adler training

On Saturday, 12 long weeks of strict dieting came to an end for Davis - he was about to compete in his first natural bodybuilding show. This entailed a very long day. We got there around 8 am and stayed until 9 pm, since it was a very big and competitive show. Davis looked full and muscular in the morning and his condition improved during the day. He ended up taking 5th in a very tough class.
Way to go!
Maik
Next post will be why kettlebells are stupid, so stay tuned.

This is a question that most people never really ask themselves while they motion through their workouts. But it is certainly worth to take a minute and reflect. Is it a sport? Hard to say, since you are just presenting a physique onstage, without any athletic elements.
Is it an art form? Closer, with the piece of art being you.
But most of all its a way of life. Once you have been sucked into the vortex of trainig, eating, and recovering, you realize that is indeed a life style. Here is one of my favorite lines is from Fort Minor "Remember the name":
"This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill,
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will,
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain,
and a hundred percent reason to remember the name"
I believe this sums it up rather well; please note the fifty percent pain part. Bodybuilding is certainly not an easy endeavor, but rewarding in the end. Or as my training partner used to say: "I bodybuild, because you cannot do it!"
Stick with it
Maik

Bodybuilding can be a rather grueling enterprise. You slave away for weeks and months and nothing happens, no muscle gain, no fat loss nothing.  All this despite eating chicken and rice, meanwhile your buddies are eating chicken wings,burgers and beer and are having the time of their lives (or so it seems).
What to do? Quit? Sure that is an option, but as Alec Baldwin said in "Glengary Glenross" : " And one day, you will be sitting in a bar, saying I used to be a salesman; it's a tough racket."
Do you want to be the guy who says: I used to workout?
Hell no!!!
First rule: if you do not make progress, something is off. Training, diet, sleep. One of these three is not working. Go back to the drawing board and find out what it is. Maybe you need to eat more carbs or less fat, sleep an extra hour. Whatever it is, find it.
Rule number two: its the journey that matters. Building a great physique takes years, despite what the supplement companies tell you. So you will not see daily changes in the mirror. But you should feel accomplished after workouts, embrace the foods you are eating and be proud to part of the brother (and sister-)hood of iron. The peolpe you meet, the personal bests you set and the fact that you are capable of having the discipline of sticking with it is what separates bodybuilders from the rest.
See you in the gym!
Maik