’t matter. This particular guy is going to get a picture of the one guy that year that it just didn’t work out for, at all, and his condition was off. Go figure and welcome to my world.
You have to understand, though, that even though these pics might not have been terribly impressive, my client did win the heavies and was going to win the overall but there was a judge’s meeting in the afternoon and the meeting concluded with “this guy can’t win the overall because of his acne on his back”. Crooked? lol You make the call. How could I know this information? Because the show was the Shawn Ray show here in Denver and I am an NPC judge and was told flat out by a judge in the meeting that this was the discussion and the decision that was made. So, he wasn’t in “Skip” shape but …. he would have won the overall at the Shawn Ray Classic so … think about it… he couldn’t have been that bad.
This doesn’t happen often, though, but when it does I admit that it irritates the shit out of me. Hell, I still have a couple people that will reference a client in 04 that was a disaster and his condition was terrible because he decided not to follow my advice and recommendations at the 5 week mark thinking he was not going to have enough time to get into his best shape. This was 2004, mind you, and I just had someone bring it up last year. lol I mean, come on now, 5 YEARS AGO? Is that the best you can do???
I can deal with it and I have learned to. I understand why they do it and it makes me laugh because I never get questioned or called out by guys that are actually good at what they do. They are usually guys that no one knows of and they are just trying to make a name for themselves. No real big deal but understand this and I think most do: I have worked hard for a long time both to set a standard for my own conditioning on stage and that of my clients and I am known for this and this is indisputable. You might not like me and you might even think I am an arrogant dick but the fact remains that I am the best at what I do. I have earned the right to say that and I make no bones about it. So, when some no-name shmuck comes along and wants to post a shitty picture of a client from 3 or 5 years ago and try to say that I don’t know what I am doing, it gets annoying. Does it come with the territory? Of course. Do I have to like it? Fuck no. Why? Because I am an arrogant dick and I don’t have to like it.

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Ok, it is usually all about me but I am still going to take center stage for a minute and update those that don’t follow my training journal on IntenseMuscle.com – my other home.
I am currently just over 3 weeks out from the biggest show of my life, thus far. I am not necessarily treating the show as the most important because I don’t want to approach it any differently than any other show but I would lie if I said that I didn’t feel the weight of the exposure and attention that this show will give me – win, lose or draw. I am not like a regular competitor – because of what I do for a living and my reputation for showing up looking like I have no skin when I step on stage, I will be watched closely as to how my condition is when I hit the stage in Charleston on the 23rd. Bet your ass, if I were to be off even just a tad, everyone would know about it and everyone would have an opinion. However, as arrogant as it sounds – that won’t happen. It won’t happen because I don’t show up “off” and I won’t this time, either. I will top my previous condition even though a lot of people say it can’t be done.
I was unable to really train my back 100% for my last show in 07 so I anticipate my back to be much improved and especially my lower back. I have herniated the same disc 4 times over the last 8 years or so and for the last year it has been in pretty good shape and I have been able to finally train it pretty hard. I feel that if I can bring the conditioning that I am known for and have an improved back, I stand a good shot of doing very well.
Now, the bitch is that for those that know me I always am in learning mode so I likely won’t go the route of doing what I know will work but rather to try and experiment with a couple different things as far as timing and loading, etc.. It would be safe to show up in top condition and just play it safe but I wouldn’t walk away with anything in the way of experience because I already know that my methods work and work well. I need to see if OTHER things going on in my brain will work well and at this early stage, they are already starting to show promising results. The question becomes: How much do I want to push it? : )
Being just over 3 weeks before the show, I am about 204 and do want to make the lightheavy cutoff if at all possible. I don’t see this being a problem but I bring up the “learning” points because I may have to load AFTER the weigh in so that I make weight. If this has to happen, it is going to get interesting because the load will have to take place between about 6pm on Friday and the next morning. I won’t think about it too much right now but that is a little bit of what is going on with my prep right now.
Thanks to all that have supported me during this prep and know that it is always appreciated. I may update again before the show but even if I don’t, I will certainly update after the show.

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