July, 24th, 2004 Saturday(1:28pm....)

Every time some newbie skinny guys comes up to me with a question, I am reminded of when I first started training. Yeah, I read the magazines and tried hard to differentiate between the real info and the bullshit. I was young and didn't know shit from shinola. I remember reading some stuff from the so-called "big boys" of the sport. I can't fully explain my frustration with their attitudes. When they wrote, their condescending tone was enough to make me want to fuckin' smash something.These guys acted like if you couldn't spend 40 hours in the gym each week, get 10 hours of sleep every night (plus a 3 hour nap in the daytime), then you would never amount to anything. The question I had, as many of you probably do, is how do I work? Who pays for all this shit? How do I possibly support the lifestyle of a lazy bum, as they described? The conclusion I soon came to was as follows: You fuckin' don't. You don't get to float around acting like a pro when you're not. You don't have to sleep 100 hours a week and take daytime naps and not work and forget about your family.What you do have to do is start taking your workouts seriously and set serious goals for the immediate as well as the long term future. You also have to do something most people can't do: Think for yourself. Don't be led by one-hit, flash-in-the-pan superstars. In this sport, most bodybuilders are a legend in their own minds. Divorce yourself from the idea that there is an easy way to step into this arena. 99% of this life is what you make of it, so if your life sucks, you suck... Resist the temptation to quit or make excuses and don't stand on the shoulders of others to shape your image or your body.My point is simply this: If you want something so bad that you would sell your soul, then there isn't one thing that will stop you... Never believe that the circumstances of your life dictate that you can't become a huge, rampaging, fucking beast. Instead, use the situation you're in to motivate yourself to become an Animal. Train like someone is gonna' kill you if you fail. Remember, all we have is what we do in this life... if you're doing nothing, then you're just waiting to die.