Life is too short to blend in!
This section is designed for the men who aspire to be STRONG, FIT, and CHISELED! Whatever your age, you CAN improve your posture, flexibility, increase strength, lower your body fat and actually enhance vitality and virility! It's challenging to attain a muscular, lean and fit physique, at any age! In fact, it is very rare to achieve NATURALLY~ unless you know what you are doing. I am a life-long 'natural' athlete. (That means NO steroids, ever! I don't even take supplements.) I've never taken short-cuts, and there has been no 'easy way' for me. As far as I'm concerned, only slackers try to find the 'easy path'. It has taken me over twenty-five years of good, old-fashioned hard work and sacrifice to achieve my gains and I'm still striving for excellence. Before I really knew what I was doing, I wasted a lot of time and energy... Now I have discovered the formula. It truly IS 'rocket science'! I don't waste time or effort anymore, and neither should you! Building an impressive physique (or getting healthy and strong) doesn''t come easy and won't be 'pain-free'. Pain is a part of the process, whether in the gym or afterwards when you are sore and recuperating from an intense workout. If you are after a physique that you can be proud of, then you will have to learn to tolerate pain, or even 'seek it' like I do. (Pain is really only a state of mind.) You have to be smart about what you are putting into your body~ which is your fuel! You must also discover what foods and 'beverages' to avoid. (I rarely drink alcohol anymore. It is poison to a lean physique and weakens the system, hinders progress, etc.. so I rarely 'partake' like I used to.) DISCIPLINE IS THE KEY. You must train and lift, fuel, eat, and rest like a champion athlete. (It will have to become your 'mind-set', daily.) 'YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT' is not only a slogan, it is the TRUTH. The higher the 'octane' your fuel, the faster your gains will come. (Do you think N.A.S.A. puts cheap-ass unleaded gasoline in one of their rockets? No way, bro! They fill it with ROCKET-FUEL! Same thing with a race-car or dragster. They put the highest octance 'go-go juice' they can find in one of those things.) And YOUR OWN body is a much more precision, high-performance machine than any other ever built! GOD made YOU, bro. (Whether you realize that, or not.) So the cleaner the fuel, the higher output you will perform. Adequate H2O consumption, clean sources of protein, enough good carbs and healthy fats, and proper REST is the formula. Period! REST = GROWTH, I believe. (I always include that in the diet, or fuel section when I give nutritional advice. Sleep is when the body 'naturally manufactures' the best drugs!) When you don't rest enough, your body 'trips'. Simply put~ your muscle fibers, joints, ligaments, and nervous system especially (brain included) need rest to repair and to come back 'down' from our busy days and hectic lives. You add an INTENSE workout on top of that, and the physique, endocrine system, etc.. DEMANDS rest and recuperation!! If you don't, then your bodies' chemistry gets out of whack, and 'stress hormones' are released by the adrenal glands. That type of stress makes you weak. Proper nutrition will help, but enough sleep is CRITICAL! Arnold (Schwarenegger) used to say that our own natural 'growth hormone' doesn't kick in until the 9th hour of sleep. (I don't know if that is scientifically accurate, but I'm striving to get at least 8 when I can. Naps during the day are very beneficial and I take FULL advantage of them!) You can also boost your own natural testosterone and growth hormone production naturally by training HEAVY, and often. Especially when you work your LEGS, CHEST, and LATS. That means benching / squatting / dead-lifting / pull-ups and power-cleans (If you are able), and rowing HEAVY!
In closing, I didn't like 'blending in' during my highschool years, and it bothered me to be overlooked by the 'hotties' back in my day, and decided to do something about it while I was off at (Texas) Tech. As a freshmen, my aim was to ultimately become a 'BIG MAN ON CAMPUS'! It took me several years and not to sound cocky, but by the time I left...I made my impression felt! After graduating Tech and moving to Dallas, (Valley Ranch) I had more than my share of hotties as clients including several Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders which only fueled my desire to grow, evolve, and look better. (They were the HOTTEST girls on the Planet to me back then!) Right before I left 'Big D' for Tinseltown, I found myself dating the current Miss Texas U.S.A. In truth, it was my physique that enabled me that access. (She confided to me later that she saw me from her hotel window as I was down by the pool and 'dashed down'l!) My personality, sense of humor, or whatever.. only kept things rollin'! My point is that if you stick with it and train diligently, and BE SMART about what you put into your body, then you can build a heroic physique and date the girl(s) of your dreams. I did. And I really was th puny, 98lb. weakling when I was a highschool freshman. Here's how I see my life, fellas: One of these days~ I'm gonna lose some size or some of my strength, I probably won't be as lean, my hair won't always be as thick, and I may even lose some of my sex-appeal, but... TODAY AIN'T THE DAY! Today ain't that day, y'all! The TRUTH is this_ We only get one time to walk this Planet, so you might as well like the way you look while you're strollin'. STRENGTH and HONOR! ~ur boy, DConn
This dude is 54 years young!
Mark's story is on the 'Gallery Section', but I wanted to give him some addtional 'props' and respect. This man is a legit Bad-Ass! He is a life-long 'natural' weight lifter and athlete (like me) who still slings the steel like a kid. Not many dudes love pumping iron as much as I do. Well, he does. Guys like us don't consider 'lifting' as work... it's PLAYTIME! Mark is one of those rare individuals (other than a few professional athletes) that motivate me to keep putting the 'hammer down' and to NEVER take my foot off the pedal! Put the pedal to the METAL, y'all~ and BRING THE NOISE!
I finally decided to pull the trigger on a new exercise studio!
Hopefully by September, I will have my first exercise studio built. (It will be located in (Uptown) Dallas, Tx. as we are finally done building my new website! Alll future content including information about the new studio can be accessed from the new address at www.8fitnessdallas.com.)
'Get your GUNZ UP!' ~DCONN
