I used to be against bench pressing at the gym, but I’m starting to do it more often now. It really is the king of chest workouts and it does work your chest pretty hard. I’ve been doing bench pressing on the Smith machine though, since I don’t have a workout partner to spot me. That’s what the Smith machine is for so you can do that stuff without a spotter. I feel that my chest is getting a little bigger every time I walk out of the gym on chest days. On chest days, I only go to the Greenwich Y to do a couple of quick chest workouts, maybe like 2 or 3 workouts. On chest days, my workouts are: push ups with the floor grips, bench press, dumb bell chest press on floor, and cable cross overs. Sometimes I’ll do decline dumb bell flies when I want to do something different.

After each chest work out days, my chest will feel a little sore for the next few days, which is good. You want to make them feel sore. Remember the old saying at the gym? “No pain, no gain”, you hear it all the time. I follow the “No pain, no gain” rule when going to the gym. If you’re not feeling a little sore, then you’re not getting enough muscle in.

I’m doing my very best to get a bigger chest. People expect me to have a bigger chest so it can look right with the rest of my body, but people need to realize that getting big muscle gains don’t happen over night. It’s a long process, muscle building. I’m not going to look like those guys you see in the movies and magazines, yet, but people should be happy to what I have now. I came a long way already. I’ve only been doing this for a little over 3 years now, getting a big chest will take longer than that.

Maybe in the next several years, I will start to look like an actual bodybuilder then. It is my dream to get that physique that everyone wants, it just takes time. Benching is pretty useful and helpful.

Kev

When talking about the Mr. Olympia competition, some of you may ask, will I ever look like that? Will I ever get the similar physiques that the pros have? Will I ever look like Phil Heath, Jay Cutler, or Flex Wheeler? The answer is no. While I do respect the pros, I’ll never look like that.

I do want to have a massive body someday, but not that big. I’m never going to compete. Never been my thing, I’ve said that before. I do respect the competition industry though.

My goal is that I want to look like how Sly Stallone looked back in the Rambo days. He was pretty massive back then. It’ll take years of hard work, but I’ll get there. I’ll do it.

Kev

Some of you may wonder why I haven’t really posted full body progress shots of my fitness, showing off my legs and everything else. Well in order for me to take pics like that, I’ll have to be wearing nothing but underwear or something. That’s what most bodybuilders do when they post their progress pics online.

I’ll get to pics like that sometime in the future but not at this time. When I’m ready, I”ll post full body progress pics. I already do take pics like that, I won’t make them public.

I don’t do progress pics for attention or just to admire myself, there’s a reason people do progress pics, just to see how you’re improving in your goals. Photos are important. We don’t do it for nothing.

I feel that my legs especially my quads has gotten pretty big. I’d like to show them off again but when I’m ready.

Kev

I used to like alcohol. Beer, hard liquor, wine, etc. Whatever. I was never an alcoholic, however, I was just an occasional drinker. I used to drink only when I hung out with friends or go to a local band show. I had to give up the alcohol completely because I was getting into fitness full time.

What I don’t get is that a lot of people think drinking and partying it up a storm, is fun. I mean, really? Getting drunk is fun? In my opinion, no. I am tired of seeing facebook status’s of people posting they’re going out drinking to have fun or they post things like, “I’m drunk from that party I went to earlier”. You get the deal.

You see all kinds of people from 30’s – 50’s partying hard and getting wasted. The way I look at it, is that they all party like teens in high school. Hey, I’ll admit it, I used to be part of the partying crowd a long time ago, but I stopped the partying lifestyle. It’s not my thing anymore. The reason I got into partying in the past ’cause I wanted to feel like everyone else and be part of the crowd, hoping to make some friends and stuff.

Drinking will only get you into trouble. It’s no wonder a lot of people are assholes and have bad attitudes. Part of that comes from their drinking habits.

There are better and healthier ways to have fun that doesn’t involve drinking alcohol at all. I can find plenty of things to do that I can have fun doing that doesn’t involve drinking. Things I love to do other than bodybuilding/fitness: Playing the guitar, going to the movies, travelling, reading, playing video games, writing,  and things like that.  Those are fun things to do that doesn’t involve drinking.

Going to a shithole bar or a crap house party with a bunch of people you don’t know, what fun is that? You’ve probably don’t even remember most of people you met the next day because you’ve been drunk off your ass. You either wake up with hangovers or with your head over the toilet bowl. You call that fun?

A lot of times when I go to some party or a local band show, I have refused so many drink offers from other people. A lot of people would look at me with a disappointed look on their face like, “You’re done drinking for good, huh?”

I don’t party anymore. I am proud of the hobbies and activities I do daily.

Still though, nothing wrong with having a few drinks every now and then, but I won’t even do that either. Alcohol and fitness don’t mix. I can’t touch alcohol anymore. Not good for the muscles and the body.

I still go to house parties and local band shows once in a while, but I only drink water, no alcohol for me at all. I just enjoy the company of other people.

Kev

When you get into fitness, the better shape you become, the more jealous people get of you. It’s crazy, knowing from my own experience. The last thing I want, is for people to be jealous of me. I hope to inspire people to change their lifestyles and get into fitness like me.

How can you tell when people are jealous?

Well, they’ll laugh at ya a little and make a little joke about it. Sometimes people don’t say anything at all and just stare, looking at you with those “jealous” eyes. Sometimes some people even attack ya. In the world of fitness, you’re going to be surrounded by jealousy. That’s just the way it is.

Don’t let it get to ya. If you want to be successful at your fitness dreams, you can’t let jealousy of other people bring you down. When people are jealous of you, it can actually be a good thing. It can help let you know that you are in good shape and people can’t take it. It kills them that they are not in good shape themselves.

I just want to help promote fitness and help get other people get into it. All people want to do these days is drink alcohol and have a bad nutrition. I’ll have another topic on alcohol tomorrow.

Kev

The pic above was taken a long time ago, maybe several months ago, not sure.

The pic below was taken just now….

Notice the difference? I think I’m doing okay.

Kev

Edit to add: Since I gave up drinking Whey Protein powders, I’m glad I did. I just eat really clean. If you have a good nutrition, you don’t need supplemental products to build muscle. I gave up Protein Powders and shakes, I still seem to be building muscle pretty good here.

Some people often wonder how much I do ab exercises. Like crunches, planks, etc. The truth is. I only do ab workouts, like once every other week now. You don’t really need to do ab exercises at all, because everyone has abs. You just need to lower the body fat so they can show. I concentrate on eating right and doing plenty of cardio to get abs. Either jogging or biking are my choices of cardio. People waste too much time doing ab workouts when they should be concentrating on eating good and cardio. That’s how you get a six pack. The abs are just like every other muscle, you don’t want to over train them.

I still have some body fat to shred off and trying the best I can, so my abs can really show good. They can show pretty good now, but I need to get a lot leaner. Strict eating is the only way to get abs. There’s no other way around it.

I haven’t checked my body fat percentage yet. The last time I checked, it was 16%, but that was several months ago. I’m hoping I’m a little lower than that now. I got to order one of those skinfold caliper things online sometime. My goal is to get under 10%. That’s when you’re considered to be lean.

Kev

I know my muscular physique gets mixed opinions, but I’m okay with that. It’s just that when you get into bodybuilding, people will expect you to look like those guys you see in the muscle magazines. I do want to get big as I possibly can but I’m never going to be perfect like those guys. I’m never going to be perfectly tanned like Mike “the Situation” or Taylor Lautner or any of that shit.

It’s funny. In the world of fitness, people talk a lot about Mike “The Situation” and Taylor Lautner online. Men want to look like those guys, but honestly, “The Situation” and Lautner are both fake anyway. I’m sure they don’t even look like that in real life. Celebrity men can be just as fake as celebrity women. Sorry but it’s true.

It’s better to look natural. Like I said before, you can still look hot and sexy for the women, but just in a natural kind of way. I like natural bodybuilding. A lot of men get into bodybuilding because they are hoping to look good for the ladies. That is great, yes, but what about enjoying the life of looking healthy and feeling healthy? That’s what it should be about, in my opinion.

Fitness shouldn’t be about looking great. It should be about feeling great and feeling happy. Yes, I want to get a great looking body like most people but this takes time. I’ve been only been doing this for three years now and it will take many more years to get the look that I want.

I do have low bodyfat but I can get lower and I’m trying. Been eating the best I can and doing plenty of cardio daily. I do have a pretty decent six pack going, but it still needs a little more work. So I still have plenty of work to do in order for everyone to give me positive feedback on. It takes time.

I will post new progress pics soon. Probably sometime next week. I love fitness. Other than music, fitness is my second passion in life and proud of it.

Kev

I haven’t wrote about fitness here in a while so I thought I would do that now. Some of you may ask, how much bigger do I plan on getting? This is my 3rd year doing fitness now, yes, that’s right, 3 years of bodybuilding and already off to a great start. I’m getting great results so far, I think. The only things I need to get improved on are the pecs and obliques, and I am working on both. I used to never want to get big as possible, just a medium sized built, but now I’m thinking I’m going to get as big and muscular as I possibly can. It’s going to take me years to do but I’m going to do it I think.

I will never compete in a bodybuilding competition ’cause I don’t want that kind of ego. I believe I can do it. Get the Sly & Arnold look that I am hoping to aim for. Two guys that inspired me to get into this in the first place. Become the best shape of my life sometime in the future. I will never give this up. This will be a lifelong commitment. I just want the look for myself. Be happy, healthy and getting a better life.

I’ll post end of the summer progress pics soon.

Kev

It’s true. That’s all I ever want to be is a happy person these days, so I’m doing my very best to keep my life as positive as possible. Life is too short to be around negativity. Well, there you go, there’s another reason right there, why I got into fitness & bodybuilding. It’s a good stress reliever. Exercise and fitness helps you get away from the negative things in your life. If you get too much drama & bullshit in your life, fitness will make you feel happier. It really does work. Bodybuilding takes your mind away from everything else.

Yes, there are still negative people and haters online, that will try their best to put me down, but notice how quickly I brush all that off? It’s because I don’t have time for negativity anymore. I want to concentrate on positive things from this point on. That’s why you’ve been seeing me being a positive person as of late.

Karma is the word. You do or say bad things, bad things will happen to you. If you do happy & positive things, good things will happen to you. I choose to be a good person because I choose to be that way. Of course, there will always be some people that think I’m a badguy, but I don’t have the time to care.

I’m just being myself and being who I want to be. Bodybuilding sure did made me a different person. It made me a more confident and stronger person.

Kev