One 
of the most difficult things to do in the fitness and talent industry is the process of branding. According the Business Dictionary online, Branding is “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.” If you are working to develop yourself as a recognized competitor, athlete, fitness model or other career along those realms then the brand is about you. This factor can be a challenge, because in the process it feels a bit like self-promotion. In essence, that’s because it is. That being said, branding is a vital component in business development, and if you are to be successful in your endeavors, you need get comfortable with this.
This past weekend March 24, 2012, the first IFBB Mens Physique Pro was held in Sacramento, CA. For those of you that have been following the sport this has been a much-anticipated event seeing that whoever was crowned the 1st Champion would go down in the history books.
Ever 
since I was young lifting has been a passion for me. I’ve always had a competitive attitude and love finding different ways to challenge myself. In the weight room I was obviously seeking ways to test my body to see what I could do. My body has always responded best to high volume workouts. Performing drop sets and super sets were regularly incorporated into my workouts. I found that this style not only kept me very lean to where I didn’t have to watch my diet as much, but I also kept getting stronger and stronger at the same time! This was a point in my life where I wasn’t concentrating on bodybuilding. I was just a regular gym rat who wanted to look good for the ladies and show off my strength in the weight room. So this style of training was perfect for me.
Joining 
us today is MP Competitor Ronnie Cline. Congrats on a great showing! What made you decide to compete in the Men’s Physique Division?
Thanks. I’m a Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor and constantly ask my class and clients to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realist, and Timely) goals and realized one day that I didn’t have any, so I set this contest as a goal.
Can you tell us a little about the Competition you just competed in?
You’ve 
probably heard some people say that they have a higher metabolism than others. When you look at them, they’re lean and fit. While others who are not so lean and are overweight blame their physical attributes on having a slow metabolism. Unfortunately, weight gain is most commonly the result of eating more calories than you burn. To lose the weight, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity or both.
I get
letters from beginners all the time asking me for advice on how they can get bigger. I always reply with two questions: How’s your diet and what does your current training routine consist of? I can’t give blind advice if I don’t know what I am working with. Most often I find that people are not eating enough to grow. I also see that there is a big myth in the world that you need to train with low reps and heavy weights in order to get bigger. This link shows a good YouTube video by Kai Greene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8wZNGL4iA4 ) where he distinguishes the difference between being a bodybuilder and weightlifter.
I would say before one sets off on a quest in the gym they should figure out which of these two distinctions they associate themselves with. In the case that you want to be a bodybuilder IE someone who is more concerned with what their physique looks like, then I offer you my concept of Heavy Volume Training.
To
build a huge back you have to make sure to work the entire back. The back is made up of many muscle groups that all need to be worked. Be sure you are not neglecting any portion of the back. The following workout has worked well for me and my clients. Try it out for a few weeks and let me know what you think
Everyone 
loves to pump up the arms before heading to a big expo like The Arnold. But, lets not forget that huge benefits in the entire body come from aggressive leg training. For this reason, and the love of complete exhaustion I smashed the legs today at the BAC before the flight to my home state of Ohio. The workout was built around the “pre-fatigue” concept. In a “pre-fatigue” workout we hit single joint movements typically stressing the secondary movers and then move into compound movements hitting the primary and secondary movers simultaneously.
Superior 
physiques are not strictly built in the weight room. The human body adapts quickly to repetitive movement leaving no room for growth or change. When we think of enhancing our physical performance and appearance we tend to gravitate to the weight room for answers. However, there are many different facets to producing the results you are looking for. Here is a perfect example of a new workout to create your new physique.
15 min Bag Blast:
1) Alternating Strikes from a mounted position (mount the bag and attack the bag with alternating punches as to simulate repeated strikes to the face)
(2min on, 30 sec recovery, 2min on, 30 sec recovery)
If you
are reading this article there is a high likelihood that you have already taken a number of steps to develop your fitness physique. You probably place a high value on health, dedicate time to exercise, eat fairly clean and spend time educating yourself on how to improve your knowledge in all of these realms. Doing all of these things lay the foundation for building the perfect body; however, there are often elements that we fail to address when we think about reaching our highest fitness level. Arguably, one of the most salient elements is sleep!
Jonathan Antignani's time in the NPC has been short, but he's already making a name for himself. He placed 6th in the extremely competitive Men's Physique Division at the 2011 NPC Nationals, and has no set his sites on the Arnold Amateur!
Probably
one of the most asked questions of any competitor has to be about what meal plan would be suggested for them. I know I get inundated with emails asking for me to write up a meal plan…for free of course. I also get competitors complaining that the diet their trainer has them on isn’t working for them and seeking knowledge on how to tweek it or they’re shopping around for a new trainer who’s theories on nutrition and training may be a better fit.
The thing most of these people have in common seems to be a lack of patience. Everyone wants immediate results but very few look within themselves to determine if the problem is them rather than the plan their prep coach has them following.
The debate between which is worse, soda and diet soda has been ongoing for some time. I’m going to break down the differences to answer the question once and for all. Let’s start with the non diet soda.
Regular Soda
- Increases in harmful hidden fats, including liver fat and skeletal fat.
-Increases in cholesterol. 11% increase vs. diet soda group.
Statistics 
are an interesting concept; So many sight statistics as a way to prove or disprove an idea, yet anyone who looks deeply into statistics knows that they can be swayed to whatever perspective it is that we wish the outcome to be! The concept that when we are looking for something, we will eventually find it is very true when it comes to statistics. I feel that it is always important to look where the actual numbers are coming from and often times to use statistics to get a general feeling of what the outcome is can be much more valuable. One general statistic that holds very true is that there is a very small percentage of the population that regularly writes down Their Goals, revisits them, and thus achieves them! Just as I stated earlier, when we are looking for something, we will eventually find it; So, start looking for Your Goals and you will be very pleased and surprised to see that you find them!
I have 
realized over the years that there is a big difference between, picking a weight up and repping to the high heavens, and actually isolating the muscle so you can get an incredible gain.
There are actual stages of fatigue that are important to reach if you want to accumulate more muscle from your workout. Here is a brief breakdown of those levels of fatigue and what role they play in producing the sought after muscle growth.
Large
companies and brands understand the importance of consistency in the look of their materials. This could include items such as the location of logo placement on advertisements, to the colors used on a website and more. This, over time, allows their consumers to know what to expect which holds a lot of value. Expectations when they see a certain color or hear a certain slogan can mean everything to a small or growing company by embedding it in the consumers mind. Expectations as a result of consistency lead to expectations of quality. This is a lesson you can learn from watching the big companies.
When
I talk to potential clients or anyone for that matter about “diets” I try to make sure I can get them to learn the basics. As we all know there is no clear cut black and white way to diet, but I think there are some constants in a general healthy diet. Contest prep is a whole different demon in itself, but I feel everybody should know the basics in order to be successful in their diet. Always remember that everybody responds to food differently so this is just my opinion and what has worked for me throughout the years.
Whether 
you intend to pursue work that requires professional photographs or not, doing a photo shoot can be fun and exciting. If you are participating in a competition, photos can be a great way to document your journey. If you are lacking motivation and need an incentive to keep engaged in your fitness routine, scheduling a photo shoot can provide incentive to get in shape. Finally, you might be surprised at the value of professional photographs. They may lead to a career you never thought possible, especially if you are already involved in the fitness industry.
Consider 
for a moment, the following pitches which modeling talents send to their target clients such as publications.
"I'm hard working and determined."
Is this to suggest that other models are not?
"This is my passion."
Are other talents passionless?
"I'm always on-time and ready to go!"
Clients would hope all talents are. Should be standard.
"It has been a dream of mine..."
If clients had a nickel for every time they read or heard this one.
Now consider the following response...SO WHAT?
So 
you are interested in making a difference in the fitness community. You may have already or are considering competing. The fitness competition circuit gets a bad rap from time to time. However, if you don’t like competing you must respect the competition. I do not know any other athletes that gives up as much as we do. There are a huge number regular activities and foods that the MP competitor must give up daily that other athletes and normal people take for granted. I ask you, are you willing to do what it takes?
This 
article may seem like it only applies to the small number of you who plan on competing at some point. This is not the case. Anyone who is sitting at a reasonably low body fat percentage (<12%) and wants to go from simply “lean” to “holy hell” can benefit from this. Here I will lay out how to manipulate water levels and storage to make you look both leaner and more muscular in 5 days. This particular routine has actually been used by a number of competitors. That being said, I cannot advocate the off-label use of diuretics, they are potentially lethal, so that section is strictly hypothetical. Proceed at your own risk, brave little jacked man.
The Issue
You’re lean, you’ve been working hard on your diet, and you have a special event coming up (beach, party, etc) that requires you be shredded. This is easily accomplished if you are already at decently low body fat. Now is the time when you have to critically assess yourself in the mirror. You will not magically get shredded if you’re sitting at 18% body fat.
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