In Your Face!

pWn3D
Epic Fail
etc.

People look at u funny

When photographing yourself in the gym...

Training today

Charge that phone w hard work

The Perfect Human

Excerpt:

"The human body has limitations," Karnazes says. "The human spirit is boundless." Your mind, in other words, is your most important muscle. As a running buddy told him: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!"

From Wired
Thanks Karl!

Kid Commits Suicide on Bodybuilding.com

Sad news.
Shame on the people who egged him on to "do it!"

Story here:

No Motivation

Blah, this work week has me stressed and it's creeping into my motivation to train.
I hate dragging myself through workouts.
Grrr...

Health Clinic or Ego Booster?

Today I had the great fortune of sticking my finger with a needle filled with biohazardous compounds. That guaranteed me a one-way trip to our Occupational Health and Safety Clinic here on campus.

The nurse who saw me was really nice. Before even getting to my injury, we talked at length about my family and personal health history. Dad's arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, mom's emphysema etc. I mentioned briefly that my blood pressure tended to be on the "high normal" side so she wanted to check it out.
I pulled up my sleeve and got the following:
"oh my, we're going to need the bigger cuff. Your arm is quite larger than I thought."

How big did she think it was/wasn't? I thought.
She checked my blood pressure and confirmed it was high normal.

"It's probably better you dont use the blood pressure machine (like in drug stores) outside- you might get stuck in it or break it, just come on in anytime to get your BP checked" she said naively, not knowing she was stroking my ego majorly. Sir, your arms are too big for the machine!
"yes ma'am, that's very nice, thank you for offering to do that."

"Sir, step away from the machine."

She then went on to the known allergies, any mediacations, supplements, etc. She raised her eyebrows at the list of supplemetns I take (which is not that much from some guys I know-) Fish oil, vit c, vit d, vit e, glucosamine, multi, the usual. She also discouraged the whey protein powder. P'sha! As if! Blasphemy I thought!

Then from left field comes:
"Are you taking anabolic steroids?"
The question caught me off guard, and I think she knew it, but she continued-
"It's ok if you are, we're under confidentiality- I just want to get a complete picture of what's going on with you."

After the awkward silence, I simply replied no ma'am. I know that she wasn't implying anything by it, and her intentions were genuine, but in a way I also felt like I was lying because I dont think it was the answer she was expecting. Very bizarre. But for a natural bb'er, aint nothing like getting accused of juicin!

I definitely walked out of there feeling a lot better than I did when I went in, but none of it had anything to do with my finger.

Simi goes to the Nationals!

When I began this strange trip that we've come to know as bodybuilding, I began training at Maverick's in Emeryville. Most of the trainers were in OK shape, but one stuck out-Simi Tufunga. Dude was large and in charge. Over time Simi and I began to talk and became friends. When I did my first show in 2007 he helped me prep my posing routine, which is by far my best of the 3 I have done.
Simi's sponsored by Muscletech, the industry's largest supplement company- one day Vernon and I were in Borders and I flipped to a page that featured Simi. I told Vernon I knew him, and of course the kid didn't believe me. So we walked next door to Mavericks and luckily Simi was there. Blew his mind to say the least.
After winning the SF earlier this year, Simi's riding his wave of momentum and will take the stage at the 2008 NPC Nationals. Joel who's been helping with his prep (that makes him a Guru!) had an impromptu photoshoot last weekend to catch his progress at one week out. He's looking really sharp considering he's still got a week to go, and the usual water/carb manipulations still to come.

The Sunday before last year's Nationals he was at 230 and then dropped to 216 for Friday's weigh-in. This year he is expected to drop from 222 to about 210 - 212 on Friday. This will put him in the highly competitive Heavyweight class.

Good luck Simi, I'll be pulling for you!

America's Healthiest Grocery Stores

From CNN
Heres a hint:

Free Throw Line!

LeBron James pulls an MJ in the middle of a game!
Nothing to do with BBing, but pretty impressive!

Treadmobile

Run in place no more!

Cool Shirt

Geoff would say "The beach is (FLEX) that way!"

Up close shot of it:
Thanks John!
Available Here:

Kai Greene is officially insane!

But I love it. His creativity is a breath of fresh air, and he is easily my favorite modern day bodybuilder.


These are some shots from a recent guest posing...

Quinoa- THE VERDICT (UPDATE)

In short: It's good!

Ive read that brown rice, while better than white, is not all that much better. It still spikes the insulin, and in excess can cause you to store fat- and a carb is a carb. I like quinoa because it's a high protein "side" and it because I know it's a "superfood" and has a full amino acid profile, and a some decent fiber.

The taste is hard to place- its sorta nutty, sorta earthy, like you get the essence of a brown rice, but not the starchy part or the texture. Speaking of texture I'd put it like the roe on top of sushi, as the little seeds tend to pop as u eat them. I like that even when completely plain, its easy to eat, and dont leave me feeling stuffed and bloated how potatoes or rice can.

Anyways, ditch the rice and say "Ni Hao*" to "Keen-Wah!"
*hello in Mandarin

UPDATE!
Also, I wanted to add that clean-up was a snap! I went to wash the pot I cooked it in, and I had none of the sticky mess that I usually get from rice- it rinsed right out with lil to no scrubbing. In my book that is a huge plus!

MTV Made- I Want to Disgrace The Sport of Bodybuilding

MTV has this reality show called 'Made' where they take someone completely out of their element and try to make them into something that is out of character, hoping to totally blow the minds of the participant, their friends and their family. A few weeks ago they turned this prissy girly girl into a BMX biker, or they take geeks and turn them into prom king, etc.

Last weekend John dropped me a text saying "Made: I want to be a bodybuilder" was on. Excited, I literally hopped outta bed and hit record on my DVR.

What a disappointment.
First of all they pick this kid Cody, who's probaly 30% bodyfat and give him 8 weeks to prepare for a show. That's like asking a kid to take a quantam physics test after taking pre-calc. He's never touched a weight in his life and when asked what he knows about bodybuilding, he answers:

"Bodybuilding means like, going to the gym and lifting some weights and then jumping on the treadmill for 10 or 15 minutes then eating a bowl of chicken or something like that."

Oh boy.

But he has help. Figure athlete Ava Cowan, and one of the world's best light heavyweights Peter Putnam but you can call him "Pump" (insert rimshot here. Mad corny.) are recruited to help him out. In reality, it's really good opportunity and I couldn't help but think what a waste it was.

Anyways, here's a short synopsis:
The kid with no heart kicks and screams his way through a pretty easy diet and cardio regimen, loses 20 lbs, and then is slathered in pro-tan and jumps on stage. Then he runs through some poses with Cathy LeFrancois and Silvio Samuel. Magically he has the confidence he never had before.

"Can I stop? My mouth is like.... so dry!" <-- Actual quote

This is what I call inappropriate flexing!

Anyways, it's still worth watching.
Check your local listings and enjoy. I'll post the episode once MTV posts it.

Bodybuilders: Check your local listings and grab a wastebasket because it's going to make you sick to your stomach.

Lucky us! Bodybuilding disgraced by mainstream media again! Bravo!

I'm going to have to get some of this:

Quinoa: A Protein-Packed Alternative to Grains

From NY Times, Thanks Geoff!

Bigorexia, the movie

I wrote about this back in January, and I guess someone beat me to making a movie about it... pretty interesting.

The Bodybuilder and I

A film about a guy who is embarrassed by his bodybuilding father. I haven't seen it, but from the trailer you already know that this is making my skin crawl. Just what we need- someone putting bodybuilding in a negative light!

myCOSTUMEprep.blogspot.com

For Halloween, Carrie decided she wanted to go bare-- midriff!

But in order to do so, she wanted to make sure that she was in contest, er, costume shape!

So I had her on a mini-cut plan for the day:

• No added salt, other than whats naturally occurring in the food, to prevent water retention.
• No carbs for the day to reduce any abdominal bloating.
• Plenty of water to keep the system clean and clear.
  

While it's not exactly bodybuilding, she's used some of our tricks of the trade to look her best on game day. She's got a killer body to start, and my plan probably didn't do much except to give her the placebo effect and trick her into being that much more confident to pull off this "Officer Naughty" costume.

And as we've learned, confidence is all you need to get things done.

BTW this is who i dressed as, if you couldnt tell:

TRAITOR