100 Days And Counting: Tom Venuto's Bodybuilding Secrets Blog

100 Days And Counting

Tom Venuto

For the past few months, I’ve been training with my friend Mike Andreula at Empire Fitness Club in my hometown of Hoboken, NJ or at Strong & Shapely Gym in East Rutherford, NJ, a quick 15 minute drive from Hoboken. Occasionally, when the masochistic urge strikes me, I take the 30 minute trip up to Body Quest gym in Blauvelt, NY to get a beating… er, I mean a “training session,” from Richie Smyth, The legendary “Master of Pain”.

Mike has never competed before, but he’s got great genetics for bodybuilding and the guy trains like an animal. When you put together good genetics and animal training… look out! The future is bright for this up and comer.

Competition had been the subject of conversation at almost every one of our workouts for months. Mike kept talking about doing his first show, and I kept talking about when I was going to get back onstage after my four-year absence. For about three months, that’s all we did… talk. Don’t get me wrong, we were training like maniacs… and growing. I do that year round, because I love bodybuilding for it’s own sake, contest or not. But we hadn’t made a committed decision to compete yet.

Lots of people talk about competing in a bodybuilding, fitness, figure or “transformation challenge” contest, but they won’t make a committed decision.

Instead of making commitments, most people just “try” things because that leaves them with an “out.” They want to “try” dieting and training for a little while and see how they look, and if they look ok, then they’ll keep going forward, but if they don’t look good at the half way point, they won’t go through with it. One foot in, one foot out. Sure enough, the minute things start getting rough, the non-committed ones jump ship.

You might think you’re playing it safe with this “try it and see” approach, but I’m telling you, it’s totally backward. You have to carve your word of commitment in stone and burn your bridges behind you. You have to lock yourself in and throw away the key. The only way out is to go through with it. Once the commitment is made, to go back on your word is not only unthinkable, it’s impossible. When you’re committed and things get rough, it only makes you more determined and you re-double your efforts.

TOTAL COMMITMENT means everything! That’s how this whole blog thing came about. By announcing our contest plans and journaling our training online, what a great way to become accountable and take our commitment to an even higher level. Once we start it, there’s no turning back.

So I looked at Mike one day and said, “Alright bro, let’s pick a show, sign a pact in blood and DO IT! Are you sure you really want to do this? You’re not going to bail on me are you? If you do, I get to write about it in my blog and tell thousands of people on the Internet how I crushed another training partner… just one in a long string of wussies who couldn’t hang.” I laughed, but Mike didn’t look too amused. He just glared back at me and said, “LET’S DO IT.”

Actually, I was only busting his chops to get him riled up. I’ll tell you more about Mike later, but for now, let me just say that he’s one of those guys who NEVER gives up, never gives in, and especially, never admits defeat. No matter how crazy or intense the training is, he just keeps slugging. It actually worries me sometimes… I wonder if he was born without pain receptors or something. That’s a real disease you know - I’m serious, quit laughing - I saw it on Discovery Channel - I think he has it.

If I say, “Hey Mike, we’re going to do 40 rep squats today,” he says, “Bring it on!” If I say, “Then we’re going to sprint the Cliffside stairs over in Weehawken,” he says, “Sounds like fun, let’s do it.” And then If I say, “And then we’re going back to the gym to squat some more” he says, “Is that all, what else?” Like I said, he’s an animal - my kind of training partner.

Anyway, the first thing we did was to start looking through the contest calendars for a show and narrowing the choices down into local shows (within reasonable driving distance of Hoboken). We also wanted a time frame that allowed us at least 12 weeks to get ready). How much time you need to prepare for a show depends on what kind of condition you’re in now. For most bodybuilders who are fairly lean to begin with, 12 weeks is plenty of time. For others who got bulkier in the off season, (or who took too many trips to Krispy Kreme), the contest prep period can be 16 weeks or even more. Mike and I are both fairly lean already, so I picked a time frame of mid September through October and circled a few shows as possible candidates.

The second thing I did was to start going to some shows just to get psyched and get “into the spirit of things.” You can’t help getting motivated when you attend these contests. Just sitting there in the audience watching others compete gets you fired up. It may seem weird, but the smell of “Hot Stuff” alone makes me feel like I’m backstage, ready to get it on. (In case you’re a newbie and you don’t know what Hot Stuff is, it’s a posing oil that’s also a vasodilator which flushes your skin and makes your veins stand out. Has a real pungent odor… imagine cinnamon-scented Ben Gay).

On June 11th, I schlepped across Manhattan to go see Phil Sottile’s INBF Natural Long Island Championships in Melville. Great show. Phil does a mean Elvis.. his Mick Jagger isn’t bad either… Don’t ask…Let’s just say that as a promoter, Phil brings new meaning to the concept of “production value” in amateur bodybuilding. Go see for yourself at Phil’s next INBF show on Sept 17th. Phil’s show got me pumped up! And that 9-17 contest went on the list of possible show dates.

Last Saturday, On June 18th, Mike and I drove up to Tarrytown, New York to see Felix Corona’s NBI Natural New York State Championships. The last time I was there was 1996, when I won the middleweight and overall title. It brought back great memories - but naturally! I still have that 8-foot monster trophy (my trophy is bigger than yours!)

While I was there, I bumped into Felix and asked him when his next show was. I wasn’t sure if he’d even recognize me after 9 years, but actually he said he noticed me in audience earlier (of course, it’s kind of hard to miss me in a crowd, being how HYUUUGE and ripped I am and everything… did I mention good looking too?)

“October 1st is the USA championships,” Felix said. That was it! Right there I knew that was the show. Done deal. Committed decision. Bridges Burned. Carved in Stone.

“I’ll be there,” I promised him.

Now that the show date was set, I had one more thing to do in my pre-preparation rituals…Write out my contest countdown calendar.

Every time I compete, I always create a calendar that counts backwards from the day of the show. Then I schedule every workout for the entire 12-16 weeks. Yes, every last workout from now to the day of the show is on paper, and each day I know how many days are left.

Those contest calendars are pasted on my refrigerator, my office bulletin board, on the side of my computer screen and inside my Day Timer - It focuses and motivates you like you wouldn’t believe. Makes you realize the clock is ticking. Every day counts. Every set counts. Every rep counts. There’s no time to waste.

Saturday, October 1st, 2005 is show day. Today is Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005. Well whaddya know… exactly 100 days and counting.

Published on 22 June, 2005

Comments

Rob Cooper said:

Did you have to hire a truck to get that trophy home? or is it a snap-together trophy? holy shit man!

Posted on Jun 23, 2005 12:16 PM

Tom Venuto said:

Rob, it's funny you should ask that. I've been unsure of myself at times, and gotten my butt kicked on stage many times before, but for THAT show - the 96' New York State, I was so confident that I would win, I told one of my friends that I had to borrow his truck because I needed a way to get the trophy home (my car was too small). I had competed in many of Felix's shows before and I had seen those huge trophies he gave away, but I *always* took 2nd - every time. 2nd place natural Tri-State. 2nd place Natural North America. 2nd Place, Natural USA 1995... I wanted that frickin 1st Place trophy! So I borrowed my friend's pickup truck for show day, and even brought a bunch of rope with me to secure the trophy in the bed of the truck. Call me cocky, but you can only get what you expect, so you might as well expect to win, right? (On a different note, Felix told me last week, he scaled down his trophies to only 5 feet tall, because too many people complained that they couldn't get them home. Hey, that's their fault! They didn't plan ahead like I did!)

Posted on Jun 23, 2005 04:47 PM

Janet said:

Hi Tom,
Could you post your and Mike's starting body stats such as weight, BF, bicep and waist measurements? And perhaps post them again at the 6 week and 12 week marks? I'm interested to see how your training and diets change two fairly lean and advanced bodybuilders.
I love what you're doing here at your blog. It's not every day one can follow the details of getting ready for a contest. Can't wait to see videos of your workouts. Keep up the great work!
Janet

Posted on Jun 26, 2005 03:07 PM

Tom Venuto said:

Mike and I are definitely going to be posting weight, body fat and lean body mass stats. In fact, I've already been posting weight. I started at 205. Dropped a pound last week and already down another pound in past few days (203). Measurements are not important to me. Competitive bodybuilding is visual, not quantitative. The judges don't come up and tape measure our biceps. They also don't come into the gym and see how much weight we can lift. You can win a show with a 400 pound bench press or a 200 pound bench press... with a 20 inch arm or a 16 inch arm. I usually tell my (non bodybuilder) clients that the more feedback you get, the better, and that measurements are great for charting progress - especially the waistline during fat loss programs. But for me, for pre-contest prep, my progress is mostly judged by the mirror, with the scale and body fat calipers helping out. Photos and video are great too. Maybe... just maybe, we'll get out a tape measure... for the sake of this blog... just for "fun"... but no promises :-)

Posted on Jun 26, 2005 04:10 PM

Mariela said:

Are you and Mike going to compete against each other?

By the way, I'm loving this blog. You crack me up sometimes. :D

Posted on Jun 30, 2005 01:55 PM

Tom Venuto said:

Hi Mariela. Thanks, I'm glad you like the blog so far. Yeah, I crack myself up sometimes too :-)
Re: are mike and I going to compete against each other? Could happen! Mike is shorter than me, and unlike most shows, the Natural USA has height classes, so it looks like I will do the medium class (vertically challenged), and Mike will do the short class (extremely vertically challenged). If we both win our class, guess what.... We have a show down in the posedown for the overall title! That would be a trip!

Posted on Jun 30, 2005 02:02 PM