I was speaking with a client earlier today and the topic of genetics came up, yet again. I say “yet again” because the topic has permeated so many conversations, lately, that I figured I might as well hit it again here in my blog. I realize that I have discussed this before but I think that it begs to be discussed again and again so that people get it. I think that most times that genetics are discussed in bodybuilding or weight lifting, it gets shrugged off for whatever reason. Maybe it is simply denial. I don’t really know but it gets frustrating when I try to give someone advice and time after time, when it has to do with genetics, it is discarded with little to no attention paid to it.
I am going to approach it from a different angle….
First and foremost, your genetic potential is predetermined. I don’t care if you want to believe it or not, I am telling you that it is a matter of fact. You will not somehow take some magical supplement or train some new way and surpass your genetic potential. Taking extra things like steroids or other hormones or training efficiently and mastering your nutrition will simply get you to your genetic potential quicker. That being said, as with all things in life, we are all dealt cards that we must play.
If you are familiar with Texas Hold Em you know that everyone is dealt 2 cards, to start. You take a look at those 2 cards and decide if you want to stay in or bail. Sometimes your 2 cards can be obvious to you that it is a great hand and other times you have to take a look at those cards and then take into consideration other factors like how your cards might stack up based on position on the table, what you have to bet, etc.. So, the guy sitting next to you could have a pair of Kings and you have suited connectors. You aren’t beaten by the Kings even though the Kings are a pretty big advantage. You must keep in mind that THERE ARE MORE CARDS STILL TO BE DEALT. You see where I am going here? You should and if you don’t you are one dumb mother fucker.
We all start out on this journey of getting huge, competing, etc, by essentially being dealt 2 cards. I have always considered my starting hand to be about a pair of sixes. In the game of Hold Em, that is only a good hand if you are playing someone straight up. When there are a lot of people at the table, say something like 10 million in gyms all over the country, that pair of sixes ain’t terribly impressive. I say I had a pair of sixes because I did start out young in the gym and came from a sports background so coordination wasn’t too hard to come by in learning how to train and I seemed to grow pretty well from the start but nothing that was going to give me big, purple stretch marks. I was known as the “workout guy” in school. Not too bad but not heading to the Olympia just yet, either.
On the other hand, I think most can relate to the guys that are seen in the gyms that are dealt an A/K suited or even top pair. They don’t have to work too hard and they don’t have to train for long before most people that see them in the gym wish they looked like they do. Bitch is, in the game of Hold Em just as in the game of bodybuilding, you can get your ass handed to you after being dealt top pair by someone that came out of nowhere to put together a hand with 5 more cards.
After you get a chance to look at your 2 cards and decide whether to stay in the game or go home, you get dealt 3 cards all at once called “the flop”. This gives you a MUCH better idea of what your hand is going to be by the end of this game even though the game is far from finished at this point. You now can take the 2 cards you were dealt and then add the other 3 cards to form your 5 card hand.
If the first 2 cards that are dealt are considered your starting hand in this game, then the flop is metaphorically something like the next 5 years in this game or sport we call bodybuilding. The first 5 years of this sport are going to give you a damned good perspective on what your finished hand is going to look like. It isn’t going to tell you EXACTLY what it will look like but it will give you a very good idea of whether you want to stay in, maybe hedge a few bets (most will put this one together) and take a chance on winning it all or simply bow out. Remember, there is also recreational poker to be had. It doesn’t have to always be a huge payout tournament that you play in.
After the flop you will get another card to add to your hand and this is called the Turn Card. How very appropriately this card is named. If you don’t see your position in this game by the turn card, you are holding on for what most consider a chance shot at luck that the last card, the River Card, is going to save your game. It can happen but it doesn’t happen often and is considered relatively rare and lucky. Not many people bet big that the River Card is going to change the game around for them.
In the end, you still have the guys that were dealt the best hands from the start, most likely still in the game with a statistically better chance than everyone else of winning. The numbers don’t lie. However, a well played hand can still win and will quite often. It just depends on how well that person plays that hand, what the flop looks like and whether that person decides to “put it all on the the line” to try to beat the guy with the great starting hand. It is funny, too, because the flop, turn and river cards are all considered “community cards” in Hold Em and that applies to bodybuilding, as well. Everyone has a chance to see what the first 5 years does to their physique and whether continuing is even worth it or logical. Hell, some stay in the game just out of curiosity to see if they can pull it off even when the odds are against them. The difference, here, is that people react differently to the outcome. Some will be pissed that they got beat and didn’t end up with the best hand and others will smile and be content with the fact that they played their hand the very best they could and enjoyed the game. I mean, it isn’t all about winning and losing, is it? Sometimes, people just enjoy playing the game, right?
I was dealt a pair of sixes and I am glad I stayed in the game. I expected 3 more sixes on the flop because I was a dumbass, disillusioned teenager and I was pissed when I saw that the flop was not at all what I expected it to be. In complete honesty, I actually did benefit from the turn card as I got serious only after I saw that Mr Muscleguy in high school wasn’t going to be turning pro training like a giant douche and eating like a kid with a bulging stomach and flies on his eyes waiting for rice to fall from a plane in the sky. (Oh, shut up. It’s my blog and I can be offensive if I want to). My point is that I felt that I had to stay ripped all the time and so my flop turned out shitty. By the time I figured it out my turn card was much more impressive and, arguably, my River Card, as well. Of course, I would like to think I still haven’t been dealt my River Card but … that would just be me denying that I turn 40 in 3 weeks. The River Card has been dealt whether I want to admit it or not.
My advice? Pay attention to the flop and be true to yourself and honest with yourself. You don’t have to have the best hand but you DO have to know the hand you are playing so that you can play it the very best that you can.
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She should be in hot-bitch mode by the time we start filming.