T minus 7

Here it is seven days out from the 2012 Jay Cutler Classic where my boy, my training partner Mr. Alex "Styling" Stylien will be competing in his 3rd competition.

Last year Alex competed at the NPC New Hamphire where he won the light heavy weight class and a week later at the NPC New England, a national qualifying show, were he takes 3rd in light heavy weights, now that's a real nice first year!

This time around, Alex brings a different package, he's bigger harder, fuller and with the same condition he brought to the stage last year. His chest and back have both come up and his legs are thicker then ever.

Alex has been working on his compulsory and his poses are looking spot on, he looks great in everyone of them

Keep it all the same for the final week and tweak just a little, to get rid of subcutaneous water and he should be stepping on stage right at 198, dry, hard, ripped and the one to beat!

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Just checking in

Workouts are going real well, I really like the split we have going on right now. We just recently changed it to incorporate dead lifts back in again, to work the legs a second time for the week.

So we broke it down like this, Monday is back and triceps. I like this combination, because after training Back my arms feel warmed up from all that stretching and pulling and really helps minimize elbow pain, plus I like having blood in my bicep, when I'm training triceps.

Wednesday we dead lift and do shoulders and traps. (we train calves, forearms and abs every workout) Man, I got to tell you, after dead lifting and then training shoulder and traps, your whole body is pumped, I am really liking Wednesday's workouts. We start with regular dead lifts for 5 or 6 sets, then end with 3 sets of Sumo's and then 4 or 5 sets of legs curls and calves, before we hit shoulders and traps and forearms, the next few days I feel so thick.

Friday is chest and biceps, tried and true, it's always a nice combination and Saturdays is legs the ultimate favorite day.
Alex just past his five weeks out mark, sitting around 208. Next weekend he heads out on weeks vacation and when he returns, it will be three weeks out from the Jay Cutler and two weeks out from the NPC Vermont, which he just recently decided to jump into as a warm up to the Jay
Alex looks good, you can see the improvements from last year. Just in the way he holds his poses now, makes his physique look that much better and with the added muscle he put on from last year, he will be the one to beat
I will probably start dieting May. That will put me just around 11 weeks out. right now I am waking up around 225 and I am probably under 8% body fat. I think I'll be at my best this year around 213. Last year at the Masters nationals, I looked the best at 210, I figure 3 more pounds is about accurate to bring that same condition or better to the stage
Here are a couple recent pictures of Alex. This was taking this past Mondays after training back and tri's at the Arlington Gold's

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You just never know

I did a Google image search on my name Rob Costarelli,  just to see what pictures where out there of me, you just never know. There were ones that said "you" at the bottom of the picture and it wasn't me, but that is just technology in the making. The more we tell it to remember, the more it will try and do for us, even if we don't want it to. The more we tell it our lives, the more it will try to decide for us, but that's another topic, one that I care not to talk about. This is about finding cool pictures of yourself, that you didn't know about!

I found pictures from the 2011 Masters National, which I think are the best ones yet from that competition. I'm real happy to get my hands on these. My Facebook friends and fans can contest to that, with all my recent photo adds, I've been posting all over the place. Speaking of my AlwaysABodybuilder fan page, I happy to say I just broke over 500 Friday and it's 505 today.

Here are some cool ones from USAMuscle... The three with the black back drop where taken Friday night during weigh in and the one pumping up, was just before I went out on stage to compete in pre-judging Saturday

 

Training is going real well, my shoulder feels a lot better and I'm able to flat bench again. Alex it starting to look freaky again, being 9 weeks out from the Jay Cutler, he's right where he needs to be, he will kick some ass!  I have until April 15th before I start kicking it in gear. Right now I'm waking up at 226-228 and feeling pretty lean, which is how I like to run

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Oil change and lube

Training is going really well, despite my shoulders that hurt all day long, which caused me to back off a little in terms of intensity and weight on certain exercises. This last week, my shoulders are feeling better, I wonder if it's just growing pains for the most part. I know I hurt my shoulder 6 weeks ago doing shoulder presses, followed by single rep dead lifts two days later that left me feeling like my shoulder blades just pulled right off me. What a feeling that was, YIKES!

That was pretty much when the shoulder pain started all day long especially while sleeping. I guess some injuries do take longer to heal as we get older. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I do feel much better. I'll know more after tomorrow's chest and shoulders work out.

If you haven't seen the documentary Bigger Stronger Faster, you should. It is about steroid usage in America and it can be a real eye opener for some in many aspects. It doesn't "weigh you in" in either direction, as to approve of steroids or not.

In this documentary there is a professor named Doctor Skip Pope whom they interview to get his opinion on the subject of steroids in America

Doctor Pope was recently granted money to perform a study on Steroids and the Heart. (this is what he does, research studies) Do steroids cause heart attacks?

Skip needs 150 men between the ages of 35 to 55, who lift weights and have used steroids, have never used steroids or have tried them and no longer use them.

I went to his office for a consultation that lasted an hour and a half. He asked me a series of questions about my life, my training, my drugs, prescription, recreational, enhancements.  (I guess this is the good time to mention, this is 100% confidential, you're a number in the study, not a name.)

At the end, I got a check for $125 and found out I weighed 228 pounds and had 8.5% body fat with a Fat Free index of 30 and this qualified me for the next testing, which would  happen on a Thursday morning at Mass General Hospital and which I would be given a physical, a heart ultra sound (that was cool) while lying in the bed pedaling, under a stress test. a CAT scan, where they check my arteries with contrast, a dye that they push through your arteries, after they give you nitrogen under the tongue to dilate them.

Sounds like fun right?  I gave up about 9 big vials of blood and 4 small ones. This was $9000 worth of testing and I was pretty excited to get this done. I haven't had the chance to speak to Doctor Pope yet about the results, as it was just this Thursday, he said by the end of next week the results will be in

To think I got paid for this! Normally, I would never had these test done to me unless I had a problem, which in some cases might be too late, and on top of all this, got paid $400

Funny thing about my shoulder pain is that it definitely changed after Thursday, maybe with all that blood drawing and having my artery flushed with saline a few times to make sure the IV was good, it was like having an oil change and lube, maybe that was all I needed... they do feel better!

If anyone would like to get involved with this study and get $9000 worth of testing done on you and get paid  $525 to do it, please feel free to call Doctor Skip Pope at (617) 855-2911. Skip's a real nice guy and has a great staff working with him Give him a call and tell him Rob Costarelli sent you.

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Three of me

A friend of mine sent me an ad on Craigslist of a modeling agency looking for 40+ year old bodybuilders. The Gedney Agency http://www.thegedneyagency.com/home/home.html  has been around since 1948 where they started in Bedford MA and since has locations in Connecticut and New York. Their recently starting a new project called the Creative a Age of Bodybuilding for 40+  Men and Women


I traveled Fairfield CT, where they are now based out of, for a two hour interview and met with Craig W. Shoop. Craig is their lead recruiter, a great last name and great guy too. We talked about what they are looking for and what they are all about and how right around the Pumping Iron era they decided to look more towards how bodybuilding and fitness modeling, can work together and how Bodybuilders are not one demoniacal and can be seen in different ways. 


Craig was a runway model before he started recruiting, he has also judged in bodybuilding competitions. Craig spent six months in California living up close to bodybuilders, learning what it takes to be one, learning their lifestyle, to help complete his thesaurus on The Psychology Bodybuilding


Gedney wants their models to be like a role model to the public, showing them that "it doesn't end in the gym" and that bodybuilding is a lifestyle and how Bodybuilding and Fitness modeling can be seen as one.


The pay is $250 to $1000 a job, they get 20% and the jobs range from runway work, to trying on a shirt so a potential customer can see how it looks before they decide to buy it, or maybe sitting on a couch for another customer... nothing nude, which is nice to hear.


Craig needs to bring my information to the board to see if I'm what they are looking for. Craig referred to me as a signature model because of how I live the life of a bodybuilder and write about it in my blog, that he has read and was impressed. Basically saying, that he wishes he met me when he started this bodybuilding/fitness modeling venture. Craig said, he has talked to so many bodybuilders throughout the years, but no one has every explained things so simply as I do in my blog


During this time, I need to think about if it's right for me... and I'm learning towards no... and one main reason is, I'm a bodybuilder and I'm trying to become a pro in the sport of bodybuilding. When your a model you need to always be a model, which means you need to be close to contest condition all the time, although I do grow when I diet for a competition, it's a lot different if you are always like that. I would not be growing at my full potential, by maintaining that condition year round. 


Craig called me back as he said he would and we talked for about an hour. He told me, that Gedney wants me on board and feels I'm a fit for what they are looking for. He had 6 interviews that week and I was one of the two hired.


I immediately told him my concerns and he came up with a great idea. Instead of them making a portfolio of one look of me, lets make the portfolio have three different looks of me. It will take a little longer the make, but in the long run, I will be more marketable and, in a sense, I'll have three times more of change to get picked for a job. 


I like this idea a lot and this will give me the opportunity to continue on my way growing and competing for that pro card and still give me a chance to venture into something new to make a few extra bucks.


The three looks I will give Gedney are, the lean clean look (which he just saw) the big and ripped looked, which I am most of the time during the year and the shredded contest look, which they will see when I win the Masters Nationals this year 


I still have a few good years to make some serious gains and cause some damage in the world of bodybuilding and until I'm done competing, I'm going to continue to grow and growing takes eating and eating and more eating and when I'm done growing and competing, I will just get in the best shape of my life and maintain that condition as long as my body allows it. But until then, you get three of me!


If anyone is interested in the world of modeling, please feel free to call on Craig at 203-913-8214, tell him you heard about him from Alwaysabodybuilder




Legs today GONE tomorrow!




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I never miss a scheduled workout

I'm often asked if I take any time off from training after competition. I find I can really get some great muscle gains following a competition. Especially if I was restricting my calories and fats for so long. With all the sugars and good fats and added calories back in, you really get some sick workouts. But if your feeling like taking a day off and missing a workout, cause your so burnt, then you should plan for a week off, it's time for a vacation

I do plan a vacation, at least one, if not, two weeks a year from bang the weights and I think the week leading up to Christmas is a perfect time to take a vacation.

This is also the perfect time to change up the split. I usually run a routine for as long as I can remember, then change it when the time is right

I want to train arms together for a while again. I love having a bicep pump when I'm training Triceps, having a full bicep give the triceps a nice stretch.

Putting Arms together causes us to separate Shoulders to make it work. On Mondays when we hit chest, we will hit front and side Delts with a press and laterals. On Wednesday when we hit Back, then we will do rear Delts and Traps, and on Friday we do Arms and Saturday Legs, which is nice only training Arms the night before you got Legs in the morning

Alex and I hit Natick today for legs. We ran it in reverse, staring with the Donkey machine, (I love that machine!) Then legs curls, dumbbell stiff legs, legs press, hack, ending with extensions

After vacation it will be one week before it's time to get ready for a new year. Alex has his sites set on the Jay Cutler in May. He's going to start dieting early so he can go on vacation 3 weeks out, in Carbo. I like his thinking... treat the first day in Carbo like contest day, get shredded for that day. Then take a week off, enjoy your vacation (in shape), then when you come back, you have two weeks to dry back out again!

I'm thinking about the Arnold Amateur the first week in March, but I'll have a better idea come the first of the year, then it will be the 8 week out from contest and I'm about weeks out right now from contest.

But I don't know, wife has sometime to that weekend, so my son would have to go to my Mom's.. It can be done, it will just need a little juggling.

I guess If my buddy Craig Torres does it and we can drive 12 hours over together, I'd be more tempted

Here we are at the Masters Nationals this year, where we both took 7th place in our class


What I do know is I'm definitely doing the Master National come July... unless of course I do do the Arnold and win! :)

In the mean time, time to grow!

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12 week transformation

When I was preparing to compete this year at the Master Nationals, I took daily ab shots every morning. Here are the weekly ab shots starting at 12 weeks out, up to the show

12 weeks out from the 2011 Masters National, first day of dieting weighing 230

11 weeks out

10 weeks out

9 weeks out

8 weeks out

7 weeks out

6 weeks out

5 weeks out

4 weeks out

3 weeks out

2 weeks out

2 days out weighing 210

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