If there’s one thing bodybuilding fans all have in common is their never ending need to bitch and moan about something. If it’s not a fan bitching about Kevin English winning another NY Pro, then it’s Toney Freeman calling out the entire pro league for being unjust.
Synthol in the biceps or Kai Greene snubbing Ron Noreman on contest prep all stir up controversy in the sport. But what really has the fans bitching and moaning is the great debate of 90’s bodybuilders vs. today’s bodybuilders. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, although mine is usually right, but what really separates todays pros vs. a 90’s pro isn’t striated glutes or lumpy calves Flex Wheeler, it’s good old fashion charisma. Love him or hate him, Mr. Big Banners/Bright Lights Shawn Ray knew how to stir up some shit. You would have thought the guy had a staff of WWE writers doing his material. He took shots at Dorian, Flex, Nasser, and Jurassic Paul Dilette and only spared those with physiques similar to his classic yet much smaller structure.
Before Shawn captivated fans, the sport only had the legend himself, Arnold, to keep people entertained not only with his iconic physique, but the personality that later made him one of the most polarizing international celebrities of all time. Arnold was the Muhammad Ali of bodybuilding. He would beat his opponents mentally long before anyone oiled up and stepped on a bodybuilding stage.
It’s hard to believe, but by the 2013 Mr. Olympia it will have been 8 years since Ronnie Coleman took home his 8th Sandow. Now talk about a guy with a charismatic personality. Only the Big Nasty comes out for his night show posing routine wearing a king’s robe and crown with the Lion King sound track in the background. Parking lot lunges in 110 degree Texas heat wearing bright yellow spandex still weighing 310lb just weeks prior to winning the Mr. O. And still years after even stepping foot on a stage the guy still has the longest line at any expo he attends. Ronnie has a knack for making any stranger feel like his old friend. Yeah Buddy!
And where do we sit today? Taking a look at the top half of the IFBB pro league there is a lot left to be desired in terms of charisma. I love physiques like Shawn Rhoden and Dexter Jackson, but man they might just be the two chillest dudes on the planet. Half the time you wouldn’t know if they were asleep even with their eyes wide open. Dennis Wolf has a lot of potential but half of his interviews I feel like he doesn’t really quite understand the questions people ask and ends up answering everything the same, “I need to eat more carbs sometimes yeah, and uh yeah it is good, and yeah I’ll be bringing up my lower back more, umm yeah so I make improvements, and uh get Top 3, yeah…haha”. And every time I listen to Branch I’m not sure if he’s going to choke slam the cameraman or throw a 200lb dumbbell at some kid for not being intense enough.
Now don’t get me wrong there are some characters amongst us in bodybuilding. Ben Pakulski tried to talk a little trash to Branch at the Olympia press conference. I’m not sure if it was all for the upcoming docudrama movie, Generation Iron, due out in summer of 2013, but it was an attempt at showing his personality. Toney Freeman has no trouble giving his opinion or showing his charisma, but sometimes I think he sees himself as the Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction of the bodybuilding world, “Say what again, say what again, I dare you, I double dare you mother fucker say what one more goddamn time.”
Kai Greene is incredibly charismatic with a huge fan base. As Dave pointed out on Heavy Muscle Radio, the guy almost thrives on controversy and drama. Only Kai would buy 2 rooms at the Olympia and shuffle back and forth to avoid his two guru’s running into one another. The problem with Kai is when the bright lights are on him he tends to shut down. When he gets asked questions at the Olympia presser such as, “Kai do you think you can beat Phil this year?” and responds with a solitary, “yes”, he is just provoking the fans to root against him. He has to seize those opportunities when they arise. 
And then there’s Phil Heath. He’s very interesting if you’re curious about his new pair of Jordan’s, what color his Beats by Dre headphones are or when he’s going to be getting his mani and pedi for the week. But outside of being well spoken and gracious to his fans he could be much better in front of the camera if he chose to be.
The ironic thing is that the on-air personalities on RxMuscle, Dave and Aaron, have much more charisma than the vast majority of the athletes they cover. Imagine if Rx had the same deep pockets to spend on athletes that Flex and MD have. With their personalities they could almost groom the pro’s the way an acting coach or public relations professional would assist a celebrity in becoming more likeable to their fans.
Click over to MD, the once charismatic Shawn Ray now gives the least in depth and lackluster interviews and contest previews I have ever seen. Back when Flex Wheeler was doing interviews if you closed your eyes he sounded like Randy Jackson from American Idol – you know what I mean ‘dawg’, not exactly someone you can listen to for more than 3 minutes.
Maybe one of the fan favorites like Evan or Kai can take the lead amongst the charismatic pros, unfortunately, what draws so many fans to them is there enigmatic personalities. With any luck we’ll see a new side to the bodybuilders in next summer’s movie, but until then we’ll have to wait until Mike Pulcinella or Zhasni create another fabricated entertaining masterpiece of our athletes.
Follow Matt on Twitter @MattMeinrod
They say the competition is won during the off season and in the last ten days. A simplistic statement, but it does bear some truth. Now, if I could only go from my off-season to 10 days out and win a competition I would be onto something!
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Contest preps vary in length. Some preps last 20 weeks, some preps last 8 weeks. My prep goes for 16 weeks. In effect, I’m looking at 14 weeks and 4 days that aren’t accounted for in the insightful quote I started this article with. During these 14 weeks and 4 days the contest is also won, or lost. The power behind the quote lays in the fact that most people don’t “push” hard enough in their off season. They don’t eat enough. They aren't meticulous enough in their nutrition. How is this relevant to my prep? Well, the last 10 days… since starting on Wednesday, November 21st I will be 10 days out. The important thing here is to not do anything crazy. Keep on point, the hard work has been done, the mortar and bricks have been laid. Some people get caught up in crazy schemes to get “shredded” or to lose that “Water” - I got news for you… it probably isn’t water. That is how you can lose a show in the last 10 days.
What are my concerns you ask? I have a plethora of thoughts hounding through my skull at all hours of the day when it comes to this. What it boils down to are the following:
1. I want to be the most conditioned athlete at the show;
2. I want to maintain as much size and shape and still accomplish #1;
3. Win my class;
4. Win the whole damn show.
That pretty much sums it up. Everything else I place my trust in PJ Braun to dial me in correctly, as he has never failed me before. I place my faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I place my love for all my friends and family who have supported me and my lovely girlfriend Sabrina Taylor. My sponsor FUSION BODYBUILDING, whom I consider to be part of my family now. My new family at Rx Muscle (Dave, Aaron, Sally, Bryan) who I am looking forward to growing with in 2013.
It’s 10 days out and it is just a matter of following the plan laid out. I will bring the best Louis Uridel that has ever stepped on stage before.
Do Work, Stay Sexy… and always… Stay Sucka Free.
NATIONAL PHYSIQUE COMMITTEE AND GASPARI NUTRITION ANNOUNCE AUGUST ATHLETES OF THE MONTH
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (November 19, 2012) - The National Physique Committee and Gaspari Nutrition have selected seven competitors as NPC Athletes of the Month for the month of August. Mustafa Kabbani, Tiffany Upshaw, Crystal Wong, Janet Gerber, Jesus Burgos, Margie Martin and Angela Stueber all were honored for standout performances during the month.
All of the athletes will be profiled on the NPC News Online and will receive free product from Gaspari Nutrition.
Each month, NPC President Jim Manion selects the Athletes of the Month in each of the organization’s seven divisions – Men’s and Women’s Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini, Fitness and Men’s and Women’s Physique – based on in-person analysis and on the information provided by contest promoters across the country and featured in the NPC News Online Contest Roundups.
For complete profiles and galleries of the August NPC Athletes of the month, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.
About the August Athletes of the Month:
- Men’s Bodybuilding: Mustafa Kabbani, 26, started bodybuilding at the age of 16 in Saudi Arabia. In two NPC contests since 2011, Kabbani has two class wins and one overall win.
- Women’s Bodybuilding: Former Marine Margie Martin of Temecula, California, won the Overall at the Pacific USA Championships. Martin, a mother of four, is working towards becoming a science teacher.
- Figure: Crystal Wong, 33, took an eight-year break from NPC competitions to start a family. In August, Crystal won her class and the Overall at the Pacific USA Championships in her first contest since 2004.
- Bikini: Tiffany Upshaw of Ft. Meyers, Florida, won her class and the Overall at the Dexter Jackson Classic. Upshaw, 25, is a communications major in college.
- Men’s Physique: Former football player Jesus Burgos. 21, won his class and the Overall at the Tim Gardner Extravaganza. Burgos was a backup quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes before an injury ended his playing days.
- Women’s Physique: Janet Gerber, 36, started competing as a lightweight bodybuilder in the NPC in 2009. Janet, who switched to Women’s Physique for the 2011 season, won her class and the Overall at the Tim Gardner Extravaganza.
Fitness: Angela Stueber won the Overall at the Dexter Jackson Classic in her first contest since 2007.
Ever since I can remember I’ve been an observant guy. When I see a person around town that looks like somebody famous I always point it out to the person I’m with. Even when I was little I can remember going to the mall with my grandpa and we’d sit on a bench and people watch while my grandma and mom were busy shopping. It was at a young age I really took notice as to how different people were from one another. And now, years later, most of my people-watching gets done in between sets of heavy shoulder presses, bent over rows and hack squats.
The gym is actually an awesome place to people-watch. Just in the past week I spotted a grandma doing one arm machine preacher curls with one hand, while talking on her cell phone with the other. Apparently she was getting a head start on the 40% off Black Friday discounts on yarn down at JoAnn Fabrics. I’ve noticed the creeper; he’s a middle aged man, often still wearing his Lance Armstrong cycling spandex, who spends 3 hours in the gym just so he can talk to every girl in her early 30s the gym has to offer. Then there are the pseudo powerlifters. You know these guys: bag of chalk, knee wraps, Inzer t-shirts, thick grizzly beards, and Chuck Taylors. The only thing missing was the double layer poly squat suit. All that brutal manliness so I could watch them squat 275lb – what a bunch of beasts.
One thing I can’t quite wrap my head around is why so many fit and well-endowed women in their 20s feel the need to train like they’re prepping to be an Olympic Decathlete or in one of Greg Plitt’s workout infomercials? I watched a girl the other day go from front squats to burpees to Bosu ball push-ups to jumping jacks all within a 2 minute time span. It exhausted me just watching her do this Chinese Fire Drill.
The other thing that really stood out to me was the lack of women in the free weight area. I guess they’re afraid they’re going to bulk up and look like dude. Yeah, heard that one about 100 times too many. You would think that if you’ve been going to the same step aerobics or Zumba class the past 3 years and still can’t see your toes over your saggy tits then it might be time to find something else a bit more productive to do, don’t ya think? I guess common sense isn’t really that common after all. How is it that bodybuilders understand the simple principles of getting into shape: consistently lift heavy weight, do your cardio when needed, and follow a diet closely related to your goals, yet most women at the gym think that the elliptical, salsa dancing, or P90X is going to get them to look like Nicole Wilkins? Sorry ladies, it ain’t happening.
And it isn’t just the women who have a funny way of getting into shape. Men these days have their head so far up their ass it’s amazing they can even scan their card to get into the gym. A day will not pass that I don’t see at least a few guys doing a good 10 sets of shrugs. These same guys have also never done a deadlift or bent over barbell row yet wonder why after months and months of useless shrugging their traps still look like a 15 year old boy.
The last thing and this is actually exciting to see is the amount of ripped old guys there are these days. I guess if Jose Canseco did one good thing it was to open America’s eyes to the health and anti-aging benefits of hormone replacement therapy. I saw a guy the other day that had to be 65 years old with a body of a 35 year old. Not only was it inspiring, but a real testament to the advances of progressive medicine. The guy would have been a great advertisement for clinics like Envision Medical. Imagine if they were able to reverse aging in women! Kind of gross to think somebodies grandma could be a piece of ass again!!
T
he best part about people-watching at the gym is that no matter what city or gym I’m in, it is as if the same people seem to be following me around. Hey, at least I haven’t seen anyone in Hot Skins in a long time! Although, I think I did see them make a cameo appearance in the latest PJ Braun and Jason Genova video down at Busy Bodies. Guess that’s how they do it in South Florida, ehh Singerman?
You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMeinrod
Hurricane Sandy was rapidly approaching Long Island. Local officials urged residents in my waterfront neighborhood of Seaford, NY to evacuate, immediately, and my good friend Ron Noreman generously offered to put me up in his home to wait out the storm. After watching the tides rise to the front steps of my home I called Ron and his wife, Nancy, and I took them up on their offer.
