PGA Rookie Gabriel Hjertstedt is chipping his way toward stardom on the world’s most competitive golfing tour-

Entering the B.C. Open at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, New York, Gabriel Hjertstedt wasn’t so much concerned about winning as he was surviving.

In his rookie season on the PGA tour, the 26-year old Swede had found the waters rough, missing the cut in 12 of the 20 tournaments he’d entered. That left him at the deep end of the money standing with a mere $27, 144 in earnings, far off the pace needed to automatically qualify for exempt status heading into the 1998 season.

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Andre Horton will be viewing the Winter Olympics in Japan this year via the television set.
The next time these games come around, however Horton’s goal is to have a different vantage point. He’s like to be on the other side of the camera, being watched instead of watching.
The year will be 2002, and the place will be Park City, Utah, just outside of Salt Lake City. By that time Horton will be 22 years old, which is still young for most world class alpine skiers. But by that time he will have had four years of training and preparation which, if anything like the last two years, could make him quite a handful on the slopes.
Horton is currently one of the top-ranked junior downhill skiers in the country. This year, he hopes to improve on that by becoming the top young prospect in the United States. And he’s doing everything possible to accomplish that goal.

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Walking into Life Design gym is a little jumping into a game of pick-up football with a bunch of your closest friends.  The atmosphere there is gung-ho and overtly productive.  And at the center of all the action is Mike Grant.  Looking like a super-action figure from a comic strip, grant flies from person to person, making sure anyone who needs a spot has one, and that everyone is on-track to a great workout.

The same intensity and desire he displays as a personal trainer also translates into his personal workouts. And while Grant has been involved in the sport his entire life, the dividends from all the pain and sweat are just now beginning to pay off in the form of bodybuilding success.

Grant started weight training at the age of 17 to improve his performance on the gridiron.  After high school he entered the Army and it was while enlisted in the military that he entered the bodybuilding arena for the first time.

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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.

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.”

“Sweet!” He thought gleefully.

His target was totally oblivious to Morris, honing in like a heat-seeking missile.  Oh, this was gonna be great, he thought.  The victim, his assigned rubout was running up the field with an air of detached arrogance: a millionaire rookie in his first NFL game.  His glide was Gazelle-like and his gait as fast as bolt lightening.  But Morris had the angle-and the size, power and strength about which his 21-year-old counterpart had only read.  Morris made subtle course adjustments with his football crash-telemetry-fine tuned by 24 years of organized football, including 15 grueling years as a professional.  Mike Morris metamorphosed into Tomahawk Cruise missile.  The mark had a 4.0 40-yard dash speed and had dazzled the coaches at the NFL combine.  Mike Morris planted with his left foot and pushed off legs capable of more-than-800-pound squat.  He was airborne a split second before impact.  He had timed the hit perfectly, his victim still oblivious.  Morris’ helmet impacted the rookie on the “8″ of his number 83 jersey.  It was Hiroshima, the Little Big Horn and Desert Storm all rolled together.  It was football genocide.

“OUUUGGHHH!”

The enemy player was catapulted six feet, knocked backwards with such force that is main injury would be the whiplash.  He spun like a Raggedy Ann Doll inadvertently tossed in the dryer.  When he finally came to rest he folded in around his chest wound and moaned.  The crowd and opposing players nearest to the collision involuntarily groaned simpatico as they witnessed this legal crack-back.  Without summons, two trainers ran onto the field to collect their millionaire thoroughbred.  After he saw that the kid was all right, Morris jogged over.  He was so young, Morris thought as he looked at this boy-man steadied between two trainers.  Still, Morris had just delivered a package and still needed to deliver the message that comes with it.  ”Welcome to the NFL Rookie!”

The kid looked at him glasssy-eyed.  One of the opposing team’s trainers actually laughed.  Morris laughed as he trotted to the sidelines.  He’d always wanted to find the appropriate moment to use that hackneyed cliché. Life has its sweet moments.

Al Davis once defined Art Tatum’s job description: “You’re paid to be a warhead.”  And so it is with Mike Morris.

“I’m a special team unit. I run insanely down the field and blast whoever is assigned.”

Mike is also the best long snapper in the NFL.  Mighty Man Bruce Wilhelm alleged in an article in MILO (a real he-man publication, by the way) that Mike can hike a football so hard and with such accuracy he can put it through a tire at 30 yards.  Morris has had a journeyman carreer: he has played with eight professional football teams over the past 15 years.  Best of all, Morris is a hard-core powerlifting/bodybuilding guy and an enthused user of Parrillo Performance products.

“I use Parrillo Performance products everyday of my life and most definitely subscribed to the Parrillo approach.  I’m a guy who depends upon strength, muscle, endurance and leanness to make a living.  Parrillo’s approach, incorporating diet weights, stretching and cardio works!”

High praise from a man who has tangled with the likes of Reggie White and Howie Long.

Mike makes his living in gladiatorial hand – to – hand combat.  The NFL is the most exclusive of sports organizations,  That Morris, at the Methuselah-like age of 37, is able to make a living as “a war-head” against the toughest of the tough is remarkable.  Morris credits weight training, nutrition, cardio work and stretching for his “forever young body”.  Sound familiar? Like the four components of the Parrillo Performance System?

“Hey! I have known John Parillo for a long time and feel that he- along with my strength and conditioning specialist Jim Maher-are responsible for my NFL career.”

Future Plans?

“I really want to play until the year 2000.  Since I am physically as complete an athlete as I have ever been, I think this is a very real goal.”

He seems to have found home in Minnesota.  The fans delight in his crazed special team intensity and off the field he has developed a following for his zany radio shows.” I just be myself.  I have a sidekick called The Common Man: I’m the Superstar- you take it from there.  Suffice it to say it gets pretty humorous and we’ve built quite a fan base.

Next month we will talk about the specifics of Mike’s training program.  We will reveal how Morris, Parrillo and Maher devised a complex system of diet, supplementation, high intensity weight training and aerobics to maximize Morris’ size, speed, strength, endurance and leanness. In addition, Morris will reveal a few behind the scenes tales involving John Riggins cleaning fish on the AstroTurf and the best players he’s ever faced.