We are here with Ron Gallagher, NPC Competitor.
Thanks for joining us today. Let's get right to it. We want to hear what you have to say and where you are headed in the NPC.
What are your thoughts on the Men's Physique Division? I’m really for it! Finally there is a division for the male athletes out there. I am hoping for the NPC to implement some posing into our division as well. The Women’s physique division are posing and also showing off a lot more body. I really hope the will go away from the board shorts and have us wear some type of tight briefs. That way we can see the lower portion and therefore make the decisions for the judges more clear.
As we have heard many times within the sport of bodybuilding
“This is my journey to my pro card”. Now that the physique division has been created we have many competitors on a journey to their pro card. You will never hear me say that phrase. I have many friends and fellow competitors that have said they are on the journey to their pro card. Many will try, some may come close and a few will achieve it. Not that there is anything wrong with having a goal to achieve the elite status as a pro, but many individuals focus on the pro card instead of the journey.
Many people lose sight of why they started improving their physique and competing when they start focusing on the pro card instead of the journey. I’ve seen individuals lose sight of everything around them including friends, family, enjoying everyday life, and sometimes even their health. I’ve seen extreme measures taken to achieve the ideal look. Sometimes everything is forgotten except what it takes to achieve that pro card...
We're happy to have NPC MP Competitor Steven Byrnes 
with us today. He has built quite a physique that should take him far in this new division. Thanks for joining us Steven...if you don't mind we have a few questions for you?
What are your thoughts on the Men's Physique Division? The Men’s Physique is a great addition to the NPC for the guys who just want an aesthetic look. Being in shape isn’t all about being super huge. Also making the look achievable for the average male.
I have always been a major believer in 
supplementation for athletes. I wanted to take the time to share my thoughts and experiences with different supplements as far as what works for me and when I use them and why.
Basic supplements “now a days” are protein, creatine, and some sort of pre-workout concoction. I will walk you through my standard day of what and when I take supplements and why...
for the quickest methods by which to clean it. As a result, they are often prone to developing ingrown hairs, where hair gets trapped inside a follicle or grows back into the skin, forming painful bumps.
If you want to minimize the chances of developing these nasty bumps, you must exfoliate! This can be accomplished with salicylic acid based cleansers, post-shave products and moisturizers. You can also use a soft-bristle brush or washcloth to exfoliate dead skin cells. Make sure that you are consistent with your exfoliating regimen or else you will find yourself having to treat ingrown hairs instead of preventing them from forming...
Let’s call a spade a spade. After competing
in my first Men’s Physique Show with the NPC, I can honestly say that this division is NO JOKE. This was not only my first Men’s Physique show, but it turned out to be the largest yet, with close to 20 total competitors. I’m going to be completely honest when I tell you that I got blown out of the water, making me pull back and evaluate things as far as my physique and taking a different approach. These guys looked awesome, plain and simple. I thought I was lean, but apparently not lean enough…these guys had it on another level! Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed competing in the new division and think it’s great for guys that don’t want to be a bodybuilder, yet are too big and aren’t really the 170 lb fitness model type. I was humbled by the experience and am glad to compete with some great guys in the division that have awesome physiques, such as Stanley Adolf, Craig Capurso, Chris Villa and Dean Michael. I think I just covered the guys that placed top 5 in the show and they definitely deserved it and wanted to give them a shout.
In order to stay lean AND extremely healthy all year round, 
it is important to eat lots and LOTS of greens and incorporate as many different varieties as possible. I include at least one salad into my daily routine, which includes a lot of veggies mixed in. Always make sure to use Romaine lettuce or spinach as opposed to iceberg lettuce, which has no nutritional value whatsoever. I will literally throw everything into a salad to make it burst with flavor. Some of my favorite things to include are cucumbers, mushrooms, grape tomatoes and some type of pepper (red, green, yellow or orange). Also, I often include some healthy fats such as walnuts or avocado. And instead of using a store bought dressing…make your own! I find if you have a solid high powered blender you can easily create any combination that is right for you! Personally, I enjoy a blend of cashews and oranges (3 oranges to about ¾ cup cashews) or peanuts and oranges. Blend these together and bam! Your own dressing or dip…and 2 ingredients so you KNOW exactly what kind of nutrition you are getting. Great vitamins and monounsaturated fats right there!
We are here with NPC Men’s Physique Competitor Scottie White. Scottie you have been great every time you’re on stage so what are your thoughts on the Men's Physique Division? 
The Men’s Physique division has taken the fitness community by storm; it allows a median between bodybuilding and fitness model physiques. Training for Men’s Physique requires a training strategy to enhance the overall beauty of symmetry with lean muscularity. I enjoy including cross fit exercises into my work out without the concern of burning too much muscle. Staying consistent with proper nutrition allows me to maintain a lower body fat percentage in preparation for my show. I’m very thankful to the NPC for opening up such an exciting new division. I enjoy the entertainment value of presenting the audience with a male sexiness on stage with the laid back board shorts. The division has grown since I’ve competed in the first ever NPC Men’s Physique early this year in Culver City and more competitors has continued to jump onboard. I have competed in three shows and gained much needed experience that will aid me on the national level in competing for my pro card. I train to win, not just to place, so I leave it all on the stage for the judges. There are awesome competitors in this division whom I have the pleasure of sharing the stage with. I’m truly blessed after a successful retirement from the U.S. Marines to be able to compete on this level with great results. The Marines forced me to adapt and overcome pain during the rigors of physical training, so I will accept nothing less from myself to bring the best each show. Thank you all for supporting me during my journey, and when on stage I will continue to give you what you deserve-my best….
If ever you've walked into the gym and seen the one individual who was tossing his or her weights around, producing movements as if to be taken over by inner demons, you can imagine what a short lived bodybuilding career this person would have. Men’s Physique training takes dedication and a whole heck of a lot of hard work. The body is to undergo much stress and pain if one is to be a successful competitor. However, the stress doesn't have to turn into strain. The pain should be the type that furthers your growth not hinder it. Understand that the body will respond and produce more rapidly by practicing proper movements. Not using your body as a torquing device to lift a weight is wasn't meant to lift, is paramount. So many athletes end their careers needing prosthetic knees and constant physical therapy due in part, partially, to the poor form they used for so many years in the weight rooms...
“Either your dream overcomes your fear or you fear overcomes your dream.” 
It’s been 12 years since I started this fitness quest for my “dream”. 4380 days of lugging around a cooler, everywhere I went .Roughly 1460 leg days of squatting till I fell over and got sick. A long, hard, unpaved road full of full of ups and downs, speed bumps, forks, and many twists and turns. But, at last I am here! I have made it! Beat the odds…and the best part is, this is just the beginning!!!
I wanted to share with all of you a few techniques I use to stay motivated...
There are many things you can do to improve your health and accelerate fat loss. None of them are simple or more important than this one thing: Drink more water. Now, I know what you are thinking, you drink plenty of water and can drinking more water really improve my health? Well as you may know the human body is made up of 60% water. Water is an essential nutrient and all chemical reactions in the body depend on it. So how does this translate to fat loss and improved health? Let me break this down for you.
-Water flushes out the by-products of fat breakdown and toxins from the body. When we become dehydrated the kidneys don’t work at their full potential and then the liver doesn’t function optimally, thus fat loss is hindered. Basically, your organs function properly when hydrated so the body functions better!
Many have heard the st
ory of the seasoned Fisherman who took his son out one day to fish for crabs; as they were placing crabs in the bucket the young boy asked his father “why don’t we have a lid on the bucket, the crabs will all escape?” The father replied, “you see son, as long as there is more than one crab in the bucket, if one tries to escape, the others will grab a hold and pull it back down.”...
PART 2
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16. Avoid artificial sweetener hype. If you are like the rest of us, you see food products everywhere in flashy boxes that read “Sugar Free” and think…awesome, I can eat this and stay lean. Not so fast my friend!
Many of these foods have tons of calories and are LOADED with artificial ingredients. Most people don’t realize this because artificial sweeteners generally have zero calories, but artificial sweeteners can and will make you fat. How is this possible?
First, these fake sweeteners increase your appetite by sending false signals to the brain that sweet food is on the way. Your brain subsequently becomes confused when sweet food never arrives and so it never gives the signal that you are satisfied.
Plus they give you a constant sugar craving that never goes away…it only gets worse! If you have ever drank sugar free crystal light you know exactly what I mean!...
We are here with Craig Capurso…Congrats on the big win! 
What made you decide to compete in the Men’s Physique Division?
Thanks! I decided to compete to in order to get my face in front of the NPC crowd and sponsors. I've competed in other organizations in similar categories and have had success but the road usually just stops. With the NPC I saw this as an opportunity to grow as an athlete in ONE organization earn an IFBB pro card and have a career at doing something I love.
Can you tell us a little about the Competition you just competed in?
The Bev Francis Atlantic States held in NYC usually draws a good crowd from the past shows I've attended. This night was no different, there were 19 competitors in my class and some pretty stiff competition.
If you don't know what the 21 technique is let 
me explain it really quick. When doing any exercise you generally are operating in 2 separate ranges of motion. First range of motion is start point to midpoint and the second is midpoint to finish. Normally you perform an exercise using complete range of motion which would be start point to finish.
With 21's you instead perform 7 reps of an exercise in the first range of motion(start point to midpoint) , followed immediately by 7 more repetitions in the second range of motion (midpoint to finish), and immediately precede that by doing 7 more repetitions using full range of motion (Start-point to finish). This allows you to pre-exhaust the muscle you are training separately in each of the 2 ranges of motion before performing the exercise in its full range of motion...
If you are an athlete, or like to believe you were at one point,
think about the times in your life when you’ve felt the best. Now think about what you were doing physically and compare that to what you’re currently doing. If you’re like most people, chances are you felt like you were at the top of your game when you were doing some speed and agility work in conjunction with your strength training. I’m not talking about the grueling 5:00 AM conditioning sessions with the football team in high school. I’m talking about some well thought-out speed and agility work that had you moving fast and feeling explosive.
It’s an incredible feeling to feel light on your feet and able to move with a little spring in your step. It’s very different than the feeling of being strong or having great endurance. Those feel good too, but feeling athletic only comes from performing athletic movements on a consistent basis, and this feeling disappears quickly when it’s not used. Take one look at the way most bodybuilders or powerlifters move when they try to do something athletic. It’s not pretty. They get used to doing one thing, and their bodies forget how to move athletically.
I was at a fitness convention recently and had
the opportunity to meet and chat with nearly a hundred various competitive athletes. In these quick discussions, I got to hear a lot of these talent’s pitches. Unfortunately; after the first they, they all simply began to blend together as they were all nearly identical.
Evidentially, everyone I talked to had the exact same “life-long dream” and is “relentlessly dedication” and will “work very hard” to make the client happy.
It truly begs the question; if a client asks you why they should hire you and what makes you different from other applications and your answer is that you work hard and are passionate – is that to say that all of your competitors would say that they are lazy and unmotivated? I don’t think so.
So; what truly does make you unique compared to others? What is your differentiator? What makes a worthwhile differentiator are two things.
You may have heard that brows work like frames 
for the face, accentuating the eyes and helping to provide balance to facial features. So when I see a man who has brows which are so bushy that they overpower his features, I feel compelled to pull out some scissors and a tweezer and get to work. Of course the worst is the dreaded unibrow which can inspire fear in any attractive female...
With all the supplements on the market how do you choose which ones are the best to take? And how important are supplements? These are the questions I get all the time from my clients. The first thing I tell people is food is numero uno!! Eating a balanced diet will provide you with many nutrients and will do more for you then all the supplements in the world. You can't out train a bad diet and you surely can't replace food with supplements, that's why they are called supplements. Now that I have that out of the way which supplements are important and how important are they?
Let's start with which supplements. These are the basic supplements that I take no matter what...
I recently had the opportunity to chat with newly
crowned IFBB Men’s Physique Pro Ryan Hughes and after just a few minutes into our discussion it was quite obvious that he is a True Champion! Sure he just came off of an impressive win in the exciting new Men’s Physique Division, but there is MUCH more to being a True Champion than just the actual winning of an event and that is exactly why Ryan is a True Champion, for the things you don’t see…
While chatting with Ryan I kept having this weird feeling of Déjà Vu; like he and I had talked before, like I had experienced what he was saying, like it had already happened! When we got off the phone and I went through the notes that I had jotted down, it hit me...
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