Fitness Facts

Life is a rollercoaster. It's not lived in a straight and level line like I-70 through Kansas, where you can set the cruise control to 85, take a nap, and wake up in Colorado. One of the many reasons that's still not possible is that, while the line may be straight, the reality of driving a car is that you will encounter potholes, road blocks, construction zones and lunatic drivers paying more attention to texting and eating than the 4,000 pound projectile they're piloting through traffic. Life, like driving a car, brings us adversity, challenges and frequent occasions to work...

Just like as it is with any product or service based business, claims of being the “the best” run rampant in the sports supplement arena. Everyone makes the best sports supplements, just ask them. They're certainly not going to tell you they don't make the best supplements; that they're just the middle of the road, average, or the worst. They're all going to proclaim to be the best! But, as things stack up, there can only be one best. Everything else is not the best, in spite of plaintive claims to the contrary. Such is life. The problem attached to...

A common saying we hear all the time is, “don't judge a book by its cover. In the sense of fairness, I suppose there's some truth to that, but, today, in this world, particularly in bodybuilding, appearances matter. Your appearance matters a lot because of what your appearance says about you.  This is especially true if you're a bodybuilder, including me. From the age of 13 on, I dedicated myself to maximizing my appearance: I built the biggest muscles possible with the most vascularity, symmetry and definition. I’ve gone so far as to take the body I built to the...

We live in a culture that can be very self-indulgent. There's a lot of lazy people who like things the easy way. Is it any wonder then that there is so much mediocrity in our world? Take health for example. Too many of us are lazy. This leads to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, poor mobility.  These conditions are rampant in America among both young and old alike. People want to blame fast food companies. But, they're only giving lazy people what we demand – the easy way. The blame lies in the mindset. If you choose to be unhealthy you will....

For a lot of bodybuilders, Arnold Schwarzenegger was their inspiration. A few of us though went for the underdog, Lou Ferrigno. I'll always admire Arnold, but Lou was who I wanted to look like, mainly because he was the Hulk, and what kid doesn't want to be the Hulk? As a young kid, I loved reading my older brother’s comic books. Captain America, Spider-Man, The Avengers, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Superman, The Green Lantern, Batman, Wolverine..... They were all great. But when I got to a comic that featured The Incredible Hulk, he was instantly my favorite character. He was...

The surest way to get me to do something it to tell me I can't do it. It's been the greatest motivation my entire life. The second someone tells me you can't do that, I'm on fire to prove them wrong.  Bodybuilding included.  Growing up, I always knew I was loved and that my family had my back. That was a great feeling then and also later in life, when things weren’t going so great for me. I can’t thank my parents enough. But, just because my dad loved me doesn’t mean he was always easy to be around. He...

Procrastination is the gateway to trouble, especially if you're interested in building any serious, measurable, gains in size, strength, or athletic performance. For you, procrastination is a setback. The more you lack motivation and  procrastinate, the more you stretch out the process. You procrastinate at the expense of your gainz. And that's the truth. So is the fact that the reason you're procrastinating is because you have to do something you don't want to do. In other words, you have to eat a frog. That's right, a frog.   I once read a little book on personal development called Eat...

The big giant extra bulbous booties and skull crushing amazon quads and hamstrings the Wellness girls are packing these days have gotten quite a bit of attention. Of course not all of it it's good. There's always going to be the distractors who think it's too overdone, too much, unbalanced..... you've heard it all. But, some people thrive on the creation. The wellness division in bodybuilding is growing like the booties it espouses. People love it. For the guys who are into it, watching a champion level wellness girl run through her workout is a sight to behold. For some...

If things don't go your way today you can always come back another day and win!  What's stopping you from getting what you want? From winning? From succeeding? One of the biggest things that holds people back from getting into the gym, from seeking a promotion at work, from starting a business, from asking someone out, or from trying something new and challenging is the fear of failure. It's incredible how the fear of failing and looking bad in the eyes of others stops people from going for it.  Maybe it's because I was born into a family with a...

Whatever you may accomplish is worthless if everyone thinks you're a dick. Respect is one of those things that's that goes both ways. You've all heard the saying, “you have to give respect to get respect. That seems to be a bit difficult for some people. Then there's self respect. That's really the most important because if you don't respect yourself you can't possibly believe anyone else will respect you. And that's not really a good position to be in. So, respect yourself, respect others and you'll get the respect you deserve, right? Sounds simple enough. So then why are...

In bodybuilding, making gains in muscle mass and strength is inevitably going to be met with obstacles. Breaking through these training plateaus is the real key to making lasting gains. Many times the key to these breakthroughs relies on variations in your training, or trying something new. You always have to remember that the body is constantly striving for efficiency. The longer you do the same thing, the better the body gets at doing it. This is particularly true in bodybuilding. You have to not only push your limits to breakthrough these plateaus and make gains, but you also have...

Those around you can have a huge impact on your success. Back in the day, success was pretty much a one man show. If you buckled down, focussed, worked hard and produced you'd more than likely do pretty well for yourself. This was just as true in business as it was in bodybuilding. No matter how you sliced it, hard work ruled the day. Unlike most pros today, I never had a coach or a “guru” for all of my bodybuilding career. For obvious reasons, I don't necessarily recommend it these days, but, back then, it was just the way...