CEO’s Blog

Last weekend I saw the new movie, Burn After Reading. I love Coen brothers movies (Fargo, No Country For Old Men), and this movie was pretty great too.

This movie is centered around a few employees of a small gym. Each person that works at the gym is not exactly portrayed as an Einstein. In fact, Brad Pitt plays a personal trainer that is a complete idiot, even though he’s full of energy and enthusiasm for life. He’s lovable, but in a child-like way.

Brad Pitt As A Personal Trainer In Burn After Reading

That got me thinking… why does the media portray personal trainers and bodybuilders as idiots? It seems to be common knowledge that muscle-bound jocks are morons and personal trainers spend their entire day flexing in the mirror like Hanz And Franz.

Hanz And Franz Are Going To Pump… YOU UP!

I know this isn’t true. If anything, science shows that people that workout and are fit are actually smarter and more creative than the average person. Countless studies show that cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet makes you more intelligent by actually changing your brain. Bodybuilding teaches you discipline, goal setting, and focus. These are all qualities that a “smart” person has. To really get in shape you have to understand physiology, exercise techniques, nutrition, supplements and a thousand other theories and details. Have you seen how thick Arnold’s Encyclopedia Of Bodybuilding is?

But then I saw this sign in my gym today, and I had to wonder about at least one person that worked there…

Proofreading Four Whole Words Is Hard Work!

What do you think? Why do trainers and bodybuilders have a bad reputation in the media?

I’m a big Nine Inch Nails fan. HUGE.

At his last few concerts, I’ve noticed that he’s really bulked up and wearing a lot of sleeveless shirts to show it off.

BEFORE

AFTER

We’re trying to get ahold of him for an interview to find out how he did it and what his workout/diet/supplement program is, but we can’t find any way to contact him. Somebody reading this has to be able to help! E-mail me! (Click the "Send E-mail" link on the left side of this page.)

Trent, if you are reading this, your fans deserve to know! Help them to live healthier too. It’s working for you!

One of the number one things that people pray for is health. They pray for somebody that is sick to get better. I do it too.

But aren’t we ultimately responsible for our own health and longevity? If we make ourselves sick (smoking, eating too many fattening foods, drinking too much alcohol), is it right to pray to God to make us all better and fix the damage that we did to ourselves?

I know I’m on a touchy subject here, but I couldn’t help but think about this when I was at church yesterday. In my church, they have a little coffee stand where people can get coffee and snacks before the service. I was getting some coffee when I noticed all of the cookies, candies, and snacks that they were selling. Some cell phone pics:

Candy trail mix and cookies (full of sugar and saturated fat)

Gummy worms and chocolate covered coffee beans (full of sugar and saturated fat)

Free muffins (full of saturated fat and sugar)

There were no healthy food choices.

I’ve been going to church all of my life, and I can’t remember a church that was focused on healthy eating and exercise. In fact, almost all of them focused on fattening foods during get togethers.

So, is it right to ask God to keep us healthy as we chow down on sugar and saturated fat at the same time?

On that note, why do we consider it a nice thing to bring cookies or cakes to a new neighbor? Would we bring them and their kids a pack of cigarettes? Or a small dose of poison?

Trust me, I’m nowhere near perfect with my diet. I wish I could tell you that all I eat is tofu and raw vegetables. I do try my best to avoid the bad stuff though. I think about this even more now that I have children that I have to care for.

What about your church?

I saw this on a bench in the MEN’S locker room this morning.

Each year a local business group ranks the top 75 private companies in Idaho. It’s called the Idaho Private 75. We’ve been moving up the list each year, and I’m proud to announce that based on our 2007 revenue, we moved from #43 to #28!  Since we’ve grown 45% this year, we are sure to move up on next year’s list once again!

Congratulations to all of our amazing employees and partners! And a big thank you to our loyal customers! We’re proud to be growing for you.

The more I research it and the more studies that are done, the more I am convinced that the bodybuilding lifestyle is the BEST thing you can do in your life.

"But what about family and friends and love? Isn’t that more important than looking good on the beach?", you say.

One of the best ways to support your family, friends and the love in your life is to take care of yourself first, be healthy so you can be there for them, and show by example how to be a fit, confident person.

For example, the more I learn about pregnancy and childbirth, the happier I am that my wife follows the bodybuilding lifestyle. No, she’s not a huge, ripped, freaky bodybuilder (most people that are following the bodybuilding lifestyle aren’t, just look around your gym), but she eats right, lifts weights, does cardio, rarely drinks, doesn’t smoke, and takes the right supplements.

My Fit Wife, Bryna, Pregnant With Our First Child

We all know that what you eat and how healthy your body is can make ALL the difference to your unborn child. What you do while you are pregnant can affect your child for the rest of his or her life. Yes, that’s right… their entire life! Everything from their intelligence levels, stress levels, ability to sleep through the night, emotional well being, to their risk of disease.

A few new studies are worth mentioning, although I could literally mention hundreds here to prove my point:

FROM FIT PREGNANCY MAGAZINE:

“We all know that pregnant women benefit from physical activity, but a small study now suggests that as you exercise, your baby gets fit along with you. Researchers at Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioscience followed 10 women from 24 weeks of pregnancy to delivery, measuring their fetuses’ heart rate and heart rate variability (an indicator of heart function). Five women did moderate to intense aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week; the other five did not exercise. The study found that the heart rates of fetuses whose mothers exercised were significantly lower, suggesting they had a healthier heart, says the author. That implies the baby’s heart will continue to benefit after birth.

“That positive in utero environment will, hopefully, improve the child’s cardiovascular function and decrease cardiovascular disease risk,” Linda E. May says.”

Women who are into bodybuildng and fitness obviously get plenty of exercise.

ANOTHER ONE:

“Women who consume plenty of omega-3 fatty acids during the 3rd trimester have babies with better visual, cognitive and motor development compared with babies whose mothers don’t get as much omega-3s, according to a study of Inuit women in the Canadian Arctic.”

Women who are into bodybuilding and fitness usually eat a lot of low fat fish and supplement with fish or salmon oil.

I’m glad that now that my wife is pregnant with our third child, she is continuing to follow the bodybuilding and fitness lifestyle. Our kids will thank her for their entire lives!

Thank you Bryna for my healthy, happy kids!

Raiden - 4

Kyla - 2

Oh… and dads? You may not think this applies to you, but studies show that how healthy you are can determine how healthy your sperm is. For example:

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“Doctors have found a link between the amount of a vitamin called folate in men’s diets, and the health of their sperm.

The researchers in this new study looked at sperm with genetic faults. Like eggs from the mother, sperm contain genetic information that tells the growing baby how to develop. If the genetic information from the sperm or egg is faulty, the baby can’t develop properly. The baby may be born with a condition like Down’s syndrome, or the woman might have a miscarriage.

The study showed that men with high intakes of folate had less faulty sperm. Overall, men eating the most folate (over 722 micrograms a day) had 20 percent to 30 percent less faulty sperm than men eating less folate. It would be difficult to get this amount of folate from food alone. For example, spinach has about 100 micrograms of folate per serving, so you would need to eat a large amount to get to 700 micrograms. The men in the study who were getting over 722 micrograms of folate were taking supplements as well as getting folate from their diet.”

http://www.askbootshealth.com/health_news/patient_news/march-2008/vitamin-link-to-healthy-sperm

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So keep working out, avoiding alcohol and nicotine, and taking your multivitamins!

For more info on what workout, diet, and supplement plan to follow while pregnant, check our Bryna’s fit pregnancy guide:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/pregnancy.htm

Even with the economy tanking, we are still kicking butt here at Bodybuilding.com. Revenue has never been better. Here’s a little story I wrote to illustrate why I think this is…

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The 3 Little Company-Building Pigs

Once upon a time there were three little pigs that decided to each build a company.

The First Pig

The first pig wanted to do it the easy way. He built a company that was focused on the short term. He wanted to "get rich quick". He didn’t care about his customers or focus on the customer experience. He outsourced most of the functions of his business (customer service, IT, fulfillment, etc.) to other companies so he didn’t have to deal with it. He lied to his customers and used marketing gimmicks to get as much money from his hapless customers as possible. He didn’t care about his employees or the culture of the company he was building. He treated them like crap and thought they were easily replaceable. He didn’t focus on keeping his costs low and doing things efficiently, and wasted a lot of money on things that weren’t important to the customers.

Then suddenly the Big Bad-Economy Wolf came into town and saw the company that the first pig built. As he huffed and puffed, he stole money from the overall economic market and from the overall population, stalled overall economic growth, and seized up the credit markets so that businesses have trouble getting financing for new initiatives and to buy inventory. He easily blew the first pig’s company down. It didn’t have any legs to stand on and had no way to combat the wolf, and had to file for bankruptcy.

The Second Pig

The second pig was similar to the first pig, but he spent some time thinking about building a medium term company. He implemented some of the basics of customer “service” (the bare minimum) to at least keep the customers “satisifed”. He tried to be nice to his employees so they at least wouldn’t quit too quickly, but didn’t really care too much about them as people. He spent a lot of money on marketing (SuperBowl TV ads, radio ads, search engine ads, etc.) in order to convince enough people to purchase from him. He didn’t really spend money innovating or creating customer value, but the big marketing budget helped him to grow.

The Big Bad-Economy Wolf came upon this second company and huffed and puffed. It took a little longer and was a little tougher for the wolf, but eventually the company couldn’t deal with the bad economy anymore and came tumbling down and the pig shut down the business for good.

The Third Pig

The third pig was different. He wanted to build a company that would last for a hundred years. First, he built a world class team of people that were smarter than him, and he did everything he could to show them how important they were and to make them happy. Together, they focused 100% on building customer loyalty by creating innovative products and features that the customers valued a lot. They focused on the customer experience so that they would get free word of mouth marketing. They focused on limiting their marketing budget and spending the money on building value for the customer. They kept their costs low by being productive, efficient, and not spending money on things that don’t matter to the customer. They were lean and mean. They worked hard and built a solid company that both the employees and customers loved.

The Big Bad-Economy Wolf came around just like he did with the other businesses. He used the same tactics that decimated the other two companies, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not blow down the company. Frustrated, he moved on (as bad economies always do), and during the next wave of prosperity, the third pig’s company came out even stronger and with less competitors than before.

Can you guess which little pig Bodybuilding.com is trying to be?

Check it out!

http://webcast.bodybuilding.com/fitshow/other/2008octobernewsletter.pdf

From Jennifer Nicole Lee’s latest Bodybuilding.com article:

"All of us most know that there are many benefits to weight training. We know that exercise can help fight heart disease, but can it help fight depression?

Studies have found exercise to have both physiological and psychological benefits. A Harvard study once found that ten weeks of strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms more successfully than counseling. This is particularly important for women since they are more than twice as likely to experience depression and only one out of three actually seek care."

Read the full article here!

My mother had breast cancer that was caught in time and she was cured, but I always worry that it will come back. This new study was very interesting to me. Just another reason to maintain a healthy weight, exercise, and eat right!

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It’s common knowledge that keeping fit and maintaining an optimal weight are great ways to achieve overall health. But for breast-cancer survivors, the stakes are much higher.

Research indicates that excess weight can lead to increased levels of the hormone estrogen — and estrogen has been tied to the development of breast cancer in women.

Dr. Duc Vuong, a weight-loss surgeon in Houston, spells out the issue plainly.

“Overweight women have larger breasts,” he says. "These women have more exposure to estrogen, which we think increases their risk of several different cancers, including breast and uterine cancer.”

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27013681