Speak it, believe it, achieve it!

(runs around house like a little kid)

Webcast!

WAAAAAHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!  

My one younger brother’s birthday is today! He is now 35. Which is mathematically impossible as I’m 12 years older than John and I’m only, what, 16? I’ve been lifting weights for just a year and am very glad to be graduating from high school next year, 1980.

Say what? I’m turning 47 years old? You’ve got to be kidding me!

Okay, so it’s no surprise and I’ve been calling myself "almost 47" ever since August 21st last year. lol

I’m really looking forward to fifty, actually, but it’s going to be a problem from that point on. Fifty is a safe enough number. I’m comfortable with 50, but anything over that and, hey, not so sure. Otoh, my uncle will be 63 and seems to have fewer aches and pains than I do, so maybe things get better with age. (Or maybe he’s taken better care of himself than I have.)

So, John is 35 today. I’ll be 47 tomorrow. And life goes on! Meeting with my brother at a restaurant in our hometown at around 8 p.m. The Eagles are playing and I suspect there will be karaoke later in the evening.

It’s almost 1 p.m. and I plan on hitting the local Gold’s for my last workout as a 46-year-old. I still remember watching my stepfather pull that hundred-pound vinyl-covered weight set out of the trunk of his car. With one arm! I couldn’t get it out of the trunk with two. lol

“Bodybuilding For Everyone” by Lou Ravelle was one of the first books I ever read on the sport, the activity of progressive weight training. Bodybuilding is for everyone! I believe that’s very true and wish everyone could find the joy and fun I’ve experienced over the years as the result of hitting the weights. Gym memberships, attending physique and powerlifting competitions, checking out gyms in other areas, and, of course, the online fun that is available, too.

Another year! And I’m glad for it.

Just posted my GAT review journal. Planning on posting about my experience using that company’s supplements. Received a lot of free supps from them and will be commenting on each product.

Anyone have experience with their products?

Click away…

And check out the Bodybuilding.com GAT page:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/gat/gat.htm

I’ve always admired a good physique. Grew up reading comic books that my uncle had collected in a huge "grocery" box. Spider-Man, Thor, Superman, Batman, Mystery in Space, and more. Ten-cent magazines made of newsprint and that each told a story of some superhero adventure or strange tale from a writer’s and an artist’s imagination, comic books always captured my imagination.

And in those comics there were always some advertisements for Charles Atlas or Joe Weider or some other "muscle man". They portrayed real people who looked like superheroes. Pretty cool for a kid and definitely influenced my opinion of what a physique should (or could) look like.

No, I’m not Mr. America nor will I ever be, but I’ve kept my average build from becoming a total wreck and do hit the gym regularly. Although these last two weeks…

I enjoy physique competitions for the same reason, I’m guessing, that many people enjoy gymnastic competitions. They - the bodybuilding shows - offer entertainment by way of the human body in motion. The best athletes in bodybuilding, imo, are the ones who combine a dynamite physique with the ability to display that physique!

One such athlete is Monica Montone who competed in Maryland recently. Her routines are always a sight to behold. I mentioned previously that I first saw her compete in a NABBA contest. Here are some pics from that show:

In my opinion, they should have given her all the trophies. lol

Okay, that’s not fair, but there should definitely be more athletes like Montone. Competitors who possess posing talent as well as an admirable physique. It’s always awkward to see someone walk out on stage and then realize that they have no clue how to pose effectively. It’s like watching Ellen in that episode of Seinfeld.

Not pretty.

True posing ability combined with a dynamite body? That’s another thing entirely.

Claudia Montemaggi has a background in classical ballet which clearly served her well on the bodybuilding stage.

Monica Montone has these same skills. And if anyone out there was also in attendance at the 2007 NABBA contest in Middletown, PA and has footage of Montone’s posing routine, please give a shout.

I didn’t see everyone there that I was hoping to see, but the show was definitely worth the ticket price. Big Ron Coleman guest posed and Monica Montone made an appearance in the women’s bodybuilding competition!

I’ve seen her compete in previous shows and knew her posing routine was going to be absolute freaking DYNAMITE! Montone was awarded second place while newcomer Hayley McNeff received first place! McNeff appears in the latest Raising the Bar film! The men’s winner also appears in RTB.

Saturday, August 8 in Rockville, Maryland.

Prejudging at 10:30 a.m. and the night show is at 6 p.m.

Ronnie Coleman is guest posing.

It’s always a great show.

Maryland NPC - Bodybuilding and Fitness

Fred Orsag.

He was, if I recall correctly (and I probably don’t), my 7th grade Eastern World Cultures teacher. Definitely social studies, but I think it was EWC. Mr. Orsag was telling us the one day about a student who had a 15″ biceps.

Arm wrestling was big at that time in our school and the conversation was related to that in some way. Anyway, that was an impressive number to Mr. Orsag and so it stuck in my mind, too. Fifteen as a goal arm.

I started lifting and my stick arm (still sticks, though, eh?) were ten inches around hanging at my sides. Flexed it might have been wishing for 12. I forget. Probably blocked out that horrifying memory.

Finished back and biceps today, threw a set of triceps pushdowns in at the end, and then raced home to tape the (pop)guns.

Yes, that’s right. More than 30 years later and I’m still that kid with his first weight set.

And I don’t care. lol

My first book on the sport was Lou Ravelle’s Bodybuilding For Everyone. I still have that book. Have purchased it online more than once to replace a copy that was lost or misplaced. Bodybuilding IS for everyone. It’s especially for us skinny folk who want to put on some healthy weight.

So, yeah, I park the car and race inside. Yeah, I said 47 years old. Again, I don’t care. That kid is still alive and his arm measured fifteen inches today, pumped.

Actually, the left was 15 3/8″ and the right was 15 1/4″.

My goal is 16 inches.

…

Maybe in another 30 years.

What would you consider the Top 3 new features needed for Bodybuilding.com? I’ve heard there’s a lot in the pipeline. If you could help the decision makers prioritize the upgrades or possible new features, what would be those three things you would wish for?

Bob Cicherillo votes for…

more Webcasts, of course!

This thread has been closed. It was a Bodybuilding.com poll that I created to hold a hypothetical or “What if?” contest between two of my favorite bodybuilders - Big Ron Coleman and The Austrian Oak!

If I crossed the line in offering a link to the contest on another Web site then I apologize. I had created an Arnold versus Dorian thread with a poll that has so far been responded to by 357 participants!

My intent in creating the poll was to share the Rx Muscle online bodybuilding contest called the Megalympia. Dorian was beating my childhood hero and I thought immediately to “rally the troops” or “call in the cavalry!”

The BB.com thread was created (as I imagine was the assumed reason for the one thread’s closure) not to siphon off BB.com patrons as much as to “share the fun” of this imaginary bodybuilding “competition.”

Again, if I crossed the line then I do apologize. It’s difficult not to get in the spirit of comparing your heroes without wanting to share that enthusiasm. The first thread had an engaging conversation going on about a variety of thoughts related to Arnold and Dorian.

I was only hoping for the same or similar in the new thread.

I knew someone once who was absorbed by their back pain. You’d get on the phone with them and it was a nightmare after about 20 or 30 minutes of nothing but wah, wah, waaaaah!

I’m thinking "STFU, would you? I get it. Your back hurts." I’m not trying to paint myself as unsympathetic, but if that’s ALL a person has to offer or contribute or discuss then I’m just not interested in hearing about it.

That said, I’d like to use this blog not to cry on your shoulder but to release the minor aches and pains associated with… me. And, yes, to ask you to list your ailments as well in the comments section. Consider it a catharsis. Get it off your chest and then move on.

The Crybaby List
Lower back: Disks are slightly lowered according to a radiologist and my chiropractor. It’s normal or typical, but it still sucks occasionally.
Right wrist: I have to be careful of how I twist my wrist or there’s some pain. Wtf? Where did that come from? Probably from the new gadget I seem to be attached to, a BlackBerry. It’s a curse.
Right ankle: I was doing calf work on a seated machine in the fashion of Jay Cutler, bouncy, ballistic, and that apparently was a bad thing. lol My right ankle has some issues now. Could be from the calf work or it could just be old age.
Right shoulder: Went for an MRI. Nuthin’. Pain occasionally, but no tear. I was looking for a reason my bench sucks so badly but didn’t find it in some suspected rotator tear. Apparently, I’m just a sissy.
Right knee: Been icing it after most leg workouts. Nothing so bad, but, yeah.

So, that’s it for now. lmao Seems as if the right side of my body has said, “Oh, forget it, man! Would you just grab a cold one and RELAX?”

I’m not going to.