When 
it comes to eating clean and dieting sometimes we get bored of the same old thing. This super easy recipe is perfect for supplying all the protein you need and adding only a few carbs.
Pumpkin is known for being high in fiber and low in sugar while still adding lots of flavor. A 1/2 cup of pumpkin is only 40 calories and 9g carbs, 5g of which are fibrous leaving you only 4 net carbs! One can of pumpkin totals 4 servings…so this entire recipe, plus two small 50 calorie apples will make only a small dent in your carb and sugar intake.
Training 
and competing is a personal sport. We often get into training early on for ourselves. Usually it is part of a team conditioning program. It’s important to remember the team. Though you are training for yourself…don’t forget you may be training for more than just yourself.
People 
make the mistake of doing the same body part on the same day every single week. The body recognizes this and it can stop your desired results dead in their tracks! I see it in the gym every day, Monday is national chest day, and Wednesdays seem to be national leg day (for those few that actually do legs). Switch up your routines and days to get the results you want!
We 
are here with IFBB MP Pro Angel Cordero. Congrats on earning your pro card in the first year of MP! What made you decide to compete in the Men’s Physique Division?
I competed in my first BB show in 2009 and got smoked by good friend and now IFBB Pro Seth Feroce who won the overall. Seeing the package I needed to bring, I then decided to take time off to grow. I was going through the grind trying to bulk up like a lot of fellow competitors and got up to about 215 lbs. I ended up getting into a car accident and catching pneumonia within a 3 month span and lost almost all my gains. As I was rehabbing from my accident and getting over being sick I found out they were coming out with the new division and talked to a good friend of mine National competitor Brian Hoydic about prepping me for my first show. The rest is history.
What 
compromises would you make to win it all? In any industry, at some point you find yourself backed against a wall. You are asked to be someone you’re not, asked to do something that you’re not comfortable with, or asked to change or deny who you are as a person. How far are you willing to go? How will your compromise really help you in the long run? Before you get too far along in your career, take note of these four strategies to insure you stay true to yourself.
Create a clearly-defined vision: The best way to stay true to who you are is to clearly identify and define your vision. What do you stand for?
We
are here with Charles Anderson, thanks for joining us and Congrats on stepping BACK onto the stage! Now Charles you have had an interesting and challenging path to the MP stage. Can you tell us about what happened to push you towards the MP division?
Well, first of all, thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my story. I was a NPC bodybuilder you a little less the 11 year, and have won my class in a few different shows, but after a poor showing at the Alaska State Championships, I had a heart attack! This forced me out of training in a bodybuilding mentality and switching over to a more cardiovascular style of training. This gave me a new lease on life, and competing in a Men's Physique competition here in Alaska
What did you learn from the experience and how has it changed your view of training and competing?
Well, the biggest thing I've learned is to not put your health at risk for any reason or anything.
CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid)
Looking for support to aid in lean muscle development? Then look no further. CLA uses stored body fat as fuel and promotes recovery from intense exercise. With added Immune system health, Anti-catabolic (anti-muscle-breakdown) and Anti-oxidant benefits, there really is no reason not to add a little CLA to your stack.
The actual serving sizes will vary for CLA depending on the product you purchase. But you'll see the best-intended results by taking anywhere between 600 and 1000 mg per day. Be sure to read the package directions for the particular product you pick up and follow them accordingly.
Any 
success in life starts with a journey. Every journey should start with a goal. If you want to decide where you end up that is. So how do you go about setting a “life changing goal” like “being on the cover of a major magazine?”
When setting a “life changing goal” begin with a goal lofty enough to CHANGE YOUR LIFE and YOUR VIEW OF YOURSELF. Next create a set of smaller goals towards that end. These are steps along the way of achieving your “life changing goal.” This rings true for business, personal, family, or even health goals. When you set your small goals they should be calculated, precise, and achievable. Do a lot of thinking to determine your smaller goals on your way towards your major goals. Once you have those goals figured out, WRITE THEM DOWN.
First, 
the number one rule is your metabolism! You MUST eat every 3 hours or your body will go into a catabolic state and store fat. Eating every 3 hours will prevent you from being sluggish, having low energy, low blood sugar and eventually getting sick just from missing meals. Not eating and waiting until you are completely hungry will make you eat twice as much when you do eat from the hunger pains.
Eat every 3 hours, even if it is with whole food or meal replacements (protein shakes or bars?), or even snacks (fruits or veggies).
Second, remember it is a lifestyle change (for the better)! “Diet” meals can be fun. There are a lot more to choose from in today’s products than years ago. Choose wisely. Check the nutrition facts on back of each product you purchase. Make sure that the following is true of the Fat, Sugar, Carbs and Sodium:
Fat (Good fat, like Olive Oil, Fish, Almonds…) Absolutely, keep the bad fats to ZERO!
Sugar (zero if you can)
Carbs (low as possible<25-35g/meal)
Sodium (under 2 to 5g/day) too much sodium will make you feel bloated because of the water retention; but, our bodies do need sodium to help aid the transport of blood & oxygen across to other parts of our bodies.
You may
have modeled alone numerous times and are comfortable with your poses. This may lead you to think that posing with a woman is no different. However, there are numerous points to keep in mind any time you are at a shoot in which you are expected to pose with a lady.
First of all, don’t allow nerves to distract you from performing as expected. What helps tremendously with getting over any nervousness is to chat with the woman before the shoot in order to establish a comfort level. You don’t have to discuss anything in particular, but at least get an idea of her personality.
Being
in the midst of the holidays, it’s time to reflect on The Real Reasons! As I finished up my shopping I couldn’t help but to think to myself about how caught up we can get and distracted from The Real Reasons that we do what we do, or at least why we began to do them in the first place! Christmas isn’t about money, it isn’t about obligations, and it isn’t even about presents! What it really is about is helping out one another and lifting one another up! If the reason we are doing something for someone else is because we feel obligated or it is just what everyone else is doing, then we need to stop and think about The Real Reasons we do what we do during the holidays! You see, when we focus on The Real Reasons, it becomes that much more special!
Are
you new to working out? Visiting the site for motivation and pointers? Having trouble sticking to your new plan? If so this article is for you!
How can we find ways to maintain fitness? Are there cost effective strategies to insure we keep fitness a priority in our lives? I recently polled a number of individuals and asked what motivates them to hire a trainer and go to the gym? By far, the answer was accountability. They stated they were motivated because they are paying a trainer who expects them to show up. That made a lot of sense to me. When I was working to get back in shape a trainer wasn't in the budget, but I always went to classes at my local gym. I got to know many of the people in class, as well as the instructor, and when I didn't show up everyone noticed. That motivated me to keep going.
Unfortunately most models and personal trainers did not spend a lot of time in business school. The same can be said for photographers, makeup artists and graphic designers. We all were so focused on intently learning our trades that many times we did not spend the time to learn the business that goes along with it.
The goal for this article is to provide you with some insight and even a small outline of key concepts you can apply to the growth of your business (whether it be as a model or as a personal trainer, etc).
You begin this process by defining your goals for 2012. It is essential to have some idea of what it is that you want to accomplish. Be specific. It is not enough to say that you want to be featured in a magazine. What magazine? Why? The more specific you make your goals, the better chance you have of achieving them.
There
is that dirty four letter word that begins with “C” - yes, carb, short for carbohydrates. These are those dreaded substances we are trained to avoid, or when were told to have them were told to have them clean. Everyone talks about good, bad, simple and complex carbohydrates, but what does this mean and how can one possibly readily distinguish which is which.
As it turns out there are four chemical groupings for carbohydrates, monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides, and oligosaccharides. Monosachharides are the major source of energy for the body’s metabolism characterized by glucose and fructose. Two monosaccharides that are connected are disaccharides largely characterized by sucrose and lactose. Polysaccharides and oligosaccharides are longer chains of monsaccharides typically characterized by starches, glycogen, and cellulose.
Do 
you let fear and negativity hold you back from going after your goals, whether they are related to fitness, health, career, family or other areas in your life? Do you find yourself saying “what-if” and then speculating on what the worst possible outcome could be if things don’t go your way? We often approach new endeavors with fear in our hearts. It’s challenging to change that perspective. We don’t want to fail so we let fear guide us.
Someone once said to me, “Answer your worst ‘what-if.’” Often times, you’ll find that while the outcome may not be desirable, it’s also not something that is life-altering. One the other hand, what if you tried something with the attitude that you could not fail, that given enough time and hard work, you would be successful. What if you turned your “what-if” statement into something positive? Focus on the very best thing that could happen.
Use the following strategies to help you overcome fear and push toward your goals.
Many
of us have heard for a long time that caffeine may be able to help us perform better. Studies in fact prove that caffeine before a workout or an endurance activity will enhance performance. It has been theorized that Caffeine increases fat metabolism. The result is in an increase the number of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstream enabling people to run, swim, or bike longer. The body can absorb and burn that fat for fuel and save the body’s limited stores of carbohydrates until later in the workout.
What
is the typical weight fluctuation that one should experience on-season versus off-season? This debate is ongoing. I feel there should not be a clear cut answer. This is based upon the different life styles of all us competitors. Some make the case that Men’s Physique competitor are not body builders and should look like Fitness Model year round. Others argue that the off-season this is the time to get as big as possible. If you are making money as a fitness model and/or required to shoot on a regular basis then you would obviously want to keep the body fat close to shoot ready and not really have an “off season.” If you are trying to put on as much mass as possible then you would want to eat as much as you can to help those muscle grow.
As
most people know we must change our workouts up to keep our bodies progressing and seeing results. If we stick to the same program for too long our progress may diminish. I personally like to change my workouts up every 3 months or so as a rule of thumb.
As we go from a novice lifter to a more advanced, sometimes we need to do more than to just change the workouts up. Sometime I like to get crazy with the changes! When I say crazy what I mean is something extremely different from the norm.
Most
active people believe that they need A LOT of protein to grow and recover from workouts. First I have to say don't forget that Carbohydrates are also essential for recovery. That being said, let's get back to the topic at hand...Protein. What kind of protein we need? To tackle that question we must first look into what Protein is actually supplying to our bodies. Protein is supplying the much needed Amino Acids for growth and recovery.
Joining
us today is MP Competitor Chad Abner. Congrats on a great showing! What made you decide to compete in the Men’s Physique Division?
Thanks so much. I have always followed bodybuilding and been involved, but when the Men’s Physique Division came about, I knew it was going to be my chance to participate. I couldn’t be more excited about the addition of this division. It’s an amazing opportunity for guys like me who have to stay really active and carrying around a lot of mass is not an option.
Can you tell us a little about the Competition in which you just competed?
The NPC KyMuscle Strength and Fitness Extravaganza is an amazing show. It’s put together by promoter Brent Jones in Louisville, KY. It has everything from IFBB pro figure to arm wrestling. The men’s physique was deep. There were 16 shredded guys in the tall class that I was in and 8 in the short class.
Today
Dexter Hardy is joining us. Thanks for taking the time and also congrats on a great showing in Miami! What made you decide to compete in the Men’s Physique Division?
I was introduced the Men’s Physique Division by Dexter Martin at GoLive Fitness in Atlanta, GA. He approached me while working out one day in LA Fitness. I have never considered myself to be a bodybuilder though. I just generally like to stay fit and workout.
Can you tell us a little about the Competition you just competed in?
My most recent competition was NPC Nationals (Miami, FL) in November 2011. It was the largest National show in the history of the NPC with 950+ competitors. It was great to be a part of such a monumental event.
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