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!

How many pebbles would you need to throw to knock down the Great Wall?  Heck — how many pebbles would you need to throw to even make a dent?

I need to know.  Why?  Well, you see, that guy down there — the one chucking pebbles at the wall?  Yeah, that’s me.

I believe that the SPORT of bodybuilding is a powerful and brilliant endeavor.  Yet I am also convinced that the sport is lost and buried behind the Great Wall of the industry, the media, and the competitive “powers that be.”  In short, we have a sport with NO RULE BOOK being practiced by people who claim expertise.  If there are no rules, then how can one be an expert?  Fling — there goes one of those pebbles . . .

Now, there ARE base rules and practices to the sport.  They have just not yet been academically delineated and published under peer review and approval.  The only thing CLOSE to standards that we currently have are based on PRIVATELY OWNED regulations.  They are not impartial, and thus not fair.  Each league has it’s own “version” of the sport.  No one has the same rules.  How can this sport be regulated without a standard set of rules for practice?  

The answer: it can’t.  it would be like McDonald’s owning the police force.  If McDonald’s was the police, well, just imagine what would happen if a Burger King got held up . . .

Fling . . . another pebble.

Ironically, if you ask for rules and criteria for judging, you rarely get clear, academic standards.  Most often, all leagues will offer is some arbitrary verbal explanation that is not only convoluted, but often self-contradicting.  it’s like they’re making it up off the top of their head.  The few that can offer a written document (and VERY FEW CAN offer one), it is equally vague, and often uses terms that are not defined within the document itself, making it essentially ineffective as an explanation.

So, here I sit, on the OTHER side of that wall, flinging pebbles.  Given enough time, i’ll make SOME sort of dent.

In the meantime, I am trying to incorporate voices from the OTHER side of the wall in my radio show and podcast.  (If you’ve been asleep at the wheel, I have a podcast called The big Inside — listen to episodes art thebiginside.com, or subscribe for free on iTunes.)  I figure that relevant voices might add some power, and turn pebbles into rocks.

One of the first notable voices will be Eddie Robinson.  Eddie wiill be on The Big Inside on the Monday January 7th broadcast (the podcast version will be uploaded to the site a day or two after the airing).

Eddie is no stranger to the “game” of the bodybuilding world.  He has been awash in the arena for nearly two decades.  Sure, it’s obvious he was not among the most “integral” (a.k.a., “non-drug-using”) bodybuilders when he was at his height.  But much of his decision to pull back from the IFBB heights was based on the insanity of the demands.  

On the program, I do not intend to herald him as some sort of unsung hero of bodybuilding reform.  Yet I also do not intend to roast him alive, either.  Those who know my “style” know I am pretty sharp at “pulling responses” from people (which is a polite way of saying I am a brilliant conversational saboteur when I am getting fed a line of crap).  My pebbles may not harm the Great Wall of the IFBB, but once I separate a warrior, a single pebble can easily take down a mighty Goliath.

Yet that is not my aim.  My bag of pebbles are saved for that massive wall of bullsh1t, behind which is hidden the authentic sport of bodybuilding.  So, I have no intention of beaning Eddie square between the eyes.  

No no.  It is much more useful to hand him his OWN bag of pebbles . . .

I find that, when allowed to toss, most people also take aim at the Great Walls of nonsense in their lives.  Eddie and I may not share similar paths, or even similar goals.  But on The Big Inside, we’re all about the HUMAN journey.  And since the Great Wall of the IFBB is about anything EXCEPT for human compassion, well, Eddie need not even have a contrary opinion to be of use in the war to set bodybuilding upright.

In short, I am excited to talk to him.  Indeed, on a total side note, I remember Eddie from my teenage years from the old mags.  He was — among others — notorious for over-the-top, in-your-face photo shoots — the kind that romanticize bodybuilding as uber-heroic and where SOMEHOW guys who wore daisy-duke cut-offs, stripe spandex hot shorts and string Y-back tanktops all looked, well, TOUGH instead of cheesy.  

Eddie Robinson’s image was profoundly controlled.  He was always represented as both over-the-top as well as almost a goofball.  (But MOSTLY as over-the-top.)  He was part of a media generation that made bodybuilding a bigger-then-life series of mythological characters.  

In the media, Eddie’s generation (with Matarazzo, DeMay, Quinn, DeMayo, Baker, etc.) was about the imagery of the bodybuilding MYTH that got built up from the Schwarzenegger/Zane/Ferrigno/Columbo media that focused on the LEGENDS surrounding the sport.  

Legends (the attainable destination) became transformed into myths (the unattainable goal) during the era Robinson was big in the IFBB.  What is it like to be part of THAT media machine?  And wasn’t this same sort of media skewing a large part of the problem we now have today — that there is a lack off standard in the sport?  Did not the myth-touting larger-than-life boys of the late 80’s and early-to-mid 90’s set a stage for a sloppier competitive field?  Were they just obeying a mandate, or are they culpable for perhaps having laid some bricks into the Great Wall itself, thus helping hide away the "authentic version" of the sport for the next generations?

Fling.

You see, people like Eddie become important to interview because they will shed light on these questions, if not perhaps offer viable answers.

Although it may at first, on the surface, seem like I am "fraternizing with the enemy," when you take a closer look and understand the focus it is actually about building an ally.  Regardless of whether Eddie Robinson — or Lee priest or ANY of the upcoming "bodybuilding and training insiders" — agree with my standpoint, their willingness to share and speak and talk frankly is where their value comes in.

Each word from their lips becomes another pebble for my hands.

And lord knows it’s gonna take a lot more before that damn wall finally starts to crack.

REMEMBER: LISTEN TO XN’S INTERVIEW WITH IFBB PRO EDDIE ROBINSON ON THE BIG INSIDE PODCAST, FOUND AT THEBIGINSIDE.COM.  (Episode # TBI-009, available after 1/8/08.)

He’s 5′10".  Maybe 5′11".  Juiced to the gills, his traps start at his ears.  He’s got a skull cap pulled low, or maybe some buzzed spiky hair number going; $30 in product, easy.  Either way, those eyebrows are a little TOO waxed . . .

He’s got a tribal tattoo . . . that SAME tribal tattoo worn by every guy worried that people might mistake them for not being "one of the cool guys."  

He’s 242 pounds, all shoulders.  he claims to like MMA/ultimate fighting.  His stomach looks like a galapagos turtle.  No matter where he sits, he slouches.

And he leans into the mike and growls in a tone of voice which he practiced in his bathroom mirror for months . . .

"I’m gonna win.  I know it.  I’m confident.  I don’t compete to lose.  I don’t see how I am gonna lose.’"

Then there’s a pause.  A silence where no one QUITE knows what to say.  Should we agree?  Should we let him know that he is a little lost?  Or do we just praise him, pretending this personality-less ball of beef is supposedly a true bodybuilding hero . . . ?

Well it doesn’t matter how we regard him.  Lord knows another one will be in front of the microphone next week.  We can figure it out then.

Or the next week after that.

Or the next.

Ahh yes . . . the endless chain of videos, podcasts and "shows" that are supposedly catching the "essence" of physique sports.  We know them well . . boring, poorly edited, endlessly repetitive, and the same old schtick over and over.

Of course, in between these bipedal moose who interview like crap we also occasionally get the inane supplement review (N-O supplements have been around since 1982 . . . are they REALLY a "new" pump?!), or maybe a feature from an embittered, opinionated, science-horny hard-ass who can say without a doubt that "everyone else does it wrong."

Imagine if that know-it-all told the "I don’t see how I can lose" juicebag he was doing it wrong?!  THAT would be an interesting show!  That kind of mayhem would be a show FINALLY worth tuning in for!

And good news, kiddies!  THAT SHOW IS FINALLY HERE!

Bodybuilding podcasts are usually either absurdist, boring or dry — or worse: a comination of absurdist, boring AND dry!  

How the HECK are we supposed to sit through them?  THIS is meant to motivate?  

Wake me when they turn off.

Or better yet, tune into MY new podcast, THE BIG INSIDE!

What the . . . ?  “XN IS IT TRUE?!” you are asking.  “You took your sarcastic bodybuilding blog schtick and put it to the airwaves?”

Yes, my loyal readers (all three of you), it’s true.  Now, not only can you READ my mispelled ramblings, you can also LISTEN to my mispronounced ramblings!

It’s The Big Inside . . . and it is the biggest physique challenge you can experience while using ONLY your ears.  

AND I NEED YOUR SUPPORT!  PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE CAST, OR CALL IN TO THE SHOW!  (I will explain how to do THAT a bit later . . . read on . . . )

Now, so you can rest assured, I WON’T EVER be having “that guy” on the program . . . you know, that dude I described earlier: the boring, steroid-busted bodybuilder who is deluded with his own Flex magazine fantasies . . . well, not unless we can poke fun at him.  Then he’s welcome.

Meanwhile, we WILL be having interviews with VERY cool people doing VERY cool things in the physique world.  People like you.  

And we won’t throw crazy science out there and expect you to follow along.  Who wants to have to take notes while listening?  No, we want to get you motivated and informed — but not try to cram a physiology degree into 12 minutes!  In other words, we’ll talk to you NORMAL.

You know, like you were not only an athlete, but like you were also A HUMAN BEING.

THIS IS YOUR SHOW MY FRIENDS!  And I want it guided by YOU!!!  (So email me SOON with ideas: info@thebiginside.com)

And we will laugh, my friends.  Oh yes.  And if there is nothing to laugh at, well, we’ll laugh at ourselves.  I find learning new stuff is SO much easier when you’re having a good time.  Tell THAT to dry Mr. Embittered “Pro Trainer” Smarty-Pants Man.

In short, The Big Inside will be turning the physique world inside out.  Sort of like what I do in this blog.  

So, if you are one of the nine human beings on the planet who actually LIKE what I do here on “Big is Inside”, you’ll LOVE when my weird insights and snide remarks come at you in REAL TIME!  (Ahh, yes . . let the law suits begin!)

The coolest part is that you can CALL IN AND GET INTO THE SHOW!  I’ll explain that later . . . but first you might need to how how to even listen to the darn thing.

There are lots of ways to listen . . .

Go to www.thebiginside.com.  There you can click “show notes’, and you’ll get a list of all the episodes.  Click on the episode you want to hear and — voila! — you are whisked away in a cloud of protein powder to the episode of your choice.  Free for the taking!

If you have actually made it into the new millenia with the rest of us, you have iTunes.  In the iTunes Store, you can do a search for “The Big inside” and the show is under podcasts.  Download away!  Or better yet, SUBSCRIBE TO IT!  Then you get each new episode as it airs . . . cool . . .  And be sure to LEAVE A REVIEW! (Meanwhile, if you don’t yet even HAVE iTunes, well, get with it — my show is reason enough to finally break down and download it for yourself.)

The show airs LIVE on 1510 The Zone, Boston’s Sports Station — the Boston area’s “alternative” sports radio (meaning they have cool shows).  Every Monday night at 5:00pm (eastern time).  So if you want the beauty of LIVE radio, you can just go to the website, www.1510thezone.com, and turn on the live feed.

IF YOU LISTEN LIVE ON MONDAYS, YOU CAN EVEN CALL IN!  Seriously.  ANYONE CAN CALL IN AT ANY TIME.  Questions, opinions, thoughts — or just to harass us live.  

Like I said before, THIS IS YOUR SHOW!!

So, if you have some VERY COOL or VERY UNIQUE spin on bodybuilding or competing or fitness, and think you have something TOTALLY UNIQUE or at least that others have GOT to hear about, well, WE WANT YOU ON OUR SHOW!  Even the most “average joe” people who do incredible things . . . that’s right, we want to INTERVIEW YOU!  Email us at info@thebiginside.com.

Or maybe you know Evan Centopani.  or maybe you ARE Evan Centopani.  By accident,the guy has become a bit of a running joke on the show, so therefore we WANT TO INTERVIEW HIM!  Evan, if you’re out there — GET IN TOUCH WITH US!  

In fact, we want ANY want TOPICS and IDEAS from you, whether you’re Evan Centopani or not!  Please email the show at info@thebiginside.com with any ideas, or if you have cool news bits or contests to report on.

And since we’re your show, we want to carry YOUR advertisements!  Sponsoring the show or a segment of the show is DIRT CHEAP!  If you want to get your business in front of a targeted market, you GOT to hit us up!  Trust us — we’re WAY CHEAP . . . and the whole “new year’s fitness” season is coming . . . don’t be without ads!!!

No matter how you listen, or why, or when, the most important thing is that THIS SHOW NEEDS SUPPORT!  We will go where YOU want us to go, but only if YOU SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS!

PLEASE tune in!  

PLEASE subscribe!

PLEASE email suggestions, opinions, responses and contest reports!

Really, without your support, we’ll have to go back to listening to big goons talk about how much cooler they are than the rest of us, how much smarter they are then the res of us, or how superior they are over us.

AND WE DON’T WANT ANY MORE OF THAT!!!

So tune in to The Big Inside.  Support YOUR show!

If you do, then “I really don’t see how we can lose . . . ”

(Thanks in advance!)

"Natural bodybuilding" is done for.  It’s FINISHED folks.  Over.  Pack it up.

"Natural bodybuilding" doesn’t stand a chance.   Neither does "drug free" bodybuilding for that matter.

And I for one am RIGHT THERE to see it go, tossing out the bon voyage confetti and HAPPY to see it set sail.  LATER!  Good-bye!  Asta asta asta, baby!  No more "natural bodybuilding"!  HOORAY!

And while we’re at it, let’s toss "enhanced", "juiced" and "Clean" on the bonfire as well, shall we?

Time to face reality, people: the SPORT ain’t going anywhere, but the TERMS we use are old, clunky relics from a by-gone agenda that, quiote frankly is meaningless.  This  CLASSIFICATION system we currently use is broken, meaningless and FOOLISH to continue employing.  It is a farce of reasoning, a denial of logic, and the FURTHEST THING from academically substantiated.

Bodybuilders so OFTEN toss out their science-horny reasoning, and claim that solid research and logical study is our backbone.  We are SO proud of our smarter-than-thou science, and are VERY quick to demand back-up references and PROOF of every new idea out there.  

Yet meanwhile, in spite of being SO profoundly horny for science, science, SCIENCE! we are still meanwhile using a classification system for defining “natural” that is about as flawed as they come.  It is the LEAST scientific thing we have — yet we use it VERY AGGRESSIVELY!

No academic authority worth their salt would take the term “natural bodybuilding” as a SERIOUS classification.  It would mush like play-doh under scrutiny of definition.  

Like I said, “natural bodybuilding” on the endangered species list.

And I say: GOOD RIDDANCE!

When you look at classification systems, the BEST and most accurate systems are usually ones are not judgemental.  The BEST systems of classification to not IMPLY anything beyond category.

An alphabetical classification does not favor the letter "M" as more "ideal" than the letter "V".  

The word "heterosexual" does not by itself imply a "correctness" over the word "homosexual."  

The scientific classification of "feline" does not claim to be "anti-canine."

So, understand that the term "natural" is impotent and useless.  It is a relic from a time frame and an attitude that does not always apply to today’s athletes.  It is based more int political righteousness than in clear, concise reasoning.

It saddens me to see the term "natural" used so aggresively by those who simultaneously put themselves out there as leaders in the sport.  I myself slip up and use the word "natural" from time to time — not because I believe in it, but out of force of habit.  Meaning that it is HARD to change our language.  New terminology ALWAYS causes static.  Yet it is the LEADERS who will make the most profound impact in correcting this miscatagroization.  Or rather, I should call it a NON categorization . . . if "natural" can mean almost anything to anyone, based solely on the whims of what they WANT it to mean, then therefore "natural" actually means nothing.

"Natural" often ONLY means they "passed a drug test."  Not that that test was accurate, or that it was even conducted perfectly.

"Drug free" does not address a lot of the "steroid like supplements" currently out there on the market.

"Clean" . . . well that is just a flat out UGLY way to describe something.  

And besides, sometimes of these bodybuilders who use these terms — "natural", "drug free", "clean" (ugh!), etc. — are athletes who can not actually be considered to have done it "ONLY by the means integral to their innate human ability."  

When you classify it THAT way, things shift a little . . .

"Integral" bodybuilding is pursuing practices that are within the realm of your human capacities, or which reasonably mimic those capacities.  In other words, if you could (in theory) kill it, pick it, cook it and eat it, then it falls within the realm of INTEGRAL bodybuilding.

All the -drol supplements, and the andros and other similar hormone products are NOT things you could INGEST by YOUR OWN HUMAN CAPACITIES.  there is nothing you could pick, kill or eat that would supply these substances.  It is ANCILLARY to your abilities.

"Ancillary" bodybuilding is pursuing practices that fall OUTSIDE of your human capacities.  This not only includes supplements described above, but also steroids and growth and all the other thinggs you could not technically "find, kill and eat" all by yourself.

Things like SYNTHETIC vitamin C are still considered integral.  Even though it is manufactured in a factory, the substance "vitamin C" is still within your INTEGRAL abilities to consume.  So the source does NOT dictate whether it is integral or ancillary.

This therefore covers things like the aminos (glutamine, taurine, creatine, etc.) that people supplement.  Although the "powder form" is made by a factory, the "ability to consume" these substances is still within your human ability.  Likewise with other substances such as caffeine, tryptophan and even the improperly maligned ephedra.  If it can be consumed as a food source then it falls within the bounds of "integral" to your innate ability.

All told, the whole idea that "natural is how you define it" is finally going extinct.  SLOWLY.  The "natural" bodybuilder is is becoming a relic — the terminology is an endangered species.  Too mired in morality, politics and personal preference, it no longer means anything substantial.

Hence newer, more understandable criteria like "integral" versus "ancillary."  

The leagues, however, will take time to catch up and catch on.  Leagues move slow, and are operating on a judicial and business model established a few decades ago.  In short, leagues can NOT be reasonably seen as the definers — or DEFENDERS — of these terms.  Do NOT look to leagues for any clear understanding of what it means to be natural . . . because the term "natural" is itself undecipherable.

As a bodybuilder, we all make the choice of whether to use ancillary methods, or stick with our integral methods.  The ethical dilemma can be compared to taking Viagara.  If a man takes Viagara to have sex, iis the sex now considered "unnatural"?  Of course not.  However, the man DID use an ancillary method to HAVE that sex.  This was his choice.  

Whatever morality or authenticity one prescribes to these methos remains their own.  The fact of the matter is that there are two CLEAR categories.  All these sub-terms — "Natural", "Clean", "Drug Free", "Juiced," "Augmented", etc. — they all imply IMBALANCE.  They imply heirarchy (upper, lower), morality (good, bad), ethics (better, worse), politics (ours, theirs), and a number of other perspectives that are NOT based on clear classification.  

"Natural" is often politicized, and IMPLIES one is "anti-steroids."

"Enhanced" implies that these users of pharmeceuticals are "better" than others.

"Clean" implies others are "dirty."

The terms we currently use IMPLY a lot, but SAY very little.  Which is why a departure from these terms is necessary ON THE GRASS ROOTS LEVEL.  Just by YOURSELF you must be more selective in how you categorize your bodybuilding.  Use a NEUTRAL term, yet a DESCRIPTIVE one.

The  terms "integral" and "ancillary" can be used OUT of context, and their MEANING remains understandable.  Of course these meanings are not yet COMMON — all new language takes time to catch on — but they are at least EASY to understand, and therefore QUICKLY usable.  

Perhaps we can all "begin being leaders" and begin changing our own language.  Just you — as an individual.  Start speaking and classifying things CLEARLY.  Start making your OWN choice to clear up confusion.  It won’t cost you anything.  We use the same amount of breath to say these words.  Within a few weeks you may even become completely accustomed to saying these new terms.  Sure, we may have to stop and occasionally EXPLAIN these terms to people, but that need to stop and explain will fade sooner than you think.

Change language and you change understanding.  Change understanding and you change people.  Change people and you change society.  Change society and you can change the world.

Even if it is only the world of bodybuilding.

Be it ancillary OR the integral.

I intend to be 270 lbs at about, oh, 8% body fat in no time.  I figure my chest will measure around 62 inches, my arms clock in at 22, and my quads?  Well no less than 34 inches.  All the while, my waist will remain no more than 32 inches.  Maybe 33.

That’s the ultimate goal.

Seriously.

Now if you’ve read this blog’s past articles you’ll know that I have never used steroids, nor ever intend to.  I am what is called an "integral athlete", as opposed to the "ancillary athlete", which is a dude who uses drugs or other enhancements to reach their goal.  (Check out the Big Is Inside entry "Don’t call me natural any more" from May 2, 2007 at http://blog.bodybuilding.com/The_Real_XN/2007/05/02/do-not-call-me-natural-anymore/)

So, if I am not gonna use drugs, this goal is WAY out of my reach right?

Nope.

Gonna make it.

In fact, let’s up the ante to a weight of 285.  See, I forgot to mention my calves will be 21 inches and my neck will be EASILY 23.

THAT I think I can hit.

No problem.

Or at least THAT is what I HOLD IN MY HEAD.  That is an image I cling to as I progress.  FREAKISH size.  OUTRAGEOUS proportion.  INCREDIBLE shape!

It is all stored neatly in my head.  

Now, for people to get a glimpse inside my head can typically be, well, a little disturbing.  But once you move aside the stacks of newspaper get past the file ccabinets cluttering up my skull, on the back of my mind wall posted next to some artwork are the images of my dream body.  

Yes, hanging in snapshots inside my brain are pictures of my physique at 307 pounds.  My chest is a bulging 64 inches, and my arms are 24 inch vice grips.  And yes — that is MY face pasted on top of the neck.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I LOVE WHAT I ALREADY GOT!  And love what I am doing with it.  Wouldn’t trade it for the world.  So understand that these visions in my are FANTASY goals.  They are not being held because I am trying to get AWAY from what I have.  They are held so that I can to keep a DIRECTION to where I will go.

I recently got a provocative email EXACTLY on this topic from a user shose handle is “tryingto”.  He wrote:

“Christian,
I wanted to ask you a question between the difference a natural bodybuilder like yourself and the more “chemically enhanced” bodybuilders. It seems, from the profiles I’ve seen on here, that the natural bodybuilder isn’t so much concerned with size as they are with being ripped and cut. I’ve read some stats where some natural bodybuilders have 45 or even 46 inch chest and some biceps that measure under 18 inches. Is this typical? I’m sure bodybuilders like Ronnie Coleman and Lee Priest HAVE to be something un-natural to their bodies–I even wonder how safe it is for them!”

In other words, even observers know that I would need to hop on steroids in order to get the dimensions I dream about.  

But, yeah I understands that.  I get it.  I won’t reach my goal of 317 pounds at 7.2% bodyfat unless I use steroids.  

But bid deal?  So what?  Does it mean I shoudl therefore NOT keep my dream of 27 inch arms and 39 inch quads?  Of course not.

You must understand: THESE GOALS I HOLD ARE NOT BASED ON THE IMMEDIATE MOMENT.  They are not “MUST HAVE” goals.  To even call them “goals” is a little misleading . . . they are more like GUIDES.  And they are ONLY held inside my head.  These visions are there to shape the DIRECTION of my goals.  

And yes, they are based on my fantasies . . . they represent where I want to go if I HAD NO OBSTACLES.  And when I train and diet, I want to behave as if my power was UNLIMITED.  To go into bodybuilding assumine “I’ll never get 23 inch calves” or “my chest will NEVER measure 67 inches” would keep me too tame.  I want to REACH BIG!  So I hold onto these fantasies, and let them INFORM my goals.

This might be news to tryingto — that a guy who isn’t huge might cling to huge images.  But I think it does happen.  Even with us guys who never get freakish proportions and stay integral (aka “natural”); we too hold WILD proportions in our fantasies.

Yet I think what happens is a lot of guys HIDE their fantasies.  A lot of integrals take the moral label “integral,” and then maybe feel some sort of social pressure to polarize themself with a certain mindset.  A lot of integral athletes even hide the fact that they want the kind of muscle typically possessed by guys on steroids.  NOT ALL NATURALS DO THIS (so PLEASE spare me the argument emails!).  But I certainly see a LOT of guys cupboard away their visions of freakish proportions in the name of upholding some sort of pseudo-political “natural stance”.  I think THIS is what tryingto was noticing in his letter to me.

I think many bodybuilders often misuse their fantasies by IGNORING THEM.  That’s right.  They literally MISUSE their ability to fantasize, to imagine and to hope.  

Look, just because you are not going to go on steroids does NOT mean you are not allowed to fantasize about proportions that are usually the domain of steroids — or beyond for that matter!  

In fact, the dream of the 337 pound physique PRE DATES steroids.  For millenia (literally) men would dream of EXCESSIVE proportions as a representative of their prowess, power and drive.  Even sculpture in ancient Egypt that are over 4,000 years old often depict body proportions that are EXAGGERATED.  Dreaming of the freakish physique ain’t nothing new.  And it is fair-game for EVERY athlete.

A problem lies in how a lot of people silently think that in order to be a “true natural” (oh, how my stomach curdles at THAT political term) they must downplay their desire for these exagerated forms.  It seems a lot of bodybuilders imply (either accidentally or intentionally) that to try to be freakish in size you are “almost “betraying” the “natural cause”.  (Ewww . . . a “cause”?!  What a bunch of pseudo righteous GARBAGE, huh?)

So, I WONDER how many guys who are NOT on steroids are LIMITING THEIR PROGRESS by abandoning their WILD fantasies.  In the name of being a “good, sensible, natural athlete” are a lot of guys not letting their MINDS run wild?  

Big bodies, huge muscles and freakish proportions are NOT THE SOLE DOMAIN OF THOSE WHO USE STEROIDS!  Excitement for freakish proportions is NOT the same as steroid-friendly mentality.  And just because sometimes our fantasies might slightly resemble guys who use steroids does NOT mean we should abandon those fantasies.

Yet a lot of integral athletes do abandon their fantasies.  They start claiming they never dreamed big.  They often wiull even equate the desire for ultra big muscle with the “weak mindsets” of steroid users (an UNFAIR description to say the least).

And so, yes tryingto, we get a breed of natural bodybuilders who don’s always shoot for as far as they COULD.  

Instead of natural bodybuilders, many of these guys should be called “tame” bodybuilders.

Or “obedient” bodybuilders.

Or “bland” bodybuilders.  Or how about just “bodyblanders” — guys whose bodeis are always just shy of exciting and inspiring, but instead remain BLAND and without signs of ever having contained an imagination.

Meanwhile, I occasionally see bodybuilderswho built VERY impressive mass BECAUSE they follow the lead of their fantasies.  You see this a lot in younger bodybuiders, whose heads have not yet been pumped full of doubt.  Young guys have not yet been exposed to the false belief: “Sorry kid, freakish fantasies are ONLY for dudes who are using steroids.  Keep SENSIBLE.  Do NOT try for anything outlandish.  A TRUE natural bodybuilder ignores wild proportions . . . ”

And slowly, the young natural athletes fantasies get dampened, diminished, and even sometimes snuffed.  SOME fellow competitors whom I have asked if they want to be freakish look at me like I just asked them if they had ever held a desire to murder their own mother!  They are nearly OFFENDED by the idea of holding such fantasies.

Meanwhile, our fantasies are are actually very useful tools.  ESPECIALLY if for those of us who wish to remain natural/integral in our methods.  

Our fantasies create direction.

Our fantasies provide motivation.

Our fantasies help us understand our desires.

Our fantasies keep us excited.

And, very importnatly, our fantasies KEEP US CONNECTED TO OTHERS.

Not every one shares the same goals.  Yet many people’s fantasies are very similar.  This helps us bond as bodybuilders — or in ANY community.  Why would I hide that I dream of 28 inch arms, and a 69 inch chest?  Why would I ever hide that I want to be 364 pounds at 6.4% body fat with a 33 inch waist?  If I did not put THIS out there — right along side all my NATURAL WORK — how else would I find fellow athletes who SHARE my passion?

These visions are not in my mind because I think i can get them.  No — they are there because they keep me excited, and dreaming BIG!  

It’s kind of like Superman, or the Incredible Hulk, or Hercules, or Mighty Mouse (hey — to each their own, right?)  A lot of us cling to fantasies of being LIKE these characters — either in strength, size or ability or all of their characteristics.

Yet at the same time that we idolize these figures, we KNOW that we will never TRULY be as strong as superman, or as massive as the Hulk, or, um, a . . . um . . . rodent . . . like Mighty Mouse . . . okay, but you GET what I am saying here.

These visions are both informed by mythology, as well as are the basis of new mythology.  (And YES — bodybuilding DOES have it’s own spin on mythology.)  We hold these impossible-to-achieve fantasies and myths as a way of keeping our bearings.  These fantasies help us always point in a specific direction.  They keep us on track should wefalter.  And they make us get excited for our work. Even thought hey are impossible to achieve, they are CRUCIAL for progress.

Bears repeating:

FANTASIES IN BODYBUILDING ARE CRUCIAL FOR PROGRESS, ESSENTIAL FOR SETTING GOALS, AND VITAL FOR KEEPING US ON TRACK WITH OUR GOALS.  

We must not try to BECOME our fantasy any more than we should put on a cape an leap off a skyscraper, turn green and lose our temper, or, um, be a mouse.

So, you can understand why I am aiming for 389 pounds at 5.8% body fat.  And you can see why when I train I try to get 29 inch arms or a 72 inch chest.  

I do NOT hold these fantasies because I am trying to make them REALITY.  I do not hold these fantasies because I want to BECOME them.  I do not hold these fantasies because I think they will all become true.

I hold these fantasies because they help me set lofty goals.

I hold these wild fantasies because they make me excited for the process.

I hold these crazy fantasies because they help maintain fun and play in my bodybuilding — keeping it fresh and even silly.

I hold these intense fantasies because they contain a BIG vision of just how powerful I am capable of FEELING.

Regardless of whether I will ever actually BE them.

These fantasies are PART of the Big that is INSIDE of me.  

And if I want to bring that big to the OUTSIDE, well, I better not abandon any big that is INSIDE.  

Otherwise, how else will I ever achieve my 32 inch guns?

Want to be a leader in the sport of bodybuilding?  Here’s the secret.

My last post prior to this one was about the new guys (and gals — remember, I’m from Boston where both men AND women are called "you guys").  So I guess this one is about the old guys.  Well, not OLD, but the ones who are in the game.  

And also the ones who want to get into the game . . . which might be you . . .

This is about all you BIG dreamers.  All you guys (there it is again) who want to be the next BIG bodybuilding and physique AUTHORITY.  You just KNOW in your BONES you got what it takes to ROCK the #1 game . . . And now you think you’re ready (and willing).  You want to ascend to becoming the next #1, video-having, article-spouting, fan-base-building, benchmark-creating, hero-worshiped ultra authority.  You might even think you deserve such authority.  And, in fact, you might even be correct.

So how do I GET THERE?

Well, let’s face it: there are LOTS of those who claim authority in bodybuilding.  Authorities in physiology.  Authorities on diet.  Authorities on training.  Authorities on competing . . .

And the Authorities will ALL tell you — the way authorities ALWAYS do — that THEIR way is THE way to get the authority.  Any authority in  bodybuilding will claim that THEIR OWN method of practice, their education, and their experience is THE BEST way to go . . . otherwise, they wouldn’t even BE the authority.  

Right?

And if you were an authority in the sport, that would imply that you are ALSO a leader in the sport.

Right . . . ?  

Well, maybe not . . .

See, authority relies on being #1 in some way.  And there is only so many #1’s.  (In fact, pulling out my calculator here, there is only one #1 in each category, last I did the math.)  So there’s only a FINITE amount of authority.  Not everyone gets some.  If YOU have authority, the other guy doesn’t.

When it comes to authority, some will end up having too much, others just enough, and still others won’t be given quite enough.  There will be inevitable scarsity.  We will run out of authority before we make more to accomodate those who deserve or take it.  There’s only a limited amount of “authority” to go around.  Only so many “#1 bodybuilding So-And-So’s”  

To focus on becoming an authority, you also have to compete and compete and compete with those trying to get some of that limited amount.  SO MUCH energy is spent trying to get a name for yourself.  

Meanwhile, leadership is limitless. Leadership is infinite.  There is no scarcity.  LOTS to go around with leadership.  If you want to be a leader, you can just dig right in, and get more than your fair share.  No need to compete — only the desire to lead.

Authority requires you play THEIR game.  LOTS of learning and work involved.  

Leadership only requires an understanding of your own game, and how it relates to the games of those you lead.  You already HAVE all your learning there.

Leadership is intimate.  It is personal.  It is based on what you already know and do.  

Yet, authority remains distant, avoiding intimacy.  Authority is removed.  Authority is foreign to those it commands.

Leadership does not require approval, only agreement.  Authority does not require agreement, only approval.  

Authority tells.  Leaders teach.

Authority most defend itself, closing off.  Leadership must open itself, defending others.

Authorities are focused on their own power.  Leaders are focused on the power of others.

Authority is claimed by placing demand.  Leadership is claimed by offering example.

Authorities defend their thoughts.  Leaders explain their ideas.

Authority seeks to limit the boundaries of other’s power.  Leadership requires the expansion of other’s power.

Authority has built into it a sense of scarcity.  Yet Leadership has built into it a sense of abundance.

More is found for you if you focus on being a great leader, than if you focus on being a #1 authority.  

The two need not be seperate.  Authorities can be great leaders.  And many great leaders end up having much authority.  

The balance between the two — and how that balance is achieved — is the JOB of every bodybuilder or physique competitor shooting for the top.  

You WANT the authority of the #1 slot.  But are you also a LEADER?

If you want MORE from your work, look into how your example, your ideas, and your strengths might lead others.  Continue to lead, and you will get more and more.  Authority might come — or it might not.

But you will never be without abundance.  And then you guys (there it is AGAIN!) will ALWAYS be in the game . . .

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!

It was INEVITABLE that eventually I would end up writing a SEQUEL to one of my own blogs . . .

So, here it is.  A follow up to the whole "natty" blog I posted a few months back.  

But before you here me go off again, you might want to brush up on the ORIGINAL blog post:

http://blog.bodybuilding.com/The_Real_XN/2007/03/21/the-sport-of-natty-bobing-or-when-did-i-beco
me-natty/

(Go read that post befoe continuing, or this one won’t make ANY sense!)

Well, recently, someone had speculated about the origins of the term.  They had this to tell me:

"[The term "natty"] comes partially from the widespread usage of the word "natty" for peanut butter…"

Okay . . . wait a sec — WHAT?!

NOW THIS IS NEWS.

So, to summarize what I am being told:

Apparently there was some random social consciousness held at some point.  A meeting of the minds, as it were, focused on bringing  — a-hem — PEANUT BUTTER into the realm of uber-cool, suburban-white-boy, post-marketing neo-gangsta-rap lingo!

AND THEN THIS NEW TERM SOMEHOW BECAME CROSS-POLINATED WITH THOSE SKIPPY-LOVIN’ BODYBUILDERS?!

Well, this REALLY IS crucial news for a "regular guy" like me to learn.

See, I had NO IDEA that SUCH an image deterioration problem was occuring among us bodybuilders!  After all, aren’t we usually known to be the epitomies of self-security and confidence?  And yet, in spite of this image, here we are thrown into fits of insecurity by the mere monikers for sandwich spreads!

Wow, I must look REALLY out of it.

And this explains a LOT about how people react to me.  I mean, Ican only imagine how much my popularity has been negatively affected because I dare to use the full word — gasp! - "MAYONNAISE"!

Meanwhile, I am NOT sure which part is MORE disturbing:

The fact that there were actually guys who felt their coolness was LESSENED based on what they called peanut butter . . .

OR

The implication that I may now be classified under the same heirarchy which includes "creamy" and "chunky".  (Or are the terms now reduced simply to "cree" and "n-kay"?!)

Sigh . . . and they wonder why I so often fear the future . . .

"Things overheard at various bodybuilding contests over the years." = "What most often is really being said."

Now, let the euphemisms begin . . .

"I figured I’d concentrate on the light-heavyweights this year." = "I still don’t train my legs."

"I have one dude helping me who really knows his shit." = "I finally got a dealer who is SERIOUSLY hooked up."

"I compete for me, and for no one else." = "Still trying to hit that elusive first place . . . "

"The only hard part was the diet." = "I’m secretly a total alcoholic but want to blame the lack of calories."

"I think some of these women are a little too "muscular" to be figure competitors." = "I thought all I had to do was look like f**k-bait to win first place.  DAMN IT!"

"I’m NPC all the way from now on." = "I used to compete and even place well in the so-called "natural" contests, but now I have switched to using steroids."

"Money’s tight this season." = "I can’t afford the cycle I want to do."

"I injured myself, so have to wait to compete again." = "I psyched myself out too much and then sank into a crazy, suicidal depression after my last contest."

"I injured myself, so have to wait to compete again." (runner-up version) = "I JUST BOUGHT MY FIRST CYCLE OF GROWTH!  HOORAY!  Now leave me alone."

"I figured I’d take a year or two to bulk up some more, then cut down." = "I have no CLUE how to manage a diet."

"I hate having to a do a routine at the evening show." = "I’m a frustrated powerlifter too weak and whiney to compete in the sport where I belong."

"Good luck, and don’t go broke." = "Hey buddy, don’t blow all your money on gear while obsessively (and pathetically) trying to become the next Mr. O."

"You must be psyched [for how well you placed]." = "You’re a dirt-bag who seriously has nothing else going for you.  Enjoy your plastic trophy."

"The weigh-in scale is off." = "I perpetually lie about my TRUE weight."

"It’s like Jay says in his book . . . " = "I’d rather be watching pro wrestling and drinking beer. . . "

"I’m gonna start concentrating on ultimate fighting after this." = "My contest prep was designed by a one-armed, blind marmot in a coma."

"How do you like the sequin design on my suit?" = "I am DESPERATE to have men drool over my tits because I have NO CLUE what true love is all about."

"I can’t WAIT to eat a whole box of Oreos after this." (women’s version) = "Hi!  I’m a closet bulimic!"

"I can’t WAIT to eat a whole pizza after this." (men’s version) = "Hi!  I’ve never eaten a whole pizza in my life!"

"My boyfriend got me into competing." = "I just KNOW that violent, abusive bastard is also cheating on me, but I am too self-loathing to dump him but too weak to set him straight, so instead I am pathetically deteriorating my sense of pride by trying to be somehow become MORE appealing to him . . . "

"I think my shape came in awesome." = "I was shocked to learn I weighed into the bantamweight class."

"hey wait a sec – didn’t I see you compete in the [insert name of any natural contest] a couple weeks ago?" = "You lying, douche-bag piece of shit."

"This isn’t really my show." = "I have all the intelligence of that one-armed, blind marmot in a coma who put that other guy’s program together."

"All I think about all day and all night is bodybuilding." = "I never quite made it out of the closet."

"This is my off season." = "I bought my first kit that includes groth."

"I think my shape is WAY better for figure than bodybuilding." = "My abusive, controlling boyfriend just shucked out the $4,000 to get me a new boob job."

"My trainer told me to…" = "Shine a bright light in my eyes and I will go into paralysis like a racoon crossing a street at night."

"That guy who came in first is a tool." (non-steroid version) = "That guy has bigger gyno tits than Pamela Anderson."

"That guy who came in first is a tool." (steroid version) = "I’ve never felt so strangely sexually attracted to a man before."

"EVERY CANDIDATE will be drug tested today." = "People have been slipping by our testing for years."

"That guy over there has sick proportions." = "I wish my arms didn’t look so damn small."

"His posing is WICKED funny." = "He looks like he’s having a seizure."

"His posing is a little stiff." = "He looks like a stick figure out there."

"His posing is very . . . ARTISTIC." = "I think that dude might be gay."

"That guy’s unstoppable." = "That guy is this league’s latest darling poster-boy."

"Wow, look at her WALK!" = "I know that there is technically no such thing as ASKING to be raped, but . . . "

"I needed to take a break for a few years before getting back into it." = "My wife/husband divorced me HARD."

"I do it mainly to look good." = "Hi.  I’m a chronic masturbator."

"I only jumped in because my buddies told me I should." = "Usually you find me cracked out and rolling my tits off at 4:00am in some Long Island Guido style nightclub, then stumbling home smelling like bad cologne and a bathroom floor."

"Figure girls." (versus "Figure women.") = "All women secretly scare me."

"How’d I look out there?" = "Look at my cool new contest-day haircut I got!"

"I swear they only scored me poorly because I have tattoos." = "This tribal-design, meaningless, peer-pressure piece of crap is going to look like shit in about 5 years, but I just can’t bring myself to admit that I’m a total tool."

"Maybe I screwed up my water." = "Maybe i am just too pussy to admit I’m a fat ass block tard who can’t run a diet to save my life."

"I’m doing this for my son/daughter." = "I’m that pinhead who got his girlfriend pregnant three years ago, but still haven’t discovered the joy of fatherhood."

"The judges are blind." = "I am the only TRULY natural guy in the line up.  Too bad I’m a prick with a shitty attitude."

"Make sure you put color everywhere." = "Secretly, my favorite part of competition is having another man rub my body all over.

"I’m here to win." = "All my life people have never really, well, LIKED me, let alone LOVED . . . "

"I need to bring up my calves." = "I train arms twice per week."

"How was my lat spread?" = "Just don’t talk about my legs.  I’m top heavy."

"I can’t wait for this to be over." = "I can’t wait for this to be over."

"This was awesome." = "This was awesome."

"Anyone will tell you I’m a down-to-earth guy/gal." = "If I had to actually TELL you that I am a down to earth guy/gal, then it probably ain’t true."

"What did he/she mean when they said . . . ?" = "I wish we could all just TALK to one another.  Can’t we just pose with our bodies instead of always posing with our words?"

Recenetly, I wasted a LOT of work time responding to a post in the forums.  I did so much work on it, that I thought I would repost it here.  (Might as well get double the bang for my buck, right?)

It was originally in response to a post by a guy who’s handle is "/\/\icheal".  

He wrote:

"As you may have seen, ancient greeks (at least their statues) had thick waists AND 6 pack abs. How is that possible? If they had 6 packs, that means they had low bodyfat. And I thought the lower body fat you have, the smaller your waist becomes. So is there any other way to make your waist smaller besides losing fat?"

Now anyone who has followed my blog (god bless you if you have — and here’s hoping you find therapy now!), you know that this sort of topic is WAY up my alley.

I will most likely write more on diofferent aspects of this stuff in the future.  But for now, here is what I decided to extrapolate upon.  It was a LONG forum post – hence it’s graduation into a Big Is Inside blog post.

In short: interesting topic.

Now, first off, /\/\icheal, ignore the folks who dissed it.  Yes, at first it seems silly, but in fact there is a lot of cool content when you look at this topic.

A lot of people [in the forum] touched on responses already, so forgive me if I repeat a few things already mentioned in other posts.  

The first thing I have to say is how frustrating it is that so many people found this post frivolous.  It’s evidence of how today’s bodybuilders are so very disconnected with what brought them here.  

It is amazing to me how many people say they are avid fans or followers of bodybuilding, yet know so little of what makes up this sport.  Everyone is so focused on the science of bodybuilding that people forget that a solid half of the sport is based in the humanities.  People know so little of the humanities and so much of the sciences, that they are walking around half-informed, yet often claiming they have a solid grasp on thsi sport.  

Quite frankly, it would be like saying knowing how to build a house makes you an architect, or that the simple ability to measure out a football field makes you ready for the gridiron.  Bodybuilding is a truly rounded pursuit – with one part based in the sciences and one part in the humanities.  And a question which hearkens back 2,500 years is just as valid as the latest HST training split.

All to say that your question, /\/\icheal, is VERY relevant indeed, and not hardly frivolous.

You nailed it on the head when you looked at the statues and asked your self a question about waist size.  The aesthetics we still use today are, indeed, very much related to those ancient proportions – more directly than most guys want to think.  Whenever I ask a dude how old he thinks this sport is, I get answers like 30 years, 50 years, 100 years, and sometimes a clever dude might say 150 years.  In reality, there is CLEAR artifactual evidence to prove that bodybuilding was very much alive and kicking even way back then.

Our sport is thousands of years old.

As such, many concepts about the male and female physiques take cues from proportions realized in ancient times.  Yet, many dudes don’t realize this; it’s as if the contemporary bodybuilding aesthetic was something brand new in history.  As if it was thought up in the past 50 years or so.

Everyone knows of the Olympic Games in ancient times.  Yet most people do not realize that, among the games, was often held a final contest.  All the winners from the various sports were lined up, and posed, and judged, and that athlete who had the most superior physique was announced the OVERALL WINNER of many games.  It was not enough that you just mastered your sport.  You had to also have mastered how that sport affects your body.  The winners in ancient times were the bodybuilders.  Indeed, our sport could even be considered, in some respects, the ULTIMATE contest of those games.

My how far we have let ourselves tumble.

And these atheltes were often where the statues took their cues.  People would look towards the MOST heroic of physiques for reference.  Indeed, there were the typical exaggerations.  But in fact, these statues were generally rather accurate to the "best physiques" of the day.

But the principal then was you had to do more than just LOOK like a great athlete.  It was not enough to merely be diesel and shredded.  You had to be WORTHY of physique to be considered great.  Notice how today is so much different.  Today anybody who wants to LOOK the part can BE the part.  One need not have any true deeper calling, only the greedy, burning desire to look jacked and lean.  Not saying that is unto itself bad, but just a very strange side-turn the sport hgas made.  Thousands of years of succesful pursuit and today we have a bunch of imposters.  

These statues tell us that the only "new" thing about bodybuilding is the degree to which it can be "faked."  You need not even BE of an athletic nature to be considered a bodybuilder.  For the past 50 to 70 years, bodybuilding has become — for the first time in it’s austere history — PRIMARILY a cosmetic pursuit, as opposed to secondarily.

And don’t these to which you point statues just remind us of this idea.

But often people try to negate that which they have not integrated.  Because some guys don’t KNOW their bodybuilding inside and out, they want to negate the parts to which they are naive or ignorant.  And laugh at the question.

Look, even as far back as 5,000 years old there were concepts of the "overmuscled physique".  The Egyptians, ever concerned that royalty exceeded the common man, had statues that over time expressed progressively more "jacked physiques".

In other words, the pursuit of the over-muscled, lean and proportioned physique is a phenomena of Western Culture, not just of the contemporary IFBB boys.  Even thousands of years ago they had ideals that were, well, disproportionately huge.

However, we must keep in mind that although the dream of the diesel physique was thousands of years old, influencing us to this day, we have in recent decades a new influence: steroids.

Ancillary bodybuilding practices have created shapes and concepts of the physique that were never predicted in these ancient histories.  Steroids have created a look that in some ways expands the imagination, but in other ways marrs our perception.  Good or bad, it has undoubtedly altered the percepetion of the contemporary viewer.

So, those thick hips you were talking about?  Well, that is acxtually a coincidence rather than a norm.  The Greeks – as well as the Romans – were just like us today.  As I’ve researched it (and by no means am i claiming that I am here the last word) it seems that the Greeks heralded THREE types of ideal male form.  For lack of accurate terms, I will here label them “the Youth”, “the Warrior Athlete”, and “the Herculean Athlete”

I can describe each by comparisons today, for these three ideals still sit with us in our contemporary perceptions:

As far as the Youth ideal, here is where you think of the small waist, and the lean, tone muscles.  Imagin the Abercrombie ideal, or Hollister.  it is the young, hip, tight and toned yet not too shredded ideal.  MANY MANY Greek statues concerned themselves with this male aesthetic, praising the tiny waist and the lean physique.

Next, you have the Warrior Athlete.  Here, you can think of the physiques you see in Men’s Health.  Think of the Brad Pitt or Micheal Jordan ideal, or perhaps the most recent rendition of Hollywood’s Superman.  Better yet, look at the cast of the film 300.  This aesthetic was concerned with the leanness and the visibility of muscle.  Yes, it prized mass, but here was more impressed with WATCHING the musculature.  SOME of these depictions had thin waists, some more chunky.  Yet ALL had admirably visible muscularture — depicting a more mature version of the male aesthetic.

Lastly, you have the Herculean physiques. These statues most often had the chunky waistline that you mentioned.  Here, the Greeks took cues from the most diesel men around.  This form seemed to represent the stabilized and solid adult male aesthetic — accomplished and powerful.  As it was about exaggerated physique, the waistline was likewise shown as powerful, as would have happeened among the most muscular men of the day.  The exercise and military regimes of these people were based profoundly on power and physique stability.  This emphasis is absolutely what builds the midsection’s power.  But the counterpart to this body in today’s reflection is the bodybuilder aesthetic. Now not only shape and visibility, but also DENSITY was key.  The eleganmt lines of the Youth aesthetic were gone, and the sleek sophistication of the Warrior Athlete were likely advanced to create physiques that were, in a word, shockingly developed.

All these shapes are captured in Greek art and statutuary.  Remember, the Judeo-Christians were NOT the originators of "god in man’s image." The Greeks presumed that our own beauty and aesthetic descended DIRECTLY from that of their gods.  Therefore, how we looked at our best was, in their minds, more or less how the Gods looked all the time. This is what we see in those statues.

So, your looking to the Greek ideal aesthetics for information is very accurate. Yet do more research before drawing conclusions.  Not every male aesthetic was thick waisted.  Just as with today, there were  a variety of ways to build a body, and a variety of ways to represent that body.

But at the very least, your question shows a savvy towards the sport that many athletes have either neglected or ignored.  

In short: Smart topic.

I am turning my back on "natural bodybuilding."  Once and for all.

Yes, it is official.  I will no longer ever be a "natural bodybuilder."

Now, before you dealer-boys get all amped up to make another sale, let me also make another press-release style steatement:

I am likewise turning my back on steroid enhanced bodybuilding.  

That too is official.

[Let’s now pause to let the meatheads do the math.]

"Huh?"

How can I NEITHER be natural NOR be going on the sauce?  How is this possible?

Let me back up a little.  I have recently gone to coach at a few contests up here in the northeast.  The leagues were the OCB, the MuscleMania and the BLNPA.  

Now, what i saw was, as usual, some astounding physiques.  And these guys all used the term "natural" to describe what they were doing.

Maybe they all were.  Maybe some weren’t.  The only thing I know for certain is that they all passed whatever screening was being doled out by each individual league.  I could write essays and rants on flaws in the screening processes of BOTH urinalysis AND polygraph screening.  But I won’t.  Thank god.  How much MORE boring would this blog THEN be, right?

Meanwhile, to my regular readers (what is it – up to 3.7 of you now?) I will most certainly one day blog on some ideas for the solution to the screening process . . . but that is certainly for another time.

But now, back to what I saw (and always see) at the contests:

Instead, what I noticed was how the competitors reacted . . . in the pumproom, at the backdoor, in corners and nooks and back rows . . . there was a LOT of suspicion.

A LOT.

Anyone who has engaged with the natural sport knows that at ervery natural contest mini ethical debates pop up on the sidelines.  All day folks are muttering about who "has got to be on this" or who "has totally used that."  The athletes get caught up in the skepticism, and go at the issue of "natural versus steroids" like it was the national debate on the U.S. entry into Darfur.  

I ultimately love these conversations happening in the aisles and back walls of the contests.  I think discussion and debate is HUGELY healthy.  Especially among competitors.  But there is another element to it all . . .

The athletes are derisive, suspicious and paranoid.  Everyone is leery of one another.  The folks deemed "suspect" are TOO suspicious to embrace, and yet the folks doing the "suspecting" are too righteous to console.  It becomes a simmering hate-fest.

And in the process, a LOT of athletes get turned off.

A LOT.

And it’s ugly.

Now, look, I am personally not against steroids.  I am against stupidity.  That has ALWAYS been my stance: I am NOT anti-steroid, I am anti-stupidity.  

And for the sake of this position I personally define stupidity "under-thinking."  Or at least as the refusal to use one’s full capacity of thought and reason.  Stupidity – as I see it - is simply  the refusal, denial or unwillingness to incorporate the widest possible range of thought, idea and fact into the production of a conclusion – even if the stuff you include is unpleasant to look at.

In this respect, there are a LOT (perhaps the majority?) of guys who use gear whom I think just aren’t looking deeply enough at things.  My opinion.  But to not look DEEPLY at an issue is, in a word, stupid.  Hey, if they are intelligent to be able to manage complex chemical administrations, they are certainly smart enough to weather a little bit psychological insight . . . to not "go there" ALL THE WAY is not only a half-ass approach, it’s acting a little more stupid than they actually are.

But that is not to say that those who do NOT use the juice are any smarter.  In the case of the so-called "naturals", they are typically ethical morons.  If the guys on steroids have muddied the ethical waters with clever rationalizations, well, the naturals have certainly screwed up the bigger issue by WAY too much moralizing.

Does morality come into play with the choice to use or not use?  In my opinion, most certainly.  However, is it ETHICALLY SMART to attempt to uphold a morality by telling someone whose morals are different than your own that they are WRONG?  I think not.  How stupid of naturals to morally ostracize those who hop on the gear.  To push them out and cast them aside not only strengthens the conviction to use more, but also makes naturals look, well, in a word: stupid.

So, I am anti-stupidity in ALL cases.  The guys on the juice are very often not thinking things through on ALL levels.  And the guys NOT on the juice are very often thinking only with the intent to be in the right.

And I want nothing to do with either of them.

So, I use different terms.

I am not a "natural athlete."  I am an "INTEGRAL" athlete.

And guys who use steroids (or andro, or folks with cosmetic implants for that matter), I term as "ANCILLARY" athletes.

Integral and Ancillary.

Boy that sounds cold.  Those terms seem stoic, sterile and without much heart or passion, don’t they?

Yes.  And I am PROUD OF IT.

These terms HAVE NO MORALITY SLANT ATTACHED TO THEM.  You can not say one is "right" and one is "wrong."  You can not claim one is "better" and one is "worse" as far as the human experience goes.

THESE WORDS PRODUCE NO ENEMIES.

In other words, these words unite us.  Or at least ATTEMPT to unite us.

These words only describe our PROCESSES.  They do not attempt to describe our MORALITY or ETHICAL NATURE.

My definition of an "integral" approach to bodybuilding is simple: anything that is INTEGRAL to my most common human abilities.  In other words, any food I can ingest, any exercise I could conduct, and any state of being I could induce via MY OWN PERSONAL ABILITIES, and WITHOUT THE HELP OF AN OUTSIDE (ANCILLARY) PARTY.

As an example, imagine I was marooned on the perfect "island of survival."  (Now, I know a LOT of you really are hoping I WOULD be marooned, but this is ONLY an example.)  Now this imaginary island has on it EVERY possible food source – fruits, vegetables, cattle, fowl, fish, grain – all growing all over it.  It’s a miracle island.  And I am all alone on it.  No gym, no people, just me, and EVERY POSSIBLE RAW FOOD I CAN IMAGINE.  

Now here I am, basking on the beach, waiting to be rescued, and realize that it might be a LONG TIME.  And, in my boredom, i decide to start bodybuilding.

The question is this:

COULD I BUILD A BODYBUILDER PHYSIQUE ALL BY MYSELF ON THIS ISLAND?  Given that I have all the food available to me, and all the time (hey - I’m MAROONED, after all), COULD I BUILD MUSCLE?

Anyone with half a wit would know that, yes indeed, I could grow muscle.  I could lift stones, do cardio, and with all that food around, get high quality protein and carbs.  Heck, I would even be getting my creatine, glutamine, EFA’s, vitamins, etc., etc. . . . I could even ingest all the "basic supplements" that i would otherwise buy back in civilization.

In other words, i could bodybuild based on my INTEGRAL ABILITIES>

And THIS is what I call INTEGRAL bodybuilding.

Now, on this island I could NOT (obviously) manufacture steroids.  I could not inject insulin or growth hormone.  I could not insert implants (or at leeast not insert them and SURVIVE!).   I could not even ingest any andro’s.  

ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE ANCILLARY to my abilities.

INTEGRAL implies methods of bodybuilding that are within my human capacity (or at least those methods that DIRECTLY duplicate those abilities – like ingesting vitamin C versus eating an orange).

ANCILLARY implies any rocess for which I ABSOLUTELY NEED an outside source to accomplish.

No morals.  No anger. No suspicion.

Most importantly: NO STUPIDITY.

I wonder if we began removing the morality from the sport and began using these terms, what might happen.

Now, the "natural" bodybuilder need not lord over his status.  he is one among many, as opposed to the righteous implied by labelling other athletes as somehow "unnatura" human beings.  I wonder how the agenda of that now-called "natural" might be advanced if he were to not alienate those who use steroids?

Meanwhile, now the guy on steroids need not hide.  Ancillary can mean ANY NUMBER of ancillary actions – many of which are legal.  No longer would these guys have to describe themselves in shadowed terms.  Ancillary could mean implants, or use of "legal steroids."  Now they could CLAIM THEIR STATUS WITHOUT LEGAL OR SOCIAL CONSEQUENCE.  

And without as severe a social stigma, it might even mean they could be encouraged over time to be able to be less covert at contests.  Contests could allow "ancillary" or "integral only" or both.  By removing the peer stigma, there may be less need to cheat . . .

Now that is utopian and ideal, I know.  However, it is at least a remote possibility.

And WAY more of a possibility than the current terms we use: "natural", "non-natural", "enhanced", "juiced", etc.  These old terms are getting us NOWHERE.  It is these old terms that created such a sense of derisiveness at the recent shows I attended.  And will contiunue to do so until we as a sport smarten up.

To change people’s minds, first change your language.  It really is that simple.  

So, from now on, call me an "integral bodybuilder".

Please please PLEASE do not call me a "natural bodybuilder."

That would be just stupid.

I have been hearing from some people that my blog is thus far, well, a little "different" from other blogs.  I feel awful that the unfamiliarity is causing so much concern.  As a courtesy to my regular readers (all 5 of you), I will try to occasionally post in ways that more appropriately mimic the types of bodybuilding blogs you are used to reading.  

So, now, for those of you with a headache from reading my regular blog entries, I will proudly join in the chorus . . . I hope this makes you all feel much more at home with my blog.

Ahem.

Trained legs Monday.  Killer workout but was feeling sick and so didn’t get the lbs-ages I wanted.  Did 10 of ten’s squats then went on to sled:
720 x 12
340 x 12
900 x 10
1,130 x 8 (thirteen sets)
had some AST VP2, 8g glutamine, 45g dextrose powder immediately afterwards.  Definitely concerned with the post maximal volumization response cell wall pump vascularity.  Pretty certain that as long as I maximize 15g of pure consolidated hydrolized post-workout recovery ingest without MCT or LCT’s twice daily.  

I have been hearin’ a lot of stuff regarding high Intensity Forced Rep Driven Scope Romanian External Force Hyperbolic training method and how it can increase blood flow to the left upper outer medial connections.  Some dudes in the NPC are doing it.  I know a bunch of guys in the NPC. I want to try this but first am concerned with cuttin’ short my Low Compund PTRJK High Profile Double Spaced routine.  It’s killer so far.  

Put on a half inch on my biceps and have grown 2 inches.  Also that joint pain problem in my knee seems to getting better since my shin fell off.  Happened to a buddy of mine who competes in the NPC.  I know a bunch of guys in the NPC.  I went to the doctor and he told me to lay off the routine until the bleeding stops.  F**k THAT!

Kind of curious what people think about zero carb, zero fat, zero water diet?  I heard a lot of natural pro’s are using it.  Even some guys in the NPC.  I know a bunch of guys in the NPC.  I was told to take in my protein 18 times a day with protein powder.  Caseinate of course, hydrolized, micro-cellular, up-the-ante, BGH-rich, low lactose whey carbonate.  Anyone out there doing the same let me know.

Fell off the diet last night and dunked my head in a vat of fudge batter.  The good news it had almonds in it, which is a healthy fat, so I figured it slowed down the absorption.  Contest prep is stressful.  But a lot of people I know have told me that this happens from time to time.  I know a bunch of guys in the NPC.  Last Tuesday the nacho cheese incident I told you about really shook me up.  Fortunately none of it ended up in my mouth, only in my trunks.  Man, posing is stressful!  Needless to say I am back on 1000.87%  Now it’s:

Andriodiopostulatio-5-nor-neitherandrohydrog
enous glucosamine 1 scoop per day. (I have taken this in the past and liked it. That’s why I have added it in to this regiment)

Vaso CrEE Navajo Seminole 2 serving mixed in Amino Essential Viral Pure RTD per hour.

Muscle Stack Pack Whack Ya Back (the one with the red foil liner is the good one – clearly pharmeceutical grade) 19 serving per day (5 caps)

Vaso Dilo Humido Gluco Wonka Pump 4 caps per day

Labrada Yates Stallone Gaspari Elasti Nutri Bounty Glu Chon MSM (Apple-tini flavor) one serv twice per 3 days every 9 weeks on a full moon.

I have continued to ride the stationary bike for 30 minutes before, 30 minutes during and 30 minutes after my work outs. I’ve increased the pace and am doing level 27 at about 90 to 100.  This means I am burning 5,000 calories a week which is great.  Now if I could just get the lower 9-pack to show!

I’ll probably start doing some hammer swiss ball roll plyometric curls for my hams and delts this upcoming week. A few guys I know do that and say it works great. And I know a bunch of guys in the NPC.  

Hope this helps!

Bodybuilders are the most sensitive dudes I know.

No seriously.

You guys are all touchie-feelie, softies.  

And now I bet a bunch of you are puffing out your lats and crunching your brows right now.  A few are even lowering your voices a little deeper and telling me:

"Dude, what are you talking about?  In the gym I am all business!  I’m no softie!  I’m hard as a rock!"

Whatever, man.  I don’t buy it.  You’re a soft, gushy Dr. Phil candidate . . .

I say this because almost every bodybuilder I meet NEVER wants to talk shop.  I mean you guys front that you’re all hardcore into the process, but that is JUST a front.  Meanwhile, from my experience, you NEVER voluntarily open a conversation with any SERIOUS hard facts.  

Now, whenever I get the precious chance to chat with a bodybuilder who on the surface seems to know his stuff, well, what I most want to discuss is training, or diet, or tactics, or biology, or history – or any one of a million serious disciplines.  And I want to keep a calm, cool head and just bat the cold, emotionless facts around.  When it comes to the academics of bodybuilding, I don’t mind having a bit of a clash, a quarrel or a debate on the relevance, reality and presence of hardcore facts!  Arguably, it is through this clash that we would most learn from each other; what works, and what doesn’t. So, when I chat with you guys, what I want MOST and FIRST is to have it ALL out!  

Let’s bust heads, knock opinions and LEARN something.

I WANT TO RUN THE GAUNTLET OF INFORMATION AND COME OUT BLOODY AND SATISFIED!  

So, naturally, when I run into a guy who SEEMS "serious" I will spike the conversation, put my truths out there, and HOPE for a solid reply.  Butwhat do I get?

EVERY time what do I get?

You dudes NEVER want to want to talk about hard facts.  Nope.  Instead, you dudes always want to talk about your feelings.

Almost EVERY time.

WHY can’t we discuss the realities and logical facts of situations?  Why can’t we help each other see what’s wrong, what’s best, and what makes most sense?  WHY IS IT ALMOST ALWAYS INSTEAD ABOUT YOUR GODDAMNED FEELINGS?!Look, is this bodybuilding, or group therapy?

And you all know damn well what I am talking about.  Like, let’s say, for example, I tell you something like this:

"Dude, your shoulders look HUGE lately!  How have you been training them?"

And before I get any thoughtful training routine, what am I MORE likely to hear back from you FIRST?

"Thanks – but I don’t FEEL huge."

Ugh.

Or maybe to a woman I’ll say something like:

"WOW!  What have you been doing differently with your diet?  You look MUCH leaner than you did a week ago?"

And before I hear about some great caloric strategy, what’s most likely the first reply?

"LEANER?  What are you TALKING about?  I FEEL huge!"

GRRR.

Or maybe I’ll see some kid tearing it up in the gym, throwing weight up like a maniac.  I might chat with him and say:

"Dude, seriously — with the shape you’re in you’re, like, maybe three months out from doing okay in a contest.  Did you every think about competing?"

And of course, before debating pro’s and con’s sensibly, how do they always ALWAYS initially respond?

"Naw.  I don’t FEEL ready for a contest."

Feel feel feel.  Always with the FEELINGS.  When, oh WHEN will bodybuilders start discussing facts?  So often we go by our feelings – or maybe we use the cousin expression "how we think it is".  

Either way, YOU CAN’T RUN A PROGRAM ON FEEL!  I mean, if you went by feel you wouldn’t get ANYWHERE?  Imagine if chefs cooked by feel?  Then you take your date to a fine restaurant, have a hearty meel, and later find yourself at home puking your brains out.  When you call the restaurant to complain about food poisoning, can you imagine their response?

"Oh, but the chef FELT like your meal was cooked enough.  That’s why he served it to you that way."

Or what if schools ran by feel and "by think."  So, at the end of the school year, the staff sits around to decide who graduates and who doesn’t.  Instead of looking at grades, they decide who graduates based on who they "think" learned the most stuff.  

"How about THIS kid?  Let’s let him graduate.  I mean, I THINK he knows math . . . "

Or imagine if they ran the Iraq war based on how the soldiers FELT?  Like, after a long battle, would a bunch of troops pack up and come home early just because they FELT like they were winning?  (Of course, sometimes you gotta wonder if this isn’t actually the current military strategy.  But let’s not go too far THERE . . . )

Look, when it comes to a process like cooking or war or educatin – or BODYBUILDING – you can not run the show based on hunches and notions.  YOU NEED FACTS.

Now I am NOT trying to say that feelings are completely useless.  No no – it is the opposite.  Feelings are are actualy VERY important – perhaps vital.  How we FEEL can often lead us to what the facts are.  But what i am suggesting is that perhaps the best strategy is to FIRST seek out facts, THEN analyze feelings in light of those facts . . .

But so many bodybuilders have that process BACKWARDS.  They START with feelings, and sometimes don’t even MAKE it to the facts of a situation.  Meanwhile, when it comes time to act or decide, it is the FACTS, not the FEELINGS, that will help determine best action.

And I know you’re all nodding your heads, very wise and upright.  This is no news to you.  No – YOU are the hardened bodybuilder.  You ain’t no feelings-first guy.  You ALWAYS knew that putting facts firstwere the key ingredient to a succesful plan.  You are not one of those softie, touchie-feelie bodybuilders.  No no, you must be thinking – YOU are the hyperion of rational, logical thought.  You know how to hold a cold, wise jurisprudence and look at situations with clear objectivity.

And how are you certain that this is true?  How are you certain that YOU are not one of those bodybuilders who’s program is led by feelings more than facts?

Because you don’t FEEL like one of those bodybuilders.  That’s why.

Sigh.

Like I said, you bodybuilders are the most sensitive dudes, I know.

Everyone has preferences.  Like, for example, some people love training arms, other people love training legs.

And if, for further example, I prefer my leg training day more than my arm training day (and with my janky arms that would be a dangerous preference), then then this preference might influence my OPINIONS about those workouts.  I might tell someone:

"My OPINION is that leg training is just WAY better than arm training."

They might reply:

"How do you know this?"  (And also maybe: "Shouldn’t you be focussing on thise damn janky arms?!")

And (if all of this were actually true) I might reply:

"Well this is my opinion because that is my PREFERENCE."

In simple terms, our opinions of things are influenced (among other factors) by our preferences.  I know, I know – kind of a "duh" point.  But just want to get that out of the way; influences are a source of opinion.

Now what if I wanted to "prove" my opinion?  What if I wanted to PERSUADE YOU to buy into my preference for legs over arms . . . ?

Well, I might spend some time telling you what’s so great about leg training.  Maybe about how powerful you can feel from squatting, or about some clever ways of hitting hamstrings, or tactics to make calves grow . . . I could go on and on about all the cool things about legs.

It might work.

Maybe — eventually — you might even buy into it.  Maybe I would persuade you that my opinion is, in fact sound.

Whether or not you AGREED with it, a well presented opinion is at least one that can be seen as valid.  At the very least, it is a defense of one’s preferences.  And you kind of can’t disagree with one’s preferences.

But now let’s say I went about it entirely differently.  Now let’s say I tried to express my opinion about leg day by confronting EVERY OThER WORKOUT.  

Like, instead of explaining why leg day is so great, I spent time explaining why back day is a bitch, or why chest is for pretty-boys, or shoulders are weakling muscles . . .

If I went about it THIS way I would have a MUCH harder time getting my point across.  I mean, I would no doubt be tromping on YOUR opinions.  And you would spend more time trying to defend YOUR OWN opinions that you would entirely miss my point.

Like, you might come at me defending how cool your arm workout felt.  And then we might get into a bickering match about arms.  (Imagine that: me defending NOT training my janky arms!)  Next thing you know things are getting ugly, people start taking things personal, we start verbally clubbing each other shamelessly, ego’s get bruised, arms get called names . . .

And in the meantime my original opinion that I was trying to explain – about how cool leg day is – got lost.  Instead, we had an argument about my janky arms . . .

This happens a LOT in bodybuilding discussions.  A LOT.  

Very often, in order to try to explain an opinion, folks will try to diminish opinions that may not match their own.

Not only is this a LAME tactic, and not only does it typically not "work" to express a useful, sound opinion, but also it is selfish.

It is just plain selfish to try to bolster my own opinion by dismissing or tearing apart everyone else’s.

The most sane, peaceful and compelling way to explain a position is to stick to your own experience.  Anything else is selfish . . .

I know.

I occasionally pull this bonehead move.

My regular readers (all three and a half of them) know that my tone is sometimes . . . well . . . a little, um, righteous?  Pompous?  Self-promoting?  Feel free to pick your own specific adjective – it sits somewhere in that neighborhood.

And I know I carry this little glitch . . . hey, call it the result of being youngest in a boisterous Italian household!  As a kid, if I didn’t come out swinging hard and fast, I might not GET any air time!

And I have certainly TRIED to curb this tendency.  Hopefully, sometimes succesfully.  (You guys can, again, judge THAT for yourself.)  But, on occasion, I fall back into that "snatch and grab" method of expressing myself.  

Like, for example, that post about Joe Klemziewski . . .

It’s pretty clear my opinion got lost in the rhetoric.  Some people caught it.  Some did not.  But either way, it was the fault of HOW I was expressing it.

Let’s face it: my tone was absolutely reptilian.  Cold-blooded, out for prey, without compassion.  Any worthwhile contrasting opinion I may have expressed got lost in the, well, in the K-bashing.  

I had WANTED to make a point about appropriate skepticism.  I figured I would bolster that point by illustrating how THE WAY WE SEE THINGS ISN’T ALWAYS AS THEY ARE – for good or for worse.  However, in that illustration I took a tactic that i have seen a HUNDRED MILLION TIMES in the bodybuilding world . . .

What a bonehead.  Thank GOD this is just a B-rate blog by a dude with a bunch of opinions.  

But I hate that I slipped into that mode.  I know, I know – no harm no foul and all that.  But what I would LIKE to strive for is to be an insightful force that incites critical thinking in other athletes.

Even (and perhaps especially) contrary or unpopular thinking.

In my OPINION (ding ding ding – buzz-word!) bodybuilding discussions need to be more centered on grounding our own positions, not dismantling contrary ones.  It’s ENTIRELY possible to uphold an opinion without resorting to reptilian, snatch-and-grab, ego-busting tactics.  (Unlike I shamelessly used in that K blog-entry.)

Likewise, it is also my OPINION that the responsibility to shift this mode of dialogue is a responsibility shared by ALL of us.  

Yeah, yeah, yeah – that goes for arrogant blog-writers like me, too.  

Which is why I wanted to cite the blunder here in my blog.  In the end I only undermined my own opinion.  I noticed how several people were not seeing the point I was trying to make.  They were seeing it as a PERSONAL attack rather than just a contrary opinion.  That was NOT originally what I had intended to describe.  But after looking closely I realized that this reaction was not necessarily due to poor interpretation on the part of readers . . . it was more due to selfish writing and poor expression.  

No doubt I will revisit the CORE opinions of the piece one day, and re-editorialize them again so that they can be seen as my own.  But when I do, it will be in a more compassionate fashion.  Having compassion for the world around us is not – or at least SHOULD not – be mutually exclusive to expressing a frank opinion.  Both should be able to co-exist.  It just takes a little more forethought.  They type of forethought that I would want to see form others.  And therefore, the type of forethought I should myself try harder to uphold . . .

I guess it’s important to level WITH people, but it’s no good if you simply LEVEL them!

So, for now, THAT original, low-class version I’ve chosen to yank down HARD.  It’s only fair to Joe Klemziewski.  In fact it’s only fair towards everyone I am trying to LEVEL with.  I mean, even if my opinions are useful – even if one or two might be profoundly useful – I am just not helping things or expressing them skillfully with THAT kind of brute-force editorial style.  In other words, yes, I admit: that blog editorial was written like i was some a righteous pinhead.  A righteous pinhead with janky arms, no less.  And EXACTLY the type of righteous-pinhead-with-janky-arms style I would like to see diminished in the future.

Hopefully, in time, more sensible dialogue can eventually arise out of this quagmire of opinion spewing which so chronically clogs up the bodybuilding dialogue.  Hopefully, more of us who choose to put ourselves out as pundits and educators can work out these kinks.  Mine is hardly the first time such unskillful tactics have been used, and no doubt won’t be the last . . .

How embarrassing that I totally undermined any possible usefulness of my opinion!  How embarrassing that I tried to LEVEL something instead of trying to level WITH someone!  How embarrassing indeed!

Why, it’s even more embarrassing than my janky arms!

Ever notice how a lot of gymnasts look, well, JACKED ALL THE TIME?  Granted, they need to pull the leg mass up a little, but so many of them have upper bodies are just unfairly well proportioned.  Someone mentioned this to me recently, and it made me recall a bit of history about our sport.  

Seems we bodybuilders owe a bit of social cred to our gymnastic brothers.  The gymnasts gave us our "mythological home" on the West Coast.  You see, it was the gymnasts – not the meatheads – who got Venice, Ca the nickname "muscle beach."

It starts during the depression.  Hollywood saw a LOT of out of work stuntmen/women, as well as the fallout of post-circus-era performers and acrobats tryong to shift into Hollywood film life.

With so little money to be had, only the BEST of these physical performers would find work. This DEMANDED that they be at the top of their game.

Yet, this was the Depression, and money to pay for a training facility was scarce. Likewise, this was the 30’s ? it was not like there were gyms on every other corner like today.

Now, in order to keep youth delinquency down, the Mayor of Venice took what little funding he had and built a playground rigfht aloing Venice beach. Monkey bars, rings, swings ? all sorts of stuff. A way to keep youths occupied to perhaps cut back on crime . . .

However, it was not necessarily the kids who took to this equipment. It was the adults. Specifically, the same contingent of work-hungry stuntment, acrobats and post circus performers.

They would use Venice Beach as their makeshift training center. And as we all know from this forum thread, the way a gymnast body develops is quite impressive.

So, put yourself in the eys of the time . . . during the depression, most folks were pretty thin. People were nationally poor ? like thrid world country level of poor. So, to see these gymnastic people tumbling, swinging and flipping must have been quite impressive.

Indeed, the bodies of these athletes may not have been much compared to TODAY’s dtandards, but as compared with the average thin American, well, the big delts, chiseled abs and wide backs must have looked CRAZY big!

So the locals nicknamed the area "muscle beach."

it wouldn’t be for another 20 or so years before the first of the bodybuilders would start infultrating the area. The muscleheads (whose culture, by the way, had originally developed on the EAST coast, and NOT the west) heard of this legendary "muscle beach" and said "that’s where I belong!" Slowly, then more rapidly, the muscle men flooded Venicve.

We all sort of know how things went from their. Gold’s Gym, the Venice Beach Weight Pit, Atlas and Reeves, the Weider Empire, Schwarzenegger, Mr. O., spandex and leg warmers, aerobics, chain gyms, andro, and on and on to the present . . .

But in the end, a piece of our bodybuilding subculture’s legend and mythology emanated from the gymnasts . . .

Anyone who loves this sport’s mystique, or is romanced by the cool world of bodybuilding owes a nod to our jacked ˆ if smaller legged – gymnastic brothers & sisters.

I am SO glad to see more and more big, boated growth guts in the IFBB.

It does my heart good.  No really.  I mean, I am sure all the pharmeceutical excess of these guys isn’t doing THEIR hearts any good.  But I am glad for it.

I hope Dennis James’ enjoys his prolonged third trimester.  I really am glad to see Jay Cutler loosening his belt.  Victor Martinez’s standing upright for men with big middles is just a grand thing.  Marcus Ruhl proves that even the full figured have a place in the ranks.  And of course, our favorite prego, Mr. Coleman, whose kidney and liver definition were simply astounding.

Makes me glad.

In fact, I STRONGLY hope the IFBB sport continues that way.  I DEEPLY and PROFOUNDLY hope that the IFBB competitors become more grotesque, more preposterous, and more distorted.

Seriosuly.

Then even casual spectators will begin to accept that there are a LOT of drugs in these boys.  it will be unavoidable: people will see that is not a contest of presenting a physique, it is a contest of presenting a distortion of a physique.  

In the end, it is about how exaggerated can you become yet stil survive.  It is a contest of who has the strongest internal organs rather than the external muscles.  

And i am VERY happy about it.

It reminds me of wrestling.  Wrestling has two faces.  First, there’s "pro" wrestlin, and everyone everyone knows about that.  No one would argue against how hard pro wrestlers work.  These guys are genuinely athletes, and genuinely in great condition to be able to do all that they do.  And there is a spectacle of athletic prowess that requires skill, agility and prowess.

But let’s not kid ourselves.  Pro wrestling may be a sport – but a COMPETITIVE sport?  That’s a little challenging . . . it’s a sporting ENTERTAINMENT . . . but meanwhile, back as recently as the 80’s were some people who STILL believed that pro wrestling was not staged.  They honestly thought that this was a true contest.  It took a few decades before people got the hang of it:

Po wrestling: yes a sport; no, not quite an authentic contest.

Nowadays, we "get" that it is supposed to be about entertainment.  It is about being "wowed", blown away, thrilled.  

But then then there’s "real" wrestling.  Olympic or collegiate or classical wrestling — however you want to call it — this "authentic" version of wrestling is going on all the time.  The masses rarely hear about it.  It’s just about never covered on widespread media.  But somewhere in local gyms or tournaments it continues, unhampered, healthy and competitive.  And even if we rarely SEE this side of the sport, we all sort of quietly agree that it is somehow the "more authentic" approach to the competitive aspects of the sport.

No one says Pro Wrestling ain’t a sport, just that the Olympic wrestling is where the authentic sense of sporting competition resides; without fanfare, without showboating, according to discernable rules, and open to mastery.

And that’s a nice little point, but this is a bodybuilding blog . . . not a wrestling one.

So, back to my bloated boys on the IFBB.  

Just like their pro wrestler bretheren of Triple H, Hulk Hogan and John Cena, there is NO MISTAKING that Dexter Jackson, Jason Arntz and Albert Breckles are just as hard working.  These IFBB bodybuilders are, like it or not, genuine athletes.  They are working damn hard to do what they want to do.

So, therefore, IFBB bodybuilding is, like pro wrestling, definitely a SPORT.

But the analogy works to further the poit . . . because, also like pro wrestling, we in the public address are left to wonder: "so just how much of a COMPETITIVE sport is it?"

I mean, a STRONG argument could be made that, these days, IFBB shows are jjst that: SHOWS.  They are a bit more of an entertainment than a contest.  They are a chance to see something wild and fascinating and rare.  We get to see our wildest fantasies for muscle come to life!  We get to see bizarre proportions and wild shapes.  The sights boggle the mind and shocks our expectations!  

But when you think about, it’s all planned.  They may not necessarily know the winner, but they sure as hell know what’s going to happen in the contest.  They pick their criteria, and the judges upholding that criteria are the same powers who are setting the standards for the contest itself.  It is a pre-planned entertainment.  Whichever athlete had the body that survived under the most rigorous conditions of pharmeceutical excess in order to match the criteria is named the winner.  Then the next time they do it again, and again . . . . and the audiences buy into it eagerly.

Where does the spectacle end and the skill begin?  Where are the discernable, consistant rules and criteria to "the game"?  Where is the authenticity?

Let’s face it: the IFBB is heading the way of pro wrestling . . . slowly it is transforming into a fun, imaginative freak show.  

Right now, we are to bodybuilding as people were to wrestling in the 80’s.  Mnay people have already figured out that IFBB bodybuilding isn’t authentic in it’s sense of competition.  Yet many wild fans and hopefuls cling madly to the notion that yes, yes! YES! THIS IFBB STUFF IS REAL!

Regardless, I stick with the sensible minds, and push the analogy further.  

I think: "if IFBB bodybuilding is analogous to pro wrestling, then what part of bodybuilding is analogous to real, Olympic wrestling?"

Is there an "Olympic bodybuidling?"

Well, I personally think so.

But I think it is still stuck in the shadow of it’s noisy little brother, the IFBB.

There is still going on out there a more "authentic" version of competitive bodybuilding.  it is smaller, quieter, and harder to access than the IFBB show.  But it is more closely related to it’s original basis rooted in thousands of years of study of the human form combined with the science of human development.  it is the part of the sport that has retained it’s focus on the quality of presentation, rather than magnitude of impression.

But this side of the sport is still trying to get it’s footing.  It is muchly associated with natural shows, but even a few non-tested events have hearkened back to sensible principles.  

But one thing is for certain: genuine "Olympic" bodybuilding will not emerge until it is disassociated from the IFBB "pro bodybuilding’ entertainment.  Much of this disassociation is in the hands of the athletes and organizations who keep this degree of authenticity.  However, a portion belongs to the IFBB.

In order for Olympic bodybuilding to emerge, the IFBB will first need to be more widely regarded as farce.  I don’t mean a farce in a negative way.  Think of how the Simpson’s is a farce of family life, or how pro wrestling is a farce of Olympic wrestling: I mean a respectable, understandable, well-loved farcical version of bodybuilding. As this occurs, it will leave more room for the authentic, Olympic-based version of the sport of bodybuilding.

So, one of the ways the IFBB will be seen as a farce is if the bodes within the sport become more, well, farcical.  As the boys become more wildly exaggerated, so too will the perception of authenticity slowly wane.  

We will always love the show put on by the IFBB boys, but we will just begin seeing it — and enjoying it — for what it is.  Specifically, as something seperate from Olympic bodybuilding, even if it looks very similar.  

So, I am all for the growth of growth guts.  I am all for bizarre new proportions and demented, freakish dimensions of human muscle.  

Bring it on.

As these guts grow, so too grows the possibility that one day they will become seperate from the sport I am so fond of.

Go boys!  GROW!  God bless those guts!  Onward to victory!

I was recently paid a tremendous compliment.

I was told I have "created a well deserved reputation as a pain in the ass throughout the sport."

Wow.

Throughout the sport?  That’s WAY more popularity than I every presumed to have!  COOL!

I guess this means I’m relevant.  After all, I don’t suppose someone who’s making irrelevant statements could possibly cause such a reaction.  

Which is surprising, because I still see myself as small peanuts.  VERY small peanuts.  

I mean, MY OWN spin on myself is simple: specifically that I am a small-time, low-cred bodybuilding pundit.  Now, it’s true that I am personally on a mission, and therefore have an agenda. I am deeply and profoundly interested in helping carve out an academic basis for the proper study of the HUMANITIES in the sport of bodybuilding, in the conjunction with the sciences which have great founding.  Now that’s a huge-ass mission, and I am just a small advocate.  The work is atavist at best, and therefore arguably almost arbitrary to the fate of the sport right now.  

Or so I thought.

But wow!  Not only am I apparently a pain in the ass, but I’m a pain in the ass THROUGHOUT THE SPORT.  That’s one hell of a poll.  I wish i could see the numbers.

"Was it a landslide?" I wonder?  "Just how recognizable IS my work?"

See, up until now I didn’t even think very many people even recognized my name — much less CARED!  So to learn of my status out there . . . well, wow — I gotta call my mom.  No wait — I need me an agent!

Because — get this — I am also dually recognized by the ROYALTY of the sport!  I am the ROYAL pain in the ass!  

Now, I have long suspected that bodybuilding runs on aristocracy.  I see the sport as having a few, small governing bodies that do not act with a democratic arc.  Rather, the presiding organizations make decisions autocratically, rarely setting up true democratic structures.  Meanwhile, they work in small pockets seperate from one another, therefore cretaing the same disperate landscape as, say, a feudal structure.

In other words, bodybuilders need to "play by the king’s rules or get out of the kingdom."  Or at least that is what seems to be the message.  And, of course, many of the bodybuilders just play along.  They keep their opinions to themselves, or at best grumble as individuals.  The few who challenge the trends are quickly ostracized and forgotten.  

Keep in mind that I am an old school Jeffersonian Democracy type of American patriot.  I distrust those entities that do not aggresively seek out the opinion of the margis.  Democracy does not work if it only caters to a singular opinion.  It is the contrast of opinion that sets the stage for advancement in this country.  Elimination of marginalized beliefs is the work of fascism.  

But don’t get me wrong.  I am NOT accusing all the leagues and bodybuilding organizations of being fascists.  The last thing i want to imagine is Benito Mussolini in lime green posing trunks.  (Shudder . . . woops, I just did.)

No.  My only observation is that the landdscape of bodybuilding seems rather aristocratic.  So the term "royal" seems rather appropos.

So, if I am going to be a bug in someone’s bonnet (which, remember, i presumed I was FAR too small-time to even BE a bug, let alone FIND a bonnet), I am at least glad to be recognized as agitating the thoughts of the aristocracy.  

Lord knows I would NOT want to further suppress the masses . . . well, that would just be backwards.  After all, I’VE HERETOFORE BEEN PRESUMING THAT I WAS ONE OF THE MASSES!

But don’t worry.  It ain’t gonna go to my head.  My regular readers (four of you?  Maybe two) need not be concerned.   I won’t be putting myself out there as a the supreme authority.  I am NOT the final word on matters concerning bodybuilding, nor ever presumed myself to be.  Like I said before, I am small-time.  I’m just a mouthy pundit with opinions, and one who doesn’t get easily intimidated.  My blog focus — if well received — is only to encourage my fellow athletes towards critical thinking in all matters.   There should ALWAYS be contrary opinion.  ESPECIALLY among bodybuilders.  

I imagine the true professionals of the bodybuilding world would welcome it.

So, I guess the fact that I have a reputation is VERY cool.  I usually tend to not worry too much about reputation.  Reputatiuon is based on perception, and it seems a crazy mad waste of time trying to go around and affect EVERYONE’S perception.  I will leave people to their own ability to think.  A WILD premise, I know.

Look: worrying about reputation is too much hassle.  But I can see how this opinion – and the encouraging of this opinion – probably thjreatens others.  I mean, imagine if other bodybuilders espoused such attitudes?  Speaking freely?  Focusing directly on the result off their work instead of focusing on the REPUTATION of their work?  It would tear through the very fabric of the sport!

My god, there’d be RIOTS!

But then again, I doubt that will be happening any time soon.  Regardless of what they tell me., I am pretty sure I am still very happily stuck in my low-rent status.  It really would be a bit of news to be if I were so widely known, so widely believed or so widely heeded.  Here all along I thought I was just some little irrelevant guy!  

Who knew I was the sport’s royal pain in the ass?!  Who knew I held in my hand such massive sway and ability to influence others?!

I must really make people nervous.

But wow — what a compliment!

Short and sweet gang:

"DISSENTION IS NOT DISLOYALTY."

This goes for all of us.

To dissent from the mainstream, and offer alternative ideas, or to challenge perspectives, or just to throw humor out there – this is NOT being disloyal.

In a sane, democratic space, dissension from the norm is what helps create changes.  It is IMPORTANT to challenge authority in meaningful, respectful ways.  

Merely challenging authority is not a sign of disloyalty.  In fact, isn’t it the opposite?  Isn’t disloyalty about working AGAINST the authority in insidious ways?  Trying to undermine?  Isn’t staging a challenge in a public and direct manner more respectful of authority – and therefore more LOYAL?

This principal goes for all things, but this is a bodybuilding blog.  So, the reason I bring it up here is that in bodybuilding there is LOTS AND LOTS of unnamed authority.  Lots of beliefs people hold to be "the only way" or "the correct way."  And there are lots of products and providers whom people feel should be beyond reproach.  As if we should never take them to task . . .

Let me apologize if these thoughts are unnattached to direct examples.  I hope you understand my point, however.  I myself have been known to launch quite a few assaults on the status quo over the years.  But it was not to create a disloyalty towards the bodybuilding mainstream.  It is only ever to incite and inspire more useful, critical and productive thinking among athletes.  

Besides to name all the examples of where people show blind loyalty withhout dissent would take a MUCH longer blog.

And this one was short and sweet.  Which, in a way, sort of dissents from the importance of the point . . .

You know, that dissention is not the same as disloyalty . . .