Big Is Inside

Ready is willing.  Willing is ready.  They are one and the same.

I always remind young (and young-at-heart) athletes of this fact.  To be READY to compete in bodybuilding actually merely means you have becoime WILLING to do the work necessary to prepare and enter a contest.  It does NOT mean anything other than a decisive commitment you make to yourself.  That is, ironically, the ONLY qualification to begin the process.  

(Yes — that’s me coaching like a goon . . . )

But WHY should you even BE willing?  Why BOTHER competing?  Why bother making that decisve commitment and “becoming willing”?

Well, let’s look at it another way . . . (buckle up — here comes one of XN’s analogies . . .)

Let’s say you went to a basketball court four to six times a week.  Let’s just say for 2 or 3 hours a day you were dribbling up and down the court, practicing lay-ups and free throws and dunking, driliing yourself on footwork and sp[eed burst . . . basically PRACTICING all the skills of basketball playing.  And let’s just say you LOVED it — you had a BLAST with all this practice.  So much fun you had been doing it for a year; two years; four, five, seven years.  Years and years of practice . . .

Then one day a bunch of guys come to the court and say: “Hey we were gonna play a few games.  You want to join us?”

And you look at them, somehow SURPRISED they would ask LITTLE OLD YOU.  And you say:

“Naw, that’s okay.  I am NOT READY TO PLAY BASKETBALL.  I just need to keep PRACTICING.”

Well, for starters they would see you as CRAZY.  What had you been DOING all those years if it was NOT playing basketball???  HOW MANY YEARS ARE YOU PLANNING ON PRACTICING BEFORE YOU ARE WILLING TO PLAY THE GAME?

GET THE HELL IN THERE AND TEST YOUR SKILLS!!!

Now SOME guys have a clever response.  They say: “Yeah, but I ENJOY What i am doing.  I GET something from it.  And if I am enjoying my life, and GETTING something from all this dribbling and shooting — then WHY SHOULD I CARE TO PLAY A GAME OF BASKETBALL?”

Well, on the ONE hand, live and let live comes into play.  So, of course, do what you want, there, big guy . . .

BUT, if you give a little thought, PLAYING the game might INCREASE your return — and EXPAND your joy.  When you practice, you are in a controlled setting.  There is less pressure so there is more room for a casual pace.  yet within the game you are thrust into a realm of unpredictability.  In practice, you KNOW what’s next, but in a game you DON’T know whatr’s coming.  THIS builds a degree of skill that can’t be duplicated through mere practice.  While in practice, you know AHEAD OF TIME what skills you will need.  In a game situation, your decision making skills are challenged . . . and you IMPROVE yourself exponentially . . .

So let’s bring this back around to bodybuilding.

Take a look at your training history.  COMPARE YOURSELF NOW TO WHEN YOU FIRST BEGAN BODYBUILDING.

I am sure right now you are bigger, leaner, and stronger than when you started.  

I am sure your workouts are more structured than when you started.

I am sure your dietary plans have improved from where you started.

I am sure you are more disciplined, determined and focused than when you started.

Overall — YOU HAVE MADE INCREDIBLE IMPROVEMENTS.  Sure, you can beat yourself down by looking up to the top of the mountain you want to climb and saying “I am SO far from the ULTIMATE goal.”  But it is WISE to occasionally turn around and look DOWN the mountain and see how far up you have climbed.

Likewise, a way to CONTINUE your climb towards your ultimate dreams is to GET IN THE GAME.  To begin competing will sharpen qualities in you that will help you climb FASTER AND BETTER.

But MOST of you are saying: “Yeah, I agree, and that’s GREAT and all — sure I want to “get in the game” and “look down the mountain” — but THOSE GUYS WILL TEAR ME UP! I DON’T LOOK LIKE THEM!!!”

Sigh.

Look, what I am HERE talking about is AMATEUR, NOVICE, NATURAL, SMALL-TIME, LOCAL contests.  I am NOT talking IFBB Olympia, or Natural Worlds, or ANYTHING LIKE THAT.  

EVERYONE HAS TO START SOMEWHERE.  So I am here talking abotu STARTING SMALL.

I am here ONLY talking about STARTING TO COMPETE, not about WIN WIN WIN.  Thsi is about gaining experience — the experience you would need if you WANTED to eventually win.  But even if you are like me and don’t ultimately CARE about winning (I’ll blog on THAT topic another time), and you want to merely build great tools to buld a great physique, then STARTING TO COMPETE IS A SURE-FIRE WAY TO IMPROVE!!!

So QUIT LOOKING AT THE WINNERS!  Quit looking at the TOP guys onlione, and see, instead, if you can find pictures of, well, the guys who did not place top five.  Look at the LOW END of a competitive class.  BEFORE saying you do not fit in, see if you are potentially equal — or better — than the guys on the LOW END of the field.

To STARTY competing is VERY DIFFERENT than to START WINNING.  If you want to WIN a game, you need to know the BEST WAY TO PLAY.

Well, if you are busy prwacticing all the time, and never play, THEN HOW THE HECK ARE YOU GONNA KNOW HOW TO WIN.

That point bears repeating: HOW CAN YOU KNOW HOW TO WIN A GAME THAT YOU STUBORNLY REFUSE TO PLAY?

Can’t learn to win from the sidelines.  No matter how much “practice” you put in, the fact of the matter is that winning games is learned through PLAYING games.

Even if that game is a judged contest, like bodybuilding.

But as I mentioned earlier, being WILLING, and tehre fore, READY to compete has NOTHING to do with winning.  It has everything to do with a decisive change in your outlook on things.  You have to know WHY you should be willing in order to get that willingness in place.  You need answers to the question: why, if I am ALREADY having a blast with my bodybuilding, then bother to “jump in the game” of competitive bodybuilding — even as a low-level, beginning amateur?  Why compete?

A-hem . . .

• Competing will bring awareness to specific parts of the system that need DIRECT improvement.

• Competing “compresses” your timeline, making you take more focus to dot he work.

• Competing helps you asses yourself as compared to other players in your field, who hold similar dreams as yourself.  This helps you observe how OTHER PEOPLE did things right — and what to see what other people did WRONG in order that you might AVOID those things yourself.

• Competing brings a sense of community to an otherwise private endeavor.  Community can help us motivate when we’re losing steam, and likewise can pull us back when we’re in too close and obsessed.  Communtiy is a HUGE tool for climbing that mountain.

• Competing  creates a “check point” in your process.  It gives you a place to stop, evaluate your “current best” WITHOUT DISTRACTION so you know where you are at.

• Competing helps you set new, achievable short-term goals.  Because you can break up your work into smaller time periods — the time-spans between contests — you can set more SPECIFIC goals, and be more focused in achieving them one by one, instead of trying to achieve everything at onec.

• COMPETING TEACHES PATIENCE.

• Competing brings an element of fun to your game.  (Or more fun, if you’re already having ablast.)

There are tons of OTHER reasons as well.  But these are some main themes.  

Yet even still, I am betting a lot of you are still hung up on the whole “I am not ready” thing.  You talk about “readiness” as if it were some specific point in the future . . . Meanwhile, you look like you just stepped out of a supplement ad; all abs and mountainous pecs and broad shoulders . . .

And I bet you are very similar.  Here you are ASSUMING you are not ready to be a competitive athlete, and meanwhile you are probably — again from a coach’s perspective — maybe 3 to 6 months from “ready” to enter a BEGINNER, AMATEUR contest.

But you want to be stubborn and DOUBT you are ready to begin the process. You are CONVINCED.  Well, let me throw another curve ball at you . .

IF YOU HAVE NEVER DONE IT, THEN HOW CAN YOU BE CERTAIN YOU DO NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET IN THE GAME?!  I am not talking about having what it takes to always WIN the game, but just talking about what it will take to PLAY THE GAME WELL?  How can you be SO sure you don’t have it when you have NEVER TRIED YOUR SKILLS?

Still stuck in practice . . . never getting in the game . . .

Not ready simply means you’re not willing to believe your ready.

But then I get the laundry list of GRAND EXCUSES . . .

“XN, I need to put on like 10, 15, 20 pounds.”
And how do you know?  Bodybuilding is about CONTROLLING A SHAPE, not EXPANDING A SIZE.  Once you learned the skills of the sport, you may find that you only need 5 pounds.  Or you may find you need 30, but that you can get by with 3 pounds a year for ten years and cointinually place well as an athlete.  In other words, this sport is NEVER assesed through poundages.  Some amount of magical weight you want to gain has NOTHING to do with readiness.

“XN, my legs are like twigs!  I can’t go up there like THIS.”
Really?  Do you know how to POSE yet?  I mean, OF COURSE we want to grow our legs (I am a little TOO zealous about it, maybe, but even I love my big wheels).  But the game of bodybuilding is played through PRESENTATION, not played through girth comparison.  OFTEN the smaller legged guy will beat the bigger legged guy because fo good posing and solid conditioning.  Big legs are NOT what makes a great bodybuilder.  Besides — start now to find out REALISTICALLY how deficit your legs may or may NOT actually be . . .

“XN, I am WAY too fat to compete.”
Umm, that is what diets were designed for.  When I suggest starting to compete, I do NOT mean TOMORROW.  I mean set up a plan.  Some guys are close to conditioned, and can enter their first contest in 8 to 10 weeks.  Other guys might take 3 to 5 moths.  Bottom line, though, if you don’t pick the contest date, you will STAY fat.

“XN, I love pigging out and crappy eating too much.”

Nine times out of ten, when a dude hits me with this it is NOT because he has some inordinate love of junk food.  It is usually a cover story for not KNOWING HOW TO MANAGE EATING.  I am not just talking about diet, but a lack of basic food management skills.  (There is another blog in this topic.)  If you KNEW how to eat in a way in which you were SATISFIED, maybe you would presume it’s that you have a dysfunctional love of junk food . . . in other words, let’s not play junior psychologists.  Let’s just figure out a plan for eating that works in your life — and which you ACTUALLY ENJOY for more than just the benefits.  That might take 4 or 5 months, but it is ALWAYS doable.

“XN, my life is WAY to busy to prep for a copntest.”
Oh, so you have done this before, then?  No?  THEN HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE TOO BUSY?  Time management is not about the art of “getting rid of things.”  Time management is about the art of, well, MANAGING THINGS.  Most often, people find that it takes merely 2 to 4 weeks of a little added stress to incorporate and reorganize their lives to accomodate contest prep.  After that, it comes pretty easily, apart from the occasional random snag.  It is VERY RARE that I meet someone who has actually made such a chaotic mess of their life as to be unable to accomodate something that will make them happy.  If you think you have made such a mess of time that you have no room for somethign that will make you happy, well, there might be a bigger problem afoot . . .

“XN, I know how to basically train, and understand the diet stuff (although i need to improve it), and although I am WILLING to begin, I actually have NO IDEA where to begin that process.”
Hi, I’m XN.  A bodybuilding coach.

I will actually blog on a list of “things to look at” to get started later.  Thsi blog is just for you unwilling types.  You already-willing types — I haven’t forgotten ya!

The point of THIS blog (I actually have a POINT?  Wow.) is simple: being ready to compete is NOT some god given right, some moment of heavenly-bestowed perfection that occurs when you wake up one morning many years from now.  There are no numbers you need which will “qualify” you as ready.  There is no shape you need to mimic to be ready.  

All you need is the willingness to GET IN THE DAMN GAME.

So drop all this “I need to first do such-and-such” nonsense.  That’s just you stalling.  YOU ARE READY IF YOU ARE WILLING.

Get the willingness to begin, and you are off and running.

Or you can just go back to practicing.  Never playing.

Writing this blog feels like trying to poop out an entire library.

But I love it.

The problem is, sometimes I get a little constipated.  There are SEVERAL subjects that folks have asked me to hit on in Big Is Inside — AND I REALLY WANT TO HIT THEM!  But I just don;t have the time.  Now they are stuck in the — ahem — tube awaiting, um, er . . . "release" . . .

(Yeah — my stomach is a little turned by his whole analogy, too.)

Anyway I wanted to try something new.  I will be jamming my head into a toy winnebago and wearing a cape . . . oh wait . . . wrong to do list.

Sorry, let’s try that again.

I want to try something new.  I want to provide a quick list of the topics upcoming for Big is Inside, in hopes that you’ll check back from time to time.  

Some of these are already being drafted.  Some have even written, just haven’t been posted.  But most are inspired by — as always — you guys.  

So, check back often if any of these topics hits you:

• Another from the “Joining In The Chorus” series

• My first post about “diet” (don’t worry — almost NO SCIENCE, hydrogenated oils or added sugar — yet twice the crunh of normal diet blogs!)

• Editorial on “friends who don’t come to contests.”

• My spin on Steroid euphemisms.

• Editorial on what it “means” to be a “pro” — versus what it COULD mean

• More Physique Culture History

• Sexual sublimation in bodybuilding — basically, some chit chat on the whole sex thing.

• spell checking.  (that isn’t a topic, just something I will eventually TRY to do.)

• Some sage suggestions on “setting up contest plans”; basically an overview.

• How to GET STARTED in competing.

• Picking a contest

• Understanding leagues and their quirks

• Explanation of what bodybuilding coaching is (or at least OUGHT to be)

• Write up of the whole Team Bodybuilding project of my organization.

• how to “spot grow” (teardrop of the quad, forarms, calf, upper mid pec, left buttock, jaw muscles, etc.)

• Pleasure versus Joy.

• Ready for a contest versus willing/wanting to compete.

• review of the last contest I went to.

• punditry on independent leagues and promoters

Plus, the usual busting on pros, leagues, muscle goons, power bosses and other folks who probably don’t read Big Is Inside anyway.

Not to mention poking fun at you.

And of course, putting myself down at EVERY possible turn.  Man I am a dick.  (See?  Like THAT!)

Hopefully some of these topics ineterst you or might be useful.

Incidentally, if you have a topic, a bit of humor, a video or website, or some personage who you want me to put my spin on, just let me know.  If I got the time, and get my head out from being wedged in that Winnebago, then I might hit on your suggestion.

Thanks AS ALWAYS for stopping by.  You guys rock.  In fact, I feel relieved!  You guys are like a big bunch of diuretics!  

So, for now (and you just HAD to see THIS portion of the poo poo analogy coming) that’s enough of my B.S. . . .

Ever get the SAME answers to questions?  

Ever try to HELP people, but get half-ass input?  

The SAME responses.  Over and over.  Like people have been working together to put these together or something.  Like I am talking the SAME WORDS sometimes.

People ask me over and over for diet advice.  And I HATE offering to people advice arbitrartily.  It;s unfair, and usually makes a mess of things.  Hey if we’re gonna work on diet, well then let’s REALLY WORK, right?  None of this 8-second sound-bite crap, which watses MY time — and sets YOU up for failure.

What is one of the main reasons people are compelled to ask for advice?  They want their body to look AWESOME.  Just like you.  You hold in your mind even now a VERY SPECIFIC picture of what you want your physique to become.

A VERY SPECIFIC PICTURE.  

You know details and measurements and everything.  Heck — you prbably even know the shade of TAN you want!  You can practically TOUCH it the picture is so clear and PRECISE in your head.

And of course you want to GET THERE.  DEPERATELY.  So you begin asking people who have done solid work.  Or people like me — jokers with big mouths.  I’m usually towards the bottom of the list, sure, but eventually you come to me and ask for diet advice.  

And asking advice is a VERY IMPORTANT TOOL.  But a tool is only useful if it is used correctly.  I mean, you can use a hammer to build a house, or crack open a skull.

And all too often people use the tool of advice asking to absolutely pommel my poor cranium until it practically splits like a cantaloupe.

I mean, it is sensible to ask "What can I do?"   I actually LOVE that . . .

But it’s the WAY people ask . . . that’s where the trouble and skull bashing often begins . . .

So, let me try to help you USE the tool of requesting advice a LITTLE better.  

In order for me or anyone like me (god FORBID anyone is actually LIKE me, right?) to give you USEFUL advice, I (or we) need to first know WHERE YOU ARE AT in the grand scheme of things.  

You want output?

Well, I need input to give output.  

So, when stopped and asked for advice I will typically, logically ask you somethign like: "So what is your eating like right now?"

Then, BOOM — the trigger is pulled.  The switch is flipped.  The machine begins.  My poor melon gets whacked.

Yes, at the dropping of my innocent question, make way, ladies and gents — here comes the PARADE OF GENERIC ANSWERS!

I swear I get these generic answers ninety-nine out of one-hundred times.  Answers phrased as descriptions but are not really all that descriptive.  Answers to my question that leave me MORE in the dark than if the conversation never occurred at all.

That is what this blog is about.  Those infamous, pre-canned responses.

I ask, in plain english: "So tell me what your diet is like."

And what I MOST often get is:

> "It’s pretty clean right now."
Like with soap?  You disinfect your chicken?  What the?

> "I don’t eat bread or pasta."
Oh THAT’S useful.  Now that we have cleared TWO items from the OTHER list of 137,256,004 food options, this should move along MUCH quicker.

> "My breakfast consists of…"
Wait a second — how did you know I had a voice recorder on, and was therefore capable of MEMORIZING YOUR DIET AS YOU VERBALLY DICTATE IT TO ME.

> "It’s pretty good."
Do you mean morally?

> "It’s all wrong."
Really.  So you’re eating tar and iron shavings?  I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS RIGHT?  If you don’t know what’s correct how can you know that your diet is INCORRECT?!  And if you DO already know what’s correct, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU INTERRUPTING MY DELT WORKOUT?

> "I eat a lot of chicken."
In one sitting?  And to what are you comparing "a lot"?  The national average?  A wolf?  The size of an "average" chicken?  

> "I drink a lot of water."
Ah yes — the elixer of ALL LIFE.  Funny, I presumed you were the one human being you didn’t drink ANY water.  Thanks for clearing THAT one up.

> "Sweet potatoes, brown rice, oatmeal, chicken, and tuna."
So, then, safe to say everything in the "shades of brown" category?

> "I am pretty strict."
So what does TAHT mean?!  You makes sure your salad is home by 10:30, and can’t date strange boys?

> "Not good."
Again with the morals.  What is this — the evangelical diet program?

> "Well I am more curious to have you tell me yours."
Oh right, no problem.  Putting together that little compendium would only be, what, maybe three, four hundred pages, and were it all ready made to go I could publish it and become very wealthy.  But naw — forget all that.  Let me instead just spew it out to you while standing here next to the cable crossover.  

> "I’m not very happy with it."
Did you want nutrition, or therapy?

> "What do you mean?"
Umm, I got to go now, and find a board to repetitively whack myself in the skull.

And there’s that skull crushing again.  Funny how a simple tool for gaining knowledge can be SO dangerous!

Now, please keep in mind that in spite of the repetitive head trauma I receive, I DO still offer LOTS of suggestions to people who ask — and yes for free.  I DO try my HARDEST to be supportive and encouraging — and of course PATIENT.  

But when I’m hurled against such a solid wall of vaguery, I really need a helmet.  My regular readers know my head ain’t all that stable as it is!

So, people, in the name of all that’s sensible and good, PLEASE help me — help US — help you!

A) DO NOT PRESUME IT WILL BE A SHORT CONVERSATION.  In other words, ask us FIRST if we have any time available, then SECOND ask your diet question.

B) HAVE YOUR DATA PREPARED!  Be able to offer SPECIFIC data about YOUR OWN diet — times, numbers, quantities, EVERYTHING.  Don’t make US go digging for YOUR data!  If you’ve been putting it into your own mouth you must know SOMETHING about it . . .

C) ACCEPT THAT IT WILL BE MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU AT FIRST IMAGINED.  Help us clear away the clutter from early on by NOT presuming it will be quick, it can be done "on the fly", or that a two minute tidbit of advice will make it all work out.

Now, I only offer these suggestions to help you.  

Actually, I also offer this to help prevent any further skull bashing.  But MAINLY to help you.

And I am sure it must be a little useful for you.  Right?  Doesn’t it?  I mean, let me ask you:

"Is this a useful tip for getting diet advice?"

No wait — on second thought, DON’T answer that . . . I want to keep my skull in tact . . .

I have never been the type to get all impressed with celebrities.  I am not taken to bursts of "fandom" when a big name enters the room.  When a famous so-and-so appears on the scene I never understood why people get all goo-goo-ga-ga, tongue-tied, two-left-feet, and other hyphenated-nervous-behaviors.  It’s just not me.  

I guess it’s because I don’t pick my heroes from the "pre-fabricated herd."  I don’t automatically look for the most VISIBLE example of accomplishment as my personal role model for success.  Visibility can mean great success, sure.  But more often than not it just means that the visible person is made into a celebrity merely because they are, well, the LOUDEST about their accomplishments.  Not always that they are the best — nor worth "following" in their footsteps.

So I don’t get the mooney-faced awe i see among my fellow bodybuilders when it comes to big names.  Many of these big names are rightfully accredited.  But until I know a person personally, I find it a little porecarious to just PRESUME they are "hero worthy."

For example, I have had the fortune to play host to several bodybuilding IFBB pros over the years.  Nothing glamorous — usually just helping coordinate an event or entertaining during "the gaps" between celebrity obligations.  Some i get along with, others I find atrocious.  After one such afternoon, I must have had a look of utter disgust on my face.  Several people were confused.  

"That dude just spent the afternoon with Mr. Big Huge Supersrtar Body builder Dude!  He should be ECSTATIC."

In response, a close friend of mine quipped:

"Yeah, that’s probably ture for most of us.  But XN doesn’t have much patience for the royalty."  

Which is true.  Human beings are human beings in my eyes.  I do not assess a person’s quality based on their popular accomplishments.  I certainly don’t value a person based on their popular reputations.  No, for me I take each person as they come.  When I meet any sort of celebrity, I keep in mind that there is a person BEYOND the reputation . . . and THAT is the person whom I am curious to meet.  Not the "public face".  Heck — I can READ about the public face.

So then, who are my heroes in bodybuilding?  Who do I look to for my example of what a consumate "bodybuilding athlete" is all about?  

Good question.

I mean, I myeslf have accomplished a few things here and there (of course I have a LOT more to go).  So it’s a pretty fair assumption that i have had SOME role models over the years, right?  

Well, it ain’t the superstars.  I can’t think of too many big names who I would model my bodybuilding journey after.  

Now, that’s not to say I don’t appreciate SOME big names for SOME things.  Sure I do.  For example, I always got a kick out of how Mike Matarrazzo has a sense of humor about his image — he doesn’t take his image TOO seriously.  This one aspect I respect, and give him credit for.  Likewise, I always appreciated the grinning, goofy, self-effacing humility of Franco Columbo.  it was refreshing to see a humble man who has accomplished similar goals as his much more self-masturbatory peers.  I can even give a nod to Frank McGrath — NOT for his bodybuilding (I know NOTHING about who he REALLY is as a person).  But I do appreciate how he is dedicated to the MYTHOLOGY of our sport, literally putting hsi own personality on a second tier in the media, and instead portraying a idealized "character" of bodybuilding’s mythology.  Although much of his public work has it’s roots in consumerist, mass-marketing slant (which I typically find ugly), I can appreciate his willingness to portray an ideal over his need to self-promote.

But these are just ELEMENTS.  I am not taken to swooning and fawining over these — or other — bodybuilding personalities, even if i can find appreciation in elements of their work.

So, then, who is left for heroes?

Who can I say I look to in modeling my OWN work?

Well, here is a PARTIAL list of SOME of those bodybuilders who have made "XN’S PERSONAL PANTHEON".

• JOHN McCARTHY

• DAROLD HUBBARD

• NATE FILIPIAK

• JAMIE BARRETT

• MIKE DiSANO

Good luck in FINDING anything about these guys.

Yes, they are down here.  With us.  In the trenches.  But each of these men has shown me example of what bodybuilding greatness can be about.  I would NOT say I would model MY LIFE after any of them.  We’re ALL flawed, and i wouldn’t swap my flaws for anyone else’s.  But as far as their “take” on the sport, what i have watched it “do” in their lives, how they “represent” the sport, and their personal PASSION, well, they all blow me away.

There are others.  (I am sure I will get to them in future blogs).  But these are a few that start the list.  (I KNOW I will get some half-joking emails from buddies and contemporaries who feel snubbed that they’re not on the list.  DON’T WORRY GUYS!  I WILL GET AROUND TO YOU!)

These guys were (are) just “normal folks” who engaged with the sport in a BIG way.  TThe sport motivated great movement and pwoer in their personal lives — helping them overcome obstacles, motivating them to keep going, and even teaching them invaluable wisdom about their world.  

Bodybuilding changed thge very FIBER of their personalities, yet THEY NEVER GOT LOST IN THE SPORT.  This is, without question, of the key criteria for my personal pantheon of bodybuilding heroes.  A hero in bodybuilding (among MANY other things) is someone who can ALWAYS RELOCATE HIMSELF  and RECONNECT WITH THOSE WHOM HE LOVES at ANY POINT in their process — not merely “after the contest.”  Putting aside the normal personal errors people make in judgement (I know ALL of them to have occasionally had some pretty big “woops moments”), they all nonetheless always had the uncanny knack for keeping their life and their sport well integrated.  

That is probably another aspect of what makes someone heroic in my eyes: how we’ll they INTEGRATE the sport.  All these men put bodybuilding as a CLEAR SECOND in their list of priorities.  Yet, at the same time, they all manage to utilize bodybuilding to help maintain their #1 priorities.  In other words, without bodybuilding, they would not be as good, as passionate or even as attentive to that which they loved.  They can’t live on bodybuilding alone, but they can definitely not go as far without it.  This CAREFUL, METICULOUS balance — to stay DEEPLY INTIMATE without getting OVER-IMMERSED — is truly heroic.

And they all keep going.  Regardless of how they are buffeted, they all JUST KEEP GOING FORWARD.  They do not get daunted — they merely CHANGE.  And here is another remarkably heroic quality: their ability to ADAPT.  None of them gets hung up on finding “one best method.”  None of them is blind-sided by “competitive politics.”  “Not a one of them worries too profoundly on “the absolute science.”  Instead, as adversity appears THEY ADAPT; without suffering, without whining, and with FULL INTENTION.  They are all of them VERY DIFFERENT now than when they first came into the sport.  NONE of them have just repeated the same trick over and over.  What they do NOW in (and WITH) the sport is very different than when they set out.  And this amazing, almost casual ability to adapt and grow is HUGE in my eyes.

John McCarthy first taught me the importance of loyalty and that you need a team in the sport — but moreso, you need a FAMILY if you expect to excel.  And he was just a BIG, shredded freak.

Darold Hubbard showed an example of how bodybuilding should always and ONLY ever be a joy.  If EVER it is work, then you are in too close.  He also showed me that it’s okay to “play the star” from time to time, so long as you keep your dignity and do not confuse “beefcake” with “cheesecake.”

Nate Filipiak showed (and continues to show) how FUN IS VITAL FOR SUCCESS.  Bigness comes from goofing around in the gym.  Cuts come from camping it up in the kitchen.  Trophies come from horsing around on stage.  PLAY PLAY PLAY.  NEVER let it become work.  If it ain’t play, go home.

Jamie Barrett showed me that dreaming is perhaps the most important thing.  If you fail, make mistakes, and royally blow it on occasion, let the reason be big dreams, not big fears.  Believe your own way, even if it seems like a complete disaster in the eyes of those around you.  So long as you are led by your dreams, you will perservere your own blunders.

Mike DiSano shows me how to keep it my own game.  Bodybuilding is here FOR HIM.  It’s here FOR YOU, FOR ME, for EACH OF US.  It is OUR GAME — play NO ONE ELSE’S.  It moves at OUR PACE, not vice versa.  An easy, relaxed regard is what builds freakish proportion, and an acceptance — without prejudice — of our own flaws is what will make us excel.  To try to conquer flaws is pointless.  We MUST embrace them, and use them to build NEW SUCCESSES.  We must NEVER mark our success by how far we are from our flaws, but rather by how much we knew our flaws as we achived more, and how much we did not let our flaws slow us.

So, yes, my heroes are down here in the mud and muck with me.  They are not the shiney, glamorous icons spewed forth across glossy pages and countless web forums.  I DON’T KNOW THOSE GUYS!

Why would I admire and model myself after COMPLETE STRANGERS?  I can appreciate little aspects of their work — but that’s because I ONLY KNOW LITTLE ASPECTS OF THEIR WORK.  Nothing more.  I do not take strangers as my heroes.

The "big names" do not make the cut into my personal pantheon.

Celebrity doesn’t, by itself, impress me.

Like my buddy said about me: I have little patience with "the royalty."

"It’s not who wins, it’s who they remember."
                                      - XN

I always hear bodybuilders whining at contests.  These big, bad bruisers turn into crybaby Sallies because they hate being required to do a posing routine.

"Why do they even HAVE it?" they lament.  "It’s not judged — so why BOTHER?’

Sadly, these days even many of those bodybuilders who claim the title of "pro" could not describe to you just where the night routine actually came from.  Or how it emerged in the sport for that matter.  They are even less likely to offer substantial reason as to why it is now no longer essential or relevant to the judging.

Early in the contemporary sport (the contemporary period being from 1850 through the present, while the contemporary sport draws origins as early as the 1910’s and 20’s) the format was stiull developing.  Early on, the concept was to have the competitors present their physiques in a manner akin to what we see in gymnastics.  More descriptively, each athlete would be required to know the skills of physique presentation, and know the mandatory poses.  Likewise, each athlete would have to independently present their physique, similarly to how divers, ice skaters or gymnasts present their sklills today — without cues.  The overlap of the two processes no doubt stems from the heritage gymnastics & acrobatics shared with bodybuilding in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, made popular along Venice Beach.  (Check out my other blog on this topic: http://blog.bodybuilding.com/The_Real_XN/2007/03/21/but-you-cant-look-cool-in-gymnast-leggings-o
n-the-beach/ )

At any rate, in addition to a line up, athletes had to not only present their physique, but also present their ability to DISPLAY their physique. So, in addition to a group line up, each competitor was responsible for coming out individually and presenting the mandatory poses.

Like gymnastics, this "individual routine" originally consisted of the mandatories presented in any order the athlete chose, and could also incorporate additional poses as the bodybuilder saw fit. The (now nearly lost) skill of the transition was also assessed in this routine.

Eventually, this was seen as the far more entertaining portion of the contest. Soon, music was played in the background to fill up the blank silences. The more savvy bodybuilders would syncronize their posing to the music. Soon, the athletes would also begin requesting music to which they had pre-choreographed their mandatories. And — voila! — the routine was born.

Soon, the routines were presented seperate from the pre-judging. Yet, the routines were STILL COMPONENT TO THE FINAL SCORE. (Hence why the line-up portion got the nickname "PRE-JUDGING" — a nickname that still sticks around today, even though thwere is no "other" judging. originally the routine was considered the that secondary aspect, but the term "pre-judging" has not yet been dropped.)

Remember, authentic bodybuilding is NOT about the singular aspect of physique quality, but rather about how a physique’s quality is presented across basic criteria. Thus, the skill and physique awareness requires to properly execute the routine became an essential skill for the athletes, demanding more flexibility, agility and control of the musculature than is required by mere static execution of mandatory poses.

Yet slowly, since the routines became more and more seen as a money-maker and less as an uathentic part of the sport, the very important skills these routines embodied were slowly forgotten, and reserved as merely "playful tricks." One by one contests begane weighing their score less and less, eventually dropping the score all togather.

Ironically, this has caused a glut of lousy presentation in the sport today. As the emphasis has slolwy swung around to merely the physique’s conditioning, the SPORT of physique PRESENTATION has been sorely reduced to a bland, boring and endeavor that requires more memorization than physical skill.

When I coach athletes, I remind them of this history, and also remind them of one simple philosphy of mine:

"BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIP IS NOT ABOUT WHO WINS, IT’S ABOUT WHO THEY REMEMBER."

If you think of ANY sport, so often the hero’s are not necessarily the #1 guys. Instead, the heroes in sport are often those who best exemplify the game. And bodybuilding is no different.

Countless times I have seen athletes approached with gratitude and thanks from a spectator for the fact that the athlete chose to present in a way that made sense to the spectator. I have even seen people enter the sport merely based on how inspried they had been by an athlete’s presentation skills.

Just because the routine is currently NOT the emphasis, PLEASE do not neglect it’s importance to your program.

Although the WINNER these days is made or broken by the pre-judging, the heroes are seen and found via their skills in presentation.

Do not take your routine flippantly.

Be a stand out, regardless of placing.

Show them that you know the SPORT, not just the sport PREP!