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“I’d scratch till every square inch of me was bloody and raw but it’s
no use...…This maddening itch, like maggots festering under my skin, is
always there, out of reach. We’re all the same. We are made of blood
and bone. The difference lies underneath. The reason I am standing here
is because long ago this great endeavor, this way of life, got under my
skin... And ever since, I’ve been scratching away, clawing furiously
for every last bloody pound.”
“Though the road has been hard as the day is long, I wouldn’t trade in
a second. The strength that’s allowed me to endure doesn’t come from
what you see--the thick slabs of meat, veins thick as rope, skin so
thin the grainy fibers show. No, it runs deeper. To get to it, you’d
have to cut away all the layers of doubt and distraction till knife
hits bone. The seconds are passing by. Find that itch... Scratch till
there’s nothing left.” |
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When
you put on a tight shirt, what does it feel like? Feels fucking good,
that's what. When you got a good pump going, it's like your skin is
that shirt... The muscle feels like it's exploding out of your skin.
One of the fucking perks of being in this game. Another is that you're
gonna look better than 99.9% of those around you. So you'll want to
show off... No matter how big or how small, we all do. Show 'em what
dedication and sacrifice can produce. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with
that from time to time. But balancing pride with vanity--that's some
tough shit. For me, bodybuilding isn't about taking your stereo and
crankin' up the volume. It isn't about revving the engine of your
muscle car at a stop light. It's about getting the job done and
enjoying what you do. Some say my values are old school, from another
decade. I say, so what? My values are as old school as the ideal
physique
that I hold in my mind, or the training methods I employ. Who the fuck
does stick twists these day? Not a whole lot. The car I drive, the
music I listen to, the food I eat--it's all stripped down and basic.
Raw... Like an emotion... Like anger. In my element, this place, that's
also how I'm known. Simply as Wrath.
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If
you’re starting out in this sport, lemme give you some advice, and it
won't cost you a dime... You’ll
need thick skin. Thick skin to ward off the ignorance, the criticism,
the doubts, the fear, the fucking clueless questions about why we got
into the game and what it takes to stay in... "C'mon, what's wrong with a
slice of cake. One slice ain't gonna kill ya." No shit Sherlock. Man, I
can go on and on. After a while--sometimes weeks, months or maybe even
years--your skin begins to thicken in proportion to your dedication.
Your skin, your commitment to bodybuilding, becomes something like a
layer of armor. At my level, at this stage of the game, I don't give
two shits what others think of my dreams. Yeah, you could say my skin
is made of titanium. On my journey I don't have room for belly achers
or naysayers or hangers on. As I get closer and closer to the show, as
things wind down, I just gotta dial it in, get shredded. Damn. How's
that for irony? In this sport, thick is the skin you'll need if you
ever want it to be thin...
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Trial
and error... Educated guessing... Call it what you want,
experimentation is the fucking backbone of bodybuilding. In this day
and age of instant gratification and quick fixes, people want results
overnight. They want info that's already chewed up and predigested.
They want one-size-fits-all answers. Shit, there's fast and then
there's right, and shortcuts aren’t gonna cut it. In bodybuilding,
there are two things that are backbreaking—the physical labor and the
time it takes to get things right. You gotta have the discipline to
endure both. To make my point, let’s take a simple test… Get a blank
piece of paper and shapren your pencil. Now scribble all over that paper
without lifting your pencil off the sheet. What are you left with? Two
points--a start and a finish--and one fucking long, messy, unbroken
line between the two. Now most will see the scribble as a pain the ass…
Why the long ass scribble when you can just draw a straight line
between the two points? It's faster right? Here’s why brothers… There
are many ways to get to where you want to go--some roads are faster
than others and some are longer than others. But part of the game is reaching the end and the other
part his how you get there. Put another way, in this game we call
bodybuilding, what you look like when you get there defines you. But
how you get there... Shit, that refines you.
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