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Measuring your food and finding out how much you’re really eating is a real eye-opening experience. One of the old best ways to know how much you’re eating is to eat pre-packaged foods. But the preservatives, salt content and digestive problems of these foods make them a last option.

It’s better to know how many calories and what type of calories are in your regular foods. I recommend everyone goes through this exercise for a few of your meal for a few days. You’ll become a much better eater, and more importantly you’ll be able to make changes depending on the results you’re looking for.

The first time I measure my food for the day, I found out I was eating far too little calories for the results I was looking for. Another day I realized I wasn’t eating enough healthy fats.

It’s true that many of your performance issues can be found in your diet. If you’re feeling lethargic, experiencing a lack of strength, or fatiguing quickly, it most often is due to how you’re eating.

Consistently maintaining a detailed food diary is a very time consuming and that’s not what recommending. I like to keep things simple for my clients, and keeping a food diary is a very time consuming task; unless you’re really barreling down for a competition or major special event, it’s not worth the time and effort.

What I am saying is gain a better grasp of what you’re eating every day and in you major meals. Find out exactly how many calories you’re normal breakfast of Special K with protein or oatmeal has and consistently eat that much. Also keep track of your protein, fats, and carbs in your major meals, and decide if those ratios are giving you the results you’re looking for.

It only took a month, but I finally have all the contest footage from my competition! The clips go backwards chronologically - refer to my post “USBF Nationals Part Two” for the back-story on all the clips.

First I’ll show you my actual posing routine:

Here I’m pumping up right before I went onstage:

And this clip is of the competitors briefing before the night show:

These clips will give you a real idea of what it was like to be there and actually compete - enjoy!

How are your abs doing? I write this as I get ready for the beach, and overall I think I’m doing ok - After my contest my abs have gotten a little blurry. I’ve now entered heavy grind mode, weighing every bit of food and calculating my calories daily down to the single digits. This has been a real eye-opener for me. I highly recommend everyone to try it, and be prepared to be surprised to find how much or little you’ve been eating , and how much it fluctuates day to day.

For me, I realized I wasn’t eating nearly enough for my goal of gaining quality weight by mid-August, and my calories fluctuated so much that I was actually setting the stage to gain fat. No muscle and more fat, beautiful huh?

Now on to the subject of this post: Abdominal Training!

Helping my clients train their abdominals is probably the least favorite part of my job. I’m a personal trainer, not a torturer, but that’s the only way to describe real ab training.

Why are abs so hard to train and why do they hurt so much? For one thing, they consist of tiny slow twitch, red muscle fibers, the kind that “burn” badly when stressed. These muscle fibers are also the most resistant to growth and are the least receptive to exercise. That’s a lousy combination, isn’t it: thy hurt the most to train and are the show results the slowest!

Here’s a video of top figure pro Gina Aliotti working her abs. Look at her face and you’ll notice she hates doing abs too!

The Transverse Abdominus This is thin layer of muscles used to draw-in the abdominal wall and shrink the adominal cavity. While the muscle of the rectus abdominus, the “six-pack”muscles, are used for flexion, or curling of the spine, the transverse abdominus is used whenever you “suck-in” your stomach. Getting them hard, strong, and tight can lead to that sucked-in effect all the time, and take at least an inch off of your stomach without any loss in body-fat; combined with body-fat loss, the results can be dramatic!

The importance of this muscle group is the reason why I always insist that my clients keep their abdominals sucked in like a vacuum during all of their abdominal work. Although this makes abdominal training more difficult, it puts special emphasis on the transverse and keeps them well trained and tight.

Here are two exercises for isolating your transverse abdominus:

The first is the abdominal bridge - rest your body on your elbows and toes as shown; suck in your abs and hold them tight and keep this position for at least 30 seconds.

The second is the vacuum - easy to perform, but hard to execute if done correctly. Simply suck-in your stomach as hard as you possible can and hold that position for at least 30 seconds; you can continue to breathe, but still keep that intense tension on your transverse. Go to the point where you feel an excruciating burn and are on the verge of tears; rest and then repeat. After performing 3 tough sets of this exercise, you waist will feel very small for several minutes; performed often enough, and your waist will feel like that all the time.

On that subject, Part 2 of “Get Big And Ripped Summer Mission: Guys Only - Eating” that I promised last weekend is coming this weekend. I apologize to everyone that has eagerly been waiting to get big and ripped.

Corrections: My brother Shahed took great offense to my description of him in the “What’s New at GoHard! post last week. In that post, I mentioned he lost 125 pounds; the number is actually 145, and he probably lost even more fat than that since he’s added so much muscle. He obviously had to work very hard too achieve this and wants credit for every ounce, so Shahed, I apologize.

I came across an interesting video today, and it led me to ask the question, how much is too much? Can some people have a devotion to fitness and their looks that can be distorted to the point of being unhealthy?

Well apparently, the answer to that question is yes, and it’s called Body Dismorphic Disorder.

Here’s the video that got me thinking about the subject:

It leads to the question of when is your body image no longer realistic? How much devotion is too much?

On the one side, we always hear that the best accomplishments in society are achieved by people who go all the way, who show 100% devotion, don’t accept other peoples ideas of what’s acceptable.

On the other, I’m sure all of us have been told we look fine. Almost all of my clients, who are among the biggest fitness devotees in our society, are by social standards within normal weight ranges and look acceptable.

But we all push for more: we all want to look better, leaner, more muscular. And most of us aren’t willing to accept no for an answer.

I know I perpetuate this feeling sometimes with the people I work with - but I can’t change that. It’s my belief that thinking we can’t change how we look is negative social conditioning - that almost anything is within our realm of control. I know I can look outstanding - I may not be able to be 6′5″, 200 pounds at 5% body-fat, but within my genetic limits and potential, I can achieve something unique, and the same is true for all of my clients.

It may take a little bit more devotion than anyone you know has ever shown, and you may still want to work hard for results far past the point where other people feel you look good. But you can find you’re own level of “wow”.

But that leads back the original question - how much is too much?

I have an answer for that -

When you begin to implement methods that have proven to be harmful in your effort to look better, that’s going too far; if you’re making your health worse, shortening your life, lowering your self-esteem, and not listening to your conscience, at that point you’re over the edge.

In my last post I attached a video of some of the worlds top bodybuilders; I mentioned how I admire them. I have to attach an asterisk to that comment:

I admire their devotion - but being in this profession for as long as I have, I know about the heavy drug use that goes into a body like that. For those of you who think for a second that the body of a 300 pound shredded bodybuilder can be achieved naturally, I’m sorry to burst your bubble. Bodybuilders at that level take insulin injections several times a day, 2-3 different forms of testosterone or synthetic testosterone, gonadotropins, and Human Growth Hormone injections daily almost all year long. And that’s really only the beginning of their extreme practices; they’re the heaviest IV drug users of any illegal drug that I can think of. It’s very, very sad when you really think about it and understand the lifestyle.

On the flip-side are women who refuse to eat or over-exercise in their attempt to be thin. Our current society places a high value on being thin, and in their attempt to meet or set the standard there are those that will sacrifice their own health. It’s a dismorphic body image, in this case one that has ceased to even be attractive, which I’m guessing was the initial motivation.

These two examples are different from the field where I , my trainers, and my clients are playing. For us, it’s about growth: we’re getting stronger, healthier, more energetic, and more disciplined. We look to make improvements every day, not accepting bad eating behaviors, educating ourselves on our own health, and valuing the great health we are able to enjoy. In addition, we appreciate the attention we get for our attractive bodies without going into a zone that is only appealing to a small subculture of people.

That’s the difference.

So, to sum it up, I encourage everyone to push as hard as they can for their goals with their bodies. You’re only competing against yourself; as long as you can look yourself in the mirror and know that you pushed your absolute hardest, and at the same time know that you didn’t degrade yourself in the process, then you’re on the right track.

This Blog Is For The Guys Only:
I’ve been busy putting together my plan for the rest of the Summer and realized a lot of you have the same goals as me …..

This is a get big Summer for me: I’ve got to stay lean and gain as much mass as possible. I came in 5th at the last show - it was fun to do it, but that’s definitely not acceptable. And I competed at 149 pounds - I don’t think any man should weigh that little. My next contest is on November 3 in Syracuse, NY. Since my diet for the show starts on August 15, only 10 weeks before the show, that gives me about 3 months to gain 5-10 pounds of muscle - impossible? We don’t believe in that word over here …..

And besides all of that, like all of you I want to look my best. That’s really why we do it, right? So we can live rich, fuller, more fun and enjoyable lives.

Time for all of you to get serious too and join me on this mission!
Here’s a little video to get you all inspired:

True, they’re juiced-up freaks, but if there isn’t a part of you that admires or envies that, you’re not a real guy.

Anyone that’s reading this right now I know is a big time enthusiast, absolutely determined to look good - so whether you like it or not you’re signed up and I WILL be checking up on you.

Today is June 1 - by August 15, in 10 weeks, we should all have different bodies and stories to tell -

Workout Schedule:
In terms of a workout schedule, the best to use is the 2 day on, 1 day off schedule – this one is a guaranteed mass gainer.

Each muscle group gets trained once every 6 days – this provides for adequate rest . If this seems like way too much rest, you aren’t hitting you’re muscles hard enough during your sessions.

This schedule is for medium to more advanced trainees who have the ability to thoroughly tax there muscles each weight training session.

Assign a different muscle group to each day. What’s mine? Monday-Chest; Tuesday-Back, Thursday-Shoulders, Friday-Bis/Tris, Sunday-Legs. I work out three consecutive days, Sunday through Tuesday, but I keep my chest workout to about half an hour to give my body time to rest that day. Abs are hit nearly every workout day, and cardio is done for about 10 minutes at moderate intensity at the end of nearly every session.

Rep Range:
The ideal rep range is between 6 and 12 reps per set.

The key here is not really the number of reps, but it’s the poundage you use: how hard are you working on each set? Are you pushing to your absolute limit?

Even the number of sets isn’t as important as how hard you work per set – if you’re doing more sets but are failing to tax the muscle with a heavy weight to its limit, you won’t see results.

Here’s the Governators feelings on lifting:

Wow, he really loved to work-out!

Advanced Techniques:
Here are some advanced techniques to help you push beyond your limits.

Acceleration: This is contracting the weight quickly; this leads to more muscle recruitment. When you squeeze the muscle, use a strong forceful movement: think the explosive movements of a football player. The large, 2b fibers are responsible for explosive power, and you must recruit as many of these as possible. But when you do the negative or extending part of the movement, get a good feel. Remember, explosive does not mean bad or un-safe technique.

Rest Pause: Hit total failure on your set, for example 8 full reps, rest a few seconds – just two or three full breaths – and continue with the set for possibly 2-4 more repetitions.

Strip Sets: Take a heavy poundage where you fail at about 4 or 5 reps, then drop the weight slightly and perform 2-4 more reps, then drop the weigh one more time 2-4 more reps. The key is to keep the exercise heavy from beginning to end – this will cause maximal muscle fiber recruitment.

Forced Reps: Where your spotter helps you perform your last two or so reps of your set.

Heavy Super-Sets: Going heavy on one exercise for 6 reps, and then heavy on another exercise for another 6 reps.
Remember that the 6-12 rep range is the most conducive to muscle growth, so for our goals here, we aren’t repping out with a light weight.

Partials: Once you’ve failed on the full range of motion for a particular exercise, go to a partial range of motion and exhaust the muscle further.

Heavy-Weight Strength Training: Most people consider this type of training synonymous with bodybuilding, but that’s not the case.
This is where you’re performing between 1 and 3 reps per set. While the best for building strength, interestingly enough at a certain point this type of training will no longer contribute to an increase in size. That’s why you’ll find power-lifters who can train heavy and continue add to their max lifts and still keep the same weight.

However, this style of heavy lifting is still valuable to us: the increase in strength will carry over into your bodybuilding – for example, if you increase your 1 rep max, you can increase your 6 rep weight, which will lead to an increase in strength.

When strength training, the rest period becomes more important – the goal here isn’t inflicting damage to the muscle fibers as it is with bodybuilding, but instead to allow the muscle an adequate amount of time to recover and perform more work. It’s common for strength training athletes to wait as much as 10 minutes between super-heavy sets of 1-3 reps – this will allow for maximal muscle and nervous system recovery for maximum strength. You of course may not need that much rest.

General Principles:
Cardio work is usually considered forbidden during a mass gaining period – it will hurt both recovery and strength and size increases. However, I still include cardio at the end of my workouts.

How long should your workouts be? From now on, your workouts are short burst of absolute muscle overload. If you’re like me, you find heavy weight training a lot of fun. For that reason you might end up doing too much of a good thing. With more experience you’ll learn when you’ve hit your limit – you can even push a little bit beyond that, but too much is counter productive. A good sign you’ve trained too long? When the weight you’re lifting has dropped significantly: at that point you’re no longer hitting the 2b fibers.

Over-Training:
Signs of:

• Loss of strength

• Flat looking muscles with no PUMP

• Lack of aggression in the gym.

• Going to the gym feels like a chore (please do not confuse this with just laziness or procrastination)

• Profound need for sleep or the opposite, inability to sleep

• Excessive soreness

Conclusions:
This is our mission in the gym, top to bottom:

If I’ve left anything out or you have any other questions don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail.

Just remember to keep the motivation - remember the outcome - get totally immersed in the process.

I’ve been studying a lot of Neuro Linguistic Programming lately: it’s a form of hypnotic visualization.

A major tennet of NLP is that people have the ability to just snap: that change doesn’t have to come slow; that you can immerse yourself in your new identity and in moment fully committ yourself to a new pattern of behavior. Think of how a phobia would develop - one traumatic experience would create a life-long negative pattern in behavior. Except with NLP it’s in a positive way that we can control; I’ll get into this much more in a future post.

And I know what you’re thinking - what about diet?
That post is coming this weekend - stay tuned ….

I wanted to take this opportunity to fill everyone in on some of the things happening with your favorite Personal Training Company

OUR NEW TRAINING STUDIO: We now have an exquisite place at the 3 Elements Healing Arts Center in Bayside Queens - There’s a lot of room and we’ve stocked it with a full set of weights, spinning bike, and training balls and bands. The center also offers massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture services. This can be your one-stop-shop for all things physical.

ONLINE PROGRESS TRACKING: We are now making all of our training notes and progress reports from your training sessions available to you online! You can see your workouts, results, trainer comments, weight and measurements and also post any before and after pictures you want up there too.

GOHARD! ONLINE: We’ll soon be releasing GoHard!FitnessOnline - it will be a complete online training program, complete with video instruction, a detailed exercise library, and podcasts. I’ve done some research and noticed that all of the web’s current online training programs are very weak, so I hope it’s a big success.

I’d like a few of my inactive clients to help me with the beta testing of GoHard!FitnessOnline - I will give you a FREE account for at least one month where you can enjoy the services and at the same time give me feedback and help me work out any bugs. If you’re interested send me and email.

OUTDOOR WORKOUTS: Now that it’s gorgeous outside, I’ve been trying to conduct as many sessions outside as possible. From what everyone’s telling me they’re finding these sessions much more intense and really liking them. Who wants to be indoors when it’s so nice outside anyway?

For any inactive clients who I’ve unfortunately had to part with because of my change in location, this is a great way for you to begin training again; we can go to a park or your back yard. Just send me an email and we’ll schedule a session ASAP.

TRAINERS: Salim and his super-intense workouts and trash-talk are still part of the GoHard! Team. In addition we now have Antonello Auriemma, a top body-builder and fitness-compulsive trainer who does not accept anything but absolute complete effort. And for the entire summer my brother Shahed will be around - who I consider a self-taught expert - he has to be in losing over 125 pounds and crafting an unbelievable muscular physique.

So everyone stay in touch - I would love to hear what’s going on with your training and in your lives - talk to you soon.

For those of you who saw 300, you know the physiques in that movie were crazy!

I’m a little embarrassed to admit I was one of the haters who thought some of them were due to CG animation -

Yes, it’s possible to get in outstanding shape in the real world if you’re motivated enough, train hard enough, and have the right training - the actors in that movie are testament to that -

Here’s a clip from their workouts - after you watch this I never want to here a complaint again:

These techniques aren’t practical for most people’s bodies or goals, but the effort is definitely to be admired - and if you saw the movie you know that it definitely worked!

Aim high - later.

By popular demand,

Here are more posing routines -

For those of you who didn’t see my free pose yet, I’ll post it up as soon as I can -

Next time I’m going all out - here’s an idea of what I’m going to be going for -
Dont laugh

I love that “popping and locking” stuff -

but it can easily be done wrong, as can be seen here -

gosh, that was painfull!!!

Don’t worry, I’ll be practicing

2:30 PM
Finished up at about 2:30 with the prejudging - the judges pretty much make their decisions based on this round so the contest is essentially over ….

but -

I still have the night show to go. That’s when you get up in front of the entire croud and perform your rehearsed posing segment. Mine is going to have a workout concept (naturally, since I’m a trainer). I’ve picked the music from Rocky 4 where Rocky is getting ready to fight Ivan Drago. It will start with me putting on some workout gloves, stretching, and then doing a routine where I perform exercises and hit poses throughout; sounds a little corny but I think it’ll turn out good.

4:30
I go back to Shahed’s apartment so I can finally get a little sleep, but it’s still not happening. I eat another sweet potato and we leave for Wal-Mart to buy the gloves I’m going to need for the routine. We then head to the Forum again.

5:30
We get to the forum where there about to hold a meeting for all the competitors, immediately after which the night show will begin. I’ve just arrived and will be on stage in half an hour, so I’ve got to change, get oiled, and pump-up real fast.

6:30
Ahhhhh - it’s finally over! Time to eat! I’ll have to come back at about 8:00 to find-out where I placed and take my drug test. I wanted to take a few pictures of myself - this is probably the best I’ll look in a long time. Unfortunately we forget and I miss my chance.

We first hit Moe’s for some quick Mexican food. I’m in love with that place; if you’ve ever seen the movie “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” you’ll understand - it’s worth every bit of the four hour drive to get there. Needless to say I absolutley stuff myself.
After that it’s over to Coldstone. I’ve never really been in love with that place, but today it tasted like frozen liquid gold. I give Shahed credit: he eats just a salad at Moe’s and only tastes my Ice Cream.

I’ve included videos from both places. (do you think I’m going a little overboard with this blog thing? hmmmm …)

8:00
We get back to the forum and watch the last few routines. Unbelievably, I found out that I’m going to have to hit the stage again to pose before they tell us our placings. Remember, I’ve just eaten at least 2,000 calories worth of food and my stomach is now a big balloon - goodbye abs.

So I go through with it and get on stage - Shahed tells me I actually looked great because I was so pumped from the meal, while the other competitors have fasted the entire day and by now, at almost 9:00 PM, they look like absolute crap.

I come-in in 5th place. It sucks, considering my field, but it was definitely neccesary to learn what to expect.

10:00
We head back out and I go to Pizzeria Uno’s for dessert. I’m planning to go back on my diet tomorrow morning, so this is my one last meal of excess.

I wanted to hit the bars in donwtown Bing but Shahed has a major 60 page paper due on Monday so we decide to stay-instead. No problem, because I’m so hung-over from all the eating that I just want to pass out.

I weighed myself that night and was 155.4 - that means I gained over 6 pounds over the course of just a few hours! My stomach blew-up so fast I actually got stretch marks! I know what you’re thinking - why would I diet so hard for months to blow-it all in one night? I have no answer for that. All I know is it was great! I normally don’t find pleasure in food, but I was looking forward to this night of eating for weeks. Every time I had to deny myself the food or portion size I wanted, I thought about how I would be stuffing myself after the contest.

It’s not often that something we are looking forward to meets our expectations, but in this case, the contest and the feast afterwards did so and much more. It was dream of mine to do this and I finally got it done. On top of that I feel like it made me a better trainer. I’m planning to do another one in November, this time with the complete intention of bringing home nothing less than first place. I’m going to start training for that one as soon as I get home.

First off I’d like to thank all of my clients - it’s your hard work and dedication that inspired me to take my conditioning to another level. I’m really amazed by the dedication of all of you and I really do my best to help all of you get the bodies you want. I’d also like to thank my brother and coach Shahed. He helped keep my diet on track, made me stick to it with his constant berating, and helped me with all my pre-contest prep that made me look good and stand-out from the croud. I’d like to thank Geno for his help with my posing. I’d like to thank fellow GoHard! Personal Trainer Antonello for pushing me to work-out the days I didn’t feel like it. And I’d also like to thank my friend Renata for all her encouragement and inspiration.

Here’s my recount of contest day, Saturday May 12.

7:30 AM
Woke-up to go register for the show at 9:00. I’ve only got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep, so I’m going to try to come back and gets some. Sleep is really important to lose water and look good. I realize that most of the competitors are planning to stay at the arena for the entire day - I feel sorry for those guys. I weighed in at 149 pounds.

11:00 AM
When I get back to my brother’s apartment I try to get some sleep but it’s not really happening. The Pre-judging, where I pose against all the other competitors, is at 12:30. I realize that even after carb-loading the day before, I don’t really feel like my muscles have a good pump. They feel very flat and spongy, not hard and tight like I want. This means that they still have plenty of room to hold more carbs and water. I quickly wake Shahed up and tell him we’re going to IHOP.

11:30
We get to IHOP. I know what you’re thinking: I’ve got to be crazy to eat IHOP before my contest. But if my muscles have more room to store glycogen, then all the sugar I eat now will be pulled into my muscles; it’s the same reason I advise all of you to consume fast-digesting carbs immediately after your workouts.

I have a plate of french toast, coffee, and drink a little water. I’m feeling better already.

12:15
I go back to Shahed’s apartment complex to pump-up on his gym’s equipment. It’s probably better than anything I’ll find at the show. I feel the french toast being pulled into my muscles and I get a better pump than I’ve gotten in weeks. The remaining water in my skin should be pulled into my muscles along with the carbs, since glycogen requires two molecules of water for every molecule of carbs. That’s the reason all of you feel so bloated and gain 3-4 pounds from having just one bad cheat meal. I’m trying to use that effect to my advantage.

12:40
I get to the Forum and go backstage. I realize it’s pretty nice place and the promoter’s have done a good job organizing. I settle myself in one of the large dressing rooms out back. All the competitors are very nice and helpful. The women’s figure nationals are being held here too. That’s actually the marquee event: it’s a very important qualifier for them, and the men’s show is kind of like an undercard. My room is full of these girls so I’m having fun joking around with them and we’re sharing tips to look good. My group is going up in more than an hour so I have time to get ready and I even take-in some of the other weight classes. Everyone here looks really good. I realize now that I’m a few pounds of fat away from what it takes to compete for a top spot.

2:00
My group goes up. Interestingly enough, I feel my field is the weakest of the show. Every other weight class and group has some real freaks and unbelievable physiques. Mine is the only one with major flaws and some really weak competitors. Our group’s winner (the guy in the purple trunks) has a very strong physique though; he’s come in totally ripped with no weak points.

I’ve posted a couple of videos of this segment. As you can see I need to be a little more shredded and I have a few weak body-parts. However, the IHOP has obviously worked. You’ll notice that I look the most full. I know it’s sour grapes, but I think I have the most aesthetic and complete body in the field. I just underestimated how sharp I would need to come in to win. With such a weak group, I really regret it.

this post is not finished! please check back soon!