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!

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!

Fred Sanya- Kenyan Bodybuilding Champion

I got an email from my good friend and photographer, Dennis Lee about a guy that he had met in Kenya named Fred Sanya. Fred was a Kenyan bodybuilder that was coming to America to compete in the November MuscleMania contest and Dennis asked if I could meet Fred and give him some guidance with regards to his training and diet, as where he lives in Kenya, the gym is made up of homemade weights, made from cement. More astonishingly Dennis told me that Fred was truly a sight to see in terms of his impressive muscle mass, but that he was even more impressive since he only ate one meal a day. On hearing that I knew that I had to do whatever I could to help out Fred. I had just received a letter from a bodybuilder in Benin who was in a similar situation and wanted to know if I could help him out in some way as well and I always do my best whenever I hear these stories as I know all too well what it is like to try to build a champion level physique on just one meal a day myself.

Fed Sanya Back In The Gym In Kenya

As a teenager in Trinidad, I never had enough money to afford the ideal number of meals and would struggle to eat four times a day. I actually started my career as a personal trainer at the advice of my coach as a way to get more money to buy my food. At the time I only got paid once a month so I only had enough food for about 3 weeks. For the last week (or sometimes two depending on the length of the month) I would only have enough for one main meal and as hard as it was it never stopped me from the pursuit of my goal. Hearing about Fred, I thus felt an immediate kinship and arranged to have him meet me at the 19th Street Gym, where I train and my personal training business operates.

To say that I was impressed by Fred would be a true understatement. He came in, all full of smiles with a friend of his who was helping him get around for the day and I shook the hand of this giant of a man. He stood just about six feet tall and at about 220lbs with a barrel chest and impressively wide shoulders. His physique spoke of the years of training that he had put himself through (Fred at this point has been training for over 8 years now) and that he was able to accumulate such amazing proportions eating one meal a day spoke legion to what he would accomplish in the months to come. Fred was so happy just to be here, and we sat down in the gym lobby for a while and spoke about bodybuilding, training and the difference between what it is like here in the United States and his native land in terms of the food and training equipment.

Fred Sanya At 19th Street Gym

Fred said that in his country there is so little food and the gyms are so run down that you just have to train hard and do the best that you can. Some of the competitiors in Kenya also take steroids, which Fred is dead set against using and welcomed the idea of coming to the United States to compete in drug tested contests. I sympathized with him, as when I started competing in Trinidad, there was no such thing as a drug free contest. Steroids were very much a part of the competitive landscape and my decision to not not go that route was  very difficult one, but I stood fast and was able to be competitive nonetheless.

I told Fred about another bodybuilder that also had very little access to good food at the beginning of his career, but was able to compete and build a championship level physique, my good friend, Kai Greene- who in my opinion was one of the greatest natural bodybuilders of all time, during the period that I was with him competing in the NPC. Kai and I would spend hours talking about the importance of passion, and that most people simply didn’t understand the concept of making your dreams a reality no matter what the obstacles are. Fred is a great example of just that as he never complained about what he didn’t have he just trained hard and was able to accomplish great things in the process.

Fred Shows The Champion Level Form That He Was Able To Build Drug Free!

Victor Munoz, Victor Martinez’s coach and a friend of mine walked by and I introduced him to Fred. Fred was very excited to meet the man behind one of the top IFBB pros on the circuit today and Victor shared some of his words of wisdom as well. Hailing from Cuba, he too knew what it was like to not have everything at your fingertips as it is here in the United States. He said that Fred had a lot of potential  and that he would do really well over here, but that he needed to eat clean at all times, since the food over here is plentiful, but it is really easy to start eating the wrong things. Fred was very excited to learn that Victor Martinez actually trained at the 19th Street Gym and could hardly wait to see the place.

Fred’s typical workout regime in Kenya revolved around the very basics, squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, rows curls and bench presses with not very much else. Fred trained 6 days a week twice a day (that’s not a typo) and has made tremendous gains from this remarkable regime. Some might say that his unconventional approach is not an effective one, but the proof as they say is in the pudding and Fred’s physique does indeed speak volumes for the validity of what he was doing. As someone that gained over 100lbs over the years with three fifteen to twenty minute workouts, I know for a fact that very often the unconventional can produce some unconventional results! I told Fred about my own Naturally Intense System of 10 minute workouts and he was incredulous.

“How can you work the muscles in such a short time?” he asked with a puzzled expression on his face, so I did what I always do when asked that question, I took him for a workout! Fred had also never trained in a real gym, so when we descended into the sprawling sea of iron that is the 19th Street Gym, he was dumbfounded. I reminded him that though the many machines offer a great degree of variety for many body parts, the basics of what got him to where he was in the first place should never be forgotten. He wanted to train legs and so I took him through a paces of a Naturally Intense leg workout!

Fred loved every minute of it, and after the first round of hamstring curls (which, by the way he had never done before ), clearly feeling the effects, he boomed,

“Please! We are not finished yet?”

We were not, after launching into a set of squats, verticals and calves he was barely able to walk. Total training time, 8.5 minutes and Fred looked at me with a great smile, shook my hand and said,

“Maybe I need to think about training a bit like this, I have never felt like this before!”

At this point my other clients at the gym had arrived and Fred warned them,

“Be careful with this guy, this training is no joke!”

Me & Fred Hamming It Up For The Camera!

In Fred I could really see the passion that I and so many others have over the years and I look forward to helping him and seeing him go straight to the top of the sport. I hope that his example helps inspire you and many others that you can indeed make your dreams a reality without drugs, and even without the many protein powders and supplements that are so much a part of training today. All you need is a burnign desire to succed and a real commitment to never give up, no matter what. Excelsior!

You can see more of Fred at his website at www.fredsanya.com.

Update- 12/2/09- Congratulations to Fred Sanya on winning his class at the 2009 Musclemania and I am honored to have been able to help him with his diet and training. He truly is a champion at heart!

Kevin Richardson is a lifetime drug free bodybuilder and founder of the Naturally Intense High Intensity Training. You can visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net

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Steroids In Sports Are Here To Stay! 

98% of Olympians polled in 1995 said they would use drugs if they wouldn’t be caught.

In 1995 a Chicago physician, Bob Goldman, asked 198 Olympic-level U.S. athletes whether they would be willing to take a banned substance if they were guaranteed to win and not get caught; 195 said yes. More than half of them went on to say that they would take the drug if it would enable them to win every competition for five years even if it would kill them.

As alarming as it may sound, it’s the truth and for all the hue and cry about the need to clean up the sporting arena of illegal drug use, it is really all a flimsy façade and one that has support from the highest levels downwards.
Take competitive bodybuilding for example, few people in the general public know that there are two completely different types of bodybuilding, drug tested contests- where the athletes are given either a polygraph test or their urine is tested to ensure that they are not using anabolic steroids and a list of other banned substances. Most of you probably have never seen a natural bodybuilder (besides me!) or even knew that there is a difference. (As an aside: Many make the mistake of seeing me and wondering whether or not I use drugs, but truth be told if you saw me standing next to a modern professional drug using bodybuilder there would be little question, since I would look like a anorexic girl in spite of all my 20 years of hard training and my accomplishmentes as a natural athlete!)

Steroids In Sports: The Public Side Of Steroid Use- Professional Bodybuilding

Yes, there is another other side of the coin, and the more popular version by far are the non drug tested shows. It might surprise you to learn that these are the bodybuilders that grace the covers of the muscle magazines (natural bodybuilding has its own magazine as well, but its readership is negligible when compared to the millions of reader of their drug using counterparts). The bodybuilders you occasionally see on television use steroids, as do the ones that cross over to the film industry- a certain California governor included.
These images of men and women inflated to almost comic book like proportions are what most people think of when they hear the word ‘bodybuilder’. Sadly for women in general, female drug bodybuilding, which essentially will masculinize the bodies of women using steroids has made most women shy away from the idea of lifting weights, as the misconception is there that they will end up looking like some of the girls with masculine features. This isn’t true, but since there is no real movement to define to the general public what a drug user looks like and what a natural athlete looks like, it is hard for them to think any other way.

Both Are Hard Training Top Female Bodybuilders- One Competes In Drug Tested Contests & One Doesn't. See Any Difference?

 Now some may say that steroids are harmless when taken in moderate doses over a short period of time, but the fact of the matter is that to attain the size and definition required to stand on a national stage as a competitive male bodybuilder, you will need to use a combination of several different anabolic steroids, in addition to human growth hormone, insulin (yes, that’s right, insulin is  major part of the bodybuilder chemistry set) and diuretics. In the good Governor’s time, steroid use was rampant as well, but the doses were lower and even then the amounts that they used to look the way they did would be considered insane by clinical standards. As time went on, more and more athletes tried to push the envelope of inhuman size and definition and so more and more drugs kept being added to the cocktail.

Steroids In Sports- Professional Athlete or Professional Drug User?

Today’s professional bodybuilder can spend anywhere from $30,000 to as much as $100,000 or more to look the way they do. They don’t follow pristine diets and try to live as in as healthy a manner as possible, that is a myth that is used to sell magazines and questionable supplements, the bottom line is getting as big and as fat free as possible. Nothing else matters and to be honest, most of them eat no different from the way the general public does in terms of junk food and the like in the offseason.
Is it glamorous? Yes and no. The fan base, (small though it may be as the male athletes are now far too big to appeal to the tastes of most people in the general public and the female athletes are simply too scary for mainstream media to even look at) does exist and if you are at the very top of the sport you may be able to make some money from endorsements and guest appearances but there is a downside. At those doses, your life is pretty much centered around eating, sleeping and training and there is really no way for you to do the things that most people do. Climbing a flight of stairs at over 300lbs isn’t easy when nature would have had you at 175 lbs and I can tell you from personal experience as one that has worked with many of them, that the experience is pure misery.
From abscesses, to muscle tears, to strange fevers, the pain of the site injections, loss of energy, sex drive and so much more make up the lives of many of the athletes touted by many as the ultimate in human physical perfection. The numerous trips to the E.R. as well aren’t covered in the magazines, only when one of the troupe is unfortunate enough to die as a result of their use- at which point the industry as a whole is first to say that there is no proof that their drug use caused their death. As one that has worked with addicts over the past 14 years the similarities are considerable-  but at the end of the day, a professional bodybuilder today is really a professional drug user, and given the inability of so many of them to be able to stop- and the overall behavior, and culture as a whole, I would say professional addict.

Government Policy Towards Steroid In Sports 

Now, what does this have to do with sports, as bodybuilding is a fringe activity at best? Simple, if the most blatant use of drugs is not stopped by either the government or the upper echelon of the sport, why would they devote their time to stopping athletes whose use is almost undetectable to the average human eye? Take baseball for example. People pay money to see athletes throw the ball faster and hit the ball harder than they ever could. Mediocrity doesn’t sell, but record breaking performance does. The same applies for everything from boxing to American football to a host of other sports. In many cases, steroids are used in small amounts to help recovery so they can train more often and get better at what they do, or to help injuries heal faster- steroids are fantastic anti-inflammatory drugs. They don’t take drugs to the degree that say the bodybuilder does, nor do they train and consume an inhuman amount of food they way a bodybuilder would, so they don’t ‘jacked up’ as one would say. The crowd loves a winner and if you recall the statement by the Olympians at the top of the post that they would use drugs if they were sure they wouldn’t get caught, what would stop the boxer, baseball player or any other sportsman from thinking the same way?
Add to it the insane amounts of many given to athletes based on their performance and I would go out on a limb and say that over 90% of every sports fan would use drugs if it would make them able to play their game better and allow them to rake in millions of dollars. Wouldn’t you at least consider it? Especially since the amounts that are used in most sports are really not that much and are under the supervision of a physician in most cases? Be honest and you will find that the immorality of steroid use that the media portrays is nothing more than typical human behaviors. The powers that be know that their athletes are using drugs, but they also know that the crowd loves what they do and that they are making them very wealthy- thus there is no real incentive to put real testing in place. When an athlete is past their prime and the government and or media is on their backs they might ‘find’ a positive test or two from some of their athletes that happen to be on their way out of the game anyway- but those tests are almost always several years old. Why the delay? I will let you figure that our yourself.

The Governor Of California Is The Main Sponsor Of The Biggest Steroid Show In The World

Getting back to bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger did  a lot to influence so many impressionable young men to get into bodybuilding, and as they went on I the pursuit of looking like him many learned that Arnold had a little help and so got a little help of their own. Arnold Schwarzenegger almost single handedly made the steroid look publicly acceptable. He admitted his use very early on, and yet today as governor fo California and chief law enforcement officer of the state, he still sponsors and lends his name to the biggest convention of steroid users in the world, the Arnold Classic. A weekend of bodybuilding and other sports that the good Governor always attends. Do you really think that in a country where the Chief Officer of a state lends his name and image to a steroid rally that stopping drug use is a real priority. Perhaps more importantly, in a world where athletes make millions, we overlook the small detail that the team owners and sports officials that run and manage the games make billions, and that they are not going to give up their income anytime soon. Most telling is our own attitudes. We are a nation of winners, of great performers and we love our sportsmen to be the best. Add that to the thoughts of a young and upcoming teen athlete and his or her coach and you should understand that the drugs are not going anywhere unless we all change as a people.

Kevin Richardson is a lifetime drug free bodybuilder and founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise. You can visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net

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From Better Bodies to 19th Street Gym- The History Of NYC’s Best Gyms

Since January of 2009, the 19th Street Gym has been the new home of Naturally Intense NYC Personal Training Services, when I moved over there after a really thorough search for a truly no nonsense gym that would be a perfect fit for me and for my training service. After all, I demand nothing but the best when it comes to training facilities for both me and my clients and settling at 19th Street was one of the best decisions that I have made!

Truly a bodybuilding landmark, with just about everyone that was serious about training over the years having stopped by there at one time or the other in its original incarnation as Better Bodies, or in its current form, the 19th Street Gym.

Today not only is it home to me and many other top bodybuilding champions, (its the headquarters as well for top IFBB pro, Victor Martinez), bit also to a host of NYC celebrities including Busta Rhymes ( a really cool cat) and a a number of supermodels (it is always a bit strange to see someone from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition training next to you). Celebrities and top athletes aside, it is really one of the best gyms in New York City and RxMuscle just published a story about this training landmark. You can read the full article here: http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/nutrition/850-miracle-on-19th-stree-the-evolution-of-bodybuildinig-landmark.html

19th Street Gym

22 West 19th Street (Between 5th & 6th Ave)
New York, NY 10011 
212.414.5800
http://www.19thstreetgym.com/

 For all inquiries contact Junior at julioramos16@gmail.com

Kevin Richardson is one of NYC’s most sought after personal fitness trainers and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise. With only 3 ten minute workouts, Kevin and his staff can get you into the best shape of your life! Click here for a free trial!