Inside the Mind of Deserusan

Man, it’s 1:10am and I need to wake up at 4:00am to head out to Cleveland, OH. My girlfriend and Prolab sponsored figure athlete, Vanessa Adams, is competing this weekend to hopefully get her figure pro card. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a fough few months adjusting from my move out here to New York and starting a new career. I love Vanessa more than anything, but I look forward to experiencing her when she’s not dieting. She looks damn good though so I can’t complain too much right?

I will say this though, I am extremely proud of her. She’s come a long way over the past two years both on and off the competitive stage. To me it appears that a lot of women trying to get their foot in the door of industry tend to sell themselves short and jump at the first opportunity to make some quick cash. Vanessa has an iron will and while it hasn’t always been easy, she’s more than likely going to appear in a national ad campaign soon for a very respectable company. A coveted achievement by any athlete.

Anyway, wish her luck and I’ll be back in a few.

In my life when times were tough I’ve had two pillars of support which I could lean on, the first being the iron game. However, the second which has kept my inner spirit glowing in times of darkness is one I rarely talk about. It’s my passion for music. Unfortunately today marks the passing of one of my favorite musicans, LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band.

September 7, 1961 - August 19, 2008

Growing up in the DC suburbs in the nineties the Dave Matthews Band was somewhat of a cult favorite. Once their ground breaking record Under the Table and Dreaming hit the airwaves they became an international sensation. It’s not until the Crash album landed that it seemed the eclectic group truly mastered their signature sound. LeRoi Moore was an integral part of that using an array of wind instruments such as the baritone sax, a pennywhistle, a flute, the soprano sax, and the alto saxophone. He capped off the a big band sound who’s sum is and always will be greater than its parts.

At live shows, LeRoi was always sporting some Gucci shades and played the part of the dark musician well. He didn’t speak much but certainly let his instrument do the talking for him. Whether it was blissful notes from the pennywhistle during Bartender or the crying solo from his alto sax, LeRoi dutiful filled his role in the band whether in the spotlight, sharing notes with violinist Boyd Tinsley to build the sound the Dave Matthews Band is famous for.

For this long time fan of the Dave Matthews Band I must admit I’m pretty choked up now writing this. I remember the last time I saw them at the Kohl Center in Madison, WI where LeRoi stole the spotlight that night. Despite having been to numerous DMB shows I earned a new respect for him that cold winter night. Yet again I am earning a new respect for LeRoi but unfortunately this time it’s because he has joined the ranks of great musicians who have passed.

Fortunately, all is not lost and I can locate a good LeRoi Moore highlight with a few clicks on my iPod. While he will always be missed and the Dave Matthews Band must move forward, his crying saxophone will still bring a smile to a man who still holds the rockstar dream when he picks up his acoustic guitar. The message the Dave Matthews Band has taught me and LeRoi’s unfortunate passing is a reminder of is “Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die.”

This one is for you Leroi. A good friend I never met.

I guess that is cat is out of bag that Gaspari Nutrition is releasing a new product called Mitotropin. Everyone keeps asking me what it is and as much I’d like to shout from the mountain top what it is I can’t. However, I can give you a few details.

The first thing I can tell you is that I was the original alpha tester. How did I get that illustrious opportunity? Quite simply, under the direction of CSO Bruce ******* we developed the original product concept and I took it for a test drive. Keep in mind that this is not an easy process because this takes numerous rounds of testing and even a few risks. The reason being, an idea that looks great on paper based on the research might not yield the same effect in vivo. Luckily, we really nailed the desired effects and felt confident enough for broader testing pool. Again, the results were stellar.

Now I know some of you are thinking, “um..that is pretty damn vague.” You are justified in feeling such a way. What I will tell you though is that Mitotropin was designed with the real bodybuilder in mind. I myself am trying to make it to the competitive stage for the first time and I must say Mitotropin has helped me along GREATLY.

We left no loose ends with this researched based formulation just like all you put 110% in into your training, and leave it all on the gym floor. This isn’t another “me too” formulation but rather another class defining product which will create a new niche all unto itself. That is all I can tell you for now and I thank you for your patience.

If you have ever listened to commentary during a bodybuilding or figure competition you will most likely hear the term “great genetics” a few times. Most people don’t give it much thought and but as a fitness athlete you most certainly do. This is usually the one limiting factor to achieving a high level of competition which any serious athlete must face eventually. Your diet is in check, you have obsessive motivation, and your training is unparalled. However, no matter how hard you try, you are always stuck with the genetic blueprint that you inherited from your parents.

Whether gene doping is good or bad in the classical sense is a moot point in my opinion. The reason being, high-level athletes enjoy a host of ever evolving technological advantages over their opponents and the “commoners.” As a swimmer you can wear a sharkskin suit, as a skier you can wear helmets developed in a jet propulsion laboratory, most likely they are eating foods coming from genetically modified animals and plants, and I’m sure they are even eating dietary supplements just incase they need something to blame in case they “pop positive” on a doping test. So what’s wrong with gene doping again?

Personally, I have no problem with it. Athletes have always sought to have the upper hand in competition and so have coaches. Frankly, there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to “cheating” that need to be addressed. How filming other teams football practice right before the Superbowl? Haven’t heard a peep about that in some time. What about kids being taken from the parents at the age of five and being forced through grueling workouts in state sponsored Olympic “hopeful” camps? Does it get any sicker than that?

Look, gene doping is a reality. If you think for one second a large percentage of American or athletes from any other country haven’t engaged in this practice then you probably also feel the NFL has a great steroid testing program. Just like steroids there are some risks, but as always they calculated risks that an athlete is willing to take to be the “best” they can be.

Perhaps I’m just a bit jaded when I was 100% natural and trying to compete in a “natural” organization when half of the elite competitors had gyno. These days, I’m not so idealistic and am certainly not kidding myself anymore. Gene doping has arrived and if you don’t think it’s possible go to your grocery store and compare the organic chicken breasts to their cheaper but much large counterparts. The only limitations these days are in the human imagination.

Yeah I wrote it so what?

Great comedians have the power to make us laugh but more importantly, they offer us a perspective on society and our own very existence we don’t often see. For this reason they have the ability to elicit one of the most underrated emotions one can experience: laughter. Unfortunately, today is a sad day as George Carlin has passed away at age 71.

Mugshot from 1972

George was famous for the way he molded often brutal and vulgar language into brilliant soliloquy rife with irony which captured his audience with great force. His talent for painting the “establishment” as a hypocritical entity and challenging those sought to silence his routine even ended up being brought up before the Supreme Court in the FCC v. Pacific Foundation.

While the passing of a great cultural icon is never without sadness, I am happy to say that Carlin’s work lives on. However, it’s unfortunate that we won’t hear George’s opinions on the current race for president or the burgeoning clash between the fundamentalist Zionist and Islamic movements in the middle east. His insight cut to the chase in a world littered with bureaucratic facades. He will be missed.

Posted in Rants