2008

(These were taken in October, 2008.)

I've received quite a few emails recently asking what, exactly, I do. After you check out the excerpt from Built for Show, make sure to scroll down for an explanation and to see a way more embarrassing photo of me from 2004.

Excerpted from Chapter 3 of Built for Show: The Bad, The Ugly, and the Uglier

"We all start at the beginning. Where we end up depends a great deal on how we think of ourselves and the individual choices we make. Common sense, right?

But here’s the part most people overlook: It’s not the situation that’s important. It’s how you react to the situation. If you doubt yourself, make excuses, or succumb to procrastination and apathy, all you’re doing is building a ceiling over yourself that will abruptly halt your progress before it even begins. And thumping your head against an immovable object is about as much fun as it sounds.

I used to be a skinny, shy little twerp who constantly sought approval from others to validate my life. But after defining the problem, trying to break past my limitations, blaming other people, cursing, making a lot of stupid mistakes, cursing even more (which, I confess, I mostly enjoy), and ultimately learning from my mistakes, I realized that I—and I alone—decided my individual outcome.

This was a sobering thought, and it brought about an epiphany: Everything that happened to me was both my fault and not my fault.

Lost yet? Let me put it another way.

Genetics matter, as I noted in Chapter 2, and they most definitely aren’t your fault. But if you spend a lot of time thinking about the crap genes your parents handed you, and using them as an excuse for not reaching whatever goals you have, you’ve probably assigned them more power than they actually have. There isn’t a scientist on earth who’d claim that 100 percent of your weight and shape are predetermined. A few bloggers, maybe, but no actual scientists.
Training and diet matter, too, and that’s what we’re focusing on here.

The BFS training program and nutritional guidelines are designed to alter what nature intended for you, as much as it can be altered. If you choose to follow the program, you’re acknowledging both realities: You’re changing what you can while recognizing that you can’t completely re-engineer your genome.

I absolutely can’t tell you how much you can change. I’ve never worked with a client who couldn’t put on muscle and take off fat. Every client has emerged from our training looking and feeling better—dramatically better, in many cases. But there’s never a single pattern. Sometimes people achieve more than I expected, and I’m happy to take credit.

But sometimes they achieve less, and if I’m willing to take credit for the overachievers I have to accept blame when a client falls below our mutual expectations.

What I can predict is that your success will be directly correlated with the effort you put in. And I’m not just talking about physical effort. You also have to change your attitude toward your own body and your preconceived ideas about its limitations."


What I do:

1. I used to earn a personal training studio where I trained guys who wanted to look better and high school, college, and a few professional athletes. I was in business for over three years, so I guess it's safe to say I was fairly good at what I did. (I recently handed it over to my business partner to pursue other opportunities, but am still on as a consultant.)

2. I wrote a workout/lifestyle book, Built for Show, about my personal experience with body transformation and included a year's worth of programming based on what I've done for myself and with clients.

3. I'm now a full-time journalist for Testosterone magazine. That means I interview people, perform research, condense information, and write about things I know. (Or I write about things hoping to learn about them, spread an idea, or share the information with others.)

There. That oughta clear some stuff up!

Oh, and here's the other photo:




God it's awful. I look like a little douchebag with a rather serious sweating problem. Oh well. Chalk it up to experience!

What about you? Have you overcome and genetic "problems"? Let me know.

Posted Oct 13, 2008 by Nate Green.
This entry is filed under fitness and lifestyle.