Most Annoying Question Ever Asked As A Bodybuilder 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?” Well, unfortunately, I have quite a list and I am always amazed that people actually say these things! Don’t get me wrong, I truly enjoy talking to people and have been known to spend hours answering questions from complete strangers. If you ever see me in the street, please don’t hesitate to stop me and say “hi!”  On the other hand,  some people do ask some really silly and sometimes inappropriate things (I won’t bore you with the inappropriate stuff), and so here they are in no particular order of annoyance, along with the responses that I wish I could say but am just too damned polite to do so. Enjoy!
Q: “Do you lift weights?”

A: No my parents were Greek Gods.

Q: “How much do you lift?”

A:16! 3.5 times!

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 always wear dark colours, walf fast 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 (preferably free range), four land lizards, a goat and some red paint. An advanced knowledge of voodoo would help too!

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

A: Only when I pass 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 can’t live with myself. We  had a huge argument and broke up about four days ago and I had to ask myself to  move out. If you don’t mind it’s still a sensitive issue and I would rather not talk about it.

Q.: Do you lift weights?

A: Not at all, I am currently having a severe allergic reaction to shellfish. Don’t worry the swelling will go down as soon as I take my Benedryl.

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 Mars, and if you’ve ever seen the Klingons or the Kryptonians, you’ll understand that I really need to keep training!

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

A: No, I guess 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: Step one: go to Mexico. Step 2: Drink the tap water.

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

A: Simple, I never 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: I have a magic pendant that helps me lose fat, gain muscle and gives me the proportional strength of a soccer mom in Florida named Frida!

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

A: Richard Simmons! I don’t want him to catch up!

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

A: How does anyone know what I look like in my underwear? You must be referring to pictures of my twin brother. He looks just like me except he has a thing against wearing clothes in public and he looks a tad shorter since he never wears shoes!

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

A: Yes, but, only on weekdays at 3:34 pm, during Daylight Savings 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: I would have broken my promise to the tree fairies and as promised they would take away my first born. Can’t afford to mess with the 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. One eats well and trains hard and we keep him locked up in the cellar downstairs and just bring him out for photo-shoots while the rest of us lounge around, watch daytime television, eat junk food and write articles for our blog. 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 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: Not exactly, it’s actually a suit that I got early on layaway from Modells. Two more payments of $19.99 and it’s all mine!!!!

Any questions?

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

A recent study found that 90% of those preparing for a marathon will sustain an injury. Photo by Martineric.

Are We built for long distance running? Another Point Of View

With the excitement building from the upcoming NYC Marathon here in New York City, there is a lot of buzz about the safety of running long distances, an issue which was recently raised in an article in the NY Times based on the book, “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. Mr. McDougall puts forward the notion that long distance running is indeed part of our evolutionary heritage and that humans as a species are made to run for miles and miles, a point that I disagree with strongly, especially given my 18 years of working with individuals mildly to severely injured from long distance running as a NYC Personal Trainer. According to studies done by the Saint Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco, 90% of those who train for a marathon sustain injuries in the process.1

This while more and more people take up marathon running here in the United States every year. My own experience in my personal training practice is even more definitive with all of my clients running three miles or more on a regular basis in the past sustaining some form of injury in the process. I do understand the thrill from competing in marathons, and I have worked with several clients that compete in long distance races. When someone is passionate about a particular activity, they will take risks, if not we would not have any NASCAR races or most of the extreme sports today that tend to result in major injury when something goes wrong. However I am always of the mind set that the science behind the risk factors should be very real, and not simply a matter of opinion and conjecture.

Long Distance Running In Primitive Man- Some Theories

In his book, Mr. McDougal, (who himself is a runner plagued by injuries, mind you) argues that the idea of long distance running being bad is a fairly recent phenomenon. As evidence of our long distance running heritage, he cites the examples of several tribes where running is very much the norm. Tribes where injuries which are common here in the U.S. among runners are unheard of. He also stakes his claim with the theory that our ancestors used endurance hunting as a method of obtaining meat. It is well known that most animals can run for short distances far faster than even the best trained human being, however according to a 2007 paper in the journal,  Sports Medicine, Daniel E. Lieberman, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, and Dennis M. Bramble, a biologist at the University of Utah, in terms of running for long distances, a human could outrun a horse in hot weather because of our rather well developed cooling mechanisms. I personally am not sure how scientifically valid this point actually is, as to date there as has been no such endurance race pitting man against animal to draw any real life conclusions. 

In keeping with this  idea Mr. Dougal presents the theory that primitive man engaged in what is known as persistence hunting, where they would chase their prey for hours until it overheated and was easier to kill at a closer range. Several reports note the practices of some modern hunter gather tribes as evidence of this form of hunting by our ancestors. As convincing as it sounds such theories, even if they did hold water fail to take into consideration one some very important factors. Namely that evolution is not a static phenomenon and that while small groups of people around the world are indeed adept at long distance running without injury, (the author cites the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico and of course the Kenyans immediately come to mind), we have to take into account the fact that the average Western male or female significantly outweighs their early ancestors.

The Average Westerner Today Is Not Built For Long Distance Running

The weight of the average American male aged 20-74 years rose from 166.3 pounds in 1960 to 191 pounds in 2002 according to a report by the Center for Disease Control 2, while the average weight for women in the same age group increased from 140.2 pounds to 164.3 pounds! Keep in mind that humans as a whole were far bigger in the 1960’s than they were in during the Middle Ages, and they were even heavier than our hunter-gathering great-great grandparents, several thousand years earlier, all thanks to the increased availability of food. Taking this into consideration, in addition to the fact that the average Kenyan runner and interestingly enough, the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico have builds and body weights that are far more akin to our early ancestors than the average that you will see in this part of the world.

As much as proponents for running may argue about that our physiology primes us for running, (the human big toe is not divergent, which along with the comparatively spring like tendons in our legs and feet that other primates do not seem to have, seem to suggest that we are built to run)- this argument fails to address our collective weight gain over time as a species and the fact that these adaptations make us adept at sprinting, not just long distance running. (Staying with the physiological argument, that we are able to store enough glycogen in our muscles for twenty miles worth of running, by the way, really makes the 26.2 miles of a marathon a bit of a stretch, even for the best trained of our species.)

As for running as a means of hunting, as a hunter myself and one that has taught survival classes for almost two decades, and who has spent a significant amount of time living off the land in rainforests without the benefit of modern tools, I can say with authority that trapping animals, and not running after them is the most effective method of obtaining food, as energy conservation is a key factor in conditions where you have to kill what you eat.

The Persistence Hunting Theory Debunked

Hunting provides supplementary protein from time to time, but the mainstay of the diet comes from animals trapped, in addition to edible plants, fruits, berries and insects gathered throughout the day. The Bushmen of Africa may indeed use persistence hunting, but the number of hunter gatherer tribes employing the aforementioned techniques far outnumber them, from the Native American Indians in North America, their cousins further south in the Amazon basin, Papua New Guinea and many other tribes living in the rainforests of the African continent. As a rule in survival training, you need to do as little as possible to obtain food, then you try running several miles on a diet consisting of only hunted protein and edible plants- you will most likely die in the process. When a true hunter does hunt, they find a way to make the prey come and then ambush using stealth and concealment.

Humans Are Not Designed For Long Distance Running On Hard Surfaces Or In High Tech Shoes

I do firmly believe that another reason why people get injured from long distance running is because of artificial surfaces. Road running is not exactly part of our evolutionary heritage and paved asphalt is fairly new to our feet. Given the number of runners that also sustain injuries in spite of wearing the latest in high technology running shoes, I suspect that they either play a role or are largely ineffective in preventing injury. It is a 20 billion dollar industry and one that stands to gain much from the commonly held notion that you need to constantly change shoes to keep your feet in good shape if you are an active runner. Is running barefoot the answer? Well, on this Mr. McDougal and I seem to see eye to eye, as when I did run every day for several years as a young teen, I never wore high tech sneakers, only very thinly soled shoes. But then again, I didn’t weigh more than 125 lbs at the time.

1. Epidemiology and aetiology of marathon running injuries-1 2006 World Congress on the Science and Medicine of the Marathon, Chicago , ETATS-UNIS
2. Mean Body Weight, Height, and Body Mass Index (BMI) 1960-2002: United States

Kevin Richardson, Personal Trainer NYC in addition to being the founder of the holistic based Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™, is also the head instructor of the Amegakure-kan school of ninjutsu. For more articles, free ebooks and more visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net.

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When is the best time to exercise- is it mornings or evenings?

When Is The Best Time To Exercise?

Everyone has their preferences and ideas as to when is the best time to exercise. Some like training first thing in the morning and starting the day with a good workout, others squeeze in their training sessions around lunchtime while most tend to train after work in the late evening or at night. The question remains however when is the best time to train and does the time that you train really matter in the first place? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t as clear cut as one might expect as there is no real best time to exercise per se- only times that may be ideal based on your individual training habits. While the science of how our body works indicates that late afternoon workouts are usually best for optimum performance, the adaptive nature of our bodies are such that we can learn to operate at peak efficiencies at almost any time of the day by training ourselves to do so. In this article we will take a hard look at the pros and cons to training at different times of the day and hopefully it provide some insight into the best training times for you.

When Is The Best Time To Exercise- A Look At How Our Body Works

Your body works in accordance with what are called circadian rhythms which are in a sense very much like an internal clock that operate on a cycle of just about twenty four hours.[1] Fluctuations in our core body temperature occur in conjunction with the passage of the day- rising and falling between approximately 97.5 and 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit- (that’s 36.5 to 37.5 degrees Celsius for those of us on the metric system). Our inner body clock is designed in such a way that it resets itself every day using light as a major frame of reference. It synchronizes both our moods and energy levels in a cyclical pattern based on what the time of day it is- a phenomenon that we all can easily relate to in our everyday life . for example, when you wake up your mental performance isn’t quite as sharp as it is after you have been awake for a couple of hours- regardless of how much coffee you drink! It takes time for us to ‘warm up’ and it is a process that happens gradually over time as we get sharper and sharper as the hours go by. This increase in mental acuity continues up to the early evening, at which point our ability to concentrate begins to decline. This pattern holds true not just for our mental capacities but for everything from peak muscular performance, anaerobic power output and our overall motivation to exercise in the first place.

So When Is The Best Time To Exercise?

From a strictly statistical perspective the human body under normal circumstances is at its physical best from 4 pm to 7 pm.

This may sound like a very clear cut answer to the question of when is the best time to exercise- but it isn’t. While it is true that our hormone levels peak in late afternoon thus giving our muscles peak potential in terms of flexibility and power output, the increase in performance in a real world setting is very slight. You see, being the ever adaptive beings that we are, you can train yourself to perform at your best at any time. Several studies have found that when individuals are made to train only in the morning or only in the early evening (our theoretical peak time)  those that trained in the morning did better as a whole on physical performance tests early in the day while the evening trainers did better on their tests in the evening.[2] The same pattern applies to athletes as well as studies have shown that changes in time zones and time of performance significantly affects the outcomes of sporting events.[3,4]

When Is The Best Time To Exercise? Anytime!

The best time to exercise is whenever you can!

Exercise, like light and change in environmental temperature seems to also have a powerful effect on synchronizing our internal clock.[5] So how does this apply to your training? Well if you have an event that will require you to be at your best, it would make sense that you time your training to coincide with the time of the event several weeks beforehand. Other than that, even though research shows that the ideal time to exercise is in the late afternoon, the advantages are slight and at the end of the day you will adapt anyway to whatever time you train.

From personal experience, I have trained both on morning and in the evenings (I do my leg workouts on Sunday mornings and the rest of my body during the week at around 6:30 pm or so as I have for the past ten years or so). Do I see any noticeable difference? Not at all, and with the poundages that I lift and the degree of intensity with which I train, any drop in performance would be very easy to detect! The same applies for the hundreds of people I have trained over the years as well- although well over 95% of them do prefer to train in the evening. Is there a difference in the amount of body fat lost from training in the morning versus training in the evening? Again, my experience working with a large number of  clients hasn’t shown any difference nor is there any real science behind the idea of the morning being the best time to exercise in terms of losing body fat.Practicality has to be taken into consideration before anything else so if you are only able to train on mornings, then that’s when you should train- if you find it more convenient to train on evenings- then that’s your ideal time to exercise. The key to success in any athletic endeavor or fitness program is consistency- so find a time to exercise that fits into your life in such a way that you can stick with it and you’ll always be successful!

References:

1. Charles A. Czeisler MD, PhD (1999). “Human Biological Clock Set Back an Hour”. Harvard Gazette 1999

2.  Atkinson G, Reilly T. Circadian variation in sports performance.Sports Med. 1996 Apr;21(4):292-312.

3. Smith RS, Guilleminault C, Efron B. Circadian rhythms and enhanced athletic performance in the National Football League. Sleep. 1997

4. Winter WC, Hammond WR, Green NH, Zhang Z, Bliwise DL. Measuring circadian advantage in Major League Baseball: a 10-year retrospective study. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2009

5. Reilly T. Human circadian rhythms and exercise. Crit Rev Biomed Eng. 1990

Kevin Richardson is an accomplished health and fitness writer, lifetime natural bodybuilder, the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City and ! You can get a copy of Kevin’s free award winning weight loss ebook here! Visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net

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Tony O- Truly Naturally Intense!

Ordinarily I don’t say much about the accomplishments and going ons of my personal training clients, (and as a rule I stick to a code of ethics that relegates all matters related to my clients to a position of utmost confidentiality), but in this case I have my client’s permission to talk a bit about him and his accomplishments and I am certain that it will be an inspiration to many.

Tony O (as we will call him) started training with me in the summer of 2008 at the tender age of 52. Tony is an incredibly motivated type, one whose tenacity and dedication serves to inspire me on a daily basis. Last winter Tony was diagnosed with a sever tear in his rotator cuff (an old injury that he sustained years prior that simply would not go away) and would have to undergo surgery to correct the tear. Unfazed, he trained around his injury right up to the day before the surgery- with me ensuring that the workouts would not in any way exacerbate the problem. After a two week convalescence, tony was back in the gym with a vigor, arm in cast, but with no break in his stride. We trained everything but his left shoulder, and as time went on, the impairment grew less and less and he was cleared to train the injured side.

I can hardly describe how happy he was when we were able to complete a workout without his shoulder being an issue. The Naturally Intense workouts revolve around the idea of constant change and a huge selection of movements to work individual muscles and is ideal for anyone with an injury as there is always a way when you have an extensive repertoire of exercises! Tony’s joy, however was somewhat short lived, as he learned several weeks after getting back on track with his shoulder that he had a torn meniscus in his knee- another old injury coming back to haunt him.

Again, he trained right up until the day of the surgery and the day after, Tony was back in the gym. Slight limp, but the sparkle very much in his eyes! Tony had also lost 22 lbs over the course of a three week period when he finally decided that he would give the dietary guide that I provided him a try. (He promises to release the ’before’ pictures as well very soon!

 I would like to congratulate him on his continued success and commend him on his fantastic sense of dedication. Tony, you truly are Naturally Intense!

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a prominent health and fitness writer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a system designed to help you do everything from lose weight to build muscle using 10 minute workouts.

A Living Example of the Power of 10 Minute Workouts!

For the past 18 years, the 10 minute workouts of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™ have served as the foundation not only for my success as a drug free athlete, but also for the success of hundreds that have used it for everything from weight loss, overall health and fitness improvement to physique competition and sports performance enhancement. It is heartening to know that more and more research is being done to prove what I have worked for the better part of my life to teach others- namely that when it comes to really making a change in your body- less is more.

Read the NY Times posting here:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/

Celebrity NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training™, a lifetime natural bodybuilder and one of the most popular personal trainers in New York City. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.