Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tone This!

The Blogging Machine—Scivation Owner Marc “The Machine” Lobliner Addresses what he feels is important in life and in the pursuit of anabolism.

Tone This!
By: Marc Lobliner, Scivation President


If you listen to the dialogue with Dorian and me in our YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvGZCeKfqSk you will hear him address toning a muscle. In essence, the 6x Mr. Olympia goes on to say that you cannot tone a muscle. You can build it, it can shrink, but you can NOT tone a muscle. I am not one to argue with Dorian about building lean mass.

What the heck is toning anyway? I mean, you can build muscle, you can have muscle loss when you have lack of training or nutrients (food), but if you perform endless reps of twisting bicep curls at a 70 degree angle while making funny faces and listening to “Vogue” by Madonna, will you build the peak on your biceps? Ummm, maybe, but probably not.

I cringe when I see out of shape, obese people in the gym spending their time doing endless hours of cardio, endless reps of crunches, Situps and weird looking side-bends holding a dumbbell in both hands at the same time, thus counterbalancing the movement, thus achieving nothing....woops, I am digressing again. The point I am making is that you will never see a guy with ripped abs and flabby arms. Muscle burns fat. The more muscle you have, the less fat you will have and the more “toned” you will appear. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn and the more Chocolate Cake you can get away with eating.

If you want to tone your muscle, build lean mass, lose fat, and use common sense. How do you build lean mass and lose fat? Lift heavy ass, rusted barbells and follow a proper diet plan. You can even get a diet plan and training program made just for you for free online at www.teamscivation.com. And women, trust me, you will NOT turn into a man by lifting heavy! Check out my wife, Katie. She lifts heavy and hard, eats like a champ, and yet still does not have a man’s anatomy.

Katie Deadlifts 225 for 5!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTlIgqnhXeo

Katie rockin it with ME!




Yes, I am the luckiest man alive.

And an update for those who care, here is a shot of me at 235lbs, on my way to my IFBB Pro Card if I ever compete again. Business and family are too important right now for me to go headfirst into a prep and frankly, I have some more work to do!





Don’t Sleep,
Marc Lobliner

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Love, Life and Bodybuilding….and being naked together!

The Blogging Machine—Scivation Owner Marc “The Machine” Lobliner Addresses what he feels is important in life and in the pursuit of anabolism.

Love, Life and Bodybuilding….and being naked together!
By: Marc Lobliner, Scivation President

I have been married for nine years, been with my wife for 14 total years, and in our entire lives, my wife and I have only been with one another (you know what I mean, BEEN with, meaning the “love mambo”; the “angry monkey dance” or my favorite, “The Wild Thang” (thanks Tone Loc). I remember my first date with Katie. We had known of eachother for the first three years of high school (Culver City High School, California), as she was my Little Sister in football, meaning she gave my fat ass candy before games. The first night we went out, I knew we would be together forever, or at least for more than a week. (Hey, I was 16, give me a break!) The issue was, I was 295 pounds and Katie was 165 or more pounds. Here we are!




WOW, huh? We were cute together and sure did love ice cream and In N’ Out Hamburgers. But when I injured my knee playing football, we saw the light. What light is that? The light that only comes from the reflection off of a heavy ass, rusted barbell. We found bodybuilding.

As my wife and I had an “alone” vacation in Las Vegas last week, I realized something. I love her more than ever, we have two amazing children, and we ENJOY life more. We are healthier, we teach our children the values of exercise and eating well, and we also have the energy and positive outlook to be the best parents possible and just today, I played baseball with my kids for the first time. I look at some parents and feel for their kids as they can barely move due to their lack of fitness.





Oh yeah, and my wife is the hottest woman alive (at least to me). And any woman who makes training at Gold’s Vegas part of their vacation is a champ to me.




Bodybuilding and the fitness lifestyle has made our lives amazing. It has enhanced everything that we do. So do yourself a favor and harness the bodybuilding lifestyle and live a better, more fulfilling life.




Don’t Sleep,
Marc Lobliner

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Food Choices and When They Matter—A BRO’S Perspective

The Blogging Machine—Scivation Owner Marc “The Machine” Lobliner Addresses what he feels is important in life and in the pursuit of anabolism.

Food Choices and When They Matter—A BRO’S Perspective
By: Marc Lobliner, Scivation President

I want to elaborate on my thoughts about calories, food sources and other things. Somehow there is a huge debate on whether food choice matters when prepping for a show, bulking, maintaining (more on what the hell “maintaining” is later), and breeding goats. Okay, maybe not the goat part, but I cannot believe the war going on between the IIFYM people (If It Fits Your Macros) and the “Egg Whites and Oats” crowd. Frankly, I am a hybrid on the issue. If you are expecting me to cite studies or quote Einstein’s formulas or even biblical references, this is not the article for you. If you come at me with science and slam me for writing this, I will simply laugh and pretend to have a California education (Culver City High School for the Win!) and speak in tongues. Therefore, here comes the broscience.

When prepping for a show, food choice matters. My Prep Advisor, Jason Theobald (jason@nattynutrition.com) advised me to switch most of my meals to potatoes from oatmeal about six weeks out. The difference was profound. The reason? Micronutrients. Potassium is abundant in potatoes of all kinds. The limit for potassium pills in 99mg. in one 8oz potato, there are over 400mg of potassium! What it did for water balance was profound and an immediate change took place. Also, you are on limited calories. Thus, I recommend getting them from the healthiest sources possible. Being lean is great, but being lean while sick or dead? Not so great. I refuse to believe that a Hot Pocket® is healthier than Oatmeal and Macadamia Nut Oil. The fiber, healthy, monounsaturated fats…brilliant. Now can you get lean on Hot Pockets? YES! Is it optimal? In my opinion, no. While the main issue is calories in versus calories out, I have seen enough to make up my mind. Case in point, Scivation Athlete Tommy Jeffers.

Tommy was the posterboy for the IIFYM diet group. He looked amazing. Then, I traveled with him precontest as he shoved broccoli in his face all day with Scivation Whey, chicken breast and peanut butter. Per the advice of Doug Miller and our team, he was giving this a try. The result? A slew of overall victories and an ass as shredded as the Shredded Wheat the IIFYM group swears by. His muscle QUALITY was far beyond what he had before with the IIFYM theory with similar leanness. How is this? Heck I don’t know. It just is.



Moreover, there are exceptions so don’t hate on me for thinking I am hating on your peeps, but overall the IIFYM group looks amazing but just lacks what the “egg whites and oatmeal” team brings. Doug Miller, Kurt Weidner, Rob Moran, Brian Whitacre….the quality of their muscles are unreal. They diet HARD, but if the pizza I saw Kurt eat in New York while offseason is an indicator; these freaks aren’t as anal during the offseason. What a segue, huh? Time to rock the offseason….

I was at Gold’s in Las Vegas the after competing and was having issues putting on weight. There was an enormous IFBB Pro there from Europe. HUGE! He noticed my level of conditioning and paid me a compliment. We ended up speaking. I asked his tips for mass gaining (the natural version of the story, so don’t go there). He said, “Get your protein and the rest, just eat and eat.” Although he said it with a much cooler accent than I do, he said it and I took it in. My belief is on the offseason, when trying to gain, as long as you hit your protein and EFA’s, fill in the rest with whatever and hit your calories. I still recommend veggies and fruits to get your vitamins and antioxidants, but if you are hitting those and want to fill in the rest with cake and pie, or Tim Tams for you Aussies and Bangers and Mash for you Brits, then do it! If you start getting too fluffy, cut back. If you gain .5-1lb per week and are staying lean, enjoy life! With that said, I still get most of my calories from chicken, oatmeal, Scivation Whey and Nuts, but if at a wedding or a restaurant, I am getting my grub on and enjoying it.

As for maintaining, what the hell is that!? Muscle either grows or atrophies (shrinks). In my opinion, why go to the gym to maintain? IMPROVE DAILY! Thus I will assume that most people “maintaining” just eat prepackaged kid’s items like Lunchables® and Cheeze Whiz®.

The conclusion? If competing, don’t leave anything to chance. Drop the pie and eat the dry ass chicken. Pack your meals and look like a jackass. Even if it makes a .02% difference, in my opinion, it is worth it. If bulking or maintaining, get your protein and EFA’s and ENJOY! Try to be as “healthy” as possible, but if your wife or mommy makes you some Pecan Pie covered in Whipped Cream and an edible figurine of Carrie Underwood, EAT IT! There is no right or wrong way, but these are my BRO-THOUGHTS. If you have nice things about this to say, please do. If you want to make fun of me or say mean things, please direct all anger toward Scivation VP Rob Moran. 