Future Shock: Bodybuilding on the Wrong Side of Forty – Mike and Marcia Ferguson

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!