THIS
INCOMPARABLE SPORT IS FOR ALL OF US
I
write this article unprovoked. It's a sweet day, Indian Summer,
and life is good. Sounds of the freeway and city are made small
and harmonious by distance and drift like a melody up the craggy
hillside to our house. The hum of early morning travelers, a fading
siren, the occasional roar and shifting gears of a Harley is what
I hear. Music, really. My friends, I have before me a mission: to
get us going and keep us going. Hard, smart and smiling.
I
attempt (Laree by my side) to present a simple, clear and direct
way to become involved in muscle building and health through weight
training, thoughtful eating, discipline; the process commonly known
as bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is not a term to be reserved for the
development of champion physiques only. It is, as the word implies,
the building of one's body healthfully to satisfying muscular proportions.
This incomparable sport is for all of us.
I
particularly underline the exercises, sets and reps, poundages,
proteins, other nutrients and factors that have been established
and proven over the last half of the century. The good stuff that
has worked for my peers and me and is certain to set you in motion
as a beginner or further you as an ongoing or returning enthusiast.
Bodybuilding, I am commissioned to remind you, is an exciting, fulfilling
and priceless adventure in seeking the good life.
Once
you're duly invested (conditioned, stable, knowledgeable) and being
the free spirit this hearty pursuit attracts, you are bound to research
the various training techniques expounded by the pool of experts
in the field. I urge you to experiment and experience - it's all
good, now that you are relatively established and your instincts
have been aroused.
Giant
sets, single sets, powerlifting, Olympic lifting, HIT, Heavy Duty,
Hard Gainer, 1-2-3-kick, I've tried them all before they were articulated,
had names and cult followings. Same with menu, protein/carbs/fats
and the alphabet soup of anabolic, anti-catabolic concoctions on
and below the Earth's surface. All of it has been mixed with a curious,
intuitive deliberateness to come up with the composition I sincerely
offer you.
You
and I have different chemistry, bone structure, DNA, mentality,
personality, and external influences. These factors will determine
our training direction, our potential, our level of satisfaction;
why, how and how well we perform.
Don't
be lured down any one path as if it were the only path. When the
timing is right, when you're sound and confident, yet restless,
take a four to six week journey to stray from the norm. Invest in
one of the highly touted training styles that draw your attention.
Or, make up your own. Be alert and open minded. Take the risk, apply
your savvy, give yourself credit for creativity and discovery and
learn through the understanding that is now beginning to surface.
The point is to keep going, isn't it? Aggressively, joyfully. Every
method and every technique will be to your benefit, even if it's
to teach you by "set back" or injury that is not the way for you.
Predictably,
confusion and strife arise, confounding our progress. These, the
big guns in the Devil's armory, are ruinous and deserve dismantling.
Let's together attend the process through sharing and comparing.
Why not join our terrific e-group, IronOnline? Live and learn, you
can sit in the background and be enlightened and encouraged.
Discussion
is engaging, revealing and often endearing. Argument is for bullies,
the frustrated and the insecure. Argument leads to war which restricts
capillary action and prevents oxygen and nutrient laden blood from
gorging the outermost micro-fibers accounting for, maybe, 25% of
our muscular growth.
Me?
I'm an animal. I prefer working out to conversation; sniffing like
a hound dog and pulling the wagon like a workhorse.
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