At times when I am in really good shape throughout the year, I get cornered by guys asking me what they can do to get where I am. This question is one that is very familiar to people of the fitness lifestyle, especially the beginning of Summer or after New Year’s Eve. To get to a level of loving fitness one has to undergo a proving, it is a path that I call The Road of Kings. The reason I call it The Road of Kings, is because it’s a path that few travel, fewer stay on it and the ones who make it are rewarded with a physique that others will envy. Just like a fighter who has won many battles and utilized his victories to woo the people into making him king. Everyone can envy a story like that, just like everyone can envy that mother of 4 who found the gym to… [Read more]

Listen if you’re working out and missing sleep, you are performing like a race car that’s stuck on a road laced with oil – You are on a disastrous path, going nowhere and very unlikely to reach your perceived goal!  Let’s pretend that our bodies are machines fueled by rechargeable batteries that deplete every 16 hrs or so, your reserves are deep but when the battery uses the reserves the machine is unable to improve and instead uses sacrifice to keep it functioning. This sacrifice comes in the way of exhaustion, mood swings, complexion and of course strength. With diet and supplements we try to replace the items sacrificed and it works but the body will still refuse to improve based on the status of that battery life. As a workaholic, grinder and bodybuilder, I know all the excuses for missing sleep. Hell give me 48 hr days and I’d probably be the happiest man… [Read more]

If getting fit and losing weight is your new year’s resolution for 2011, let me assist you with a few steps that’ll help make it painless and rewarding for you. Give away the left-overs That’s right, the eggnog, the Oogie Boogie cookies and grandma’s spice cake needs to be out of your refrigerator before you start trying to diet. If you leave the bad food in there you will feel obligated to “not let it go to waste” and you will eat it and cheat when you run out of food. Spare yourself the temptation by giving it away to kids or your 90lb cousin Mary. Don’t get a trainer unless you can afford him/her for the year Please don’t get a trainer using the little bit of money you got as a gift for Christmas. If you are going to get a trainer, please get a serious one and stick to the game plan… [Read more]

To promote health and a strong heart I would urge that everyone that is physically able to do so – take the long way whenever possible. This means parking in the far lot and briskly walking in to work, opting for stairs over an elevator ride and taking the mail to the mailroom yourself. While the norm is to temper the day job during the week and hit the treadmill on the weekend, you will find yourself more energetic and happier when you’ve incorporated more movement into your work life. As a person who stares at a computer screen 98% of the day, I find that the excuse to walk and exercise is a welcome one at any time. In the mornings I park a couple blocks away, walk briskly to work and take the stairs up to our floor. On the way I run into other white-collar slaves that have taken on this ritual… [Read more]

Is there anything more worthless than an unqualified gym trainer? Not the guys and gals who live and eat fitness while knowing enough to get certified to train professionally but the Jerry Jackass that works at a gym and waste the time of his/her clients. If you are going to a new gym and plan to seek a trainer, don’t be afraid to ask questions about their certification. If you currently work out at a gym and you get unsolicited advice from a so-called trainer be sure to give him the 3-point look before accepting it or telling him to piss off. Greg’s 3-Point Gym Trainer Assessment. Point 1 – Does he/she look the part. I don’t mean they’re skinny or normal or “toned”, I mean does he look like someone that you would follow into a battle for a banging body. 9 times out of 10 the bullshitter will look like Trey from down… [Read more]

Newcomers to the gym experience and fitness lifestyle let me welcome you on the Road of Kings. While many fail and few maintain, it is a golden road of treasures and pleasures though the rules be strict and many. Don’t worry I won’t be writing like this the entire time; what I want to say however is that the gym is a monkey see, monkey do environment and it is of much importance that you follow the right monkeys and not adapt the bad habits from the gorillas. Below you will find a list of things that most gym rats will agree is both annoying and selfish when practiced by other gym goers. It is up to you newcomers to avoid these activities in order to make your experience enjoyable without adding to the problems. Curling in the Squat Rack Guys do this for two reasons, they are either too lazy to walk over to… [Read more]

When you enter a fitness lifestyle aside from the hardships of climbing the physical mountain no-one ever warns you about the ignorant questions and assumptions people will place on you throughout your life. People will make up their face and ask you “what’s that” when they see your protein shake or tuna and they will try their best to push bad, fatty garbage unto your plate in some sort of twisted mission to win you back amongst their kind. Recently a friend of mine who has just started out on the Road of Kings (bodybuilding path) told me about an elaborate dinner at a restaurant her friend had invited her to. Knowing my friend to be a Foodie of the worst kind (the must eat everything kind), I had to ask whether or not she had the dessert. She had been struggling with weight for a few months prior due to blowing off the diet… [Read more]

I’ve always wondered how to tell people that are not interested in a fitness lifestyle how to get in shape. The advice that I would normally have comes from the hardcore school of “just do it” so anything I would say would come off as crazy as telling a blind person to sort things by color. At the same time I do not want to skirt the topic due to my assumption that the person is helpless. It is a dilemma that comes up quite often. When you get in shape, eat certain things and pass on dessert people assume that you have a PhD in nutrition on exercise. They come to you with a slight plea to help them get into shape with as little effort as possible. How does someone who works out twice a day and chooses ingredients over taste tell someone how to get in shape without much effort? I am… [Read more]