Category Archives: Musclemania
Fitness America Results
Backstage at Fitness America
Nothing like half naked photos to hook readers into a blog post right?
Normally, we like to keep our posts, articles, and this site in general, geared towards educational content that you can apply in your own life to achieve your health and fitness goals. But a lot of our friends and family have been asking us how our competition went (we really do appreciate that support by the way).
So unfortunately, this blog post is all about us, us, us. Sorry, we promise we’ll get back to some more meaningful and useful content in the next installment. But for now, some fitness ridiculousness:
Musclemania Blog Post
Hey everyone, I updated my blog on Musclemania.com, but people were telling me they were having problems accessing it. So I figured I copy and post it here, in case you were interested. Here it is in full:
Musclemania Blog Post 10.28.11
Its been awhile since we last had a chance to hang out and catch up, so hey, aloha, what’s up? Hope all is well with you. We’ve had a lot going on since the summertime, here is the Sportscenter-style recap:
1. Kalai and I officially entered the Model Division of the Fitness America Weekend.
I had planned on competing in the Musclemania Division, but we’ve been getting a ton of work as fitness models. The funny thing is I never got any damn work until my wife came around – so its probably more about her talent than anything. I just get to tag along, carry her bags, and sneak into a few photos 
. Regardless, I figured I see what the model show is all about. Besides, I get bored easily. That’s why I have the whole bodybuilding, pro wrestling, capoeira, rock band history thing going on. I like to try new things, and the model show will definitely be new for me. But I’ll be prepared. I’ve hired Derek Zoolander as my coach, and he’s been showing me both the Blue Steel and Blue Magnum poses.
2. We had the tremendous opportunity to partner with a start-up company out here in Silicon Valley called GainFitness.
(GainFitness photoshoot w/ Nate and wife Kalai Diamond)
Dude, these guys are going to change the fitness industry. They want to become sort of the I-tunes of fitness, and they definitely have the technical skills, network, and business savvy to pull it off. Essentially, they have/are creating computer algorithms, mobile apps, and downloadable workouts to provide personal training-style guidance, program design, and workout progressions at a much more affordable price. This is going to make DVD’s that don’t customize the workouts to the individual obsolete. The cool thing is they tapped us as their lead models/talent for their platform and product launch. I’m glad we got in with them now before they blow up in the industry and become big time!
3. My first book was published, The Samurai Diet: The Science & Strategy of Winning the Fat Loss War.
(The Samurai Diet book cover)
I started writing a regular column for a fitness/strength training magazine about a year ago. It gained popularity, the articles got a ton of hits, and then people started asking me if I was ever going to write a book. The thing is, I had been working on a book for years. The audience demand (previously I thought if I wrote a book, my wife, my five brothers/one sister, and I would be the only ones reading it) was just the pressure I needed to finally “get ‘er done”. Here’s the link to its Amazon page if you want to check it out: The Samurai Diet.
Alas, you grow tired of my blabbing, belly-aching, and the guillotine choke I’ve had on your time. I’ll post up again before the show with an update of our current condition.
Thanks a ton for the support over the years. Take care!
Fake Tans, Fitness Events, & Photo Shoots
My wife and I just got back from a whirlwind, fitness extravaganza weekend down in L.A. We wanted to update our family and friends with all that went down during our “business” trip. In honor of my favorite show — Sportscenter — here is a top 5 countdown.
#5. Kalai competed in her first ever fitness/bikini show. She placed 3rd. I was able to sneak out from backstage and watch her from the crowd. She looked frickin’ amazing. People in the audience could not believe that she is 38 years old. I overhead a group of women next to me say they thought she was 23.
The best part about it is that she reached this shape in a sane, reasonable way. Nothing extreme. Apparently, there were never-ending tales backstage about women who had done 2+ hours of cardio a day, dieted on starvation level calories and/or no carbs (and are unknowingly destroying their metabolism, hormonal profile, and setting themselves up for a huge weight rebound), and had pretty much given up all semblance of a normal life for months in exchange for a few minutes of prancing around onstage. Crazy huh? One woman was incoherent backstage because she had not had anything to eat or drink for over 36 hours. Is that chasing glory or battling a different kind of eating disorder?
Kalai plans on writing about her training and diet leading up to the show. I can follow through with the science behind this process. There are so many myths and misinformation (especially regarding the female body composition transformation process) in the industry, its time to set the record straight using both science AND practical experience. Either alone is meaningless.
#4. I placed 6th in my weight-class, just out of the top 5. It seemed that this time around the judges preferred size a little bit more then definition. That’s cool. People asked if I was pissed? No way, how can you get mad over a sport based on subjective opinion. Some like apples, some like oranges, it’s all good. Here’s a link to the line-up, you can be the judge: Ironman Naturally lightweight comparisons (The tallest dude, 5th from left-to-right, with the maroon panties — I mean posing trunks).
#3. Our photo shoot the next day was the true highlight of our trip. We worked with Natalie Minh, an LA-based photographer who has shot for a lot of the major fitness magazines. She was great, and the shoot was a lot of fun. She was patient and encouraging with our rookie-asses. She definitely thinks we have potential as fitness models, especially with the whole couple’s angle, and thinks we should focus more on that than bodybuilding/fitness competitions. Kalai and I agreed; besides, we enjoyed the photo shoot so much more than the show.
She was very impressed with Kalai and mentioned that she will be submitting some of the photos to mainstream fitness magazines. In other words, Kalai is going to be a fitness star, I’m just along for the ride. Cool with me. Kalai can motivate, we both can educate. We’ll put up some of the shots when we get them in a separate blog post.
#2. 2011 plans. We plan on spending the first half of the year launching our new website/blog and helping share what we’ve learned about the physique transformation process with our family, friends, and clients. Can’t wait. I think we’re one of the few out there in the industry that can back up our advice with science and practical experience. Athletes with IQ’s, trainers/nutrition advisors with real world, practical experience — crazy!
At the end of the year, we plan on doing the Musclemania World fitness model show. Like I said, we are going to start focusing more on that route than the bodybuilding/figure competitions. Should be some good exposure and movement in that direction. Is this the next fitness couple (maybe I need to wear some heels)?
#1 The L.A Fitness Expo was packed and crazy — bodybuilding, powerlifting, arm wrestling, sumo wrestling, mma, magazines, supplements, equipment. It was definitely a cool site, but there are only so many fake tans, fake smiles, and fake tits you can take (yeah dudes, I know that last comment sounds crazy but trust me, after awhile you just want some semblance of normalcy).
We want to say thanks a lot for the support you’ve given us through this time. We hope to return the favor with content that helps you reach your goals.
Musclemania Contest Prep on Bodybuilding.com
I competed in Musclemania America 2009 after a five-year hiatus. Check out my article on Bodybuilding.com to learn how I trained for the comeback. I learned some valuable lessons from the process that have influenced what I am doing for my upcoming contests.
A Secret You Shouldn’t Keep
I’ve always told people that if you have a goal, you need to tell people about it. The more people you tell the better, but you need to share your goal with at least one other person. Why? Because this holds you accountable to pursuing and achieving that goal. If you keep your goals a secret, you have no one to call you out when you are slacking off or falling off track. It’s too easy to just forget about your goal when the going gets tough.
By not telling anyone about your goal, you automatically give yourself a way out. If you quit and give up, no one knows that you were even chasing after something. And more importantly, no one knows that you failed. You can just start over again with no real consequences. At least if you tell someone and you bail out, you’ll have to deal with the questions of what happened.
I’m not a lot of things in this life. I have many faults and shortcomings. But one thing I know that I am is a man of my word. If I tell someone about my goal, than I’d be breaking my word if I didn’t chase after it. That’s not going to happen. This motivates me to follow through 100% with the goals I’ve set. I may still fail, but once I tell someone I’m going after something, I will never fail because I didn’t give it my best shot.
So, I’m going to put myself out there and tell all of you about the immediate goal that I have. Read the rest of this entry
Reading, Writing and Photographs
Well, lots of exciting stuff has happened since my last post. Here’s what’s going on:
1. I got my first article officially published. Bodybuilding.com picked up one of my nutrition articles, set up a cool bio page for me, and asked me to regularly write two articles a month. I’m excited because I’ve been a huge fan of this site for years and it is great exposure — they get thousands of hits daily. Check them out!
2. I got the official, professional photos from my Musclemania America Contest from last year, finally! I’ve added them to the gallery section if you want to check them out.
3. There was a great article in the NY Times about the importance of diet for fat loss. It basically reinforces what I’ve been preaching for years — exercising is ineffective for fat loss unless you have a solid nutrition plan to back it up. Read it here.
Okay, I’m working on a few new articles and should have them up for next time.
Take it easy,
Nate
Musclemania America 2009 Wrap-Up
The 2009 Fitness America Weekend has come and gone, and it was an incredible experience. In previous posts you read about my preparation leading up to the big show. I’m happy to say I accomplished my goal of winning the open bantamweight championship. Now before you get too excited for me, I have to qualify that statement with an asterisk — there were no other bantamweight competitors in the division this year. But a win is a win nonetheless, and to have a prestigious title like Musclemania American Champion next to my name is a huge resume-builder for my fitness career.
Here are some final thoughts, weekend highlights, and future plans:
Week 8 – Thank You’s and Best Wishes
One week away. All I can say is that I’m ready to rock. I’m pretty sure I’ll make the bantamweight class that I wanted to make (I weighed 148lbs yesterday first thing in the morning without eating), so there is not much more to say about my contest preparation.
Since this is the last entry, I thought I would thank the people who have helped me along the way. Although as competitors we stand on stage alone, there are always people who have supported us that deserve a ton of credit. In a writing forum like this, you really get to sit back and think about all of the things you should say, or want to say, to the people that are closest to you. Sometimes in person you just don’t get the right opportunity – you are too bashful, you can’t find the right words to express yourself, or the timing is not right.
If life really is all about the people around you and the friendships and connections you make, than I feel like I am a very lucky man. Without further ado, here are my random thoughts and thank you’s. If you don’t want to read about my personal support group, I understand, and won’t be offended if you click away to something else on this site. But hey, this is my blog, I’ll write about what I want to write about!
Week 7 – Two Weeks Left
Before business, here’s a little story for you.
I was practicing all of the mandatory poses at home and realized I had to get back to work. I changed and rushed out without cleaning up. My wife gets home that night before I do and sees my maroon posing trunks lying on the bed. She said for about 5 minutes she was freaking out wondering, “Who the hell’s panties are in my frickin’ bed?” Hah, glad she had calmed down and figured it out before I got home. Alright, for the last time for everyone who has been busting my balls – they’re not a Speedo, they’re not a thong, they’re not panties, they are POSING TRUNKS!!!
Well boys and girls, we’re just over two weeks away from Fitness America in Vegas. Anyone excited? If there were a 155 lbs. weight class, I’d say I was ready to go, but the only two options are 145 lbs. and 165 lbs. I’ve seen what a big and ripped Musclemania competitor looks like at 165 lbs., it is incredible. They can easily look 20 lbs. bigger. With that in mind I’ve decided my best chance at a strong showing is to head south to the Bantamweight Division (145 lbs). As a result, I still have a lot of work ahead of me in the next 2 ½ weeks.
Week 6 – Diet, Fake Tans, and Gelato
After checking out this blog a buddy of mine was giving me some crap. “Its cool and all”, he said, “but damn you need a tan!” Hah, no doubt. I’m lucky they make that fake tan in a bottle and Dream Tan stuff. For those of you haven’t competed before, Dream Tan is a skin dye you put on before you go on stage. The lights are so bright that you have to be super dark (beyond even a good natural tan) or your definition/cuts will get washed out. The dye basically looks like shoe polish. Its as weird as it sounds, but hey, its bodybuilding. What can you do?
I was in Maine Thurs-Mon for business and a little bit of fun. The timing wasn’t great because of the proximity to the show. When you have to travel, training is the easy part. You can always find a place to work out, or if worst comes to worst, you can do some modified bodyweight workouts. I found a cool, old school basement gym and had some great workouts. Being on a competition diet, however, can be somewhat of a challenge.
I packed a bunch of small baggies of rice so I had a clean source of carbs whenever necessary. I also packed some cans of salmon for a convenient protein source. That stuff sucks because it smells like cat food. When you pop it open everyone looks at you like you’re a weirdo, but it gets the job done. When we arrived we headed straight over to the local supermarket. I ordered some pre-cooked chicken breasts and grabbed some hardboiled eggs and vegetables from the salad bar. The few times we ate out I ordered fish with rice and/or veggies. The local Sushi joint congratulated us for coming twice in one day. It was a pain in the ass, but with less than a month, you can’t deviate from the game plan. Not even for Gelato.
My wife ordered this awesome gelato combination (chocolate/dulce de leche) from a local shop. She ate it all right in front of me, very slowly, as I squirmed and suffered. What’s up with that? We didn’t take the after picture where I was laughing and she was grimacing because her stomach hurt from all of that sugar. In all honesty though, my wife is my biggest supporter and I don’t know where I’d be without her.
I whine about having to travel a month before the show and then read blogs from guys like Sanya Amaya and Victor Montoya and feel like such a wimp. We all make sacrifices as fitness competitors, but these guys have persevered through incredible obstacles to achieve great success. All of the bloggers are great competitors and an inspiration to me, but especially these two. I wish you the best of luck.
Next week we’ll talk a little bit about Capoeira training for the stretch run. Until then, Happy Halloween.
natemiyaki
Kalai Diamond
