Reflections on 2015 and how I changed my life

Reflections on 2015 -


I doubt anyone remembers, but I wrote last year that 2014 was possibly one of, if not the, worst year of my life.


A reflection of 2015, physically obviously shows that I made major changes in how I look, and ultimately feel from a health perspective, but I made an enormous amount of changes in every other facet of my life that made 2015 great.


If I had to reflect on most of the things I did in order to change my life, here are some of the things I did, or made concentrated efforts on to make that happen -


1. I let go of resentment, hate, and bitterness -


As 2014 came and went, I had a lot of guilt a lot of anger and bitterness about the actions of others.  There were major parts of my life that had been turned upside down, and like most normal people my first response was to harbor bitterness and resentment towards others that were involved in creating all of the chaos.

Over time, I realized that shouldering those feelings did nothing but weigh me down, and make my life more miserable.  And I realized, I had to let go of it.  

Lots of people say this out loud, or write it on social media, but then don't actually embrace the application of it.  

There is a quote from C. JoyBell C. I remember reading years ago that, at the time, rang true to me because it "sounded" correct.  But until you actually apply a motto or belief to your life, you're just regurgitating empty words and ideas to people that you yourself are not living.  

And it was this....

“If you want to forget something or someone, never hate it, or never hate him/her. Everything and everyone that you hate is engraved upon your heart; if you want to let go of something, if you want to forget, you cannot hate.”

People often spew this shit in person or across social media, then live their life with an incredible amount of resentment or bitterness towards people they felt wronged them.  Never realizing that all it does it take up space in your heart and mind, leaving less room and time for happiness, joy, and it shackles you to something you can no longer change.  

I didn't wake up one day and make this change.  It did happen gradually over time.  I do think that most wounds do require a certain amount of time to heal, but you actually have to make an effort to accelerate that healing process.  Some people just love to brag about how they can hold a grudge.  I used to brag about such things myself.  Then I realized all that showed was a magnificent flaw in my character and inability to move forward in life.  

Bragging about what a bitter and grudgeful individual you are is essentially letting people know how emotionally and mentally immature you are.  Moving forward is exceptionally hard to do when you willingly wallow in anger or hate about something someone else did to you.  

Defeat your enemies with your own personal success.  Get your revenge by moving forward by living a life that is rewarding and fulfilling.  This is a virtual impossibility when you wallow in the muck of being a bitter and resentful bastard.  Whether you realize it or not, when the people that wronged you realize you're still suffering from it (and yes, holding a grudge is a form of suffering) then they continue to win, and you continue to suck at life.  

2. I forgave myself and let go of my guilt -

Honestly, this was much harder than forgiving those that I had felt wronged me.  

After the storms had passed and I was left with enough time in personal and emotional isolation, I struggled deeply with forgiving myself and letting go of the guilt I had for so many of the things I had done.  

Some people can walk through life and hurt others, live life through selfish behavior, and then never look back and feel anything about it.  I am not one of those people.  

When you are in the midst of emotional turmoil you make a lot of terrible decisions because logic and emotions wage a terrific battle in regards to decision making.  There's few things more challenging than trying to make a decision where your heart tells you one thing, but your logical thinking keeps countering those thoughts.  

Even worse, is when regardless of which choice you make, you know you're going to hurt people you care about in the process.  This is generally where you know what the right thing to do is, but you lack the courage to follow through with it. 

So as to put myself out there, and present myself as flawed as possible, I often was not strong and courageous enough to make the right decisions throughout these storms.  And inevitably by making the wrong choices, I extended the time frame in which the pain and trauma would extend itself.  

One thing I've learned in the past year is that life is about suffering.  This is something I have wholly embraced and accepted as a part of just being alive.  

You are going to suffer.  There will be times where regardless of what choice you make, you will end up suffering greatly from it.   Ultimately, you have to decide what it is you are willing to suffer for, and understand there may be a significant amount of grief that comes in the aftermath.  

I don't think I'm unique in the fact that I can forgive others more easily than I can forgive myself.  The struggle was learning how to let go of the things I could no longer change, do my best to make amends for them, and truly forgive myself for the weak and cowardly decisions I had made when times were at their hardest.  

However at the same time, I used those experiences to grow, and forge me into a more relissiant and decisive person.  And I learned how to make better choices, that hurt very few people, and accepted the suffering that came along with being far more selfless.  

Much like resentment towards others, harboring guilt absolutely does not allow you to grow and move forward in your life.  At some point, you have to forgive yourself and make peace with yourself to move out of the past, and take steps towards a better future.


3. I owned my part in the situations I had created for myself

More of an addendum to #1.

In order to properly forgive and let go of hate and bitterness, I had to actually own my part in the creation of what my life had become.  

Once I really did this, and I mean REALLY took responsibility for my part in creating the shitty situations I had been in, change became easier.  Forgiveness became easier.  Forgiving both myself and others. 

If there is a fairly constant I see with people it's that they are so quick to blame everyone else for the things that have gone wrong or gotten twisted in their life, without ever taking a moment out to reflect what it was they did to help create those shitty situations.  

Everyone knows someone who places 100% of the blame on someone else for something awful that transpired in their life, without ever admitting that they played a role in the other persons decision making.

Look, at the end of the day, we are all responsible for the choices we make.  But the fact is, we are often put in positions to make a choice due to the actions of or words of someone we love or hold close to our heart.  

As the saying goes, life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it.  

Our actions or reactions in regards to what happens to us, generally puts someone else in a place to make a choice because of it.  

Then when they make a shitty choice, we put 100% of them blame on them.  Without us ever taking into account that it's possible the outcome may have been different had we reacted differently in the first place.  

This doesn't excuse their shitty behavior, but it doesn't absolve you from the situation either.  You're supposed to be an adult as well.  Life is often a chain of events that get spawned from singularity.  If you were the catalyst for said chain of events, then regardless of what eventually transpired you played a part in making it all come to fruition.  

Taking ownership of your part in all of the awfulness is paramount if you ever want to learn from it, and grow into a wiser and more mature individual.  After all, being able to say "look, this was my fault, and I need to make amends for it" is a huge part of personal growth.

4. I eliminated both the toxic people in my life, and my own toxic behaviors the best I could

I don't want to regurgitate this part because there's been about 1,238,098 articles written about this particular topic.  

But half the time, most of them miss the mark in a very specific way.

If you constantly have toxic relationships or people in your life, then you yourself are probably very toxic as well.  

I generally call these the "I give no fucks" people.  Wow, what an outstanding individual you are.  And how unique you are to give no fucks.  That certainly takes a significant amount of effort in regards to being a quality individual to run around talking about all the fucks you don't give.

Great people do give a fuck.  People worth having in your life, give a fuck.  

Sure, you have to know what to give a fuck about, but consistently saying "I don't give a fuck" about everything you say and do really just makes you a total fucking asshole. 

Show me someone exceptionally successful and I will show you someone who is usually surrounded by other successful people.

Show me someone who is an exceptional antagonistic asshole and I will show you someone who is usually surrounded by other exceptionally antagonistic assholes.

Who you are and what you project will tend to attract those sames kinds of people, and turn off those who oppose that (or are jealous of your success).  

So before you run around talking about how you need to eliminate all the assholes in your life, you may want to sit down and examine your own attitude and behavior and wonder if the reasons you're surrounded by assholes, is because you are one.  It's hard to eliminate toxic people when you're a toxic magnet.  

All of us have certain selfish traits and things about us that make at least a percentage of who we are part asshole.  The key is to reduce that percentage as much as possible, then you'll begin to identify what people have that larger percentage of the asshole in their personality pie chart.

5. I narrowed down my life to mainly things I had control over.

A while back I posted a study from a 75 year study from Harvard that talked about what ultimately created happy and fulfilling lives for people.  

At the end of the study, they summed it up very easily.

"Happiness is love; full stop."

The problem for most people, I have observed, is that they have no idea how to actually find what makes them happy.  

Or to rephrase, they spent a lot of time being unhappy looking for an external source to create happiness in their life.  

Unfortunately, one of the biggest factors they found was the bond between you and your mother.  And not everyone is going to have a deep and loving relationship with their mom.  

As unfortunate as this is, it doesn't mean you have short change the amount of happiness you have in your life due to circumstances out of your control.

One of the most common flaws I have personally witnessed in unhappy people I know, is that they consistently base the amount of happiness they have in their life based around their romantic relationships.  In my own opinion, the root cause of this is that they are absolutely miserable being alone.  So they end up in a state of unhappiness because they cannot cope with being "alone".  

So when they talk of such things as "I'm tired of being alone" it tells me, from my own perspective mind you, that they haven't filled their life with enough things that give them happiness that they have a significant degree of personal control over.  

Once I accepted that I needed to fill my life with things I had the most amount of control over, it got better every single day.  I emptied myself into my kids, my training, my diet, writing, drawing, growing my business, and now I've turned somewhat obsessive into redecorating my house.  

All of these things generally give back to me what I put into them for the most part.  The more effort I apply in those areas, the more happiness I generally get in return.  

When you are miserable being alone, and so desperately want to find someone to share your time with (in a romantic way, mind you) you really have no idea if you end up picking that person because they are the right person, or because they simply fill a void.  

When it's the latter, then the probability that you're opening the flood gates for a shit storm become incredibly high.  

If you want to fill your life with people, fill it with the people who want to be there because they love you, and above all, desire success and happiness in your life.  This is what unconditional love really looks like.  And for you to be smart enough to pick those kinds of people, you need to go back to #4 and become a reflection of the people you want in your life, and then you will find that they start showing up.  

But most importantly, these things will not become clear until you have enough time to become comfortable with being alone, and loving who you are.  If you are still violating the other parts of what I wrote above (hating and resenting people, living life full of guilt for past transgressions, having the "I don't give a fuck" attitude), then all  you're doing is bringing a shit ton of negative baggage along with you into someone else's life.  

Start with improving your attitude, start with loving yourself better, and then you'll find that you attract positive people with positive attitudes, that will love you back in the way you really desire.

6. I stopped worrying about the future, quit being idealistic, and appreciated the "what is right now" and the gifts life was giving me - 

I really loathe the term "life is short."  No, life is the longest thing you will ever do.  

However I appreciate the sentiment behind it.  Because at the core of it, it's telling us to embrace what life is giving us on a day to day basis, and to stop worrying about what tomorrow, or next week, or next month may bring.  

Life often changes in an instant.  So creating this idealistic view of what your "perfect life" is supposed to look like 6 months or 5 years from now, sets you up for an awful lot of failure.  Most of the time, we end up navigating through the mine fields we have to walk through in the most delicate fashion that we can.  And we're all going to have our own personal mine fields that we must walk through. 

The problem is, so many of us don't appreciate the garden of eden we might be residing at the time, because we're so worried about how we are going to make it through that mine field that may or may not exist on the other side of it.  

Not only that, we often pass up what could be incredibly significant moments in our life because we can only see the finality in embracing them, and don't deem the worthy of our time.

Not to be sexist, but women are often the worst about this.  Women often idealize this perfect man in their life, and if each man that comes along doesn't "look" like that perfect lifelong mate, they cast him aside.  

I'm not saying men are immune to this either.  I'm just saying I've spoken to enough women who were so worried about their biological clock that all they can think about is "finding a husband for the kids they don't even have yet."  

I don't believe in finding the perfect person.  And there is no such thing as a perfect relationship.  Not only that, the odds of you finding the "perfect partner" are about.......1 in 285,000.

Don't hate me for presenting the odds to you.  Accept that life is full of random events and that you get to decide what you do with them.  

Marriages lasting 70 or more years are less than 0.1%.  Marriages that last 50 years are less than 5%.  

In other words, that person you're with right now that you think "completes you in every way"....you're probably not going to spend your life with them.  You may beat the odds, but the likelihood of that is exceptionally slim.  You're far more likely to die in a plane crash than find "that perfect person."  By a very significant margin.

"So why even entertain relationships at all then?"

Because all relationships come with something that most people refuse to acknowledge.  

Suffering.  

And without suffering, we cannot grow.  We cannot learn.  And we cannot decide what we really want in our life in order to make it as fulfilling as possible.  

And to come full circle, what I learned was, narrowing down your life to the things you have control over, and working on becoming the best possible version of who you want to be, gives you the best possible chance of filling your life with people who will indeed provide a tremendous amount of love and support.

7.  I became a better listener - 

People often cite communication as one of the biggest keys in a healthy and sustaining relationship.  I personally think that respect trumps all, but I get how important communication is.  

The problem is, most people don't communicate as well as they think they do, because they are poor listeners.  

I too was very poor at this for a long time.  I love to monologue and belabor all the points I need to make during a discussion.  Lost in this, was that I was not taking the time to actually shut the fuck up and listen to what the other person had to say, and wholly understand it.

It's virtually impossible to actually listen to what someone is trying to tell you when all you're thinking about is your retort.  

Instead of writing another novel about this, I found an easy solution.  Shut up, listen, and then repeat back to the person your perception of what you think they said.  I think you'll often find that there is a bigger communication gap than you realized.  Two people can "communicate" until they are blue in the face, and leave the situation with nothing but more frustration if each person doesn't actually understand what the other one was saying.

And the only way to actualize this is to repeat back to each other, how you interpreted their words.  From there, your communication skills will begin to improve.  But not until you both realize that it's a very good possibility that you don't understand each other as well as you think you do.

8.  I let go of the "no regrets" bullshit and embraced repentance - 

This is another pet peeve of mine.  And something generally the "I give no fucks" crowd embraces as well.

When someone tells me that they have no regrets in life, what I automatically assume is that I just met Jesus.  Because in essence what they are saying is, they made every perfect choice in every situation they ever encountered.  

Their comeback to this is often the cliche of....

"I wouldn't be the person I am today had I not made those choices."

This is true.  And who is to say that maybe you're in a better situation, or a more well rounded individual if you had made different ones?  

Maybe your life is a million times better if you had made other choices.

The problem with not having regret means that there is no room left for repentance.  And to repent means to change.   And the only way you can better yourself, is to recognize the poor choices you made, have regrets about them, then change so that you make better choices in the future.  

The way to better ourselves is to be cognizant of our mistakes, make amends for them the best we can, and change the parts of who we are that drove us to make poor decisions in the first place.

But that can't happen if you're not willing to sit down and say "I have regrets."  

You have no regrets about hurting people you love and care about?  

What does this say about you as an individual, and about the amount of integrity and the degree of character you are living your life with?  

Not a whole lot.  

You're probably going to attract a lot of people who also have no regrets about taking a massive shit on your chest and saying "no fucks given".  You know why?  Because that's who you are too.  So why should they care when you keep saying you have no regrets and wouldn't change a thing? 

I have many regrets.  And I had a lot of time to spend on self reflection this past year and put forth a significant amount of energy into my own personal repentance.  And while I am not perfect, and never will be, I went from a time in my life where I could barely stand to look at myself in the mirror each day, to a point now where I can at least recognize that I am no longer ashamed.  

It takes a lot to put yourself out there like this, and it is very difficult to write because most of us want the rest of the world to see us as wonderful human beings.  Sure, not all.  The "I don't give a fucks" make that very clear.

But at the core of the majority, we want affirmation that we are worthy of being loved, and that our love is worthy of being accepted.  

As the study said, happiness is love; full stop.

If there was anything I learned in 2015, that made my life better - it was that very thing.  

Thank you to so many that helped me through a very difficult time in the last year, and thank you for helping me to start on a path in reshaping my life.

For those of you who read this that are struggling, make the hard choices that ultimately will lead you into suffering, but deliver you into peace and contentment.  

All the best to everyone for 2016.

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2015 - Goals met

From my Facebook 

So I had no intentions of posting this. I shared it with a few friends because honestly, for one of the few times in my life I'm proud of an accomplishment.

These pics are 53 weeks apart, and about 40 pounds apart.

I am not going to bore you with some nonsensical "I do this for me" bullshit.


I did it mainly for my kids.

I will be 41 next month. A year ago, I decided that I really wanted to get serious about my health, my eating, and really dedicate myself to training exceptionally hard again. That included doing conditioning again.

I know some guys could do this in 12 or 16 weeks or whatever, but I was not getting ready for some "show". I was getting ready for a better life. And that was more important to me.

I can tell you this. Being fat is kinda like being dead or stupid. Or it was for me.

Meaning...

When you are dead, you don't know that you are dead. It is difficult only for the others. It is the same when you are stupid.

When you see yourself everyday, you don't realize overtime how fat you are getting until you wake up one day and go "holy shit, I'm really fat!"

By normal people's standards I guess I wasn't fat at 280+ pounds but I sure felt and looked fat to me.

I also didn't realize just how much god damn fat you carry in your forehead. I mean it's like your body goes "ok there's no place else for this shit to go, so we're putting it on top of your god damn head now, fat ass."

Anyway, I'm still not "done" from a goal standpoint, but it feels very rewarding to look back now and see what the last year as brought. I can fucking sprint all day long. My strength obviously isn't where it was, but that's also hard to say because my training is so different now. All of my big movements come in a state where I'm incredibly exhausted. So I really have to way to compare.

But the fact is, pounds on the bar aren't really that important at the moment. I had other goals I wanted to achieve and I'm right on top of them. If my pec continues to heal then it's possible I may compete in another meet in the next year, but right now I'm not worried about that.

I wanted to say thanks to Trevor Kashey who helped kick things off last year and basically told me over and over again "you're still fat.....you're still fat..........nope, still fat" during the early period in this transition. Honestly, that kept me motivated as fuck.

I also got my entire old wardrobe back. Which is fucking cool.

As I said, one of the few times I have taken a real moment to reflect back on the entire year of 2015 and what I accomplished. And for the first time in a long time, I feel pretty satisfied with my efforts. I can say without pause, I worked my fat ass off for them.

Your health starts in your gut

This little blurb probably isn't going to super charge anyone's libido or get you jacked to get to the gym simply because of the content matter in itself isn't very "sexy".  However the more I've read on this topic, the more I've come to realize just how important it really is in regards to health, training, well being, and literally your quality of life.

Talking about vegetables and gut health is not sexy. I get it. No one salivates over some steamed broccoli like they do a big piece of steak. There are no broccoli equivalents to the "she squats" memes you see on social media. 

I've yet to come across a "she veggies" anywhere on social media with a large male following posting up pics of flowers and offering marriage proposals or invitations to sex.

Best I could do to make veggies sexy

At the same time, I've never met a single obese person that hired a trainer to lose fat that said their salad and broccoli portions had just gotten way out of control.

If you've been eating like shit, there's a good chance your digestion is probably pretty poor. And you need to be aware of a simple fact. The better your digestion is, the better you can absorb and shuttle nutrients into the body. Not to mention that about 70-80% of your immune system is contained within the digestive tract.

Does that sound important? I think it does.

Studies suggest that the foods you continually eat are the ones your gut bacteria will make you crave, which means consistently eating nutritious food isn't just good for your waistline, it's good for your gut. It's also insurance for keeping your appetite in check. People who crave shit food happen to eat it a lot.

This is often why you read that eating lots of vegetables "makes you healthy". At a very basic level, this is a truth, and apparently mom had it right.

If your immune system sucks, then your recovery rate is going to suck. Your body composition is going to suck, and then your nutrient partitioning is going to suck. You're probably going to be sick a lot, and will be well on your way to unlocking life threatening achievements like Type II diabeetus grandmaster and cancer grandmaster.

This isn't just about fiber, either. So for the guy that says "I take a fiber supplement, so I'm ok", well you're wrong.

Probiotics are important, water is important, and gut bacteria is important. It's not as simple as taking some Metamucil and calling it a fucking day.

If you read anything on the "red and processed meats cause cancer" news a while back, then ultimately you may have read that eating green vegetables along with said meats can potentially reduce the cancer causing factors involved in eating said meats.

Here, in case you needed a study....

Green veggies fight with cows and shit in your stomach

Yes the study was done on rats. But I still don't think it should be dismissed as being unimportant.

For people who complain that veggies bloat them, and give them more gas than Exxon, then slowing down and crewing your veggies for longer can help. As can not drinking water when you eat.

Yes, don't drink fluids when you eat.

A while back, John Meadows brought this up in a discussion and it was debated by people claiming it was baseless. However, he used some "trial and error" on himself, and I did as well. And I found that sure enough, drinking about half an hour before eating, and then not drinking again for an hour after made me less bloated and my digestion seemed to improve. Your digestive tract needs to be hydrated in order to function optimally. However drinking water or fluids during eating can impede proper digestion, especially if the fluids are too cold. Sipping (not guzzling) something warm is a better option if you are going to drink while eating.

I could probably write a multiple part series on this however I don't want to. So let's just high level overview this shit.

1. Use probiotics - Make sure you get the kind that has to be kept in the fridge. The kind sitting out on the counter are useless. Probiotics help move food food through your gut, and restore balance between the good and bad bacteria in your gut. It's possible you may not need them, but it's a good start in regards to covering your bases.

2. Eat a variety of vegetables - There's a lot of debate in regards to things like grains, dairy, sugars, etc in regards to gut health. However there is zero debate on the fact that vegetables improve your gut health. Lots of greens will feed the good bacteria in your gut. If you haven't been eating veggies then add them in slowly unless you want to expel gas with such severe stank that it causes birds to fall dead from the sky or your significant other to leave you. If you are trying to achieve the latter, then you're welcome for the solution.

3. Hydrate the digestive tract - Drink your water half an hour before eating, then not until an hour after. If you are going to drink while eating, sip a warm beverage like tea or warm water. But sip it. Don't chug it.

Improved digestion will play a major role in how you look, feel, and function. Do not avoid taking care of proper digestive ability or everything else will suffer.

Thanks to Dani Shugart for contributing to this piece.  

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Killing your inner midget

When I was cutting my teeth coming up through the years there were two types of articles that irked me in regards to learning how to train, grow, and improve.

1.  Written by guys who were so genetically gifted they grew mass just by walking past a class doing power aerobics.

2.  Guys that who wrote about how to grow that I couldn't tell that they had ever picked up a weight.

I remember reading articles back 20 years ago from guys who said no matter what they did, they grew.

What piece of advice could this person possible give me, when they cannot identify with the struggles I had in regards to getting bigger and stronger?  If you have 19" arms before you did your first biceps curl, then more than likely you aren't going to have to figure out every way possible in order to get them to grow.  I'm talking about biceps here, not fatceps.  No one cares about what your arms measure covered in 3 inches of fat.

As for point number two, I also had trouble taking a guy serious who was writing on how to build a big chest, or legs, or arms, when he was rocking the muscular development of a prepubescent boy on estrogen treatments.

To me, it seemed like there was no in between.  Muscle rags almost always wanted to talk to the guys who had freakish bodyparts, and ask them how they trained them.  I get the idea behind it, but it is incredibly flawed.  Asking a guy with shredded 30" thighs who says they grew regardless of what he did is like asking Usain Bolt how to run faster.

Yes, I do think it's important to learn from the very large and strong people in order to find the commonalities they are shared.  But you also have to discern who arrived at those places because they worked very hard in order to get there, and the ones who simply needed to thank mom and pop.

I liken this to eating.  The guys that ended up growing an enormous amount of muscle mass all eventually went through that rite of passage where they learned how to eat until eating sucked.  To the point where eating was a chore, and they hated it.  I've never known a single massive individual that doesn't have a story that echoes this.

So I never understand articles by guys who had the muscular development of a rodent writing articles on how to get big, or grow a particular set of muscles.

How would you know?

At some point there has to be some money where your mouth is.  I'm not saying the information is always useless, but I just struggled with accepting the advice of someone telling me how to grow, that looked like they had spent the last three years of their life with Tom Hanks and Wilson on that deserted island.

I'm not going to play the "oh poor me genetics" card bullshit here.  I swear to God, everyone I know claims to have shitty genetics regardless of where they end up.  Often times, they point to pics from when they were 17 years old and skinny as a rail to establish the fact that they had "shitty genetics".  Shitty genetics is when you've busted hump as hard as possible for a decade, in an intelligent manner, and still don't have a lot to show for it.  Lots of guys start off at 98 pounds only to end up in virtual super hero land either from a strength or muscularity standpoint less than 10 years later.  Shit genetics is more about your response, or lack of it, to training and proper eating rather than where you start.  Your starting point is irrelevant in terms of poor genetics.  Great or poor genetics become defined by the response your body has once it is placed under the stress of training and its response to proper food intake.

I was 98 pounds when I started training at 14 years old.  4 years later, I was 220+ pounds.  Did I work exceptionally hard over those four years?  Yes.  Unequivocally yes.  I can say that without hesitation due to the fact that I'm also honest that there were many years later on where upon reflection, I realized I had not been training very hard.  And of course during those years, little progress was made.

Genetically speaking, I don't think I have "poor" genetics.  I also do not have what I would call elite or outlier genetics by any stretch of the imagination.  I've gotten to where I am due to a tremendous amount of hard work, researching, studying, and being consistent more times than not, in regards to my training.

People are very quick to accept their perceived short comings.  Once they get an idea etched in their mind, their habits actually begin to form to cement that idea, creating a cognitive bias that the notions they have about themselves has to be true.

If you don't believe you'll ever be capable of performing something, you won't be.

At the root of all of this is self doubt, and disbelief.

If you don't think you're smart enough to get through college then your efforts more than likely will end up reflecting that lack of belief in your abilities.

If you believe that you're smart enough to make the Dean's List, then it's a good chance you'll do very well.

Yes of course there are limitations to self belief.  Which is why there are only so many world record holders in any major sporting evening, why there are only so many guys that make it into the NFL or major league baseball, and even then, only so many guys that make the hall of fame.

However, I can just about bet you that every single one of those people had failures on their way to achieving such successes.  Yet somehow, they ended up better themselves through those failures in order to find out how great they could truly be on the other side of things.

Most of the things we, as normal people, want to accomplish can be done by simply applying ourselves with a tremendous amount of effort, and an unwavering amount of discipline and dedication.  The problem is, most people are inherently lazy and realize that great things generally take an incredible amount of hard work and discipline.  At least, comparatively to what had been been applied by them in their life.

I don't know of a single person that wouldn't want more money in their bank account.  But I know very few people who are willing to risk starting their own business due to the fear of failure.  And I get that.  If you have a family and bills to pay and have a good job, it would be hard to give all of that up in order to pursue your passion with the hopes that it would also keep a roof over your head, and food on the table.  But you're never going to get wealthy working for someone else, making a set salary for the year either.

But the gym 9-to-5er's approach their lifting goals the same way most of the time.  They dream about what they want to lift, or look like, but they aren't often willing to give up the things they need to in order to make that happen.  They aren't willing to put in the consistent hard work in order to see it all come to fruition.

So when people talk about "genetics" as being an excuse, for some people it is, but for most it is not.  At least to a certain degree.

And this people, despite what all I wrote above, is how we arrived at midgets.

I often like to point out that regardless of your dreams and aspirations, they are still limited.  You'll never see a midget in the NBA.  And you'll never see a midget win the 100 or 200 meter dash.  You'll never see a midget climb Mt. Everest.  You'll never see a midget holding a UFC championship belt.  You'll never see a midget become the starting linebacker for the Chicago Bears.  You'll never see a midget win at pole vaulting or Olympic hurdling.  A midget will never kick your door down while your house is on fire and save you from smoke inhalation.  A midget will never fight off a ninja clan with his bare hands.  A midget will never stop a tornado, a tsunami, or any other natural disaster.

But you can be a firefighter if you're a midget.  Or be on Game of Thrones.  So there are things even midgets can do.

Look, I don't want this to become about midgets.  They are still capable of doing incredible things. Like taking second place to an elephant in an air plane pulling contest.  That's pretty impressive.

So there will always be limitations placed on you by your genetics.  IF IF, you are comparing yourself to the genetic elite, i.e. professional athletes and world record holders.

Like for example, a little person (so I will try to be more PC now) can go into the gym and work his ass off, gain muscle, lose fat, and become the best little jacked person he or she can be.  Or they can say "I'm a midget" and create a mindset that being a midget is what keeps them from reaching very attainable PERSONAL goals.

It boggles my mind when people believe things that are easily achievable by the great majority of the population, are almost impossibly hard for them.

Losing 25 pounds of flab is not hard.  It just requires some fucking discipline and effort.  Gaining 25 pounds of lean mass is not hard IF, you're willing to hang in there for the long haul, train very consistently, and are patient enough to see the process out.

The problem is, most people do indeed have a 9-to-5 mindset.  Not only about work, but about virtually everything in their life.  Most especially when it comes to training, dieting, and building a better/stronger physique.  They become mental midgets.  They say "this shit is too hard" and either quit, or never apply enough effort to actually accomplish their goals.  Their goals, usually things many many other people have done, somehow become impossible tasks to them.

Look, dieting is not "hard".  It's only hard if you're fucking mentally weak.

Training hard is not even hard.  It's only hard if you're a pussy.

Take a trip down to a physical therapists office one day, and you can see people who have it much harder than you do, working harder than you do, just in order to do shit like walk again, or write their name again.

Take a visit to a cancer ward sometime if you want to see what real struggles look like, when you are complaining about your next meal of "chicken and broccoli" and are feeling so fucking sorry for yourself.

The next time you complain about how hard squats are, think about that kid who would do anything to stand up out of his wheelchair and take a few steps.

Physique improvement, fat loss, and all of this shit that gets propped up on social media as being difficult really isn't.  And accomplishing personal goals isn't anywhere near as hard you believe it to be.  It's not your genetics that's holding you back.

It's midgets.

It's your own personal midget that won't allow you to do any of the things you think you can't do due to shortcomings you tell yourself on a continual basis.  So the reason you can't get it done, is because you've already made all the reasons why it can't be done, instead of finding all the reasons it can be.

Sure, you're never going to be Mr. Olympia.  Especially if you're a midget.  But that doesn't mean you can't get jacked as fuck in regards to what your body will allow you to.  That's called fulfilling personal potential.  But until it is fulfilled, that's all it is.  Potential.  And until you stop being lazy and making excuses you'll continue to be a part of that gang of midgets taking second place to the lone elephant in that plane pulling race.

And don't get mad at me about this.  After all, no one likes an angry dwarf.

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New year, new me: What you don't fucking know

Ahhhh, here it is.

We're closing in on new years.  Twenty-six-fucking-teen.

Another year is almost gone, plenty of you made no progress in 2015.  Plenty of you won't make any in 2016.

Hey, I'm not saying that to be a dick.  I've written plenty in the past about how I've let years go by without making progress, then waking up one morning and going "holy fuck, I'm not better today physically than I was last...4 years!"

It happens.

Complacency sets in.  We go to the gym.  We eat "mostly healthy".

I love that term.  Every overweight/fat person tells me they eat "mostly healthy".  It's such an ambiguous term.  Because they can neither define "mostly" in a true quantifiable measurement, nor do they understand what "healthy" even means.

Some people think eating "mostly healthy" means skipping breakfast, eating a salad for lunch, then eating "just two doughnuts" from the breakroom, then coming home to a white trash dinner of Hamburger Helper in scoop sizes that would make an oil rig worker smile with pride.

That salad, I suppose, was the mostly healthy part.

But hey, you still go to the gym.  Nevermind that your physique hasn't changed in half a decade.  Or that your lifts are basically about the same....in that same half a decade.

If only you did steroids you would be just as jacked as the other jacked guys at the gym.  Except that most of those guys train their ass off, eat spot on more than 90% of the time, and do all the other things you won't and don't do.  Like spending the weekend chugging beers and eating basket after basket of bowel exploding hot wings from that local grease pot you and your buddies go to in order to escape your hostage/marriage/relationship situation at home.

Hey I'm having fun, fucking relax.

But no seriously, that's you.

I'm just having a go at you, it's all in good fun.

But no really, that's probably you.

Ok seriously, no I mean it this time, we all fall into this trap.  Some of us get back on the real war horse because we decide once again "ok, I suck and have been training like a bitch and need to get my shit together."

Then we do.

Or we don't.  And don't care.  And that's perfectly ok.  It really is.  I don't care if you don't go to the gym, or eat "mostly healthy".

What I do care about, is my space.

Yes, my space.

You see, in a few weeks, I will have less of it at the gym.  After being in some sort of gym for over two decades, I have found ways to avoid losing my space during the new year.  I go to the gym well before 5 P.M. and rarely go on Mondays.  Never ever, ever, ever, never, ever, ever go the gym after 5 PM on a Monday during the first six weeks after new years, if you are claustrophobic.  It's the weight lifting equivalent of black Friday but with sweatier people who are far more confused about their surroundings.

I train at home mostly during the first six weeks after new years.  If I do go to the gym, I go on weekends more, or as I said, long before 5 P.M.

My gym time is serious.  I'm sorry if you deem me hollow for saying that.  I am there to train, train hard, not talk and bullshit, then leave.  Despite the fact that I am there for that, I am actually friendly when approached.  And if someone takes up my equipment for no reason at all, I will ask them if they would like to work in with me.  I will even give a great spot if asked, and throw out some pointers afterwards if I can help.  So while I am there to train, I am not a gym asshole.

The other day, a fellow ended up joining me for my training and he made the remark between sets, "there's a lot of hot women that come in here."

I shrugged and said "I wouldn't know.  I am here to train."

"Damn" he said. "See, that's what I mean.  I need to get my mind right.  That's why I'm not making the progress I should."

I wasn't joking.  I see stupidity going on in the gym quite often, but I don't really give a shit about hot women in the gym.  Mainly for two reasons...

1.  I'm there to train (as noted)
2.  Hot women are already bothered enough in the gym by so many dick blossoms
3.  I'm there to train

Ok so that's three fucking reasons.  And what?

But he really hit on a serious matter.  Your mental game.

And this is where most people are going to fail after their "new year, new me" wears off faster than a buzz from cheap weed.

You don't know.

And that's the bottom line.  You don't.....fucking.....know.

You don't fucking know that it's going to take longer than 6 weeks to get your bikini body.  Nevermind that you spent the last decade undoing your teenage figure by slamming half of the picture menu at Waffle House at 3 a.m. after 17 rounds of shots.  Sure, you can wake up in six weeks by doing some ab work and "butt kicks" and boom, bikini body emerges!  No, you really can't.

You don't fucking know that the stupid "6 moves for 6 pack abs in 6 weeks" article you read in Men's Health is just bullshit to get you to buy a magazine.  If you honestly believe that your beer belly and love handles and awful fucking "dad bod" will be gone in six weeks because you did six exercises then I have some ocean front property in Montana you're gonna love.  Lemme get these papers drawn up for you.

You don't fucking know that all those "fat burners" and bullshit you're going to waste your money on after the first of the year, could have gone to someone who would write you up a diet to follow, and teach you how to eat properly.  You know, knowledge and shit.  Things that are going to last you longer than the 30 capsules in that bottle.

You don't fucking know that the guy on the cover of that magazine, didn't get his body with the routine you're reading about in it.  And I'm not talking about "gross" IFBB pro bodybuilders.  I'm talking about that 190 pound shredded dude that 99% of guys really want to look like.  You don't fucking know that he probably had great genetics, or has been training for 10 years, or that he dieted his ass off for anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks just to look like that for one day....for that magazine cover.

You don't fucking know that it's going to be harder than it looks.  You don't fucking know that for most of you, your desire to "change your life" is going to wane tremendously after a little more than a month.  You don't fucking know that it takes between 21 and 66 days for a habit to form.  So if the gym isn't habit forming after 4-6 weeks, you just hung in there for another few weeks, your mindset and your body would change dramatically.  Unless you're still eating "mostly healthy".  Then, not so much.

There are so many things you don't fucking know, "new year, new me" guy/gal.

You don't fucking know, that lifting and learning how to eat properly is a life changing process that is filled with far more positives than negatives.  That it will suck when your motivation wanes, and then later - if you stuck it out - that you'd learn to love the gym, the discipline, the soreness (yes, I swear to god you'll eventually love being sore, I swear it!) and all the other shit that comes with it.  Like more attention from the opposite sex.  Unless you're a dude.  And then when you get jacked you don't fucking know that basically, just other dudes are going to ask you how to get jacked.

You also don't fucking know that I wish everyone would learn these things, and use it to change their life.  There's nothing better than hearing from a "former fat guy/gal" who got their shit together, lost weight, got in great shape, and what it did for them.

Same for skinny people who finally hang in there long enough to pack on some real muscle, and watch their body change and transform into something they are proud to look at everyday in the mirror.  And fuck you if you think there is anything wrong with that.  The people that are proud of the body they worked for, and have every right to take pride in their work.  And generally, that pride is what keeps them in this game mentally.

And now we're back to square one.  Your mental game.

It will be strong at first.  Stronger than the stench of a fart after five pounds of broccoli eating.  Then of course, like all strong farts, it passes and is barely even a distant memory.  Maybe someone makes a joke about it later if you were all in the car together and the driver wouldn't roll down the windows.

You don't fucking know if you don't buckle down mentally, you're going to fail.  You'll be a statistic.  You'll be another "new year, new me" dropout.  Go and ring that bell to signal to everyone you're quitting.

You're a quitter.  Just admit it and be at peace with it.

That's not me being a dick.  That's me calling a spade a spade.  If you announce to the world that you're going to get in the best shape of your life because the new year rolls around, and then are back to eating "mostly healthy" in 7 weeks and never return to the clanging and banging of the iron, then you fucking quit.

Quitter.

And the world needs quitters.  Because I need my space back.  I love my basement cave, but I do like the gym.  And I hate having to dictate my time in it so that I can train in a productive fashion.  You know, because all the soon to be quitters are taking up all the equipment.



So I will leave you with this, before you call me a dick for not writing this in a "rub your belly and pat your bottom" style you are so accustomed to at this time of year.  You know what I mean...

"It's a new year.  And if you love yourself you can turn things around.  You're beautiful inside, so let your work show the beauty on the outside too!"

Barf.

So let's examine what I really did in between all of those "F" bombs I laid down.

I just gave you the road map for how to avoid being a quitter.  How to avoid the usual mistakes.  How not to get trapped into thinking that you can wake up after 6 weeks and have a newly transformed sexy AF body.

I just gave you the reality that it will be hard, but that it will be worth it if you find a way not to quit, and hang in there.

I just told you so many of the pitfalls to avoid in getting discouraged, and even better ways to spend your money.

So if you didn't fucking know, you shouldn't call me a dick for this.  You should just say "thank you - I won't fucking quit." and mean it.

I'd rather the gym be full of people busting ass because they are there to train, and for everyone to have a burning desire to really find a "new me" on the other side of the "new year".  But the statistics bear out that it won't happen.

So don't be a fucking statistic.


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The embracement of softcore

If you were to judge the title of this alone, you'd probably be expecting some Skinemax Red Shoe diary type shit, where you get to see some boobs through the steamy shower scene, but ultimately leaves you feeling very unfulfilled.

No, what I am talking about in regards to embracing the softcore here is a trend I consistently see throughout the strength and physique industry.

I'm going to do my best not to paint with broad strokes here, or make overall generalizations, but it may happen.  If it does, then it does.

The past few days there has been a bit of a debate going on about a post a bikini competitor (yes, we're already talking about bikini competitors so you know this is going places) saying, literally, "it doesn't matter if you fill your calories with 10 oreos or 5 gallons of broccoli" (so long as it "fits your macros"), and that basically you can get into contest condition doing this shit.

I'm not naming said competitor because I personally don't want to give her any more ridiculous pub she's gotten from writing such nonsense.  What I want to address are two things I see, that have become a big trend in the "fitness industry".

1.  Dumb shit like "it doesn't matter if your calories come from oreos or broccoli...so long as it fits your macros."

I'm not sure where to start with how stupid this is.  And I don't care what some PhD loudmouth or supposed nutrition "expert" has to say about that.  The last time I checked, no one needed a fucking PhD to know that oreos and broccoli aren't the same even if you somehow lined the god damn macros line up.

Before the IIFYM crowd starts flexing their massive 13" biceps in anger, let's get this out of the way.  Flexible dieting or IIFYM can work for some people.  But let's also get another thing straight.  It works for people who know their body really well, knows how to properly manipulate their macros, and has a very good handle on how their body responds to certain foods.

In other words, if you aren't in possession of this skillset, it's fucking not for you.  Sort of like how if you're a noob, you don't need cable crossovers for your bird chest.  You might want to simply learn the basics first, and get some weight on the bar.

If you're a casual Sunday driver, you don't get into a formula 1 car because "IF IT FITS YOUR DRIVING" nerds tell you "all driving is the same because there's a steering wheel and a gas pedal."

Just stop.

Second, it may not be for you anyway.  Not everyone can be flexible in their dieting and lose bodyfat, get lean, or get into contest condition.  This isn't conjecture.  It's fact.  I'm aware of lots of people who have to be strict pretty much year around just to stay in the range of "athletic bodyfat percentage".  They have very small margins for error.  And I know some people who have much larger margins for error to maintain such shape.

If you're naturally lean, and have some raging metabolism, and you're a bikini competitor that needs to lose a whopping 9 pounds to get in stage shape?  Yeah, this shit may be right up your alley come competition time.   But it isn't a good idea tossing out such ridiculous misinformation that oreos and broccoli are some kind of fucking equal food source.  Let's just completely ignore things like the hormonal and inflammation response of foods all together because you know, all foods are equal simple based on "macros".

It's just all about macros, bro.

I know every time I've ever opened up an IFBB pros food "case" it's just a mix of Pringles and tilapia and bloomin onions from Outback Steakhouse.  Because it doesn't matter if you get your carbs from Pringles or sweet potatoes.  It's all the fucking same once it enters your body.

"You're an idiot because you don't understand flexible dieting."

No, I understand it just fine.  It all comes back to the basic principle of thermodynamics and portion control.  If you want to lose fat, you need an energy deficit.  So we're all on board with that very simple concept. It's also about not limiting your food sources and allowing yourself to have things like ice cream and cake in certain quantities IF "they fit your macros".  However there are still issues with this concept whether you like it or not.

Pretending your food sources don't matter or that all macro food sources are equal as a valid concept is mind blowing to me.

Fructose.  A carb.  Doesn't cause the pancreas to secrete insulin.  Gets stored as liver glycogen.

Glucose.  A carb.  Causes the pancreas to secrete insulin.  Gets stored as muscle glycogen.

Seeing how insulin is the most powerful hormone in the body, I think it's safe to say not all food sources, even of equal macro value, don't have the same effect on the body.

And despite the fact that I've addressed this before, fuck it, let's science this bitch out for one second.

But oreos and broccoli are the fucking same!

Fuck it, we'll follow that up with a meme........

You can save all of your links and studies and everything else that points to (cue uber white guy voice) "similar body composition changes despite different food sources with the same energy deficit."

I don't care about the 12 fat people who don't lift weights that were involved in a study where one group ate brussel sprouts for 12 weeks and the other group ate gummy bears but lost the same amount of weight because the calories were the same.

We have already addressed that.

If you're in an energy deficit, you'll lose weight.  If you're in a surplus, you'll gain weight.  The problem is, there are so many other factors in regards to what those gains and losses look like based on other factors that it doesn't become that god damn simple anymore.

Did they lose muscle mass or gain muscle mass?

Were they doing cardio, or lifting weights?

How were the macros spread out?

If it was a study done on "well trained" individuals, how advanced were they?

How hard were they training during this time?

So I don't give a shit about those studies.  At all.  The same way I really don't care about the studies that involved noobs doing 3 sets of leg extensions twice a week while results were gathered and thus, it was determined that some effect that was derived from that is now "scientific fact."

That shit has ZERO bearing on guys who are spending 2 hours a day in the gym, 5-7 days a week, and have been training for 12 years with a massive hard on about clanging and banging the steel.  None.  Nada.  Nothing.

I've read studies where they "showed factually" that fasted cardio did not improve fat loss any better than cardio that was done after eating.  But I can get you a dozen competitors that will tell you when they did fasted cardio, they showed up leaner for their shows.  Not everything done in a lab in the name of nutrition or training REALLY is science.  It's just not.  The law of individuality is too great and wide, and due to genetic potential or genetic shortcomings, there is no way to accurately predict with 100% certainty what a diet or training program will produce for every single person.

That last point is literally not debatable.

And lastly, for people who are obese, the reason why they end up gaining most of their weight back on "traditional diets" isn't because of the bullshit I've read from IIFYM proponents.  It's because they have spent time modifying the reward receptors with shitty food choices that indeed rewire the circuitry of the brain that's associated with dopamine.  Ok, we will science this shit out one more time since these people are big on linking studies.

Link - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24238362

Recent evidence now suggests that as with drug addiction, obesity with compulsive eating behaviors involves reward circuitry of the brain, particularly the circuitry involving dopaminergic neural substrates. Increasing amounts of data from human imaging studies, together with genetic analysis, have demonstrated that obese people and drug addicts tend to show altered expression of DA D2 receptors in specific brain areas, and that similar brain areas are activated by food-related and drug-related cues.


Do you think it's a good idea then, to take someone who is obese, or needs to get lean, and has an eating disorder, and still allow them to eat foods that caused the obesity in the first place?  Look, for those people it's not the same as the person who hasn't had a "cheat meal" in 3 months.  They can't eat a "slice of pizza".  They eat whole pizzas.  They literally need to spend a significant amount of time "getting clean" no different than a crack addict or an alcoholic.  Which means abstaining from those foods for a significant period of time in order to establish and cement healthy eating habits.  For those people, they don't know what portion control is.  Three oreos signals to the brain that they need to eat three bags of oreos.  Until those pathways are rewired, their ability to show restraint is going to be negligible.

My beef isn't with flexible dieting per say.  It's with people who spread such horrible information that there's no difference in oreos and broccoli.  If you could get contest shredded eating oreos do you not think that 100% of the people would do that, rather than suffer and feel like zombies for months on end all the while eating tuna and lettuce?

"Hey, I can name you these 5 guys that use IIFYM that get shredded."

Awesome.  I love the 5 guys that are 175-180 pounds in contest shape that are naturally lean with hell-fire metabolisms as examples.  This is awesome.  Tell me more, my friend.

What about that guy that can't even have a few packets of equal during the last month lest he totally screw up his conditioning?  Or the guy that can't eat carbs the week of the show for the same reason.  Or the guy that has to slam carbs just to fill out enough not to appear flat?  Or the guy that can't tolerate sweet potatoes or brown rice because they bloat him so bad?

It's just not as simple as macros.  Not at the competitive level of physique competition.  And just because one asshole ate ice cream all week and accounted for it, and won some show that consisted of 7 competitors that was held in a high school gymnasium, doesn't mean shit.

Bikini competitors weighing in on this are even worse.

I've known bikini competitors that were so genetically gifted that they were practically gym noobs and won nationally qualifying shows.  Two weeks later they are writing diet plans for people and spouting off about how they ate Taco Bell twice a week going into the show "so it does work".  Oh you also left out how your coach put you on T3, T4, clen, anavar, and arimidex for that show too.  But nevermind that.  It was the fucking Taco Bell.  That was the ticket.

Hey I have an idea.  Enter a division that requires you to have a significant level of muscle mass, and a very significant degree of extreme conditioning and get back with me on that Taco Bell and tell me how much more time you had to spend in the gym to reach THAT level.

Before someone says I'm flat out shitting on bikini competitors, I'm not.  Ok, I sort of am, but I do know of some bikini competitors that train hard, eat properly, don't espouse dumb shit, and work hard at being competitive in that division. The problem is, people don't want to hear from them.  They want to hear from the people who say "you can totally transform your body and not really change your current life style."

And that's bullshit.

Which leads me to my second major gripe/rant.


2.  The idea that dream physiques, elite level strength, or elite level performance can be attained easily.

This idea has come about due to the popularity of surge of competitors in new divisions that don't require the same amount of discipline, hard work, and suffering that other divisions do.  Even worse, those divisions have become so popular because it caters to mediocrity.

If you are getting judged on your physique, then how in the hell can that be possible when no one sees your leg development?

We have come to a point in the physique world where we put mediocrity on a pedestal, and reward what I see as averageness as something to be admired.

Someone showed me some guy on Instagram this past week with over a million followers, and I could barely tell the guy had ever picked up a weight.  The best way I could describe his physique is if you took an ironing board, and drew abs on it, then that's what we had.

And that's what young males now, apparently, "strive" for.

It's not eliteness.  It's not the unattainable.  It's the absolute average in regards to physical development.  I can find 20 guys in every gym in the world that look like that.  To me, it's like knowing there is the NFL out there, filled with elite players, playing inside a mostly empty stadium, while 70 thousand people are lining up to watch a bunch of overweight dads play flag football on the weekend.  Because hey, "I too can be a backyard flag football all star."

You know why so many young men identify with this?  Because they feel it is something they can strive for.  And because women apparently prefer that look over "grossness".

Well fuck your grossness.  Pushing the limits to me in regards to physical development was something that was always to be admired and revered.  Because it took extreme degrees of hard work, discipline, dieting, training, and desire.  The grossness was nothing more than the manifestation of those things.  In other words, the form that was created from going the extra mile that others were not willing to go.

And that's what really creates the chasm between these underwear boys and guys who are still cranking year after year in order to become more "gross".  It's an evolution of identity.  No different than Walter White went from a guy just needing a few hundred thousand dollars, to a guy that was obsessed by the feeling of power and control.

Can you imagine people celebrating a dude climbing the tallest hill in some wooded area of the backwoods of Georgia while totally ignoring the people climbing Everest and Makalu?

No one is on ESPN due to running the 100 meter dash in 22 seconds.  No.  It's Usain Bolt smashing records and killing his competition.  And his competition is fucking elite.

But the physique culture has done exactly that.  Push the easily attainable to the forefront so as to appeal to the masses.  Because while people love elite level athletes or competitors in other sports, the physique culture has grown into the opposite.  People loving the easily attainable.

Now, you can have a line out of the Arnold or Olympia expo of people waiting in line to get a pic of them with some dude that's 180 pounds with abs.  If that's not average I'm not sure what is.  And this is why "bodybuilding" has gone backwards in regards to popularity.

Even with all of that said, I personally don't care if that's what the masses want.  Let me repeat that lest someone miss that sentence.

If being 175 with abs, and a "beach body" physique is what you're after, then go for it.  Work hard for it, and be proud of it.  It's your life.  Do what makes you happy and gives you joy in regard to your training, eating, and lifestyle.  I honestly don't have an issue with this.  Different strokes for different folks, and people have to decide what really creams their Twinkie.

My main issue is, if someone is going to find themselves in that degree of notoriety, with possibly millions of followers, then they should at least be held responsible for the information they dole out in regards to training and nutrition.  No different than I am going to slam women who go get ass implants, then pretend they didn't, all the while telling other women they know how to build glutes.  Lying and being disingenuous, the last time I checked, is sort of the opposite of integrity.  But I guess that's not really that relevant anymore either.  Likes and followers are.

And here is where it all comes together.

People do want to look a certain way.  They want their dream body.  And they go out on social media and find people that have their "dream body" and hashtag shit like #physiquegoals related to these people.  Then because they have a desire to look like them, get lost in the delusion that this person somehow has the keys to the kingdom for them in regards to achieving that body.  They don't tell people they got ass implants, or that they take thyroid drugs or clenbuterol.  They say shit like "I eat pizza multiple times a week and you can too.  Stop believing you have to eat clean and be strict in order to achieve the body you want.  There's no difference in oreos and broccoli."

And people eat this shit up.  Pun intended.  Because it appeals to their belief that attaining something incredibly difficult can be done quite easily.  It appeals to the "softcore" masses.

And maybe it can be easily attainable, if you fall into that small percentage of people who had great parents that make it easy.  But for the other 99% it's going to take a lot of hard work, a great degree of suffering, and a lot more broccoli than fucking oreos.



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Why I hate John Meadows

If I so desired, I could probably write a novel that would rival the likes of Moby Dick to describe all the reasons I despise and hate John Meadows.  However, I don't have that kind of time nor the inclination to do so because it would just mean more publicity for someone who has caused a great deal of grief and misery in my life.  What I will do instead, is continue to pray to whatever God will listen, and that John gets blown up by rockets one day.

With that said, I can give you a high level overview of why I hate John, and why you should as well.

1.  John is a former banker - Do I really need to write any more than that at this point?  I could probably end this right here but I will continue anyway.

2.  John is really short - Short people always have attitude problems.  John is no exception to this, as you will come to learn.

3.  John grows shitty lamb chops out from time to time - I have no idea why he does this, other than the fact that I bet he thinks he looks like Wolverine when he does it.  My guess is he enters a contest for ugliest human alive on a periodic basis.

4.  John was in Forbes - This is true.  He was.  They lavished over his success as a banker (puke) and then his successful transition from banker to snake oil salesman and professional rip off artist via his Mountain Dog website, training, etc.

5.  John got his IFBB pro card - True, it only took him 189 shows to finally find one where the competition was so weak they were forced to give him one, but it did happen.

This is just a small list, and not even the top 5.  I could go on about his diva personality to the degree that he has a personal driver that chauffeurs him everywhere.  How he fans his farts in people's faces randomly, and has a slave labor camp in Cambodia filled with old women and small children who work for pennies a day to make pancakes for him.  But those are somewhat sophomoric in nature compared to so many other things that makes him scum of the Earth.

To give you a better glimpse into the dark heart that is John Meadows, let me tell you what it was like being around him for the better part of everyday for over a week in Australia.

Each morning I would meet him down for breakfast.  John would go on and on about the quality of eggs there, and lament how shitty eggs were back in the states compared to there.  He bought me breakfast a total of zero times, and then spent the morning talking in third person and insulting me for no reason.

For example...

Me - "Good morning, John."

John - "Don't say "good morning to John Meadows.  You say "greetings, sire!"

Me - "I'm not saying that."

John - "Fuck you, Paul.  I'm John Meadows.  The Mountain Dog.  Sit at that table over there until you can learn some respect."

Me - ".............................."

John - "These eggs are delicious.  Pay for my breakfast, bitch."

These were my general morning conversations with John...on a good day.  On a bad day, he'd try to hold me down with his short little snausage fingers and try to force me to smell his farts.  Luckily, I am stronger than John so I would break free and ask him what his fucking problem was.

I might be smiling here but on the inside I was dying

"My problem?  You're asking John Meadows what his problem is?  You don't ever ask the Mountain Dog what his problem is.  Pay for my breakfast, bitch."

Eventually, John left to go back to the states, thank God.  And the reign of terror finally came to an end.

After more than a year of serious therapy and counseling, I was able to move past that week of trauma and abuse and resumed a somewhat normal life.

Until lately, however.

John hit me up a few weeks ago, and I immediately took my lithium so as to make it through the conversation without a panic attack.

"Send John Meadows your address." he told me.

"John, my therapist said that probably isn't a good idea."

"The Mountain Dog has something to send you.  Now pay for my breakfast, bitch."

"John, I'm in Kansas City.  You're in Columbus.  I can't pay for your breakfast."

"Are you talking shit to The Mountain Dog right now?"

"No John, here, let me send you my address.  What are you sending me?"

"Some food bars."

I had no idea what a food bar was.  To me, that sounds like a place where fat people go to socialize.

A few days after this, I saw a post from Shelby Starnes where he said he had received said food bars and was highly addicted to them.  That he couldn't stop eating them.

At first I thought this was Shelby being dramatic.  However he's not one for dramatics so I easily came to the conclusion that John was sending me some form of a highly addictive substance.  Something that could easily ruin my life and have me doing unspeakable acts in piss filled alleys in order to get more these "food bars".

A few days later, a got a package that contained two boxes.  On the top of each one was a picture of John that looked like something out of a comic book.  Seeing John's image immediately caused both an anxiety attack and sudden nausea and I almost threw up all over the place.  But I practiced my deep breathing techniques until it passed, and then peeled the pictures off of the boxes so I could actually look at them long enough to open one.

Inside was what looked like a normal candy bar.

"Interesting" I thought.

I looked on the back and checked out the macros, and ingredients.  I looked up and down the contents of this "food bar" but did not see "crack cocaine" or "methamphetamines" listed anywhere.

I cracked this thing open, and took a bite.

I was not prepared for that.

Unlike most protein bars on the market, this thing really was delicious.  The texture was amazing.  And it was really moist.  Because as the name implies, it is made with real food.  So it has to be stored in the fridge.  A place as cold as John's black heart.

And also unlike the bars you normally get, that feel like you're eating a slab of pasty goo, these were soft.  Just like John's glutes in all those contests he took second place at.

What really hit me when I looked on the back, were the macros.  The first place my mind went was that was a perfect food about an hour before training.  Enough protein to initiate muscle protein synthesis,  just enough carbs as not to cause a blood sugar drop, and a solid amount of fats to slow down the digestion of them.

Perfect.

Combined with Muscle Intrusion from True Nutrition, this would be ideal in every way for my pre and peri workout stack.  I mean perfect.

I took a valium to relax my nerves and called John to let him know what a great product this was.

"John Meadows knows what a great product it is, bitch.  You think the Mountain Dog would make anything other than great product?" he told me.

I reiterated my thoughts about it being ideal for about an hour before training.

"You don't think I don't know that?  John Meadows knows all.  Buy my breakfast, bitch."

I went to respond to this however he abruptly hung up on me.  Which was fine as I could feel another anxiety attack coming on.

I instituted the food bar into my nutrition plan and along with the Muscle Intrusion I felt fantastic during training.  A really solid source of energy and I didn't feel overly full from eating it an hour out.  No stomach issues at all like a lot of protein bars gave me.

My main issue with them was that they were overly delicious.  And I wanted to eat many of them at a time.  Much like Shelby had talked about.  They really are that good.

If you follow up your training with some Rice Chex, almond milk, and 40 grams of whey protein you've literally got the perfect pre-peri-post workout food sources in place.

You can chalk up my addiction to these as another reason that I hate John Meadows.  Anyone who makes a protein bar taste this good must be an asshole.  After all, the market was already saturated with shitty tasting protein bars, so what was the purpose in making one that actually tasted great and was made with real food ingredients?

Seems pointless to me, but I will keep eating them until my prayers are answered and John gets blown up by military rockets.

If you're interested in adding these to your pre and peri workout habits, you can have a go at them in the linkage below.....

http://promos.bestbarever.com/mountain-dog/


http://truenutrition.com/p-4976-mpa-muscle-intrusion-30-servings.aspx



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