Happy Birthday Nicole Vitale!!!

Today is Nicole's birthday! We celebrated last nite by driving into NYC to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Plataforma!! Plataforma is a Brazilian steakhouse and the food is absolutely to die for, plus its all you can eat!! The highlight of dinner had to be our dessert! We had the Brazilian chocolate truffles that were hand rolled and they just melted in your mouth! God its good to eat that kind of stuff again,lol! Training is going great! Oh yeah, Shout out to Brett Favre for giving us bummed out JETS fans something to cheer for! 6 touchdown passes!! keep em coming!

sept 26

Thursday nite I drove down to New Jersey to meet up with Guy and a female client of mine, Bridgette Manzi at The Lions Den in Fairfield New Jersey. The Lions Den is owned by top National super heavyweight and big time contest Promoter Stokely Palmer. The gym was great. They have a great variety of equipment as well as dumbbells that go up to 200lbs! The atmosphere was really cool and they had Metallica blasting while I was training. That's my type of gym!

R.I.P. Steve Stone. The bodybuilding community lost one of it s most influential people yesterday. Steve stone's life ended tragically short at the Mr. Olympia Friday. Steve was instrumental in organizing shows in the NPC as well as the IFBB. Steve always had a smile on his face and was always willing to extend a hand to help support the sport he loved so much. My condolences go out to the Stone family.

Busy!!

Have been very busy this past week! Sorry I haven't been on to blog. Nothing too exciting going on, but I did manage to make it down to Edison NJ, to train at Apollan gym. Definitely a hardcore gym. Blasting music and people movin weights! My type of place. I will be touring different gyms in the New Jersey area over the next 2 weeks, so If you are from Jersey and want to train, send me an email!

NEW UPDATES!!!

New updates are up in the members section of my site. I got a ton of pictures from my overall victory at the the Atlantic City ProAm as well as a bunch of pics from fans! Come check them out.

NPC ATLANTIC CITY OVERALL CHAMPION

Whats up everybody! Sorry I didn't blog yesterday to let you all know about the show, but my mind was pretty shot and I just wanted to relax. Here's my rundown of the weekend!
I flew in my buddy Ted's plain right out of Danbury (my hometown) and strait into Atlantic City! The plain is small and a little scary, but I got there in 40min which blows away driving for 3-4 hours! When I got to my hotel I went straight to my room to relax and continue my carb up. Friday nite I was really looking great, and I knew I was only gonna get better. I cut my water out around 11 on Friday and went to bed at midnight. I woke up at 7 on Saturday morning looking the best I have ever looked! I went to the athletes check in and weighed in at 228. Super Heavyweight for the first time and more shredded than ever!
The Athletes were told to be back at 1:30 and ready to rock at 2. I went back to my room, had my last regular meal and began packing my stuff together. Originally we were told that we were gonna start at 2 and be done by 5 the latest. so I decided to only get a room for Friday nite and we would drive home on Saturday. I checked out of my room and started to munch on rice cakes and peanut butter. I do this before every show when I am getting ready to get onstage. When I arrived at the meeting we were told that we would not be on stage till at least 3 o'clock! Now I was in trouble...No room...and no more food! Fortunately I have made a lot of good friends over the years at shows, and people went out of there way to help me. IFBB pro Figure competitor Krissy Chin gave me 4oz of chicken and I paired that with some extra rice cakes to have a meal around 2. I went back at 3 only to find out that we were being delayed until 5 because of the large number of Masters pro's competing before us! At this point I got a little frustrated but I kept my cool. Some of the other competitors were bugging out and complaining. I hate complainers and I never complain, complaining and stressing can only make you look worse. So I calmly went on another hunt for food. My friend and fellow bodybuilder Kris Lecomte gave me some chicken that he had, and my buddy John Bowland (Fiance of Figure pro Amy Frye) had a 4 oz yam for me. I ate that around 4, but I could see that my condition was fading and I wasnt as sharp as I was earlier in the day. Rather than stressing too much I found a place to lay down and just thought to myself that everyone was going through the same thing as me. Finally at 5 they brought us back stage. I found a nice place to sit and meditate and relaxed watching all the other guys frantically running around and pumping up. There was one heavyweight who was very good but his attitude really sucked and I was envisioning the satisfaction I would get when I hand him his ass on stage. Finally it was time to come out for my mandatories. Only 3 guys in my class and I was moved right to the center. Prejudging went fast and I went back stage to prepare for my routine. As soon as I went backstage my buddy Guy came running over to me with a huge piece of funnel cake. Guy said I had really flattend out and insisted that I eat the cake Immediately! He then proceeded to cram the cake into my mouth much to the content of the ProTan girls who were laughing at the scene! In about 5 minn my body had totally changed and I was swollen and hard! I went out and nailed my routine and the crown really enjoyed it. Then it was time for the trophy presentation. I won my class and then got ready for the overall. The overall was fun! My friends were all sitting in the front and the crowd was going nuts. I really enjoyed hamming it up for the crowd. The announcer said they had a decision and all the competitors walked to the back of the stage...except me. I stayed in the front of the stage and hit one more menacing most muscular followed by the Sergio Oliva Victory Pose. I was announced the overall winner! Redemption! As part of my reward, the Promoters are paying my travel expenses to my next show Junior Nationals next year. I will also be on the poster for next years show. Pretty cool!
When I walked off the stage I was greeted by all my friends as well as my girlfriend Nicole. Everyone has been so cool to me and Nicole has put up with a lot. I feel so blessed to have her in my life, and I am very fortunate to have such a good set of friends and family who really want me to succeed!
After the show I hung out in the Species booth taking pictures with fans. I met a lot of really cool people, it was a great experience.
No rest for me though. I have a lot of work to do! Today I am back in the gym to work on these legs! I keep hearing that I have the upper body of a pro and all I need is some wheels so that's my mission for this year! More leg mass! Let the off season begin!

sept 12

Day before the show! 230 lbs this morning shredded! Its crazy how I look at this larger weight. It makes me realize I should not have tortured my body down to make weight as a heavy for the North American! I cant wait to get on stage and show everyone what I really look like! Thanks to all my friends and fans! Thanks too my family that really supports me alot! Special thanks to my girlfriend Nicole, its very hard to live with someone who has been intensely dieting for 4 months! I'm gonna rock the house Saturday! I have never been more confident!

Sept 11

226 this morning and dry as a bone! This is with out a doubt the best I have ever looked. Today I start carbing up. Nothing crazy, 35g of carbs added to each of my 7 meals. Tomorrow I will kick it up a notch. I cant wait to get on stage! The work is done, the fat is gone and its time to Redeem myself in front of all my east coast friends and fans! There is a cool thread going on about me in the NO BULL forum at www.musculardevelopment.com There are 4 pictures of me that were just taken on Tuesday nite. Go check them out and see how I am looking!

Busy weekend!!!

I had a very busy weekend! Very Exhausting. Friday nite I was at a wedding for Nicole's cousin Brendan. Weddings are a lot of fun when you are a week out from a show and cant eat or drink anything! There even more fun when you know about 3 people that are attending! I didn't get home from the wedding until about 1 in the morning then I was up at 8 to do cardio and in the gym by 10 to murder my legs! Saturday nite I attended the Team Universe in NYC. It was a good time, I presented the trophy to the women's overall bodybuilding champion and got a thumbs up from Dave on how I look for this show. I didn't get home from the city until after 2 in the morning and then I was up at 8 to get on the treadmill. No training on Sunday so I parked my but on the couch for the season opener of J-E-T-S JETS, JETS,JETS!!!!! The Brett Favre era has begun in NY and I couldn't be more excited. My all time favorite player playing on my favorite team. I watched the MTV Video Music Awards last nite and found the British guy who hosted to be the most obnoxious person I have ever had to listen to! I thought the VMA's totally sucked this year and I really don't understand the craze over the Jonas Bro's. Just my 2 cents!

New Updates!!!

3 new galleries are up in my members section. Tony Monchinski captured me training back 8 days before the North American. Also a whole gallery of me posing 8 days out from the show. All high resolution shots! Check them out!

sept 6

1 week out from Atlantic City Pro Am, I am 230lbs. Very happy with the way I look today. Grainy, hard and vascular! Today was first leg workout since North Americans and last one before the show so I went all out. I know I'm gonna be sore tomorrow! I'm heading over to the Team Universe in a little while to hang out in the Species booth and mingle with the spectators and athletes attending the show. I cant wait to get back on stage next weekend, I have unfinished business to attend to!

sept 4

Feels good to be training again with some fats in my system. I can move a little more weight and my stamina is up. I am currently 232 lbs 9 days out from Atlantic city. I posed with Kenny yesterday. I am pleased with the way my body looks at this point!

In the trenches!!

I just shot another In The Trenches Today at Bev Francis' gym in Long Island. I blasted chest, weighing 237 looking super full and Vascular! Also my members section has the pics from North Americans up!

North American Recap

For those of you who don't know yet. I placed 9th in a very competitive class (33 guys) This weekend at the North American Championships. I am not pleased at all because I brought in a package that was only about 80% of what my best is. I looked awesome on Thursday, but fell apart on Friday. I came in with good condition but just totally flattend out. Same problem as last year although, not as severe. I think the problem is an electrolyte imbalance because I was cramping horribly bad all day on friday and I couldn't stop peeing even though I wasn't drinking any water! I have decided to stay on the diet and will seek Redemption in 2 weeks at the Atlantic City Pro AM. I will show everyone what I am truly capable of.
The show was a good learning experience and I made a bunch of new friends! I got to pick the brains of some seasoned veterans and realized I have a lot more fans than I thought!
I want to thank my family and my girlfriend Nicole for all there support! I want to thank Evan, Kenny, Guy and Kris for being there and helping me out so much this weekend. Thanks to Dave for helping me Nail my condition again and thanks Colette for doing a great job with my color! Sorry this blog isn't that detailed but I want to put this behind me and focus on Atlantic City!