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Get Big Or DIE Trying!
A Bodybuilding Insider’s Look Into Steroids, Supplements
And The Muscle Marketing Merry-Go-Round
A Bodybuilding Insider’s Look Into Steroids, Supplements
And The Muscle Marketing Merry-Go-Round
By Wade McNutt
Natural National Bodybuilding Champion
Natural National Bodybuilding Champion
The other day I received an email from an earnest young man named Dustin (name changed for identity purposes). Now Dustin, like most young men in their late teens and early twenties, was looking to put on an extra ten or twenty pounds of muscle to fill out his frame.
Dustin like many men his age felt that he was too skinny. He also told me that he had been training for 3 or 4 years with moderate results and that although he was relatively lean, his bodyweight had been stuck between 170-175 pounds at a height of 5’11. To date, I have received hundreds if not thousands of letters from guys and girls all around the world just like Dustin who are desperate to put on more muscle.
Like so many others before him Dustin told me how he had religiously followed an endless array of training programs. Although he had experienced some gains when he first switched to a new training program usually after the first 2-3 weeks on a new program his gains stopped. The situation had gotten worse because at the time of his email he had been sitting at his current bodyweight for almost a year and couldn’t seem to gain a pound of muscle no matter what he did.
Dustin also shared with me that he had been consuming 250 -300 grams of protein per day and performing all his sets to failure including partials, forced reps, and even negatives. In fact, he felt that he has never trained harder in his life and his diet was the best it’s ever been.
He tried all the supplements advertised in the magazines including creatine, NO2, hormone precursors, testosterone boosters, and some products whose name neither him or I could pronounce let alone spell. He also poured out his heart as to how frustrated he was as he felt he was doing everything right.
Dustin emailed me because he was considering taking a cycle of steroids. He really didn’t want too start taking drugs but felt he had no choice but to give in too the pressure from his friends and fellow gym members.
Now before I go into the solution to Dustin’s problem let’s look first at the cold hard facts that every trainee who goes into a gym today will eventually be faced with. My goal here is to give you a heads up to: the who, what, when, where, and why and how many guys like Dustin get caught up in The Get Big or Die Trying program, which is running rampant in just about every single gym in the world.
This article promises to be a real eye-opener for some of you and it’s definitely a no holds barred look at what’s really going on in the Whacky World of Modern Day Muscle-Building Mania.
Too quote a line from the Matrix, “Buckle your seat belts Dorothy because Kansas is going Bye-Bye!”
The Biggest Bodybuilding Lie EVER… “Just One Cycle”
Dustin’s story is an all to familiar one. It all started when some of the “Big Dudes” in the gym had told him that if he did a small cycle he would pack on another 20 pounds in a month or two. These guys definitely had impressive physiques and they certainly seem to know a lot about training, dieting and getting big.
The bottom line was Dustin was almost ready to say the “Hell with It” pick up a syringe and join the members of the “Drug Infused Testosterone Nation” who can usually be spotted parading around most gyms on the planet like a herd of oversized plate heads. To the innocent observer these guys seemed to be doing okay and they all assured him that a little bit of juice wouldn’t hurt anyone.
I really felt for Dustin’s situation as I reflected back on my own journey in the bodybuilding industry. I myself have been in Dustin’s situation, as have millions of young men and women around the world.
Unfortunately business these days is booming thanks to the “Drug dealers” around the world who have used this one cycle pitch since drug dealing began. It’s no secret that this pitch is convincing and bodybuilders have been falling for this line since the invention of the barbell.
Lets’ face it the bodybuilding industry has taken a major nosedive ever since Dorian Yates ushered in the era of “Chemical Warfare”. While drug use was prevalent amongst the top pros and amateurs in the 70’s and 80’s, the 90’s began the era where you simply take as many chemicals as you can afford, lift as heavy as you can, and hope like hell you don’t get sick, busted, or completely destroy your health.
Unfortunately, this insane quest for size has extreme costs as evidence consider the rash of professional and amateur bodybuilders who have died, messed up their health permanently, or ended up in prison. The reality is few individuals consider the Big Picture when it comes to their training programs, diet, health or the real costs of “juicing” even if it’s for “just one cycle”.
The facts are one cycle leads to another, and another, and another because drugs cannot replace real training science, quality nutrition, the drive, focus, time and commitment it takes to build a truly awesome physique. Although drugs might seem like a quick fix to the Dustin’s current weight gain challenges. There not! In fact the first cycle is usually the first step into the underground steroid subculture.
Let’s have a look at the players in this deadly game but be forewarned this could get messy before I’m done talking!
Introduction The “Death-X-Perts” - Walking Time Bombs!
So many guys like Dustin turn to the biggest guy in the gym for their advice or worse a chemically enhanced time bomb gracing the pages of the latest Magazine. What Dustin and many others don’t know is the cruel and never ending spiral of drug abuse that a “one-time-only” first cycle can trigger.
Believe me the average dude in the gym who is slamming the latest chemical going around town is not going to tell you how to rebuild your kidneys, your liver, or heart after they fail because you decided gaining an extra 20 pounds of muscle with some “barnyard, homebrewed, chemical concoction” loaded with impurities, animal hormones, bacteria and a host of chemicals that would make a “biochemical weapons chemist” nervous was worth risking your health.
After being in and around the bodybuilding industry for the last 20 years I can honestly say that I stunned and horrified by the unnecessary risks bodybuilders around the world are taken daily in the quest for a bigger biceps. One of the biggest problems in bodybuilding is how many bodybuilders are getting horrific advice from “Pill Pushing Plate-Heads” passing themselves of as medical professionals, expert trainers, and my personal favorite… “Masochistic Philosophers”.
Death-X-Pert Number 1
Recently I flipped through all of the main muscle magazines and I reflected on the deaths, illnesses, and sufferings of the industries leading “Death-X-Perts”. It all started with guys like Dan Duchaine, “a.k.a. The Steroid Guru”, who was and still is one of the most famous “Death-X-Perts” ever, but the persona was in fact a complete illusion as Dan in reality was a 6”6 175lb skin and bones chemical nightmare gone wrong.
I first met Dan Duchaine in 1999 at the Arnold Classic and I was shocked and horrified that anybody would listen to this guy after seeing him in the flesh. It became clear to me Dan was a media sensation not a real expert, which got me thinking. How many Fake Gurus are really out there in the Bodybuilding Industry?
It didn’t take me long to find out the pill pushing propaganda program had been going on for some time and was showing no signs of letting up.
Death-X-Pert Number 2
Dan was actually spawned from one of the original “massive dosage of chemical regime pro” that first reared its ugly head with the Dynamic Duo of Mike Mentzer and his marketing mentor Arthur Jones. Arthur Jones was an eccentric billionaire who used a marketing concept he called “Heavy Duty – now called HIT”. Arthur Jones was not only rich but he was exceptionally smart marketer and a fine writer.
Arthur Jones then wrote a series of convincing Pseudo-science training articles, which were printed in major muscle magazines. Arthur then viciously attacked anyone who opposed his outlandish principles using a mix of truth and falsehoods complete with philosophy from Friedrick Nietzsche and Ann Rand.
He then selected genetically advanced individuals like Mike Mentzer who were all too willing to become brain washed stooges for Jones, by espousing Jones new training philosophy and ingesting a boat load of chemicals in order to successfully promote Jones’s fitness line called Nautilus Equipment.
The whole scheme worked and Arthur Jones made millions. Nautilus was a smashing success, and a few years later Mike and his brother Ray’s careers were over after Arnold Schwarzenegger defeated Mike in a controversial decision at the 1980 Mr. Olympia.
Death Sells - So Who’s Buying
I find it more than a little eerie that HIT training regained popularity after Mike Mentzer died at middle age. Mike was indeed a tremendous bodybuilder but his lifestyle certainly begs question onto the sanity of his principles and where they lead any person too.
Interestingly, very seldom do you see any mention of the boatload of drugs needed to be successful long-term on HIT training programs. Today’s unsuspecting bodybuilders’ like Dustin get only half of the story about the real reasons behind the success of HIT trainees or the sensational rise of the bodybuilding elite who’s “training and nutrition” articles appear each month in the magazines.
At least Arnold admitted to his use of steroids to build his body during his “Pumping Iron” days. In Arnold’s Day it was perfectly legal to obtain drugs from your doctor and most of the top guys were under medical supervision before, during, and after their cycles.
Of course it does raise a question to the long-term effects of these products considering some of the health challenges Arnold has faced in recent years. What’s even more interesting these days is the “Governator” has taken a strong position against the use of drugs since entering into public office.
Death-X-Pert Number 3
Since the deaths of Duchaine and Mentzer’ there has been an explosion of “Wannabee-Steroid Guru’s” touting the latest “cycle secrets” on the internet. One such expert who is all over the net everywhere and even sports his own column in a major muscle building magazine brags how he gives drugs to his son and then has the audacity to state the health conditions he has endured ‘have nothing to with the drugs”- YEAH RIGHT!
I mean when you have parents willing to put their children’s health at risk just to make a few bucks and gain some notoriety it makes you kind of wonder just “what the hell is going on”. Read on because it’s not over yet, here comes the latest “bodybuilding brainwave” the Sultan of Synthol.
Death-X-Pert Number 4
Now just when you think things couldn’t get worse it did and we have guys like Greg Valentino spouting off advice to what people should take to look like him. Greg’s claim to fame is building grotesquely deformed arms using by injecting a host of chemical goodies directly into “lagging muscle groups”.
The swelling and scar tissue inflates the muscle to outlandish proportions almost overnight despite putting the user at risk to a host of serious medical complications that can result in everything from scars, sores, amputations and even death. But hey… “At least you can get big for a day.”
Despite the sheer insanity of this practice many mainstream television and Internet media sources jumped on the “Big At All Costs Bandwagon” by cashing in on the newest batch of bloated chemically infused muscle mutants to create an “Insane Size Circus” not seen since the days of P.T. Barnum and the Elephant Man.
In the meantime we have an epidemic of top professionals who have died over the last few years including former muscle magazine media darlings “Andreas Muntzer, Mohammed Bennaziza, Paul Demayo, Don Youngblood, and an ever increasing list off dead athletes whose lives were cut short because of “Mass Monster Mania”.
Yet, still if you presently surf the net you will find all kinds of “Misguided Mass Monsters” who are doling out Deadly Drug Advice to anyone and everyone who happens to enter one of the thousands of “Serious Bodybuilding Forums” on the net.
Each one of these “Gorilla Gurus” comes complete with there own sick and twisted version of what I call “Faux Pharmaceutical Philosophy” and an array of one liners, silly names, and of course not one shred of credibility, reliability, or sensibility.
Still to the unsuspecting it’s easy to fall prey to the “Muscle Mania” and the underground bodybuilding drug culture.
Cycles, Surgeries, And Supplements
You can also add to the growing list of dead bodybuilders the hundreds of illnesses, last minute surgeries, and career ending medical conditions that forced the retirement of guys like Mike Matarazzo, Flex Wheeler, Dennis Newman and a swelling host of unheard of amateurs who have spent their money, their health, and their lives in pursuit of a 10 dollar trophy.
(See World Renowned Trainer Scott Abel’s Blog on “Dying to Win” as it gives even a deeper look into the dark side of bodybuilding).
Then on top of all that we have the ongoing and growing list of legal problems of the top amateur and professional bodybuilders. What’s even more disturbing is how many websites, forums, and “underground newsletters” distribute and promote information that idolizes and victimizes these individuals all the while encouraging their members to be “smart” about there drug cycle.
The magazines turn a “Blind Eye” to the whole charade because many of these guys and gals physiques grace the big supplement companies’ advertisements. These unscrupulous money mongers carefully manipulate the minds of consumers around the world by rolling out the latest oversized “Muscle Mutant” to play on the insecurities of young men and women who compare themselves to these over-glamorized heroes.
Most of these “sponsored athletes” are in reality victims of greedy business owners who are all too willing to exploit just about anything for the all mighty dollar.
The bottom line is most if not all of today’s “Bodybuilding Sensations” are really suffering from a severe case of Muscle Dysmorphia, which is a medical condition as serious as bulimia and anorexia. (See the official definition from ANRED at the end of this article).
The Sad Truth of bodybuilding is many of the top pros and amateurs’ lives are more tragic than triumphant, full of drug addiction, prostitution, and crime. I am sure you wondering how does such reckless exploitation occur and how does this all happen?
Keep reading dear friend as I reveal the deep dark secret formula that marketers use to hoodwink athletes, consumers, and yes even you to there schemes, scams, and outright shams. Get ready because here comes the BIGGEST BOMBSHELL OF ALL!
Muscles, Marketing, And Most Of All MONEY
You see Most Magazines and Internet media make their money on Advertisements. Advertisers use the latest drug infused “Mass-Monster” to promote their supplements, products, or program. The formula is pretty simple and used by almost every one of the big Companies. Allow me to share with you exactly how the formula works.
You simply combine pictures of the latest Mass-Monster with one, two or even better a whole group of very attractive women with cartoon like proportions posing in sexually suggestive positions to imply that by taking their supplement not only will you get as big as a house in a few weeks but you will also have ‘playboy playmates” drooling all over you.
Now slide in a few scientific sounding theories, an unpronounceable name complete with dashes, numbers, and some lightening bolts, flames and bright colors and bingo- you got a mad dash to the local GNC to get the latest Gimmick. Usually a few radical graphs, statistics and outright lies also accompany the ad to further drive home the sales pitch. “Does this sound familiar?”
The “Results” are then backed up by convincing before and after poses of chemically enhanced and genetically gifted individuals subjected to massive drug dosages, rigorous training schedules and Spartan diets. While the format, marketing, and claims have evolved over the years the bold faced deceit has sunk to new lows.
I have yet to see an ad that listed the drugs used by the athlete in question or a complete health profile accompanied by a drug test performed by a qualified medical institution of the individual before, during, and after the pictures were taken. I also don’t expect to see any of these companies step up to the plate and request a drug test from the before and after participants.
Consider the fact that there are literally thousands of bodybuilding supplements pitched by companies featuring and endless array of “new discoveries” which promise to deliver instant muscle almost overnight how many of them do you really believe deliver the promised results?
How The Muscle Marketing Merry-Go-Round Fuels
The Supplement Scamme-R-Amma
I call this program the supplement Scamme-R-amma and there seems to be a never ending line of bodybuilders willing to sacrifice life and limb to get there picture in a advertisement and a supplement contract so that they can pay for the next shipment of health destroying drugs.
When any one of these bodybuilders gets arrested, gets sick, or dies they simply replace them with the next freak of nature, release a new product, and start the process all over again. The Muscle Marketing Merry-Go-Round has worked for a long time simply because companies keep releasing “new and improved products” with ever increasing marketing sophistication that keeps a few steps ahead of the game.
Everybody’s in on the gag because the average Joe who wants to get a little big bigger like Dustin simply doesn’t have enough real training knowledge to make an educated decision on drugs, supplements, training or diet.
Unfortunately the magazines and the big companies know that most individuals rely on hype, hearsay, and the convincing ads written by clever copywriters who are out to make a quick buck. In the end, every body loses, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
You the consumer have the power to demand change but that requires you to reset your “Reality-meter” and get educated on what’s really going on the bodybuilding industry.
The bottom line is all of this marketing madness drives guys like Dustin to continually search for the next potion, pill, or protein in their quest to get a little bit bigger. The unfortunate part is whether it’s the supplement companies, the magazines, or the Biggest Dude in the gym; all of them are playing on the lack of real training and nutrition know-how.
Temptations, Rationalizations, And
The “Get Big Or Die Trying” Mentality
I know the temptations, the rationalizations, and most of all the costs of the “Get Big Or Die Trying Mentality” can present because I went down that path a long time ago and thankfully I managed to escape with my life and health intact but I cannot say the same for many of my friends, colleagues and competitors who I have met over the years. (See may article titled the “Road To The Myth-Ster Universe One Bodybuilders Journey...”.
Many of my friends and acquaintances from the bodybuilding world are not here to share how easy it is to get caught in the Muscle Marketing Machine and the Underground Bodybuilding Drug Culture. The Get Big Or Die Trying Mentality probably isn’t going to go away for a while, but you deserve to know the truth behind the “slippery slope of steroids” and how to avoid going there if you can.
But let me elaborate for those of you who are considering this path like our friend Dustin and present to you some real honest facts about the potential game you plan when you allow yourself to succumb to the “Get Big Or Die Trying Mentality”.
Top 10 Facts - The Truth Behind Steroids, GH, Insulin
And Other Bodybuilding Drugs
FACT 1 - Steroids, GH, Insulin, Clenbuterol, and the endless array of drugs used be bodybuilders do in fact make you bigger, leaner, and stronger. People use them because they work, at least temporarily as long as you continue to use them. The problem is few people use the drugs for what they were intended for and even fewer have proper medical supervision to ensure safety and reduced side effects.
FACT 2 – All of these drugs have side effects and must be taken in increasing dosages to be effective over time. Eventually the side effects catch up to the size gains and your health becomes compromised. Early side effects are: gynocomastia (bitch tits), water-retention, hyper-tension, liver and kidney problems, skin problems (acne), rapid pulse, mood disorders, male pattern baldness, enlarged prostates in men and enlarged clitoris in women, as well as changes in body structure.
FACT 3 – As the dosages increase or the longer the person uses drugs more serious side effects start to occur, such as enlarged hearts, diabetes, sleep apnea, depression, thyroid irregularities, cysts on major organs such as livers, kidneys, and skin, impotence, paranoia, seizures, blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, heart failure, renal failure, and even death.
FACT 4 - The muscle building and fat burning results from drugs are temporary and the user goes back to the original size, and strength after the drug cycle. This tendency tends to spur the user to use more frequent and bigger dosages as well as multiple drugs called “Stacking” to increase effectiveness of drug cycles. Eventually most users simply go from one drug cocktail to another further compounding the side effects and health costs.
FACT 5 – No matter how big, strong, or ripped an athlete looks it never seems to be big enough or good enough because there is always someone bigger, better, more cut, more attractive etc. The insecurity that fed the drug abuse cycle was never addressed and it only becomes more amplified with drug use.
FACT 6 – Most of the drugs circulating in gyms are counterfeits, animal drugs, or toxic home brews made in severely unsanitary, and unsafe conditions, by ignorant amateurs using “internet cookbooks”. Not only do these drugs not work but also they present serious and life threatening consequences to anyone who uses them.
FACT 7 - The vast majority of bodybuilders who use, promote, and sell bodybuilding drugs are involved in criminal activity, avoid proper medical supervision, and have no idea about the dangers of the drugs they use and promote. Nor do they know the source of drugs, the half-life’s of the drugs, the complications of their use, or the serious side effects that can occur when various “drug cocktails” are mixed together.
FACT 8 – Few if any Bodybuilding Drug sites and overseas pharmacies are controlled or regulated by trained pharmaceutical staff or medical professionals and virtually no licensed medical professional would advocate the dosages, combinations, frequency or duration of use that the majority of bodybuilders practice.
FACT 9 – It is a criminal offense to import, traffic, and/or possess most of the drugs used by bodybuilders. Stiff penalties are enforced by lawmakers to convict individuals who chose to break the law by using bodybuilding drugs. The rash of arrests, drug busts and charges against many of the top professional and amateur bodybuilders clearly demonstrate that involvement in the bodybuilding drug culture may result in you spending time behind bars.
FACT 10 – When a person comes off a cycle of drugs most if not all the gains are lost and often times the individuals metabolism has been seriously affected. Metabolic damage from drug use is now commonplace among former drug users both male and females. Depression, fat-gain, and lack of motivation are virtually unavoidable consequences of drug use.
The Bottom Line On Using Bodybuilding Drugs To Get Big
Whether you choose to use drugs or not it’s important to recognize and realize that very few individuals use just one cycle and quit. Every time you choose to go on a cycle you are playing a game of “Russian Roulette” with your health and well-being. Each cycle increases your odds of losing your gains, your health, and your freedom.
The reality is you don’t have use drugs to build a great physique. While you probably won’t win the Mr. Olympia by staying natural you most certainly can build a well-muscled athletic physique that commands respect and admiration.
The best part about building muscle naturally is you get to keep all of your gains in strength, muscle mass, and athleticism. It’s also easier to stay lean all year round, and your physique will have a much greater appeal to the opposite sex.
What’s better is that you can continually improve your body well into you senior years while simultaneously benefiting from excellent health, well-being, and athletic mobility.
7 Keys To Building a Great Physique Without Drugs
Let’s get back to Dustin our friend who was desperate to build more muscle and what my advice to him as well as anyone else in his shoes might want to consider. While the list below is a summary of my email to Dustin it is by no means a complete list. It does however give you a few basic guidelines to get started and to review when evaluating your training.
1. Carefully examine the training program you are on. In my 20 years experience very rarely have I come across a person who’s training program made sense. Most individuals randomly throw together exercises, rep ranges, and body parts coupled with half hazard exercise form to produce less than ideal stimulus to work their muscles effectively. Bottom line is invest in a proven scientific training system or qualified professional coach with a proven track record to help you get the right training program for your body and your goals.
2. Learn and Master Proper Exercise Performance. Virtually every gym I have ever trained in has literally most of the members performing exercises with too much weight, poor form, limited ranges and planes of motion, and sometimes downright dangerous practices which put the individuals at significant risk. Take the time to master exercise performance as this will help you build muscle at a much faster rate and reduce the risk of injuries.
3. Build a solid base of real food from natural sources as the foundation of your dietary practices. Most athletes don’t understand even the basics of good nutrition, and are deficient in enzymes, live proteins, probiotics, minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids and chlorophyll rich foods.
4. Avoid Mega-dosing on Protein. The last 30 years of media bombardment has succeeded in convincing that more protein is better despite the overwhelming scientific evidence illustrating that the body requires only 50-100 grams per day maximum of protein. All of the largest and strongest animals in the animal kingdom eat “live plant based proteins” as opposed to meat, whey products, or egg proteins, which are pitched mercilessly at society. The mega-dose advocates theories go against over 4 billion years of evolution.
5. If you are going to use supplements get a genetic screening, or computerized report to determine what supplements your body can benefit from. Computer technology is evolving rapidly enough to help individuals determine precisely what supplements can benefit your health and your training.
6. Commit to reading and learning qualified nutrition and training information from reputable sources. Don’t put your health and dollars in the hands of slick salesman who are willing to tell you anything to make a buck. Read proven journals and books on nutrition and training. Dr. Howell’s book on Enzyme Nutrition is a great place to start your reading.
7. Regularly study and use mind training technology developed by sport psychologists. The mind is perhaps one of the most powerful and untapped aspects of a complete training program. Technology has made hypnosis, visualization, and other mind training technologies relatively inexpensive and readily available to everyone.
2. Learn and Master Proper Exercise Performance. Virtually every gym I have ever trained in has literally most of the members performing exercises with too much weight, poor form, limited ranges and planes of motion, and sometimes downright dangerous practices which put the individuals at significant risk. Take the time to master exercise performance as this will help you build muscle at a much faster rate and reduce the risk of injuries.
3. Build a solid base of real food from natural sources as the foundation of your dietary practices. Most athletes don’t understand even the basics of good nutrition, and are deficient in enzymes, live proteins, probiotics, minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids and chlorophyll rich foods.
4. Avoid Mega-dosing on Protein. The last 30 years of media bombardment has succeeded in convincing that more protein is better despite the overwhelming scientific evidence illustrating that the body requires only 50-100 grams per day maximum of protein. All of the largest and strongest animals in the animal kingdom eat “live plant based proteins” as opposed to meat, whey products, or egg proteins, which are pitched mercilessly at society. The mega-dose advocates theories go against over 4 billion years of evolution.
5. If you are going to use supplements get a genetic screening, or computerized report to determine what supplements your body can benefit from. Computer technology is evolving rapidly enough to help individuals determine precisely what supplements can benefit your health and your training.
6. Commit to reading and learning qualified nutrition and training information from reputable sources. Don’t put your health and dollars in the hands of slick salesman who are willing to tell you anything to make a buck. Read proven journals and books on nutrition and training. Dr. Howell’s book on Enzyme Nutrition is a great place to start your reading.
7. Regularly study and use mind training technology developed by sport psychologists. The mind is perhaps one of the most powerful and untapped aspects of a complete training program. Technology has made hypnosis, visualization, and other mind training technologies relatively inexpensive and readily available to everyone.
Never Give Up On Your Dreams
Finally my advice is never give up on your dreams but be prepared to invest a significant amount of time, effort and money in your physique. Building a great body takes a strong desire, consistent and intense effort, coupled with a patient positive attitude.
Today’s fast paced world has many of us running to catch up with yesterdays’ goals and the world’s “instant everything expectations” can make it challenging to be patient in allowing our bodies to develop at there own natural pace. Develop and attitude of gratitude in you’re training and celebrate each workout with joy and verve.
Recognize and acknowledge your own successes each and every day and surround yourself with positive energizing people who support your goals. Read positive books, eat good food, train intensely and consistently and you might be surprised at how enjoyable the journey can be.
The biggest key in building a great success is to fall in love with the process of learning, training and growing as opposed to making your training some masochistic do or die life and death battle with yourself. The NO PAIN NO GAIN mantra has developed into a mindset that has done more harm to bodybuilders and bodybuilding then any other single factor.
Bill Pearl who perhaps is the greatest natural bodybuilder of all time has the best attitude towards training. He states that you must coax not force your body to grow and that you should always leave the gym feeling like you could do a little bit more.
Bill has trained and coached more bodybuilders then perhaps anyone in the history of the sport and he has risen and succeeded at the absolute highest echelons of the bodybuilding world. Even today in his 70’s he still sports a terrific healthy physique that oozes power, strength, and vitality.
Considering most of today’s bodybuilders will not even make it to there 50’s I feel that we could all learn a thing or two from men like Bill.
Dustin’s Decision
It was a few months later when I heard back from Dustin. He decided not to use steroids and went back and evaluated his training using the 7 keys to building a great physique. It turns out his training program needed revamped and his diet needed some serious improvement.
He sought out the advice of Strength and Conditioning Specialist from a local university that really helped him learn exercise performance and training intensity as well as putting together a proper training program.
He also signed up for a nutrition course at the university which he attends once a week and found out a wealth of information about his body and it’s relation to nutrition.
Dustin also reported that he was up 5 lbs in lean body mass in less than two months and he found learning about the body so much fun he now was enrolling in a degree program at the university in the fall.
He thanked me for opening up a new world to him and helping him discover what he was truly passionate about in life. He told me that he was enjoying his workouts more than ever and was more excited about training and nutrition than he could remember.
I was really glad to hear how he dodged a bullet and took the time to explore his options before making a decision he might regret later. Thankfully, Dustin now has a bright future as he found a way to channel the drive to be big into a more productive and long-term vision that have far greater benefits than anything sold in a syringe or a bottle.
I can only hope they’re more bodybuilders like Dustin out there with the courage and patience to train naturally. I can honestly say their journey will be far more enjoyable and productive over the long-term than any short-term solutions that drugs promise but seldom deliver.
Wade McNutt
http://www.wadebodysystems.com
http://www.freakybignatural.com
__________________________
Wade McNutt is a Natural National Bodybuilding Champion and author of Freaky Big Natural. He also spends his time formulating high performance training routines, mental technologies and reliable cutting edge supplements to improve the performance of natural athletes around the world. You can contact Wade by clicking here.