Stocks and Bonds, Sliced and Diced
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Laree and I are driving down the coast to San Diego as you read this newsletter. Zoom, zoom! I’m scheduled to speak about health and fitness to an audience of fiscal heavyweights at a weekend conference for elite financial tradesmen. The gentleman responsible for the exclusive gathering, John Mauldin, is a loyal subscriber of IronOnline, and a struggling devotee of muscle and might. He likes people and paralleling his interest in their economics, John is concerned about their health and quality of life. "What good is the dough, if you ain’t got the go?" John’s a wizard.
Ha. Wait till they hear we’re poor and don’t know any rich folks. We’re clueless. What does one say at the Thursday night get-acquainted cocktail hour? Hi, how’s your money? Do you keep it in bags? Us? Our money? Where have we placed it during these volatile times? In the pink piggy bank on top of the refrigerator. Nice Bentley. Can I blow the horn? Just how long is your yacht, anyway? Another Dom Perignon... a Cuban... caviar? Polo anyone? Spare change? At this point I’m out of conversation.
A copy of Your Body Revival will be nestled beside their silverware at the Friday luncheon, the time designated for my... mmm... talk. "How generous!" Should they be curious and turn to the first chapter, they will be chastised for gluttony, berated for obesity and scorned for lack of responsibility. "Who is this reprehensible fellow, Dave Draper?" The stage is set for a warm and encouraging interlude. During the dessert I’ll be introduced by John and we can deepen our rapport.
I have no idea what I’m in for, but I sincerely want to help. If the 150 to 200 participants are anything like the remaining world population, we’re looking at a gathering of desperately needy folks -- desperately needy, yet well-to-do. There’s a major contradiction in the last comment and I want to undo it. We’ve got some tired bodies carrying too much weight with the aid of too few muscles. I expect three or four diabetics and as many heart disorders are slouched at each table of ten. Some of them have loving kids at home with the same problems in their future. Where, I wonder, from one to ten on the scale of importance have they placed their health and fitness? Between eight and nine is commendable, though I expect the number hovers at two point five.
I’ll observe, dare not judge, and offer my commonsense insights. This works well in gym-floor settings among hungry musclebuilders in shorts and tank tops. We’ll see how it goes among golfers, occasional tennis buffs and weekend warriors wearing Ralph Lauren active gear. I have visions of being challenged by a newly fit and tan guy whose cute, recently certified personal trainer recommends Swiss ball training and super soy protein. The only way to go! Or a retired white-haired doc rolling in blue chips who insists the nutritional pyramid is accurate and weight training enlarges the heart, stresses tendons and causes colonitis... there are studies.
The patience and discipline they possess to research the market is extraordinary and their courage to buy and sell is breathtaking. I envy their astuteness and diligence. Why, this rambunctious lot has enough focus, drive and guts to own a small empire and still acquire a lean, fit form. My mission is to highlight these qualities, bring them to their attention and direct them toward achieving the priceless things in life -- strength, health and longevity. Money can’t buy these riches, but they have the inner resources to gain them.
Scary! They’ll be practically invincible.
I doubt many would be interested in today’s newsletter and my suggestions for the hardcore bulker who faces the struggles of dropping bodyfat, retaining muscle and getting ripped. This is exciting stuff and requires courage, sacrifice, scrutiny and hard work, yet I sense -- today, at least -- the lunch crowd in La Jolla will miss the point. Thank heaven, you won’t.
As you know from newsletters and the website, I’m a proponent of the bulking-up methodology to gain muscle mass and develop a championship body. It’s simple: Eat plenty of the right foods, train hard, heavy and persistently and grow. Upon achieving your potential muscle mass, you modify your diet and exercise to lean down and muscularize. Bingo! The other popular training method of operation is defined by gaining only muscle through restricted food consumption and hard training. Strive for muscularity and never lose sight of the definition you acquire. Muscle before might, cuts before mass.
Each requires toughness. Some body types respond better to one than the other. The same with mind types: where one training style is plainly tough yet doable, the other is absolutely intolerable. I cannot train with passion when I’m at a refined muscular bodyweight: no zap or oomph, aka pump and power; too much muscle scrutiny, not enough margin of leeway; too much insecurity, no bad-boy thickness; too much dietary consciousness, no perceivable growth. Ugh! Terrifying!
Another guy sees his first abdominal muscle and he’ll sacrifice all future muscle growth to retain that nifty little curve in his midsection. I say, sacrifice the little fella and bring on the big guns and cannonball delts.
One of the Golden Truths: We’re all different.
What you must do to lean down and preserve shapely muscle after a long season
of building mass and density (bulking up) is relatively uncomplicated: Continue
to train hard with a modified intensity and exercise tactic and eat with
an adjusted balance and sufficiency. As you might guess, you increase your
training pace while using moderate weights and decrease the volume of food
ingested by removing the excess, least valuable carbs and fats. The exact
details of the plan can be sorted out over time, trial and error. You see,
like everything else related to authentic musclebuilding, muscularizing takes
time, brothers and sisters... time and courage and persistence and discovery.
And you’ve got it all, though it’s constantly being tested and
refined.
Hard and defined, or ripped or cut to shreds are very cool in the mind and on the drawing board. In fact, this is where the project starts, visualizing and planning. Just don’t let preparation become an exceedingly long and drawn-out process -- it’ll take the edge off the passion and introduce procrastination.
I suspect the biggest obstacle between the big lifter and getting lean and muscular is dropping the pounds and the power. These beastie items came at a large expense and lots of sacrifice and they are most agreeable. Yeah, yeah! So I’m a little... mmm...er... bulky here and there, but I’m huge. Love the way the shirts fit around the shoulders and arms, pulling at the seams.
How long before a bodybuilder who loses muscle mass feels a twinge of insecurity? As soon as he finds out. The mind makes a monkey out of us.
Be ready and willing to let go before you take up the challenge. It’s enough to pursue one goal (slick) without holding tight to the other (thick). I say this because I sit on the barbed-wire fence too often. I love aspects of bulking -- everything from broader eating margins to power, injury resistance and hugeness -- until I see something jiggle. Hold it right there. Scalpel. And, then, I love being lean, trim and vascular, until I notice my arms -- AKA, buggy whips -- flapping around in my size small House of Pain t-shirt, and I choose the stationary bike over squats on leg day. Make that a dozen eggs, a quart of milk and 10 scoops of Bomber Blend... add a bunch of bananas and a jar of Mother Fletcher’s organic peanut butter... ice, lots of ice. Yeah, blend it. Thanks. Hurry!
You’ll be glad to know the vehicle is running and Laree is honking the horn. Time to go places south. Let’s explore, if you dare, the details of 'bulk to ripped' next time we get together.
We’d fly, but honestly, we don’t have a plane and our submarine is being nuclear retrofitted. So, it’s the roads in the ole M-1. Beep, beep.
God’s speed... Dave
Laree here...A few years ago during the middle of one of our road trips, we stopped at a market for a rotisserie chicken, some tomatoes and milk somewhere between Savannah and Charleston. A thick guy eyed Dave's arms up one aisle and down the next, and eventually stopped us in front of the dairy case to ask how Dave got such thin skin. Turns out he was getting ready for a contest and wasn't quite ready. Not even close. Here, it's right on topic -- read more.
You know Dave's famous as a tuna-and-water guy, right? Since he left you hanging this week, here's the first of a number of fishy Draper articles, and if you make it to the end, the link at the bottom will take you to more tuna treats.
Click here to see the other new pages of the website this week.
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