Big Is Inside

Have I ever mentioned to you that you are ready to begin prepping for a contest?

Seriously, you are ready.  In spite of what you may believe, you are ready.  If I have mentioned it to you, then TRUST MY JUDGEMENT; it’s time to step up.  

See, I have a "good eye" for recruitment.  I am a coach, so some of what I do is separating out the posers from the players.  If I couldn’t spot that early, then every team of bodybuilders I’ve coached would have floundered and gone belly up.  

(DISCLAIMER ON THE PICS IN THIS POST: These are all bodybuilding.com/bodyspace.com members whom i have had conversations with about this very topic.  Including them in this post is to signify they are among the MANY guys who I feel are ready . . . if anyone is uncomfortable being mentioned this way let me know and I’ll gladly pull you off.  Meanwhile, it is intended in the spirit of recognizing your efforts for the positive.)

Now, I can usually spot readiness when it comes to an athlete’s attitude, physique and methodology.  That’s why, if I mentioned it to you, I was serious.  It was not a compliment, but a fact; I “spotted” you.  You are ready; no matter what YOU think ready is, as the guy with the experience I can tell you that you are ready to begin NOW.

But “ready is willing” I always say.  Although I can spot readiness, willingness has to be told to me.  If an athlete is not willing to believe he has what it takes, then he is not ready.  Not by a long shot.

And then my suggestion to begin just seems like flattery.  If an athlete does not believe that he has it, and you won’t listen to the “old dog” who has spotted your talent, then you’re is not ready.  Ready is willing.  If you hear my suggestion as only a compliment, then you ain’t ready.

But that doesn’t change I have spotted you, and that you got what it takes RIGHT NOW.  I have found the qualities in hundreds of guys who at first didn’t think they were ready.  Most of them stayed stuck in their belief.  Eventually some stepped up to compete, long past the point  when it would have made sense to begin competing, and then had a crappy experience and became embittered.  Yet most just took the suggestion as an idle compliment, and never acted on their readiness at all . . .

The few who did step up went far, made huge gains, and were glad they listened to me.  Even if i did not directly coach them, they trusted that I was not flattering them.  They put faith in the fact that, as a coach (and thus as sort of a “recruiter), that I could spot the qualities better than they could.

Often, I can find these qualities fast, without even much interaction with an athlete.  That’s why I may have suggested it to you.  Usually, these qualities become evident in just a few, little, seemingly subtle details which I pick up on.  ]To list whatthese cues might be would take a long time; besides, much of it is just an intuition I have built up from years of coaching and recruiting.  I have seen the jokers, and learned what they look like.  And I have seen the true athletes, and know how they are spotted.  

And, like I said, I may have spotted YOU.  If I did, it wasn’t a compliment . . . .  It was a fact.

You are ready to become an athlete.

Take that not as a compliment. Take that as assessment.

As a coach, one of the greatest obstacles I have to push athletes past is their own perceptions.  In bodybuilding, 95-95% of the popular media and popular image is based around “body manipulation”, and not based around the competitive field. You see tons of anecdotal imagery and writing about this guy and that who got his weight up to so many pounds or got leaned down to such-and-such body fat percentage. But these are all manipulations of the body’s properties. They are not assessments of a guy’s competitive abilities.

So, what happens is decent athletes like you evaluate their competitive ability based on a comparison of their physique with their ideal. But this comparison — between what you got and what you “think is awesome” — is not anywhere near an assessment of how you would fare in competition. It is only an assessment of your “social cred.” Know what I mean?

Bodybuilding is not about “who has the best body.” Bodybuilding is about “who PRESENTS the best AESTHETIC.” And there are OCEANS of difference between those two concepts.

Popular media makes a LOT more money off the “get the best body” message. So, that is mostly what gets snagged in people’s consciousness. But this leaves the competitive arena out in the cold. usually guys have no idea how “close” they are to being competent in this sport. Instead, they just listen to the anecdotes out there, and compare themselves to these ideals.

Likewise, in bodybuilding all athletes make progression. Which means NO ONE in ANY SPORT starts out being Mr. Win-It-All. There is NO ATHLETE or team that started out winning. In fact, MOST start out losing. And for good benefit. How else could you improve if you do not first compare yourself to other athletes?

Most guys do not want to go near competition based on the foolish and lofty idea that “I am not ready until i can go in and WIN.” But think about that: go in and win at a sport you’ve never played, much less experienced in any other way than anecdotally? That would be like saying “I am going to copy what i see in EVERY FOOTBALL MOVIE EVER MADE, and then I’ll be ready to win a football game.” Sacked.

You have to remember that no amount of web-surfing will communicate the competitive arena to you. Now will it give you the perspective on your abilities.

This sport is about a set of skills rarely talked about in all these forums. The skills of presentation have, ironically, little to do with training and dieting. Training and dieting merely “get the equipment ready for the job.” But massive size and cuts are NOT a guarantee for success. They are merely “better equipment.” The worst athlete in the world can have the best equipment in the world, and still only play a mediocre game . . .

I face this SO OFTEN in my coaching. The kid with the killer body who is basically a competitive botard.

For what YOU would need in terms of equipment, you are ready. Remember, you would go in first to learn. Learn the sport, learn how to be competitive, learn ways to master your game, and learn ways to improve your equipment. The first three or four shows a “winning strategy” is to forego the idea of winning. That may SOUND counter-intuitive, but you need to learn how to play.

So, your EQUIPMENT is ready to begin to play. Ironically, most athletes find they make more mass gains and get leaner by regularly competing instead of by constantly training. Faster “personal improvements” get made when one approaches their physique work like “training for a sport” as opposed to just like “body manipulation tactics.”

So, in short, saying you’re ready for a contest is, in fact, NOT a compliment. It is an ASSESSMENT.

I am saying, in short, you are ready to begin playing, and to personally begin reaping the benefits of the pursuit — far more benefits, and far more PERSONAL GAINS benefits, than you may at first imagine.

Do not be flattered. Be informed.

Like I said before, I am always telling athletes the same thing: “Ready is Willing.”

To be “ready” merely means to be “willing” to take on the task. Do not assess “readiness” based on the equipment you DON’T yet have; base “readiness” on your willingness to USE the equipment that you DO have.

Your equipment is more than ready.  I spotted you.  I pulled you out – maybe even CALLED you out.  You’re ready to begin if you so choose.

So, all that’s left is: are you WILLING?

No compliment necessary!

THERE’S A NEW SPORT OUT THERE!  IT IS BEING CALLED BODYBUILDING, BUT IT IS WAY MORE POPULAR!

it looks JUST LIKE bodybuilding, but it is about getting huge freaky mass . . . I suppose THAt is why they call it "bodybuilding".

Bodybuilding does NOT equal "get the flesh bigger no matter what." There’s bodybuilding the sport of creating an aesthetically competent physique, then there’s this new game that’s been around for 10-15 years. It’s called "manipulate my flesh".

Now I do not discount the HARD HARD work of the "flesh manipulators." But their standards of success are simple: did I manipulate my flesh? Did I continue to a new level of manipulation? How far can I manipulate my shape? Etc., etc.

Again, if guys want to do that, I actually give them a LOT of credit. it is a CRAZY commitment. it even over-rides "normal life" at times.

These guys are the ones who think that there is no upper limit defined by aesthetics. Theirs is a purely numbers game: how many inches around can my legs measure? How many pounds can I weigh? Chasing endlessly bigger proportions is DEFINITELY hard work and a BRUTAL level of commitment . . . but it ain’t bodybuilding.

So, to claim that by sheer merit of being a bodybuilder the presumption is that getting all dimensions bigger is bullsh1t.

The "flesh manipulation game" is defined by "dimensions." Bodybuilding is defined by "proportions."

"Dimensions" are exactly what they sound like: numbers and measurements. They are perceivable by everyone. They are what they are. They go up and down in absolute terms.

Yet "proportions" are about RELATIONAL dimensions. How do dimensions RELATE to one another, relate to the perceiver, and relate to their context. This is what bodybuilders are as athletes: they build the body’s RELATIONAL dimensions, not just the absolute dimensions.

This is where we enter the concept of "aesthetics" versus "appearances." "Appearance" is the description of a physique in terms of it’s dimensions: how much it weighs, how big it measures, etc. But "aesthetics" is a description of HOW THE PHYSIQUE RELATES.

Aesthetics deal with INTRA-relations, like how legs match the arms, how cuts describe balance, etc., as well as INTER-relations, like how the physique is perceived in terms of density, vascularity, symmetry, etc.

So, of you are a bodybuilder, then you are NOT automatically obliged to chase dimensions. THAT IS NOT THE DEFINITION OF A BODYBUILDER. Sure, you may yourself have that mojo to chase bigger size, and that’s cool. But that interest is NOT what DEFINES you as a bodybuilder.

if the intent to maximize and manipulate dimensions was a defining factor to "what makes a bodybuilder", well then a LOT of athletes heralded as "great bodybuilders’ would have to be removed from the list because these athletes did not chase endless dimensional increase.

in fact, if you look CAREFULLY, even through current days there are probably MORE bodybuilders who LIMIT their dimensions for the sake of aesthetic proportionality. Sure, they may continue to "grow" per se, but the best of the best are careful, and do not demand endless growth at the expense of proportional aesthetics.

A true bodybuilder athlete is ALWAYS aesthetics FIRST, dimensional manipulation second.

And to add some perspective, let me qualify this by saying that in my MIND I absolutely fantasize about absurdist dimensions. That bug has NEVER left me. I would LOVE to be able to become that 320 lb 4% bodyfat impossibly built uber-bodybuilder. However, I also know that, in the end I prefer the chase of the aesthetics over just the dimensions. However, I, too, share the mojo for dimensions; I just temper that interest with my sport: bodybuilding. I don’t so much think that "bigger is better," but just simply that "bigger is more fun."

But in the end, what is "better" is bodybuilding.

And bodybuilding is about relational aesthetics, NOT about absolute dimensions.

A "simple plan" is not always the same thing as an "easy plan."  ESPECIALLY in bodybuilding . . .

This was the crux of posting I had made in the forums.  It was addressing the idea of how many meals bodybuilders eat — and how some people struggle with it.  

It ended up being a sort of "mini-primer on food theory".  Sure, there was practical advice, but sort of "anecdotal" stuff.  In the end, though, no matter what you call it, I got a TON of positive feedback about the piece, so decided to blog-o-cize it.

Now, enjoy your meal . . .

First off, understand what is meant by the term "meal" . . .

People hear "eat six, seven, eight meals per day", and then assume that means sitting down with a fork an knife and eating all that food. They believe that every "meal" is about "chewing food."

In some cases, this is CLOSE to accurate, but in reality the term "meal" in physique development has a VERY SPECIFIC MEANING.

Here’s the equations . . . FIRST:

"eating" = "consumption of ANY kind"
which means even protein drinks, snacks — anything outside of a glass of water is considered "eating" in the physique development game. A glass of milk? That’s eating. Anything WITH CALORIC VALUE is to be considered "eating".

SECOND:

"MEAL" = "eating" / "time"
Basically, a "meal" is when you CONSUME according to a TIME component. Nothing radical here — heck "normal" meals also are regulated by time, right? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc. . . .

But now HERE IS THE TRICK:

When a bodybuilder or athlete says "I eat SIX MEALS A DAY", they are simply saying "I CONSUME CALORIES AND NUTRIENTS AT SIX TIME-POINTS DURING THE DAY."

Emphasis: CONSUME CALORIES.

Too many people get hung up on the idea that a "meal" MUST be an elaborate affair. Often, there are means of consuming calories that are far less taxing than complex large meals.

One trick is to MEASURE CALORIES. Often, guys will eat what they have always considered a "satisfying meal", and then try to eat that much food six, seven, eight times. Well, when eating more frequently, the strategy is to SPREAD OUT THE CALORIES. Often the meals you consume will NOT be PHYSICALLY satisfying. In fact, they will often leave a little room in your stomach. So, the earlier advice of making the meals smaller makes a LOT of sense. But do not do this randomly. Figure out what your CALORIC BEST INTERESTS are first, THEN divide up your meals.

Now, most people roll their eyes at this point. "Math?" they think. "I don’t want a whole complex deal. I just want to look awesome." Well, bear with it. First of all, you only need use the measuring to get a "basic standard" down. If you are not competing, the math only need last a number of weeks to teach you portion sizing skills. You will NOT be chained to a caloric obligation forever. Man up and do the extra work — it’s YOUR goal you’d be copping out on if you don’t.

Likewise, remember that many bodybuilders will use PRE-WORKOUT, POST WORKOUT, and WAKE-UP drinks, and count them as "meals". I will not here go into the strategies employed by pre, post and waking nutrition, but will say that many bodybuilders use FAST DIGESTING nutrients at these points of the day. If you were to consider these quick-absorbing protein/carb drinks as "consumption which happens at a moment in time," well then you technically have three "meals"; specifically a "pre workout" meal, a "post workout" meal and a "waking" meal. Even though these meals are liquid and easily digested, they still "count" as "meals’ by the definition I provided above.

So a guy who is jacked who says "I eat 7 meals a day" may, in fact, only be "chewing food" four times.

Now, let me say that I am, personally, a STRONG advocate of WHOLE FOOD MAJORITY. I DO NOT LIKE diet schemes that are heavy on the powders and shakes. But I did want to point out that this is often how the "six meals" strategy is accomplished without discomfort; by considering drinks as "meals" because they are "nutrients consumed as a product of time."

So, don’t get mislead. Don’t just take the "eat six, seven, eight meals" advice at face value. ANALYZE CLOSER. So many guys are so horny for a "quick solution" that they don’t bother to deconstruct a suggestion, and then get saddled following a piece of advice that is not only uncomfortable, but ultimately counter-productive.

Yes, being "stuffed’ can work AGAINST you. It is a stresser on the body. And guess what the #1 catabolic (destructive) force is on a physique’s musculature? That’s right, stress. So being stuffed is NOT a good thing for a dude trying to grow. You may get an "A" for effort in eating the meals, but a flat-out "D" for doing what is wise for growth. We’re not trying to BE all about hardcore determination, here; the goal is just simply to grow, be it through hardcore determination or not. And most often, forceful methods cause the body more destructive stress than they do constructive benefit.

And on that note, I have to say that a "being stuffed" problem seems bio-physical, so to speak. One true thing is that the stomach is a remarkably elastic organ. It can grow several times it’s original size. Imagine it like a regular old balloon. If you pick up a balloon and try to blow it up, it will be a little difficult; the rubber is stiff and it needs to "loosen up" before it can stretch maximally with little effort. This is why people often tug and pre-stretch a balloon before blowing it up. It "warms up" the rubber and allows the balloon to expand maximally. Then, if you deflate the balloon, it does not return to it’s ORIGINAL deflated size. It is just a little bit bigger; a little more stretched out than it was originally. If you were to keep blowing up the balloon and deflating it, eventually it’s "resting" size would be quite larger than it was originally.

The stomach behaves similarly to that balloon. You can stretch it until it begins to "loosen up". So, the LONGER you eat several meals, the more your stomach becomes "stretched" to accommodate that level of food. Comfort GRADUALLY sets in. This process takes at least a month or two; therefore, as with ALL THINGS in bodybuilding, A LOT OF PATIENCE IS REQUIRED.

One not-too-cool trick people occasionally use is to stretch the stomach is to drink lots of water at one moment. I mean a LOT. I do NOT mean all day, but maybe just every few mornings, guzzle down a lot of water. This is an "okay" trick (and one I use the day after a contest so I can enjoy my inevitable end-of-diet celebratory pig-out), but it is NOT the best solution., Your healthiest option is a gradual method, allowing your stomach to slowly get used to it.

Don’t evaluate the method on just one day’s experience, or even a couple days experience. This eating habit is NOT an overnight adjustment, in spite of how people often regard it. Sure, your MIND doesn’t think it will be difficult; it is, after all, such a SIMPLE solution. But when put in practice, the advice takes on a number of elements you never would have foreseen without prior experience. Often the simplest things are the most challenging.

In the end LOOK CLOSER at the suggestions and advice which you choose to follow. NEVER take a quick solution as the best solution. if a plan SEEMS super-straightforward and simple, then that should almost an INSTANT red-flag for you to anticipate unforeseen snags. Like all of life, but seemingly ESPECIALLY in bodybuilding, a "simple plan" is rarely the same thing as an "easy plan".