1:7:08

2007 OCB AWARDS -> Here

Hi everyone,
It's been a few weeks since I posted a blog and I apologize for that. I have been traveling the last few weeks. First to Evansville, IN to visit my parents for the holidays. That was a great time getting to see my family and friends for christmas. I received some great gifts, including a brand new Inzer belt from Isabel that I was really excited about!
Then we went to Des Moines, IA to visit a few of our friends Carl DuCharme and Carly Smith for new years.
Carl was my roomate my freshman year in college and we both got really into bodybuilding together, so it was great to get in the gym with an old training partner and hammer it out.

Finally I traveled back to Evansville to help conduct interviews with the film crew at Dr. Joe Klemczewski's Natural Bodybuilding Fantasy Camp. The fantasy camp is held every year for Dr. Joe's clients. For a fee they get to spend the weekend in Evansville and train with some of the best natural bodybuilders in the world. This year's camp featured 2 former WNBF world champions in Dave Goodin and John Harris as well as Jim Cordova, the current WNBF world champ. Top WNBF figure pro Mary Bell and her boyfriend, WNBF Pro Duke Bell also were instructors at the camp. My function was to interview them for a DVD that Joe will be selling later in the year as a documentary about the weekend. Some of the footage we took will also be appearing on my show "Inside the Life of a Pro Natural Bodybuilder" on bodybuilding.com so watch for it in the coming months! The weekend was unreal! As many of you know, Dave Goodin was one of my bodybuilding idols when I first got into bodybuilding and getting to hang out with him for the weekend was a real treat.
Jon Harris is someone who I had deep respect for as well and have always considered to have a flawless physique. Jon was a truly great guy and told me that he will be a father in just 8 short weeks!
Congratulations John! Jim is always fun to hang out with. I think he had his camcorder taped to his hand the whole weekend because he took so many pictures and so much film! Mary and Duke were also a ton of fun to hang out with and I'm really looking forward to seeing them again at the Arnold Classic. Dr. Joe is a good friend and even though we are direct competitors as we are both 'prep guys' we never quibble and never hesitate to share information with each other.
Friendships and relationships are always more important than a few bucks in the long run. Joe has always been supportive and more helpful to me than he needed to be and hopefully I can do something to pay him back for that someday.

What I thought was really cool about the camp was that you had 5 top pro natural athletes, 3 of which who have won world titles, as well as two of the bigger prep guys involved in natural bodybuilding and there was absolutely no display of egos at all the entire weekend. At one point in Joe's seminar I was asking him questions, as well as the rest of the pros there.
Even though I am working on my PhD and am a pro, I am not so arrogant to believe that I can't learn things from these guys. Likewise, routinely they would all be asking each other questions. Jon Harris, who lost his title to Jim Cordova last year, was actually giving Jim advice at one point and vice versa. Can you ever see Jay Cutler & Ronnie Coleman trying to give advice and help each other out? I don't think so. I thought it was a great display of sportsmanship and what bodybuilding truly should be about!

Probably the highlight of the weekend for me was hanging out with Joe, Mary, Duke, Dave, Jon, and Jim as well as the rest of Joe's clients on Saturday night. Not only did we all go out and have a great time, I realized that there was not one person at the camp that I even remotely disliked, I really enjoyed everyone there. I found myself even a little star struck, I was hanging out with 3 world champions, including arguably the most successful natural bodybuilder ever in Dave Goodin, and it was just like I was hanging out with friends I had known for years.
It was a bit surreal. At the end of the day I am still a huge fan of natural bodybuilding and it really was a great experience for me. They are all great role models and I encourage you all to get the DVD when it comes out as well as watch the episodes to get to know these guys better. In the meantime, please check out their websites...

Dr. Joe: http://www.thedietdoc.com
Dave Goodin: http://www.davegoodin.com
Jon Harris: http://www.jon-harris.net
Mary Bell: http://www.centerstagefigures.com/home/
Jim Cordova: http://www.jimcordova.com (coming soon)

Duke does not have a website, but if he ever puts one up I will let you all know!

In the meantime, I have big things in store for 2008 so get ready, it's going to be a hell of a year for myself, my family, and Scivation.

-Layne