There is little doubt that bodybuilding enjoyed a wonderful and historic golden age out in Venice California. Back in the day, before exclusive magazine contracts, websites, DVD sales, supplement company endorsements and scandals involving performance enhancing-drugs, there was a little community of us, minding our own business, throwing down hardcore in a little gym down by the beach. We wore "gym shorts" and tank tops and sometimes even trained in flip-flops. Surely such attire would seem comical by today's standards, but style side down, we had it going on. We liked each other. We looked forward to training and looked forward to hanging out with each other after the work was through. Bodybuilding in Venice Beach was about as good as it could get if you had a mind to build your body and bask in the warm sun 365 days a year. Even dead-ass broke there was no better life, and every glance in the mirror proved we were the richest people in the world.
Bodybuilding icon Kevin Levrone's appearance on Heavy Muscle Radio this past Monday night, June 29, 2009, comes at the end of the fifth week of an amazing transformation "experiment" that he's taken on. So impressive are Levrone's recent gains in muscle and reductions in bodyfat, Dave Palumbo and I actually accused Kevin, on the air, of taking performance-enhancing drugs in order to realize these superhuman changes. Levrone vehemently denied any such allegation and put it out there, publicly, that he'd be willing to submit to drug testing; any time we wanted. In fact, Kevin requested that he be tested as soon as possible so that no one can accuse him of using fast-acting steroids that would clear his system before we got a change to check him out.
If you don't realize that the entire bodybuilding world is directed, driven and controlled by the sports nutrition industry, then you just might be sleepwalking your way through life. To start with, bodybuilding contests, from the local level all the way up to the Olympia, are funded through supplement company sponsorship. Ticket prices would never even come close to covering the rental fee for the venues.
I'm shifting gears this time and interviewing a male bodybuilder who also happens to be "MAX32"-- one of our RX Muscle forum members. His life seems to have picked up some serious momentum lately. He's one week out from the NPC Junior Nationals, he's currently the Midwest Regional Manager for Gaspari Nutrition and his girlfriend is IFBB Figure Pro Katina Maistrelli. Life is good for the Super Heavyweight Texan, Max Fairchild! Read on to get the full story.
For bodybuilder Juan Diesel, the love affair with bodybuilding began the minute he picked up his first copy of ‘Flex'. Leafing through the pages, he paused at the contest coverage section, and gazed in amazement at the condition achieved by the featured athletes. However, his mind swiftly went from a state of awe to one of total inspiration. After all, if those guys could totally transform their bodies there was nothing stopping him from obtaining similar results. He may have opened that magazine as an average guy but he closed it as an aspiring bodybuilder!
