On January 28th, The NPC Ironman Naturally kicked off the 2011 competitive physique season; a season that promises to see in a tremendous expansion of the National Physique Committee (NPC) as we know it. This year, we'll see the addition of a Womens Physique and Mens Physique Division. While Womens Physique will add back a little "muscle and conditioning" to the current Figure class, Mens Physique will do just the opposite; it'll remove the extreme size, ultra conditioning, and posing round from Mens Bodybuilding. While many people have already outwardly criticized Mens Physique as being a terrible thing to happen to bodybuilding competitions, I think just the opposite.
With 2 weeks to go till the FLEX Pro, I've begun my purification process. Every evening I light a huge bonfire in my backyard, do some Indian chants and incantations, and I channel my Indian spirits (ed note: Ben believes that all black people have a little Indian blood in them). Just last night, while in the backyard, as the sweat trickled down my face and I gazed through the beads of water that dripped from my eyebrows, I had a premonition! The Showstopper has been reborn!
I just got back from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Tuesday Night SMACKDOWN at the Nassau Coliseum here in Long Island, New York. I've been to at least 10 of these events, already, and I'm still amazed by the incredible spectacle that that the WWE is able to assemble on a bi-weekly basis. Monday Night Raw and Tuesday Night Smackdown are weekly stables on cable television but to witness it, first hand, in person, 5 rows back from the sweat, blood, and hand-to-hand combat is just something else.
I'm in the home stretch now. Anybody who knows about dieting, or should I say ‘dieting correctly', knows that during the last few weeks days become nights, and nights become days. And time is obsolete. I'm still training with ultra-heavy weights which amaze most people. They think that as you get leaner, you get weaker, but that's just not the case with my body
My name is Oto Livingston and I'm both a fan of bodybuiding as well as an avid bodybuilder myself. I'd like to give you what I call the "European Perspective" on what I believe will be one of the most anticipated events of 2011.
The IFBB season is upon us and what better way to start off the year than a show in the Mecca of Bodybuilding-Venice, CA. The Flex Pro will be taking place on the 19th of February at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, California. Right off the bat, this show will be a hodgepodge of all types-- seasoned veterans, upcoming stars and rookies pro-- all throwing their hat into this contest for the chance to be crowned the first ever IFBB Flex Pro Champion.
