Pat Wilson: Strength Camp Sponsored Strongman

When I opened Strength Camp, my warehouse gym in Florida, little did I realize that besides being a place for me to train and to train athletes that it would become a — “Man Cave” of sorts.

Now, I really do hate this term… “Man Cave”, because it assumes that men are nothing more than post modern neanderthals in need of a place to hide from doting women and an oppressive society.   I use the term only because of its recent popularity (along with the televisons portrayal of men as either lazy, dumb-asses like Homer Simpson or as aggressive, testosterone driven competitors who cheat on their wives like Tiger Woods).

Where is popular cultures example of the courageous and responsible man who lives an upright and integrous life?

Anyway, today’s post was not meant for one of my manic rants.

Today I would like to introduce you to one of the neanderthals that train with me in my Man-Cave gym… a place where men can lift heavy things, spit, cuss and have pissing contests without the distractions of “skinny jeans” or Ellen Degeneres”.

Meet Strength Camp’s newest sponsor:

Pat “Young Beast” Wilson

LW Strongman Competitor

Age 19 yrs. old (no shit!)

Ht - 5′11

Wt. 243

Pat just wooped ass in The SW Florida Strongman Event and has been training at Strength Camp with me and a few other strong  boys looking to snatch up some trophies, pro cards and world records next month at The Strongman Show Of Champions in Orlando FL (4/16 - 4/17)

Check out some of Pat’s prowess as he moves heavier things, faster and farther than his competitors. Strongman — What a great sport!?!?!

Hey! — If you have any awesome (and I mean AWESOME) videos of you or someone you know training like a maniac with Strongman implements send them to me at strengthcamp@gmail.com and I may post them here on the blog.

Also, if you are a strongman beast (and I mean a BEAST)… let me know about your upcoming competition and I’ll send you some Strength Camp t-shirts to rock.  All I ask is that you send me some pictures and videos of you kicking butt with while wearing our shirt.

Have a great weekend!

Strongman Training Journal part 6

“Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”

-Edward Bernays, Pioneer of Corporate PR and Propaganda

Embracing Minimalism, Why Less Is Really More

My parents raised me and my 3 siblings in Middle Class neighborhood on Long Island.  My mom was a nurse and my dad a mechanic.  They earned enough to provide an above average lifestyle for my siblings and I.  We went on vacations and each got a car when we earned our driver’s license (usually a car that my dad salvaged from the auto shop and fixed for us to drive, but a car none the less).

Although they could well afford it, there were some things that my parents just would not purchase for us.  One such commodity was “Cable Television”.  In a time when every house on the block had an enormous satellite dish sitting on the roof or some form of high tech signaling device that brought 300 + channels into their homes… we had a wire antenna.

Unlike the endless amount of channels that the Super Satellite Dishes provided for its users, our antenna gave us seven channels –  Channel 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC) , 5 (FOX), 7 (?), 9(?), 11 (WB), 13 (PBS).

Our house was by far the biggest and most well kept house on the block.  My father loves to garden so he would spend all weekend manicuring his lawn and planting shrubs (sometimes people would stop their cars when was working and ask if they could hire him, not realizing that he wasn’t just the “brown skinned man keeping the property” but the OWNER of the estate!).  So visiting friends and neighbors would present us with a perplexed, head tilted to the left, squinty eyed look when we told them that we didn’t have Cable Television.

“Your parents are rich and you have this huge TV, why the heck don’t you have any CHANNELS?!?!” – our friends, in all of their 9 year old wisdom would ask.  And when my brothers and I would pose my father with the same exact question, his answer was simply… “I just don’t think you need it.”

What exactly DO we need?

Well, if your like most Americans (or from any industrialized country) what you think you “need” has been conditioned deep into your consciousness by the “invisible government” that Mr. Bernays describes in the quote at the top of this post.  Our REAL needs actually consist of very little.  We need clean, healthy, nutritious foods; we need clean water; we need clothing for our body; we need adequate shelter; we need a mode of transportation; we need happy, functional relationships, and to be fully self actualize we need to find a form of self expression and service.

As far as REAL needs are concerned, they are few and far between.

But with concern for CONDITIONED needs enforced upon us by society, marketers and government… the list is endless!

According to the primary educator of American adults and children (the Television) we NEED — a newer car, a bigger plasma TV, nicer clothes, fancier furniture, a bigger wrist watch, $300 sunglasses, an iPhone, apps, a faster computer, stylish shoes, expensive jeans with holes in it, 6 pack abs, a tighter face, a tummy tuck, bigger lips, boobs and pecs, less body hair, a credit card or 12, Tickle Me Elmo, vaccinations, penis enhancement pills, longer eye lashes, to last longer in bed, a hotter wife, children who are “gifted”, crown moldings, bigger tires on your tuck, 2 sinks in your bathroom, Blue Ray stuff, to see the latest movie, to know about the latest news, to know about Brad and Angelina, have obnoxiously white teeth, ringtones, to look like the kid in the vampire movies, to be taller, to have smaller ankles, $100 t-shirts, skinny jeans, birth control pills, to take more aspirin, drink more red wine and to give to the Red Cross… this list can literally go on for days! — and if you don’t have anxiety from just reading this very short list, then assume you’ve been well indoctrinated… congratulations!

The fact is that EVERYONE is telling you exactly what you need to have, be and do. But how often do we stop, assess the situation and ask ourselves… What Do I REALLY need? (or value)

When I was in college I used to watch Rap videos with P-Diddy and Notorious BIG throwing huge parties on their yacht while dozens of beautiful women were grabbing at their expensive jeans while falling into a hypnotic trance by staring at the glittering diamonds embedded in the rappers teeth and watches… a $1,000 bottle of champagne in everyone’s hand — THIS, to me, was exactly what I wanted!!  What a picture perfect example of how life should be lived!

As I’ve matured (into my old, wise 30’s) I find that much of what I once longed for has lost its appeal. The idea of having to please several women and once (I can barely keep my 1 wife happy), while trying to keep my $10,000 suit free from marijuana blunt smudge, just sounds like too much of a headache to me now-a-days.

Of course I am over-exaggerating, but the fact is that for most of what I (and most of “us”) should be striving towards I have come to adopt my fathers simple sentiment that, “I just don’t think you need it.”

If you are currently of the conditioned mindset that I and Mr. Bernays describe above, what I am describing sounds like blasphemy! — “What are you Elliott?, some sort of a Communist?”

When in truth I have become so enamored with the idea and value of FREEDOM that I am terrified of the idea that someone else may be able to dictate my emotions to such a degree that I would alter that natural trajectory of my God-given life in order to fulfill false obligations that I truly have…. no need for.

Minimalism is the NEW Abundance!

It’s a paradox… “the paradox of plenty”!  It seems the more material possessions we have, the more information we are fed and the more choices we get… the more depressed we become.

<<Watch the video below, you may need to turn the volume up!>>

Now, don’t get me (or Jack) wrong here… I am all for enjoying the “chocolate frosting” of life but what often happens is that in our pursuit for the “frosting” we ignore the entire CAKE, the foundation upon which the frosting can be appreciated.  And if you have ever eaten frosting by itself you have surly experience the overwhelming sweetness that practically turns sickening after a few bites, followed by a massive sugar rush and subsequent crash.  You are left with nothing more than a  3 second memory of sweetness followed by a stomach ache, pounding head, and irritability.

Before we set our path in the direction of the “sweetness” so often portrayed as real nourishment by popular culture and media, lets first fulfill our TRUE needs to their fullest capacity.  This will allow for a much deeper and profound sense of stability and meaningfulness.

I invite you to consider…

Instead of taking on a new car payment (an unnecessary desire) => Spend $200 a month on Grass Fed Organic Beef (fulfilling a REAL need for clean, healthy food)

Instead of spending on new, in-fashion shoes and clothing => Spend $1000 on a whole home water filtration system (fulfilling the need for clean, unpolluted, fresh water)

Instead of buying thousands of dollars worth of useless toys for your children on “Black Friday” => Sign your family up for a local mission trip or donate your time, talent or treasure to hungry, handicap children (fulfilling a need to serve, contribute, and tribal association)

Instead of watching American Idol or 24 all weekend on your Tivo => Join a ballroom dance class with your wife or audit a college course (fulfilling a need for creativity and mental / physical growth)

Instead of self medicating with caffeine to increase energy and alcohol to relax => Start exercising in its various forms and read a relaxing book or learn how to meditate (fulfilling the need for healthy physical and mental stimulation).

By no means am I trying to manipulate your thinking to match mine (like the invisible government) but what I aim to establish in you is an awakening to the choices we make, why we make them, do we really value them, and ultimately to choose to spend our time and money on the things that we TRULY need.

As you experiment with this type of awareness, a funny thing typically happens.  What you’ve always thought you wanted, all the things you’ve worked so ambitiously towards… start to lose their appeal.  Dancing on yachts with half naked women while spilling champagne all over ourselves begins to sound — a little — silly.

When you’ve taken the time to asses and fulfill your TRUE needs to their fullest capacity (I say “fullest capacity”, because many will say, “I have food!”, yet skim milk, cereal and Checker’s can hardly be considered food) you’ll find that you’re very, very happy… with very, very little.

Strongman Training Journal Part 5

REAL Happiness (and training).

6 weeks ago when I started writing this journal and titled it my “Strongman Training Journal”, I’m pretty sure you figured that I’d be talking a heck of a lot more about training.  You probably assumed that I’d be outlining exercise reps and sets as well as how to perform what exercises and when.

Well, it’s true that my original intent for this journal was to teach you about my training plans, programs, tricks and tips.  But, if you’ve ever met me or listen to any of my “rants” you understand that I ALWAYS probe several layers deeper when trying to understand or relate a concept.  So in order for me to produce a background or frame of understanding for you to truly grasp my training methods, I thought it was important that you first understand what my innermost convictions and values are.

Elliott, what the heck do Core Values, Convictions and  Principles have to do with lifting heavy shit?

Everything! — You probably know that I am a strength coach / personal trainer that helps men and athletes realize their sports and fitness goals at my gym.  So, for over 10 years I have been in a position to observe and support people on their way to a “Fractioned Self-Realization”.  What I mean by “fractioned” is that when I aim at helping someone lose weight or gain muscle mass or jump higher, I have traditionally attempted this by manipulating their external environment with little regard for their intrinsic motives (ie. what they really want).

What EVERYONE really wants, no matter what they say or how they go about achieving it is To Be Happy!  If you probe deep enough you will learn that the person who wants to lose weight really just wants to be happy.  At first their answers may sound something like, “I want to lose weight so that I can find a hot wife.” But if you keep asking why? - you may get something like, “So we can have lots of great sex.” then, “So my parents will see that I am really not just a fat loser” and, “So I can share my life with someone I love.” and ultimately, “So I can be happy.”

Here’s the funny thing about happiness… you can choose to be happy at any time and under any condition.

In his book, “Man’s Search For Meaning”, holocaust survivor Victor Frankel describes how he met a deep and profound JOY while staring at a cold bowl of water with some fish bones swimming it, while at a Nazi concentration camp!  If Dr. Frankel could find happiness while eating a meal unfit for even the ugliest dog, after being striped of all his clothes, belonging, children and wife… then I think someone living in San Diego who is upset about his beer belly can find happiness in his circumstances too.

Here is my point… before any of us can make a meaningful physical or outer transformation, we must first commit to and strive relentlessly for an inner transformation.  — Jesus once ranted (and he is THE best ranter ever!), “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But wash first what is inside of the cup, and everything will be clean for you.

His point is this… if you seek to be new, better, different, less fat, holy, whatever… it would be far more effective to begin the “cleaning” process from the inside rather than the outside.  Consider, it is easy to clean the outside of a cup without cleaning the inside, just wipe around it with a wet towel.  But, it is much harder to clean the inside of a cup without at least getting some of the outside clean as the rag and water touches it.

To become happy we must seek FULL self-actualization!  If we start with a fractioned method for reaching true happiness, we will always come up short.  Full self-actualization means an inner and therefore an outer transformation.

If you want to look stronger, first BE stronger; if you want to look prettier, BE pretty; if you want happiness, BE happier!  The magic is in the BE-ing first and the DO-ing second.  We all want to know the “blueprint” for success!   I know because I’ve been there, I wanted someone to tell me what to DO?  How should I DO it?  What do I DO next?

I get e mails everyday from people who want me to tell them what to DO so that they can lose weight or gain muscle mass or run faster.  And every answer I give is fractioned… it is only 1/2 true.  What I really want to tell them is that they need to TRANSFORM… become someone else, become born again, new from the inside first.  But I would never sell any e-books if I said that — people just don’t like that answer.

My Renewed Power Plan For Strongman (sports) Achievement

Last year I was an amateur strongman competitor, this year I am a Professional Strongman.  My title shifted from amateur to Pro in the worldly sense but change of title did not automatically bring about the shift in consciousness` associated it… in fact, I’ve been scared shitless!  These guy I now compete against are good, very, very good!  And many of them a lot stronger than I am.

So, I know that going about my lifestyle and training in the fashion that yielded results last year will not be good enough this time around.  As you can imagine my new plan begins with “inner training” first, followed by what exercises, when and for how many reps.

Inner Training balanced with Outer Training

If you look at the image above, most of it is pretty self-explanatory. To the left is my “cleaning the inside of the cup” training  and on the right is an out line for my “outside of the cup training” So, instead of going into great detail for each one (I can probably write an entire post about each) I am going to share some of my thoughts on something that has been a topic of contemplation for me lately…

Failure

I once heard that, “you can know the success of a man by the amount of times he has failed.” This basically affirms my conviction that there is NO such thing as failure.

People are often shocked that I post videos of myself FAILING at some of my lifts in training, I am even more shocked that these are some of my most viewed and commented on videos on YouTube. — Watch these 2 short videos of me getting my ass kicked by some massive weights below.

When we fail at attempting ANYTHING, we are then armed with incredible feedback about how we can go about our next attempt.

When you saw me drop that 370 pound stone, I didn’t simply fail… I learned that my hip flexors were too tight at the time and didn’t allow for the hip extension that is necessary for me to move the stone higher.  And when I nearly severed me legs from my body by dropping that 355 pound log… I learned that I need to lock my elbows faster when dipping under the log so fast.

My next competition is my first professional competition.  It is in Orlando on April 16th and 17th.  I intend to win.  I always intent to win.  But if I “fail” I have come to grips with the fact that it is strictly feedback for me to adjust my course for my next attempt.  The only real failure is quitting.  And whats even worse , is not even trying.

I have a question for you this week. Feel free to post your response below, but if you don’t please take the time to reflect on it anyway.  Think about it when you are alone and can really focus.

Question - “What would you attempt, in any area of your life, if you absolutely knew with 100% certainty  that you couldn’t fail?”

Now, when you’ve got a nice long list of things that you would attempt if you couldn’t fail… consider the following. — THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE… only feedback.

Strongman Training Journal Part 4

My parents are from Belize.  It’s a small, poor, country in Central America that, like most Latin American countries, is poverty stricken.  My father grew up in a house with dirt floors and my mom relates stories about the cockroaches that shared a bed with her.

So, as my parents embarked on the American Dream of raising a family and owning a home…  they went FAR beyond the typical 3rd World immigrants expectations and purchased a HUGE house on Long Island.  This is where they raised me and my 3 siblings.

As did most suburban families, my parents would take us on short vacations once or twice per year.  Usually to places like The Jersey Shore and The Catskill Mountains.  We always stayed in moderate hotels and mostly ate food that was purchased at a local supermarket or prepared by my mom.  This was awesome! and I am eternally grateful to my parents for providing us these experiences.

BUT… there was one type of vacation that practically ALL suburban families would take that my parents were adamantly against.  My parents would never, ever, under any condition consider taking us camping. For my dad, the thought of returning to the dirt floor to sleep and for my mom to again share her covers with insects was appalling!

My dad would say, “Why the hell do you think we worked so hard to come to America?  — So that we can buy an expensive house and then have our children sleep out-of-doors?”

I totally understood… that’s why we (my brothers and sister) never really made a press to go on camping trips.

Buuuut, as the “King of my own castle”… my kids get the honor of resting their heads upon dirt mounds, amongst the wild life, out-of-doors, in the freezing cold!

We went on our 2nd family camping trip last week… as a part of my commitment to “spend less time working like a mad man”, I forced myself to shut off the Blackberry and leave my laptop at home in order to spend 6 days living outside with my 4 women (and the surprise bun-in-the-oven).

Below is a 5 minute video of us doing…. nothing.  Just sharing some sugar and talking about non-sense… just the life I’ve envisioned.

Honestly, I wouldn’t expect you to watch this video… it’s actually pretty boring (unless you love kids).  But I post it here anyway, perhaps as a means to show you that I am making good on my goals and promises for 2010.

*** If you are shocked that my children are eating smores… understand that they are allowed sugar only about once a week.  AND the majority of their diet consists of grass fed, organic meats, veggies and LOTS of whole eggs!  My children literally fight over who is going to get the first dose of Cod Liver Oil every evening… and even more strange is that my 5 year old has no clue who Ronald McDonald is!  (this is also a product of limited TV time)

Think Strong Thoughts!

Like I mentioned earlier my parents are from Belize.  Most of my dad’s siblings lived with him in a small apartment in Brooklyn when the moved to “the states” and my mom was forced to live with he aunt and 7 cousins. Less than a welcomed guest, my mother earned her stay by spending her weekends at the laundry-mat washing shopping carts full of dirt laundry.  She had no social life and spent her days “looking after” her little brother and cousins.

My father is a dreamer and a pragmatist.  With an ever optimistic view on life and rugged discipline he has cultivated what I call his “Iron Will”.  He thinks about what he wants and NEVER settles for anything less.  In fact, when he decided to buy a massive home on Long Island in an “all white” community, not only did the neighbors look upon him with contempt and disapproval… so did his own family!  Everyone (including my mom) thought he was crazy… but in his own words, he didn’t “give a shit” what anyone else said, he WAS going to buy this house!

Not only does my father THINK strong, he is tirelessly DISCIPLINED!  He understands the eternal law that states, “ask and you will receive” as well the old Quaker saying, “Pray and move your feet.“  Clarity, Commitment and Discipline are the qualities that construct his Iron Will.

My parents with my sister and her son.

Clarity

I once heard it said that, “Most people are wandering generalities instead of meaningful specifics.”  And again, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”  (If you couldn’t tell, I love quotes!)

If you ask most people, especially miserable people, “what exactly do you want?”… they usually have NO idea.

This is the first stumbling block towards to fulfilling life.  If you are not 100% clear about what you VALUE, then you will never be content.  Even if you’ve achieved so-called worldly success… if what you have accomplished is not in line with your inner most convictions about what is right and good, you will remain unhappy.

When my father talks about something that he wants (and today it’s usually an intangible goodness), he uses his entire body, hands and face to describe it (if you’ve ever watched me talk you’ll know what I mean :)).  When he’s relaying his VISION to you, it’s as if it is already here and he is showing it to all to you down to it’s last detail.  It’s incredible!

As an adult I now understand, the reason why my father got what he wanted, has the type of family that he wanted, and lives the life that he wants to…. is because he is always very clear and passionate about his desires.

Also, and this is very important, he is NEVER stressed out about anything.  As passionate and aggressive as he is, nothing really ever gets under his skin!  Worry never stops him or slows his mission.  He has an almost child-like sense of confidence and optimism.  If things don’t work out as he planned it… he sets his project aside and takes a nap.  His sleep is never interrupted by anxiety or depressive thought.

This is very important to understand.  Knowing what you want with super-clarity is critical, but you must also develop the peace of mind that allows you to set aside all distractions (and there will be many) as you move towards your hearts desire.

Commitment

I have recently shifted my desires from material things (and I really didn’t desire much material stuff prior to this shift anyway) to VALUES or ideals and VIRTUES or character traits.  In previous journal posts I relayed how important time and freedom, as values, were to me.

Most people would agree that these are good things to value and that we would be well off structuring our lives in order to maximize our ability to cultivate these values…. just like any other goal, material or intangible.   But what made my statement about these goals CONCRETE was that I chose specific steps and took immediate actions towards making them a reality.

The act of drawing my “Leverageable Business Model” and marking my 2010 calender with the 8 weeks where I’ve forced my myself not to work (and go camping) set my mind, as well as the powerful unseen forces of our universe (ie. God) to work in my favor to bring this ideal into reality.  This, in the same fashion that my father stated, “I don’t give a shit what anyone says… I’m going to buy this house.” over 30 years ago!

When you “burn the boats” (see the video below) you destroy any opportunity, in your mind and then reality, to backslide.  You slam the door behind you SHUT and never, ever consider turning back to face it.  That option no longer exists.  You are 100% committed, with out a single fraction in your consciousness, to MAKE what your heart’s desire a reality.

“10,000 Angels” will come to your aid…

Discipline

Brian Tracey once said that “disciple is the glue that hold your dreams together.”  He also said that in order to cultivate it, you must consistently do what you need to do, whether you feel like it… or not.

I have to be honest with you… this particular VIRTUE is at the top of my list for character traits that I aim to strengthen.  I have my father’s capacity to dream with clarity and I have a semi-dangerous ability to commit wholeheartedly (this explains a part of my talent as a football player… everyone knows that you’ve to to commit to smacking the shit out of your opponent or you’ll be the one on the stretcher).

But, when it comes to the “daily grind”… I have had the tendency to drift.  I am sure that you would agree that it is in the “carrying out” of our plan that most of us fall short.  Yet, it is precisely THIS capacity that “glues your dream together”.  The day-in, day-out, mindless, emotionless commitment to DO exactly what you have set out to do… weather we feel like it or not.

Most of us would agree that the temptation for achievement in absence of disciple pervades every aspect of our lives.  People want to lose weight, but they don’t exercise EVERYDAY.  People want better families, yet they fail to tell them how much they love and appreciate them EVERYDAY.  People want to make more money, but they fail to serve others EVERYDAY.

The magic is in the EVERY-DAYS.

Super Virtues

Aristotle is often considered the Father of Modern Western Philosophy.  It has been said that for the past 5,000 years, all philosophy has simply been footnotes to Aristotle.

Well, according to the father of western philosophy… “An intelligent being can only be happy if it acts virtuous.”

If I had to pick only 3 virtues that, if practiced and cultivated, would bring about the most happiness and success in the lives of those who made them goals… they would be CLARITY, COMMITMENT, and DISCIPLINE.  These are the Super Virtues.

My father came to this country in the early 70’s with nothing but his “Iron Will”, the combination of clarity (knowing exactly what he wanted), commitment (staking his claim with an immovable mindset) and discipline (even today he awakes at 4:45 am in order to exercise and train his body for everlasting health).

With his “Iron Will” as his only asset, he built a life that he often smiles and “cackles” a giddy laugh about.  He sits at the head of his living room table and propounds in his wise, yet child-like way that, “Life is pretty awesome.”

He was “poor” in flesh but rich in spirit and now swims in the warm waters of his dreams.

Most of us have been born into relative affluence.  We have food, clothes and cars… yet we are miserable.

And guess what? — It’s our own fault.

We are responsible for our thoughts, thus we are responsible for our words, our words dictate what types of actions we’ll take, our repetitive actions become our habits… these habits become our character.

Your “outer life” is a mirror reflection of your character, the values and virtues you’ve chosen to cultivate, or not.

Strongman Training Journal part 3

All men of discernment would agree that… Our outer lives are a mirror reflection of our inner lives; or we become what we THINK about most of the time.

This fact has been repeated by men of wisdom for countless generations.  Jesus constantly scolded his students reciting, “Oh ye of little faith!”, every time they considered outer appearances and circumstances rather than their (and our) divine capacity to see God’s reality broadcast live directly into our very cells of existence via the most complex satellite dish ever created… The Brain.

Before I describe my position on brain conditioning and mental reprogramming for the purpose of fulfilling our TRUE life’s potential and bringing our Ideal into full existence, I will relay my convictions and position on the ever debatable topic of, God and The Station of Man.

What Is God and Who Are We?

God is Omnipresent, meaning that He is everywhere at once… not limited by time or space.   From the tiniest, most microscopic electron to the largest most magnificent and complex galaxies in the universe, EVERYTHING is infused with the esoteric power which I am referring to as God.

Because I am referring to this entity as “God” does not meant I am attached to names or forms any more than a nursing baby refers to her source of life as “Mama”or “Baba” (I’ve got a 1 year old at home).  If the name Mommy was preferred over Mama, it would have zero effect on the entity that gives life… it still exists and is not only the Creator but the Sustainer of vitality for the baby.   Call It what you will, but understand that our existence is intrinsically tied to It… It is us and we are It.

To further elaborate, as ridiculous as it would be for a fish to deny the existence of water would be for man to deny the existence of God.  Fish can not SEE the water, in fact there would be very little reason for fish to consider the existence of water, since for most of its life the water is in them and all around the fish.  It’s the life giver, sustainer and provider of life for the fish.  The only way the fish might know that water exists is if he is removed from it.

Because the entity which I describe as God is “closer to us than our life vein.”, it is very easy to take it for granted.  But the fact is that we are surrounded by God in the same fashion that the fish is surrounded by water, and we are constantly communicating with our Source and He is constantly responding (whether we’re satisfied with the response or not).  He knows what we need and want even before we can verbalize it.

To observe God and study his pattens, or to immerse yourself in the reading and research of “Wisdom Literature”, as can be found in several ancient texts including The Bible, will give you a better understanding of the Principles and Laws that govern our lives and the universe.

This, in my opinion is the most essential of all studies we can undertake.  As Albert Einstein propounded, “I want to know the mind of God, everything else it just details”, it is clear that this is the SCIENCE of life.  (everything else is just details)

As for “The Station Of Man”… well, we’re pretty cool! — You see, unlike the plants and animals who are governed by instinct and have a genetic blueprint for the pattern of their lives, we can choose. As we are “made in the likeness and image of God”, we are not only Creatures… we are Creators.  Our capacity to choose and create is bestowed by the direct communication with God that we have been granted through the spirit and into our bodies via The Brain (and nervous system).

The brain acts as a switching station that translates communication received from God and the spirit world, as well as a means of relaying our wishes and desires back to God and the spirit world. We benefit from listening to God because He wrote all of the rules to this game we are playing called Life.  When we listen to God, it’s like having the creator of the game and a coach that wants to see you win, all wrapped up in one, sitting by your side and constantly giving you tips and course corrections.

How do you know when your Cosmic Coach is talking to you?  — You FEEL it in your body!

How To Hear God Talking To You

Our nervous system and hormones shift to produce a contortion or feeling in our body that is consistent with the message being received from the spirit.  This explains why some people feel neck pain or clench their jaw when they experience repressive stress… the nerve bundle, called a vortex, that projects from the spinal chord into the neck, shoulders, and jaw is connected to an area in the brain or nervous system that is associated with creative communication and expression.

Your body has several of these “vortexes” and each acts as a messenger to the body with communication from your spirit or God,  each one associated with a particular feeling or emotion.  Another example is low back pain; the nerve vortex located in the low back and legs are associated with feelings of safety and security.  When our safety is challenged (which it is every day via fear mongering expressed on the TV and media) this nerve bundle will TELL you by restricting the positive and vital energies to that area… creating back pain that not even your surgeon can explain.

(Used with permission from The CHEK Institute)

The most obvious “holler” that God shouts in our direction is that of Depression.  We all feel depressed at times and this is normal and natural.  But sustained depression in most cases can be traced back to one of 2 things that God is trying to relay to us.  First, consider that you may NOT be doing a thing that you know you should be doing –OR– you may be DOING a thing that you feel you shouldn’t be doing.  Examples of these could be anything from telling a friend the truth about his new girlfriend, to continuing in a job that you hate.

It is though “feeling” or intuition that God talks to us… not with some deep voice projected over a cosmic loud speaker when you are down on your knees reciting some sad, pathetic prayer.  The problem is that most of us have been numbed from these “feelings” due to: ignoring them for so long that they’ve grown faint, and being “high” on pain pills, SSRI medication, alcohol, drugs and caffeine.   Our communication systems are JAMMED!

The wonderful thing is that we can ALWAYS choose to become more receptive to the voice of God, and when we do we’ll once again have the creator of the game and coach that wants you to win guiding your every step.

How Do We Talk To God?

Whether you know it or not, you are constantly giving God feedback and demands via your thoughts.  One of the responsibilities that comes with our ability to choose is that God is pretty neural about your decisions.  He gives you warnings and advice about how to proceed in different circumstances but once you have launched a particular action (and thoughts are action) the steadfast rules will always apply.

Just like if you jump out of the 12th story window of an office building the LAW of gravity dictates that you WILL hit the ground… and hard!  — the law of “Sowing & Reaping” dictates that whatever you give, you will receive in equal fashion.  The only difference is that the law of gravity is immediate and obvious and the law of Sowing and Reaping (or The Law of Attraction) takes time to manifest… but, manifest it will!

So, if we are constantly communicating with God via thoughts the we SOW and he is ALWAYS prepared to answer, wouldn’t make sense that we should only THINK thoughts that are consistent with what we believe to be right and good?  Why then would we CHOOSE to focus our thoughts on fear, anxiety, doom and lack?

The answer is that we have been CONDITIONED to focus on fear.  If you pay attention to the Outer World (popular culture and media) you will be bombarded with messages convincing you that ” you don’t have enough”, “things are bad and only going to get worse”, “you should be worried for your children”, “you should be scared about the economy”, “you need to be afraid for your health.”

Fear is a powerful control mechanism, and world leaders, governments and marketers understand this.  The cry, “Something MUST be done about this!” is music to the ears of those who seek to control you.  Just look at all of the personal rights and liberties that were silently stripped from us post 9/11.  We (Americans) were scared and “something had to be done!”… and things aren’t much different now that “something must be done about the economy”.

We live in a fear-based world that is trying to control us with fear.  This is why it is ever so important to GUARD YOUR MENTAL INTEGRITY!  The first step in eliminating fearful and demeaning thought is to eliminate its source, and for most of us it means turning off the TV and stop talking with negative people. 

If you don’t guard your mind from allowing those negative thoughts into your consciousness then you WILL be SOWING the very seeds of your deepest fears… and the God who has given us choices and responsibility will respond  by giving your EXACTLY what you are asking him for.

The next step is to consciously and purposefully plant positive seeds in your mental garden.  This is done in the from of Prayer, Mediation, Affirmation and Visualization.

As I’ve run out of mental gas — I will continue next time with the exact methods that I use to Guard My Mind and the consciously plant positive seeds so as to communicate and receive from God everything that I know to be right and good.

How To Build An Unbreakable Body

Last week I was fortunate enough to get Keith Scott “The Unbreakable Man” on the phone for a 30 minute interrogation where I drilled him for information and secrets that  will allow you to finally Take charge of your physical potential and health once and for all as you:

* Finally, say goodbye to your physical pain. Discover how you can eliminate your physical pain with simple exercises you can do at home.

* Dominate your game or sport, shatter records in the weight room, take back your life! Whatever your game is, reset your body to be physically dominant. With this program, you will set yourself up to dominate on the court, field, gym or in your daily life!

* Leave ineffective physical therapy sessions, endless consumption of Advil, and doctor visits behind forever. This system will allow you to take full control of your physical potential and health. Within one session, you will feel your pain start to go away fast!

* Stop ignoring your pain and physical problems and take back your life. With the corrective exercise programs and specialized “plug-ins” you can start to fix yourself, prevent new injuries, and feel better than you have in years.

* Shatter previous strength plateaus and enhance your full-body strength beyond anything you have done before. With this full, totally balanced, 16-week strength program you will realize outstanding full-body strength increases like you never imagined before. Whether it is in the gym or in daily life, strength is key to being and staying healthy and doing the things you want!

* Never miss a workout or training session again, because of injuries or painful joints. This program will ensure that you get healthy, and never have to miss a workout because of injuries or pain again!

* Burn fat, build muscle, sculpt the body of your dreams and feel like a million bucks! This plan will enable you to blow torch off unwanted fat, pack on heaps of muscle, and attain your dream body, while fixing your issues and keeping your body healthy.

Click The Player Below To Listen To The Interview:

 

==> Click Here To Learn More About Keith and How To Become Unbreakable <==

Strongman Training Journal part 2

Beyond God and politics… no other conversation makes people as uncomfortable as of that about MONEY!

Last week I revealed one of my most pressing goals, which is to spend less time working and more time with my family.  Also, I have to make it clear that time spent with my family doesn’t simply mean “hanging around” or doing “fun things”… in my definition it means Teaching Values, Modeling Behavior, Cultivating Discipline and Encouraging Harmony within my “Tribe”.

Colleen and I have 3 daughters and another child on the way… so, we’ve got quite a relational dynamic as well an opportunity for personal growth and evolution for all “Tribe Members” with our 4 walls.

So, in order to fulfill my ideal of spending more time with my family, as well as exercising my position as “Spiritual Leader” in the home…  I not only need extra time to be with my loved ones, but I need time to learn and grow myself.  For I am only as good to others as I am to myself.

If you are anything like me, you’ve come to realize that TIME is our most limited and valuable resource.  Why then, do we waste so much time doing things we’d rather not do?  Why don’t we sit down and consider what we’d REALLY like to do with our time and then formulate a lifestyle to support it?

Second to the fact that most people either a) have no idea what they want, or  b) are to afraid to approach it… is that we understand that without adequate resources (MONEY) it becomes very difficult to enjoy time fulfilling our hearts desire.  Also, as ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’ illustrates, a man’s perceived safety and security must be established prior to become fully self actualized and worthy of expressing unconditional love.

In the mind of modern, industrialized men… money creates safety and security.  Although many, including myself, would argue that true security is internalized through harmony with our Creator… it is difficult to argue that “all is well” when your bank statement contains several penalties labeled “NSF” (that’s for Non Sufficient Funds, for those of you who have never seen this).

The goal of capturing more free time to pursue my “heart’s calling” is a noble one, and one that most would agree is ideal.  We ALL want more time.  And we ALL want more money, safety and security in order to make constructive use of our time.

So, how can it be done?

Simple, Spend less time working and make more money!

Sure, this sounds like a late-night infomercial that most would simply ignore as the navigate towards ‘TV Land’ for old Cosby Show reruns.  But, I am crazy (and some might say naive) enough to believe that I can do it.

Before I proceed, let me remind you of my current situation:

1. We are currently in the process of repaying over $87,000 in credit card debt.

2. We are “upside-down” on our mortgage and are about to have the banks foreclose on our home.

3. My wife drives a used mini van that we purchased on Craigslist.com after Simone (or 3rd child) was born.  Prior to this she drove the 2 older girls around in a Ford Escort that my grandmother gave us.

4. Of course, I still drive the 1988 van that my dad gave me 5 years ago.

5. Colleen and I do not spend money on new clothes, jewelry, electronics (our children watch the 26″ TV that I bought in college) although we do go on 2 date-nights per month where we spend about $100 for dinner.  I love good food

The point is that I am not, by standard definitions, rich.  I have created MANY financial challenges for our family that we are still overcoming.

Also, I have tried and failed at several business models that have cost me lots of time and resources.  But, it has been those “failures” that have given me the insight to create a model that is now working on several levels.  It is giving me more time to fulfill my God-given purposes and hearts desires (like sharing this journal with you) as well as the money to fulfill my fiscal responsibilities as a business owner, father, husband and leader of my tribe.

**A Note To Employees** – I realize that most people reading this are probably not entrepreneurs or business owners (heck, I don’t even know if I’d consider myself a REAL business owner) and may be thinking, “yea, this all sounds good to you lucky business owners who create your own schedules… but my boss will never consider letting me leave the office early!”

If you love your job and are happy with the way you spend your time, then my hat goes off to you.  But, if you are miserable and feel that your time would be better spend doing something else… then I invite you to a) re-evaluate and re-state your TRUE VALUES; and b) get moving NOW towards creating an ideal life that facilitates the execution of your values.  If this means getting a different job or (as I often suggest) begin a LEVERAGE ABLE side project that has the potential to create enough revenue so as to allow time for self-actualization… then get crackin’.

The “Restored Power” Principles For Working Less & Earning More Money:

Before I tell you about the tools I’ve been using (more like practicing) to create more money in less time, lets make a few things clear.

First, I am not in pursuit of “riches”… in fact, I hate stuff!  I tend to be a minimalist of sorts and would rather spend my life in a criminal’s jail cell than to be made the prisoner of expensive consumer items that need protection and maintenance.   More TIME for Thinking, Learning and Serving — this is my desire.

Next, it is essential to decide upon the exact amount of money you’ll need in order to feel safe and secure enough to pursue higher level activities. Any income created beyond this is to be thought of as a bonus.  I aim to resist the tendency to become overly excited with the results, and then to endlessly reset the horizon… this will surely lead to discontent and is counter productive to Peace Of Mind.

My calculations bring me to a monthly income goal (I always think in terms of monthly cash flow) that will allow me to continue to pay off our debt in the rapid fashion that we have been for the past 16 months; pay all of our living expenses; pay all of my business expenses; save a percentage and give a percentage to our church (these 2 actually come first)… and of course a portion allocated to fun

1. The 80 / 20 Rule: Like most business owners I have become addicted to work.  Also, conditioning set in by my father has created in me a paradigm of “you’ve got to work, work, work, work!” I still harbor this sentiment but aim to break it this year.

The 80 /20 rule states that “80% of all results come from 20% of the performed activities.” This is an accepted idea by most high performing individuals… I didn’t make it up.  The 80/20 Rule is also called The Pareto Principle named after the scientist who first propounded it (for those of who would like to “Google it”)

After a careful 80/20 analysis of my business activities and results, I had come to the conclusion that there are only 3 activities that really create income for me.  My objective now it to focus mainly on those things while working… to the exclusion of all, less important, activities.

The essential point here is to be completely honest with yourself by choosing to do ONLY what you know will actively bring you closer to your goal.  AND then to focus on it with super intensity!

2. Parkinson’s Law: Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in perceived importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. Basically, if you don’t set hard deadlines you’ll have a tendency to procrastinate and as you procrastinate the goal begins to look harder and harder to accomplish.

This is how I managed to begin spending extra time at home in the morning helping Colleen get the girls off to school and am able to train for strongman 3-4 times per week, can get home early to help bathe the girls and get them to bed, spend alone-time with my wife, read, meditate and pray… while running 2 “businesses”.

Because I have boiled my crucial actives down to only 3 things and FORCE myself to focus on them alone from 9am to 1pm, 5 days per week I am able to fulfill my other obligation and heart’s desires without anxiety.

3. A Leverage able  Business Model:

The last thing that has to be considered, is that when building a model that will create income, I had to consider it’s leverage-ability… it’s capacity to run without me sitting at the wheel.  There are 2 elements that allow my model to run without constant supervision.

1. I sell information.

2. I use the internet.

In the interest of not making this post any longer than it already is, I will spare you the details of my model.  But I have placed an image of its mind map for you to see below.  (Most people are visual learners and fare well using pictures to illustrate their goals and intentions)

In following posts I am going to tell you about my Mental Training Plan, Strongman Training Plan, Family Leadership Plans, Nutrition and Lifestyle Plans, Learning Goals, Spiritual Evolution Goals and much much more!

Suggested Reading ==> The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris , although it has a hokey name the content and ideas in this book are based on time tested truths.  Tim’s approach is very pragmatic and practical.

This is one of the few books that has shifted my thinking and life paradigm in a dramatic and positive manner and I HIGHLY suggest anyone interested in the topics discussed above read it.

==> Click here to get a new or used copy of The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris <==

Strongman Training Journal part 1

Every so often the evolving man will reach a season of reflection, assessment and course correction.  This is often a time to restate and adjust VALUES, then recommit to the course that leads to self actualization.

I have always been transparent and honest with you.  You have experienced my success as well as my failures; you have met my wife and children and you’ve partaken of my innermost convictions.

The only way that I know how to SERVE you is through my experiences.  Although I possess advanced degrees, certifications and accreditation… none of this gives me the type of power to inspire and motivate in the manner that making my life “an open book” to you does.

Far from being gifted, I was labeled very early in my life as “a child of below average intelligence”.  Teachers warned my parents about my inability to focus and concentrate.  Medication was given to temper my “Attention Deficit  / Hyperactivity Disorder”.

Today my gifted ADHD is manifest in a rebellious posture towards fraudulent authority and social norms.  I refuse to “get a job”; I abhor the “American Ideal” of overextending finances in an attempt to pacify the conditioned desire to appear consistent with the homogeneous masses; there is but ONE television in my home that ceases operation 5 out of the 7 days per week… my children will be saved from early commercial brainwashing.

I invite you to join me in CHOOSING OUR OWN VALUES.  Not that which your neighbor adheres or the television insidiously demands.

What do you love?  What is TRULY of the utmost importance to you?  What type of life would bring you piece of mind?

Service is the highest station of mankind.  When asked, “What is the purpose of life?”, Albert Einstein answered, “To serve one another, what other purpose could there be?”

As I have been called to serve mankind through my words, information, encouragement, and coaching… I will now share with you my current personal vision, goals and action steps, with 2 purposes in mind… one to aid you and one to motivate me.

1. First, you may be experiencing or have experienced similar challenges or aspirations as the ones I am about to share with you.  If this is the case then perhaps you can glean some insight as to how someone else is navigating the same terrain.

One of my favorite hobbies is to read the Biographies and Autobiographies of men who lived extraordinary lives.  This provides encouragement as well as insight that may support me on my journey.  I, by no means intend to bind my name with that of Abe Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson or Jesus… but as an ordinary 30 year old American Man that yearns to enjoy all that is good in life and expire in due time with confidence and zero regrets, my assumption is that many may be able to relate.

2. As a means to motivate myself through accountability.  If I share my values, goals and intentions with others… I am essentially being put “on the spot”.  The type accountability that is associated with full public divulgence  creates a haunting sense that “I am always being watched.” And with that type of supervision it becomes more difficult to backslide.

Share your goals with those you love most.

Amongst the first steps towards My Ideal Life in 2010 was:

1. To Spend More Time At Home With Colleen & Children: Accomplished! — I go to Strength Camp at 5:45 am to train my Men’s Strength Class and then immediately head home to help Colleen cook breakfast and get the girls off to school.  In the past I would get started with my internet business immediately following the morning class… Now I begin no earlier than 9am.

2. To Take More Time Off And Vacations: Accomplished! — I am a self proclaimed workaholic.  When I moved to Florida from New York I spent the first 9 months working at a gym from 6 am to 9 pm, Monday through Friday and 9 am to 5pm on the weekends.  I never thought twice about spending more time working.  When I opened Strength Camp, I continued with the same pattern.  Now that Colleen and I are going on our 4th child… things have to change.

When I bought my new PlannerPad for 2010, I marked off 8 weeks that I will FORCE myself not to work… at all.  That’s 2 weeks every quarter.  This definitely is “stepping out of my comfort zone”… but wait, I have already decided that I will cut my working hours back even more in 2011 (we’ll talk about it then)!

If you haven’t figured it out yet, my most valued asset is TIME! Not more money, or a newer car (I still drive the 1988 Ford family van my dad gave me 5 years ago), fame, or even to save the world…. I just want more TIME!

The 2 goals above have pretty much been accomplished already or are being fulfilled as we speak… but I am NO WHERE near to coming close to the REAL transformation that I am embarking on for 2010.

As I mentioned in an email earlier this week, there are many holes in my character that need patching.  Truthfully, most of these holes have been created over the past 5 years as I embarked on the responsibilities of manhood.

Many of the positive traits I had begun to express via awareness and practice prior to getting married, having children, creating debt, starting businesses and becoming a Pro Strongman… have been abandoned.  They are now long lost attributes of a once mindful, peaceful and courageous 25 year old boy.

Although I comfort myself with the *excuse* of “battle wounds acquired in my fight for accomplishment”… the truth is that many of these traits were desirable and can be retrained.  It IS possible to regain lost virtues in the same manner that you can regain lost strength or muscle… through exercise!

In future segments of my Strongman Training Journal, I will expose you to my “Restored Power Plan” where you will gain insight into:

1. My Daily Mental Training Regiment For Accelerated Success!

2. The Techniques That I’ll Use To Regain The ‘Dominant, Confidant, Alpha Male‘ Command.

3. How I Will Force My Environment (and the people in it) To Comply With My New Demeanor.

4. The Extremely Demanding Meal Plan That Will Force My Body To Comply With Physical Vision.

5. My Exact Strongman Training Plan That I Will Follow To Bring Me Success In My First Pro Strongman Show.

Plus many more disciplines that will be practiced.

In the meantime, if you are compelled to share Your VALUES or GOALS For 2010 please feel free to comment below.

If you are a man of wisdom and feel moved to share your insights with me or any of our readers please feel free to comment below.

Sports Psychology (Mental Muscle Training)

By far, it is the training and development of mental fortitude, focus, concentration and the ’strength of character’ that will determine an athletes (or any individual)  success in sports and life.

All physical preparation, the manipulation of training variables, adoption of dietary regimens are bound to failure if the mental and emotional constitution of a man is weak.  There is no superficial tactic that will trump flawed mental strategies.

This is why I always fall back and refer to one’s character; their clarity of vision and expression of commitment / discipline when confronted with questions about training mechanics and specifics.

You can only GET what you ARE!  The results you see in the mirror or on the playing field are in direct response to the type of character and inner strength you’ve developed.  And every superficial effort put forth is only as strong as the soil from which it sprouts.

To quote Emerson (as always), “Every action is measure by the depth of the sentiment from which is proceeds.” In other words if you think you are going to lose, if you think you are too small, too short, too fat or too slow… you are probably right.  This is your deeply held ’sentiment’ and every action you take henceforth will be measured by it.

This is why you have tried “ALL THE TRICKS IN THE BOOK”… and are still not seeing the results you aim for.  It’s not that the tricks are bad, it’s that your thinking is!

Last night I had to honor of speaking with a man that trains the Mental Muscle of professional and Olympic athletes in a similar fashion to that which I do with their physical muscle.

Todd is the author and creator of the Champions Challenge , a system that encourages athletes to change their performance for the better by practicing mental training exercises.  This, in my opinion, is the ABSOLUTE foundation for the realization of full athletic and life potential.

Very rare is it that I am this excited and convinced that a product, if used properly, has the potential to change it’s users life in the way that the Champions Challenge does.

Well, I invited a few people to listen in on my call with Todd last
night and I also recorded it for you to listen to (below).

Just a quick heads up before you listen to the call… as it turned out, some 14 year old chuckle head snook onto the call when his mommy and daddy were in the shower and decided to interrupt Todd and myself on several occasions.

So, try your best to focus on what Todd is teaching us, but be prepared for me to grow a bit restless with our intruder.  If you can’t tell by my tone, I was ready to give the little lad a few lashings with my belt… but tried my best to stay cool

 

If you feel like the stuff that Todd is teaching us on this call may be of support to you or your atheltes, I would invite you to check out his Champions Challenge <=  Click Here

The History Of Bodybuilding Nutrition

This article is an excerpt from the book - “Muscle, Smoke & Mirror’s” by Randy Roach

The sport called bodybuilding demands the ex-treme in body presentation. No other athletic endeavor requires such high levels of regimentation for muscle development and body fat reduction. To outsiders, such efforts may appear vain and self-centered, even looming out there on the lunatic fringe. Nevertheless, the sport has had considerable influence on other fields of athletics, not to mention the general public.

We must remember that the men (and women) who sweat it out in the gym year after year were using the low-carbohydrate diet long before Dr. Atkins made it popular. Many other dietary strategies of today such as all-raw diets, protein supplementation, eating multiple small meals a day, carbohydrate loading, meal replacement packages and macro-nutrient balancing all derived their initial popularity from the bodybuilding field.

Physical Culture

Credit for the Physical Culture movement in North America, the precursor to the bodybuilding movement, goes to Bernarr Macfadden, an extraordinary entrepreneur who published physical culture magazines, organized physique competitions, wrote 150 books and accumulated millions in the publishing industry. Macfadden preached clean living and whole natural foods. He ate vast quantities of raw carrots, beet juice, fruits, dates, raisins, grains and nuts. He abstained from meat but recommended copious amounts of raw milk. In fact he even recommended an exclusive raw milk diet for extended periods.

The dominant star of the early years was Eugen Sandow, whose career spanned the late 1890s and the early part of the 20th century. He did not display the typical burly brute image, but a finely chiseled body, resembling those of Roman and Greek athletes. With the help of Florenz Ziegfeld, he marketed and displayed his physique in artistic fashion. In fact, it was through this artistic expression that Sandow inspired Macfadden in the mid 1890s. In an 1894 interview on his dietary habits, Sandow claimed to abstain from hard liquor, coffee and tea, but consumed the occasional beer. He ate mostly wholesome foods, but indulged at selected opportunities. Sandow, along with most of the other Physical Culturists of his day, placed more emphasis on the mechanical aspects of diet as opposed to the chemical. He believed in doing what was necessary to facilitate good digestion, including eating at regular intervals, selecting simple foods, applying thorough mastication, eating slowly and tying it all together with a good night’s sleep. He was critical of over-indulgence and recommended foods with a high nutrient value, although he admitted to eating what he wanted, when he wanted, and however much he wanted during his younger years.

Earle Liederman, author and friend of Sandow, also advocated whole natural foods. Liederman pointed out the importance of a strong digestive system enhanced by proper food mastication for men of strength and large appetites. He described the popularity of “beef juice” or “beef extract” for rapid muscle recovery. Liederman also felt obliged to mention that ice cream was very popular, referring to one lifter who often felt it necessary to finish his meals with a quart of vanilla ice cream.

Arthur Saxon of the famous Saxon brothers trio and a contemporary of Eugen Sandow, also recommended nutrient-dense foods for endurance athletes. He warned against the dangers of hard liquor, but condoned beer. In fact, Saxon had a reputation for hefty beer drinking as did many men of strength of the time. He warned against smoking while admitting to being a smoker himself. For gaining muscle, Saxon recommended milk mixed with raw egg after a workout, milk with oatmeal, cheese, beans, peas, and meat. He called milk the perfect food.

According to his brother Kurt, all three of the Saxon brothers had very hardy appetites. Along with his participation in the strength act, Kurt was also the trio’s chef. Kurt’s list of food consumed by the three brothers each day indicates substantial daily intake, with little self-denial. Milk is largely absent from Kurt’s menus.

Raw vs. Cooked

A debate that has been on-going since the early days of Physical Culture is the relative virtues of raw food versus cooked. Sandow referred to the eating of raw eggs and under-cooked meats as nonsense and a practice that was “passing away.”

In the raw food corner was champion wrestler George Hackenschmidt, the “Russian Lion,” a man rivaling Sandow’s strength, and surpassing him in athletic ability. Like Sandow, he was small by today’s standards, standing just under 5’10″ and weighing about 200 pounds. However, he was enormously strong. Both a gentleman and sportsman, George Hackenschmidt reflected a spiritually conservative philosophy towards nutrition. In his book The Way to Life, he stated:

“I believe I am right in asserting that our creator has provided food and nutriment for every being for its own advantage. Man is born without frying-pan or stewpot. The purest natural food for human beings would, therefore, be fresh, uncooked food and nuts.” He stated that a diet of three quarters vegetable food and one quarter meat would appear to be most satisfactory for the people of central Europe but conceded a hardy appetite which, in his early training years, was based on 11 pints of milk per day, presumably raw, along with the rest of his diet. A prophet before his time, he warned about the dangers of refined sugar and meat from artificially fed and confined animals. He believed that most people ate too much flesh food from these improperly raised animals and encouraged more emphasis on natural raw foods.

Vegetarianism

The early bodybuilders also debated the pros and cons of vegetarianism. Macfadden and Hackenschmidt inclined towards diets that excluded meat, or that at least derived a preponderence of calories from plant foods. Juicing was popular among some. In his book Remembering Muscle Beach, Harold Zinkin describes fellow beach comrade Relna Brewer. At 17, Brewer worked in one of California’s first health food stores, located in Santa Monica. Relna’s job was to run the juice press. Because the owners of the store could not afford to pay much, Relna took out her pay in the celery, watermelon, orange and carrot juice she made each day.

Jack Lalanne was probably one of Relna’s customers. Jack began his carreer as a vegetarian, bringing his own food, such as apple or carrot juice and vegetables, to train at the beach during the 1930s. However, Lalanne later ate meat when focussed on bodybuilding. In fact, Armand Tanny says that Jack would visit the local stockyards to acquire cow’s blood to drink while in training. Later Lalanne reverted back to his vegetarian ways, but allowing some fish and eggs.

Lalanne opened one of the first health studios in Oakland in 1936. A colleague writes that Lalanne would work 14 hours a day then drive through the night 400 miles so he could be with the gang at Muscle Beach to participate in all the activities. When it came to pure energy and vitality, Lalanne was, and at 90 today, still is unbridled.

Another vegetarian was Lionel Strongfort who promoted a system of raw foods based on fruits, vegetables, eggs and milk. He recommended very little meat and cooked fat. Strongfort suggested eating only two meals a day, a strategy shared by Macfadden that would re-emerge in the 60s and 70s. Strongfort and Macfadden both advised against overconsumption of food. They claimed overconsumption created a negative stress on the body’s systems, sensible advice that bodybuilding publications would ignore in the coming years.

Perhaps the most accepted food across all the early eating models for bodybuilders was milk. One of the most popular protocols for building size and strength was the combination of back squatting and drinking large quantities of milk. Joseph Curtis Hise was a pioneer of this system in the 1930s and after 70 years this strategy is still going strong in the drug-free world of bodybuilding.

Tony Sansone

Another Physical Culturalist who advised against over-consumption was Tony Sansone, but Sansone understood the importance of flesh foods, including animal fats and organ meats. He wrote extensively on nutrition for bodybuilders and recommended nutrient-dense “foundation” foods such as milk, eggs, butter, meat, vegetables, fruits, and some whole grains, in that order. He also stressed the importance of organ meats such as liver, kidney, heart and cod liver oil and recognized the need to drink whole raw milk instead of pasteurized and skimmed. He believed goats milk was more nutritious and easily digested than cows milk. Fresh butter and cream were his preferred fats. He also recommended six to eight glasses of water per day.

Tony Sansone wisely stressed the importance of generous amounts of fat in the diet to allow the complete utilization of nitrogenous (protein) foods in building muscle tissue–a fundamental and important fact that would be lost as the era of protein supplements took hold. He also knew that weight loss was not a matter of simple calorie counting, as cellular uptake or utilization of food varied on an individual basis. In anticipation of Dr. Atkins, Sansone recommended his foundation foods of milk, eggs, meat, vegetables and fruit for strength and health, and starchy foods as weight manipulators. His recipe for gaining weight was to add more high-carbohydrate foods such as bread and potatoes to the diet, and for losing weight to simply reduce or remove them. Tony Sansone’s caveat to lose no more than two pounds of fat per week is still the standard used in bodybuilding today.

Muscle Beach

Muscle Beach got its start in the 1930s as the meeting place of young athletes who lifted weights, built human pyramids, tumbled, juggled and engaged in any other athletic endeavor they could think of. That era gave us many recognizable names such as Harold Zinkin (creator of the Universal weight machine), Joe Gold (creator of Golds Gym), Jack Lalanne, Harry Smith, and the Tanny brothers, Armand and Vic (who created a popular gymnasium chain). In fact, it is safe to say that much of the fitness industry grew out of Muscle Beach–gyms, gym chains, TV exercise programs, fitness equipment, women lifting weights, even aspects of the natural organic food movement stemmed from this small stretch of sand.

According to Harry Smith, long-time gym owner, ex-pro wrestler and Muscle Beach alumnus, body builders didn’t think much about specialty food or supplements in those days. The emphasis was on training rather than eating and resting. Harry did state that many of them tried to keep their eating clean, and that on a number of occasions they would frequent a small deli about one-half block from the beach. The deli offered freshly ground beef to which some of the guys would mix some raw onions and a little salt and pepper. The meat was eaten raw along with raw milk. Harry said it was a cheap and easy way to eat hardy and keep out of the restaurants.

One important Muscle Beach raw food enthusiast was Armand Tanny. Originally a weightlifter, Armand had a fantastic physique and the strength to qualify him for the wrestling circuit. He visited the Hawaiian Islands just after the Second World War and came away with a lasting impression of the Samoans. “They ate everything raw,” he noted. “You name it, fish, meat, beetles–everything! They were so strong and healthy.” On his return to the US, he became interested in the work of Weston A. Price, stating that Price’s book Nutrition And Physical Degeneration served as his Bible.

In 1948 he shut off his stove and ate just about everything raw from then on–tuna, beef, liver, lobster, oysters, clams, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Armand recalls wading out into the surf along the Santa Monica Pier and using his feet to kick up 6- to 7-inch Pismo clams, smashing them together to get at the pink and white flesh. Armand also took brewer’s yeast, desiccated liver, yogurt, black strap molasses and wheat germ oil, all recommendations of Gaylord Hauser, a nutritional guru of the era. Hauser also recommended fish liver oil, but Tanny felt he was getting plenty from all the raw fish he was consuming.

Armand credited his 1950 Mr. USA and the Pro Mr. America titles to his raw meat diet. In the 1950s, he helped his brother Vic in the gym business and appeared in a Mae West act. His bodybuilding articles appeared prominently in bodybuilding publications for the remainder of the century, thus providing a link to Weston Price during the decade of the 50s.

Bulking Up with John Grimek

The biggest influence on bodybuilding in the 1930s and 1940s was John Grimek, the second American Athletics Union (AAU) Mr. America and the first to win back-to-back titles, in 1940 and 1941. Many commentators believe that Grimek represents the beginning of modern bodybuilding as we know it today, describing him as the best physique of the mid century.

During the early 1930s, at the start of his career, Grimek came under the influence of Mark Berry, editor of Strength magazine and an advocate of an eating protocol in which an athlete would bulk up in bodyweight and then train it off. At one point, Berry had Grimek beef up his 5’ 8″ frame to 250 pounds. The practice would become commonplace by the 1950s and maintain a foothold for several decades after.

Grimek bulked up on whatever was put in front of him, reports his wife Angela in a 1956 Health and Strength article entitled “Life with John.” “John has an enormous appetite. . . John has yet to find a restaurant that can do justice to his appetite. . . . Sometimes he goes on a restricted diet–and it is surprising how little he can get by on then. But when he goes all out, he can never be filled. . . . but the ‘hog’ (our pet name for John) just eats and eats and still remains trim and muscular.”

By the 1950s, Grimek’s diet included Hershey chocolate bars and hi-protein tablets manufactured and promoted by Bob Hoffman, publisher of Strength and Health, a magazine that provided a platform for Grimek along with the new-fangled supplements coming on the market. Hoffman used Hershey chocolate in his products, so Grimek and the rest of the York gang had easy access to some empty calories.

Protein Powders and Supplements

In the late 1930s a young pharmacist named Eugene Schiff developed a method of processing whey from milk for human consumption. He created Schiff Bio-Foods, a whey packaging company. This was a half century before whey concentrates would emerge as a popular supplement in the bodybuilding scene. For a short time he sold his packaged whey to local drug stores, then sold his own store to enter into the manufacturing and packaging of health foods.

Schiff focused on supplements made from natural products. He began to experiment with whole foods such as brewer’s yeast, wheat germ and liver. He found that these foods were naturally rich in vitamins and minerals. The Schiff company claims that he was first to discover that rose hips was a superior source of vitamin C. Along with the first rose hip vitamin C supplement, he also launched one of the first multi-vitamin products, called “V-Complete.”

The demand during World War II for non-perishable foods allowed the food industry to expand and popularize the market for powdered or dehydrated foods and bodybuilders would eventually find their way into this market. Powdered milk and eggs, and later powdered soy protein, were promoted as an easy way to get additional protein into the diet. Breakfast drinks based on a protein powder emerged into the diet of the legendary Steve Reeves who years later wrote about this practice in his book Building The Classic Physique. Reeves’ impressive natural physique landed him starring roles in the films Hercules and Hercules Unchained in the late 1950s and inspired thousands of young men to adopt weight training. His recipe for a breakfast drink included fresh orange juice, Knox gelatin, honey, banana, raw eggs and a blend of skim milk, egg white and soy protein.

The first protein powders “tailored” specifically for athletes appeared around 1950. One of these was called 44, “The Supplemental Food Beverage,” produced in California by a company called Kevo Products. The principle ingredient was dehydrated powdered whole soy beans, along with kelp, wheat germ, dextrose, and various dehydrated plants, herbs and flavorings. The supplement was sold at health food stores, body-building studios, and health institutes.

Another popular product was Hi-Protein, “a protein food supplement derived from soya flour, milk proteins, and wheat. The free amino acids which include natural tryptophan and the other natural essential amino acids where produced by an acid hydrolysis.” The product was developed by bodybuilder and nutrition guru Irvin Johnson with before and after photographs of weaklings turned musclemen. Bob Hoffman quickly capitalized on Johnson’s success by following immediately with his own soy-based product marketed heavily in Strength and Health. Hoffman’s infamous protein claimed many a victim with hives or gym-clearing gas.

The debates on raw versus cooked and vegetarianism versus meat eating that appeared in bodybuilding magazines during the 1940s gave way to numerous articles on protein supplements in the 1950s, including “Building Biceps Faster With Food Supplements (Iron Man, December 1950,” “More and Better Protein Will Keep you Well (Strength & Health, March 1953),” “The Magical Power Of Protein (Mr. America, February 1958),” “Food Supplements Build Rock Hard Definition (Muscle Builder, June 1958)” and “Everyone Needs More Protein (Strength & Health, July 1959).

Meal replacement products also appeared during the 1950s, with much hype. One product, called B-FIT, was recommended as a replacement for two or three regular meals per day. According to its promoters, B-FIT “is scientifically formulated to contain all the needed vitamins and minerals, plus ample supplies of the effective proteins and yet is so low in calories that the fatty tissue literally melts away. . . . You will not suffer from any nutritional deficiencies because B-FIT is a complete food insofar as scientific experiment and research is possible to develop. Approved by dieticians.”

Advocates for new diet theories–food combining, alkaline-forming diets, even strict vegetarianism–promoted their ideas throughout the 1950s, but the big emphasis was on protein powders and supplements. For the 1954 world weightlifting championships, team coach Bob Hoffman hauled more than 100 pounds of his Hi Protein powder to Vienna, hailing it as the “secret weapon” for his athletes. But Russia, whose athletes finished no lower than second place, had a secret weapon of their own.

The Secret Weapon

It was John Ziegler, a doctor accompanying the American team to Vienna, who exposed just what this Soviet weapon was. Ziegler claimed that after a few drinks, a Russian doctor told him that the Soviet athletes were using–and abusing–testosterone. Ziegler was no stranger to testosterone. With his background in rehabilitation therapy and his connection with CIBA Pharmaceuticals, he was already experimenting with testosterone on himself, his patients and some novice athletes. In fact, author and historian John Fair writes that even the great John Grimek was cooperating with Ziegler and trying his drugs in the summer of 1954. Grimek reported disappointing results.

Both American and German research scientists had identified testosterone and noted its effects as far back as the mid 1930s. CIBA Pharmaceuticals was already targeting bodybuilders with ads for synthetic testosterone in 1947. With Ziegler’s help, CIBA manufactured the most popular anabolic steroid of the 20th century. The drug was Dianabol, which came out in1958.

The acceptance of steroid drugs among bodybuilders got off to a slow start. Drinking a gallon of milk or swallowing 2000 protein pills seemed more logical to them than taking a tiny pill to do the job. Even those who did take them were slow in accepting or acknowledging the fact that it was the steroids that were giving them such tremendous gains in muscle mass.

Out on the West Coast, bodybuilding great Bill Pearl was also curious as to what the Russians were doing, so he took it upon himself to do his own research. During a visit to the University of California at Davis in 1958, he learned from a veterinarian about the successful use of steroids in beefing up cattle. Bill figured that if it was good enough for a bull, then it was good enough for him. While continuing to train hard, he took 30 mg of the steroid drug Nilevar (three times the recommended dose for humans, but an absolute joke by today’s practices) for 12 weeks and brought his bodyweight up from 225 to 250 pounds.

Steroid use among athletes paralleled the challenge to conservative moral standards that characterized the era of the 1960s. It was a time that seemed ripe for the liberation of one’s desires. Individual freedoms took precedence over the rules, morals and ethics dictated by a long established culture–and by Mother Nature. If the new generation could take mind-altering drugs, it could take body-altering drugs as well. Anabolic (”building-up”) steroids such as testosterone ushered in a new bodybuilding look that was larger and more muscularly pronounced than ever before.

During the early 1960s, the magazines emphasized caution about steroids. They acknowledged the rumors concerning Bill Pearl and others but tried to steer their readers away by stating that the drugs didn’t work, wouldn’t produce what bodybuilders expected, or were outright dangerous. Both Iron Man and Muscle Builder magazines warned of side effects and published articles claiming much better results with high-protein products. But behind the scenes, the athletes knew that they worked. Pearl openly acknowledged that he used them for a final time in 1961 to prepare for the 1961 National Amateur Bodybuilding Association (NABBA) Mr. Universe contest. He stated that the drugs by then were no longer underground but well known to the top bodybuilders.

Steroids and Cream

Still, most athletes relied on diet for strength-building, and protein occupied a large percentage of that diet. In the early 1960s, Irving Johnson targeted elite bodybuilders with a milk-and-egg protein blend considered far superior to competing products–including an earlier product of his own–based on soy. By the mid 60s, ads for Johnson’s protein blend began appearing in the bodybuilding magazines. At that time he changed his name to Rheo H. Blair. Blair claimed that his protein powder was made from milk and eggs obtained from animals raised on the rich soil of Wisconsin and that the proteins were extracted at very low temperatures. Wary of the difficulty some might have digesting all that protein, he endorsed hydrochloric acid supplements, to be taken with any protein meal. He also sold supplements such as amino acids, liver extract, B-complex and soybro (a combination of wheat germ, rice germ and soy germ oils). In 1966 he introduced a new protein formula which he claimed had a biological value resembling mother’s milk.

Blair promoted his products with skillful salesmanship but he also made an important suggestion that would ensure that his products actually worked–he insisted that his protein be taken with raw cream or half and half. He was smart enough to know that you must replace the fat removed from protein during processing. He also recognized the benefits of raw dairy products. Athletes of the 1960s used a variety of recipes, varying the proportions of Blair’s protein product with raw cream, raw milk and raw egg yolk. Weight-trainer Don Howorth remembers eating 3 dozen eggs, 1 quart raw cream, and 2 pounds ground sirloin along with 2-3 cups of Blair’s protein powder per day.

Blair had a special method for cooking his eggs. He did not cook them in boiling water but recommended cooking many eggs at one time in water maintained at 181 degrees for 31 minutes. The eggs were then left in the water to cool down slowly. Blair claimed that putting the eggs under cold water “shocked” many of the nutrients, rendering them ineffective and that cooking eggs in this fashion preserved much of their nutritional value.

It is interesting to read Perry Rader’s “Reader Roundup” column in his Iron Man magazine during this time. He tries to explain the spectacular gains made by some of the popular bodybuilders who were using Blair’s products. Many of them were eating 6000 to 9000 calories a day in the same fashion as Don Howorth and gaining muscle while maintaining or even trimming their waist size. Rader published Blair’s response in a 1966 issue of Iron Man. Blair claimed that his protein powders, along with all of his other supplements, were formulated in a special manner to metabolize fat more efficiently. He also warned that taking cream with any protein powder other than his own would result in fat accumulation.

But Blair could not help knowing that these dramatic results were not achieved on food and protein powders alone. Bodybuilders knew that they could expect to build muscle consuming 8000 calories per day, but not lose fat at the same time. That required some additional anabolic assistance. Blair knew his guys were taking steroids. Don Howorth readily admitted his past use of Dianabol, but was adamant about the importance of diet along with it. In fact, some bodybuilders were quite open about drugs. When Larry Scott, two-time winner of Mr. Olympia, was asked about his steroid use he said without hesitation, “Sure, doesn’t everyone?” However, the bodybuilding magazines continued the deception that the new, larger physiques were built on powders and supplements. Thus steroid use artificially inflated the already marketable commodities of bodybuilding.

Vince Gironda

One man who had definition dieting mastered and who never used drugs was the Iron Guru Vince Gironda. Pioneer of a technique involving intense abbreviated training routines rather than long workouts, Gironda began competing in the 1950s and then trained both athletes and movie stars for many decades after. So defined was his physique, he often found himself penalized by judges who seemed confused over his appearance. Says Gironda, “The men who judged physique contests at this time were puzzled by so much muscularity. Quotes from physique magazines stated I didn’t place higher in whatever contest because of too much muscularity. They thought that this type of cut-up physique was slightly repugnant so I lost most muscular titles to smoother men who had that type of definition for that day.”

Gironda often stated that nutrition was 85-90 percent of bodybuilding. His alternative to drugs was eggs. Like Blair, he advocated up to 36 eggs a day for 6 to 8 weeks to produce muscle buildup. (He also took, among many other supplements, “orchic tissue tablets,” that is, dried testicles.)

He recommended following this “anabolic phase” with a short-term vegetarian diet to “re-alkalize” the body. Similarly he alternated a low-carbohydrate diet with periods of carbohydrate loading. He was careful to point out the difference between natural and refined carbohydrate foods. He presented research data that strongly indicted refined carbohydrates as the real culprit in much of the century’s degenerative disease. His articles went into surprising detail on the biochemical pathways through which sugar did its damage, pointing out the relation between sugar and atherosclerosis, abnormal increases in height and weight and skeletal anomalies.

As for protein, he believed the average American could get along fine with just 45 grams of quality protein a day. However, he insisted that bodybuilders needed over 300 grams daily for several weeks to force the growth process. He believed in quality protein powders and used Blair’s milk-and-egg blend until he came out with his own product. When he used the powders, he blended 1/3 of a cup with a dozen eggs and 12 ounces of raw cream or half & half. He was also big on steak and often ate his meat raw.mmended germ oils, amino acids, vitamin and mineral supplements, and hydrochloric acid (HCL). He recommended mineral rich sea kelp for its iodine content and dried liver extract for blood building and oxygen capacity boosting. Many bodybuilders used desiccated liver after the early 1950s experiments of Dr. Benjamin Ershoff. Ershoff who conducted the famous liver study wherein rats fed 10 percent desiccated liver swam far longer compared to controls.

Macronutrientland

In his early years, Blair recommended a very low carbohydrate diet. Later he advocated a diet consisting of 1/3 protein, 1/3 fat and 1/3 carbohydrates to build muscle; then he reversed himself and again urged avoidance of carbohydrate foods. But other bodybuilders included high levels of carbs in their diets. For example, teenage sensation Casey Viator, who became the youngest Mr. America ever at age 19, had his own special peanut butter pudding that consisted of 2 pounds of peanut butter, 1 jar of grape jelly and 3 or 4 bananas. The bananas were optional. This was part of a diet that also included 2 dozen eggs and 2 gallons of raw milk per day. Casey recalls his father not shedding too many tears when he finally moved out.

A columnist in Strength & Health magazine recommended the following carbohydrate-rich concoction for “getting big” along with a diet that allowed unlimited meat and eggs:

A one day supply of Hoffman’s Gain Weight formula (based on soy protein)
2 quarts milk
2 cups skim milk powder
2 raw eggs
4 tablespoons peanut butter
½ brick ice cream
1 banana
4 tablespoons malted milk powder
6 tablespoons corn syrup

By the 1960s, bodybuilders had figured out what they had to do to attain specific goals. Getting lean or “ripped” for a contest required stripping the diet of all carbohydrates, including milk and cream. Milk was a favorite for building muscle, but for losing fat, it contained too much carbohydrate and held water under the skin. Ketogenic diets consisting of meat and water were commonly used to prepare for the shows. During the 1950s, two English researchers–Professor Kekwick and Dr. Pawan–claimed to have isolated a fat-mobilizing substance that showed up in the urine along with ketone bodies after 24 hours on a no-carb diet. In spite of considerable scientific debate, the Ketogenic diet remained a constant in the field of bodybuilding until the 1980s.

Yet it was in the early 70s that the lipid hypothesis began to take hold. The result was a series of diets that emphasized carbohydrates over protein and fats. The pre-game meal of beef was giving way to one of lasagna or spaghetti.

The magazines of 1970 mirrored this confusion. For example, in an issue of Strength & Health, publisher Hoffman praises the African Masai tribe for their reverence of whole milk, while in his other publication, Muscular Development, he recommends skim milk because it is lower in saturated fats. (The vast majority of the nation was now drinking pasteurized milk–long time strength trainer Jim Bryan remembers avoiding raw milk because he was given the impression that it was dangerous.) MuscleMag publisher Bob Kennedy told his readers not to let anyone scare them away from eggs. Frank Zane, Mr. Olympia champion from 1977-79, was still eating the old way with plenty of eggs, lamb, beef, pork, heart, liver, raw milk, protein powder, vegetables, fruit with some potato and brown rice, educating his readers on the misconception of cholesterol and warning against over-consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils. But in Iron Man, Sterri Larson was telling readers that the diet of the bodybuilder was not necessarily one to produce good health. He believed that eggs were the best for both building muscle and losing fat, but that saturated fat and cholesterol could prove hazardous. According to bodybuilder Brian Horton, some of the athletes were now eating chicken and fish instead of beef and eggs.

Steroid Use

Meanwhile, by the end of the 1970s, professional bodybuilders were using a number of metabolism-enhancing substances such as amphetamines, Armour (Thyroid), human and animal growth hormone, and multiple steroids (a method referred to as “stacking”). Some of the top pros worked with physicians to monitor their blood parameters as they prepared for their competitions. During the months before an event, these athletes would swallow and inject any substance that would facilitate tremendous muscularity. Very few, if any, bodybuilders could attain such condition without this assistance.

Steroid use suffered a setback with the revelation that 1988 Olympic gold medal sprinter Ben Johnson had tested positive for anabolic steroids, which had been banned from use in the Olympic games since 1975. In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration added steroids to the Schedule III list of the Controlled Substance Act. Since then, any athlete seeking to build muscle via anabolic steroids could just as easily find his next workout conducted in a Federal prison gym — and several have, to the dismay of many in the legal, medical and sports arenas.

The ban on steroid use was no surprise to the bodybuilding world since abuse of the drugs, even at the high school level, was well known. Not only was the number of users growing, but so were the dosages and arsenals in professions where size and strength really made the difference.

The magazines were not yet labeling heart disease as a side effect of steroid use. However, by 1970 they were starting to mention the fact that a number of strength athletes were succumbing at their prime. Columnist Bob Brown described his concern over losing friends at an early age to heart disease and wrote an article in Iron Man entitled “Will Weight Training Kill You?” Brown compiled some death statistics on prominent men of the iron game throughout the century and compared them to some mortality stats supplied from an insurance company. He concluded that even though strength trainers were not immune to early death, they fared better than the average American and stood a much better chance at living a longer life.

Others noted the shortened careers of top bodybuilders. The 1967 Mr. America Don Howorth considered a comeback, but stated he knew his body would not do well with what he had to take at that stage of his life. Even the genetically blessed Casey Viator who was a serious contender for the Mr. Olympia title, walked from any more attempts in 1983 knowing that his body had had enough.

New Dietary Trends

In the early 1980s, bodybuilders became interested in the glycemic index of carbohydrate foods. A team of researchers at the University of Toronto, led by Dr. David Jenkins, demonstrated that different foods affected blood glucose levels at different rates. They developed the Glycemic Index in which many carbohydrate foods were measured against selected reference foods on how quickly they raised glucose levels.

Many bodybuilders and other athletes used the glycemic index to plan their daily menu and carbohydrate selection. With the insurgence of carbs into the diet, along with a well-established reverence for protein, bodybuilders discovered there wasn’t much room left for fat. In fact, by the end of the decade, many found themselves in a competition for who could get their dietary fat the lowest. Some even attempted a theoretical zero fat diet.

But not everyone was taken in. I interviewed bodybuilder Ron Kosloff who said he didn’t change a thing. “I knew what I saw,” he told me. “My grandparents lived on a farm and ate whole milk, cream, eggs, butter, meat, potatoes and homemade bread. My grandfather often ate 6 eggs a day for years, many of them raw, along with lard sandwiches. He lived to 98 while my grandmother lived to 101. What astounded me most was their farmhand who went by the name of Indian Joe. When I first saw him he looked in his 40s and was incredibly cut and muscular. He looked like Conan. I was shocked when I found out he was well into his 70s. Indian Joe lived to 115 years of age and ate nothing but meat, glands and intestines!” Kosloff had consumed a minimum of 6 eggs daily for the previous 20 years with no ill effects. Ron also noted that bodybuilders like Gironda and Blair were warning him back in the late 60s of the real hazardous fats–hydrogenated oils!

Armand Tanny, now in his 60s, was also writing articles contradicting this new trend. All through the 1980s he wrote articles for Joe Weider’s Muscle and Fitness magazine such as: Caveman Diet (March 1986), Meat and the Bodybuilder (Dec 1986), Good Nutrition and Sex (June 1987), Streamline Meat (Oct 1987), Uncooked Delicacies (Dec 1986), and Those Beefs About Meat (Oct 1985).

In the midst of the cholesterol scare in 1984, Vince Gironda released his book Unleashing The Wild Physique, still recommending 36 eggs a day to produce an anabolic effect. However, he also wrote an article defending carbohydrates and warning of the potential risks of high protein consumption.

Putting Those Carbs to Work

A major trend in the 80s and 90s was the concept of carbohydrate loading, first popularized by Vince Gironda back in the 50s and 60s. “I believe that every 3 to 5 days you need to get a ‘carbohydrate loading meal’ into your body

. . . I feel that carbohydrate is necessary every third or fifth day in order to get the glycogen back into the liver.”

Also back in the 1960s, cyclists were using a technique of loading their muscles with carbohydrates to give themselves an endurance edge. Bodybuilders were also loading their muscles just before a competition to give them a fuller look. Into the 1980s, the competitive bodybuilders had brought it into a science with their knowledge of the hormones vasopressin and aldosterone and how they controlled the sodium/water balance in the body. The challenge was to stand on stage on competition day with as much body fluid sucked into the muscles with the carbohydrates and not under the skin. The effect of this technique was so dramatic that hit or missed timing could represent a victory or looking terrible for bodybuilding standards. Often bodybuilders would be banging their heads off the wall one to three days after a big show when all the fluids would shift into the right places–too late!

Similar diets followed including Cyclical Ketogenic Dieting (CKD) variously known as the “Ultimate Diet,” the “High-Fat Diet,” the “Anabolic Diet,” “Bodyopus,” the “Metabolic Diet,” “Anabolic Solution,” and the “Ultimate Diet 2.0.”

The Supplement Boom

Amino acids in their many forms (peptide-bonded, free-form, branch chained, L-crystalline) were popular in the 80s, based on the notion that certain isolated amino acids could stimulate the pituitary gland to release growth hormone. Claims that the free-form amino acids arginine and ornithine could help bodybuilders lose fat and gain muscle actually led to a world-wide shortage of arginine and ornithine. I remember contributing to that shortage. Others touted the amino acid lysine as a growth hormone releaser. Lysine is plentiful in milk, which is what bodybuilders used in the days before amino acid supplements.

Soy protein powder made a big comeback in the 1990s with enough market hype to force the bodybuilding community to take another look. However, soy has never been accepted as a quality protein by the bodybuilders who knew anything about protein. Blair dumped it decades ago for the higher quality from milk and eggs. Vince Gironda simply referred to soy as “that s***!”

Carbohydrate loading was made easier with drinks like CarboPlex, containing maltodextrin. Other products contained medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) derived from coconut oil, to provide energy while bypassing the normal fat-assimilating channels in the body.

It was almost impossible to keep up with the new ergogenic and anabolic aids promoted in the magazines. They had bizarre names like Gamma Oryzanal, Osterolwere, Dibencozide and Inosine. A product called Metabolol containing glucose polymers, MCTs and various ergogenic agents became popular. Completing products–with names like “Ultimate Orange” and “Hot Stuff”–were promoted with clever and outlandish marketing tactics.

More Anabolic Aids

During the 1980s, the world of competitive bodybuilding could be summed up in one name–Lee Haney. Haney ruled the Mr. Olympia competition from 1984 to 1991. He was followed by Dorian Yates, winner for six straight years and then Ron Coleman who is the reigning Mr. Olympia in 2004. These two men ushered in a big jump in size and hardness. To put the size in perspective, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a huge athlete back in the 70s competing at 235 pounds at 6 feet 2 inches. In the 2003 Mr. Olympia contest, Ron Coleman stood under 6 feet and weighed 287 pounds–and he was even leaner than Schwarzenegger!

Were these men better bodybuilders than Schwarzenegger and Haney? Not necessarily, just more daring chemists. Two very anabolic compounds had muscled their way to prominence in the pro ranks in a much bigger way than ever before. These compounds were insulin and growth hormone. Bodybuilders were using natural growth hormone from human cadavers and rhesus monkeys back in the 1970s. However, with the introduction of recombinant Human Growth Hormone in 1985, this product became more widely available. Another anabolic compound was creatine monohydrate, a muscle-hydrating substance. Whey protein came into prominence. Bodybuilders will ingest just about anything in the quest to build muscles–powders, pills, raw meat, blood, glands, and a whole assortment of esoteric concoctions that have been slam-dunked for the sake of the gain.

Until the end of the 1980s, athletes sat on two distinct sides of the line–those who took steroids and those who did not. As Nelson Montana once stated, “Steroids do what all bodybuilders want –they build muscle!” That distinct line became blurred in the 1990s with the fall of the Berlin wall and the introduction of Eastern Block performance enhancing compounds known as “pro-hormones.” In the mid-1990s, supplements of Androstenedione, Androstenediol, Norandrostenedione, Norandrostenediol and DHEA appeared in the magazines. Originally deemed safe alternatives to steroids, the same side effects that manifested with steroids soon became apparent–male pattern baldness, prostrate enlargement, acne, reduced libido, liver and kidney toxicity, and–every bodybuilder’s favorite–gynecomastia (bitch tits).

As more side effects revealed themselves, more precursors (pro-hormones) came on the scene to replace their predecessors. Baseball’s Mark McGuire helped the market in a big way. Bodybuilders started stacking these hormones like regular anabolic steroids along with estrogen blockers, growth hormone enhancers, cortisone inhibitors, stimulators (ephedra), creatine, protein powders and, if there was any cash left, perhaps some vitamins. The recommended diet today is high-carb, high-protein, and low in fat–skim milk, egg whites, protein powders. . . anything but real whole foods. It’s no surprise that early natural bodybuilders, such as LaLanne, Tanny, Gironda and Grimek, enjoyed good longevity in the sport while the health of today’s muscle stars is a huge question mark. As five-time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl recently remarked: “The guy left standing on the stage today at the end of a bodybuilding show is probably the guy in the arena who is closest to death.”

It’s unfortunate that today’s young athletes who have that genetic potential to excel in bodybuilding really have no choice but to go down that pharmaceutical road if they want to achieve top honors at the shows. A friend of mine and long time gym owner Marty Hodgson stated to me, “We must remember it was in fact drugs that played a significant role in building those comic book characteristics that attracted us to the sport over the past 40 years. But those very substances that help make the sport are the same ones that are, with no doubt, destroying it.”

Sidebars

---

Daily Menu for the Three Saxon Brothers

Breakfast
24 eggs
3 pounds smoked bacon
Porridge with cream and honey
Tea with plenty of sugar

Dinner
10 pounds of meat
Vegetables
Sweet fruit (raw or cooked)
Sweet cakes
Salad
Tea
Sweet puddings
Cocoa and whipped cream

Supper
Cold meat
Smoked fish
Lots of butter and cheese
Beer

---

Sansone’s Weight Gain Diet

Breakfast
Fresh fruit
Medium serving of whole grain Cereal with cream and sugar
2 eggs
2 pieces whole grain toast, buttered
1 glass of milk

Dinner
Steak, lamb, mutton or other meat
1 baked potato with butter
2 pieces whole wheat toast,buttered
1 large leafy green salad
1 large serving of berries or other fruit
1 small piece of plain cake

Supper
1 cup of bouillon or puree
1 medium serving of meat
1 large serving of cooked vegetables
2 pieces whole grain toast, buttered
Pudding or custard
1 glass of milk

Sansone’s Weight Loss Diet

Breakfast
Fresh fruit
2 pieces whole grain toast, buttered
1 egg
1 cup coffee or tea
½ cup hot milk

Dinner
Steak, roast beef, mutton or other meat
1 piece whole grain toast, buttered
1 large serving vegetables
Berries

Supper
1 cup of soup or tomato puree
1 small serving meat or fish 1 large serving vegetable
1 piece whole grain toast, buttered
1 glass milk

---

Steroid Side Effects

Anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives or chemically altered versions of the hormone testosterone. Testosterone is the main androgenic or masculinizing hormone in males. In females, it plays a secondary role and occurs at about 1/20th the amount that occurs in adult men.

Testosterone has two primary characteristics that concern the athlete pursuing performance enhancement. The first and most sought-after attribute for the sport of bodybuilding is its anabolic effect, the ability to stimulate protein synthesis for muscle, bone and blood building. The second and less desired effect, especially with women, is the adrogenic response, the stimulation of secondary male sexual characteristics. Synthetic steroids are designed to enhance the anabolic effects of testosterone, while reducing the masculinizing properties. Unfortunately, the more you reduce the androgenic properties, the more you reduce the anabolic effect. Over the years, many different derivatives of the testosterone molecule have made their way through the sports arena. All of these synthetic versions have had varying degrees of androgenic and anabolic potencies. The more androgenic, the more anabolic and therefore more effective the drug for building muscle.

Anabolic steroids can be taken orally, sublingually or via injection. Oral steroids usually act faster than their oil-based injectable counterparts. Injectable steroids such as Deca-Durabolin have been designed to reduce the androgenic attributes and can stay in the body much longer than oral steroids such as Dianabol. Dianabol travels quickly to the liver where it is broken down to a large degree. This type of steroid places more stress on the liver.

The side effects of steroids can vary depending on gender and individual physiological characteristics. Age, dosage and duration of time on steroids also affect the degree of adverse reactions. Some of the side effects are also surrounded with controversy. For example, much of the media attention towards the serious liver disease through steroid use comes from patients with preexisting illnesses under longterm treatment with steroid medication. Nevertheless, steroid-using atheletes need to have their liver function monitored by health practitioners as the liver is definitely stressed by the practice.

One common side effect of steroids is water retention leading to elevated blood pressure in some athletes; another is kidney damage. The most feared reaction among the male bodybuilders is the paradoxical feminizing known as gynecomastia. This involves the enlargement of the tissue around the nipples. For females, it is the masculinizing effects that do the most damage. Male pattern baldness, facial and body hair, deepening of the voice, and clitoral enlargement are all potential threats to the female taking androgenic steroids. Stimulation of the sebaceous glands may lead to acne in both male and female athletes.

Behaviorial changes are also tied to steroid use. Almost everyone has heard of “roid rage.” Steroid use does not typically turn a mild mannered individual into a madman as the media would have us believe but anabolic steroids can increase aggression to some degree. If you are already an S.O.B., then steroid use may make you a bigger S.O.B. Psychological dependency also occurs, mainly because some athletes cannot deal with the loss of muscle, strength and desired appearance when withdrawing from steroids.

Other possible side effects that may occur during the use of anabolic and androgenic steroids include prolonged bleeding time, headaches, nausea, feeling poorly, increased risk of injury, abcesses resulting from injection, anaphylactic shock (life-threatening reaction) and early death from heart disease.

---

Vince Ginonda’s “Hormone Precursor Diet” for Muscle Build-Up

Gironda recommended this diet for four to six weeks, followed by a mostly vegetarian “alkalinizing” diet.

Breakfast
Vince’s special protein drink made of 12 oz half and half, 12 raw eggs, 1/3 cup milk-and-egg protein powder, 1 banana. (Make one to three mixtures of this formula and drink throughout the day, between meals, and before retiring)

Supplements

1 multi-vitamin tablet	3 vitamin A and D tablets or 3 halibut oil capsules	1 vitamin B complex
1 vitamin B-15 tablet	1 vitamin C comlex (300 mg)	2 vitamin E capsules (800 iu)
1 zinc tablet	1 chelated mineral tablets	5 alfalfa tablets
10 kelp tablets	3 tri-germ and wheat germ oil capsules	1 RNA/DNA tablet
3 Lysine tablets (400 mg)	1 hydrochloric acid tablet (before meal)
3 digestive enzyme tablets (after meal)	3 multi-glandular tablets (nucleo glan male or female)

Lunch
1 pound hamburger or other meat
Mixed greeen salad or raw vegetables

Supplements
1 iron tablet
4 calcium tablets
Repeat of breakfast vitamins with omission of vitamin E, tri-germ, wheat germ, halibut oil

Dinner
1 to 2 pound steak or roast meat
Raw or steamed vegetables or salad and cottage cheese

Supplements
Same as lunch

Special Supplements
10 amino acids and desiccated liver tablets (every 3 hours) 5 yeast tablets with the protein drink

4 raw orchic tissue tablets (before and after workouts)

6 each of the following before retiring: arginine, ortithine, tryptophan, calcium tablets

---

High-Carb Diet for Bodybuilders

Typical of the new carb-rich diets was the 1979 diet of Clarence Bass, known for his “ripped” appearance:

Breakfast
2 eggs
1 toast
Cereal consisting of:
2 tablespoons wheat germ
5 tablespoons bran
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon raisins
1 cup whole raw milk

Lunch
Peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread
1 cup yogurt from whole raw milk
1 apple or pear

Supper
2 poached eggs
1 piece dry toast
Huge salad

Evening Meal
1 cup whole raw milk mixed with
1 cup water
1 tablespoon Fyblend fiber
1/2 grain saccharin
1/2 teaspoon decaffeinated coffee

---

Big Ron’s Confusing Nutrition Advice

Nowhere is confusion on what constitutes a healthy diet more evident than on the website of current bodybuilding champion Ron Coleman (bigroncoleman.com).
His contradictory and watered-down nutritional advice:

1. Eat, eat and eat some more.

2. To add strength and mass, try to consume four to six meals a day. Choose from a variety of food groups at mealtime. Try to include lots of potatoes, rice, pasta, fruits and vegetables.

3. Make sure you are eating enough. A low fat diet and avoiding refined foods are good, but it won’t help you build mass. On the same note you don’t want to eat a high fat diet all the time. Fat provides additional calories, the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and raw materials for important hormones that stimulate muscle growth.

4. Monitor the amount of mass you are gaining. Measure your body parts and weigh every week to see if you are going in the right direction.

5. Lastly, continue to train hard. And remember gaining mass won’t happen overnight.

---

Copyright: This article is excerpted from Randy Roach’s book Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors, available at prfit.com.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2004.

About the Author

Bodybuilder and trainer Randy Roach has followed most of the bodybuilding diet trends over the past 30 years including methods not so embraced in bodybuilding circles, such as complete vegan vegetarianism. During his protein-drink phase he ate egg whites and discarded the yolks. He has discovered that too many carbohydrates give him all sorts of problems. Over the past 3 years he has migrated to a total raw diet. This includes raw meat, dairy, eggs (especially the yolks), honey, green juices, and some fruits with their seeds. Food for a typical day includes 1/4-1/2 pound raw chicken,1/2 pound raw beef, 1/4 pound raw liver, 16- 32 ounces of raw milk, 2-3 ounces raw cream, 6-8 tablespoons raw honey, 32 ounces raw green juice (celery, parsley, lemon, zucchini, honey, beets) and occasional fruit.

Next Page »