All,

I wrote this three years ago and stumbled upon it recently. It is one of my favorite pieces and I hope you like it.

Thanksgiving Day 328 

Today is Thanksgiving Day 328 for me, and in my own personal calendar, there are so many of them each year (365, most years but sometimes even as much as 366), that it is really hard for me to celebrate each and everyone of them by going off my diet. This year marked the third holiday season that I have lived through without any concessions in terms of my diet. A lot of people ask me how I do it, and to be honest, I really do feel as though every day is special enough to deserve some form of celebration, and I choose to mark the beauty of every rising and setting sun with the same steadfastness and dedication that I have everyday.

 
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the Thanksgiving Day holiday as much as anyone else, and I think many people are of the opinion that because I do not indulge, that somehow I am apart from the spirit of the day. Nothing could be further from the truth- I spend every Thanksgiving in the kitchen cooking the best Thanksgiving meal that anyone could imagine. I am a very accomplished cook (yes, the cook book is being written as we speak), and I cook every year for my friends and family- turkey, roast beef, fried plantains (well, I bake them, but don’t tell anyone, as they think it is fried), rice and peas, garlic bread, ham, my special potatoes and yams. I hear that it is delicious and son number one spent most of his afternoon doing the ‘dance of joy’ after eating dinner, so I think I scored another hit this year.

 
What is funny is that I don’t have the slightest clue what any of this stuff tastes like. I eat what I always eat, as I always eat it, even though I cook all those foods, I never taste them, but that does not stop me from enjoying the time with my friends and my family, and that is more than enough to be thankful.

 Related Posts: What is it like to never cheat on your diet?

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Author, Kevin Richardson

The only way to truly understand a path is to follow it yourself. To me the principles of healthy eating that are the cornerstone of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™ have never been merely rhetoric that I pass on to my clients in an official capacity as a personal trainer and a known figure in the health and fitness industry. Rather it is a way of life that I strive to follow as well. Throughout my career as a personal trainer, bodybuilder and martial arts teacher, I have done my best at all times to adhere to the same basic eating and training rules that I espouse. Interestingly enough, over the years I have received countless emails and questions about how I maintain such a low body fat percentage and many wonder what the ‘secret’ could possibly be. Is it a special supplement or rather a matter of genetics or my age that allows me to comfortably maintain a 5% body fat level?

The answer is far less complex, and has nothing to do with my parents, pills or my age. It has simply been a matter of consistency. I don’t believe and find it hard that so many have such little faith in their own ability to think that that you need something in a bottle to make your health and fitness dreams a reality. Nelson Mandela captured it best in his inaugural speech when he said that our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. This applies not only to the vast potential of human accomplishment in the field of academic, financial and social success, but equally towards our ability to change our bodies if we sincerely put our minds to it and never give up. We are distracted so completely by the pressures put upon us to become consumers, to need things to help us do what we can easily do on our own, that we forget our inherent potential.

What Is The Secret To Always Being In Shape?

So how exactly do I stay in such great shape and am able to look better today at 35 (if we don’t take the hair loss into consideration) than I did when I was competing regularly as a bodybuilder in my twenties? The answer is as I said before, consistency- I never go off of my diet. Ever. Not for Thanksgiving, not for Christmas, not for Valentines’s Day, not for New Years’, not for my birthday or any other time of celebration. To me festivity is not about inflicting harm on your body, but quite the opposite- experiencing the joy of being alive in the company of friends and family. Don’t get me wrong, as was not always easy to be this way. As a teenager growing up in Trinidad, where partying is more or less a way of life, I had to learn how to go to a party, not drink, not indulge in foods that I shouldn’t and still have a good time. Impossible, you say? Not at all, it’s just a different path, but one where you end up enjoying every moment in life just because you are there to witness it. Not a bad place to be, in my eyes.

I don’t drink alcohol, juices or anything else except for water, and I am quite content with things being as they are. I will have some tea from time to time, but that is more of an exception rather than the rule. I don’t eat processed foods or anything that only exists thanks to the so called wonders of modern technology, and that includes everything from protein shakes to refined flour products and breads and everything in between. The more manmade it is, the further away from my mouth it stays. A simple rule, really, but it does exclude the majority of foods that people eat today on a regular basis. Growing up in Trinidad did have its benefits, from an eating perspective, as fast foods were almost unknown to most of us as well as the innumerable snacks that are available here in the United States. By the time I came here to live, some 15 years ago, I had already adapted to a lifestyle of trying to avoid processed foods as much as possible and so there are a lot of foods that I never tasted before and had no inclination to ever try.

Believe It Or Not There Are Those Of Us That Never Had A Snickers Bar

I have never had a Snickers bar, don’t know what an ice-cream cake tastes like, never had lasagna, and I couldn’t tell you what the difference is between a green M&M and a red one. I also don’t know what anything in Burger King or White Castle tastes like, nor do I know who or what General Tso’s chicken is supposed to be. Some foods I have gone so long without eating them that I can’t remember what they taste like. The taste of Coca Cola is fading from my memory, I think I preferred Pepsi, but I am not sure as the last time I had any soda was well over a decade ago. But don’t think for a moment that I am somehow different from anyone else and didn’t spend year and years working on improving my own eating habits to be where I am today. It has been twenty one years since I set out to eat in as clean and as healthy a manner as possible, and like everyone else, I have had my slips where I would eat what today I would certainly consider junk food. During my bodybuilding days, protein shakes and bars were the norm for me, as were donuts, pound cake and KFC- especially after contests. A great number of West Indian dishes were hard to give up as well, but over time, the desire to eat foods that really weren’t that great for me became less and less, until about 6 years ago or so I just stopped.

Willpower Has Little To Do With Eating Well, When the Body Is Healthy It Will Want Healthy Foods

There was no iron will proclamation or anything of the sort, I just stopped eating processed foods because my body didn’t want it anymore. I do not at all have any cravings or the desire to eat any foods that would not be beneficial to the body as a whole. Over time, my system has evolved in such a way that my tastes correspond directly with what is best for it, namely diet of only naturally occurring foods. Not to be mistaken by the ‘natural’ food label that is stuck on everything from cookies to soy milk- natural means that the food exists in its inherent state without any intervention by human beings. By assuming that a food is good because a manufacturer makes the argument that the ingredients are all natural is absurd. Cyanides are all natural, you can find it in small amounts in the seeds of apples, mangoes, peaches and almonds but it being natural doesn’t make it any less poisonous. The same argument could be made that cocaine, heroin and pretty much every drug on the planet is made with natural ingredients since at the end of the day it is more of a marketing ploy than a way to promote truly healthy foods.

Eating Well Doesn’t Mean Missing Out

Some actually feel sorry for me at times, and if I had a quarter for every time someone said, “You don’t know what you are missing.” I would be on a beach in Tahiti right now trying to figure out what island I should buy next!  The irony is that I do know what I am missing- the headaches, the stomach aches, the digestion problems, the fatigue, the bloating, the blood sugar swings, the inability to concentrate, the joint aches, being out of breath- all of which I am well aware of, and I choose to follow another path. By 2015, seventy five percent of Americans will be overweight, so following the crowd doesn’t appeal to me as the crowd seems to be going in a direction that I simply don’t wish to travel. More pressing than not knowing what it is to be really out of breath after running up four flights of stairs, are the plethora of diseases brought on directly by eating the very foods that some might say I am missing out on.  Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes all fall within the realm of diseases that can be prevented with a proper diet, many forms of cancer as well, yet they are the leading causes of death in this part of the world. Having worked with so many over the years that have succumbed to this ailments as well, they are not at all abstractions, but very real consequences of modern living.
Some might see having a six pack as the be all and end all, but to be honest I don’t really spend that much time looking in the mirror anymore. Those days are long behind me and in summer you won’t see me on the beach with my shirt off very often, when I am off to the gym, you’ll see tons of muscle, but I don’t dress that way when I am out with the kids. A neighbor of mine happened to be in the audience of a bodybuilding show where I was guest posing and he was shocked that having seen me for the past 15 years, he never had a clue that I looked the way that I do. I have heard the same from co-workers that I worked alongside for years when I worked with the formerly homeless and that’s the way I like things to be. I usually dress to downplay my physique outside of work as I don’t define myself by the way I look and I don’t think it is healthy to do so in the first place. A time will come when I won’t look the way I look now, but it won’t change much of anything, I will still eat the way I eat, exercise as much as I do, but most importantly, I won’t miss a thing!

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts and customized dietary plans have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Jay relaxed and in shape backstage at the NPC Brooklyn Bodybuilding Championships.

What becomes a champion most? Is it the number of titles and accolades that adorn their mantles or is it their unwavering spirit of self improvement. To me only the latter is of any real tangibility and with that I would like to present my good friend and Naturally Intense client, Jay Larcher.

Jay started training with me about 6 months ago to get ready for the Eastern USA Bodybuilding Championships- a high caliber regional level contest that he had competed in last year and wanted to improve his showing. What makes Jay’s venture notable, however is that he wanted to do it drug free. Contests promoted by this organization are not tested for the use of anabolic steroids, diuretics and other performance enhancing drugs, in fact their use is strongly encouraged.

As a lifetime natural athlete myself, I was immediately impressed by Jay’s spirit. We shared a certain sense of integrity and he was not concerned about being anything but the best that he could be without the help of any artificial advantage. Preparing for a bodybuilding contest is no small undertaking, but readying to stand toe to toe with some of the top competitors on the East Coast powered only by old fashioned hard work and dedication makes it even more of a challenge.
Our challenge, though, was to make Jay the best that he had ever been, and I had full confidence that his best would allow him to hold his own against his competition, and he did just that. Having gained a full ten pounds of muscle and sporting striations that he had never seen before thanks to the brutally high intensity 10 minute workouts workouts and his customized diet. With no aerobics and following the principles of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise, Jay was not only able to be his best, but beat his best!

The Warm Up- The NPC Brooklyn Bodybuilding & Fitness Show

With all of my competitors, I always have them do a ‘warm up’ contest before their showing in a major contest, to help them get used to being onstage and also to let the judges have a first look at them as well. With my method, you are always contest ready at least 2 to 4 weeks before the actual show, so the NPC Brooklyn Bodybuilding and Fitness two weeks prior to the Easterns seemed a good choice. With nothing in terms of last minute carb depletion, water restrictions or fancy supplements, Jay walked onstage amazed by his new body, and moreover that he was able ot look better than he ever did without having to starve himself, or resort to any last minute manipulations. This new look was how he looked all the time, and as time goes on he would only get better and better. For the Brooklyn show, Jay placed a respectable 6th in the light heavyweight class- many had him much higher. With his lines, conditioning, overall symmetry and balance, several veterans in the audience placed him as high as third in their estimation, but as a judge said afterwards, it is all about being bigger. Our competition is an internal one, not a path based on the preferences of a judging panel, but more importantly a path where health comes first, and the compromises required to be bigger are not part of our program. 

The Moment of Truth- The Eastern USA Bodybuilding Championships 

Jay Larcher holding his own at the Eastern USA Bodybuilding Championships

On contest day, Jay stepped onstage with a confidence that can only be equaled by the pride that I, his girlfriend, Kimani and his family felt as we sat in the audience cheering him on. He looked very much like he belonged there and the victory that night was not in the form of a trophy, but in the realization of a personal best and a sense of accomplishment that can never be taken away. Immediately after coming off stage at the pre-judging, his first words to me were,
“Wait until they see what we are going to do next year!”

Such a spirit, such a passion and such determination cannot be stopped and I look forward to seeing him step onstage next year, no longer a light heavyweight, but a legitimate heavyweight contender. There is no off season for those of us who look to bodybuilding as a lifestyle, no pizza and junk food binges after months of deprivation. For us it is about health, balance and the understanding that such tools on your side do indeed make you unbeatable. Thank you, Jay, not only for helping inspire so many others but also for inspiring me as well.

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts have been helping people get get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Most Annoying Question Ever Asked As A Bodybuilder & Personal Trainer UPDATED VERSION

 
This is something posted over at the MYSPACE FITNESS & MUSCLE GROUP in response to the question, “What is the most annoying question that I have ever been asked as a bodybuilder and personal trainer?” Well, unfortunately, I have quite a list and I am always amazed that people actually say these things! Don’t get me wrong, I do truly enjoy talking about what I do and have been known to spend hours upon hours answering questions from complete strangers on everything from how a ten minute workout can really get you in shape (I get that one a lot for some reason) to general questions on dieting, training  and losing weight. (If you ever see me in the street, please don’t hesitate to stop me and say “hi!” and if you have a question, ask away, I am always happy to help out!) On the other hand, however some people do ask some really silly (and sometimes inappropriate things that I won’t bore you with here), and so here they are in no particular order of annoyance, along with the responses that I sometimes say or just think to say in my head (it depends on my mood- but most times I just think it). People liked the original post so much that I even gave some second thought to a return to the comedy stage…Anyway I hope enjoy it and please feel free to leave your own comments at the end.

 
Q: “Do you lift weights?” 

A:  No my parents happened to be Greek Gods. Why do you ask?

Q: “How much do you lift?”  

A:16! 

Q: “Are you really going to lift all that weight?”

A: No, I just like to load up the bars in the gym and stand next to them while breathing really heavily. It’s how I get my cardio in, and it makes my stalker phone calls more realistic.

Q: “How long will it take me to look like you?”

A: About 30 seconds, but you will have to wear dark colours and find a way to fake the beginnings of male pattern baldness.

Q: “How can I turn fat into muscle?” 

A: You need a full moon, two live chickens (free range, mind you), four land lizards and some red paint. An advanced knowledge of alchemy would help too!

Q: “Doesn’t all that muscle slow you down?” 

A: Only when passing in front of a mirror.

Q: “How come you don’t wear clothes that show off your muscles all the time?”

A: Because it would certainly tip the super-villains off as to my secret identity.

Q: “Why don’t eat normal food?”

A: I have to watch my figure, because if I don’t, no one else will.

Q: “What is it like to live with yourself with a body like that?”

A: Actually, I don’t livwe with myself anymore. I had a huge argument and broke up with myself about four days ago and I moved out. If you don’t mind it’s still a sensitive issue and I would rather not talk about it.

Q: “Why do you still train so hard, aren’t you big enough already?”

A: No, you see my goal is to win the Mr. Universe, not the earth based one, the real one held on Cardassia, and if you have ever seen the Klingons, you’ll understand that I really need to keep up with my training. Don’t even get me started on how big the Kryptonians can be!

Q: “Did you ever follow the Atkins Diet?” 

A: No, because I never wanted to look like Dr. Atkins.

Q: “Do you only eat salads?”

A: That’s right, I have one leaf of lettuce, twice a day. If I am really feel like splurging, I’ll have three leaves!!!

Q: “What is the best way to lose 40 lbs in 24 hours?”

A: Cut off your left leg.
 

Q: “What is the best way to lose 20 lbs in a week?”

A: Easy, go to Mexico, start drinking the tap water and just watch the pounds melt away!

Q: ‘How did you get so big without using steroids?”

A: I never, ever exhale! Ever!

Q: “You know I used to look just like you when I worked out!”

A: Thanks for telling me, I really wouldn’t have known otherwise.
 

Q: “How can you look like that if you don’t take any supplements?”

A: Simple, I have this magic pendant that I wear, that not only helps me lose bodyfat and gain muscle, but it gives me the proportional strength of a soccer mom in Florida named Frida. You should get one!
 

Q: “Why do you train so hard all the time?”

A: Richard Simmons! That guy is  hitting the gym hard and might catch up to me, if I don’t watch it. I hear Dr. Phil isn’t too far behind either.

Q: “Don’t you feel strange with so many people knowing what you look like in your underwear?” 

A: You mean they weren’t kidding about using X-ray lenses in the camera for the photoshoots? I was fully clothed the whole time!

Q: “Do you really look the way that you do in the pictures?”

A: Yes but, only on weekdays at 3:34 pm, Eastern Standard Time.

Q: “With muscles like that, why don’t you get a tattoo?”

A: Great idea! Where can I get a life-sized tattoo of myself, but 2 inches taller?

Q: “What would really happen if you cheated on your diet once and had a little bit of pizza or ice-cream?”

A: Then I would have broken my promise to the tree fairies and they would take away my first born son. Can’t afford the wrath of the tree fairies! 

Q: “How come your arms are so big?”

A: Mosquitoes. My skin is really sensitive!

Q: “How come you stay in great shape all the time?”  

A: Cloning. There are actually four of us and now that you know our secret we are going to have to kill you.

Q: “Isn’t it a bit weird spending all that time doing things like bodybuilding? Why don’t you do a more normal sport.”

A: After they banned full contact cheese rolling, I had nowhere else to go. Besides it seemed like a pretty natural transition.

Q: “Are you available for bachelorette parties? I need a stripper?”

A: Absolutely, as long as you feed me and I don’t have to take off any of my clothes.

Q: “Are all those muscles really yours?”

A: Well, not exactly, it’s a suit that I got early on layaway from Modells. Two more payments of $19.99 and they are all mine!!!!
Any questions?

NYC personal trainerKevin Richardson is not leaving his day job as a health and fitness writer, personal trainer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise. You can learn more about the 10 minute workouts of the Naturally Intense System at his official website at www.naturallyintense.net and be sure to get his free weight loss book here!

Chi Kung teacher, Masahiro Ouchi with Kevin Richardson, Naturally Intense founder at 19th Street Gym

High Intensity Workouts of Naturally Intense™ Integrated Into Chi Kung Practice

When it comes to the principles of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™, I can be very much the protective parent. Everything that I teach comes from decades of hard work on my part and is very much a part of my life, and with the impressive success rate that the system has in helping people realize their health and fitness goals, it is my obligation to ensure that all trainers in the system are living success stories as well. In today’s world where everything is fast and about making a quick dollar, it is important that certain traditions remain apart from such noise. To maintain a high level of quality requires a high level of quality candidates. Individuals that are focused on first making the system a part of their life and then passing on the knowledge to others. All of my trainers thus far have been rather exceptional people and Masahiro Ouchi certainly joins that list. As the second trainer in almost two decades to be officially certified as a Naturally Intense Personal Trainer, he creates a rather unique platform for the Naturally Intense 10 minute workouts- an integration into his chi kung and Tai Chi practice.

Masahiro Ouchi- Chi Kung Master &  Naturally Intense™ Certified Personal Trainer

With a thriving meditation practice here in New York and in Tokyo, Japan, Masahiro Ouchi is the founder and director of The Healing Tao Center of New York, founder of the TaoZen Association and Senior Instructor of Universal Healing Tao. He is a faculty member of the Healing Tao University, and has been chosen as their Teacher of the Year.  Masahiro has been teaching T’ai chi, Qigong and meditation for over 30 years and has taught Tao and Zen disciplines at everywhere from NYU to the Open Center to numerous prestigious venues in Asia, Europe, Central America and Africa.  His focus and purpose has always been to help teach others how to bring ancient spiritual and healing practices into their daily lives that they may live their lives as fully as possible.
Masahiro found, however that for all the benefits of the spiritual and mediation practices, there was not enough emphasis placed on practices that engaged the body.

“Everyone is so focused on the mind, that they forget that they even have a body, and that brings about imbalance.”- Masahiro Ouchi

The Spiritual Aspects Of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training

About two years ago, seeking to find a way to improve his physicality, he began training his training with the 10 minute high intensity workouts that are the core of the Naturally Intense System. Masahiro immediately fell in love with the idea of pushing the body literally to the limit and beyond. What was even more surprising was his realization that those 10 minute workouts were in fact based on the aspect of Shugyo, which formed a central part of my own training as a teacher of the martial tradition called ninpo/ninjutsu. Most of what I have presented over the years as the Naturally Intense System of Diet Of Exercise™ is related on some levels to this esoteric practice.  The end result of shugyo or any form of truly highly intense physical activity is a certain inner clarity and perspective. This comes when the attention of the mind and body focuses solely on the execution of a task that takes both aspects to their limits- the noise of unrelated thoughts falls away and what is left is a very direct body and mind communication. Many of my clients, from writers to musicians to yoga and meditation teachers have realized this inner side of high intensity training and use it very effectively as a means of improving their own focus. This was exactly what Masahiro was looking for, not only in terms of helping him lose a bit off his waistline and sculpt his body somewhat, but in terms of finding a vehicle that would allow him to truly experience and be aware of his physical form.

Masahiro Returns To New York To Bring Naturally Intense™ Back To Japan

After leaving for Japan for a while to tend to his large meditation practice in Tokyo, Masahiro returned to New York City, determined to learn the basic concepts of Naturally Intense™ and integrate them into his holistic practice. I can hardly say how honored I was to have him as a pupil and to have Naturally Intense integrated into a spiritual life practice, and during his tenure as an apprentice trainer, he truly distinguished himself as one able to make the Naturally Intense™ System a part of his life, and as one able to pass long that knowledge to others as well in a safe and compassionate manner. Yesterday was his last day of apprenticeship with me at the 19th Street Gym, and was awarded his level one certification. Today, Masahiro returns to Japan to bring the 10 minute workouts of the Naturally Intense™ System to a whole new continent. I wish him all the best and look forward to his return in March for his second round of certification.

Masahiro Ouchi’s TaoZen websites:

English

Japanese

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts and customized dietary plans have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a free trial personal training session with Kevin here!