machine gun supplement reviews

So, here it is. This will ne quick, but its my detailed or as not detailed opinion as I see fit of todays current supplements.

1) gaspari's size on

I've always enjoyed Gaspari for the most part, and sixeon is their flagship product in my opinion. They now have 2 the offseason and pre contest. Both have great merit depending on your current nutritional needs. While I still prefer to create my own version of sizeon now, this would be my pick for the post/intra workout sipllemeneyd currently out there.

2) allmax's razor 8 pre workout.

Well, we are now in the realm of ultra super concentrated pre workouts. This is great and awful. This is brand new, and I've tried it only twice but seemed to enjoy it. It gave me great energy and focus. something i look for in a pre workout. i used 2 scoops.

Now, my beef with these super ultra concentrated supplements is that they're charging us the same if not more for less than half he gun. Yes, I know there is month filler/sugar, but still these should be cheaper.
Also, on top of that they're not containing creatine and if they are it is in no significant amount at all.

So, I would pick the cheapest and the one you "feel" he most and stick with it

3) true protein's geranimo

This is my pick for pre workout. Very no frills, has all the goodies in termsnod wake ups and mood enhancers. I just add extra creatine andnim done. Love it. However, it tastes awful especially the lime. Grape and fruit punch is okay.

4) vitargo

Vitargo is supposed to be a superior form of waxy maize. I'm going to say 2 things only on this.
1) its insanely overpriced
2) if there is a benefit compared to regular waxy maize, it isn't going to be THAT significant for anyone.

Where were you?

I expect a lot from my clients. one of my downfalls as a trainer/nutritionist is that i expect too much and I know this.

why do i expect so much?

because these people are capable, and i know what they can do. even though they can't see it, i definitely can. I'm talking about first time gym goers learning how to breathe properly all the way down to one of my bodybuilders getting that last rep with their limb trembling from the rep that took them 10 seconds to complete right before it.

Where was I tonight? Saturday, November 20th at 7pm?

at the gym.

how come? kids, I want it that bad. I want to compete in bodybuilding so bad that this is where I was. I waited till the nighttime so that i could have more food in me to push. well, to be more correct to pull.
Tonight was some deadlifts. there was about, oh, 7 other guys maybe in the gym with me. I loaded up the bar with 1 plate, warmed up. smiling.

smiling?

yep.

i CANNOT STAND dealifts. if i had to pick a lift i HATE the most, the deadlift would be it. why? i have very, very long legs. disproportionate legs. so much that it hinders a lot of things (squats, deadlifts, etc) in all the wrong ways. it puts a lot of torque on my low back, demanding a LOT from my abdomen and my low back.

so, smiling? yes. becuase i know that this is what I need. not that I am by any stretch big, but my upper back (rhomboids in particular) need legg work than my para spinals and my traps, and lower lats. the cure? deadlifts.

so this is why i smile. in the face of something i hate, it in turn makes me insurmounatably happy. also why am i smiling? becuase last week i got my reps. just, just, just barely. by the skin of my abs holding my spine in place i got my reps.

so, where am i going with this once again?

i had to load up the bar with more frigging weight.

personal best at my bodyweight was/is my goal every single time i step into that area. just outside the altar (thats what i call the squat rack. ala Tom Platz... think of it as some kind of sacrificial altar. thats what I do)

so if you ever are waining. your goals are depressing you. all those cliche sayings are very true.

when the tough gets going, the going gets tough.
the early bird catches the worm
winners never quit.

yadda yadda yaddda.

yes. yes and more yes.

I really do understand when things are getting hard.

I've been fat.
I've been skinny.
I've dieted very hard doing an hour and 40 minutes of cardio every day for a long time.
I've eaten so much food that even looking at rice makes me think the worst thoughts in the world.

I'm not saying you have to do what i do. at all. I'm saying that I actually do understand what/why/how the whole shabang.

if you want a push

you want to hear more about my stories.

ask.6 l

PS. I put an extra 5 lbs on my deadlift bar, and got an extra rep (6 last week, 7 this week)

"who is that skinny guy training those big guys?"

I hear this all the time.
Overheard, of people asking my clients
"why are you training with him?"

This post was sparked by a conversation I had with a new client of mine that we had just finished an assessment about 2 weeks ago. This new client is already more muscular and more shapely than myself, but here he was in front of me, after seeing my work around the gym for the past 2.5 years, he finally is coming to alter himself.
and he's coming to me.

I have trained some very large bodybuilders.

If you read my bio, in another post on here, you'll see more of my story.

I am currently 6'1" with no abs at 183 lbs.

huh?

exactly. so, why do they come to me? whats up top.

I have taken people with weak areas (upper chest, lagging legs etc) and showed them based upon what I have learned, what they should do for THEIR scenario. even today doing my workout, I was getting some very interesting looks regarding what I was doing. I hope nobody tries to do exactly what I was doing, because I was doing more "experimenting" to fix my horrendously underdeveloped chest.

There is something to this. I now look at people differently. know how people look at girls to see how hot they are etc? I look at them and pick them apart in my head. what they're lacking, whats good, what I could do to help their physique. Girls and guys alike. its a curse, but it aids me in my quest to take people exactly where they want to go.

Am I out of shape? I don't believe so. so, its not as if these people are listening to a fat nutritionist or anything, but they are listening to a small bodybuilder/someone who is bodybuilding.

One of my mentors told me a very important piece of information, when I was asking him what books/information he's read that I could benefit further from. he told me that I have the current info, to now hone my craft. do what I want. make these bodybuilders bigger and better.
He told me I am nothing without
1) a great track record of results
2) trust

And i sat back and thought about it. and yes, all of my clients trust me 100%. not just that I won't hurt them, but that I know what I am doing, and that everything i do is in their best interest.

so where am I going with this?

huh?

why are they listening to me? whats up top.

What I have inside this insanely blonde head of mine.

the conversation with the client consisted of me explaining what I thought we should do nutritionally and training wise to get this already in shape bodybuilder to the next level.

This particular client was training 6+ times per week, with cardio, with a moderate to pretty decent nutrition program.

I told him we'll be training 3 X per week, for roughly an hour, and that's it.
I told him the nutritional ideas i was thinking of. as most of you know, they're nothing fancy (other than some few tips and tricks i have learned) but they seem to work.

and guess what?

he bought it.
he was leaning forward most of the conversation, and sat back at the end and said that if it wasn't me, he'd laugh and walk out.

The client called me the bodybuilding equivalent of a golf caddy.
I'm loosely quoting him here, but it was something along the lines of:

"Every pro golfer could beat the piss out of their caddy on the golf course, but they always listen to them to make them the pro golfer that they are. so you are kind of like the golf caddy for bodybuilders"

and that really made sense and hit home. I love it! I think it would be AWESOME to known as the golf caddy for bodybuilding. I want to take guys from where they are to anywhere/everywhere physically possible for them.

so, This is not me bitching. this is me basking in the humility of which i have received.

one of more other clients said that I have a reputation of being a "hard ass" on my clients. I laughed it off, and told some of my other clients that. to my surprise, they all kind of agreed. they assured me its in the best way possible, but also what they're saying is that there is an intimidation factor to training with Mega Marty. That was very eyebrow raising, but I suppose if you were watching me with my clients from the treadmill, It would look like I am beating the tar out of my clients (especially my women) by the pace we train and by the looks on their faces during and after the workouts.

very interesting indeed.

How to long to have a Personal Trainer

This post is simply my opinion. there may be some arguments here, but hey guess what? its my blog not yours! haha!

So, I get asked this quite a bit, and I usually always breath in big, breath out big, and say with a smile "It depends"

on what?

1) level the client is at
2) skill level of the client
3) motivation of the client
4) financial situation of the client
5) schedule of the client
6) goals of the client

There are probably more I'm leaving out, but lets go with that.

So, level?
as in, are they BRAND new in the gym, or is this a bodybuilder looking for a bit of optimization?

obviously the first needs much more "personal training"
I do not offer "introductory 3 sessions" anymore. i have found that the success/come back to the gym on their own rate is very poor. I have looked every way I can to make sure its not me not being able to teach the exercise correct. However, I am looking into other mediums such as a video series and a book, so stay tuned.

Because, if you are a decent trainer at ALL, you are attempting to train the client to be able to train themselves. so, in essence you are training them to be a trainer.

did i learn everything i know in 3 hours? haha! some may think so, but no, no it wasn't 3 hours.

2) skill level. how good are they grasping concepts? breathing? posture? remembering what a "bench press" is? do they need repeated instruction every time? these are all massive factors. I ask myself "would I feel comfortable letting this person go off on their own?"

3) Is this person looking for the magic bullet? or can i convince them that yes, it does boil down to lots I have talked about in this blog, such as genetics, effort, meal planning, direction, commitment, scheduling, everything.

4) I'm just going to be someone who says it. personal training is a luxury service. not everyone can afford it. I know of some people that pay in excess of 1000$ per person (for JUST TRAINING) a month, whom i wouldn't pay that specific trainer more than 50$/month. This is the part that sucks. If anyone has met me, they hopefully know that its not about the money for me. at all. yes, it pays the bills, but I LOVE what I do. this goes back to the how to pick a trainer article that Lyle McDonald went over in one of my earlier posts.

5) this is where we run into fun. what do most people do? work. so, obviously when is popular? 5:30 am - 8:00am ish... then 4:30 pm - on. so, once that is filled, and you have someone that wants a slot for full time training... you have to kind of scratch your head and try to make it work. this is sometimes very hard to get done. the more steady you can have someones fitness schedule, the better. this gets them into a "workout time" per say and makes things much easier, instead of calls saying "when were we working out again?" or things along those lines. especially for people that want to put guarantees onto their services, are you talking pure training? training and nutrition? supplements? cardio? yep...

6) are they coming in for something to do? or does this person want to run a marathon? massively different goals. and this goes back to skill and level of client. an obese client with a goal of a marathon will need much more personal training than the fit, previously marathoned seasoned client.

SO WHATS THE ANSWER MARTY????

I told you already. It depends.

I now do not train clients for anything less than a month. at this moment in time, I feel anything less is going to fail the client, and therefore I am failing. This is assuming they are a first time client, fresh in the gym.

every other type of client, it depends. it really does. maybe ask your trainer some of these questions? how long do i NEED to be with you? or maybe you just flat out want to be with them, which is more than fine.
I have clients that could definitely do it on their own, but they remain with me for the motivation and wanting everything perfect and laid out for them.