Fitness Facts

Just like as it is with any product or service based business, claims of being the “the best” run rampant in the sports supplement arena. Everyone makes the best sports supplements, just ask them. They're certainly not going to tell you they don't make the best supplements; that they're just the middle of the road, average, or the worst. They're all going to proclaim to be the best! But, as things stack up, there can only be one best. Everything else is not the best, in spite of plaintive claims to the contrary. Such is life. The problem attached to this lies in the details that caused a forfeiture of the number one supplement spot. If it was a close call and the difference between best and not the best was a split hair, then you'd probably have no problem using that product or service in lieu of the best one, for whatever reason. But, what about the supplement companies aiming for last place? Those who ride the industry's coattails, but aren't even trying. They proclaim to be the best, but in actuality are the worst. Rather than invest in good raw materials and/ or process, they put their money into marketing. They're not looking for the most important sale, they're looking for a sucker.  Even with laws that require truth in advertising, we all know that P.T. Barnum was right when he said, “there’s a sucker born every minute.” While none of us like to be played for a fool, it still happens to some people because they don’t take the time to check out what we’re being sold. From insurance to investments to healthcare products to political promises, you can clearly see that P.T. Barnum was on to something, there’s a lot of suckers out there. After I retired from competition, I knew I loved the sport far too much to walk away. I had to stay involved. I chose the supplement industry, not only because the timing was right, but also because I knew that if I employed the same work ethic that I did as a bodybuilder, to put out quality products at a fair price, that I knew would help people attain their physique goals, I knew I couldn't lose.   I soaked up every ounce of available knowledge to design products that I knew would help a great many athletes. Yet, people still told me I was crazy.  I was a small-timer out of New Jersey up against established multimillion-dollar companies and I couldn’t compete with that. They should have known better than to tell me such a thing - it only made me want to achieve that “impossible” goal even more. My attitude was, somebody has to be number one, it might as well be me. Now, 25 years later, Gaspari Nutrition has grown into one of the leaders in the supplement industry. Why? The obvious reason is that our products really work. I simply thought that if I was to make products better than anyone had ever done before and sponsor the unbiased, independent research to prove it, I couldn’t go wrong.  With all of the effort you put into building your physique, or improving your performance, trying to figure out which supplements are worth the investment shouldn’t be an added strain on your time. Every athlete should have access to the best supplements available. You should learn as much as you can, check the sources of your information, and the truth will reveal itself.  And that always leads to what I believe is the most important sale – the second one. When you buy a product and it does exactly what you hoped it would, or better, you tend to buy it again. You’re also likely to recommend the product to others. And, you’re probably going to try any new products that company makes. That being the case, I urge you to keep two words in mind: “independent research.” I have personally participated in the development and testing of every product we create. I even went so far as to earn certification from the National Institute of Sports Medicine. But, even that wasn’t good enough for me. So, what I started doing early in my company’s history, was funding area universities to conduct independent, scientific research on my products, so I could back up my claims with science. There’s a history of “snake oil” being sold in my industry and I wanted to rise above that. My goal is to not only provide high end nutritional supplements designed to help you achieve your goals, but I also want to give you a lot to think about. I don't want you to be one of P.T. Barnum's suckers. Your brain needs to be worked at least as hard as your body.  So, investigate for yourself what I’m telling you to do. If what worked for me needs to be fine-tuned for your physiology, feel free to make adjustments. You may not be interested in becoming an expert on sports nutrition. But, you do need to become an expert on what works best for you. There’s only one way to do that, investigate. Rely on credible research to narrow your search, but whatever products you choose, they have to work for you. That means, with confidence in potency and purity, you still have to use yourself as the lab rat and test everything!

A common saying we hear all the time is, “don't judge a book by its cover. In the sense of fairness, I suppose there's some truth to that, but, today, in this world, particularly in bodybuilding, appearances matter. Your appearance matters a lot because of what your appearance says about you.  This is especially true if you're a bodybuilder, including me. From the age of 13 on, I dedicated myself to maximizing my appearance: I built the biggest muscles possible with the most vascularity, symmetry and definition. I’ve gone so far as to take the body I built to the stage to be judge, not only by the bodybuilding judges, but also the general public in the audience and by being on magazine covers, videos and appearances. In so doing, one thing you learn early on as a bodybuilder is that not everyone says nice things about you. I have no problem with the fact that some people just don’t like big muscles. I suspect a few negative assessments likely come from people with just a little bit of jealousy. In addition to bodybuilding, appearance also matters in business. Because I have a supplement company focused on helping athletes, I don’t have the same requirements or standards of performance as a banker or lawyer—though every now and then I do have to put on a suit. When people I work with see me dressed up in a business suit they kid me and ask if I’m going to see a banker or going to a funeral? Back in the early days of launching my company either trip would have felt about the same!  No matter how you slice it, appearances matter.  Whether you're interviewing for a new job, trying to impress a particular member of the opposite sex, or a trip to the beach. How you present yourself can have a huge effect on your intended purpose, particularly if you're going to compete in a bodybuilding contest. Some people don't compete because they know they're not good enough to win, but, they're too cool to compete and lose. I took 6th in my first youth event and 5th in my first national event. You have to start somewhere and I’m proud of both of those finishes because I knew I presented myself well. The same goes in business. You have to look the part. I’m glad I’m not selling my supplements out of the back of my trunk anymore. But, there was noting wrong with it. I was proud of my product and it showed. The appearance was that I had quality products, at a fair price, and I believed in them with every fiber of my being. I couldn’t have gotten to where I am any other way. Remember, appearance can cut both ways. You can appear to be behind what you're doing 100%, knowledgable respectful and humble. Or, you can appear to be a dick. One is going to get you somewhere, the other isn't. Appearances matter. 

We live in a culture that can be very self-indulgent. There's a lot of lazy people who like things the easy way. Is it any wonder then that there is so much mediocrity in our world? Take health for example. Too many of us are lazy. This leads to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, poor mobility.  These conditions are rampant in America among both young and old alike. People want to blame fast food companies. But, they're only giving lazy people what we demand – the easy way. The blame lies in the mindset. If you choose to be unhealthy you will. By the same token, if you settle for mediocrity, that's all you'll get.  The gym is a fertile breeding ground for mediocrity. No one is going to get on you if you're not hitting it harder than you were yesterday. In fact, no matter how bad you're mired in mediocrity, you'll still get people who will say that what you're doing is incredible! But someone close to you knows better than to feel good about a so-so effort. It’s not your spouse or parent or best friend that isn’t going to be proud of you. That someone is you. If you're not making gains or not improving, it's probably time to do some honest self-assessment. Are you training your body like never before or are you settling for a mediocre workout, just going through the motions today the same as you did yesterday? You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. You can't improve performance without doing the work. I’m sorry, it’s not going to happen. No offense, but you’re insane if you think it works that way. I love the quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” The only thing I would add to that is to forget moving the hearts of others. Just stir your own heart. Deciding to go to the gym and doing a mediocre circuit on the exercise machines might be good enough for someone else. But what about you? If you settle for mediocre effort you'll get mediocre results, putting you as close to the bottom as you are to the top. Is that what you want? The surest way to kill your dreams is by giving a half-hearted effort. Giving less than your best only makes you feel bad about yourself. So, instead of striving and reaching higher, you lower the standards. If you shoot an arrow and then draw a circle around wherever it lands, I guess you can tell people you hit the bullseye. But someone knows you aren’t being true to yourself. And that someone is you. How do you rekindle a flame that has basically blown out? You can watch a movie like 300 or Gladiator or Braveheart or Remember the Titans. It will help fire you up. You can load your iPod with some great songs. All those things might help. But ultimately you're going to have to hit the gym and do exactly what you set out to do. You're going to have to go an entire day eating exactly what's prescribed. You're going to have to tell your friends you aren’t going clubbing because you have to catch a full eight hours of sleep. Success breeds success. Nothing feels better than doing exactly what you're determined to do—no matter how hard and painful it might be. In fact the harder it is the better you feel. The old adage is still true: No pain, no gain. “No excuses” is not a trite saying some overpriced shoe company is printing on their tank tops. It's a real mindset that must be lived - if you want to own an impressive physique or exact maximum performance. No one wants to hear excuses, and you sure as hell better not be telling any to the guy in the mirror. He doesn't want to hear them either. Be the guy that says “I can't complain,” When he's asked, “how you doing?” No one wants to hear complaints, excuses, and other meaningless drivel designed to justify your failure. If you lie to yourself enough eventually it becomes the truth. In the gym and in your mind, you have to be vicious. You have to be an animal. Period. They called me the “Dragon Slayer” because that's what I did. I came out of nowhere and stepped up into the pros swinging a battle axe. I slashed my way to the very top, slaying dragon after dragon – the absolute biggest and baddest monsters in the world – until I came up against the only dragon on the entire planet that could not be slain. Considering there's 7 Billion people on the earth, that's still pretty damn good.   I'm putting this so dramatically because it is. I didn't find myself at the top of the heap because I was endowed with freak genetics, packed on a 6'3”, 310 pound shredded frame. I got that way because I lived like you'd imagine a mythical dragon slayer to live. I got that way because I was fierce. Arnold Schwarzenegger once called me an animal for my work ethic. And that was in regard to my business acumen!  The secret to a stellar physique does not lie in a diet, or a workout program, a bottle of test, or your genetics. It lies in your brain. The more intensity you can focus on your training, diet, rest, cardio, posing, etc., the better you'll do. I didn't get to battle Lee Haney because I was the biggest and the baddest, I got there because I wouldn't settle for less. I was more of an animal that anyone else.  So, how do you start? It's really a pretty simple choice. You just look at today and empty your guts. Today.  That’s it. All you have to worry about is today. Do everything better and harder than you ever have before. Attack everything you do like a wild animal.  Do that and tomorrow will take care of itself. If you just worry about today, you'll quickly realize that ultimately, tomorrow is yesterday's today.    I was thinking I'd close with something inspiring and motivational, but I'm not going to. I don’t want to give you anything. I want you to go out and do whatever it is you are supposed to do today with your own determination and self-motivation. Don't settle - be an animal – don't settle for mediocrity. 

For a lot of bodybuilders, Arnold Schwarzenegger was their inspiration. A few of us though went for the underdog, Lou Ferrigno. I'll always admire Arnold, but Lou was who I wanted to look like, mainly because he was the Hulk, and what kid doesn't want to be the Hulk? As a young kid, I loved reading my older brother’s comic books. Captain America, Spider-Man, The Avengers, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Superman, The Green Lantern, Batman, Wolverine..... They were all great. But when I got to a comic that featured The Incredible Hulk, he was instantly my favorite character. He was the strongest of all the comic book characters and I wanted to be as big and as strong as the Hulk. There’s a reason the appeal of comic book figures is powerful and enduring for young boys. For many of us, they represented our first dreams about who we want become. And those characters are cool – the bigger their muscles the cooler they are. That's what boys want -to be big, strong and cool, like the Hulk. At least it was like that when I was a kid. Today..... Ughhh, don't get me started... Later, when I was about 12, I saw my first bodybuilding magazine. My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. All I could think was, this is  unbelievable. There are comic book characters in real life! These guys look like they have superhuman powers. They look like the Hulk! That's what I want to look like! There it was, I had proof right in front of my eyes that I could actually train my body and look like the Hulk. The Hulk on TV was played by Lou Ferrigno – a real live human bodybuilder. He was my inspiration from the world of fantasy from day one, (who, later on in my career, actually became my friend). The bodybuilders in the magazines personified that dream I had and proved to me that I actually could look like the Incredible Hulk.  As we grow up, people are always going to tell us to get our heads out of the clouds – stop day dreaming. It’s true we need to grow in responsibility and character with every passing year. We need to take care of business and look out for those people who matter most in our lives. But, I never grew out of daydreaming about the Hulk and achieving superhuman accomplishments. When our dreams die, so too do our aspirations to be better than we are now. I never got as big as Lou Ferrigno (No one did!), but Rich Gaspari, the businessman and the person, still grew pretty big because I never stopped dreaming.  If you ever get called a dreamer, say, “thank you,” because it's a compliment. Without dreamers, we'd have no innovation, exploration, discover, or accomplishment. Imagine our world with those things. So, dare to dream, just make it big, like the Hulk.

The surest way to get me to do something it to tell me I can't do it. It's been the greatest motivation my entire life. The second someone tells me you can't do that, I'm on fire to prove them wrong.  Bodybuilding included.  Growing up, I always knew I was loved and that my family had my back. That was a great feeling then and also later in life, when things weren’t going so great for me. I can’t thank my parents enough. But, just because my dad loved me doesn’t mean he was always easy to be around. He had his own bodybuilding program planned for me. It was called hard work in the trenches as a manual laborer. He was a brick and stonemason, so he certainly knew a fail proof system to get me strong. Now, I’m proud of my dad and don’t think of myself as being above manual labor— that’s just not what I wanted. I was mesmerized by the world of bodybuilding. When I first showed my dad the pictures of Lou, Arnold, Franco, Samir, and others to explain why I was eating a dozen eggs and drinking a whole gallon of milk each day, his immediate response was “you can’t do that.” When he found out I was sneaking into the weight room at Rutgers University, all he said to me was “you can’t do that.” When I left Rutgers just short of graduating, to pursue my dream of being a bodybuilder in California, the capital of the bodybuilding world, once again he said to me, “you can’t do that.” The problem for my dad was that he raised me to be independent, to take chances—and to work hard. So his words didn’t discourage me and obviously I didn’t agree with his opinion. I can honestly say that him telling me, “you can’t do it,” was a great motivator. I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t trying to get back at him. But, I did want to prove him wrong. I wanted him to be proud of me. And, I succeeded in that endeavor. When I turned professional and writers and other competitors said I couldn’t become a champion because I was too small, I have to admit part of my motivation was to prove them wrong. I never wasted much emotional energy on it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get any satisfaction from hearing people who said I couldn’t succeed, have to explain how I did it. Motivation can come from a number of different directions. Most importantly and best of all, is when it's internal and tied to your own dreams and goals. We all need the extra boost of motivation we get once in a while from an encouraging word from a coach, a boss, a parent, a friend, or a competitor. I’m sure you can think of someone who's had that kind of impact in your life. Don’t forget to return the favor and encourage others. The good news is we can turn any negativity that comes our way into a motivational tool. I grew up when dads let the belt do their talking. Fear of punishment definitely motivated me. Today, a rebuke, a bad performance review at work, a low grade on a test, someone mouthing off to you - so called experts today shudder at the very thought of such negative confrontations. They are terrified it’s going to ruin your self-esteem and short circuit healthy development. Too many people believe the experts and settle for mediocrity rather than challenge someone to do better. What it comes down to is this: the proper response to someone telling you that you can't do something is to get mad, or frustrated, or whatever other emotion you need to harness to get yourself motivated and determined to succeed. The next time someone tells you that you don’t have what it takes, tell that person, “thank you.” Then go out and prove them wrong. Few things in life are more gratifying. 

Procrastination is the gateway to trouble, especially if you're interested in building any serious, measurable, gains in size, strength, or athletic performance. For you, procrastination is a setback. The more you lack motivation and  procrastinate, the more you stretch out the process. You procrastinate at the expense of your gainz. And that's the truth. So is the fact that the reason you're procrastinating is because you have to do something you don't want to do. In other words, you have to eat a frog. That's right, a frog.   I once read a little book on personal development called Eat That Frog, by Brian Tracy - a motivational public speaker and self-development author. With over eighty books to Tracy's credit, including NY Times best sellers, Earn What You're Really Worth and No Excuses, that have been translated into dozens of languages. So, I figured Tracy might know what he'd be talking about with this gastronomic analogy being implied by eating a frog. But, it could fill a book?   It actually did, but in a nutshell... every one of us has something important to get done today that we're dreading doing. It might not be as off-putting as eating a frog (especially a live one), but it’s still distasteful to us. So we stall. We waste time. We get distracted easily. We move slowly. In other words, we procrastinate. The point of Eat That Frog was, instead of putting off what we hate to do, that is exactly what we should do first. If you get it out of the way and move on, your productivity will begin to soar. When it comes to bodybuilding, most of us have a muscle group or body part that is the most difficult for us to develop and that doesn’t respond the way we expect, or would like. I could get my chest and arms big and ripped just by looking at the weights. I may be exaggerating a bit, but building my chest and arms just weren’t a problem for me. Abs, shoulders, back, glutes, upper legs—no problem. Lower legs? Big problem. My calves just wouldn’t respond for me like my other muscle groups. What happens when we don’t get the results we want? We get discouraged. We move on to something we like better. It’s great that you can pump up your arms to over eighteen inches without breaking a sweat, but if you have chicken legs, that’s what needs improving. That’s the frog that you have to eat. Prioritize! When you put together your workout program, the area, or areas, of your physique that you have difficulty getting to respond must be put in the beginning of your workout, because they obviously need the most attention. In other words, you do what you least like to do first. That’s when your body has the most oxygen and fuel to focus on an area that is resistant to growth and development.  What I mean is, eat that frog first! I don't give workout and nutrition advice that's easy. If your looking for the path of least resistance, I'm not your guy. Building your body is going to be tough work and that means you're going to be eating some frogs. So, hit what’s hardest for you first. Don’t mess around. Don’t start chatting with everyone around you. Take it as a personal challenge.  But here is the good news: frogs are high in protein and low in fat, and they taste like chicken. So go for it!

If things don't go your way today you can always come back another day and win!  What's stopping you from getting what you want? From winning? From succeeding? One of the biggest things that holds people back from getting into the gym, from seeking a promotion at work, from starting a business, from asking someone out, or from trying something new and challenging is the fear of failure. It's incredible how the fear of failing and looking bad in the eyes of others stops people from going for it.  Maybe it's because I was born into a family with a father who knew he wanted something better out of life; a guy who packed up his wife and firstborn to make the journey to America— with a detour through Canada on the way—instilled in me courage and confidence, along with hard work. He told me that you don’t worry about what others think. You don’t sweat it when there are obstacles and setbacks. My dad instilled in me, by example, that you set your sights on the prize and you go for it. You can do neither win nor fail unless you jump. You have to go for it. One of the most significant competitions in my life was the NPC Nationals in 1983, in San Jose, California. I was 208 pounds which put me at the bottom end of the heavyweight division. The lineup of bodybuilding greats I was competing against was incredible – its been said numerous times, that this may have been the best amateur lineup in history. These guys were my heroes. I had studied their pictures and read their training tips for years with the dream of someday being like them. Now there I was, up on stage going toe to to with them. Rory Leidelmeyer came to San Jose as the clear favorite, but the winner ended up being Bob Paris. Mike Christian, the legendary “Iron Warrior” took third place. Another great bodybuilder, Matt Mendenhall, took fourth place. In fifth place was a 20 year-old  kid from New Jersey that no one had ever heard of before. His name was Rich Gaspari. My first competition as a teen I took sixth place, so believe me, on that stage, with those great bodybuilders – even by today's standards - I wasn’t disappointed in taking fifth place. But, I wasn’t satisfied either. Being up there and compared to those amazing physique stars just gave me a taste; it only made me hungry for more. I can’t tell you how excited I was to hear the key players in the bodybuilding industry talking about me as the guy to watch—and watch out for. After the show, Ed Connors, one of the owners of the Gold’s Gym empire, came up to me and told me that if I would drop a weight class I could come back and win the NPC Nationals as a light heavyweight the next year. He was right. That was a tall order, but I did it. I dropped about 20 pounds and won my first national championship in 1984 and turned pro. Now, what if I hadn’t competed in 83 because I thought I was too young and wasn’t ready? What if I had been afraid of what others might think of me? Or if I had been too scared and intimidated to walk on stage to compete against some of my heroes? I certainly wouldn’t have been in the position to win a championship the following year. You may never have heard of me if I didn't go for it. I don’t care how awkward you feel about whatever it is you need to take on in life right now. Coddling you and telling you it's okay to be afraid and handing you a puppy to pet in your safe space isn't going to help you. What are you afraid of? Who cares what others think? It matters what you think. And if you think you're not ready, not worthy, not good enough, so what? Go for it anyway! What have you really got to lose? Try, get your feet wet, do it anyway, ask out the hottest girl you've ever seen. Tell your boss you deserve a promotion and more money. Sign up for a local competition. It doesn't matter if you get turned down, told “no,” get your butt kicked. Who cares? Get back up, brush yourself off, learn from it, get back in there and win it next time! You can't win unless you try. So, you're just going to have to go ahead and go for it.

Whatever you may accomplish is worthless if everyone thinks you're a dick. Respect is one of those things that's that goes both ways. You've all heard the saying, “you have to give respect to get respect. That seems to be a bit difficult for some people. Then there's self respect. That's really the most important because if you don't respect yourself you can't possibly believe anyone else will respect you. And that's not really a good position to be in. So, respect yourself, respect others and you'll get the respect you deserve, right? Sounds simple enough. So then why are some of you suffering with this issue? I see it more than I'd like – people with low self esteem, low self respect, and little respect from others. It's a sad situation that you really don't have to suffer with. Maybe I can shed some light on how you can pull yourself out of it.  One of the biggest influences on my life was Joe Weider. Unless you've been lifting weights under a rock, I know you've probably heard the name,  Most people associate him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but exactly who is he? Joe is the man most responsible for building the bodybuilding industry. Back in the 40s and 50s, he was big and strong, but wasn’t a bodybuilder himself. However, he firmly believed that physical strength was important for a man’s self respect.  He was so far ahead of his time.  He, his brother Ben, and his wife Betty—a pinup model and a pioneer for women’s fitness—founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB). They created the Mr. Olympia and Ms. Olympia and other contests. Joe founded and published Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Men’s Fitness, Shape, and the other important magazines that predated those modern titles. When Arnold Schwarzenegger, then the governor of California, awarded Joe with the Muscle Beach Life- time Achievement Award, he pointed out that it was Joe who inspired him to be a bodybuilder and immigrate to the United States. There are literally millions who would say the same thing about Joe, including a kid from Edison, New Jersey. I not only admired his accomplishments, but I also admired and respected the fact that he did this starting at the bottom. He had $7 in his war chest when he launched his first company, typing bodybuilding pamphlets in the middle of the night, while his family was asleep, from under the dining room table, with a sheet draped over it to help drown out the noise of the typewriter.  Without Joe Weider, bodybuilding as we know it would not exist. He did tremendous things for the sport and for fitness at large. I can vividly remember the last time we spoke. He was well into his 90s, his voice wasn’t as strong and clear as it had once been. But, as always, his words were powerful. Toward the end of our talk he said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, “Rich, I’m proud of you and I respect you for all you have accomplished. I know this is just the beginning of all you are going to do.” He didn't give me this remarkable compliment when I was getting ready to turn pro, or at the height of my career. He said this after I had retired, hit rock bottom, and had finally gotten my lean and mean company up and running. He knew all the good things that I had pulled off, but he also knew the struggles I had; from injuries to going bankrupt. He was a friend to me the whole time. Some people who had accomplished a whole lot less than Joe wouldn’t take my calls when I was down. He would. He was that kind of man. He cared about people. He built people up. And when he told me how proud he was of me, and that he respected me, it felt like a confirmation that any hardships I had to overcome were worth it. He recognized that I was the same person in good times and bad. He saw that I was a fighter. Next to my dad, I can’t think of anyone who's words of respect and blessing meant more to me. Respect is such an important theme to me. Self-respect. Respect from others. Respect for others. I am a firm believer that all of us have been created with infinite worth. But respect is something different from self-worth. It isn’t something we are born with. It is both learned and earned. I like to think that I have even just a little of what Joe had - a genuine concern for people, a desire to see them reach for their dreams and a generous mount of respect. I always respected Joe, not only because of what he did for me, but for what he did for others and for our industry. The highest honor you can pay someone is that they are a man of respect. And to strive to be such a man is the greatest aspiration you can strive to achieve. More than a supplement contract, however many million “likes,” a trophy, or the accolades of your fans. Any accomplishment you achieve is worth nothing if people think you're a dick. I've said this before and I'll say it again, my message to you is more about building your ultimate body. Your ultimate body is worthless unless, along with it, you build the ultimate you. Learn to respect yourself and others, and respect what you are accomplishing. And, if you didn't already know it, the place to start is by showing more respect to yourself. Don't put yourself in demeaning or compromising situations. Our culture can be pretty cynical and negative and offer opportunities to venture down some pretty dark roads. Always seek the better path, even if it's more difficult – which it usually is. Don't follow where the negativity points you  - it might look like an easier path to follow, but in the end, it won’t take you anywhere. Respect is one of those investments in life, where you end up receiving more than you give. Show it. Receive it. And, appreciate those who have it – they earned it. At the end of the day, that's what you want people to feel about you.

Those around you can have a huge impact on your success. Back in the day, success was pretty much a one man show. If you buckled down, focussed, worked hard and produced you'd more than likely do pretty well for yourself. This was just as true in business as it was in bodybuilding. No matter how you sliced it, hard work ruled the day. Unlike most pros today, I never had a coach or a “guru” for all of my bodybuilding career. For obvious reasons, I don't necessarily recommend it these days, but, back then, it was just the way it was for me and a lot of guys with whom l competed. Bodybuilding was very much a solo sport  -  a team of one. That went for our side gigs too. Many of us sold our own tee shirts, or training programs, videos, straps, wraps, belts, posters.... no matter what it was, out of our garages. It was us on the front lines flying solo – appearances, traveling, packing, shipping. The idea of doing all this – while also training, dieting, and prepping for a bodybuilding contest – under the guise of a “Team Gaspari,” with a staff of people helping me, was something l could never have imagined. Today, “Team so-and-sos” are all over the place and everyone has an entourage. Almost no one flies solo anymore.  Now, that’s not to say I accomplished everything on my own. I had incredible parents who provided a stable home, with a lot of love and support. Although my dad was convinced this bodybuilding thing I had gotten myself into was crazy. I was also armed with the wisdom I picked up over the years from the bodybuilding greats that went before me. I soaked up everything my heroes like Joe Weider and others wrote. I even bought the Charles Atlas program from an ad in a comic book! I was the skinny kid that didn’t want sand kicked in my face. If it had to do with building muscle, I read it. But, like a lot of bodybuilders, I flew solo. I didn’t play team sports at all. My parents were immigrants to this great country. My dad was caught up with making it in America. He was a very hard worker and wasn't the kind of dad to take me out in the yard to toss a baseball or have me go out for passes while he winged a football at me, and we didn’t have a basketball hoop in the driveway. I wasn’t tall enough for a basketball career anyway. But, Dad gave me my work ethic and I think that was the greatest lesson any kid could have learned.  When I was 20, I packed up my few belongings, loaded them into one of my dad’s old beat up suitcases, and flew to southern California, to the mecca of bodybuilding. Almost as soon as I landed I was offered a job by Ed Connors, one of the owners of Gold’s Gym. He saw the potential in me and made me a manager of Gold’s in Reseda, California. Things started happening—which is usually the case when you work hard. Lee Haney, who would go on to win eight Mr. Olympia titles, saw my ferocious intensity from across the weight room and asked me to be his training partner. He's the one who taught me to work smarter. I was bench-pressing 525 pounds as part of a normal workout. He taught me how to “stimulate, not annihilate,” muscles by using less weight and better form. My point is simple. Even for a guy like me who likes to do things on his own, we all need the right people around us. The best relationships are mutual, where both parties push, compliment, and help the other improve. I honestly believe I helped Lee as much as he helped me. I know he would agree with that statement. If I had to take 2nd place in the Olympia THREE times, it was only fitting that it would be Lee who beat me, because it was me who pushed him.  This isn’t just a lesson for bodybuilding. Nowhere is it more true than in business. One of my greatest sources of pride as the owner of Gaspari Nutrition was being vendor of the year for both GNC (five times) and Vitamin King. To that end, I’ve done everything at Gaspari Nutrition - from helping to develop and test new formulas, to packing boxes, to making sales calls and promotional appearances. I’ve mopped the floors a few times, too. But, believe me, I know I couldn’t have done anything past what I could have done out of my garage without hiring— and occasionally firing—the right people. You'll see that as you grow older, wiser and more successful that it's the team – the people with whom you surround yourself  - that will have the greatest impact on your drive downfield. The marketable universe in which we find ourselves today is too vast, too complicated, too crowded and too competitive to navigate yourself. It's not 1983 anymore.  Who do you have on your team? Are they making you better? Are you making others better? Are they team players? How many times have we seen a kid with all the potential in the world but they get caught up with the wrong  group of friends, and they end up going through life in the wrong direction? If you train with people who practice bad form and put out mediocre effort, you aren’t nearly as likely to give your ultimate effort and your bodybuilding career will suffer as a result. If your best friends on the job do nothing but complain and have a terrible work ethic, you probably aren’t doing your professional career any favors. If you hang around people with lousy attitudes, don’t be surprised to discover you have a lousy attitude too. If you want to succeed, you have to surround yourself with the right people - people who will help you just as much as much as you help them. You need people with whom you can grow; encourage and push each other, be each others’ fans and hold each other accountable to work harder for better results. If you absolutely can’t find the right workout partners, or the colleagues, to help you grow in your chosen career, then at minimum make a commitment to stretch your mind and your vision through select books and videos. Study what the greats do and follow their lead. The bottom line is this: Whether it's writing iPhone apps or building custom toilets, you must visualize your success in it, believe in it yourself, and surround yourself with people who will motivate you and help nurture your belief. With that team structure in place, nothing but great things will happen.

People always ask me about keeping a fitness journal and do I recommend keeping on for bodybuilding. My answer is always the same -sometime, many years from now, you might want to look back and see exactly what you were doing today. This is incredibly important if you've hit a training plateau. That's why keeping a fitness journal is invaluable –it lets you look back and see the last thing that worked –or didn't work.Relying on your memory is not sustainable. You have to keep a journal. When it comes to bodybuilding this is really critical. The reason why is the actual nature of bodybuilding as a sport. We off season bodybuilding and then pre contest bodybuilding. Bodybuilders fluctuate between the two seasons constantly. A successful 16 –18 week bodybuilding contest prep incorporates so many variable and potential training plateaus you cannot possibly rely on your memory to dial yourself in the next time you compete. The something goes with personal records. With no fitness journal to consult you're left with what you might remember.The problem with that is the mind has been known to play tricks on us, particularly when it comes to memory. I had a fun “discussion” with a friend the other night about one of our early business meetings. I was positive we met at one restaurant and he was equally positive it was a different place. It was no big deal, but it illustrates how our memories get distorted over time—even the ones where we are absolutely certain we have right.The best way to document, track and preserve your bodybuilding efforts accurately is with a journal. A quick Google search will yield theme journals for just about everything for wine lovers, book readers, travelers, leaders, teachers, and yes, fitness journals for those who want to track their workouts. There are also online journals and smartphone apps. What do I use? I’m a self-directed, straight forward, old school, kind of guy. I like a simple ruled journal. I don’t want prompts on what to write. My journals for the past 30 years have been very basic and task oriented.What do I write? Simple: Date Workout Meals Sleep Supplements Results The only subjectivity in my journal is what shows up in the “results” section when I evaluate myself. Now, if you are a pro bodybuilder, you do take measurements from time to time. You know what you can see in the mirror, but you need objective numbers, too. There was no guesswork for me on those days. I still remember the first time I measured my arms at 21-inches. That was pretty cool. I proudly wrote it down knowing that some day I'd want to revisit that moment, maybe even with my son. I knew precisely what areas were responding correctly to my regime and where I needed to put in some extra work. But I had been around the sport long enough that I could track my performance by what I saw in the mirror and how I felt.You may be thinking, Rich, I’m not sure I am that hardcore. That sounds like too much trouble. No problem. But, I still encourage you to at least test keeping a fitness journal for a week. After seven days, read back over what you wrote. I know that’s not long enough to gain deep insights on what works and what doesn’t work long term. But, you still might discover something there, and you might also find that you like keeping a record of your efforts and progress as much as I do.At the very least, writing in a journal offers a symbolic exercise that what you do each day is important. It all matters. It is worthy of being committed to paper. So, write yourself a note that you can look back on in the future, to see just how far you've come

Even God rested on the seventh day. You need to rest too. Building any kind of muscular athletic body is hard work. The more performance you desire, generally the more brutal the work. You not only have to follow a very strict diet and make sure you get all your nutrients in the right combinations, but you also have to take your intensity in the gym up to a higher level than you did the last time you were in there. Some of you take it to a very extreme level and train like a crazed wild animals. Regardless of the level you take it, going to the gym and getting the work done is serious business and, like it or not, it takes its toll. Training and dieting like a bodybuilder for instance – like me – is really hard work. Its seriously hard work. But, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. An incredibly simple little thing that's a whole lot easier than sticking to your diet and working out like an animal. Pay close attention, because if you ever pay attention to anything I tell you, this is it. I know a lot of hardcore bodybuilders already know this—but, some actually forget it, or ignore it. Unfortunately, it catches up with them after a while, and then it's too late. For some, really too late. You might already know the secret too. But, if you're like countless others I've trained and counseled over the years, you don’t think it’s a big enough deal and don't pay attention to it. And, while it's probably the easiest thing you could possibly do, it’s still overlooked at every level of bodybuilding and fitness training. You know what it is? Are you ready? Can you handle it? Can you take it on with the same sense of urgency and importance as you do your workout? Here you go - You have to rest. Yes, rest. If you don't make recovery a priority you're not going to succeed. It’s not just a nice break from the action, and it’s not optional. It’s imperative. You have to take days off from the gym. And, even more importantly, you have to get enough sleep. In fact, I would argue that ignoring the need for sleep is having a devastating effect on our society at large. I have a friend in the medical profession who swears that Americans do serious damage to their health due to lack of sleep. Trust me, when I showed up in Venice Beach, California, the opportunity to go out and have a good time was everywhere. I was young and single and always happy to go out and have a good time. One of the hardest things in the world was to say no to everyone wanting to go out and hit the clubs, and go home and hit the sack. But, I knew I had to let my body heal. When it came time to compete, I destroyed guys who had a lot more natural size and ability than I had. Why? They worked hard in the gym, but then they went out and partied all night. I know a lot of young people feel it’s their duty to run the streets at least a couple of nights a week. There’s an even bigger temptation to do that as you see your body starting to getting bigger and leaner. The more jacked you look, the more you want to go out and show it off and see what kind of trouble you can get into. Remember the TV show, Jersey Shore?  I grew up there – l was one of those guys (Only bigger, leaner and less of a Guido) I can tell you that what you see on TV is the way it's done there. It's a real lifestyle. And, living it will not make you a champion. Run the streets like those guys and you won’t reach your goals. Period.  I’m not your dad and I can’t tell you what to do. And, I don’t want to. But, I can tell you that your body is not made to be pushed to its limits and not be given a chance to rest. That’s why I recommend you schedule at least TWO off days per week, if you really want to get big and ripped. Lowering your intensity on workout days so you can add in another workout day isn’t going to give you what you want. Get in the gym, go balls to the wall, then get out of there, go home and rest. When it comes to sleep, you have to get at least eight hours. When I made the jump, at age 22, to be a professional bodybuilder, I knew I needed my sleep. Lee Haney taught me how to get the most out of my workout without destroying my muscles. But no one had to tell me to get to bed at a reasonable hour and let my body recover. Everything I’ve learned in my career has simply been a confirmation of what I already intuitively knew. Especially when it comes to sleep.  Sleep does two things for you. First, it lets your muscles heal from the beating you’ve given them in the gym, allowing them to get bigger, leaner, harder, and more defined. Secondly, it lets you recharge your nervous system so that you don’t drag in the gym during your next workout. Instead, you can go in there with determination on your face, ready to make an assault on the weights. I get a lot of credit from my peers for having the absolute best work ethic they’ve ever witnessed. I’m proud of that. But what a lot of people don’t realize about my approach to bodybuilding is that I was just as serious about resting. Days off were days off. Nighttime was for sleeping. I even took a solid, half-hour, nap every afternoon to make absolutely sure my body was getting all the rest it needed. I can guarantee you that if I had run around all night like everyone else, I would have accomplished next to nothing as a bodybuilder. And I seriously doubt I'd be the owner and CEO of a $100 million supplement company. Let me add here that rest isn’t just for bodybuilders and fitness fanatics. It's for businessmen and women; it is for stay-at-home moms; it is for students – particularly in college!  I know how tempting it is to stay up studying late at night all week and then hit the clubs and parties all weekend. But, no one is at their best without proper rest. It’s simply not how we were created. There’s a time to work, a time to play, and a time to rest. And, when it's time to rest, you have to actually rest. On your day of rest do something special with your loved ones—wife, children, significant other, friends. Do something normal. If you're allowed a cheat meal, have it on a rest day. It keeps you well rounded so that you don’t get tired of the gym. It also keeps those who are special to you, if not satisfied, then maybe at least appeased. I know bad habits are hard to break and changing them can be a real challenge. But, getting adequate rest is absolutely imperative. Start making it a priority to get more rest, even try sneaking in a thirty minute catnap if you can. When it's time for bed, turn off the computer, the television and all your devices, get in bed and close your eyes. If there are things you didn’t get done today, don’t worry about it right now. Get your sleep and you’ll get more done tomorrow—in life and in the gym. Remember, life is all about choices. You can choose to be like all the other young guys and run around until sunrise, or you can choose to sleep and give your muscles the opportunity to repair the damage you’ve inflicted on them in the gym, so you can keep growing bigger and better. Always remember that you stimulate growth in the gym, but you grow outside the gym, while you're resting, especially while you're asleep. Being diligent about getting the rest you need between workouts is the only way those intense training sessions will ever bear fruit in the form of massive biceps, triceps, pecs, lats, quads, hams, delts, and calves. You simply can’t build your body without proper rest. Now you know the secret. What are you going to do with it? Why not hit the sack early tonight and sleep on it.....  

Slow down, your form is horrible and quit eating so much! I love the saying that goes, “perception is reality.” I use it all the time. However true that may be, in bodybuilding, perspective is also reality – a harder, colder, crueler version of the  truth. The reason that's so is because in our world – especially in a Golds gym in the late 80s -  there's never a shortage of willing comparisons. In any given scenario, where two guys are training near each other in tank tops, there is an inevitable comparison going on in the mirror. Anyone who denies it is full of shit. One guy is looking at the other and neither thinks they're equal. Each will think they look either better or worse than the other, not the same. Not ever. Thats because there's no motivation in equality. In the gym, the guy who looks better wants to keep looking better and the guy who doesn't look as good is going to wan to improve. How much is a matter of the age old combination of a strict diet and training hard and training smart. Neither of which I was doing that well as a young buck when I first fell in with the inevitable eight-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney.  One of the nicknames I was given at the beginning of my career was “Fat Boy.” That’s what Lee Haney called me soon after we first met. I had just moved to California. Ed Connors – one of the original Gold's gym franchise owners -  recruited me to manage one of his Gold’s Gyms. The pay wasn’t great but he sweetened the deal by giving me a few points, so I had an equity stake in the gym. I wasn’t the only one for whom he did this. He liked to hire young guys who came to California to take their bodybuilding career to the next level, because he knew it would attract serious customers to Gold's Gym.. He wanted his gyms to be the place where serious lifting and training was taking place. I really didn’t have to attract anyone to the Gold’s Gym I managed. It was already full of major players. For example, the other manager was a man named Steve Borden. He would later go on to achieve great fame as the professional wrestler known as Sting. That’s where I met Albert Beckles. He had a longer journey to arrive in California than I did. He was born in Barbados, but started his bodybuilding career in England. He came to the US to turn pro and in 1971 he won the IFBB Mr. Universe title. He set the record for most appearances in the Mr. Olympia contest. It’s hard to believe he was able to compete for that title thirteen times—he placed in the top five, six different times. He came in second to Lee Haney twice. That’s the kind of worker he was. Ms Olympia, Cory Everson, worked out there, too. She was one of the first female bodybuilding superstars and won Ms. Olympia six years in a row. She got her start back in Madison, Wisconsin, where she was a multi-sport star for the Badgers. Jeff Everson, a great competitive bodybuilder, was her trainer and when the two got married and came to California, her career took off.  Another Mr. Universe, Bertil Fox, also originally from the West Indies, trained there. So too a did a bunch of other top industry names - Tom Platz, “Dr Squat” Fred Hatfield,  Hulk Hogan, Lee Haney, James Brian Hellwig, better known to the wrestling world as the Ultimate Warrior. Rick Wayne was there. Born on the island of St. Lucia, he was a pop singer and a professional bodybuilder, but was also famous as a great writer, editor, and TV personality.  I could go on and on with a who’s who list that trained there -  I didn't even get into the Hollywood actors who showed up there. In the midst of all that comes this 255-pound kid from New Jersey, named Rich Gaspari. If for  nothing else, I was admitted into the fold because, for my size – for any size, I was one strong dude. As part of my workouts, I would squat 775 pounds, bench 520 pounds, and do curls with 200 pounds on the bar. I was as  strong as anyone in there, but not necessarily impressive with my physique. I think I had 30 or 40 pounds of fat hanging on me. I was still eating a dozen eggs, drinking a gallon of milk, and downing a jar of peanut butter every day. I thought I had to bulk up as much as possible if I was going to have enough mass to compete against naturally larger competitors. So every time I competed, I had to starve myself to show any cuts.  Somewhere in that hollowed, celebrity laden, gym I had somehow managed to get into a conversation with Lee Haney where how much we weighed came up. He said he weighed something like 260. I said that I also weighed 255 or 260, whatever it was, and Lee said, “yeah, but you're a fat boy!” In that booming, deep, unmistakable, southern voice of his that resonated through the ear drums of every single person in the gym – even if they were in the shower. From that moment on, until I did something about it, my nickname - bestowed upon me by who would become one of the greatest Mr. Olympias of all time - was “Fat Boy.” But, Lee didn't just make fun of me. He took me under his wing and encouraged me to change everything about my training. He also got me to dramatically improve my diet. I cut out a lot of the fat. I started eating more often, with at least a little protein every meal. I had already suffered a number of injuries due to the amount of weight I was lifting. Lee got me to cut back and taught me that the muscle doesn’t know weight—only failure. You don’t have to bench more than 500 pounds to take your chest muscles to failure. My form was bad and I was jerking the weights to move them. He got me to slow down and squeeze the muscle on every rep. The results were immediate and dramatic. He taught me to “stimulate—not annihilate” my muscles. I was always a hard worker, but my training strategy wasn’t focused on anything but using brute strength. Lee taught me to channel my limitless energy he (claimed I was foaming at the mouth when it was workout time) and my enthusiasm into great form. Not only did I achieve greater success earlier than anyone thought was possible, It was Jeff Everson who got rid of the nickname “Fat Boy” after my first Mr. Olympia. After that I became known as the “Dragon Slayer.” So, work hard today, but slow down. Lower the weight and focus on your form. Squeeze every rep and get everything you can out of your workout. Your muscles will thank you!  

So, you want to work for Gaspari? Maybe you don't.... Not a day goes by that doesn't include at least one person inquiring about working for my company. However, once they get an idea of the hard work and discipline I expect from my employees and athlete reps, many of those inquiries disappear. Somehow, there's an idea circulating in our industry that a sponsored athlete is entitled to free money that doesn't require much in the way of hard work to get.  That may be true for some companies, but not mine. Work ethic is the number one most important quality any aspiring sponsored athlete could posses. And, I'll tell you why.... During my competitive career, there wasn't much money to be made in the form of prize money, and there was only a few extra bucks available as a sponsored athlete. It was pretty evident that bodybuilding wasn’t a sport that was going to make me rich. Although the health and fitness boom had begun, it didn’t have the pervasive market presence it does today, and bodybuilding only represented a small slice of the pie. The relative paucity of financial opportunities available in bodybuilding is one of the reasons I love sponsoring athletes. We have both amateurs and professionals in our lineup of sponsored athletes, and they do a lot for us. My philosophy of working with athletes is a little different than that of other companies—and it is based on what my dad taught me as a kid: it’s all about work ethic. I want our athletes to do well financially and I pay them well. I don’t want them wondering whether or not they're doing the right thing in pursuing their passion. If they work hard, I treat them like the valuable asset they are. I don't want them to have to worry about finances, like my generation of bodybuilders did. I want them to be successful now, and I want to help them set themselves up for a smoother transition than I had  to life after competition. The most important thing out of all of it though is my desire to help them learn the value of hard work. What that means is that I only hire workers. I’ve had agents and athletes approach me over the years to become part of Team Gaspari and many times I've had to turn them down. Not because they aren’t talented and successful, but because they don’t want to work like my team does. A lot of companies give contracts and write checks to bodybuilders and other athletes with pretty low expectations. Maybe they have to do a formal photo shoot or two, and then make three or four appearances a year to say they use their product. If that's your idea of how an endorsement contract works, then don't come knocking on my door. I expect my athletes to work! Three or four appearances per year is a joke. We require four or five per month!  Making appearances isn’t just about showing up with a smile on your face. You have to be in top shape, you have to be good with people and you have to have expert knowledge of Gaspari products before you get on a microphone, or in front of a camera, and represent my brand. I’ve heard some competitors who want us to sponsor them say, “That’s a lot of work!” I just laugh. No, it's not.  My dad laid brick and stone six days a week.  That’s a lot of work! You have it made. We’re not just about appearances though.  We want athletes who are active, not only on social media, but also the sport. We want competitors who actually compete. One of the toughest jobs in my company is effectively managing our athletes’ appearance schedules around competitions and the hardcore, focused, training schedules that lead up to any event. It's a fine line, but an athlete's competition means as much to me as it does to them. And the harder I see them working the more support they get.  The reward we get is obvious: positive publicity for Gaspari Nutrition. What do they get? A nice supplemental income that allows them to commit wholeheartedly to their sport and at the same time, the opportunity to build their own brand. We really do want our team members to be more successful competitively, financially, and in notoriety than they ever could on their own. I'm well aware of the sacrifices they make, I made them too. The difference is, I want it to be better for them than it was for me. All I ask for in exchange is discipline and hard work. I have a very simple point in all this: nothing worthwhile in life is easy. I guess you could win the lottery, but those who come into easy money usually can't handle it and end up broke, or even worse off than before they won the money. The vast majority of “lucky” people simply can’t handle all that “easy money.”  They think they can get rich without working hard for it, and will then have the discipline and understanding to manage all that wealth. Sorry, life doesn’t work that way, and I'm not going to fool athletes with a cush job so they can end up worse off after their athletic career than before. I teach them about the value of hard work. What I can offer your competitive and professional career has tremendous value, but you have to work for it! Because it's worth is. Nothing worthwhile in life is easy.

Even though more people lose than win, success stories seem to be a dime a dozen. No one really talks about losing, and no one really talks about getting back up, but we should. But, before we do, I think we should actually define winning. In a foot race, that's a petty easy thing to do, but in life and in business it's not so cut and dry. Measuring success is, too many times, measured in dollars. Well, I'm here to tell you that's not the case. Vision, passion and drive will bring you success in business. If you can mange your business successfully, the money will come. Money is nothing more than a score card – a byproduct of success, not the definition of success. Business is hard. Staying in business is even harder. Staying in business for decades is like landing on the moon. A lot of people see a guy running a business and they see that he occupies a big building and has a bunch of employees and he drives and cool car and lives in a nice house in a desirable area, and they think, yeah, he's got it made – he's successful. But, those material things are only what you see on the surface. How you get there is a journey that, for many businessmen, a trip down a long, lonely, bumpy road. This is not a story about the nuts and bolts of making money. It's a about the mind set that bred my success; it's a story about the bumps – getting knocked down and getting back up. When people see “Rich Gaspari,” they see one of the most prolific bodybuilders of the 80s and early 90s, and the owner of Gaspari Nutrition, a global brand that's been around for 25 years. And it's easy to understand why. Before I built my $100 million company, I had accomplished just about everything I set out to do in competitive bodybuilding. I won the Mr. America title (now known as the NPC Nationals), the Mr. Universe, Professional Mr. World, I won the first Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic, and took 2nd, not once, not twice, but three times in the biggest and most coveted contest title in professional bodybuilding – the Mr. Olympia. Even though people believe the line Ricky Bobby made famous in Talladega Nights, “if you ain't first you're last,” it's not true. If you come in second place to Lee Haney, an absolute freak of nature, not to mention my longtime friend and training partner, you still have a lot to be proud of - if you know you did your best - and I knew I had. By the time 1993 rolled around, my injuries had caught up with me and my professional bodybuilding career was clearly over. So, I did what a lot of retired bodybuilders do, I opened a gym. Unfortunately, I hadn’t dug very deep into how to set up a business, how to make a business plan, I didn’t know the real costs of running a business. I assumed that my work ethic and optimistic spirit would be enough. But, it wasn't. I hadn’t really prepared myself for the transition from being a competitor to being a businessman. I hadn't made a ton of money as a bodybuilder and, as a result, my gym business was severely under capitalized. I was bleeding money. Before I knew it, the number at the bottom of my combined personal and business balance sheets was shrinking faster than I could think. I needed to get out from under owning the gym, but I couldn’t find a buyer. Things quickly went from bad to worse. Eventually, to my great embarrassment, I went bankrupt and lost everything. There I was, a 34 year-old, former professional bodybuilder, with an impressive mantle full of titles, trophies and awards and I was dead broke. Thankfully, I had a very supportive mom and dad who let me move back home to start over. I felt sorry for myself—but not for long. That’s not how I was raised. I put on my game face and began the slow and painful process of rebuilding myself. I worked as a personal trainer and sold supplements on the side. Because of my years as a bodybuilder and all I had learned first-hand and through my voracious appetite for knowledge of nutrition, I started working with a supplier to develop my first Gaspari supplements. I took a look at the industry and believed it was time for an upgrade – it was time for me to make my mark. After seven or eight months I was gaining some momentum in rebuilding my life, my finances and my new business. I actually began to see a light at the end of the tunnel and I knew it wasn't the train. Before long I had expanded my operations from the basement and took over Mom’s garage to use as my warehouse. That may not sound like much, but I was darn proud of my progress. Then, one day an electrical problem set my mom’s house on fire and it burned completely to the ground. Thank God no one was hurt and she had insurance. It covered rebuilding the house and replacing her belongings. But I lost all my competition memorabilia and my entire supplement inventory, which was not insured. And just like that, I went from the frying pan into the fire! I’m going to tell you the story of how I rebuilt my business in another blog - it’s a good story. And, believe it or not, I had other setbacks I'll also tell you about another time. But,right now I want to plant in your mind a seed. It’s my definition of a winner. A winner, in my book, is someone who gets back up after they get knocked down. Even if they have to live in their mom’s basement, with tragedy to follow. If they get back up, they're a winner. A loser stays down. A winner gets back up, no matter how many times they fall flat on the ground. I am such a positive, energetic, person that people are surprised to find out the number of setbacks I’ve had. When you're smiling on the cover of a magazine it doesn’t tell the story of injuries and other hardships. I have a lot to be proud of to be sure. But, if there’s one thing I would brag about, it's the fact that I got back up when I was down. I got knocked down and I got back up. Be it in business, in life, in your athletic pursuits and other competitions, victory is never final - defeat is. The best thing you can believe is this simple truth: you can always be a winner. All you have to do is get back up. It happens in that second. Even as you rise, you win.

A sports dietician would probably say that nutrition for athletes would seek the same ultimate goal as general nutrition – insofar as that ultimate goal being, of course, good overall health. However, within the confines of good overall health an athlete is able to train hard. Hard training athletes expose themselves to nutritional needs that non-athletes don't usually face. So, in constructing an athlete's meal plan, not only must the tenets of good health be followed, but an athlete's diet should also consist of specific nutrient densities that satisfy the unique requirements generated by the sports they pursue. So, to answer the question, do sports nutrition and general nutrition have the same goals? The answer is both yes and no. Nutrition for non-athletes is traditionally fairly basic. It pretty much boils down to maintaining acceptable body composition through a calculation of the traditional “calories in” vs “calories out” formula to satisfy base metabolic rate, (with any additional activity factored in), and dispersing those calories over a balance of macro nutrients from clean, fresh, wholesome food sources. Throw in a daily multi-vitamin/ mineral complex and some fish oil and that's good for 90% of the population. In fact, if 90% of the general population followed such a simple, non-athlete meal plan, our national health would soar! A balanced diet of healthy foods and maintaining favorable body composition is by far the best, most effective and proven path to good health. At this point, nutrition for athletes takes the divergent path. Depending on a variety of factors that include: the type of exercises being performed, number of training sessions per week, physical requirements of the chosen sport’s weight requirements. Is the athlete training for strength, power, speed, endurance, a combination? Are they male, female, old, young? All of these things and more must be factored in when a sports dietician calculates an athlete's diet. One of the biggest differences you'll notice is that an athlete's meal plan will undoubtedly include a greater amount of protein. Protein, specifically the amino acids it contains, are the essential building blocks of muscle. Growth and repair of muscle tissue is a constant, ongoing and absolutely vital process for an athlete. If the minute amino acids, particularly essential amino acids, reach a level below what the body needs, muscle growth and recovery come to a screeching halt and performance (strength, speed, size) suffers tremendously. So, right off the bat, the most assured goal of athlete nutrition is consuming more quality proteins. Many athletes supplement their protein requirements with with high quality protein powders (https://www.thegasparinutrition.com/collections/protein-powder) from whey, egg, casine, and vegan sources to insure they have the building blocks on board that their bodies need to perform at 100%. The next nutritional goal the sports nutritionist must consider is the predominant fuel source the athlete is going to consume in his meal plan. Complex carbohydrates and good fats provide the energy the athlete will need to exact maximum performance. To make a long story short, in its most simplified explanation, carbs burn faster than fats. Thus, the energy fats provide are sought for sports requiring more endurance, while athletes requiring explosive energy will typically need more carbohydrates in their meal plan. At the end of the day, nutrition for athletes boils down to assembling a meal plan geared to good health and increased performance, with the emphasis on good health. That being the case, it's hard to argue that sports nutrition and general nutrition would not seek the same ultimate goal.

The term “snake oil” has long been associated with any dietary supplement that made health claims, usually devoid of proven supplement facts, of their product. The concept goes back to the pioneer days, when a traveling salesman hawked an anti-inflammatory, made from a proprietary blend that contained actual Chinese water snakes. Based on today's supplement facts, the stuff worked. High in omega-3 fatty acids from the snakes, daily supplements made from the snake oil actually reduced inflammation and eased the symptoms associated with arthritis. It wasn't long until an enterprising pitchman decided to make his own snake oil and travel town to town selling it. However, due to the paucity of Chinese water snakes being raised in the boom towns of the wild west, his proprietary blend used rattlesnakes. This of course was devoid of any scientific fact that would demonstrate that the rattlesnake supplement represented a reasonable facsimile for the original brand with the Chinese snakes. He made a show of it though. His sales pitch reportedly included taking a live rattler out of a sack, slitting it open and dropping it into a pot of boiling water. Little to none of the rendered snake made it into the bottle though. It was filled, mostly, with nothing more than mineral oil. Thus giving birth to the “snake oil salesman.” Today, claimed benefits of dietary supplements have to follow guidelines spelled out in the dietary supplement regulations contained in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). From what's contained in “proprietary blends,” marketing and label claims, claimed supplement facts, and more, are subject to dietary supplement regulation under DSHEA. Since DSHEA's genesis in 1994, the FDA has taken an ever increasingly active role in regulating dietary supplements. This makes snake oil label claims much more difficult today. Copy and content writers have to be extremely careful when choosing their words so as not to make “drug-like” claims; claims of a “cure” for any kind of illness or disease, or basically, any definitive claim that the product does anything specific. Because, if it did, it would be a drug. And therein lies the rub. Today, dietary supplement manufacturers are relying on the very same kind of peer reviewed and published scientific literature to formulate their dietary supplements as the drug companies use to support their drug formulas. Effectively, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies supplements as “foods,” while the chemicals derived from that exact food are considered drugs. A good example is that valerian root extract is sold (legally in the health food store) as a dietary supplement that “might help you relax and fall asleep,” while the valium derived from it is a drug, requiring a prescription (from a doctor who is registered with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) to put you to sleep, and is listed under schedule three of the DEA's list of illegal drugs. In other words, you can go to prison for illegally possessing, trafficking and distributing it. But, can you go to prison for making false health claims about your proprietary blends? Actually, you can and several people have. So, the snake oil element of claims made today of the health benefits of dietary supplements is pretty minimal. There's always going to be an unscrupulous element to any industry; dietary supplements are no different. But, the industry is certainly not without regulation. As with anything you consider adopting, your daily supplements should be subject to scrutiny. If you chose your supplements from companies with marketing promotions that suggest realistic expectations, based on credible science, then you'd be pretty hard pressed to consider you're buying snake oil.

“Work ethic” seems to a be a perception difficult to share. One man's version of hard work could seem like a vacation to another - the “your workout is my warm-up” philosophy. It's a pretty common belief that, if you come from a family of immigrants, you have been instilled with a pretty powerful work ethic. It's pretty hard to argue with that. Anyone who has traveled to America since the turn of the century (the 20th) perusing a dream only realized that dream by working hard. Those born with the proverbial “silver spoon” in their mouths are routinely accused of not appreciating what they have because it was handed to them. That may be true for some, but I can't imagine seeing an arial view of the 405 freeway, during evening rush hour, and not being grateful you're not sentenced to ten trips a week, as nothing more than scale on the endless red and white snake that agonizingly creeps through the LA basin and across the Fernando valley. After all, “motivation” is the fuel of hard work. “Keeping it” is just as hard as “making it.” Maybe harder when faced with an alternative as horrendous as being an LA commuter (when it's not locked down). The point is, regardless of where - or on what end - of the spectrum you may stand, hard work is the common denominator that binds us. Hard work is the difference  between making/ keeping it and not making it or losing it. And, nowhere is that more evident in the physiques we seek to build. Work ethic, or lack thereof is by far the limiting factor in building or not building your body; not to mention maintaining it.  The 90's has long been revered as the most prolific in bodybuilding. During no other period before, or since, have we seen the lineups on stage so deep. The symmetry, the lines, the conditioning were all brought to levels so high that the greatest of the greats today couldn't stand next to them. Unilaterally, the opinions fostered by those who follow the sport all boil down to hard work. The Gods of the era look at those clawing their way to the top today and say, “you call that clawing??? Shiiiit.” And that does seem to be the consensus. They just don't work as hard today. Of course such a statement is ripe for blowback from those who think they're throwing down like an animal twice a day. And they may  be right. Or, totally deluded. Reality probably leans heavily toward the latter, because of the obvious fact that the 90's era lineup still hasn't been reproduced. I'm sure there are guys out there truly working hard. But, for whatever reason, very few of them are bringing 90s era proof to the stage.  Perhaps you could say that the 90's separated the old school from the new school. It might be the most fair way to look at it. The trick for the old schooler though  is to maintain the old school ethics and stay relevant today in an era where “old School” is a bit misunderstood. Without walking a mile in someone else's training shoes it's hard to fathom. More than a few guys are doing it though. One of them is Mike O'Hearn. This is not the place to get into why or how he's a model of a bygone era as well as a force today. He does that in a great interview with Rich Gaspari and John Romano, on Fitness Fame & Fortune (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mike-ohearn-fitness-fame-fortune-ep-11/id1507989923?i=1000476076915). A previous episode with CT Fletcher also gives you a great example of the old school work ethic and how it breeds success (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ct-fletcher-drops-few-f-bombs-on-rich-gaspari-john/id1507989923?i=1000474588632). At the end of the day, your success will all boil down to a couple of things: hard work and a little luck. How can you best quantify “hard work?” That's easy. All you have to remember that no matter how hard you think you're working, your competitor is working harder. If you can think like that, nothing will stop you.

“If you stay ready you don't have to get ready” - Suga Free People always ask me how l get so lean? My answer is simple, l stay lean. If I stay lean I don' t have to get lean. Right? I mean, that's pretty simple. Ah, but is it? A casual stroll through the domestic terminal of your basic international airport, in any city (my de facto example of the most diverse cross section of America), and you will find an extraordinary number of people who don't pay attention to Suga Free, cuz, they ain't ready. Well, maybe for a pie eating contest, but nothing remotely espousing a healthy body fat level, let alone anything to the extreme that we expect from a bodybuilder. So, stay lean?  Yes, if you want to be lean, stay lean. I was an obese kid and I've stayed lean for over 40 years.  If there's anyone who doesn't have the genetics to be lean, it's me. If I can do it anyone can do it. If that was a cliche, here come the rest of them: “yeah, easier said than done.” “Easy for you to say, you workout all the time.” “I can't diet.” “I have bad genetics.” Blah, blah, blah......  All you're doing by saying and falling for that crap is affirming a negative. Our sport is full of people who have overcome the most incredible adversity and accomplish the most amazing things, including getting shredded. Most of us have no adversity to overcome, except that which we create for ourselves, and can't seem to uncover any part of a six pack, let alone the whole thing. Staying lean is not rocket science. It merely requires that you stay, with the exception of the odd cheat meal once or twice, a week, on a diet. Period. All the time. By diet, I don't mean eating like a bodybuilder. I mean eating like a dieting bodybuilder. “Oh, but that's hard.” So is buying a Ferrari, unless you have the money. Dieting is easy, if you have the discipline. And, discipline – or willpower -  is a matter of one thing – a decision. A very simple decision: Do I stay on my diet or not? The problem is that your brain gets in the way. Let me give you an example.  Let's say you climb into bed after a long hard day. You're dead tired. You could fall asleep the second your head hits the pillow – which, you've fluffed and arranged just exactly how you like it. Your head sinks languidly into it, you wriggle your body one last time into that amazingly comfortable position you and the sandman love, you've maybe even tucked another pillow between your knees. You're an inch from dreamland. Then, you look up and realize you left on the bathroom light. What do you do? What few of you will do is just get up and turn off the light (you guys are probably pretty lean too). Most of you will hem and haw and needlessly complicate the issue, and procrastinate because you just don't want to get up out of bed, especially if it's cold. Some will actually just leave it on! It's a simple decision though, just get up and turn off the light! Like the saying Nike made famous, just do it. Dieting to stay lean is no different. Most of you reading this know that and know damn well what it takes to stay lean. You now there's no magic pill, no magic drug, no magic method, nothing secret. The matter is doing what it takes -  doing what's hard, doing what's uncomfortable. Problem is, humans like to be comfortable and do what's easy. You can't have it both ways. You want to stay lean? Then you know what to do. It's a simple choice – just like getting up out of bed and turning off the light. Unfortunately, temptation rears it's ugly head and then, the next thing you know, you're just another squishy American strolling through the airport. You know that in order to stay lean you have to eat good, clean, healthy food, in a favorable macro ratio, and burn more than you take in, so that the body will liberate stored fat to make up the difference. Simple. The only problem is just doing it. So, what do we do? Come up with excuses of course. And some are pretty good: “I have kids and the junk they eat is always in the house” (why do you buy it for them?), “Diet food is too expensive” (duh), “No time to prep the food,” “I have no energy on a diet,” “I get too hungry,” “I get hypoglycemic,” “I crave pizza.....” Blah, blah, blah. It's all meaningless bullshit. Suck it up buttercup. Everything desirable has a price. If you want to stay lean, quit complaining and just do it. It's either that or stay fat. Simple equation: Diet = lean. No diet = fat. (remember the bathroom light). Now, here's where the big debate that has raged for decades comes in. One camp says “calories in calories out.” This basically means that if you eat fewer calories than your base metabolic rate indicates, you'll lose weight. It doesn't matter what you eat, so long as you create a calorie deficit. The problem here is “weight” is an ambiguous term. You can hack off an arm and get back on the scale and it will read less. You get the desired intent, but the effect is not too good. What you want to lose is not “weight” but rather, body fat. Which brings us to the other camp. They say that if you eat only “clean” food – lean protein, complex carbs and healthy fats, you can eat all you want and, with adequate exercise, you'll lose body fat. The only problem with either camp is that they're both only partly right.  If you want to become, and stay, lean what you need to do is eat a balance of high protein, moderate good quality fats and few complex carbohydrates, spaced out over five to six small meals a day with a total calorie count somewhat less than your base metabolic requirement.  It's important that you keep a nice even flow of nutrients coming in so that your body does not perceive starvation and slow down your metabolic rate. This will not only stymie fat loss, but also muscle growth. So, just how much below your base metabolic rate should you eat when you consider your activity level? Too low and your body will strive to hang on to those reserves you have on board, too high and you wont lose fat. Unfortunately, there's no specific formula for this, it's a matter of trial and error. If you use an accurate measure of your body fat each week, you'll want to lose between 0.5 – 1.0% of body fat per week. Slow and steady. Once you arrive at your desired body fat level, gradually increase the size of your meals until you level out where you feel and look lean. Then stay lean.  A little help from high quality supplements? Absolutely. But, they're NOT the answer. Of course they can help and I can swear they make a big difference. But, the work and the sacrifice is going to be 85% of the deal. Luckily, modern silence has given us supplements that can help the fat burning process. Not only fat burners, but also low calorie protein powders offering complete protein with few calories or added fats, and quality vitamins and minerals to make up what a calorie restricted diet may leave out.  At the end of the day, it's going to be exercise, a well constructed, low calorie meal plan, combined with state of the art supplements, dedication, consistency and discipline that is going to deliver incredible results that can last and last and keep you lean. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.