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“Bodybuilding is a line drawn in the sand--it slaps you in the face,
dares you. At 14, when I discovered those weights in the basement, I
knew I crossed that line, knew there would be no turning back... Ever.”
“The quickest way between here and there, today and tomorrow, is a
straight line. Each and every day, so many distractions get in the way,
threaten to take me off course. I have to stay on the path, stay true.
“In my life, I walk a tightrope. The air is thin up here and one small
misstep means I’ll fall to the ground--without a safety net. Needs and
desires? Yeah, it’s hard having to balance everything, staying focused.
“It’s a fine line between the two... People think I’m nuts doing what I
do. Yeah, they’re not wrong. This pursuit is a descent into madness.
I’ve been on this slide for a while now and I can’t stop. Not yet...”
“When I look at my hands, I see my old man. My hands, like his, were
made for working. But it’s more than genetics he passed on. On days
where I feel like hanging it up, I see him and I keep steamrolling on.”
“As a kid, I knew all the bodybuilders by heart--the faces, their
stats. See this curl machine? Arnold himself used it. Know what that’s
like? Pure electricity. This great sport has a long line... I am part
of it.”
Week 05 Extra: You
interested in checking out Wrath's current training routine? Fellas,
it's gonna be emailed to all Animalpak.com registered users next Friday
(since next Friday, the Journey won't be updated--Wrath's Journey will
pick up again 4/7/06). So if you're interested, and you're not
registered, register here. Peace.
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Oatmeal, egg whites, yams and eye round. Four foods, 24/7… Shit man,
the monotony is killing me. Did I say monotony? Fuck yeah, I guess I
did. Consistency is the word we bodybuilders use instead of monotony.
One sounds noble while the other is like a fucking noose around your
neck. Bodybuilding is about perspective--this sport is all about how
you approach things. If I see the foods I eat, the foods I have to eat,
as a noose, as monotony, I'm making things harder for myself. But if I
see it as a stepping stone to something nobler, as part of a greater
design, then it makes things easier to swallow. Get it? This is why I
can say that what I do today is no different than what I did when I was
a kid. Yeah, I'm comparing me now, at 250+ pounds to a skinny ass kid
of fourteen who maybe weighed in at a buck forty. Crazy, right? Not at
all. Let me share something with you... When I was fourteen and just
starting out, I got a taste of iron. Man, it was like fucking blood in
my mouth from a slap to my face. I was challenged. I was dared. I was
in for life. But as a teenager, I had the same heart, the same passion
for the sport as I do now. The fire that burns inside me was no less
bright, no less hot then as it is today. What the fuck am I getting at?
Yesterday, I trained arms. Nothing spectacular. Because my ass has been
dragging, I had to gut it out. On top of that, my arm routine is pretty
much the same routine that I've been using for a while
now-skullcrushers, barbell and dumbbell curls, pushdowns, etc. So you
could say my arm routine has been, well, routine. But again, think
about it terms of the intangibles. Think about it in terms of
consistency. Sticking to it. That combined with desire and heart, and
always pushing yourself… So to all these kids who come up to me, asking
me how I got this big, what I eat exactly, the specific exercises I
use… In the end, it doesn't mean shit. It's all about finding what
works for you, then applying it with consistency and diligence. Throw
in heart, real passion, and you got the makings of a champion. |
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Some days, the seas are calm. Other days, a storm. The question is,
what's the fucking forecast? When you're dieting, training, cardio,
dieting, training, cardio, dieting, training, cardio, etc. etc., trust
me, the forecast changes on a dime. It's my girl's inside joke.
Whenever she sees me, she asks, “So what's the forecast gonna be
today?” My poor girl has to put up with a lot of shit. And her birthday
is right around the corner now… Damn, I can't forget about that... So
yesterday, I'm training legs. My knees have been acting up again so,
holding me back, and that's been fucking pissing me off… My wheels are
lagging… Not good. Anyway, I'm in the middle of a grueling set of hack
squats when this young kid comes up and starts talking, all friendly
like--the usual shit. Number one, I don't like to be distracted when
I'm in the middle of a set. Number two, he's rambling on about what the
secret to getting big is… Well, you can imagine what's going through my
mind. Dark stormclouds are brewing on the horizon… My vision blurs...
The blood rises up into my temples… Hey kid, you want the fucking
secret? I wanna lay into him, for both reason number one and reason
number two, but I hold off and bury the weights instead. Whatever it
takes, right? This kid doesn't know any better. So after I'm done my
set, after I catch a breather and wipe my brow, I take him aside. I
tell him, “There is no secret.” He looks surprised. Shit, that look
never gets old. What this kid doesn't know is that all the info he'll
ever need is already out there, in this gym and in thousands of gyms
across the country. Problem is, the truth isn't glamorous… Man, it
doesn't have any fucking sizzle. But the truth is like steak. The
secret is boring, and that's the fucking problem. The secret is
consistency. Having the fucking balls, the discipline, to eat and train
a certain way day in, day out. The days, the weeks, they all blur
together… Do you have what it takes to live a life where every fucking
day is just like every other? What you gotta figure out is how to get through
it, treat each meal, each rep like it's your last… Yeah, like I said in
my last entry, you gotta be able to transform the word “monotony” into
“consistency”. If you can do that, then you will understand the secret…
The sky will open up and you will have that clarity of vision. |
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"I wasn't always this big. Yeah no shit. But as a kid I was overweight.
Not just overweight but short too. Being one was bad enough, but
fucking both? Yeah, it sucked big time but those are the breaks, right?
Even so, I was always strong. My old man was proud of that--my
strength. Strength was something he valued. So long before I got
serious about bodybuilding, what mattered to me
most was strength. When I got deeper into the game, I wanted to be a
strong bodybuilder. I wanted to be able to move mountains. But all the
strength in the world didn't help when I was young because I was
bullied for being different, for being overweight and
short. There was a gang of 'em and, at times, it got pretty fucking
bad. But that
was then and this is now. The line that connects me as an eleven
year
old to who I am today remains unbroken. Truth is though, I still feel
like
that
short fat kid at times. Sure, I don't get bullied anymore, but you
wanna know
something? I still have to avoid fights every now and then. Guys will
just walk up to me,
challenging me to a fight. It's happened more than once--never in the
gym though. Once again,
it's because I'm different... This time, I'm not being singled out
because I'm short and fat, but because I'm big and strong. When you're
standing close to six feet and pushing 280 like I do, you kinda stick
out in a crowd... Guys see me as the
big dog--they want to test their mettle by fighting me. What the fuck?
It's one thing to defend yourself, your honor, your country or your
family... But to
fight just to see what kind of man you are? For ego? That's just crazy.
Besides, you don't get into this sport to fight or to push others
around. You do it because you were meant to. I don't
have time for all the other bullshit.. And lately, the days feel like
they've been getting
shorter and shorter... I can't get distracted by all the shit life
throws at me. I gotta stay on point, stay focused. I got enough
troubles with my girl..." |
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