Tag performance

The Bottleneck: Breaking Through From National To Pro

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stock-footage-glass-bottle-pouring-water-into-blue-water-in-slow-motion

Every single year I watch nationally qualified competitors duke it out onstage in hopes of finally making it through the bottleneck and achieving Pro status. Some competitors get smacked down repeatedly, yet keep hitting the national circuit for so long that they must compete against new blood, further limiting their chances. There are times when I shake my head in wonder over the outcome of a national or Pro event when individuals who clearly should have been in first callouts were neglected. I know that feeling all too well because it has happened to me a number of times. Every year the national level events get bigger, which results in even more pressure and more competition to get through that level and into the big wide world of Pro status. When a competitor finally gets pushed out of the bottle and glides into Pro waters, he or she will bask in it, enjoying the victory, but the majority of Pro competitors soon discover that becoming a Pro doesn’t mean that life will become any easier. If anything, it becomes more difficult, because the bar is set much higher.
fish in a bowl
Those of us who compete live in a bubble. In fact, I will go as far as to say that when we escape the bottle, we end up in a fishbowl instead of open water. Please don’t interpret this to mean that I lack appreciation for being a Pro, because it is indeed a great honor. But the world at large is a vast ocean which bodybuilding leagues really don’t connect to, similar to the artificial environment which a bowl provides for a pet fish. Bodybuilding is its own world, and though I may love it, I also know that it won’t make me a superstar. Even the biggest bodybuilding legends (except for Arnold) don’t have the full global recognition which they deserve, because bodybuilding is such a niche industry. The only bodybuilders who are household names are the ones who became thespians.

I will admit that when I finally got my Pro Card (after 14 Pro qualifiers), I was relieved and ecstatic because I had finally reached a goal I had set for myself. However, I also fully realize that it wasn’t entirely up to me when or if I would ever get that card, so I always tried my best not to berate myself when I fell short of that Pro card goal. A number of competitors who have been on the national circuit for a very long time have built up a tremendous following on social media channels and have so much power and influence, yet they sell themselves short because they focus on the Pro Card chase as a singular goal. These are precious gems whose shine is only dulled by the disappointment they experience when the sport of bodybuilding edges them out of the winners’ circle.
diamond
If you have been competing for a very long time and are getting weary from slipping in national placings or just missing that Pro card too many times, it’s time to take a good look at where your passion truly lies. If your true passion lies directly in the experience of stepping onstage, then by all means continue. However, if you are broke, exhausted, sore and dejected, and you have a true passion beyond the stage for inspiring others to reach fitness goals, then why not BREAK the bottle and swim into the wide ocean? If you build a name, a brand, and a following, you can establish a presence in the real world which will enable you to impact others in the truest sense. In addition, you might stand to make some decent money from nurturing your passion for fitness. Honestly, how much money have you made from competing? Just saying.

Royal Sport Ltd. Ultra Clean 100 Whey Protein

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royalwhey
From the makers of Cellucor comes Royal Sport Ltd., a sports supplement line which is sold exclusively through GNC. Royal Sport Ltd. has a number of products in their lineup, but the newest product is the Ultra Clean 100 Whey Protein. Ultra Clean 100 is gluten free, and contains NO Yeast, NO Wheat, NO Preservatives, NO Added Sugars, NO Hydrogenated Oil, and NO Artificial Colors, Dyes, or Fillers. One scoop of this clean whey protein delivers 20 grams of protein and 100 calories per scoop. This protein mixes so beautifully well that I have NEVER had an issue with shaking it up in a mixer cup. You will never need to use a blender with this protein!

I have tried all of the flavors and truly love them all. They are:

Chocolate Cupcake – This is a very rich chocolate, and I absolutely love it. All you chocolate fiends out there will be very happy with this flavor!

Cinnamon Bun – I love the subtle hint of cinnamon which comes forth in this flavor. It’s not over the top, but you will definitely be able to taste the cinnamon as you drink this.

Vanilla Cream – This is a great vanilla, very creamy with excellent and true vanilla flavor.

Ice Cream Sandwich – This is my favorite flavor in the lineup. It reminds me exactly of the slow churned, super creamy, almost frothy consistency of the ice cream which is found in a really good, old-fashioned style ice cream sandwich. The mouth feel on this one is outstanding and definitely tricks your palate into believing that this is a decadent, fat laden ice cream shake.

I encourage you to try this fantastic protein!

I Will Be At The Muscle And Performance Booth At Olympia This Week!

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Muscle & Performance

Come to the 50th Anniversary of Olympia! I will be at the Olympia Expo on Friday, September 19th, and Saturday, September 20th, working at the AIM Publications booth, which features magazines like Muscle & Performance, Oxygen, MuscleMag, and Black Belt. Be sure to stop by to say hello, and get some free magazines!

2014-OLYMPIA

Here we are at the AIM booth from the Arnold Sports Festival earlier this year:

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And from last year’s Olympia:

Olympia 2013

Comedy And Tragedy

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robin-williams_1Robin Williams’ suicide brought attention to the depression that often strikes entertainers, but sadly, he wasn’t the first comedic genius to take his own life. Freddie Prinz died at the age of 22, and Richard Jeni died right before his 50th birthday, both from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Evidently, comedy can serve as an outlet for severe depression and psychosis, but the danger lies in the fact that making others people laugh can hide a dangerous secret.

I worked for Richard Jeni for over four years as his personal assistant, and as always blown away by his wit and his brilliance. Being a personal assistant required me to wear many hats, and it was not an easy job, especially when Rich was in one of his moods. He lived in a beautiful home in the Hollywood Hills which I had to maintain, and which, despite all of its creature comforts, always felt very empty. I helped Rich with everything from household related issues, to assistance with booking gigs and organizing travel, serving as his personal stylist, organizing recordings of sitcoms he studied, and traveling with him for Caroline’s Comedy Hour and one of his cable specials.

Rich never married and had no children, and I honestly couldn’t imagine him with a wife and kids because, he was frequently out of town on gigs, and HAD to have everything his own way. There were numerous times that I would find myself greeting a new girlfriend who suddenly was one of the fixtures in the house, only to see Rich’s outlook on life darken when the girlfriend eventually became the ex. I knew that though Rich was incredibly funny, and kept me in stitches when he would dictate his bits for me to transcribe, he was never happy. I knew so much about him, where he was born and raised, how he left law school to become a comic, what foods he wanted in his fridge at all times, what interior design aesthetic he preferred, where and how he wanted his clean laundry distributed, what wardrobe items he wanted me to scout out, etc., but I never knew the depths of his loneliness.

Though I quit working for Rich to embark on my medical education, we stayed in touch from time to time and in this way continued our friendship. The last time I had seen him was in 2005 when his cable special, “A Big Steaming Pile Of Me” premiered. He was paranoid and disjointed during the premiere, and exhibited bizarre behavior which turned out to be the early stages of paranoid schizophrenia.

I still remember seeing the headline on AOL News on March 11, 2007, which announced that Richard Jeni had shot himself in the face and was dead. It stunned me. It was also extremely strange to find out via the Internet, but with Rich’s modest celebrity status, it was appropriate. I still can’t fathom how he had come to the point where he took the gun and pointed the barrel at himself, but I also cannot understand how a family man like Robin Williams chose to wrap a belt around his neck and cut off his own life breath. Both deaths were tragic, unnecessary, and highlighted an insidious mental disease which lurks among people from all walks of life. No amount of money, success, or fame can ever guarantee the happiness of a human being.

In honor of Richard Jeni and Robin Williams, both of whom were brilliant comics, I am posting these videos for you to enjoy:

Spelling Champ

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Far Side SpellingI have been a excellent speller since early childhood, when I exhibited an intuitive sense of word structure. I still remember shocking my teachers during my very brief time in kindergarten (I was advanced to first grade at the age of five after a few weeks in kindergarten) by spelling the word SCISSORS correctly. Apparently my ability to spell this word was rare for my age, and from that point on, I earned the label of great speller. In the fourth grade, at the age of eight, I decided to learn the longest word in the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, and I remember it to this day. It is a 45 letter word which is synonymous with a coal miner’s lung disease. Here is the word I memorized:

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS

I was honestly fascinated with words and loved spelling them and investigating sentence structure as well. This continued throughout grade school, and by sixth grade, I was the kid to beat in the spelling contests my homeroom teacher Mrs. Mackenzie would conduct. The fact that I was unbeatable sparked a great deal of competitive energy in my classmates who wanted nothing more than to make me topple from my spelling perch. At the end of the school year, Mrs. Mackenzie hosted the grand finale spelling bee, which, instead of featuring candy as the grand prize, boasted a gold toned medal hanging from a red ribbon. The instant I saw the medal, a fire was lit inside me and I was determined to take the big title. On the big day, one student after another was defeated by words that proved too challenging for them to spell properly, and I stood there unfazed while they dropped out of the competition. Finally, it wound down to two of us: Martha Phelps and I stood across from each other, glaring daggers at each other. I could feel her anger seething from her, and could tell that she was out to destroy me. She was given a word, puffed out her chest, and began to spell it. F, A, C, E, I, OUS!

WRONG.

I almost jumped out of my skin, I was so excited. Mrs. Mackenzie turned to me. The word was mine to spell. F, A, C, E, T, I, O, U, S. Yes, I emphasized that T, rubbing it in like a smoker would rub out a cigarette on the sidewalk. It was like slow motion after that, when Mrs. Mackenzie turned to the table behind her, grabbed the medal, and handed it to me. A roar erupted as the students who had been standing around watching cheered for me.
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Martha was not nearly as pleased as the others were for my victory, and made her displeasure known by punching me in the gut after we had walked from the auditorium back to the classrooms. What a sore loser and a snotty little bitch.

My classmates mentioned my talent when they scribbled in my yearbook at the end of the year. Two girls who were exceptionally poor spellers wrote “spelling medle” and “spelling metal”, which gave me a chuckle. It was a very memorable year for me and I took great pride in achieving an academic pinnacle so early in life. I think it would be fair say my hunger for competing began with spelling bees.

Skip ahead to high school, during which time I served as a living spell-check for my best friend Diane. Diane would call, and after I would say “Hello?”, I would hear a word being uttered, after which I was expected to spell it. Then I would hear, “Thanks” and the conversation would usually come to a quick end. Sometimes Diane would tell me that she had looked up the word, but her spelling was so off the mark that she couldn’t locate the word she was trying to spell. This free best friend service was something I was always happy to do, and because I made myself so readily available with my knack for spelling, this amusing little ritual continued throughout college and beyond.
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To this day I am still asked by a number of good friends how to spell certain words, and I always oblige without any hesitation. It’s almost automatic for me, when a person asks me how to spell a word, to launch immediately into the spelling, as if I was in Mrs. Mackenzie’s class, standing at my desk, spelling until I was the only student standing. It’s how my brain is programmed and is better than an electronic spelling app!

Why I Love Attending Olympia Every Year

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2014-OLYMPIA

My non-fitness friends don’t see why I get excited about attending Olympia every year. They say that it looks like the same old thing every year, and to a certain extent it is. But there is something so powerful about getting bodybuilding greats to descend upon Las Vegas that I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world. The energy in the Expo Hall is incredible, and with so many of the world’s top competitors there to compete, I pick up on that buzz and enjoy it immensely. When I attend Olympia, I bump into so many friends in the industry that it serves as a regular reunion. This year in particular is a milestone because it marks FIFTY years of Olympia. This year’s Olympia will be televised, hopefully generating more interest from the mainstream and portraying bodybuilding in a favorable light.

From Olympia 2012

From Olympia 2012


I think I maintain a certain balance and guard against boredom at the Olympia by working a booth each year. I have been extremely fortunate to work with wonderful companies, representing great products, and I never run the risk of sensory overload that sometimes hits spectators who go up and down the aisles endlessly. I am happy to stay within the confines of my booth, handing out product and talking to fans, friends and attendees. One disadvantage is that I rarely get enough time to explore the Expo and have to plan out which booths I need to visit during my lunch break on each day, but the list has gotten smaller over time as a result of my more established name and a different objective for visiting the booths. I used to visit booths to get myself on the fitness map, but now I visit booths to see friends and conduct meetings, so I am much more focused.

The noise in the Expo hall can be deafening at times, but I love it because it is reflective of the energy that builds up. People in the industry are very bold about showing their excitement and passion. There is no restraint at the O! At the end of each Expo day, my feet are sore, my legs are tired, my forearms are cut up from the magazines I pass out to people, and my voice is hoarse, but I absolutely love it. You better believe I will be back at the O next year and for many years to come.

Royal Sport Ltd. Burn Review

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RS Burn
Burn is Royal Sport Ltd.’s thermogenic fat burner, but it also has water shedding properties thanks to cranberry, dandelion, and holy basil. This fat burner is more stripped down than others on the market, providing a cleaner option for individuals who still want the effects but with fewer ingredients. Burn contains caffeine anhydrous, bitter orange extract, N-acetyl-L-tyrosine, niacinamide, cyanocobalamin, cocoa seed extract, and griffonia. The result is a capsule which provides sustained energy without jitters or increased heart rate.

RS Burn IngredientsI have tried a LOT of fat burners on the market. A few are notorious for producing jitters, dizziness, headaches, or nausea, but some people tolerate them quite well and prefer a wired, zingy effect. Most people, however, prefer to take a fat burner which produces a sustained boost in energy that doesn’t clobber them over the head. The best way to describe the way that Burn makes me feel is to compare it to a very smooth plane takeoff, a flight with zero turbulence, and a smooth landing on the tarmac. Even when I take a second capsule of Burn, I never run the risk of getting the jitters.

All in all, Burn is a great product for providing a boost of energy that is completely manageable and pleasant, along with a great sense of well-being and excellent focus.

Royal Sport Ltd. Target Review

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Target is a supplement made by Royal Sport Ltd. which is designed to control appetite and cravings, elevate mood and promote weight loss. It contains Garcinia Cambogia, Green Coffee Bean Extract, Raspberry ketones, and Griffonia. It can be stacked with other products in the Royal Sport line for enhanced results. I have only used this product alone, and personally haven’t noticed much in the way of fat loss, but my food cravings are almost completely eliminated, which I hadn’t expected at all. I honestly think that, for me, Target would work best when stacked with other products in the Royal Sport line because my body is just acting stubborn. However, many people have reported amazing results while using Target alone, proving that what works for some people might not work for others.

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I love the fact that Target is stimulant free yet offers fat loss and metabolic benefits for people who want to push themselves over the edge and reach their fitness and wellness goals. It’s certainly worth adding Target to a weight loss or fat loss regimen!

One last thing: I ADORE Royal Sport packaging! It’s low key yet distinctive, and it features my favorite color! I love the rubberized lids too.