Twelve weeks went by so very fast. Looking back there are definitely some things I would have done differently. Ate less of that, trained more of this, used more of this, and so on. One thing I wouldn't change is the whole experience. It was a stressful situation for me, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to participate. I would be in the process of moving to California and trying to establish myself in the pro beach volleyball community, and those first few months of training and transition are so critical. I knew if I were to do it and give it a 100% I could potentially hamper my opportunities as a volleyball player. Losing too much fat could hamper my athletic abilities, putting on too much muscle could make me too heavy, and would kill my knees, and if either of these happened my chances of finding a good guy to partner up with for the season could squashed. Well I ended up getting sponsored by Needtobuildmuscle and TGC and if it weren't for them I wouldn't have made the choice to participate. Knowing my personality I knew there would be no half assing it either. I'm a very extreme person. I either do something full boar, and sometimes even to a level beyond that of smart, or I just don't do it at all. I'm also a very competitive person and I hate losing, so just sitting on my ass was out of the question. Again I have absolutely no regrets about competing and I'm very very thankful for the opportunity to. I learned alot about myself, and even more about fitness and nutrition which is always a pluss. I have a better grasp on what training works for me, and that is invaluable as an athlete.
I absolutely can not thank Nate enough. Nate has been a good friend for almost two years now, and in that time frame he has supported me through thick and thin, offering help all along the way. I've had my struggles for sure during the twelve weeks. I got mislead about the job I would be doing, lost, a job, had one change on me, I was 2 months behind on rent cause of it, late on my car payment, struggling to make ends meet, and trying to find week long free passes to random gyms on the internet so I could continue to hit the gym and train. Nathan, being the amazing man he is, helped me through the process and helped me get back on my feet. Nathan supplied me with the supplements I would need for the competition and that definitely eased my mind. Plus he was constantly just a PM or text away. No matter the hour I know I can shoot him a message and He'll answer and help me out with whatever I need. He is such a good guy, and I truly think it rubs off onto the products he sells.
I was insanely stressed for the first 6 months of this competition. My living situation as I stated earlier was sketchy at best, but I had a personal "Life Coach" helping me all the way through it. Zed was a man who I didn't know prior to the competition, but now that the twelve weeks are over I know he would go to war with me, and I with him, if needed. Zed is a bad ass. No other way to say it. Super smart dude, with my best interests at heart. There were several occasions where I needed advice on AAS and other stuff that I might take to help lean out or whatever, and Zed wasn't pushy, and never said anything just for the sake of telling me something I wanted to hear. He was always honest and always wanted to keep me safe. He constantly kept checking on me and offered supportive, kind words of advice on my log, and that meant so much to me. Zed also did a marvelous job with the contest itself. I am pretty sure he wasn't in charge of it, but soon after the start of this thing I think he was kind of thrown the reigns. He did an amazing job bringing all of this together and keeping the other EF members in the know. Zed, your like a older brother/dad figure to me and I can't thank you enough for all the support!
One of the reasons I was pretty stressed out about competing was I knew if I were to have a shot at winning I would have to use AAS. The rest of the competitors were going to be using, and I knew to get super freaky lean as it was my original gameplan goal I was going to have to use. 2 things really had me thinking twice about this though. The first was, AAS in my experience has always hindered my athletic ability. It's either killed my cardio, made pumps so bad that I couldn't train, or put too much mass on and that's killed my knees and my jumping. All of which pretty much would F me at being a better beach volleyball player. The second thing, and the biggest fear I had, was the first time I took AAS I had such a horrible reaction to it, my general opinion of AAS itself was not to positive. I had a bad batch of Test and EQ and I ended up having such a massive anxiety attack that I had a minor Heart attack from it. AAS was the last thing I ever wanted to touch. I let the walls down though, as I heard TGC (The Gentlemen's Club) brand was the absolute best, and that I would have no side affects from it. Also another perk from being sponsored is that we would get it for free. And that's ridiculous!!! Let me just say, that at no point during the 12 weeks did I have a single negative side affect from TGC anabolics. I was running Primo, Test, and Proviron and I didn't feel anything but awesome on it. The only thing I can say is the 300mg/ml primo has some serious bite to it. The 100mg/ml is like taking a sugar pill, you won't feel a damn thing. It's amazing. I freaking love this brand and if I ever do another cycle again, you can bet your ass that it will be only their stuff I'm using! THANK YOU SO MUCH TGC FOR THE CYCLE AND THE HELP SETTING IT UP!!!!
Lastly I would like to thank all the competitors. My word was it fun trying to beat all of you
I didn't, but hell you really helped me cowboy up and get past some plateaus. It was a lot of fun helping, and contributing to your successes as well. At least I hope I did. You're a great group of guys and gals and I truly wish you the best.
Thanks again to all of you.
Peace
Rick.