Anybody remember a guy named Don Youngblood? I talked to him about 2 months before he died. He regretted using insulin.
I’m sorry Don Youngblood died and credited insulin as a partial cause of his demise. In my case, I am trying to avoid the use of insulin by working out and controlling my diet.
At age 50, I was diagnosed as having symptoms of diabetes, which took the lives of my father and grandfather at early ages. At 64, I still have the symptoms, but have managed to stave off the onset of the disease.
In the New Orleans area diabetes kills more people than AIDS,cancer,auto accidents, or heart disease. U see ALOT of people in they’re lates 40’s early 50’s missing a foot or a leg.
Saturday, May 5, 2007, NPC Vulcan Classic, Birmingham, Alabama
Results: Open Men’s Lightweight - Second; Men’s Master 50+ First
After coming off of a six-month hiatus from competing, I was eager to return to competition. With two weeks to go until my first Pro Show on May 12, I decided to enter the NPC Vulcan Classic, held in Birmingham, Alabama, where I live. It?s the second year for this non-pro qualifier. The NPC is interested in this show and had the NPC Alabama State Chairman as the Head Judge.
The show had several small classes, including Teen, Novice, Junior Open, Open, Masters and Figure. There was also a Mr. Birmingham class. There were no female bodybuilders entered.
All of the classes were competitive, as several athletes were using this show as a warm up for upcoming NPC pro-qualifier contests.
I competed in the Men?s Master 50+ Class and since the other 50+ Master who paid to enter didn’t show up, I was the only one in the Class, so I placed First. On stage, I competed with the Men?s Master 40+ Class and that was awesome. They kept us on stage for quite a while. I loved it. Hell, I wanted to beat some of those kids, so I posed like I was trying to. LOL
In the Open Men?s Lightweight Class, there was one other competitor, an outstanding young athlete who was my size and weight. He is a 35 year-old active duty U.S. Navy Recruiter, based in Birmingham. This was his second show. He was outstanding. He is a natural athlete and we talked back stage about him competing in natural federations. We are going to work together towards that goal. A Navy Captain helping a Navy Chief Petty Officer. Makes sense to us.
I had a great time with my individual posing routine, a 60-seconds version of my Glenn Miller St. Louis Blues March routine. The audience seemed to enjoy it, too.
So, now, I fly to Las Vegas tomorrow to attend a convention and then on Wednesday, I fly to Salt Lake City, Utah and meet up with my distance training client who is going to compete in the 2007 NGA Mountain States Regional Bodybuilding Championship as a Novice and Master. I am the Guest Poser for his show and will compete in the 2007 NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship that same night.
I am confident that this warm up show was very beneficial and will allow me to come in a little better when I step onto the stage in Salt Lake City next Saturday.
Best of luck at your first pro show. You’ve accomplished so many impressive things - looking great, staying healthy, keeping your testosterone levels up…
Thanks, “D”
Monday, May 7, 2007 - Las Vegas, Five Days Until My First Pro Show
Sunday morning, after my Saturday night NPC contest in Birmingham, AL, I flew to Las Vegas, NV to attend a convention with my company. I am staying at the Mandalay Bay Resort. This is an incredible facility. My room has a full-size wall mounted wide screen TV, a huge bathroom with stand up shower and deep tub. My 11th floor view looks out over the Las Vegas Strip. Sweet.
Best of all is the Fitness Center. This place is awesome. In addition to a huge workout area with plenty of weights and cardio equipment, it has three whirlpools, a large steam room, sauna and private walk-in showers. They offer free fruit, water, soft drinks, juices and pastries (if you are interested). The Center is a little pricey ($26.00 a day), but, I made friends with the clerk at the front desk at the hotel when I checked in and mentioned I was training for my first Pro Show this Saturday, so she didn’t charge me for my three-day spa membership. Also Sweet. The perks of being a Pro Bodybuilder. LOL There were quite a few people using the spa who stayed over after the De La Joya - Meriwether fight. Lots of shadow boxing going on in the Fitness Center.
I had a little trouble finding the food I needed on Sunday evening. This town is expensive. One place I looked at offered a Salmon dish for $46.00. I passed. I found a restaurant and had a small steak and salad for a lot less. This morning, at the hotel, my three egg whites omelet, grapefruit juice and coffee only cost $26.00.
My training consisted of some core work, with three or four exercises per body part and 10-20 reps each. Then I did 30 minutes of cardio, and in my room, a practice posing session. I will do another round of cardio and practice posing later.
Thursday, May 10, 2007, Kemmerer, Wyoming, Two Days Before My First Pro Show.
I have been in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in the southwest corner of the state for the past two days, staying with and helping my training client, Doc Dana, prepare for his first bodybuilding competition, the 2007 NGA Mountain States Regional Championship in Salt Lake City, Utah, about two hours from where we are staying.
Doc will compete as a Novice Lightweight and Men’s Master. I will be with him backstage for his competition and then I will be the Guest Poser for his show, while I prepare to enter my first Pro Show, the 2007 NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship, which immediately follows the Mountain States show. I have been working with Doc for the past eight months with my Distance Training Program of diet, exercise and contest prep.
For the past two days, we have worked on his posing and his individual routine. We both are going through the last stages of contest prep, including diet and tanning. Doc and I will be ready to do our best on Saturday. Doc is 62.
Why are there weight classes in the competition you’re going to? In bodybuilding, that seems to emphasize low body fat and dehydration, not muscle. Wouldn’t it just punish people for adding muscle by moving them up against taller guys with the same weight?
[quote]Higher Game wrote:
Why are there weight classes in the competition you’re going to? In bodybuilding, that seems to emphasize low body fat and dehydration, not muscle. Wouldn’t it just punish people for adding muscle by moving them up against taller guys with the same weight?[/quote]
In bodybuilding, someone shorter weighing the same as someone taller would mean they are carrying MORE relative muscle mass than the taller person. That wouldn’t put them at a disadvantage at all. If they are well conditioned, it would make them stand out more.
Thanks for answering that question for me. I compete in contests that are weight classes and I also compete in contests that are height classes. There are plus and minus elements in each.
Friday, May 11, 2007, NGA Mountain States Regional/Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship
My training client and I arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah this afternoon and after checking into the hotel, went to the venue to meet Blair Dean, the contest promoter. I am Vice President of Marketing and Promotion for the NGA and this was my chance to spend some time with an NGA Regional Chairman. Blair is a good man. He has been promoting shows in the Mountain States for many years and he knows his business. This will be a well-run show.
Doc and I helped Blair set up the trophy display and pump up room. We then spent a lot of time with Blair, talking about the evolution of our Sport. It was all very interesting.
We then took care of the polygraph tests and then had our last meal of the day. Check in is a noon tomorrow and the competitors then arrive at the venue at 6 PM for a 7 PM start. This will be an one-session show, with prejudging, individual posing rounds and the awards ceremony for each class at one time.
The show starts with the Teens, then the Novice, Figure, Masters and Open. I will do my Guest Posing after the intermission after the Masters and before the Open. My Junior Pro contest follows the Open Over All. Blair has invited Doc and me to have dinner with his staff and the judges after the show.
Doc and I are as ready as we can be. He dropped about 30 pounds in eight months for this show and will come in at around 146. I will come in at 150. We are both cut and tight. Sweet.
That’s a fine theory, but why isn’t Lee Priest Mr. Olympia, then? Height matters, period.
Congratulations on the accomplishments Mr. Hultz.Your results are outstanding.
[quote]Higher Game wrote:
Professor X wrote:In bodybuilding, someone shorter weighing the same as someone taller would mean they are carrying MORE relative muscle mass than the taller person. That wouldn’t put them at a disadvantage at all. If they are well conditioned, it would make them stand out more.
That’s a fine theory, but why isn’t Lee Priest Mr. Olympia, then? Height matters, period.[/quote]
Lee Priest may be big, but many would argue whether he looks BETTER than everyone else on stage. Lee Priest doesn’t look better than Dexter Jackson or even Chris Cormier when he was competing. Therefore, Priest won’t be winning even if he may look more muscular. Bodybuilding is about SIZE, esthetics, proportion, condition and overall body shape…not just one or two of those. In The Olympia contest, size+condition have always won unlike many other contests where it isn’t uncommon for a light heavy weight to win the overall.
That isn’t a theory, that is the way things work. You are being a little shallow in your attempt to connect just one aspect of what wins a contest.
If height was such an advantage, Gunter Schlierkamp would always win. You aren’t speaking to newbies on this subject.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Gunter Schlierkamp[/quote]
Did you just spell that correctly from memory?
[quote]Majin wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Gunter Schlierkamp
Did you just spell that correctly from memory?
[/quote]
Amazingly, yes. I’ll be here all week.
Sunday, May 13, 2007, Salt Lake City, Utah, NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship
Results: Third Place
What a night. It was my first Guest Poser appearance and my first Pro Competition.
I had a great time doing my three 90-seconds posing routines, back-to-back, with costume changes (quickly) in front on 450 people at the 2007 NGA Mountain States Regional Pro Qualifier Bodybuilding and Figure Championship, in Bountiful, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. I believe the audience had as much fun watching as I did performing.
The contest began with a large Teen Class, followed by an equally large Masters Class. I did my Guest Posing stint following the Novice and Figure Competition.
The Open Class completed their competition and then the NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship completed the evening.
I had time to pump up while the Open was in progress and was ready when the Head Judge called the Pros to the stage.
The NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship is for first-time professional athletes and the competition for me was exciting and fun as we began to hit our poses for the first time as Pros.
First Place went to Shane Stewart, NGA Mr. Utah for 2005 & 2006. Second Place went to Ray Long, from South Carolina, now living in Utah. Ray is a 190 pound, 5’ 6" former power lifter. His quad, hams, chest, back package was awesome.
I was proud to stand with these guys and place Third in my first pro show.
In addition to the cash prize, we were awarded beautiful leather show jackets with the 2007 NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Champion embossed on the back and the NGA logo over the chest on the left front. A Very Cool Jacket.
After the show, the promoter, Blair Dean, invited Doc and me to have dinner with his family, the show staff and some of the judges. Blair is a Class Act, and this was a great experience.
And, my training client, Doc Dana, placed Third in the Novice Lightweight Class in the Mountain States Regional.
Monday, May 14, 2007
It’s really starting to sink in. I actually had my first Guest Poser appearance and also competed in my first Pro Show on Saturday. How cool was that?
I had a great time and a memorable experience. It was my 18th show. I remember my first amateur contest, the NPC Northern Kentucky in March 2005. I will certainly add my first Guest Poser appearance and Pro Show to my bodybuilding memory bank.
In addition to the cash prize I received for placing Third, they presented me with a leather jacket with “NGA 2007 Olympic Gold Junior Pro Champion” embossed on the back… It was about 70 degrees out when I left home for the gym this morning. I took the lining out of the jacket and wore my new “trophy” over my gym clothes. It felt great.
When I get home after work, I will hang it in the closet and then continue to prepare for my next competition.
I felt at the Pro Show I needed to add some more size to my legs and to work on my abs. I started a new workout plan today that will emphasize those body parts as I prepare for a contest on June 30th. I am doing three sets of every exercise, going to failure at 6RM, 12 RM and 25 RM. I will work this plan for the next six weeks.
Here are a couple of shots from my competition on Saturday. The first is during my Guest Posing appearance at the 2007 NGA Mountain States Regional Bodybuilding & Figure Championship and the other is from the 2007 NGA Olympic Gold Junior Pro Championship held the same night in Bountiful, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. I weighed 150 pounds, up 10 pounds from my show last November in Toronto.
Here is the second shot.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
I continued to work on adding size to my legs by working “reps to failure” sets. I did squats, extensions, ham curls, adduction and abduction. Each exercise consisted of three sets. The first was 6 RM, the second was 12 RM and the third was 25 RM. This was tough. I ended the workout with three sets of 25 reps of seated calve raises. Tomorrow is a cardio only day, with some abs work and pull ups for good measure.