Who is it?
Sunday, June 29th, 2008I stumbled across a bodybuilding game on the Internet. It’s located at www.muskelschmiede.de and is a German language game that offers pics of bodybuilders with their faces obscured or blocked. Your task as a game player is to identify the athlete without seeing their face.
It’s German language, though, and that provides a barrier even when I use one of the online translators such as www.freetranslation.com or www.dict.cc. That and the site seems to go down rather often.
Anyway, regardless of the language barrier (some very friendly people on that site, truly) and not being able to access it 100% of the time, I’ve really enjoyed playing the game.
Here’s an example of what the game is like:
An image like that is posted, headless (ouch). A mystery bodybuilder! Your job is to guess the identity. Clues are offered if necessary.
In the German game, the person who solves the puzzle then has the opportunity to post their own image and continue the play.
That bodybuilder is former Mr. Olympia contender, Rich Gaspari, President of Gaspari Nutrition (see below):
I’ve also used clips or jpegs from Arnold movies when it has been my turn to provide an image. Can you guess the title of this movie?
Nancy Lewis
Sunday, June 29th, 2008This athlete is one of my all-time favorite bodybuilders.
She and Sharon Marvel share a similar physique, imo. Great calves, fantastic glutes. Muscles from head to toe, but possessing a definite feminine appeal.
Mentors
Saturday, June 28th, 2008Mentors, from my perspective, are people who have “been there and done that.” They have the knowledge, the background, the experience in a specific area which can prove useful to you as you attempt to emulate or reproduce their achievements. Or even surpass them. I doubt there’s any mentor who wouldn’t be pleased to know that their students have found a measure of success based on their impact on their lives.
I purchased a Ron Harris course that covers fat loss. Interesting reading. He recommends doing cardio either first thing in the morning on an empty stomach or right after lifting. And he believes the cardio must be intense or it won’t burn enough calories to achieve that amount of riptitude many of us seek.
His advice is to employ interval training with bursts of effort followed by brief resting speed work just long enough to recover and then another burst. He also recommends increasing both the time spent and intensity used until you reach 45-60 minutes per day for 4-6 sessions each week.
Harris’ thoughts on fat burners and supplements are basic and logical. He states that they will not do the work for you, but they can give you an added edge. He cautions though that a lot of people will skip the work part of that statement and see only the words “fat burners give you an added edge.”
I liked this quote (well, sort of – wouldn’t a magic pill be nice?), “No supplement is ever going to take the place of hard work and discipline. Supplements can give you around 5-10 % faster results than not using them, so if you’re in a hurry they could be useful for you.”
Another course or book that I’ve enjoyed reading was one purchased from Dave Palumbo. He agrees with Harris re the best times for cardio.
Cardiovascular (aerobic) training is always performed in a depleted state either:
1) First thing in the morning (on an empty stomach) or
2) Immediately after a weight training session.
This ensures that fat is used as the primary fuel source.
Palumbo recommends lifting about an hour after a meal so that your muscle tissue isn’t used as energy to fuel your workouts. Don’t lift on an empty stomach or right after your cardio. And be sure to fuel up after your workout. He calls that forty-five minute period after lifting as your ideal “window of recovery” to get a muscle-building meal in you.
Harris recommends high intensity/interval cardio while Palumbo states, “A high protein/low-carbohydrate diet combined with moderate intensity aerobic exercise will reduce body fat in equal amounts from your entire body. This means that trouble areas such as the stomach and ‘love handles’ in men and the hips, thighs, and glutes in women will be the last areas to get lean.”
Some basic information from Palumbo’s course and which I’m certain I’ve seen in high school health texts:
Max Heart Rate (Max HR) = (220 - Age) = Max # beats/minute
(e.g. 20 year old man’s Max HR = 220-20 (age) = 200 beats/minute)
Palumbo offers, “If your goal is to reduce body fat and you have been relatively inactive, you will need to train at a level of 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is still within your comfort zone and allows you to exercise at a steady pace for a long enough time to burn off a substantial number of calories.”
He says that if you’re already in decent aerobic shape then upping your max HR to 70-80% “is also a good zone for fat burning.”
Mentors are vital for success. One of Harris’ quotes – you’ll see it immediately if you visit his website – is “The more you know, the more you grow!”
Knowledge is key and mentors can certainly provide that knowledge. Certainly each of us must take responsibility for our own fitness, however it’s never bad to have good advisors.
Quads! And… “Is it hot in here?”
Friday, June 27th, 2008Okay, okay, okay, so I’m what some might call a pig. I wouldn’t characterize myself that way, of course. No. I simply admire a beautiful physique.
Now, to the subject: Quads! No, not glutes, though they’re gloriously in evidence in the following vid, but quads.
Serge Nubret, as I recall (and my memory is quite faded in some spots, unfortunately) was interviewed in MuscleMag International back in the day. He commented on a squat exercise he performed.
He would complete the lower half of the movement, from full squat postion to half way up or, in other words, with his quads parallel to the floor.
Something like this:
And, yes, although I do admire Serge Nubret’s physique…
somehow I’m enjoying that tutorial more than any pictures I’ve ever seen of Serge. I believe he might agree.
Ask him yourself! He has a BodySpace home where he interacts with friends and fans each day:
Serge Nubret, BodyBuilding Legend
Kettlebells
Friday, June 27th, 2008bull.dogz just posted a question about kettlebells.
I’m not that familiar with them but chimed in anyway. Isn’t that just like people?
“Well, I don’t know the answer, but let me run my mouth anyway!”
D’OH!
I purchased a piddly ten-pound kettlebell from Walmart. It came with a pamphlet and I think there was a DVD. Yes, I’m organized. D’OH!
Powered by GoFit.net, it’s the Iron Core kettlebell strength and conditioning kettlebell workout. The pamphlet is actually pretty cool.
- Turkish Getups
- Two-Arm Swings
- One-Arm Swings
- Alternating Swing
- Clean
- Press
- Front Squat
I’m sure there are a ton of websites out there with descriptions and other kb exercises listed and described. And, being the video fan, I went straight to YouTube!
Glad I did. :)
Say, do those kettlebells look hollowed out? Weird.
Some cool exercises, though.
View all comments | Leave Comment
FOOD!
Friday, June 27th, 2008Went grocery shopping earlier today. I’m currently on a lackadaisical (izzat a word???) cut. I’d like to tighten up my waistline and build some ab muscles in the process.
I’m not, however, trying to destroy all my muscle tissue in an idiotic attempt at completely stripping my body of fat. I did that last year and, yeah, it was actually fun dropping the weight. From kind of a science fiction/monster movie perspective: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING CURT!
But absolutely not the best thing from a muscle building perspective. That 1500 kcals per day was brutal. I think my neck was 12 inches. lol :) Okay, 13 1/2? Still, with a skull that measures freaking 23 1/2 inches around just above the eyebrows, even a skinny 14" neck is going to look like a pencil.
Yeah, I got me a big coconut.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Well, coconut is actually a food, but…
FOOD!
Had my print-out along which is courtesy of Jared Bradshaw a.k.a. BodySpace’s TheFitnessVoice:
Day 1-15 Nutrition Plan:
Will consist of 6 meals a day and I will be giving you a variety of meal options to choose from for each meal.
Breakfast:
Option 1: 3 eggs (2 whole eggs & 1 egg white), 1/2 cup of oatmeal, handful of blueberries
Option 2: 3 eggs (2 whole eggs & 1 egg white), 1/2 cup of granola with milk, one medium sized banana
Snack #1:
Option 1: Protein bar (promax bar or zone bar), 1 apple (preferably braeburn)
Option 2: Protein bar (promax bar or zone bar), 1 low fat yogurt
Lunch:
Option 1: Turkey or Roast beef or chicken or tuna sandwich-Whole Wheat bread (preferably with no hydrogenated oil), Low sodium turkey, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and mustard. And a mixed greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Snack #2:
Option 1: Protein bar (promax or zone bar) and 1 cup of broccoli.
Option 2: Protein bar (promax or zone bar) and 1 cup of cauliflower
Dinner:
Option 1: Chicken or Fish or Lean steak or Lean ground beef, 1/2 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of broccoli or asparagus or cauliflower.
Snack #3:
Option 1: 1/2 cup of Non-fat cottage cheese
***Make sure you are drinking plenty of water. And black coffee and hot green tea is okay with breakfast and after dinner. No sodas or alcoholic drinks is preferred for best results***
I boldfaced the items I ate today. Purchased a box of the Zone bars at the local grocery. My sleep schedule is totally off from what it is during the school year. Believe I’m just a night owl at heart and should simply say the hell with the 9 to 5 during the summer. I’m trying to switch back to daylight, but am loving the staying up until 6 or 8 a.m. and then crashing. heh :)
Okay, so my workout journal and my Hydroxycut journal both need desperate updating. I have workouts to enter, but I believe I’m going to skip those days I missed on the supplement and food side. I’ve been faithful in my Aplodan, Leukic Hardcore, and Hydroxycut use, but have really ignored the Anator P70. I just hate that sh!t.
R.I.P. Joe Sweeney
Thursday, June 26th, 2008This is not my workout journal, but, hey, my workout journal was along as this story took place.
I love high volume work, but I’ve been doing a low volume routine recently. Just two sets of each exercise. Full body workouts, three times per week. I missed cardio tonight as I didn’t get my lazy butt to the gym at a reasonable or necessary time.
Here’s tonight’s workout completed between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the local Gold’s Gym:
- Dumbbell step-ups 2 x 15 with a pair of 50# dumbbells
I had been using heavier weight, resting after each leg, but tonight I dropped from 65’s to using a pair of 50-pound dumbbells. One 50 in each hand, completed 15 reps with the right leg and then went immediately to 15 reps with the left leg. Stepping onto a platform maybe a foot, foot and a half up. Got my lungs and legs pumping. And a nice break from leg presses and squats.
Rested and then repeated for my second set of db step-ups.
- Inverted rows, bodyweight for 2 x 15
Used the Smith machine last time, but tonight the squat rack was empty, no one was waiting, and so I took an eight-foot Olympic bar and set it about four feet off the ground on the rack.
Positioned myself hanging under the bar - looking like I’m doing an upside-down pushup. From that position I pulled up from an arms straight position to arms bent, attempting to touch my chest to the bar.
Someone said this is more rear delt than back and I guess that’s true. Some muscle or muscles are at work so I don’t actually care what’s going on. ;)
- Push ups, bodyweight for 2 x 15, 12
Elevated my feet higher than last time and reduced the amount of rest between sets. Continued with the slow reps with a pause as last workout. Only got 12 reps on my second set, but I was satisfied that I had increased the intensity yadayada with the increased elevation and reduced rest time.
- One-arm db shrugs
Crap. I didn’t do these! Son of a… someone asked me for a spot. I’m so absent minded, and it was approaching closing time… FUXX!
- Crunches, bodyweight 2 x 30
- Knee raises, bodyweight 2 x 30
Didn’t forget abs, though. I discovered that I’m too uncoordinated to do bicycle crunches correctly. Maybe it’s too weak. Dunno. But I DO know that I tried to do them, felt awkward and stupid as h e l l and stopped after seven reps.
Had been doing what I thought were "bicycle crunches" but was actually just some dopey movement where I had my hands laced behind my neck and then, standing, touched my left elbow to my right knee, right elbow to left knee for a count of 40. Maybe it’s an odd knee raise movement, but I saw on a YouTube that true bicycle crunches are completed horizontal on the floor or a bench, so yeah.
Left the gym and went to the Carlisle Diner for orange roughy, a big chocolate milk, corn, applesauce with cinnamon, and two cups of black coffee.
While there and sitting at the counter, I got to speak with 66-year-old fellow counter man (name withheld to protect the innocent - heck, I doubt he’s so innocent, but it’s probably smart not to put someone’s name on the Internet regardless without their permission) -=insert your own imagined name ‘here’=- who was an interesting person to pass the time with.
He told me of a gym that had been just a block from my apartment at one time: Joe’s Gym. Owned, not surprisingly, by Joe Sweeney. At least the Joe part shouldn’t be a surprise. Sweeney died at age 46 of heart failure I was told.
No, I didn’t ask Sweeney’s permission, but this is a tribute and, well, I don’t see the harm in this instance. Correct me if I’m wrong.
The 66-year-old said that he had suffered from a severe accident involving a knee reconstruction and arm damage. Sounded ugly. Eventually he returned to the gym and was unable to climb the stairs. The gym owner, Sweeney, a guy described as 6′5" and 300 some pounds, carried him up the stairs so the guy could do his workout.
So, rest in peace to Joe Sweeney, former owner of Joe’s Gym in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. I never knew you, but you sound like a gym owner who cared.
And, hey, maybe it’s all a fabrication, but it definitely made for a good story as I downed my meal and enjoyed my coffee.
My dinner partner flirted with the waitress and gave me some Google fodder as well: Angela Servo, a motorbike racer.
(Googles)
Hmm. I can’t find Angela Servo, but here’s an article about Angie McBride: Dragbike.com
And, hey, because I’m a fan of the YouTube, an Angie McBride vid:
Pretty cool. She’s flying down the track at 190 mph plus. That’d get us all to the gym in record time. ;)
Improvement.
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008Improvement. That’s the bottom line. Why go to the gym if you’re not interested in improvment?
I’ve been participating in the MuscleTech Transformation Contest. It’s been a blast, but my appearance hasn’t change much, if at all.
I can still say that my time in the gym has been productive even if I’m not looking any closer to Arnold Schwarzenegger circa 1970.
Chins! I’m showing progression there if not in the Decreasing Bodyfat % Dept.
During last night’s workout I got seven reps in my first set and six reps in my second set of bodyweight chin ups. I can remember a time when I hesitated to put 100 pounds on the pulldown machine. I weigh at least 180 pounds, so there has been a significant improvement from 100 to 180. Of course I’m not pulling 180 pounds. What do arms weigh? :)
Ahhh… sit back boys and girls and watch as I confuse myself with all questions math related. :)
No!
Let’s keep on target here. Progression. The reps are increasing on my chins and I’m very glad about that. More reps equals evidence of greater strength. And these are pretty good from-a-dead-hang chins, too. Observe and you tell me:
If you double-click that vid it’ll take you to my YouTube page. Not necessary, of course, but there are other vids there if you’re interested in getting your fix of Old Bald Guy Exercises(TM) vids.
I included the following text with that vid:
"I had been doing these on the assisted chin/dip machine, but today - with the camera as my witness - I was motivated to eschew the Disney ride version of chins for the more manlymachostudly UNassisted version. You can see the form deteriorate at the end of the set. Yes, the secret to that seventh rep is apparently to curl into the fetal position."
I put my videos in the comedy section every time. I’m definitely a frustrated comedian at heart. :)
So those are my chins. The goal, however, is THIS:
THAT is INSANE!
24/7 convenience!
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Ed Connors speaks…
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008Former IFBB competitor and Pro bodybuilder David Dearth interviews Ed Connors (click that link for the video), who was (possibly still is) co-owner of Gold’s Gym with Tim Kimber and Pete Grymkowski. The interview was conducted during the 2006 Mr. Olympia.
David: Ok, this is a really cool time for me right here. I’m with Ed Connors. He’s like one of the lead guys in the history of the Gold’s Gym Franchise. But, more importantly Ed Connors is the one that found me when I was a nobody trying to scrap for a top 5 finish at the Junior USA. And he pulled me out of the crowd and told me I had all kinds of potential, and if it wasn’t for this guy there’s no way I’d be where I am today. This guy did everything for me and a lot of other people too. He’s done a lot for bodybuilding. What do you think of the Olympia this weekend, Ed?
Ed: Well, I really feel that somehow I had this dream for bodybuilding and the gym business and I kind of see what’s on stage as sort of perversion of that. I’m not crazy about where bodybuilding is. I wouldn’t want to look like most of the guys on stage these days. I’d rather look like the guys that I consider, like you; that were part of the golden era of body building. I think that’s what a lot of people in America aspire to. And you motivate them. I think unfortunately it’s become kind of a freak show.
David: Yeah, like maybe when people are watching today they don’t see it as being obtainable for them, its seems like…
Ed: Yeah, I think Matarazzo said it best. I said what’s the difference between bodybuilding now and when you were involved when your era. And he said, well you know back in those days kids would come up to him and say, God what do I need to do to look like you and how do I need to eat and how do I need to train. And nowadays it’s like, well, if I were taking all the stuff you’re taking I’d probably look like you.
David: Oh, for sure, I get that all the time…
Ed: And that’s sad that they think its all chemicals or it’s popping. We all know it takes an incredible amount of perseverance and dedication to build a physique. And I really feel that unfortunately that people now in the audience, or in magazines, that read the magazines look at the guys on stage and think well that?s unattainable. And, so it becomes, this, a freak show, really.
David: Well, let me ask you, do you still go around to the local shows to find guys like you used to?
Ed: No, I’m not. I don’t know where bodybuilding’s going. Actually I’m sponsoring one of the Greco Roman wrestlers for the Olympics in China.
David: Oh, cool.
Ed: I’m sponsoring an Ultimate Fighter, a young man I’ve known, a bodybuilder. I mean these are several people into fitness modeling. Because I can see a future for them doing that, but I can’t, I don’t know where bodybuilding is going. It would be…and I’m concerned about the health risks, too.
David: Yeah, definitely.
Ed: I mean, weighing that much, it’s just, our society, everything, every aspect has been kind of taken to a radical end. Everything is too fast, too big, too whatever. And, you know body building is not bowling there’s to me no magic to weighing 300 lbs.
David: You got it. 10 years ago for me the heaviest guys were like 240.
Ed: Yeah, well you were one of only 3 middleweights I’ve ever approached about becoming a pro and you did it; you and Tom Varga and Dave Fisher. So you three were really exceptional and you won at a lower weight and then you took it to the next level and you reached your peak. You were perfect for your physique and certainly an inspiration I’m sure to a lot of people. So that’s to me, it’s kind of sad when I’m here because it’s like going home. They’re a lot of people that still made a great living and helped people. So, it’s still good to be here.
David: Well, this is my buddy. This is my founding father so to speak. Ed, thanks for the interview, I really appreciate it.
Ed: Thank you.
David: Have a good weekend.
Ed: Ok, thank you.
P.S. David Dearth at his best in the following YouTube. I believe that is Dan Solomon of Pro Bodybuilding Weekly doing the emcee duties.
View all comments | Leave Comment