Pre Show Preparation

Lets talk about the final preparation right before the show and weigh-ins. This is crunch time, and every second is crucial. After a few competitions every bodybuilder should have this part down. I personally make a check list and go thru it, making sure I have everything needed. Here's what my checklist looks like:

1. Lets start with the basics...posing trunks! Absolutely have to have these or you will be begging to use someones else's draws! Several years ago a guy in front of me showed up to the weigh-ins in joe boxer underwear. He rolled up the legs so they were tucked into the top and stepped onto the scale. The judge looked over and said "son are you ******* kidding me?! And gave him 10 minutes to find another suit but he couldn't so bye bye son. The moral of the story is always have a back up suit because you never know what could happen.

2. Your Music for the show. Once again always have a backup disc incase it breaks on the way or gets scratched. If not they will put whatever shitty music the dj grabs and you have to perform to it. Thank God this has never happened to me (knock on wood). That would suck.

3. Spray tanning appointment to get colored at the show. Unless you have your own tanning supplies and can do it yourself.

4. Sandals or flip flops.

5. Have food ready for the show. You need to carb up and have goodies to pump up back stage. I use Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, hamburgers, pizza, etc.

6. iPod. Definitely need this especially when there are 450 competitors in the show and I'm lying down on the floor for about 2-3 hrs before even going on. Sucks, so I need some form of entertainment.

7. SP are sheets to lie on in the hotel so you don't stain their sheets and then have to pay for them. Could be a very expensive lesson learned if you have a asshole manager at your hotel.

8. Make sure the hotel has a fridge in the room and microwave to cook in. I bring my rice cooker, George Foreman Grill, scale, measuring cup, etc.

9. Schedule of events so I don't miss weigh-ins or meetings and get disqualified. What a waste that would be huh?

10. Toiletries for after the show. I bring body cleanser, scrub, etc to clean myself off after winning the show and getting ready to fly home. Once again the tanning part is the nastiest part if you're not use to it. I don't rub my eyes, or sit down on the furniture because it will stain and smear all over on top of that nice sweat you incurred from the hard posing you just performed.

11. Pepto Bismol for after the show to ease my gut from eating everything in sight at an unbelievable rate. Last week I ate 3 double cheeseburgers, fries and a frosty for the ride home from FT Lauderdale and a lb and half of peanut M&M's. Later for dinner I had sushi and some chocolate chip ice cream to celebrate. Just one day and then it was right back to the diet for the Master's Nationals. My stomach swelled up like an Ethiopian child from those 10 cents a day commercials, who have nothing but rice in their little blown up bellies.

This should cover my final week and after show preparation list. I enjoy every moment and worked hard for that many weeks. I hope those of you out there competing do too. And remember...if it was easy everyone would do it! BUT THEY CANT!

Preview of the Southern States Competition

The Truth on When to Take Protein

I hope by now, everyone is well aware of the importance of protein in your daily diet. If not you either live under a shell in the bottom of the ocean or you're just some kind of video junkie who never watches tv or reads magazines. Proteins are the building blocks of the body and allow us to do all the things needed in our day to day tasks. The following explains the ideal times to have protein aside from regular meals.

1. In the morning. Make yourself some kind of shake using New Whey NutrItion's Multi Pro Whey Isolate blend; protein that the body can digest rather quickly and effectively upon rising. Add in some kind of carbohydrate source such as a green apple or strawberries. This will give you a blend of protein/carbs to start the day off right.

2. Post workout. I train around 5am for about 1 hour and then come home slap together a protein shake which consists once again of an isolate/whey mixture (Multi Pro) and slam this down within the most critical time of post workout (1hr after you train). The body is then exhausted and worn down; needing to be refueled with protein and carbs to immediately feed the muscles and your brain. After drinking this shake I then cook up my eggs and oatmeal to finish off this breakfast meal.

3. Mid day snack. This is to curb the urge to eat carbs or sugar. This shake would be a New Whey 42 gram Liquid Protein or another powdered shake in a cup. This meal should also allow you to make it to your dinner time without filling yourself up on this shake or tube. I would say kind of like a life line before dinner so you don't go looking for an unhealthy snack to eat and ruin all your hard work and training in the gym that day.

4. Before bed. The last time of the day to use the protein powders or liquid protein would be right before bed. This is a very critical time since you will be sleeping for sometime and the body will be basically in stall mode until you awake. You can slam down on of those variety of flavors of  New Whey 42 gram which has a nice blend of proteins in it and its easy on the body to digest while sleeping or once again mix yourself a Casein Protein shake. The reason you want Casein is because is slowly releases over about 5 hours, giving you everything you need while you sleep.


If you want to get results out of your training and hard work then you follow this protocol for success. Don't neglect this crucial time of the day to get your protein in.  The biggest problem I hear with the average person in the gym or who knows me is they think that once they have a shake, that's all they need for the day on the protein side. One serving of either source but that's enough for them. Try it for a month and you will see the benefit of doing so I PROMISE. Until next time TO GET RESPECT YOU NEED TO EARN IT!! You people know who you are. 


The Truth

The Truth on New Whey III

Hulk makes another appearance since The Truth is hard at work in the gym getting ready for the Southern State Competition! Check out what he has so say about New Whey Liquid Protein!

The Truth on BetaNOX

Hulk Hogan fills in for Kevin_TheTruth this week. Check out what he has to say about BetaNOX Ultimate Energy.

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Goals yes goals we should all have one for something we want in life and would like to achive. This will make you a better, well rounded person in the long run instead of being some lazy fat ass bum who wakes up on his mother and fathers couch still living at home and you're 25 years old. Great example I know we all know one or two of these losers. With this said there are goals for weight loss or weight gain that we should shoot for. 

Reachable

These should be reasonable goals not some over exaggerated ones that you know damn well you can't achieve unless you're superman. If you want to lose weight then lets say 10 lbs is a good start. Slowly go about it the right way by watching your food portions and what you're eating.


Routine
Second implement some kind of weight training or physical activity to get you there faster and more effectively. Losing 2-3 lbs a week is a great goal to achieve and by the time you know it the 10 lbs or more will be gone. The person who says I am going to lose 20-30 lbs in a month is the retard who will be right back to were they started after they fall off the wagon and go back to the same old routine of eating shitty and not dieting. They might starve themselves to get there but this isn't the safest and most effective way to lose weight. The person who takes their time and does it right will achieve the life long goal of keeping the weight off. 


Little Victories
In the gym we can set goals as in bench pressing or squatting, etc. You might want to build up your bench press to 315 lbs from 250 in 2 months time. You can do this by slowly and gradually building up the weight each week. This should put stress on the chest and in return the body will start to compensate due to the pressure of the added weight and will cause the muscle to get stronger and larger each time you do chest. Being able to run a couple miles in a certain time or able to walk the treadmill for a long distance can be another small goal, it all depends on you. Just remember that these steps, as small as they may be, go a long the way when you keep it up.  


Results and Maintenance 
With a good diet, exercise and proper sleep you should see results. The person who rushes into this by straining and not using proper form or diet will hurt themselves in the long run. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes hard work to get reach goals and harder to maintain once you've gotten there. So stay focussed! And if you mess up thats okay make up for it the next day.



My main purpose in writing this is to just say to everyone don't just walk into the gym and be a number on a membership card, but make it a lifestyles and use the tools around you to succeed. Get a good trainer if you have to, so they can teach you and help felicitate the success of these goals. Push and stay focused everyhting is achievable if you do so.

The Truth

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The Truth on Woman at the Gym

As you know by now I like to people watch. And being at the gym you see all the colors of the rainbow. Today I'm calling out the woman characters I see while I train. I've talked enough crap about the men I see now its time to put the ladies on the hot seat!


We all know the following types of women that join the gym:


THE COUGAR


She is the older, well off and established woman who dresses real nice in the gym. Her makeup is perfect and has bling bling showing. This is the woman who walks around looking at and stalking the younger man who are in good shape. They might as well have a sign stuck to their foreheads that read COME GET ME! Don't worry boys...she will! This woman barely sweats and her main concern is to score a younger man that she can be seen outside the gym with and say HEY look at me....! Probably a midlife crisis! 




THE CHEAP STRIPPER


Theses girls wear little to nothing and dance around the gym, bouncing up and down as if shes performing on a stripper pole for $$$. Don't get me wrong I love looking at beautifull woman like everyone else but there is a time and place for everything.  The gym is my sanctuary and my second home, when I enter I am going to work not fall off the treadmill looking at these girls bending and swinging from machine to machine. Needless to say they take up space...so get out of the way and go into the spin class or something where you can put all this time and effort to work. 




THE DAMSEL IN DISTRESS 


This is the helpless "can you teach me?" girl. Sure... for a fee lady! I have no problem answering a question here and there, but THIS type of lady can be tricky. You feel you have done a good deed right? Wrong! Now you have opened up the door for every question and thought they could possibly have until you put your foot down. I had an incident where I literally told people here is the price now leave me alone! Just like that! Call me an asshole or whatever but my time is valuable.


THE BODYBUILDER


Or wannabe type that stands next to you and tries to match your weights pound for pound. What the hell? Get on with your workout and go enter some show then come see me and we can talk.


This should cover most of the woman that come and go to the gym that are out of the ordinary. The normal woman don't bother me, they come and go like everyone else. They come to get a workout and then go home and live a so called normal life, being physically fit while doing so. The woman I mention in this blog give the good ones a bad rep. 


What have been your experiences with these outlandish women? Are you the prey of any of the Cougars out there? Until next time push like there is no limit in the gym and you will see results.


The Truth

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The Truth on the Art of Dieting

This word should bring chills down your arms or a shitty feeling in your stomach, if you do it the right way. 


The only way to diet is to go all out! No pansy bullshit cutting corners and using every excuse in the book to avoid it. I love the people who do this and still tell everyone they are on a diet. DONT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! These are the people who say they are dieting and order a salad while out and then act like the dressing is not a big deal. Little do they know (or do know and ignore it) the dressing is loaded with wonderful fats and unwanted calories.


In my world, after 2 weeks of suffering, (because this is really what you are doing to yourself by taking away things that smell and taste good), all the foods taste the same as you swallow them down. The food is then used as energy and fuel, this is the sole purpose of eating clean and as frequent as I do. This now becomes a science as you force down that plain talapia or chicken. I usually just swoosh it around with whatever crystal light I am drinking so it goes down faster with less pain. Sometimes its hard to eat all the food on the agenda and you have to really concentrate on getting it done. Same goes for you, remember to eat frequently throughout the day and eat clean.


Think about it this way with the diet I use. It's totally the opposite of what you are taught to do. I eat more carbs, protein and lose weight while the general public is brain washed to believe the less you eat the faster you will lose weight. Wrong! Not all bodies are created equal sorry to tell everyone. What might work for one might not work for another.


Lets also squash this idea that there are pills to speed up the weight lose process. Get off your asses and work a little harder! There is no magic pill to knock off all that weight and keep it off without hard work and motivation to do so. There are things that can help but without the other components pills won't work. 


So in a brief recap this is what you need to create a masterpiece: 
1. Hard work
2. Eat Clean3. Motivation
4. No magic pills
5. SUCK IT UP AND WORKOUT PEOPLE!


That's how its done!


The Truth

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The Truth on 7 Items in a Hardcore Gym Bag

Top 7 important things that should be in a hardcore gym bag:

1. Most important to me is my iPod! You have to have your own music to jam to while you're pushing that weight hot and heavy. The shit thats plays in most gyms is enough to put you to sleep and if you train as early as I do. You need Metallica, Rick Ross, and Eminem. Wake up people! This is a damn Gym you're walking into! This is my playground so if you want to play...these are the rules.

2. Wrist wraps, knee wraps, and elbow wraps. You'll need this stuff if you've been in this as long as I have. Your body starts to make noises and cringes as you push that heavy weight around. NOT GOOD! Do yourself a favor and get these wraps.

3. A good post workout/during workout supplement to sip while you're training to replenish the body while under fire.

4. Definitely a towel of some sort because whether if you're a heifer or a twig, you will sweat! So clean up after yourself please!

5. Notebook. This is a bible for some and has every workout from the day they first entered the gym until the day they fall down or disappear. It's the holy grail to many. It tells them their previous moods, how they felt after they have done their sets, what weights they have used and their body weight at that time. Some runners use iPod and iPhone apps to track their runs for the same purpose. It tells them how far they run, their pace, calories they burn and show a map of where they've gone. Both are great ways to go back and reflect and see your progression.


6. Chalk in a little container. This is for the hardcore and they know it! Heavy deadlifts, heavy bench, etc. If you can find a gym now-a-days that will allow you to use it you're in luck. Most guys make a mess and it gets all over and then all the little pus__s cry to the front desk and that gimmick is done. Years and years ago this was common practice in my gym and that's why I trained there. Because the atmosphere was REAL not some made up place with stickers and door clings showing smiling people losing weight as they do it! Hell no! The people's faces should be grimacing in pain if they are really working!! No pain no gain!

7. Finally a little hidden stash in your bag of some kind of candy bar or nutrition bar that's high in sugar in case you start to feel like you're going to pass out and your sugar levels are crashing. Reach in and eat this for that little pick up to save your ass from crashing to the floor and passing out.


What are your must-haves for your gym bag? Are my top 7 in your gym bag? Let me know.


The Truth

The Truth on Forearms

I love the old Popeye cartoons. He was the man when it came to FOREARMS. Popeye would grab onto his girl Olive Oil and his giant forearms would be popping out of the TV while I sat there watching and wondering how the hell could I get big forearms like him. Spinach..thats it? Go run into the kitchen and cook up some spinach like he eats and it will do wonders.  Yeah right...my ass spinach! I tried it as a little boy and the only thing I got was a seat on the toilet with a stomach ache. Enough of what the government and TV want you to believe. It takes hard work and dedication to get forearms like Popeye, lets admit it. Here are some ideas and exercises that work for me.

1st Grab a bench and sit at the end of it. Reach down and grab a barbell loaded with some weight (I usually start with 25lbs on each side). Take your forearms and run them flush onto the bench between your legs with your hands hanging off the bench holding the barbell losely. Now lower the weight in your hands as it rolls down to a full extension and then bend your hand back up. Kind of like a yoyo but a hell of a lot harder. Do this 15-20 times squeezing the forearms tight as you bring the weight up and down hanging your hands slightly off the bench while doing so. The pump should be so hard that your forearms will feel like they are going to pop. Repeat this for 3 sets and then continue to exercise number 2.

2nd This one is somewhat similar to the last exercise but you are grabbing the barbell over the top of the bar instead of holding it directly in your palms and rotating it upward instead of downward. In a nut shell just the opposite of exercise 1. The object again is tension and squeezing the muscle you are using. Repeat this exercise 3x as above for reps of 15 to 20. If the weight becomes to heavy then lower the poundage but perform the sets.

3rd Here is one of the oldest ways we use to perform forearms and still works to this day in many gyms all over. There will be a handle with a rope on it and weights attached at the end where you can add or take off plates . You will be in a standing position as you take the rope and slowly wind it up using your forearms and the goal is to bring it to a complete stop. The pain will be insane and the pump is dramatic but the best. This exercise is for the hardcore! Not the weak minded pussy cats (we'll use this to be polite) over at Planet FATASS.

Let me know how this goes truth troops. Until next time...

The Truth

The Truth on Waximaize

Welcome everyone, its that time again. Lets talk about Waximaize powder and the way that I use it. First lets discuss what it is... Waximaize is a modified corn starch that has a super fast absorption rate which is awesome if you're trying to get the whole serving into your bloodstream without it being diluted in the stomach and digested as some other supplements do. Not waxy, due to its low osmolarity this allows it to enter straight into the blood stream and by passing the gi tract of the stomach where it would normally lose some potency. 


I use 1 scoop which is about 45g of carbs 30 minutes before I train. This gives me that nice energy flow and giant pump feeling as I exercise and push out those reps. My chest especially feels this pump on chest days and the extra blood flow caused by it allows more visible veins to pop up threw the skin and give that nice full feeling. What is happening is the glycogen levels are being filled up causing the muscle bellys to get pumped and allow you to get that SWOLE ON!


The second time you should use it is about 30 minutes after you train so your muscle bellys can be replenished and the glycogen levels that were used up during that hard training can be filled up and swole again. 


The great thing about this product also is that it acts like a sponge and absorbs all other products with it if you ingest them at the same time. So let say you slap in some preworkout powder it will push the powder in with the waxy casuing a hell of a rush while training. I personally dont like mixing it with protein powder right after you train but a lot of guys do, so the body can get fed extremely quick during the process of delivering the waxy to your body. For beginners or experienced bodybuilders, if you haven't used this product yet you're missing out and should make this part of your arsenal each and every time!


Do you use Waximaize? If you do or have tried it, tell me what you think.


The Truth

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The Truth's Visit to Planet Fatness

By now you should all know how I feel about Planet Fatness and their ridiculous lunk alarm! What you don't know is that I went there once in a time of desperate need because my gym's power went out. Here's what happened:

Have you ever gone to this gym? If so tell me what you think.

The Truth

The Truth on New Whey II

Here's a little product knowledge about one of my favorite supplements out there right now, New Whey Liquid Protein.

Stop by your local Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, or 7/11 and pick one up! Enjoy your protein kids! And tell me what you think....

The Truth

The Truth on What Kids Love

Good Morning Troops! If you haven't already check out my childhood obesity video on YouTube. I also wanted to point out that kids love New Whey Liquid Protein...at least my kids anyway. They don't need the entire bottle but it would be a good idea to mix it in their orange juice in the morning so they get that extra nutrients everyday. Here's my daughter London posing with it last week.

A lot of moms also ask me if this is a good product to get their sons. This is the perfect drink for after soccer practice and for after a good workout or run. I highly recommend it to many different groups of people from bariatric patients, to athletes and people looking for a healthy snack alternative. 

The Truth

Kevin_The Truth on Planet Fatness

As you all know there is a lot of controversy between serious weight lifter/bodybuilders and Planet Fitness. Google it, its all over the forum on bodybuilding.com, YouTube, etc.

In short, they don't want serious weight lifters and bodybuilders in their gyms. They say they want to provide their customers with a "judgement free zone" to workout and somehow weight lifters grunting will effect that.

No matter who you are you're still judging someone. If you're a thin woman, you're probably staring at the lady next to you that has a better body wishing you could be her, or giving dirty looks to the creepy guy staring at you. The creepy guy is the one Planet Fitness should be kicking out. Not the people breathing hard because their into their work out.

Watch these videos to get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

My commentary:

New commercial bashing bodybuilders:

Man get thrown out of Planet Fitness:

Tell me what you think about this issue.

The Truth