I started training with weights 10 years ago, as a freshman in high school. Over the past decade, it's been a slow, steady and safe progression, and I am constantly learning new things about training, eating and living. I've been reading FLEX the entire time, and I attribute my greatest gains within the past three years to reading the magazine.
During college, for motivation, my roommates and I watched Pumping Iron religiously before our training sessions; it played up to three times daily, as our schedules didn't allow the three of us to train together. I was 6' and 140 pounds when I started training, 155 pounds with 13" arms when I graduated high school in 2000, and I now weigh 200 pounds, have 17 1/2" arms, a chiseled six-pack and less than 6% bodyfat--that's year-round.
One former roommate/gym partner is now an international mortgage trader, and the other is a CPA. I'm currently a ship's mate, and my career goal is to become a police officer and a certified personal trainer. The wealth of knowledge we've acquired from your magazine has helped us attain our physical goals in the gym, and also to parlay those mental strengths to succeed in the world.
There is one tenet of the sport of bodybuilding that I follow religiously and put first in my training regimen: proportion. I believe that of the three criteria of judging--size, symmetry and proportion--the latter has been all but forgotten by pros and judges alike. My father grew up idolizing the likes of Dave Fake Rolex Ladies Watches Draper, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ed Corney, and he instilled their beliefs in me when, a decade ago, I blew the dust off his 30-year-old weights. Wide upper body, muscular (not freaky and unnatural) vascularity, a tiny waist (even at rest), proportional legs and the ability to vacuum pose are, to me, the epitome of the traditional bodybuilder, the stereotype of the Greek Adonis.
Although the freaky mass of today's pros is amazing, it has lost its appeal to all but fellow mass monsters. To me, a bodybuilder should look ripped and in shape, with size that's due to a readily apparent immense quantity of muscle even when fully clothed. Many pros these days appear to be large, uncut, blobby masses. Their guts and waists do nothing to dispel this appearance. Proportion has been lost. Put a vacuumed Arnold next to Ronnie Coleman and you'll see what I mean. I have a 55" chest, a 31" waist without sucking in, and when I perform a vacuum pose, I measure less than 5" from lower back to navel!
I have made my greatest gains by eating and training right, pure and simple. I love your magazine and plan to continue my subscription for many years to come; without it, I would not have discovered the Doggcrapp training philosophy [see "A Load of Doggcrapp," September 2006 FLEX], which I love. It induced new growth in otherwise-plateaued muscles, and after only three weeks I saw marked improvements in strength and muscle character. As far as pros, my personal favorite in the sport is the giant-killing David Henry.
Thanks for helping set in motion the wheels of transformation that turned this one-time meek, 140-pound boy novice into the 200-pound, steady-as-a-rock, self-confident figure I am today. I've enclosed photos in case I'm lucky enough to make it into the magazine. Thank you for your time, keep up the good work, and keep training hard!
JOSH HUBBARD
embroidered patches
LONG ISLAND, NY
Props for your appreciation of classic proportion and for having the work ethic to attain it, year-round. Your pictures are proof that hard work, day in and day out, pays off.
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