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by Christian Duque

If all emerging movie-stars dream of buying a bus ticket to Hollywood, then all aspiring fitness enthusiasts dream about getting a call or an email, landing a shot as a fitness model. Some will go the competitive route, competing in local contests with the NPC, graduating to regional events, and then trying their hand at the national level for a coveted IFBB Pro League card. There are a great deal of benefits to being a world famous bodybuilder or fitness champion, including lucrative contracts, press, and endorsement deals. Champions can be fitness models, but fitness models need not be champions. For fitness models the trek is a bit different, they must take time to make valuable connections, hone in on their people skills, and be at trade shows where they can get discovered.
Continue reading “Are Fitness Models Taken Seriously?”

by Christian Duque

There’s a very interesting cultural phenomenon taking place before our very eyes. Truthfully, the phenomenon has been happening for, perhaps, the last fifteen years, internationally. As Americans, we’re very much wired to the worldwide web, particularly social media. We’ve all but given up on print media, with entire magazines disappearing. Let’s take a moment to fully digest that last sentence. I’m not talking just any magazine, but rather giants in the world of press publications. Poof! Gone! Just like that. Americans aren’t buying magazines, newspapers, anything print. If they want it badly enough, they’ll go (pretty much) loiter at a Barnes and Noble, read the publication while at the store, and then leave.
Continue reading “Why Does Bodybuilding Seem Bigger, Abroad”

by Christian Duque

There was a time, seemingly long ago, when cardio had very little to do with bodybuilding. The bodybuilding legend of the 60’s and 70’s, certainly had little to no use for it. In fact, even in Pumping Iron, the exercise was hardly visible. We know that in movies, documentaries, and even written articles, we all want to show off exactly how things should be done, even if it’s not how they’re really done. That having been said, no one thought cardio had a place in the sport and they certainly weren’t going to pretend as such, either. In the old days, it was all about eating to grow, eating to gain strength, and then manipulating macros and water intake, in order to look one’s best on stage or for photo shoots. As the sport evolved – whether you want to call that progress or not – the condition of the athlete became more and more important.
Continue reading “Cardio is Required, But Dreading It, Is Not!”

by Matt Weik

If you train legs and can wake up the next couple of days feeling like a million bucks, then you didn’t train legs. We all know what follows any brutal leg day – the inability to sit down to take a dump, the look of fear when you see multiple flights of stairs, and the all too famous duck walk due to muscle soreness. You’ve paid your dues in order to build massive wheels, and DOMS is the real deal. However, there now appears to be a new extract that can help reduce muscle soreness (and not just from leg day).
Continue reading “Hate Leg Day? This New Extract Can Help Reduce Muscle Soreness”

by Christian Duque

At a recent competition I covered, I met a woman who was extremely fit, attractive, and who competed actively throughout the circuit. Not only did she compete often, but she was an IFBB Pro League Pro. Now, when I first saw her, she told me she was older, so I was already trying to guess something in line with what she had said. If she hadn’t said anything, I would have thought 35, maybe 37. After she made her remarks, I thought maybe 40, 45 at most, simply because this woman was truthfully didn’t seem older than that. Her whole look was that of someone younger than me. She had great skin, great hair, great balance and really good muscle. You could tell she’d been lifting for quite some time and ate right. When she told me her age, I simply didn’t believe her. Her coach is a good friend of mine and told me the same. I didn’t believe him or her, but then I saw her state-issued driver’s license and that put the matter to rest – I guess! She was 61 and an IFBB Pro League Figure Pro!!!
Continue reading “Is Age in Fitness JUST a Number?”

by Christian Duque

I think it’s safe to say that we’re all well aware of just how expensive the fitness lifestyle is. From the food to the coaching to the travel. For those of you who are competitors, the costs can be rather astronomical, especially when you sit down and start looking at all the receipts. The picture painted starts to look like Mt. Everest; however, in this article I want to talk about fitness people in general and a growing trend that I think you’ll all find very interesting. In fact, I even think you’ll even relate. There’s something I’ve noticed through my extensive travels and through speaking to so many friends and new friends in the bodybuilding world.
Continue reading “Signed to Multiple Gyms?”

by Matt Weik

For a long time, people have been talking about “muscle memory” and that your muscles have the ability to remember stimulus. For instance, if someone was sick or injured and had to stay out of the gym for any long period of time, when they went back in, they would be able to more quickly gain back any lost size and strength thanks to muscle memory.
Continue reading “Muscle Memory Is a Real Thing?”

by Christian Duque

Love, dating, relationships… these are all things which are part of life. The search for a mate is pretty primal, some might say fulfilling. If and when you find that very special person, everything will make sense. Love is a beautiful thing, because instead of flying solo, now you have a best friend, someone who you care about and who you are attracted to, to share your journey. Now, of course, as the old saying goes, opposites do attract and it’s a good thing not to agree on everything. Nonetheless, at first, it will seem like the other can’t say or do anything wrong and that’s perfectly fine. For some couples the newness never wears off – God Bless them! For some married couples, they live in a perpetual honeymoon.
Continue reading “Should You Give Up Bodybuilding for Love?”

by Christian Duque

Weight-training is oftentimes about getting in shape, building muscle, and creating a great physique. Diet and supplements help along this process. Rest and hydration are also key. Now that we’ve stipulated all these points, we need to cut through the red tape and talk about the pecking order (pun intended). All muscle helps to create a physique, just like all instruments in a band, fuse together to create a sound. Muscles, like instruments in a band, have different degrees of popularity. For example, most people are obsessed with arms and pecs, you could say these are the lead guitarists and lead singers in a band. Some like delts and big backs for the V-taper look – these could easily be the drummers.
Continue reading “Who Cares About Legs?”