The Environment.....

What do you do for Biceps? 
How can I get my Triceps to look like yours? 
How many sets do you do for Chest?
What is the best order of exercises for Chest?
How much weight should I use to increase my one-rep-max?
How often should you do cardio? 
What is the best pre-workout supplement?
What cardio is best? 
How many reps is best for growth? 
Should I "change it up" every week in the gym to get better growth? 

              These are prime examples of the type of questions that I get the majority of the time that I am discussing bodybuilding/physical fitness with people. Do you see a common theme with these questions? They all relate to what an individual does while he/she is in the gym. This is exactly why most people never realize their physical fitness goals. They put themselves through weeks and weeks of difficult and taxing workouts, only to end up with minimal results if any. It is usually at this point most of these people cancel their gym membership and gain about 10-15 pounds. These people become so pre-occupied with what workout(s) they need to be doing, they drop the ball by forgetting to take other factors into account.  Everyone puts so much time and effort into planning their workout(s), yet they apply almost zero consideration to their daily nutritional needs, and their sleep is rarely a priority.

               One must understand that the training is merely the stimulus which initiates the adaptive response within the human body. Once this is achieved, one must place their body in the specific and proper environment for adaptation to occur. If this specific and proper environment is not in place after the body's growth mechanism has been stimulated..., then not only will growth not take place..., growth cannot take place.

                What do I mean by "environment?" Mainly..., proper nutrition, appropriate rest and recovery time, and most importantly..., consistency. One must ensure that their body has the specific materials and the proper amount of rest required to compensate, or repair the muscle tissue back to the state at which it was in before the workout, and then overcompensate, where the muscle is made slightly larger and stronger. These two processes constitute the growth process. Again..., these two processes cannot take place without the presence of the proper building materials required to repair the tissue, and giving the body adequate rest to allow this repair to take place. Furthermore, this "environment" must be provided every single day..., day after day..., day in and day out. Without this proper environmental consistency, your physical fitness goals will not be realized.

                  When I inform people of this, the reaction I get is mostly universal. "Nah..., there has to be an easier way." I apologize to everyone who does not like this fact..., but unfortunately for those who want "an easier way"..., that is exactly what this is..., a fact. In the sport of bodybuilding and the world of physical fitness, there is absolutely no way around this. The majority of the effort required to be successful is put forth outside of the gym. It is this fact which lead to the motto which my wife and I follow. Train Hard..., Diet Harder.

The Mass Confusion....

Confused....
This is the word that most accurately describes 98% of people you will encounter while you are in the gym. This, however, is not the problem. The problem is that the majority of this 98 percentile group to which I am referring, honestly believe that they do know what they are doing. Never mind the fact that they have basically been doing the same thing for months upon months, yet they have experienced little in the form of progress. People everywhere you look are constantly following the same type of training philosophy for extended periods of time, without noticeable progress, almost as if they are waiting for their program to "kick in." It is absolute madness. If you have experienced this..., I hate to be the one to break it to you..., but whatever you are doing..., you are doing it wrong.

Have Faith My Brother....
This is the phrase that should be on the front of every muscle magazine (comic book), at the end of almost every "muscle forum," and should be the last thing you hear from Joe Blow Pro after he recites his latest training routine. Why? Because it goes hand in hand with the actions of the mass populous of infinitely bewildered "followers" who base their training and nutritional protocols on these sources. There is a very good reason why most students at the University level are prohibited from listing magazines/periodicals on the works cited page of their research papers. These "sources" are not accepted as reliable with regards to the information contained therein. Yet hundreds of thousands of gym members all over the world base all of their training and nutritional protocols on information they read in muscle magazines. Again..., it is absolute madness. They will copy down a routine straight out of one of these magazines, as if it were the Bible and it read "Thou Shalt perform 4 exercises per bodypart. Thou Shalt perform 4 sets per exercise. Thou Shalt BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH" and they will follow it for months. When confronted with a conversation about said routine, if asked to specifically explain how this routine is supposed to affect their physiology to warrant the preferred adaptive response..., they cannot answer, because they haven't the slightest clue. Blindly accepting a specific training/nutritional routine based on ones word, with no principles backed by proven scientific evidence to validate said routine, equates to following commandments based on FAITH alone. There is a word for that..., RELIGION. As a Christian, let me go on record here and state that I have no issue with the concept of religion..., the problem I have is that bodybuilding is NOT a religion. Bodybuilding is a very complex and complicated SCIENCE. It is a science which interrelates a vast collection of other sciences, which all directly relate to the sport. Anatomy, Physiology, Biology, Cellular Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bio-Mechanics, Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and Nutritional Science. The point I wish to make here is that your brain is part of your body, and the most efficient way to achieve your "dream physique" is by starting the building process with your brain. The key word here..., is EDUCATION..., save FAITH for Jesus.

Appearance is everything....

Appearance is everything in the sport of bodybuilding. You hear people all of the time say "Don't judge me." or "You shouldn't judge people." When I think of how my wife describes our sport..., it does probably sound like madness to normal people. We train, diet, bleed, sweat, and pay the price for 18 weeks. That is 126 days straight. Constant pain..., constant sacrifice..., and we are constantly exhausted…, for what? So we can get on stage at the end, wearing almost nothing, stand next to other athletes, and ask the judges to "judge us" and decide who has the best body.

I am used to being judged. Normal people blend in with the rest of society, so they need not worry about being judged by others. I get judged every day…, everywhere I go…, by people who don’t know the first thing about me. I am judged by the people who stare when I walk through the grocery store. The ones who are always watching me train in the gym, and talk about me to their friends..., but never speak to me, and never make eye contact. They don't see "me." They see a freak…, a crazy guy whose ego has gotten the better of him. I am instantly stereotyped as a dangerous and threatening individual because I am bigger than them. So yeah…, I am used to being judged, and the opinions of others who know nothing about me are insignificant and stopped bothering me a long time ago.

What is important is how I view myself. Am I living up to my full genetic potential both physically and mentally? What do I think of the guy staring back at me when I look in the mirror? What do I see in that mirror? I see the potential that I have. I focus on it, and decide what I can do to achieve that potential to its fullest. I see my genetics which were handed down to me by my father. I had better make the best of them. When I look into my own eyes I see the fear that resides within my heart. It is a deep fear that stems from self doubt. I focus on this fear and feel the burden of my own expectations. This fear focuses my mind. It reminds me that as good as I may be I still have some work to do. Then I close my eyes…, I take a deep breath…, and I get ready for my day.

A day at a time. That is my system. I can’t go back and fix yesterday…, what’s done is done. And tomorrow…, it is not guaranteed to even come. So why focus on a day that is more than four weeks from now? I have no control over that. Why focus on my competitors? I can’t control what they do. All I can do…, is make sure that when I lay down to go to sleep tonight, I will have the peace of mind knowing that there was not one single thing I could have done better today, with regards to achieving my goals. I do this every single day. I just focus on today, because the present is all I can control. Eventually…, “today” will be the day of the show, and as I stand behind the black curtain..., I will know that I did everything I could have done to prepare myself for whatever is getting ready to happen. And then..., I will step out into the light..., and I will be judged.

That's just too bad..., isn't it?

It is 6:00 am..., as I sit here on this exercise bike with a heart rate of 130 bpm. My alarm went off 30 minutes ago and I didn't even feel like getting out of bed to turn it off..., that's too bad. As I looked into my bathroom mirror contemplating what I was preparing to do and why I was going to do it, I decided I should go back to bed..., that's too bad. At 6:00 am my body is stiff, my blood is cold, and the thought of a nice warm blanket is quite comforting..., that's too bad. These feelings..., these thoughts..., they are insignificant. They are meaningless because I have denied myself the luxury of being able to make a choice in the matter. I am on this bike..., at 6:00 am..., with a heart rate of 130 bpm..., covered in sweat..., because I don't have a choice. Is this normal? No..., it is quite abnormal. But it is action of this abnormal nature which results in my abnormal appearance. It is what makes me different. It is what separates me from the vast nothingness known as normality. Why do I do this? Because God has blessed me with the ability to do so, and I was raised to cherish and embrace the things with which God blesses you. It is not easy. It is hard, and can be downright maddening at times..., that's too bad. Somewhere right now..., some guy that will be standing next to me onstage in seven weeks just hit the snooze button and decided to sleep in today, and you know what? That's just too bad isn't it?