Getting Knocked Down!

Back against the wall, underdog, fighting a losing battle, I have heard all these terms in my life and have been in those situations at least a hand full of times in my life. One thing my father taught me is probably the greatest gift of all, that you can NEVER give up, and the word CAN'T isn't in the dictionary. I have fought many battles in my life, I fought for a fighting spot in high school football, I fought to play in college (even after getting red shirted my freshman year), I fought the following year to make a statement, I busted my ass to be the best body builder I could, I fought to be the best son, brother, friend, and boyfriend all the time, I still fight some of these battles to this very day. I have been put down and disregarded many times in my life as someone that can't or someone that won't do something. Well there is a lot that I have done aside from body building, I was a starter both ways at my high school football team, I went on to play corner back in college, I had the highest total lift total my senior year, I went on to have some great wins as an amateur bodybuilder, and now can call my self a pro bodybuilder. All of those things can be worked at and every option can never be exhausted. I have gotten a lot of emails lately on websites and my email regarding people sad, depressed, and upset, asking for advise so I figured I would share all of what I tell many of these people. So many people think my life is this big great ball of greatness, but they are shocked when I tell them that it's far from that. I still work a normal job, make ok money in this economy, struggle to pay my bills, and at times am heart broken. There are times in my life when I think my life sucks, that I have it the worst because I got my heart broken by a girl, or can't do this or that because I don't have the money, I've been there, I've done that, and sometimes still do. But when you think you have taken all you can and your at the bottom of the barrel, you have to open your eyes and realize that no matter how bad you THINK you have it someone always has it worse. There is a guy who emailed me from RXMUSCLE who has a bad heart condition and almost died a few years back, and came to me telling me he can't get motivated to squat and push weight that he normally does in the gym, he said he felt depressed and down. I was shocked, I guess because when your on the outside looking in, many aspects are seen from a different point of view. I read that and was like wow, I have been upset lately for other reasons, but this guy nearly died and is still living AND working out, but complaining. I couldn't understand it, but then I sent him a message and I told him this. First off, the fact that your alive is a gift from God by itself, and that fact that your still working out is a miracle. I told him if I was in his shoes that I had another chance at life after almost dying, you bet your sweet ass my view on life would change. I told him, normally in life you don't get second chances and he did, so stop complaining about the little things like squatting and weight and just do it, that would drive me more than anything to know God gave me a second. Life is always going to have it's ups and downs, now matter who you are, no matter how much money you make, and no matter how nice you are. Bad things unfortunately happen to good people a lot in life, but it's over coming those obstacles in our lives that makes us stronger individually in different ways. If you all haven't known I am a big ROCKY fan, and sometimes use his quotes to shed some light on a subject, so I guess I will end on this note.
"Life's not about how hard you get hit, it's about how hard you get hit and get up and keep moving forward."
GUY-

A Weekend In Chicago...

Last weekend I had a chance to go to Chicago Illinois to visit my good friend Mike Liberatore. For those who have had their head in a cave the past few months Mike won the heavy weight class at the Nationals earning him his pro card. I went to Chicago for a job interview that I might take sometime in the late summer, it's still pending so I'm not sure what the out come would be. But I also had a chance to catch up and train with Mike whom I haven't seen since we were in Cali shortly after the Nationals. Mike weighed in at Nationals at a ripped 212 and when I arrived he was around 240's and climbing looking thick and hard. We both had a great time over the weekend we trained Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, at a variety of gyms within his area. We had a great time working out together and I met a ton of cool guys that Mike trains with on a regular basis. The weekend was pretty much filled with working out, going out to eat, and my job interview which I had on Friday afternoon. Mikes wife Trina is dieting for this up coming year and I'm sure she'll do great by the looks of things. Also a big shout out to Mike this month was his first month that his column was issued in MD, congrats bro!

As for other things, as soon as I got back to Jersey I caught the bug that's going around. I still was able to train but with having a bad head cold and being all congested it's hard to keep a good pace in the gym when you can't really catch your breath. I was going to take off the week, but I would go stir crazy if I didn't get to the gym. I was using fst-7 for the past 8 weeks, and now I have gone back to my traditional way of training hard and heavy, with a combo of straight sets, super sets, and giant sets, but I am still using fst-7 on certain days. I would like to become more of an instinctive person when it comes to my workouts, what I mean is that not be a schedule train what body part when I want depending on how I feel. For so long I have been on a strict regime of how I work out I think it might be good to switch up how I do things for a change. I'm not exactly sure of how I am going to break it down but I am in the process of figuring it out. My weight is staying around a good 210-212 which is fine for me right now I would like to stay at this weight for awhile before I try to increase everything to pack on some size before I start dieting again. A question I keep getting is when am I going to compete. The truth is when I am ready to or I feel my body is ready to compete again I will. I have gone balls to the wall since 2003 competing almost every year, and it's about time I give my body a rest from the torture of dieting and cardio and grow into my body. Only time will tell, but when I am ready I'm sure people will know.

This past weekend was a quite one, had a nice visit to my man Dr. Mike at Physical Synergy in CT. I try to make it there once a week to get worked on, he does his own method of ART and let me tell you it works, but the pain you go through while it's getting done is no joke. I went up there with two close friends Jenn and Kris who both got some work done on them, and Dr. Mike had all three of us moaning and groaning while he was working on us. At the end of the sessions you feel like a new person, he stretches the fascia out and releases a lot of the tight muscle fibers in the area he's working it feels great when your done.

I have gotten some emails regarding my blog and I am not trying to ignore my blog, but since I'm not dieting it's hard to write something every day, if there's something you guys would like to know or question you want answered in detail feel free to send me an email and I'll answer it in a blog on here. Or if there is something I haven't talked about that you want me to touch on let me know.
We were all put on earth for a reason and a purpose, stay true to your heart and never let anyone change what your creator has made.
GUY

Crazy Last Two Weekends...

The past two weekends I have been going non stop. Last weekend I made a much needed trip to my second home Golds New Haven. I went down with my buddy Kris and Jay. On the way down I needed to make a stop at Physical Synergy and get worked on by Dr. Mike. I haven't gotten any A.R.T. work done since before my show so I couldn't wait for him to dig into my knotted up muscles. I knew what I was in for because it is very painful, Kris and Jay on the other hand had no idea what pain that were about to endure. They soon found out as both of them were shacking and moaning when Dr. Mike got his hands on them, but after we left we all felt 100% better. I definitely will be making many more trips up to see Dr. Mike in the up coming year. After we left Physical Synergy we headed another 25 exits to Golds, where I met up with Evan, PJ, and Big Marc. We had a blast all working out and bullshitting, it was nice to see the Montanari brothers, I haven't seen them since my show in November. Evan was about 3 weeks into his diet and is good big and full, I can't wait to see the package he is going to bring to the NY Pro in May. PJ is well into his off season hovering around 270 and looking big as shit. Overall it was a great weekend and I enjoyed seeing the crew in CT.
As for this past weekend, was a weekend to remember and if you think I'm joking ask Marc Alvisi and Flex Lewis who were up visiting for the Dragons Den Seminar at Apollon Gym. The boys flew in on Thursday and I was chilling with them every night. Saturday during the day was the Seminar hosted by Gaspari Nutrition and held by owner Rich Gaspari. Overall it was a big hit and a good turn out for Rob and Apollon Gym. After Kris and I got our usual Saturday workout in, we all decided to get ready and go out in Hoboken for a good time. It was a deep crew that went out, over 10 people were out and we all had a blast and laughed more than ever. It was good to see Flex since I haven't seen him in almost a year, and I have gotten to know Marc a lot since Nationals and he is a great kid, and in my opinion has that pro card on lock down this year at the USA's. After Saturday night I can bet it won't be Flex and Marc's last time coming to NJ.
As for this weekend, I am leaving tomorrow to go on a job interview in Chicago and will be staying with Mike Liberatore so I can't wait to see him, I haven't seen him since the photo shoot we did in Cali after Nationals. I will be sure to take a ton of pics while I'm out there. Also I posted pics from this past weekend in my members section, be sure to check them out!!
Be thankful for what you have, you never know when it can be taken from you...
GUY