Rich Wetzel Bodybuilding Journey

Okay I decided not to go do the NPC Masters Nationals third week of July.

I will be going to do the North American Championships, also in Pittsburgh, at the end of August instead.

To any of my friends who will also be there make sure to say hi and good luck to you as well!

Happy July 4th weekend! Have fun and be safe everyone! 💪💯💥

A few random photos and grateful for the decision about 10 years ago to reclaim my health and fitness. I got serious about it again in my '50s after letting it go and my '40s. Grateful for that decision. Feeling good.

Wishing everybody all the best for a wonderful holiday weekend ahead! Have fun and be safe 😊💪💯💥

I am having fun again and very excited for the wonderful new venue and other gigs I'm starting to book the band on.

We had a great show last night at what will be a new monthly gig at for us in Tacoma Washington Airport Tavern Music Hall, a beautiful venue to see and hear great music! Our shows there are all ages and typically on a Sunday from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. . I will always make announcements on my page and the page for the band. Our next show there is Sunday July 12th.

We are also playing at the state fair for the Taste on Friday June 26th on the fair stage from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. if you are in the area in Puyallup Washington.

Over the years I have come to realize it's okay for different people to have different thoughts about splits, nutrition, number of meals a day, timing of your meals etc.

I know from years around bodybuilders there are people who will swear you should be eating at least five or six meals a day every few hours and typically very high calories and protein to achieve their goals etc.

I also know there are lots of athletes whether they do some bodybuilding or they play football or some other sports or they're just someone in the military who wants to stay in really good shape, etc who don't necessarily adhere to that many meals or even three meals a day. There are a lot of people who their first meal will be around noon and they may just eat lunch and dinner. People call that intermittent fasting now. When I was a kid we used to just call that skipping breakfast or people would say I'm just not a breakfast person. Some people will tell you that you'll never get enough protein or enough calories if you try to do this style of fasting for 16 or 18 hours and having maybe a 6 or 8 hour feeding window or even some other extremes like OMAD also known as one meal a day or the warrior diet. Some football players like Herschel Walker, DK Metcalf they actually for many years most of their life have done that extreme and back in the '60s and '70s there was a bodybuilder Sergio who also did it basically meaning one feast a day one meal a day but it was a feast. Lots of people who would hear that now would say oh you can't do it, it's not good for you blah blah blah but the fact is it definitely works and worked for them, that is undeniable. If you read the literature there are lots of studies going into the virtues of why it works, how it works, the benefits of less insulin spikes, easier to keep your calories down to a level that actually makes more sense for that person.

In the end we can read and study all the information out there. We can try our own empirical observations doing some of these various types of nutrition approaches as well as different types of training splits whether you do a bro split or PPL or the Arnold split or upper lower split. They all work, they all have their advantages and disadvantages and it truly is a matter of finding what fits your personal preference, your lifestyle, what gives you the best results and that you feel you can incorporate and enjoy so that you will be consistent and keep doing it.

To that end over my life time, I'm 64 now, I've done all those training splits that hit everything twice a week I've also done the bro split hitting things once a week, one muscle group a day but hitting it more intensely, taking the weekends off. For me I've come back to doing the bro split. In my case I feel like it just works better and I enjoy it more. I feel like I have better recovery, better growth and getting myself better results.

Similarly I've tried different types of approaches to my nutrition, experimenting with everything from the diet to the meal planning to the number of meals, the timing of meals etc over the years.

Just like with training splits what I found is that what works for one person isn't necessarily what works for or fits for the next person, meaning that I went through the phase where I ate five or six meals a day. There were also a lot of years when I was in the military and later that I did what people call intermittent fasting, I used to just call it skipping breakfast or not being a breakfast person and honestly that worked great for me so I've gone back to that.

I also heard Dorian Yates speaking about that very thing and that that's what he does now. He's not trying to eat six meals a day anymore 6,000 calories a day like he was in his prime bodybuilding competition days. He's in is '60s now and the man is still jacked but not as big as when he competed of course, but he still looks amazing and if he walked into any gym anywhere he would still be noticed. He made the point that he adjusted his training, the type of training he does and his diet to his current conditions, current goals and what makes sense for him now. He doesn't have his first meal till around 1:00 p.m. and then has his dinner sometime in the evening.

Guys like Herschel Walker, DK Metcalf would do like the great bodybuilder Sergio did for many years and would have one feast one big meal a day. DK Metcalf said sometimes he would snack on candy or something during the day but for the most part he was like the other guys one big meal a day.

Critics would say you can't do that, that it's not ideal etc but the fact remains it worked for them so in the end you should do whatever works best for you.

Don't be hung up that there's only one solution, one size that fits all and somebody who argues with you about it endlessly insisting there is only one right way to do it, don't listen to them. You can research these things and then do some of your own empirical observations trying these different things and find what is appealing to you, what works for you and just go with that.

Just a heads up to some friends that I've decided not to go to Pittsburgh in July for the Masters Nationals this year.

I'm going to stay a little bit more local and enjoy my summer here plus my band is starting to play a lot more again so that's the plan for this summer.