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It’s getting to be that time of the year, Spring and Summer, when everyone wants to be in better shape, or a little healthier.  The New Year’s resolution is over and some have fallen off the initial “push” to start the new year off right.  It’s tough to join a gym and have a goal in mind only to realize you’re not sure how to achieve it.  For example: losing body fat, gaining muscle, improving endurance, etc…  Well, there’s a lot to understand when it comes to the human anatomy.  You’ve got to know how it works in order to achieve maximum results.

For those of you who may be discouraged about your results so far, or haven’t taken that first step in joining a gym because you might be a little intimidated – there is hope!  It’s still a new year and there’s plenty of time…the hot weather might pretty much be here already in New Orleans but you can still look and feel better by summer! You can still join a gym and most gyms offer a free initial evaluation with a certified personal trainer (PT) when you sign up for  a membership.  If you weren’t told about that, you may want to ask.

An initial evaluation is a one-on-one session with a PT and usually takes about an hour to complete.  The evaluation will cover a basic overview of your lifestyle, health, diet and a couple of tests to gauge your current strength and endurance.  Generally, the personal trainer will take your blood pressure, your weight, ask you to perform a sit & reach test (for flexibility), and measure your body composition (lean mass & fat).  The strength test may include an exercise to determine muscular strength and sit-ups (or crunches) to measure muscular endurance.

Once that’s all complete, the PT will give you the results of all that information.  What kind of results?  You’ll find out where you are at on a health scale of “Poor, Fair, Average, Good or Excellent”.  You’ll be able to hear the recommendations for training the PT may have in mind for you based on those results.  At that time, the PT may be able to explain a couple of tips about a creating a balanced program that may help in achieving the results you want.  Then it’s time to decide.

At this point, some people feel comfortable enough to move on by themselves; they may have just needed to get some extra motivation by seeing where they stood from a health perspective.  If you’re thinking about going solo, always remember, if you have any questions about an exercise or how to use a machine, don’t hesitate to ask a PT – they should have no problem helping you.   Others may be ready to take the step in having a PT train them.  If you select to work with a personal trainer – he or she will use your evaluation to establish a structured program to guide you towards your goals.  We’ll get into program structure and design in the next post.

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Aaron Williamson
-Amateur Bodybuilder – 2009 All Forces Heavyweight, Runner-Up
-NESTA Certified Personal Trainer
-Team Cellucor Athlete
-Team GASP & Better Bodies
-Team Body Tech
-Former US Marine
www.AaronWilliamson.net

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It’s time for me to start writing things that happen to me in a “real-time” fashion so everyone can keep up with what I’m doing and where I’m at. Every time I talk to friends of mine, they ask me, “Where are you at now”, “What are you doing now”, “What’s your phone number now”. I’ve been pretty nomadic, so-to-speak, over the last decade being in the Marine Corps and then being in Iraq as a contractor. All that traveling the world is done (for now) so I can officially say I’ve settled down in New Orleans, LA with my fiancée.

I returned from Iraq last summer and have been going non-stop since. I didn’t know what to expect once I got to New Orleans because I had never been here before; it was a huge culture shock for me, even more so coming straight from Iraq. Having been here for a while now, NOLA is definitely growing on me. The opportunities here are endless.

Not really knowing where to start, job-wise, I started to explore different areas to see where I could fit in. I dabbled in the entertainment industry briefly but the hours severely interfered with my training and diet so that really wasn’t cut out for me. Plus, I wasn’t a “featured” actor so I didn’t get all the perks. It was a good experience though and I met some great people who I stay in contact with. Who knows, maybe I’ll try it out again when I get a little more settled.

What I ended up doing was getting a job working for Marine Forces North as a contractor (which I’m still doing now.) I act as the Emergency Manager and In-Transit Security Analyst in which I sit in an office behind a desk doing paperwork, reading documents and attending meetings & briefings. Well…this didn’t end up being my dream job but it has definitely been another good learning experience.

On the side, I’ve still been actively pursuing bodybuilding, health & fitness. On the bodybuilding front I’ve managed to network in to know the small group of hardcore guys here and I’ve just recently come on board with Cellucor; previously I was with LG Sciences as some of you may remember. Training is going good and I’m in prep for a competition in June; last October I competed in Tampa and took 2^nd place in the heavyweight division.

The hightlight for my health & fitness venture has been the business my fiancée and I have developed – Be Fit NOLA. Essentially, this was created to help bridge the gap in New Orleans with regard to health & fitness in hopes of making the city a more health conscious place to live. You can still live in NOLA and be healthy!

Lastly, I’m about to dive into the personal training arena at a new gym called NOLA Fit in Uptown, New Orleans; it’s a gym open 24 hours. In addition to the personal training, I’ll begin doing some nutrition coaching towards the latter part of the year.

That’s a quick down and dirty of my life over the past several months I’ve been back from Iraq. I’m a goal oriented person so when you’re in the right place, there are no limits that can be placed upon you. The only person who can hold you back is you!

New Orleans is definitely the right place for me right now!

Hours upon hours of eating, dieting, supplementing and training,…all year long. You’re a few weeks out and you look and feel incredible. You don’t see how you can lose your upcoming competition. Then, the final week rolls around and the science of the human body comes into play more than ever. You’re carb depleting/loading, water depleting, sodium depleting/loading. Finding the right mix for your body is crucial here. Having done my first competition not too long ago, I understood why everyone told me the first show was a learning experience. If you’ve never competed before there’s no way to know what to expect on how your body is going to react to this last week, especially if you’ve chosen the wrong approach.

Some people who are genetically gifted can simply reduce their calories (regular diet) the final week and then the last couple of days bring the calories back up; essentially, this whole time eating the same foods. On the other hand, some of us have to truly figure out what works and what doesn’t. This could potentially take a couple of years. Everyone’s body responds differently so you can’t just take what someone else did and think that’s going to work for you. Newsflash – IT WON’T WORK!

You’ve got to do your homework, talk to other people who have a similar frame and metabolism and read…read…read! Even when you’re working with a coach, it’s important to read because it will help you better understand why you’re body is going to make the changes it’s supposed to make. Your body is so clean and pure during this last week that anything you put into your mouth will make your body respond in some way and that way will be very visible – to everyone! A recent example of this was Tony Freeman at the 2009 Mr Olympia. Prior to the show he bumped his knee on a coffee table. He had to do something so he took a motrin. What happened? It slowed his metabolism down and he ended up competing with a full stomach and a slight film under his skin. He didn’t place well as a result.  All that hard work to be set back by one little pill.

There are great resources available that explain the final week in great detail. One book I found that I truly enjoyed reading was Justin Harris’s Comprehensive Performance Nutrition. It’s a quick reference Q&A guide that’s easy to read and follow. For my show last year I worked under Tim Gardner with Team Body Tech; Tim’s a wealth of knowledge and has brought many amatuer athletes to professional status. I learned a tremendous amount from him last year and I look forward to continue working with Tim and being part of Team Body Tech.  I recommend to anyone who is a novice and is serious about competing to enlist the professional services of a coach; it’s priceless, even if it’s just to get started. I’m not sure what competitions I’m going to do this year but I can tell you I’m most definitely still learning. If you feel you already know everything, you’re set-up for failure. There is always room for improvement and in this day and age with bodybuilding, you’ve got to stay on top of your game!

If you don’t have a hired cook, than you should feel like one with part time duties as a dish washer! My fiancee (Ann) gets a kick out of calling me “the kitchen bitch”. I’d love to defend myself, but unfortunately, she’s right (she’s a pro at being right). Call it a cliché but the saying is true – a body isn’t made in the gym; it’s made in the kitchen.

Diet is everything to bodybuilding, yet, funny enough, I hardly get asked about my diet. The more popular questions are: “What supplements do you take?” and “What type of workouts do you do?” Look, going to the gym and knocking out a good, intense workout is relatively easy. Taking the latest and best supplements money can buy…again, pretty easy. Spending countless hours everyday prepping and preparing meals, going grocery shopping a few times a week and eating every two hours…now, we’re getting to the hard work, dedication and focus that separates the weak, the skinny, the fat and the hardcore bodybuilders.

Food Is Fuel for the Body

Besides the grueling work and time involved in preparing your meals there’s also another small factor that pretty much sucks; there is little variety or room for actually enjoying the food you must eat/consume. I’m not kidding you, by the time I’m done eating and cleaning up – I might get an hour before it’s time to do it again. Food is fuel.

How about some plain brown rice and chicken…4 times a day? How about broccoli, everyday? Well, if you’re going to be a bodybuilder than you better get use to it. Okay, so maybe you can sometimes change the chicken to beef, or maybe fish, but it’s all still the same because there’s no butter and not much flavor. You’ll find that in bodybuilding “burned” is good seasoning!

Prior Planning and Preparation

Piss poor planning and prior preparation will lead to missed meals, incomplete nutritional balance and prolonged catabolism. Diet should be developed based on desired goals and results. Ultimately, people should eat every 3 hours, or so, to keep their metabolism up. By eating on a schedule like this, the body is able to maintain a positive nitrogen balance which is key to building muscle.

For those who bodybuild, there is no shortcut around diet. The bottomline is, diet is the staple of any regimen. It doesn’t matter what supplements you’re taking or how great your workout is. If diet isn’t a primary focus than the results yielded will be limited and you will more than likely end up overtraining.

Now that you realize how important diet is to becoming and being a bodybuilder; we’ll discuss food, nutrition, preparation tips, and perhaps even share recipes…hey, you too will become a good “kitchen bitch”.

The Exception: There are some people out there who are true genetic freaks. You’ll see them eat whatever they want and remain shredded while displaying a world class physique. Not everyone is that blessed. Those of you who are not have to ensure you work extra hard because these genetic freaks will be the competition when you finally get up on stage.

If people really want to gain positive, realistic results they’ll stop spending crazy amounts of money on the newest supplements that make unrealistic promises and get back to the basics; proper diet and nutrition combined with a strict workout program and a solid supplement profile.

In the making...defying all odds!

In bodybuilding everyone has a beginning. The difference between most people is how that beginning begins. For many, they go about it somewhat blindly and learn through trial and error, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, others recognize the importance of having a bodybuilding coach from the get-go.

There are a number of reasons why having a bodybuilding coach is extremely beneficial:

Diet – is the key ingredient to a successful bodybuilder. Without a proper diet all the training in the world, and even the greatest supplements on the market, won’t give you a first class physique.A coach can design a meal plan specifically for your body type, body weight and goal. This is done quickly and without much thought because, as the coach, he or she has that knowledge readily available to share with you. The key is to get the right amount of quality ingredients to fuel the body and help it recover. After all, you are what you eat.

Training – can be easily overdone equating to overtraining. Overtraining can lead to injury, joint pain, illness, fatigue and even a loss of muscle mass. For beginners overtraining is a commonly made mistake because he or she always thinks more is better; I was that beginner. Everyone has strong and weak points in their physique so a coach will develop a program that will bring up those weak points giving you a symmetrical physique. Again, depending on a person’s goal, a coach will formulate a training routine to build mass or decrease body fat. Expect the workout to change frequently. This will keep the body from adapting to a specific workout; therefore, allowing for more muscle growth and less plateaus.

Supplementation – is just that – supplementation. Althought supplements are a staple in any bodybuilding regimen, they cannot replace food. Picking the right supplements can be tricky because there are so many new products on the market each claiming to be better than the next. The advertisment of products can mislead someone to purchase products that don’t coincide with his or her goals. A coach can prescribe the right supplements to take, how much and when to take them. In many cases you’ll find yourself taking a lot of the basic stuff that’s been proven to work time and time again. This is where diet comes back into play. When your diet is on par you don’t need all kinds of fancy stuff – you simply need the basics to supplement with your normal meals or pre and post workout.

Motivation – helps with keeping your intensity levels up. People tend to lose motivation when they don’t see the results they are looking for. They’re not seeing the results they want because their diet is off, the training may not be designed right or they’re taking the wrong supplements. Having a coach can get you on the right track and help you dial all of that in; therefore, giving you the results you want. Then, when you go into the gym to train you begin to see the transformation taking place which pushes you harder and harder each day.

In the beginning, or even at the advance levels, there are many benefits to having a professional coach you through the learning process or introduce you to new concepts in lifting, nutrition or supplementation. It’s a learning experience and allows you to grow from there. After the initial coaching cycle you may find that you’ve learned so much you don’t need to hire a coach again. Or, it’s quite possible it’s inspired you enough to begin to read and do your own research on reaching the goal you have set in mind.

After several years of wanting to develop a website, I finally have one complete; largely thanks to my brother Patrick. Now that the site is complete I can begin communicating with family, friends, fans and anyone else who is interested. As my friends and family can attest, it’s been difficult to keep in touch with me over the years so this will be an easy way for everyone to remain in contact no matter where I am or what I’m doing. I’ll continue to update the site with photos, videos, comments and news to keep everyone current with my progress. So far, I’m still on par to leave Baghdad this summer to pursue these goals in the United States.

Thanks again to everyone for the continued support! It means a great deal to me and I look forward to taking this quest to the next level!

Stay tuned…

–
Aaron