What A Few Good Heros Taught Me About Bodybuilding

Copyright 2006 Marc David
Posted on a Bodybuilding Message Board:
Hi everyone I'm 15 and was wondering what I can take for my muscle to grow? I have heard of muscle boosters or something like that so I was just wondering if there was anything like that that I could take in order for my muscle to get huge.
I might be thinking of steroids.
Answer:
Stop! What the HECK are you thinking? Why are we always looking for the short cut to the biggest gains while still being able to watch T.V.? I guess the word "hard work" isn't something you really need to do if you know some handy-dandy SECRETS to building muscle.
Clarence Darrow, a famous trial lawyer, once said:
"As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man (or woman) objected and no man (or woman) rebelled, those wrongs would last forever."
Listen closely! The term 'lifestyle' means ON-GOING and NEVER ending. A shortcut has no place in bodybuilding and certainly no place in getting into the best shape of your life.
So what?
I can already hear the voices now like waves crashing against a rocky wall "why should I care?" Or the other one "what's in it for me?"
A Blueprint for your Success:
* The more you know, the more educated you become from a cast of reliable sources and PASS that information on to your friends...
* The better off this industry will become...
* The FASTER you can AVOID mistakes...
* The FASTER you can make better LONG TERM progress!
FACT: According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens(NIDA):
"As part of a 2002 NIDA-funded study, teens were asked if they ever tried steroids—even once. Only 2.5% of 8th graders ever tried steroids; only 3.5% of 10th graders; and 4% of 12th graders."
Add to this an article I read in the May 2004 issue of Flex magazine by Tom Prince. He profiled his career in a very thought provoking article called "When the Posing Stops."
Tom Prince went on to explain his steroid use, his mad as a hatter like rush to the top, and eventually the pain he endures and his eventual kidney failure to reach a peak. The descriptions of his crumbling shoulder socket and the pain he must be in made me as sick as a dog.
At the time of the article, Tom Prince was 34 years old! He said:
"I will probably die younger than normal, 65 or something like that, but 65 is better than 35."
STOP and ask yourself this key question:
Are the youth of today any different then me 16 years ago when I was looking at bodybuilding magazines and wanting to be ripped and muscular? In my mind, I was willing to take all kinds of supplements and do whatever training program I could to look like those guys in the magazine ads. They were my HEROS and inspiration.
Thankfully I didn't go down that path.
Just last week, my friend (Yes I really have spoken on the phone with him several times) Tom Venuto sent out a issue asking people to take a look at the natural bodybuilders all over the Internet for inspiration.
Tom Venuto wrote:
"There ARE heroes and role models to look up to today, and you will find them in the drug-free bodybuilding movement."
He's RIGHT. In fact I know an older gentleman, Scott Hults, who's a big fan of natural bodybuilding and has done wonders in this sport to educate himself and others around him that taking shortcuts isn't the way to go and that hard work can pay-off at any age. If I can be in as good of shape as Scott when I'm older, I'd be lucky.
Think about it.
Toss this idea around, if you want to get better at something, you should do everything in your power to make the exercises HARDER, not easier.
Clearly you can see by now shortcuts simply don't come without a price. If you are one of those people who wants to make working out and building muscle or losing fat easy as cutting thru a banana cream pie, you'll never reach the goals you've set.
Richie Smith, a personal trainer with more horsepower in the gym then a Bugatti Veron, said "When you are child, your parents tell you to keep your hands off the stove—they tell you not to put your hand into the flame, because if you do, you'll get burned. If you’re serious about bodybuilding, you have to un-learn what you were taught as a child. When I train people, basically I'm telling them to put their hand right into the fire and keep it there. I have them train into and beyond the pain zone. That's what makes you grow."
Are you beginning to see how building muscle and changing your body is work but it's fun? Building your body isn't like FedEx ... it simply, positively DOESN'T happen overnight. But one could also say ... it's human nature to avoid hard work.
Tom Venuto wrote in his natural bodybuilding blog, "Most people are on a constant search for the path of least resistance. A drug, a supplement, a 'breakthrough technique' a new machine, a shortcut in exercise form—anything and everything they think will help them reach their goals with less effort and in less time. This is typical human nature. Unfortunately, this is also faulty thinking and you will NEVER become a champion with this type of attitude.
You can clearly see what I'm saying is certainly true...
If I could give you a training strategy that is GUARANTEED to increase your muscle and burn more fat, would you be interested?