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Brett Wilkin, Ben Chow, and Ivana Ivusic take you through a back workout at Armbrust Pro Gym in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

 
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Martin Fitzwater and Keone Pearson welcome Blake Courville to the Gasp & Better Bodies team with a good ol' fashioned back workout at our home base, Destination Dallas.

 
We hit the road again. This time it is the Space City aka Houston, Texas. Houston is the largest city in Texas with a massive iron community. In this 3 days tour we hit up 2 of the most popular gyms along with the NASA Space Center.

Why NASA? NASA is proof that ideas can be insane and doable at the same time. No Compromises is a mindset that is a part of any big idea that will encounter failure after failure after failure. Nothing worth accomplishing is EVER an overnight success and takes crazy ideas along with an equally crazy work ethic and being relentless in the pursuit.

Follow along as we hit up Species gym, Roman Empire Gym, NASA and eat everything in between.

 
You cant think you will accomplish what may seem impossible with a mediocre work ethic.

Shaun Clarida, Guy Cisternino and Jason Hebert all understand the never ending work and level up aspect of their goals. Where they have been and where they want to go physically and in their respective careers is not easy and shouldn't be.

Here they are training back at Destination Dallas right before departing for San Antonio for an Iron World Tour. All of them are out of the comfort of their own gym environment however all of them linking up here produced a killer energy that we have to share with you all.

"Last time I saw this MF'er he was slaying giants at the Legion Pro..." Martin Fitzwater "There's more to come. A lot more to come." Shaun Clarida.

 
How do you never miss a training session?

YOU JUST NEVER MISS

The most critical part of being uncompromising is just making the mental decision from the beginning. From then on, you prepare and in any extenuating circumstances do what it takes to follow through.

"Look at any great champion this sport has ever had. They have the same unwavering discipline in common. Doesn't matter if they're on the road or at home, they never miss workouts and they never miss meals."

We follow Johnnie and Branch through a chest workout before the San Antonio Iron World Tour and a back training session right after the tour in Houston. Both weeks were super hectic with pressing agendas but training was and is priority.

Sometimes with travel, work duties and appointments, you have to flexible BUT at the same time you have to be rigid in fitting in what you need to fit in no matter what.

"This is what we do!"

 
Brett Wilkin takes us through a hellacious hamstring and calves workout 8 weeks out from the 2022 Arnold Classic.

 
Training is how we got into this... "In the beginning, we just wanted to be in the gym and be a bunch of gym rats. We got in this for the love of training." Brett Wilkin explains the singular focus of training and how he owns his own workouts and his progression without relying on a trainer.

Brett is 5 weeks out from shaking things up at the Arnold Classic and is training hamstrings here at Armbrust Pro Gym in Denver, Colorado.

 
We are on the road again with the crew visiting no BS gyms, eating and catching up on some great Texas history.

This first stop and what you will see here in this video is Metroflex San Marcos with Shaun Clarida, Hunter Labrada, Liv Roth, Guy Cisternino, Branch Warren, Jason Hebert, Austin Karr, Christina Heath and Kris Zizzo. Metroflex San Marcos delivered on the atmosphere that is as expected with Metroflex. Garage doors, no AC, plenty of free weights and people training with a purpose.

"People come here because they love to train. You dont have to be the most massive person to be hardcore. People dont come here to workout, they come here to train! Hardcore doesn't have to mean being massive or super strong. Hardcore is about your mentality and how you train."

Branch explains that "the work never ends. You're never done." Work is always a part of life. Branch Warren further explains living out of your comfort zone and putting yourself with people who are better than you in some way in order to grow.

"When you're a skinny 17 year old kid (or a newbie to the gym) hell yea I was super excited but intimidated at the same time. I overcame that fear and put myself with those bigger better dudes and eventually got bigger and stronger."

 
"With the Arnold being my next step. It is going to tell me right now where Im at, but it also has the possibility to propel me into that next phase of bodybuilding where I am competing to be the best in the world."

Brett Wilkin is preparing for this years Arnold Classic and his next phase in his career. Here in this video Brett explains what he found useful on social media and how he took action to learn from it early on in his competitive career.

"A lot of guys like to watch videos for inspiration before they hit the gym and thats great. I would look at the top bodybuilders at the time and really check out their training to see everything they were doing and see what I needed to do for myself."

At the point of recording this, Brett was 5 weeks out from this years Arnold Classic. We will bring coverage of Brett and the rest of the TEAM that is competing in Columbus.

 
Ed Brown won his pro card at the Universe in 2020 and is making his professional competitive debut this year. The density and old school condition he brings is a tribute to his programming and love for lifting.

Here we go through a very heavy offseason leg session with Ed. His lifts were leg extensions, squats on a smith machine, stiff legged deadlifts, unilateral leg presses and leg curls. Ed's key lifts were squats and stiff legged deadlifts where he tracks progression on and goes all out.

Ed explains loving the process and why tracking progression can be very useful for newbies to weight lifting. He explains several of his lifts here and how he has adapted his training through the years.

 
In the digital age of the internet, quick reactions, stimulation and instant gratification, it can be easy to lose yourself to thinking "small" and only in the here and now. This particular Iron World Tour segment is part 2 from our San Antonio tour. We get a heavy dose of Texas history and a brief look into the life of the men who believed in something so strongly they were willing to fight and die for here at the Alamo.

"There were nearly 200 men who stood up against impossible odds and they knew they couldn't make it out alive. But these men were fighting for their families and their homes. None of these men died in vain."

The Alamo tour gave a great reminder of the lengths people will go for what they believe. Segway back into the digital age reference and its clear, even with all the opportunities, resources and information available today that grit, determination and delayed gratification are key aspects to success that are less and less common.

We round off part 2 here in San Antonio by all linking up at the Muscle Factory, the home gym of John and Renee Jewett. We had a massive crew ALL training legs and leaving everything on the floor. Stay tuned as we cruise up to Columbus, Ohio for another tour while we link up with everyone competing in the 2022 Arnold Classic.

 
This Arnold Classic will have ALL of the top classic physique competitors minus Chris Bumstead. Divine knows this and is stoked to get the comparison he is working for. In this sport, size is king (while still at or under the weight cap for each competitor) so Divine, being a taller and naturally bigger structure has an advantage out of the gate.

"The Arnold Classic can make or break a competitor. If you have a great showing in Columbus and make improvements going into the Olympia, you're almost guaranteed a top comparison."

Divine admits that the dieting process takes away the fullness from his leg development but the slow repetitions with key leg movements and progressing on these lifts are what Divine is focusing on to bring the fullness and size he needs. We go through Divines leg workout here being about 4.5 weeks out from with some training cues and expectations going into this years Arnold Classic.

 
 



Meet "Relentless 1" everybody. Thanks to our friends over at Lewisville Autoplex for the sweet deal on our new travel van. "We're going to use this van to travel around the U.S. and train at badass gyms and meet really cool people. We're going to see people in their home environment, see them in the kitchen, visit them at their gym and everything and use it to go to shows. This will be perfect for doing that and now we can travel around in style and have a good time."
 



Long time GASP athletes Branch Warren and Johnnie Jackson lead the charge and gathered more than 20 of our local athletes and team members, loaded them in the official GASP and Better Bodies vehicles and hit the road for a group training session at one of the Metroplex's most hardcore gyms. The intensity and the camaraderie was high, as there is something extra inspirational about doing activities with like-minded people.
 
 
From WWII bomb factory to the most massive Metroflex gym in the world. Rendy and wife Christine have utilized the huge space of the Castle to combine what is essentially 6 gyms into 1 facility.

Branch Warren and Johnnie Jackson along with a crew of 20 athletes take the hour long road trip to Fort Worth to get a feel for the first franchisee of the Metroflex gyms. Owners Rendy and Christine take Branch and Johnnie through a tour of the whole place and explain all the different types of training and events that go on here.

"Its not about the glitz and glamour and bullshit when it comes to training. Its about whats in your heart and in your mind." - Branch Warren

"Champions are made at places like this. This place bleeds old school and hard work." -Johnnie Jackson

 
The more successful you get, the more criticism you will get. If you want to avoid criticism, DO NOTHING and BE NOTHING. Divine understands at this level he has to fight, claw and scratch his way to the top while navigating the international "feedback" that competing at this level generates.

"You have no idea the fuel that I get from everyone (who doubts me). I think about that and work harder."

Constant progress has to be made in between competitions, juggling diet and prioritizing areas where he feels need more size. We follow Divine and the crew to Fort Worth where he trains shoulders with Kevin Ofurum. Here, Kevin and Divine explain the allure of the Arnold Classic and how much weight it carries due to the caliber of the line up and being able to potentially leap from in front of Olympia competitors that are competing here.

"In the Olympia, it is very easy to get over looked. Here it is tough to get over looked with only 9 competitors."

We link back up with Divine a week later to check Divine's condition during a back + shoulder workout back at destination.

We will be covering Divine, Darwin and Brett Wilkin at the Arnold and will see you all there if you can make it!

 
IFBB Pro Samson Dauda takes you through a chest and calves workout four weeks out from the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio.

 
Sometimes shit happens.
Sometimes the cards are stacked against you and as Murphys law goes, anything that can go wrong... does in fact go wrong. This can be true for anyone in any situation. For Darwin, this prep has been the most physically and mentally demanding due to everything outside of the gym. HOWEVER, having said that, Darwin recognizes the power in finishing what he's started.

"Quitting is not an option. Quitting is never an option. No matter how hard it is you have to just keep going. If you quit, you will feel that regret."

We catch up with Darwin for a chest and back training session with new IFBB pro Abdim, who turned pro last year at the North American championships. Darwin typically trains to full range of motion failure and here since he is about 12 and 11 days out respectively, he trains to failure followed with drop sets on nearly all of his lifts for chest and back.

We will catch up with Darwin, divine and Brett starting tuesday next week in Columbus, Ohio. If you all can make it, we will see you there at the competition and expo.

 
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