part trois!

Ok, so here I am in college. I'm new, still kinda out of my element and I'm trying to fit in. And, I find a descent gym. So, I joined up. Was a good year of training till school was out and I did good gains( not really) lol.I was still in a learning curve and it would be "years" Till I realized what I was doing.All that to say that without going into too much details I was just a gym rat , loving lifting and not really knowing what I was doing. Remember, no internet and absolutely no" personal" trainers. I needed to learn and wanted too, so after school it was time to join a "real" gym.My first experience wasn't great, the place I had joined ended up going tits up within 6 months of me signing up. That wasn't fun. I bounced for a while from one place to another without really finding"a home" Then, And to this day I still have no idea how I found it, i ended up in a small, basic, no bullshit GYM. Thank gawd! I finally felt at home in this small dingy place. It was clean for sure but damn was it a meat head gym. I was home!  The call of the day was free weights and more free weights! That was just fine by me. I met so many dedicated people there. People that were so engrained in the lifestyle, i feel I found myself in this place, with these people and this atmosphere. I still miss this place to this day, 20 years later and I still long for this gym like a long lost love. Go figure! So off I went, the first year was magical. I was mesmerised by this. I truly believe that I found my niche then and there. This was 1988, yep, a life time ago. I was a 20 year old who had just found his mistress. Id always loved training but this, this was different. This is when I decided to try my hand at competition. Believe me, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I had never even been to a show. Only had seen stuff on vhs, yes, I said vhs! lol. I was giving all I knew, had learned and picked other guys brains about contest prep but was not getting great results. Ohh and yes, being in the" gym" I had met the local dealer who sold me on the " product" lol. Telling me that I'd make great gains and get big on using his supplements. I spoke to my parents about this, yes. they knew, my mother knew EVERYTHING that I was doing. She was my sounding board and my best friend. All she told me was this. Be smart about it, ask questions to others, do research and use the common sense that you have been raised with. Then make your choice. I was never told anything negative in any way from my parents.Believe me, if I messed up I was held accountable, but they had confidence in me from getgo and that has helped me be the man I am today.So, here I am. 20 years old with none to very little experience at all in this venture. I'm a little( ok alot) confused. So I asked Frank, the gym owner ( Rideau Valley Fitness) on what the hell I'm doing. So he tells me this. 2 oranges in the morning with 1 grapefruit mixed in a juicer. 8 egg whites and 1/2 cup oats with honey, then rice and raisins for a mid morning snack. Grilled chicken and more white rice for lunch and supper.and evening snack. Off I go, and I come in pretty damned good for my first show. Now, I did finish second last( actually I tied for 7th out of 8) lmao. but guess What, i was hooked.. I'll post the video and some pics from that soon.
 So for now, that's it. From this point I will go into more of my pre-contest prep and what I'm doing from this point forward. Hopefully you guys won't want to peel out your eyes with my spelling and grammar. I'm 16 weeks out today. Been at it for a month or so. Just trying to get things consistent and routine food wise and training. So far things have been good. I do need to tighten up on the food but I am getting leaner and bigger over the last weeks so that's a good singe. Cheers . be back soon.. Dean

part deux!

so here i am a 13 year old with the weights, the drive and the dream to stop being picked on, i must admit, competition wasn't even an after though at this point. I just wanted to get bigger to stop the bullies at school from picking on me, whats funny is many of them are going to read this.lol  So off I went, training pretty steady on my weider bench and doing the bicep curls and ya, if any of you remember they gave you a chart/diagram on how to do exercises. It was awesome! Really, it was , as I had no idea what I was doing! lol. I did this for a good 3 years, i still remember that at 13, i weight a woping 95 lbs. lol. By the time I hit high school i was about 165. Thats when I became the president of the weight lifting club. A small gym with a universal weight set in the basement of my school. I was the only full time member. lol Others trained but it was sporatic at best, for me,evry lunch hour for 4 years straight , rain or shine, summer or winter I was in the dungeon. I started reading alot of books/magazines at this time, got pretty wrapped up about. After all, I was getting bigger, but..still being picked on! lol.. Guess i was kinda passive back then and didn't really stand up for myself. Boy has that changed.Things changed for me my senior year as at the time i was still being bullied, guess I got tired of it finally, I remember one specific incident that changed everything in one moment.
Picture this, Remember that I was also not into any groups or clicks so basically I was trying to fit in and find my"place" but this was difficult for me. This incident that changed everything happen in all places in the shower after gym class. Yep, of all places. I was being teased again, as per. I really wasn't athletic back then other than hockey and I was always the last one picked for teams and such, either that or they just didn't like me. This one time it just was enough and I lunged at this guy and slammed him against the wall. yep, buck naked and I'm gettin into a scrap.lmao! go figure!  I guess I scared everyone with my aggression and the way I threw him around. Because after that it felt like everyone wanted to be my friend. I still didn't fit in but the bullying stopped and it calmed/changed everything.Looking back I should have done the fighting back thing WAY sooner. I could have done that years ago and avoided alot of bull shit. Hind sight is 20/20 isn't it. So my stand on bullies is punch em in the face, telling teachers and crying about it does NOTHING. I lived this, and that's my view. Needless to say, i've kept that attitude ever since that day, nobody steps on my toes..
So graduation comes, I hit algonquin for my post secondary education and lo and behold,there's a pretty decent gym, guess what I did.lol  more to follow..

It begins again

31 years, that's a hell of a long time to be doing something. From my young days to now always wanting something that was just a little too far for me to reach. Know what, doesn't matter! It isn't achieving the dream, that is the icing. The journey itself has been the best thing I could have ever done for myself. Sometimes I'd like to go back and tell that young man, dude, do something else. Then I snap back into reality and realize that I'm in a pretty damned good place today, all due to what bodybuilding has taught me.
So at this point ill take some time and explain who and where i came from, what makes me tic if you will.
     At a young age i was very much out of the loop. People my age I just couldn't connect with. I have no idea why this happened, because the friends i did make where extremely loyal to me. But overall I just didn't fit in. Always the last to be picked, being teased about my appearance( to be honest I was but fuck ugly, nothings changed really!lol)  Ohh did I mention I swear alot, yep, I don't have to,  just like it. So ya...lol
My face over the years just kinda grew into my mouth, one hell of a big jaw line that's for sure. I'm all teeth anyway to this day. So here I am, a 12 year old boy who is actually a very sincere and I must say so myself, quite friendly to everyone. But my classmates/teammates where so hard on me, being a kid is being a kid. What can ya do. I'm not gonna use the word bullying.Fuck that. I hate that word, to this day I advocate a good punch in the face when someone gets on you in that way. Barbaric? maybe but VERY effective in shutting them down. Or at least even if you got beat up you earn respect by defending yourself.
So, back to my story. 12, very few friends, no gf. I'm being picked on, told i look like monkey, and just being put down all around me by my peers. Lo and behold TELEVISION.. Ahh the days of Night Rider and the Dukes of Hazzard. And ya, this series called.THE HULK. I'm like totaly intrigued by this. Here is this monster jacked up dude who kicks anyone's ass who messes with him( remember my philosophy of a good punch in the face?) Well, guess what, i need to get big and strong.. So the suns a bitches will leave me alone.
In the corner store, ( where i used to jack a chocolate bar now and then) i see these magazines of big guys. I'm like, how do I do that?? Start reading the old muscle and fitness, Flex and all the other mags on muscle I can find. So the conversation starts, I need weights to get big. 13th b-day comes around and all the convos I've had with my mom and dad  (and there were many as I got along fantastic with both of them) I open up the box and BOOM. Joe Weider bench press and dumbells! Ya know, the rickidy old benches and plastic weights . I fucking LOVED it!!
This is where my life changed for me, that day was the beginning of my journey which has taken me through 31 years of training and 26 competitions so far. I could not have received anything better from my parents. This "gift" helped me become the man I am today. They knew how much I wanted this thing and they made it happen. Even though we were in a very hard and financially tough spot for most of my youth, i never once complained or ever felt alone or unloved by my parents. My life has been a great adventure so far exactly because my parents were so in tune with me.. ( more on that later)  so here i go.. Training and getting huge , i was on my way( or so I thought) lol.. more next time.