The monthly 500 Word Article Submission Contest on the Muscular Development website forums (www.musculardevelopment.com) has already begun posting some of the entries, with the winner having his/her article published in the print magazine. Voting will begin shortly and go until December 12. Is this a shameless ploy to get some votes for my entry, “Sweatpants and a Duffel Bag” by MuscleSport Mag? You bet, it is! To get your by-line in MD should not be taken lightly, and I’m not doing so. If you have never been on the boards, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. MD is the top publication out there and their website is loaded with great material. The forums are legendary, especially the ‘No Bull’ section. Sign up, post and don’t forget to vote every month.

Sweatpants and a Duffel Bag

Remember the first time that you hit the weights? Me neither, but it doesn’t really matter, I suppose. As long as there is a first time to think back to and that there’s been many more since then.

Yeah, the longer that you’ve been training the harder it gets to recall how bad those first few workouts were. Your form was totally off, hands in the wrong position and all. But you got your ass in there and, lo and behold, it wasn’t too much longer before you figured it out.

Watching the ‘big guys’ training near you, reading magazine articles and (if you had the balls) asking questions of the guy waiting for you to finish on the incline bench gave you the knowledge that you needed to make that jump. Before you knew it, you were on the answering end of those same questions.

Over the years, you’ve gone through enough changes but one thing’s remained consistent – no matter what you always found time to get yourself to the gym. Even if it was one of those pieces of home equipment with the rubber band weights. While the people you lived near or worked with made their January cameos to satisfy their fat consciousness, you took care of business.

It may get harder every year, but when you can look yourself in the mirror and say that you’re in the best shape of your life, you know that you’re doing something right. It’s a simple formula – take care of your body and reap the rewards. The kind that stares you down every morning when shaving.

“There goes that guy with the sweatpants and duffel bag again.” Is that what your neighbor thought to himself this morning when you waved to one another as he raked another bag of fallen leaves? Have fun with that cleanup, my friend. I have a little back and bis to take care of.

The monthly 500 Word Article Submission Contest on the Muscular Development website forums has already begun posting some of the entries, with the winner having his/her article published in the print magazine. Voting will begin shortly and go until November 12. Is this a shameless ploy to get some votes for my entry, “Over Time…” by MuscleSport Mag? You bet, it is! To get your by-line in MD should not be taken lightly, and I’m not doing so. If you have never been on the boards, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. MD is the top publication out there and their website is loaded with great material. The forums are legendary, especially the ‘No Bull’ section. Sign up, post and don’t forget to vote every month. (http://forums.musculardevelopment.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17)

Over Time…

Oh, there goes that damn alarm clock again. Let me just hit the ‘snooze’ button once or twice then I’ll drag myself out of bed. A quick something to eat and off to the gym. Then it’s another session that I can probably do in my sleep, and the way I feel today I may just be doing that. Have to wake myself up and by the time I finish my warm-ups, the blood has started pumping.

Now I’m beginning to remember why I have been doing this since high school. It’s been over 25 years since then and I’m still moving iron around as if I was getting paid overtime to do it.

And you know what, the reward from doing it all this time isn’t anything you can buy (well, maybe you can in some ways). While all those other lazy SOBs are shoving glazed donuts down their throats, I’m here playing those same songs over my iPod sweating bullets. Blasting my chest, blowing out my biceps, adding another two plates for the next set of squats.

Some days it gets real hard to throw up that amount of weight. Am I going to admit to myself that it’s time to slow it down some and just stop by the gym the old ‘three days a week?’ You know, the bare minimum that some do just so they can justify that expensive membership and second helping of dessert? Listen, if I ever become one of them, please take me out of my misery.

This isn’t just something we do to kill time. It’s a way of life, a commitment and not to be taken for granted. It makes you drop bad habits and go back to what you were taught as a kid – no sweets, eat right and get good rest. How many people can have grilled chicken three or more nights a week and not get tired of it? We do it because we are taking care of our biggest asset.

The workouts blend in from week to month to year. Sometimes it feels like an almost robotic type of ritual. But when you miss one you regret it all day long. That’s when you know that it has become second nature to you.

So let them say what they want and think that you’re crazy for doing what you do. Plain yogurt and fresh fruit do taste better than that bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. Water washes down a meal just as good as soda, and that extra hour sleep will fell good in the morning. Because that’s when it counts.

Time and time again.

It’s an old ploy, used by a number of different agencies. If you don’t care about your own freedom, then we’ll start picking on your loved ones. Maybe their well-being means more to you, and then we can finally get what we want out of you.

Greg Anderson has sat in a jail cell because he refused to testify against Barry Bonds, who has – for some reason – become John Dillinger and Al Capone rolled into one. They will stop at nothing to get the goods on baseball’s home run king, even if that means going after his mother-in-law.

Both the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle reported that Madeline Gestas is being investigated for possible tax violations, an obvious tactic to pressure Anderson into coming clean of what he knows of Bonds’ alleged steroid use.

We don’t know if Anderson and his mother-in-law are close, or even get along like Ralph Kramden and Mrs. Gibson did. Nicole Anderson filed a petition last November to have her marriage annulled, but it was never served. If that is any indication of his relationship with that side of the family, Ms. Gestas may have to handle this one on her own.