WOW! Our topic this month sounds a little like the title of some Euro-trash movie like Sex, Lies and Videotapes. Our subject is not sexual, but instead speaks to two subjects directed at women.  On both topics-deep squats and big eating-women are decidedly out of step with their male counterparts.  We shall endeavor to conceive distaff bodybuilders, the fairer sex, to squat deep, low and hard.  Again, I’m not trying to write provocatively.  Women in disproportionate number do not perform squats and the reason why is a mystery.  Somehow, squatting is a man thing.  Women squat too seldom, and then, those females who do, compound the problem with squatting too shallow.  To reap the incredible muscular bounty that squats can provide, we need to squat low.  Finally, most female bodybuilders tend to under-eat and not rest adequately after sessions. Woman athletes are particularly susceptible to the double-deadly mistake.Let’s dissemble the components carefully : how do we regulate, attack and balance the three key areas-exercise, diet, and rest.  If you successfully strike the triple balance (and are diligent) you will make the muscle gains of your life.  Heavy squats, backed-up with hard-hitting assistance exercises, plenty of rest, lots of nutritious food, and John Parrillo’s supplements are the quickest way known to add shape and power to your legs.

Full Squats are King

Women need to squat.  Everyone needs to squat.  Women need to squat deep.  Everyone needs to squat deep. The full squat is the single-best progressive resistance exercise.  More champions have built more muscle with full squats than any other exercise.  Physiologically, squats stimulate the quadriceps, hips, lower back, and even trapezius. Women avoid full squats.  For whatever reason, very few women squat and those who inevitably perform the high squat, a movement of dubious effectiveness.  An exercises (pardon the athletic pun) in futility.  All serious weight trainers need to learn how to full squat and this takes some practice.  A full squat is a very complex exercise, one that requires balance, timing, flexibility, guts and perseverance.  Full squats are not pleasant.  Far from it, they are probably the most excruciating of all exercises.  Some would postulate that there is a direct correlation between discomfort suffered and muscular results.  The more horrible the exercise, the greater the muscle gains, or so it seems.  Does that make us all masochists?

How to Full Squat

Anyways, practice squatting free-hand-without a barbell.  Simply squat down and get comfortable sitting in a hunched position. After a few days of daily practice, place a bar on your shoulders and do three set of 10 reps; inhale as you descend, stay tight in the torso and exhale as you near the top of each rep.  Place the bar on top of the traps and keep and upright back.  Do three sets; light on the first set, medium weight on the second and all-out on the third.  Add between 10-20 pounds of weight each week to the top set and keep a log.  Always use spotters or squat using a Smith machine.

Deep Squat Rule

Remember the old song, ” My girl is red hot, you girl ain’t diddly squat?”  Same thing in squatting.  Full squatting rules, partial squatting ain’t diddly squat.  A full squat occurs when the upper thighs are parallel (or below) the floor when viewed from the side.  Check yourself out in the mirror as you squat.  Imagine a line drawn between the top of your knee and the ball joint of the hip.  The athlete dips until this straight line achieves a level plane with the floor.  Powerlifting requires the lifter go below this line, also known as below parallel. Expect to see a significant increase in leg size within 4-6 full squat sessions.

Nut and Bolts

We use a 12-week cycle designed to improve squat technique and maximize muscular growth and strength.  For the first four weeks, every set of every exercise is a 12 rep set. In 5-8 , every set of every exercise is an 8-rep set. Finally, in 9-12 we use a 5-rep set.  We are now technically proficient and ready to move some serious iron.  Start ultra-light, find an easy starting point and progressively add weight and drop reps.  Add 10-20 pounds each week in your squat.  The high reps for the first eight weeks allow us to become squat technicians. Remember this sage bit of squatting advice; bad squatters go down fast and come up slow-good squatters go down slow and come up fast.

Squat Style Subleties

Experiment with your foot spacing.  After you find a comfortable width, concentrate on remaining as vertical as possible when you squat.  Avoid leaning forward as this shifts muscle emphasis from the legs to the back.  Good squatters maintain relatively vertical shins as they squat.  This style of squatting, a slow and controlled lowering portion, followed by a explosive ascent develops compensatory acceleration (muscular explosiveness) which is a fabulous athletic attribute to possess.  Move fairly quickly on the assistance work.  As soon as your breath normalizes from the previous set, commence the next set.  All the assistance work is done on the machines.  We lower the weights under strict control.  Gently touch the bottom and explode the weight to lockout, no bouncing the reps.  If you possess really good recuperative power, come back three days later and do three sets of leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises for 10 reps each.  Use the light, medium, and heavy poundage strategy.  The squat routine will take you about 45 minutes to complete and the light day routine will require around 20 minutes to finish.

Squatting and Eating

Full squats are the most exhaustive of all weight training exercises.  What is the smart thing to do after completing a high intensity , leg training session?  If you said feed and then rest the traumatized muscles, go to the head of the class.  We highly recommend taking 2-6 scoops of Parrillo’s 50/50 Plus protein carb powder mix immediately after every workout.  There is a lot of evidence to show that a nutritional recuperative window opens and snaps shut within 20-40 minutes after a high intensity workout.  Dousing traumatized muscles with a massive amount of easily assimilated protein and carbohydrates is a wise thing to do.  Muscle recovery and growth are accelerated if the athlete can properly time the ingestion.  It is advisable to uptake seem additional protein on squat day, particularly after the workout.  A few strategically placed Optimized Whey Protein shakes taken after a killer-workout can provide 80-100 grams of pure, muscle regenerating protein – without any sugar or fat.  You cannot starve yourself and expect to make muscular gains.  This training template is a tripod and has three legs; training, diet, and rest.  No matter how hard you train or how much your rest, if you eat poorly you will have poor results. So don’t under-eat and certainly keep an eye on what you are eating,  Squat deep, eat well, supplement wisely, rest often and grow lots of new muscle in those shapely legs.  Ladies, shed your pre-conceived ideas about full squatting, then buckle up for the most spectacular leg shaping gains of your life.

Hi everybody, I want you to hear some exciting news about some of your local Cincinnati Residents, and the progress they have been making here at the Parrillo Performance training center.
Rose has a goal but, she didn’t know how to achieve.  Rose is your typical baby boomer.  She came to us after a few failed attempts at trying to lose some excess body fat and tone up her physique.  She was really determined to start doing things the right way, and I could tell from speaking with her that she was ready to start achieving real results.

The agreement we had was to meet two days a week for an hour at a time.  This was and is the only weight training she does.  The first two workouts were mainly trying to teach proper form on some of the basic exercises and fascial stretches.  They were also important for me, I had to learn any limitations, previous injuries, and where her mental acuity was. Did she have the drive to really push herself to reach the goals she set?  “Yes, she did, absolutely.”  Rose was determined.

Fast forward to now, Rose has just used her 14th session and is making serious progress.  She has continually lost body fat and added lean muscle mass consistently for the last six weeks I have worked with her. In just this past week alone she lost of 1.3 pounds of body fat, while boosting up her metabolism.  That’s not all, within that same week; she increased her lean muscle mass also.  Keep in mind that is lean mass that is going to do the fat burning to help Rose reach her goal.  By anyone’s standards she had a great week.

Here’s something even better.  All of the other five weeks have produced results very similar to these, and she’s now on her way to losing the weight she always wanted to lose.  So far, in the last six weeks, that’s not the only progress she’s made.  She tells me that she feels better, healthier, and has more energy than before.  Rose is making great progress, how about you?

Hey, this is Nate; I’m just one of the trainers here, at Parrillo Performance.  And I have some things I want you to know about myself, and Parrillo Performance.  Were currently among other things, a one-on-one, personal training facility that covers every needed aspect of making you feel, look, and live a healthier way.

When I’m not here working, I’m also a current student at Cincinnati State.  I’m majoring in health and fitness, and working towards my bachelors’ degree.  This is exciting for me, because when I’m done, I can now spend the majority of my time, helping different kinds of people get more out of their workouts.  The limitations people have are something I really appreciate, and I want to expand my education out as far as possible to cover every aspect.  “Helping others achieve their goals is one thing, but I want to help people push themselves forward to new goals, and realize what can lie ahead.”

I played roller hockey growing up at a very competitive level, and always played well against my peers.  I was about sixteen when I realized that pure skill and talent could only take me so far, I needed an edge over the rest of them.  This is when I found my love for working out, and later weight training, and also competitive bodybuilding.  At sixteen and halfway through the hockey season I realized that a lot of the other kids were beating me cause they were bigger and weighed more, they simply just out muscled me in the game.  This is when I started lifting weights and wanted to gain a few pounds so I wouldn’t get tossed around.  After a few workouts I was hooked, not only did I enjoy this more than playing hockey but I was better at it also.  At the time I was around 5’1’’ and weighed almost 125 pounds.  Eventually, as I started to learn more and the workouts progressed, there was no more time left to play the sport I was supposed to be training for.  Slowly but surely I started to get in better shape, gaining lean mass and changing my diet.  Since it was something I loved, I stuck with it.  Over the last 7 years of working out with all kinds of different people, in different gyms, getting Parrillo certified, and then teaching those structured values as a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer.  People now ask for my advice on certain diet and training issues, and I’m always glad to help them.  This is my main passion, helping others achieve their fitness goals, and teaching people how to achieve their goals the right way.

Metamorphosis Took Successful Bodybuilder Mark Metzger from Scrawny to Brawny
No one from Mark Metzger’s high school graduating class would ever have dreamed of voting him most likely to succeed as a bodybuilder.  You probably wouldn’t have either.  Especially since Metzger, 5 feet 6 inches tall, graduated from a North Carolina high school in 1984 weighing at only 98 pounds.
A little more than a decade, 32-year-old Mark Metzger of Orlando captured third place at the Junior USA bodybuilding and Fitness Championships April 4, 1998, in Hackensack, N.J. , this time weighing in at a powerful 174 pounds.

He is very happy with his placing at the championship in New Jersey and wants to give credit to his trainer, Cory Gilbert, who won the 1995 Mr. Florida middleweight title.  Metzger’s positive attitude showed through like a beam of sunlight when he said, “Since this is the best I’ve been, then I’ve already won.”  He was also pleasantly surprised about the response he received at the contest.
“I was quite shocked at how many people in New Jersey came up to me and mentioned the profile article they read about me in the Performance Press,” Metzger graciously remarked.
Mark began training 12 years ago while a student at Western Carolina University.
“I started using Parrillo products in 1992,” he said ” The first one I tried was CapTri MCT oil. My wife Theresa knew John Parrillo and convinced me that his products were the best.”
Metzger said he also finds Parrillo Bars addicting.

“I live on Captri as the show gets closer and closer.  Without it I don’t think I’d make it.”  Metzger confessed.  ”It gives my body so much energy and makes my muscles round, hard and full, not flat. At the Junior USA I was the thickest middleweight in class.  It was the best shape I had ever been in up to this point.”

When he is not training  or mowing the lawn of his Orlando home, Metzger works as a waiter for Planet Hollywood.  That is, when he is not busy making television deals with talk show host.
The Monday following the New Jersey competition, Metzger was scheduled to make a guest appearance in a live taping of the Sally Jesse Raphael talk show (for the program)  ”We’re You a High School Nerd who has Transformed?” Unfortunately, the show was a no go.  Sally Jessy Raphael’s staff members were unable to get in touch with Metzger’s high school classmates. However, keep an eye out.  Metzger has accepted a rain check for the next time Sally tapes the same show format.  Then he will finally be able to show his former high school classmates how he has transformed from a scrawny 98-pound fledging into a National-level competitive bodybuilder. The good- natured Metzger has almost doubled his previous size and weight and is excitedly anticipating the opportunity to surprise his old chums.
“I don’t normally watch talk shows,” he said, “but when I had the chance to call for that particular show, I jumped at it.  I just wanted to have fun.

Metzger’s off-season weight is between 205 and 210 pounds, however, even in the off-season he  maintains a body fat percentage between eight and nine percent. Metzger’s secret is clean eating year-round and paying close attention to his carb intake.  A typical off-season meal for Metzger includes 10 egg-whites, turkey breast, Optimized Whey Protein Powder and rice cakes or steamed rice.  He then pours CapTri over eggs or turkey as needed.  For variety, he substitutes turkey with chicken and the rice with oatmeal or potatoes.

“Whether or not I take more CapTri depends on how I look in the mirror and how I feel.  I’ll take more CapTri if I appear flat or need more energy,” he said.
Thirteen weeks before competition. Metzger begins his pre-contest dieting. He starts out with one tablespoon of CapTri six times a day, one with each meal.  That’s when he starts weighing and measuring everything he eats.  As the contest approaches, he gradually cuts his carb intake, adding one more tablespoon of CapTri to each meal for a total of 12 tablespoons of day.
CapTri allows Metzger to pack on a lot of muscle. It keeps him full of energy, which he needs for training.  He trains his body parts on a five-day rotation, training two days on, one day off.  Day one he works his chest, triceps and front and side delts.  Day two he works his legs and hamstrings; and on his third day of training he works his back, biceps and rear delts.  Two to three times a week he works his calves.  Year-round, he makes sure that his mid-section stays in shape sop that his abs always show.

Besides CapTri, what else is the driving force behind Metzger?

“I love competing, My motivation and dedication to this sport is second to none,” he assured.  ”I have a burning desire to challenge myself.  I look good and have reached my goals.  Let’s see what I can do now.”
Next on the agenda for Metzger is competing in the Southern USA, a National qualifier to be hosted in Orlando coming October.
“I’m looking forward to it.  I have yet to compete in my hometown, and the timing is good because it gives me a nice break between New Jersey and Orlando,” he explained.
Metzger waill again have the opportunity to compete in Orlando for the Nationals in late fall of 1999.
“I learn a lot of things each year and every year I improve.  I hope to do some damage in the middleweight Nationals.  I will definitely hold my own,” he confidently stated.

Never has a couple exemplified that old war horse of a cliché’ “life begins at forty” better than Mike and Marcia Ferguson of Cincinnati, Ohio. The Ferguson’s both compete at the national level in master’s bodybuilding.  The dynamic duo practice a holistic, natural, drug-free version of the bodybuilding lifestyle that is demanding in time, energy and commitment.  No problem for either as theses two are chock-full of devotion and focus. Mike and Marcia visually attest to the undeniable benefits of strict adherence to basic bodybuilding principles. The rewards, in their estimation, more than offset the high price of admission.  Each possesses a body the envy of men and women half their ages.  Mike, two years shy of 50, weighs 240 pounds with five percent bodyfat. He has the cardio capacity of an Ironman Triathlete.  Marcia, 42 years young, has won everything there is to win in Mid-West bodybuilding.  She can bench press 225 for reps and has a set of arms that need to be seen to be believed.  Both plan to enter their respective gender and age categories at the NPC national masters this summer in Pittsburgh.  Mike plans to enter at around 250 with three percent bodyfat. Marcia will be one of the pre-meet favorites.  These Parrillo Performance devotees attest that being husband and wife bodybuilders need not be a runaway express train to divorce court-far from it.  ”Actually, with the level of commitment necessary to compete seriously in this day and age, it makes it easier to live with a bodybuilder.  There is a certain empathy  and understanding that a civilian spouse would be hard-put to understand,”  said the pragmatic, effervescent Marcia.  Mike concurred, “Who else would put up with all the hours of training, the special foods, the hours of cardio and understand the pressures of competition?”  With shared aspirations, they spur each other on.

Longest Journey Begins with a Single Step

Mike became a bodybuilder by accident – he was run over by a truck.  ”I had been a highway patrolman for 15 years before I was rear-ended and run over by a truck while driving my little Honda Civic subcompact.”  His spine was broken; five vertebrae were crushed to a bloody pulp. His doctors wanted to fuse his spine together, which Mike refused.  ”I’ retired from the force on disability and began my rehabilitation.”This process triggered his bodybuilding career.  ” I opened a little gym, mainly for police officers, and this side-venture blossomed over the years.  I currently have 300 members and work in my gym about 50 to 60 hours a week.”  Marcia’s iron odyssey was not nearly circuitous.  ” I got into bodybuilding about 10 years ago.  I was 30 percent bodyfat and my goal was to reduce to 20 percent.”  Mike and Marcia were married about the time she found herself becoming more deeply involved.  A decade down the road, Marcia is one of the top drug-free masters female bodybuilders in the country.  Marcia has won everything locally and most recently was named the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Sportswoman of the Year for 1998.  Marcia runs a successful catering business that keeps her hopping-continually.  This isn’t franks-and-beans at the church social for 10 people.  ”Just last week we catered a banquet for 950 people, and 500-person events are not unusual.”  Talk about stress! “It is a wonderful occupation. A successfully-run event, though at times tarrying in preparation, is exhilarating when it’s over.”  Marcia’s firm is booked solid for the foreseeable future.

Cardio Man and the World’s Most Muscular Caterer

Mike is, in his own words, a “cardio freak.”  ”For some reason I have always loved cardio-related activity.  Before I began serious weight training, I weighed about 165 (Mike is six feet, two inches tall) in good shape.  My idea of a good time would be ride my bike from Cincinnati to Columbus and back in a day.”  Cool 200 miles – whoa! Currently he will bike no less than 20 hours a week.  This is no misprint; it is not  uncommon for this ultra-lean athlete to ride for two hours at a shot several times a day.  Marcia recounted,” Once I watched as Mike rode his exercise bike while watching a football game for three hours straight.” Even the normally nonplused Parrillo said. “Mike is the first and only guy I have ever recommended to cut back on his cardio.” Asked how he does it, Mike said, ” I love to listen to music. I put on my Walkman and get lost in inner space as I ride the bike.  I enter the Zone and the time flies by.”  Being a food preparation professional helps keep Marcia keep Cardio Man fed.  ” My husband is as usual in his dietary habits as he is in his approach to aerobics.  He eats like a horse!  I grill 40 pounds of chicken at a time.  Mike eats it in four days!”  Plus 10 cups of rice daily and enough broccoli and cauliflower to keep a small truck farm in business.  Marcia said,” I’m a little more modest in my consumption and more varied in selection – though I eat conscientiously and cleanly,.” Both are perfect examples of the high-calorie, low fat nutritional approach espoused by Parrillo. If results like these can be elicited from folks on the wrong side of 40, can there be any doubt about the efficacy of the method?

The Parrillo Connection

John has worked with Mike and Marcia for years, advising them on nutrition, diet, training and fascial stretching. Marcia talks of her own encounter with the infamous Parrillo fascial planning/stretching technique.  ” I was lacking thigh separation and was continually being marked down in contests by judges.  I asked John for his opinion, and he said perhaps so fascial stretching might be in order.  Little did I know…” John using his patented technique of stretching the muscle casing, tugged on Marcia’s fascial and separated muscles from one another.  Marcia recalled, ” I gritted my teeth and held on; I was on the verge if tears.  When he was done, John said , ‘OK… stand up , come over and flex in the mirror.’ I was amazed, my thighs were not only larger, due to his manual stretching of the fascial casing that enclosed the muscle, but the separation between the component muscles of the thighs was visibly, immediately better.” And this was no temporary fix-up, “At my next contest the judges came up and said, ” What happened!  We’ve never seen your thighs so cut!  It was a painful yet beneficial experience,” she said.  John added,” Marcia also needed some additional shoulder development.  We worked hard on stretching her shoulders, enlarging the fascial casing surrounding the deltoids.  She pumps the muscle to fill the newly enlarged casing.  After a few months of this pump-stretch-flex procedure her shoulders have come up dramatically.” Marcia lavished praise on her longtime trainer Rick Reuther,  ”Rick Reuther is one of the best bodybuilding trainers in the country.  I would never have progressed as fast and far as I have without his expertise,” Rick’s results speak loudly every time Marcia snags yet another title.

Supplementation

Mike and Marcia should be poster people for Parrillo Performance philosophy of big, clean eating, intense lifting; hard aerobics; religious stretching and target supplementation.  ”At the top of our list of Parrillo supplements is Optimized Whey protein and Creatine Monohydrate Formula Marcia said.  ”We use Advanced Lipotropic Formula for cutting, CapTri for cooking, Essential Vitamin Formula, Mineral – Electrolyte Formula, Muscle Amino Formula, Ultimate Muscle Formula-Mike takes a lot of Max Endurance Formula, as you might imagine.” Both derive the bulk of their nutrition from the clean food they ingest five to seven times daily, and rely on Parrillo supplements to fill in the gaps and to provide the extra edge.  Mike is unequivocal in his praise,, ” John’s products are the best I’ve ever used, and Marcia would echo that sentiment.” So, how does this dynamic duo manage  to generate physical progress week-in, week-out, at an age at which most weight trainers are contemplating retirement? “Clean eating, hard training and lots of cardio,” Mike said, his pithy statement needing no embellishment.  ”We owe a hell-of-alot to John Parrillo,” Mike said, matter-of factly.  ”Ditto that!” Marcia exclaimed.  Age and adversity can be overcome (proved by these two flesh-and-blood examples). Often, overcoming adversity gives one a tenacity of character.  When this despite age or circumstances.  Mike and Marcia Ferguson are top-flight examples.  Now if we could just bottle tenacity and sell it, we’d make a fortune!

Longevity Personified

Mike Morris has played professional football for 14 years; an incredibly long time for a professional athlete in an sport.  Doubly impressive because his chosen occupation is an ultra-violent battleground, routinely subjecting its participants to a merciless physical pounding-notorious for high incidence of career-ending injuries and short player careers.  Consider these facts and you begin to understand how remarkable an 18-year pro football tenure truly is and how remarkable an athlete Mike Morris really is.  He has now played more seasons than the immortal Walter Peyton.  Now at 37 he is slamming helmets against rookies who were 7 years old when he started his pro career; he was playing organized ball before this crop of rookies was even born.  Finishing his 15th training camp, Morris first broke into pro ball in the old USFL.  That great, grand experiment withered and dies, becoming as extinct as the dodo bird.  And so it was time for Mike Morris to move onto the NFL, for which he was more than ready.

The Ultimate Center

As a center, long ball snapper and special teams player, Morris has cracked heads with legends.  When we talked about the ideal NFL player, Hall of Fame center Mike Webster’s name came up.  Webster was the prototypical NFL lineman.  He (along with Jon Kolb) anchored the offensive line for the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl teams.  Morris played with Webster when he was finishing up his career in Kansas City.

“It was one of the high points of my career to be associated with Webster, whom I consider the best center to ever play the game.” At his peak, Webster stood 6-feet, 3-inches, weighed 270 pounds and had 20- inch arms with under 10 percent bodyfat.  He bench pressed 550, squatted 800 and had such incredible cardiovascular endurance that he was reportedly the only man ever to successfully run each flight of stairs in Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium without stopping.

“Webster had the skills to finesse you, the stamina to outlast you, or, if all that failed, the raw power to knock you flat on your a–,” Morris recalled.

At the other extreme were the mavericks, the NFL Superstars, who didn’t weight train at all, yet were amazingly good.  Morris played for the Redskins when certifiable wild man John Riggins once came to practice-with fish he’d just caught!  Riggins actually gutted and cleaned them on the AstroTurf field.

“Guys like Riggins make you wonder how really great they would have been if they’d weight trained.”

How do you remain bulletproof for 14 seasons in a sport in which three-to five- year careers are common?  ”Train, train, train,” Morris replied with Zen-like word economy.

Gains Galore

Knowledge is power.  The strength game is no exception.  If you know the right methods and have the intestinal fortitude you can make physical gains with near mathematical certainty.  Coming up, Morris never had any problems making strength gains, mainly because of his background as a competitive powerlifter.  Mike owes a lot of his strength to his powerlifting roots.  He has rained with power immortal John Ware (head football coach at Missouri). As a lifter Morris has posted an 800-plus squat, 500 bench  and 750- pound deadlift. Powerlifting provided the pure strength he sought while his cardio-conditioning was provided courtesy of football training.  The result?  Mike Morris developed a metabolism like a blast furnace running at 110 percent capacity.  He could eat anything, everything and in mass quantity.  Along the way he built up a phenomenal, athletically functional body. Then, 10 years later, a problem unfolded: his metabolism slowed and his strength gains plateaued.  Too much of a good thing?  Mike’s metabolic burn rate at age 31 was considerably slower than at 21, a natural occurrence affecting all of us as we age.  His strength training and muscle building efforts were in a need of a jolt.

Enter Parrillo

Any system, no matter how fantastic , requires periodic rotation with occasional changes.  Otherwise staleness begets weakness and progress comes to a screeching halt.  About the same time Mike became physically and metabolically stagnant, he became acquainted with the Parrillo Performance philosophies.

“Parrillo ‘s approach really seemed logical; a well-thought out philosophy in the true sense of the word.  John’s approach to eating, training, supplementation and stretching is so all-en-compassing, meticulous and structured that it appealed to me immediately,’ Mike professed.  ”I use Parrillo’s supplements across the board, particularly his Hi-Protein Powder.  If there is a tastier way to get your daily protein allotment I’m unaware of it.”

The vibrant taste of Parrillo Products comes as a revaluation to those old-timers like Mike (and myself) who came up gagging down brewers yeast, or choking on the infamous Protein From the Sea (Parrillo’s favorite).  Or, at the other extreme, we loaded up on the various cash weight gain formulas, loaded with sugar ( boy; did we love that stuff!).  Morris uses the whole gamut of Parrillo Performance Products, and just as importantly, embraces the thinking behind the supplements.

“Clean eating lowers bodyfat,” Mike said.” And less bodyfat, combined with increased strength, speed, flexibility, and endurance, makes you a more efficient athlete.”

A Thoroughly Sophisticated Training Approach

To say that Mike Morris is a sophisticated weight trainer is like saying Fred Astaire could dance.  Ensconced in a home gym that rivals the best commercial gyms in terms of equipment, Morris plots and executes his training in continuous consultation with his long time cohort and coconspirator, Jim Maher, and innovative athletic trainer from Arizona.  Mike credits Maher with “giving me a totally fresh perspective on how to achieve true athletic condition.” Maher’s contention, shared with Morris, is “that the athletic condition.”  Maher’s contention, shared with Morris “that the athlete needs to develop usable athletic strength and then be able to call upon this acquired power throughout the entire game.”  Just because a man is able  to bench 600 pounds doesn’t address the question of how much of that 600 he will have left on fourth-and-one yard to go in the last seconds of the game.  Strength without cardio condition is useless to a professional athlete.In addition, Morris still looks to add quality muscle to his already impressive physique.

“As long as I add muscle, that’s fine.  That’s the goal: muscle and the power and strength that goes with it.  You cannot be one dimensional in the modern NFL.”

To be just strong or fast or chock full of stamina is no longer enough; nowdays you need to be strong and fast and in tremendous cardio condition,  Between Parrillo and Maher, Morris has all the critical bases covered.

“Maher has an incredibly effective approach which fits me like a glove.  I am training to become a better athlete.”

Mike Morris’ Fourth Quarter

How long can Mike continue to play amongst the athletic elite?

“I would like to play though the year 2000. I honestly feel that I can continue to improve off the field, and this carries over to the playing field.

As long as I continue to improve, I’ll play ball.  My strength, bodyfat levels and degree of cardio condition-the total package-has never been better.”