Natural Bodybuilder Writes for JW Training

Dan Marashi is a personal freind of mine and we have known each other for over 6 years, now for the past year we have been working together for his first bodybuilding show, so for those of you that dont know what bodybuilding is all about, what better person to tell you than the man himself, Natural bodybuilder and mark my words future natural pro, Dan marashi.

We would like to welcome Dan marashi to the JW Training Team and he will now be posting once a month on all you need to know about bodybuilding, nutrition and how to attain your goals.

Dan Marashi: Who I am, and what is bodybuilding?

“First off, seeing as this is my first time posting on JW Training, but hopefully the first of many posts to come, I thought I should first introduce myself. My name’s Dan Marashi, and since about August 2009 I’m an ice hockey player turned natural bodybuilder, and since last week I’m now also a qualified Personal Trainer and Nutritionist.
You might be asking why I’m still a JW Training athlete, as why does a personal trainer need personal training? Well the answer is that it’s always helpful to get a second opinion and to get input and positive criticism, so that you always continue to develop and learn. I trust and respect in Joe Webb’s opinion and judgement, and if you take a look at all the best bodybuilders they all get help and advice from outside sources. Current Mr Olympia Jay Cutler acquired the help of trainer Hany Rambod, past Mr Olympia Dorian Yates was advised by Mike Mentzer, and most famously Arnold Schwarzenegger was taken under the wing of Joe Weider. I don’t have Joe Weider, but I do have Joe Webb! I’d also like to note that I do not compete against Joe as a personal trainer, for while he mainly works the Berkshire area, I am based predominantly around London and Surrey, keeping me and Joe from stepping on each other’s toes so to speak.
Now I say that I’ve been bodybuilding since August, which makes it about 8 months now, but to be honest it was more of the case that August was when Joe Webb convinced me to follow a weight training programme he set for me. At this stage I had no intention of ‘bodybuilding’, I was just a guy who enjoyed working out a few times a week. Although I immediately grew like weeds in compost, it was a very gradual transition for me in adopting the full on bodybuilding lifestyle. Probably the main reason for this is because I was uneducated as to what bodybuilding was really all about. That’s basically the purpose of this post. I thought I’d attempt to explain to people what bodybuilding really is and how it works.
Initially, my view of a bodybuilder was of a guy who lifted weights and ate a lot. But as I explored the sport further I realised that there’s a bit more than that. In regards to eating, it’s really not so much the amount you eat but how often you eat. Personally, I don’t think I eat a whole lot more food in a day than the next guy, but I do eat very regularly, often ten times a day. Another factor is the contents of a bodybuilder’s food. A high protein diet is crucial for muscle growth and repair. In regards to carbohydrates, the amounts eaten are increased in what is called the offseason, which is away from competition time. But in the season, which is near competition time, carbohydrates are often cut out completely, and the amount of proteins consumed are limited too so to cause the burning of body fat and to get what’s called ‘shredded’ or ‘ripped’. As you can imagine, this requires great will power as it leaves you feeling hungry and drained.
Furthermore, I was unaware of the amount of cardiovascular or CV training that bodybuilding requires. In order to keep the heart healthy and to burn body fat, some bodybuilders will resort to two to three cardio sessions a day on top of their regular weight training in the run up to a contest. But even in the offseason, bodybuilders will normally still get their fair amount of cardio training in on top of their weight training.
‘So once you’ve done all the training and the dieting, how does a contest work?’ is something I wondered. A bodybuilding contest is split into various divisions, obviously by gender, and other categories like weight. Bodybuilders must pose in front of a panel of judges, in which the judges will score them on size, symmetry, presentation, and various other factors.
In short, that’s the jist of bodybuilding. You might be asking yourself, as I was, ‘are you telling me that these guys do all that training and dieting for the sake of standing and posing in front of a panel and getting judged?’ Well I assure you the answer is ‘absolutely not’. There is definitely a lot more to bodybuilding than that. You might also be asking, ‘where does the natural element of bodybuilding come in to play?’, ‘why is there a natural division?, and ‘is it true about steroids?’ These are the same questions I was wondering as I explored this sport, but I’m afraid I’m keeping it short and sweet, so you’re gonna have to wait until my next post for the answers.
Train hard and take care”.
Dan Marashi

Great post by Dan, if anyone wants to ask any questions to dan then please post comments on the thread and dan will do his best to awnser them for you.

anything is possible, keep training hard,

JW Training