Well, it is Friday and that means its Random Thoughts Of The Week time.

This week I want to talk about only one thing.

And it is over bulking.

I want to talk about this for two reasons.

First, I was reading a post on one of the more popular bodybuilding sites on the web and they mentioned a particular bodybuilder, who I won’t mention because I have talked about him a lot already.

They were saying that he bulks up too much in the off season.

And secondly, because winter is here and for most bodybuilders that means bulk-up time.

So you might be thinking,

What is wrong with bulking up?

Nothing, if and this is the big point.

Only if it is not taken to the extreme.

For example, let’s say you stayed on a pretty solid diet all the way through summer, but then the minute it got colder you ate everything in sight for two months.

So here you are in the middle of winter probably up twenty-plus pounds from where you ended the summer at.

This wouldn’t be so bad, if you were a professional bodybuilder, who had exceptional genetics, and takes some of the good stuff you cannot find at your local supplement shop.

I say this because, a lot of what they would gain would be muscle and second even if they did gain twenty pounds of pure fat, with their special supplements it makes it easier for them to burn-off the fat.

However, if a natural trainer did the same thing,

He would have to starve himself when winter was coming to an end,

Just to get back in shape for summer.

Plus, because he needed to go to extremes, he would lose a ton of muscle in the process, so any gains he might have made during his winter bulk would have been lost.

My point here is to be careful this winter,

Yes, enjoy yourself and have some sweets and stuff, but do not let it get out-of-hand.

Because you will pay for it, come the end of winter.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

STAY THOUGHTFUL

It’s Friday, and that means another Random Thoughts Of The Week.

Up first I want to talk about Dennis Wolf.

Yes, I’ve talked about him a lot, but that is only because, he was supposed to contend for the Mr. Olympia title this year.

Flex did an interview with him in Muscular Development this month and I will say this.

I totally agree with Dennis and other people on the boards who said this before the Mr. Olympia, when he said is going to dumb Chad.

I would too.

The other thing Dennis has to remember is, and if I remember correctly, Flex brought this up at the end of the interview, if he places high in his next contest or wins it, everyone will be saying how great he is again, so don’t worry Dennis you are only one contest away from being back on top.

Up next, I want to talk about Lee Priest.

I am glad to see that he is going to be competing again.

I never felt like he was given a fair shake, but this is just my opinion.

Regarding the 202 division, and if Lee can do well in it.

It is hard to say, because there are a lot of very good bodybuilders who compete in it.

Kevin English and Dave Henry to name just two.

But Lee competed with the best-in-the-business, back in the nineties, so he know exactly what he needs to do to come in and make a great first impression.

Lastly, I want to make a comment about Bill Starr’s latest column in Ironman.

Mr. Starr, talks about keeping your wrists and elbows injury free.

One point I want to make about the forearms is,

Most people don’t not realize how impress a bowling ball pin set of forearms are.

I know first hand how impressive they can be because I knew a guy with absolutely huge forearms.

Those things were massive and they were seriously impressive.

However, you rarely if ever see an impressive pair of forearms anymore.

Well, that raps up another RANDOM THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK.

I HOPE THAT EVERYONE HAD A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY THANKSGIVING!

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

KEEP TRAINING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

It’s Friday and that means its Random Thoughts Of The Week time.

Today I want to talk about something a lot of people have talked about.

And that is

How can we go about making Bodybuilding more popular?

And I will add to this,

How can we go about getting Bodybuilding more into the mainstream?

To me there is only one way,

And that is to push guys that are not mass monsters, guys that the average public can relate to.

People like Mark Dugdale, Toney Freeman, Ronny Rockel, should be up there placing higher in contests.

I have nothing against the mass guys, like Markus Ruhl (and I know he is retired) in fact, I really like the mass guys.

But one thing that people have to remember is this,

If you truly love bodybuilding like I do, then yes, you love the mass guys, you love bodybuilding as a whole.

To the general public however, those guys are nothing but gross.

So why would people be interested in the sport.

I thought with Dexter Jackson winning the Mr. Olympia things might be changing, but I am not sure, because then Jay Cutler one again.

I am not bashing Jay, I am just saying, that things were moving in the right direction, but now who knows.

For my last point, I would like to bring up a blast-from-the-past,

Frank Zane.

Mr. Zane won the Olympia three straight times, 77, 78, and 79.

I remember seeing a picture of Mr. Zane with no shirt on and wearing a pair of jeans.

Of course these were seventies style jeans, but to me they looked like a normal pair of jeans, size wise, meaning an average non bodybuilder could have worn them too.

This was a guy that the public could relate to.

Mr. Zane had shape, proportion, everything you could ask for in a bodybuilder.

If the sport of bodybuilding wants to get super popular then the Frank Zane’s of today must be pushed to the forefront of bodybuilding.

That’s it for today.

Since my next Random Thoughts Of The Week post will be after Thanksgiving,

I hope everyone has a very happy and healthy THANKSGIVING.

UNITL NEXT WEEK

TRAIN HARD BUT SMART

With Friday comes Random Thoughts Of The Week, and this week I want to focus on one thing in particular and that is the Sacramento Pro 2009.

I would like to preface this by saying that these are my opinions and they are made from looking at photos online and not from being at the show.

With that said, let’s go.

First up is the winner Toney Freeman.

I’ve said it before about Toney, but this is the guy I would put front and center if I wanted to push bodybuilding into the big time.

The guy has it all, in my opinion, he is tall; he has a small waist, and wide shoulders.

What more could you possibly want?

Yea, some people would say, well he has his flaws, yes, but show me a pro that does not have a flaw.

Anyway, this would be the guy that I would make my showman.

Up next,

It was nice to see Pavol Jablonicky back on stage.

Yes, Mr. Jablonicky did not make the top ten, but that does not matter, because he has been around for a long time, and it was nice to see him back.

Also, I have to echo what I read on a popular forum, what happened to Darrem Charles?

The guy really has not come in great shape in a bit.

Good for Craig Richardson, he has been doing it for a while and to grab second, that is good.

Lastly, about the Sacramento Pro, I like Mark Dugdale and even though he didn’t make the top ten, he like Toney, if I was in charge, would be pushed more.

The guy has a physique that is not overpowering, one which can be seen by the general public as something to shoot for.

O.K

I am off my soap box

And that is all for this week.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

KEEP WORKING

It’s Friday and that means another RANDOM THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK POST

Up first we have a question we found about if you can eat pasta while dieting.

Sure,

You can eat anything while you are dieting.

I know, a calorie is not a calorie and that not all calories are treated the same by the body, but by the same token, if you don’t go absolutely nuts and wolf down ten pounds of pasta, then yes, you can have pasta while dieting.

Another factor in this is when you have it,

By this I mean, if you indulge in your pasta right after a hard workout, then most, if not all, of this meal will help replenish your muscles after the hard workout, meaning it will not end up being stored as fat.

Also, age and metabolism play a role here.

If you are a young buck in his teens or early twenties and have a fast metabolism, plus, if you are training hard and doing aerobics, then eating pasta while dieting, more-than-likely, will not be a problem.

Up next:

We found a question regarding could Branch Warren win the Olympia in 2010.

And I must say, Branch surprised me this year, so yes I definitely think he can win it in 2010.

Continuing…

We saw a question about cardio before training.

I don’t like this approach because if you do a really hard cardio session how can you expect to have anything left for your weight workout.

Kind of like training your hamstrings after you just gave it everything on squats, sure you might want to put in a good workout, but can you do it.

I don’t think so, but again, you have to look at all of the factors.

How hard of a cardio session did you do?

Because if you just did forty-five minutes of very easy cardio, then, I think that you can have a good workout.

But like a said before if you really gave it your all during your cardio, how can you possibly expect to have much left for your weight work.

Another thing to consider is age, because if you are a teenager, then simply going to the bathroom after you finish your cardio might give you enough time to recover for your weight workout.

However, if you are older, this might not work out good for you.

Lastly,

I want to touch on eating before bed.

I think we sometimes go overboard on this stuff,

Back-in-the-day, people just worked hard, busted their butts on the basics and grew.

Along with having plenty of good old-fashioned food.

Nothing fancy or exotic.

But today we have pre-workout stuff, intra-workout stuff, and post-workout stuff.

O.K.

So what do I think?

If you really are desperate for gains then yes having some form of slow digesting protein like cottage cheese before bed wouldn’t be a bad idea.

However, I think this is optional, as you would do better to focus on eating six meals per day and getting in enough rest along with giving it your all in the gym.

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

STAY FOCUSED

With Friday comes another Random Thoughts Of The Week post, and this week I want to touch on two topics.

First up is trap training.

I saw a question on one of the more popular bodybuilder sites about traps, regarding the best rep range for growth.

To me, for trap training comes down to more than low or high reps, it comes down to the amount of weight you are using and also if you are lifting dynamically or not.

Let me explain.

If you look at the traps of Olympic lifters they can be impressive and what exactly do they do.

They do a lot of dynamic lifting with a lot of weight.

And to me that is the key to developing great traps.

Of course you also have to look at powerlifters as well, because while I don’t think most do much dynamic lifting they do put their traps under an enormous about of strain by dead lifting tons of weight.

So for traps to me it comes down to two things,

Dynamic lifting and using a lot of weight.

If you can do both of those things and most importantly, do them in proper form, you will develop some serious traps.

Of course your overall development depends of genetics, age and other factors; however, if you work your traps hard using both dynamic lifts and work up to using heavy weights, you should have some good results to show for all of your effort.

Up next is V-taper, as I saw a question regarding who had the best V-taper, and to me there really is no contest on this one.

Brian Buchanan.

I know this name might not be familiar to some of the youngsters out there, but trust me on this one; the Brian’s V-taper was just crazy.

Off-the-top-of-my-head I can’t really think of anyone else who had such a pronounced V-Taper.

If you want to check out Brain’s V-taper check out this site.

http://www.bodybuildingpro.com/brianbuchanan/

That’s all for this week.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

KEEP WORKING

With another Friday comes another Random Thoughts Of The Week post, and this week on want to touch on two topics.

First up, I noticed that www.bodybuilding.com has a question up regarding fruit and if it is a good post-workout meal.

I think fruit makes a great post workout meal, but on two conditions.

First, you must combine some protein with your fruit of choice for it to truly be a good post workout choice.

And second, I think that for anyone who is in off-season mode and is bulking fruit does make a good choice post-workout.

Or if you happen to be one of those guys or gals that has an ultra-fast metabolism, fruit would be a good choice.

But if you are trying to lean out for summer, going with the fruit could hinder your fat loss.

So if you are looking to get extra lean, I would avoid fruit post workout and stick with a straight weight isolate shake or even a mixed blend type of protein.

As-far-as what kind of fruit to choose post workout, if you are into eating fruit post-workout.

I would have to go with bananas as they digest very easily and they are pretty portable although if I had my choice and could have any kind of fruit, I think I would go with strawberries.

Topic number two for the week is courtesy of www.getbig.com, they have a question regarding who has he best delts in bodybuilding history.

I think there are two ways you can look at this question, first are you looking at it as who has the widest shoulders or who has the best delts.

There have been guys on the pro stage over the years that have had some massive delts but I think I would have to go with Kevin Levrone.

Lastly, I would like to bring something up about Jay Cutler.

There are guys out there with more Mr. Olympia’s than Jay has, but where do you think Jay stands right now.

If he never wins it again, do you think him coming back and winning the Mr. Olympia, after losing it, as the defending champion, gives him the edge over all the other Mr. Olympia’s in history.

For my money, I have to give Jay credit, the guy could have retired and said heck with this, I have two Mr. Olympia’s to my name, and I proved that I was the best.

But no, he came back this year and gabbed yet another title.

That’s all for this week.

Until Next Friday

KEEP TRAINING

With Friday comes another Random Thoughts Of The Week post, where I cover things that went on this past week in bodybuilding.

Enjoy!

ROTATOR CUFF ISSUES

Injuring your rotator cuff is probably one of the worst things you can do, unfortunately this injury seems to happen a lot.

I know, I know, but I cannot help but blame the flat bench for this, as so many young men are into how much they bench.

And it is not just about the weight they use, it is also the fact that it is so easy to cheat on the flat bench that people do just about anything to get more weight up.

If people would take the time to actually learn how to bench press properly, I am sure the amount of rotator cuff issues would go down.

Another thing that bugs me about the bench is that every one looks at it as the best indicator of strength for sports, when it is really not.

And even if it were, there is more to sports than just strength, footwork is vital, as is knowing where to be, meaning as they say, so and so has a brain for there sport.

Meaning they always seem to be in the right spot at the right time, I know some of this is luck, but I think it has more to do with watching film.

Lastly, on the rotator cuff, I still feel if more people would focus on doing some form of overhead lifting there would be ton less rotator cuff issues.

STRENGTH OR MUSCLE

I have always been a big believer in getting stronger, but does this actually build muscle.

To be honest, if you would have asked me this six months ago I would have said yes it does, but new things I’ve read make me question this view.

However, one thing I still feel is true is this; strength does help you build muscle, but not directly.

Let me explain.

Let’s say you decide that you want to improve your squatting strength and over the course of six weeks you move your squat numbers up by a good margin, say for sets of five reps.

What do you think is going to happen when you go back and do a more tradition bodybuilding style routine?

Meaning high reps and multiple sets.

Chances are good you would be able to handle more weight than you could before for the same number of reps.

And this would, more-than-likely equal muscle growth.

Provided you are eating enough protein and calories to support muscle growth.

So I guess you could say getting stronger does help you build muscle, when you switch back to a traditional bodybuilding style routine.

That’s it for this week.

Until Next Week

NEVER STOP WORKING

With Friday comes another random thoughts of the week post, where I am going to cover what has gone on this past week in bodybuilding.

Enjoy!

Up first I want to go back to something I touched on before, Dennis Wolf at the just past Mr. Olympia.

Reason being, is that, there is a big thread on what happened to Dennis at the Olympia, on one of the more popular bodybuilding sites on the web.

A Lot of people are saying that he should dump Chad Nicholas and switch to someone else.

Personally, I was not aware of all the people Chad has trained, but after reading the posts, I agree, I think he should get rid of Chad and try Pit Trenz or Charles Glass.

But again this is just my opinion.

Another thing that was pointed out on the thread was words to the effect that since he placed so low he will have less pressure, I agree with this, he can go back home, get his head together and just train and grow.

However, one point that Dennis needs to deal with now is qualifying for the Mr. O, as last year he was already in based on him placing in the top ten.

This means he will have to do at least one show, but maybe more, to qualify for the O.

But, in fairness to Dennis, this could be EXACLTY what he needs, because if something happens at the first show he enters, say he comes in flat, he can learn for this mistake and try and fix it for his next show.

Which can help him come prep time for the O.

I touched on this before, but Dennis has, according to what I’ve read, an extremely fast metabolism, so this can be a factor in why he just can’t get is condition spot on.

Another factor with Dennis, could be that his metabolism while still fast, it has started to slow, and since it was always very fast, he did not know how to deal with this.

Dennis is still young, as noted in a prior post I believe he is still in his twenties or just thirty, so he has plenty of time.

With another year of solid training under his belt Dennis can come back next year and really surprise a lot of people.

HANEY OR CUTLER

I saw this poll question and wanted to comment on it.

They are asking who has the better physique, Lee Haney or Jay Cutler

For those who don’t know Lee started his run of eight consecutive Olympia’s in nineteen eighty four.

To me it is no contest, Lee Haney all the way.

Better shape, small waist, to me he just looks better.

I realize Jay Cutler is big than Lee, but to me, again Lee just looks better.

O.K.

That’s all for this week.

HOPE YOUR WEEKEND GOES GREAT.

Until Next Week

WORK SMART