Season's Greetings! Well it’s that time of year again and everyone is going crazy shopping (cool for me, gives me an excuse to spend money), going to office parties, eating tons of good food and making New Year's resolutions. Somebody asked me the other day what my New Year's resolution was going to be for 2011? I told them I have been on top of my New Year's resolution for the last six weeks. Civilians don't understand how we do it. How can you go through the holidays and not drink, not eat, not party? How is that possible? I guess the average person doesn't understand that what we as competitors do is bigger than ourselves. We are able to get past the holiday cheer and see the bigger picture. We know that every meal, every rep, every set matters from day 1 until show time.
The one thing I can participate in is shopping! I don't know what it is, I come from a lower-middle class upbringing and I was never taught to blow through cash but I think the diet makes me this way. I guess I'll put it to you this way, since I can't spend money at restaurants, I might as well spend it somewhere else. The one thing I did notice was walking through the mall two days before Xmas can be interesting for someone like me. There are a few different types of people: 1. The old woman or man who are totally in awe by what we do and usually the little old lady has to get a bicep feel…lol. 2. The average gym warrior who walks through the mall and looks at you and wants to take another look but wants to maintain his pride. 3. Then there are the women who are speed shopping and blow right through your shoulder only to realize it’s not easy to move bodybuilder of my size. From there I get a dirty look like its my fault I'm this size and I should be banned from the mall altogether. 4. Lastly, you have two types of kids; ones that stare at you like your a comic book character and want to reach out and start wrestling and two, the kinds that run for the nearest parent and scream in fear that such a human exists. Gotta love'em, all those people make for a pretty interesting shopping day. The other thing I noticed in hitting the mall, since I haven't been in quite some time, is it’s not as easy as it once was to shop. I'm not talking about the fact that NOTHING on the racks fits and the food court is really just an exercise in complete discipline. I'm talking about the fact that after walking through the mall once or twice its pretty much time to go home. I did a couple laps and I was looking for the electrical wheel chairs to finish out the day! I guess I should have talked about my prep a little bit huh? Well I found out today that I wasn't getting a Xmas present from the IFBB – I did not get the Arnold Invite…YET. I understand though, I haven't competed in about 14 months and I'm sure they don't know that the person coming back is not at all the person that hit the stage then. Like everything else in my life, nothing comes easy and it’s all earned, not given. I have been dealing with adversity all throughout my career and I have no problem dealing with this. The one thing I do know is this, the top three at the FLEX Pro will most likely get an invite to the ASC. In my mind, if I can't place in the top three at the FLEX Pro, I shouldn't be on the ASC stage anyway. I want to bring the best package I can to both shows and make sure I am in the top spots. I'm not playing around no more and if I can't get into those top spots then it’s BACK TO THE SQUAT RACK!! Sacrifice Without Regret, Fouad 'Hoss' Abiad
