Blog Post by Aaron Curtis: ANB, INBA, NABBA and IFBB Champion I believe I am quite realistic in the way I can view my own and others physiques. In regards to my own physique when comparing with others, possibly even a bit negative. I do not view myself through rose coloured glasses. I can look in the mirror and actually comprehend my own reflection in all of its reality. Some people cannot do this. As the 2012 bodybuilding season draws to a close, I would like to talk about something I see every year; The Delusional Bodybuilder. If you have been involved within the bodybuilding industry for a while, you will have most likely come across one or more of these people (or more likely, they have come across you. They seem to have a knack of weeding us sane individuals out). What are some of the more common characteristics of the ‘Delusional Bodybuilder’? (Let us refer to the ‘Delusional Bodybuilder’ as ‘DB’ for short, from here on). Let’s go over some key characteristics… 1.) The inability to look at themselves and make a realistic evaluation of their physique. This is usually given away very early on, when interacting with a ‘DB’. Often they will comment on certain aspects of their own physique as being quite impressive, even more so than your own. A common example of this could be when a ‘DB’ compares arm size with a fellow gym goer, boasting about his 18+ inch upper arm circumference. Don’t get me wrong, 18 inches is an impressive arm measurement,...
Blog Post by Jill Taylor – Owner/Director of Activewear Online There are a lot of things going on in our little industry right now. I have been trying to find the time to sit down and write about some of it for a while now but so much of what I am seeing is negative out there! There are so many wonderful competitors suffering with metabolic syndrome, so many “guru’s” popping up offering bad and dangerous contest preps, endless facebook fan page requests from one time competitors – the list goes on. For the last month or so my general attitude is that something very wrong is happening. But this week something changed. Maybe it was just me and I decided to take another look at the bigger picture. I just felt a bit overwhelmed with negativity and wanted to stay clear of that! So it may not have those sarcastic punch lines but I hope you enjoy reading it all the same! These are the top 3 things I love about the fitness and bodybuilding world! I’d love to hear yours over at www.facebook.com/activewearonline It’s a brotherhood/sisterhood in Iron! I am not sure whether this happens in other athletic endeavours but to me – if you get your ass into the gym daily, lift heavy and take it seriously; then it doesn’t matter if you’re a guy, girl, straight, gay, black, white, old, young.. You’re my brother or my sister in Iron and I’d gladly work in with you on a machine or share my dumbbells during peak hour because I know your workout is just as important to...
Blog Post by Mark ‘Meataxe’ Taylor – Multiple NABBA National Title Holder Over the years I have watched gym chains, magazines, supplement companies and even bodybuilding federations start up and gain fame and notoriety by using images of well known or up and coming bodybuilders and mass monsters. Inevitably what happens is that once they realise that those types of images only allow them influence over a small inner sanctum of bodybuilding fans, they get greedy and start changing the way they promote themselves and also who they support with their marketing dollars in order to appeal to a wider market. Slowly (but not so subtly) the images and athletes that they begin using to represent them are guys with abs and toothpicks for legs and chicks who have spent more time in surgery getting implants and lifts than they have spent time in the gym getting muscles from lifting weights. You want to know why? Why these people have more facebook fans or why they get more positive than negative feedback on their physiques or selfies on their damn instagram feed? Because it’s easier to look like a stick with abs or get a boob job than it is to work your ass off 24/7, 365 days a year in the kitchen and in the gym to put on the serious muscle needed to excel in bodybuilding. Their physique is achievable to the lazy, unmotivated, average population and that makes their physique just that: average. So hey, why not walk around looking like a “Starvin’ Marvin” year...
Blog Post by Natika Leanne – Activewear Online Sponsored Athlete As I sit here with my laptop, having just been given instructions to write a blog and introduce myself…I’m thinking, cool that’s not so hard right? Well I have no idea what to say… so, come here often? Wanna spot? Then I realised, everyone knows everyone these days don’t they? Who needs introductions when you have facebook? I should be welcoming you, to the first of my blogs about random topics within the Fitness Game as part of my new sponsorship with Activewear Online…yay! I am fairly new to this game, and have a long way to go but training is such a big passion of mine and I am so thankful for every opportunity, a big mention obviously goes to Jill and the crew at Activewear Online, seriously these guys are nothing short of amazing. For the first time in a long time I really am looking forward to what’s to come in the future. It is as much a team sport as it is an individual one. So what got me started? And why do I do it? Well, it was a joint effort between my dad, the good old Bill Phillips Body-for-Life program and some damn sexy men and women in the Muscle Media magazines scattered in the living room while I was growing up that first got me into the weights room. I spent hours in the gym training and making friends to escape a somewhat unsettled teenage home life or locking myself away and reading anything I could about bodybuilding and nutrition in my spare time and not much has...
Blog post by IFBB Pro Figure Athlete Ellena Reidie At the start of the year I spoke about my body not responding like it usually did and my concern over having metabolic issues. Because there is no test to prove metabolic damage I couldn’t be sure that I had it, no doctor totally understood what I was going through because the blood tests they ran all came back normal and to them I looked normal despite me being the biggest I had ever been. One doctor suggested I try his new weight loss flavouring which is sprinkled over each meal; one doctor said I should eat healthy! This was so frustrating because I was eating clean like I had a show coming up with one cheat meal which was also clean. I bought books on metabolic damage, trolled forums and the Internet and was 100% sure this was me. I looked back and realized that each prep got harder, each prep involved more cardio, and each prep was more restricted in calories. Although I was successful in terms of accomplishing my dreams, placing well and turning Pro I certainly was not successful if you base my results on my health. I looked at my recovery and off season, each year got easier to put on weight, each year got just as restrictive in calories and each year I tried my best to stay in shape despite what my body wanted. I started working with a highly respected trainer to help me take the stress out of putting my meal plans together, of course I didn’t lose weight which would have been expected being on less than...
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