BODYBUILDING FOR EVERYMAN: An In-Depth Interview with Jeremy Likness
By Jeremy Likness & Todd F. Reinhard

The world of bodybuilding is one veiled in sweat, adrenaline, and testosterone. It is also one immersed in Spartan-like discipline, passion, and precision. For those who live outside the bodybuilding subculture, it may be associated with excessive drug abuse and sheer narcissism. Or it may be viewed as a “fringe” sport set aside for control freaks and frivolous glam seekers. However, when one actually takes the time to more fully explore any “alternative way of life”, valuable lessons can be gleaned—lessons concerning the fire that burns within the hearts of certain men and women and spurs them on to seemingly stellar feats. Applying these lessons to everyday life can allow one to understand the meaning of setting goals, persevering, and overcoming, in order to ultimately achieve that balance for which everyman aspires. To elaborate further upon this theme, “everyman bodybuilder”, Jeremy Likness, has cordially agreed to this candid interview.

Hello Jeremy. I have just taken the liberty of casting the label of the “everyman bodybuilder” upon you. I did this because I happen to know a bit about your personal “transformation process” and the Body for Life fitness program marketed by Bill Phillips. In your own words, can you briefly give us some background about yourself and tell us how, when, and why you became involved in the body-sculpting world?

Absolutely, Todd. It’s an interesting story. I guess I can trace it back to my post-college years, when I was in with the wrong crowd and involved in a lot of the wrong pastimes. I won’t get too specific, but let’s just say that alcohol and cigarettes were part of a larger list of vices that I had. I had the common sense to try and move away from that, and in 1996 I moved from my hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida to Atlanta, GA. I didn’t know a soul, but I felt I had to remove myself from the negative environment. It was only a few days after the move that I met my wonderful wife. On the drive up from Florida I had actually stopped at a rest area and smoked a cigarette. I then tossed the rest of the pack in the trash and vowed to quit. I left those cigarettes there in the trash. But then I replaced my smoking habit with a drinking habit. Success for me was almost a bad thing because more money meant more fast food and beer and more videos to sit on my rear and watch.

A few things happened that changed all of that in late 1999. A very good friend of mine, probably my closet friend other than my wife at the time, passed away suddenly due to cancer. I was there in the hospital. He had been admitted a few weeks earlier. I finally got around to visiting him, but he was comatose when I arrived. His wife and children were there, and as we sat in a waiting room around the corner, we heard a loud moan and his children scream “No, No, No!!” I won’t get into more detail, but that was a very important experience to me – it opened my eyes to the value of life. My life isn’t just about me. There are others who care about it as well. My wife was pregnant with our daughter, and I started to really think about what kind of father I would be to her….Would she have to go through the same experience as my friend’s…?

I came to the realization that I could not choose my time to go, but I could improve the quality of life that I do have while I am here. I was tired of losing my breath simply from getting dressed or tying my shoes. I had gained my sympathy pounds while my wife was pregnant, and a business trip to Europe put on 10 more pounds in just as many days. When the 44” slacks would not button, my wife and I both had had it. I was well over 245 pounds. I knew nothing about nutrition or training and tried just about everything-- Atkins diet, fasting, running, Herbalife-- you name it, I tried it. But my wife is the one who noticed some coworkers successfully transforming their bodies, and she asked them what the “secret” was. This led her to the book, Body-for-LIFE, which she bought for me. I was so stubborn. I refused to read it for the longest time. I was just so sold out on diets, but finally at my son’s football practice I cracked it open. Nine months later I had dropped 30 pounds but was stuck at the famous “plateau”. On a business trip to Miami I looked up a former champion of the competition held by EAS, and booked a session. I learned a great deal from Jeff Seidman. And more importantly, he sparked the passion inside me – he gave me the faith that I could change. I dropped another 30 pounds and weighed in at 188 pounds with 10 percent body fat. This effort allowed me to place as a Top 2000 Finisher in the 2000 Body-for-LIFE Challenge … since about 700,000 had applied to enter (only 6% actually turned in completion packets) it was a great honor.
After that, I found another coach to help me reach single digit body fat levels, now that I had a sense it was possible. At the same time, I studied for and received my certification as a Fitness Trainer through the International Sports Sciences Association. In June of 2001 I hit around 7% body fat and launched my own personal training business, Peak Physiques, which was a web-based consulting business I ran part time in addition to my full time job as a software developer.

I am really rambling on, but to make a short story boring, I have since trained dozens of clients, a number of them bodybuilders themselves. I decided it was time to really challenge myself and to get on stage. I wished to make this more than a hobby. I wanted it to be a true competitive sport in my life, so I began training to compete early in 2004. I have studied under some great minds, including Ian King and John Berardi, and my bookshelf is more like a fitness library with the number of books I have picked up relating to exercise, nutrition, biology, anatomy, and kinesiology. I have also acquired certification as a Specialist in Performance Nutrition, and I plan to continue obtaining more certifications-- as there is always more to learn.

When you talk about fitness, you speak with a true sense of passion and enthusiasm. Would you say that you pursue all of your activities with a similar drive, or is fitness the one and only TRUE passion in your life?

It is difficult to draw a distinction, Todd. I would say that my passion for fitness has led to passion in other walks of my life. My ability to take control of my health taught me that I do not have to be a victim. I have to go out and actively create my success. This is how I had to get in shape – it did not happen for me. I had to make the decision to eat the right foods, to exercise, to train, even to rest. When I realized this power to create success was within me, I started to apply it elsewhere. I started and successfully ran my own business for a year, despite never having had any such experience. The only reason the business closed is because, again, using my passion, I was able to acquire a position at my current company, which produces healthcare software. Most importantly, this passion has affected my personal life. I do not believe it is a coincidence that I was baptized with my children the day before I began my new job. So many things in my life have changed, and accepting Christ was one of those major changes. But this passion is not simply about religion. It is about family. The same energy with which I attack a workout or my career, I apply to my family – making sure that I spend time with my children…that I support them, that we have fun together, that they grow. When I return home from work, my children are my only focus until my daughter, who is almost 4, goes to bed. Only then do I look to write articles and train and do other things. My family comes first. And all of my training schedules, they always have Sunday as a rest day. No matter what the rest of the split looks like, I always give my Sundays to God.

The word “fitness” seems to connote different things to different people. Being so immersed in the “fitness” lifestyle, what has this word come to mean to you?

This is important, Todd. It is a very important point. Fitness is being the best you can be. So it really goes beyond having a fit body. I think a fit mind and a fit soul are also important. For example, being stressed out all the time at work and training a bit in the evening is not living a fit lifestyle. Either managing that stress or moving onto another job or career that is more rewarding and less stressful-- now that is being fit. It is being the best you can be. Bodybuilding is a funny sport because we really are fighting with our bodies. It is tough to put on muscle because muscle requires maintenance, and muscle requires more calories. But our bodies want to be more efficient and require fewer calories. Putting on a pound of muscle, to me, is not necessarily being more fit. It is part of the sport – part of bodybuilding. But I will not call Bruce Lee an unfit person just because he did not have bodybuilder-sized muscles. He was the best he could possibly be. Steven Hawkings was confined to a wheelchair, but he broke some of the most amazing scientific frontiers known to mankind. He exercised his mind because his body was not able to receive that benefit. He was fit, he embraced fitness. So that’s what fitness is to me – it’s the total holistic approach to being the best you can be. It is eating healthy and also enjoying what you eat --and not being afraid to enjoy a glass of wine. Sometimes fitness isn’t on the treadmill or under the barbell. It is sitting down and enjoying that calm, relaxing moment. Really, fitness is more about balance, and that is harder than most people think. For me, it was easy to trade an addiction to smoking and drinking for an addiction to training. But creating a balance-- and making training a mere part of that balance-- so that I did not let it overpower my family or other aspects of my life-- was far more difficult.

The science of the irondom is vast, convoluted, and often contradictory in nature. Why?

There are really too many reasons to list, but I’ll tackle one or two. The first is simply the power of the almighty dollar. The supplement industry is thriving, and people want that magic bullet. We are so used to convenience – cars that take us from point A to point B and TVs that change channels without us having to move--that we feel we deserve the same for our bodies. Supplement companies love this, so they will go out and promote their products. It is funny, because in the fitness world, when you get into chat rooms or on bulletin board systems, everyone is a Professor of Google with a PhD in Muscle Magazines. They are all experts. They will tell you exactly how much protein you need (probably more than 1 gram per pound of body weight because that is what sells protein powder). So you have people researching online or reading sports magazines and believing exactly what the supplement manufacturers want them to believe.

The second is simply reality or perception thereof. There are people using steroids. There are people injecting growth hormone. There are people using many ways to push their physiques to freaky new levels. I am not sitting here to judge that practice or say what’s right or wrong, but just to point out that this really makes it confusing for the people trying to learn. They see their peers at 240 pounds with 4% body fat. “How did you get there?” Well, there are two answers. First—“Here is my exact training routine”, and second—“Since I get paid thousands of dollars by my sponsor over here, I have to tell you it was this exact combination of supplements.” Now the person is standing there with a workout that lasts 4 hours per day 7 days a week and a set of supplements. But he is missing the steroids element. He has bad information. You know, I have read a few quotes that really illustrate this point. “If you want a good race horse, you talk to the trainer, not the horse.” “If you want a good root canal, you don’t grab the first person with a pretty smile.” It is the same here. People look up to others with the physiques they admire, and they go to them for advice. But what works for one person, doesn’t work for another. And I am not playing the genetic card here either. I know people who swear all compound movements are necessary to build mass, and thermogenics with ephedrine are the keys to getting ripped. Now try to tell that to my wife. She has mitrovalve prolapse, and ephedrine would be a dangerous prescription to give her. It works fine in my system, but for her, it could cause arrhythmia and possibly even cardiac arrest. She also has scoliosis, and certain squat and dead-lift movements would have her out of commission in no time. This hasn’t kept her from dropping 40 pounds and maintaining 16% body fat, however. It is just that we dug into the science behind it all and found something that works for her. We did not build her routine based on what elite athletes with advanced therapeutic support do, and we did not build her nutrition based on some supplement company’s marketing campaign.

There are other reasons, but that is the main one. It is the reason of perception. While I am thankful that my transformation helps my career as a trainer, I would caution that dropping 65 pounds does not make me an expert on fat loss. Studying, analyzing, interviewing people, learning, being a student of great coaches like David Greenwalt, Ian King, and John Berardi – these are the things that make me knowledgeable. There are many ways to approach this, and no one way is the best way.

Of the many factors that bear influence upon the sculpting of the “perfect” body, how big of a role do you believe genetics plays…if any?

It depends on what the perfect body is, Todd. There is the perfect body that sells tickets at an IFBB show, there is the perfect body that follows the Greek aesthetic ideal, and then there is the best body that you can obtain. Genetics plays a role. Your muscles are shaped a certain way, your tendons are arranged in a specific pattern, and you have certain sized bones. Arnold Schwarzenegger mentioned that he decided not to pursue power-lifting and moved onto bodybuilding instead because his bone structure would not give him the leverage needed to compete at the elite, elite level. When I get shredded, you can see that the tendons that cross my abdominal muscles are not symmetrical. Some people joke that I have more of a five pack. I cannot change that, short of some sort of radical surgery. So I think genetics will dictate the length of your bones and the shape of your muscles, but you can certainly train for size, and most importantly, you can compensate. You can build the body of your dreams, if you are realistic about it. I have a thick waist, and I cannot change that. But I can certainly work on an impressive lat spread, big shoulders, and a powerful chest to give the illusion of having a narrow waist.

I don’t believe that genetics prevent people from becoming lean or from building muscle. But I do think they make it harder for certain people. I have a friend who eats whatever he wants, is lean, and does one-armed dumbbell bench presses for 15 reps with 110 pounds. Great! Me? I’m going to have to work HARD at getting there. But genetics won’t keep me from it – my mind will, if I let it. And that is where I think there is a lot of room for debate. I think two people may both have the potential to get lean, but for whatever reason, one may lack the motivation or drive. Is that genetics? Is willpower related to genetics? I don’t know. That would be something interesting to pursue. But are the physical mechanisms in place to get lean? Sure. There are rare disorders that may prevent this, but for the most part it is blood, sweat, and sacrifice that will get you there-- genetics or not.

In modern western society, why do you feel obesity has become such a huge problem?

Superficial beliefs and instant gratification. There is this trend that nothing should be uncomfortable, which I think is a shame. We want everyone to be happy, comfortable, and to never have to struggle. But I think struggle builds character and is a part of life. As a Christian, I know it is the ultimate suffering of Christ that bought my salvation. As a human being, I know that I do not regret being born without a silver spoon. I do not regret my former lifestyle because the struggle taught me values and appreciation. As a society I think we have lost that. Obesity is not new. I hear that over and over, but as much as people rant and rave about class difference, western society is an abundant society. People started having major health issues 5,000 years ago when Egyptians invented the closed oven, and bread and agriculture became a staple. A few centuries ago, it was more expensive to “refine” grains, so they were the trademark feed for the upper class, the elite. This is why we call them “refined” people. They had their own share of ill health and obesity issues. What has happened today, in Western society, is that technology has brought all of these items that were once “unobtainable” closer to us all. It is less expensive now for someone to buy white bread than a quality whole grain product. So when you are on a tight budget, what are you going to do? You’ll buy the cheap macaroni and cheese and bread. When you finally make money, what do you do? Do you start buying the healthy foods? No. You buy more conveniences. First you buy a large screen television to watch, then a couch upon which to watch it. Then you pick up the phone and dial fast food so you don’t have to cook or shop. That is what I think plagues us. It is simply the fact that we have become a very material society, focused on instant gratification – whether it is money, sex, drugs, food, or anything else for that matter. We no longer have long-term goals or think beyond the next 10 minutes, let alone the next week. One of the amazing sites to see in Europe is some of the architecture built to glorify God. You can get on a political bandwagon and talk about the people who starved to fund the projects, yada yada but let’s look even beyond the major churches and even at something like the monumental buildings in Egypt – the pyramids, the Sphinx. These architectural feats demonstrate thinking beyond the next minute or hour or week. This is long-term thinking. This is a multi-year and multi-generation project. But how many people do you know who think in those terms – of what they can do for the people 200 years from now? We are all focused on the here and now and what works for ME. I am not being condescending. I am just as guilty. I have wrapped myself in it as well-- but it is convenience.

When you enter the weight room on training days, do you have specific goals in mind, or do you prefer to just “go with the flow”, as it were?

I never enter the weight training room without a goal in mind. I have long-term goals and short-term goals. There is always something I am going to accomplish. Bodybuilding is fun for me because there are really two things I am doing. One is poking and prodding to get the body to reveal its secrets – which movements, styles of training, etc. really produce which results? The other is that I am trying to trick it. The body wants to get better, more efficient at what it is doing. But as a bodybuilder, I am constantly trying to thwart its attempts so that it is forced to become physically larger rather than neurologically stronger. It is purposeful goal-setting that helps to achieve those ends.

When you yourself train, as opposed to training a client, do you tend to adhere strictly to protocols that follow a documented scientific methodology, or do you prefer to treat the experience as an “experiment of one”?

Again, it is a little bit of both. I think that science is interesting as a means of learning the mechanisms behind training and what is going on at a cellular level, etc. But I also think people have forgotten the true spirit of science. Too many people today feel science means you read a study in a book or online and that becomes the law. So a ton of research and a few books say that 10 – 12 reps are the range for hypertrophy, right? That is not science. That is simply following the rules. But bodybuilding is about breaking the rules. Turn-of-the-century scientists did not have Google to tell them how to conduct their experiments. I like to think of myself almost like Lewis and Clark. These were not true scientists – they were not formally educated as such – but they accomplished an amazing feat when they crossed the United States. They kept painstaking documentation of every twist and turn along the way, and they were very resourceful with the things they found.

Bodybuilding should be the same way. Sure, the literature says 10 – 12 reps, but I would be doing what everyone else is doing if I stuck to that. If you want to be different, you have to do different. So I try 3 reps and 5 reps and 20 reps and even 100 reps. And I keep those detailed journals, and I learn what stories they have to tell. And I find out that 10 – 12 reps works great for my arms but 6 – 8 reps is really the range for my chest and 12 – 15 is really the range for my legs. But even that is too general. Sometimes it might mean more reps of a different nature or simply a change in rest or exercise. There are so many variables.

I like to read about protocols and try them, but I like to experiment with my own. For example, Charles Poliquin has two concepts I like a lot – protocols, if you will. One is the broad pyramid, which simply states that you do not want a huge variety in rep ranges during a training session. So you might use, instead of 15 12 10 8 6 4 for example, something like 8 6 4 and then go back up. He also has what he calls the 4/5 percent solution, which says you can do a 5 x 5 matrix of training, then drop one rep per set and increase the weight 4 or 5 percent. So you do a 5 x 4 matrix the next workout, then 5 x 3, then back to 5 x 5-- but this time use the previous 5 x 4 weight. That is cool!

So I was reading this, thinking about it, and decided to glue the two methods together. What I came up with was a combination of broad pyramid and the 4/5 percent solution. I do an 8 6 4 4 6 8 pyramid for workout 1. Then I increase the weight by 4%, but I do a 7 5 3 3 5 7 pyramid for workout 2. Finally, I do 6 4 2 2 4 6 for workout 3-- and then I start over. To make things even more interesting, I noted that many, many bodybuilders do 2x week on body parts they want to bring up. Most philosophy is “do it once per week”, but here are all these logs with twice a week. I took that and Louie Simmons’ philosophy of training. His athletes do, for example, a max squat workout and then later in the week use lighter weights with what he calls compensatory acceleration. So whatever workout I do on Monday, I do again on Friday, and Tuesday’s workouts are repeated on Saturdays. But I take 80% of the “heavy day” weights and use compensatory acceleration. So if I am doing 4 reps at 215 on Monday, I am doing 4 reps at 172 (ie 80% of 215) on Friday and really going for acceleration/speed. You see – it is not some ground-breaking new routine or magic. It is trying out various pieces, fitting them together in various ways, and observing the results. So far I like this one!

What are your views on overtraining? Does it exist, or is it something that scientists have just arbitrarily labeled to explain a lack of enthusiasm or a sense of staleness?

Well, Todd, it is almost like you answered your own question. Even if it explains a lack of enthusiasm or sense of staleness, then it exists, right? It is something to address. I think overtraining is very real, but I do think it can be used as an excuse. I think trying to find all these markers of overtraining, like glutamine levels for example, is interesting, but I am not sure if it is practical. We have to really define what overtraining is, and while ISSA has a nice scientific definition of cumulative microtrauma, I want to know what is practical both as a bodybuilder and as a trainer.

To me, you can label it overtraining, or you can label it simply a sign. But there are signs that it is time to change something. I know some people who are powerlifters and week in, week out they lift and improve and lift and improve, and they really don’t hit a wall. That is great. Others, however, lift and lift and then suddenly, bam! They hit a wall. Is that overtraining? I don’t know if the term gives the right impression – i.e. training too much – because maybe they haven’t been training enough. Maybe that routine is stale. We don’t need to rest, necessarily, but we need to change something.

So for me, I have definite markers. When I lose my enthusiasm to train, when I feel I am getting sick, when I struggle more waking up in the morning-- all of these subtle signs tell me it is time to change. If I ignore them, I typically hit a wall in my training. So I change something.

I think taking rest, active rest, is very valid. Just as the application of resistance/force is a stimulus, removing that resistance/force is also a stimulus. Who is to say that rest is not a valid form of training? There is a protocol – a concept – called HST (hypertrophy-specific training) conceived by Bryan Haycock, who I think is brilliant. And a part of that protocol is detraining. It is a very important aspect of obtaining more mass. So do I think overtraining means too much training or is a prerequisite for rest? No. But I think Ian King and John Berardi, in their Toronto seminar a few years back, had a great point. Namely that training is the stimulus, but recovery is where the results come. So prioritizing training is flawed. Rather, you should start with your recovery potential. Start with the recovery itself-- and then figure out how the training fits with that. So say we have someone working 80 hours a week and a full-time athlete. These two have different potentials for recovery and different therapies at their disposal. There is no reason why their training would be the same.

Knowing that most all bodybuilders, athletes, and recreational fitness enthusiasts must on occasion alter their routines to some extent, can you briefly describe a favorite “staple” routine aimed at acquiring muscle mass? Similarly, do you have any favorite exercises that you maintain regularly in your own routine?

Well, my favorite reply to “How do I strengthen my arms?” is “Move them.”. I like big lifts. You need your squat, your dead-lift, your bench press, your pull-ups, and your bent-over rows. Those are the big ones. Military press is another good one to have. Dips…. Where are the triceps? They are in the dips and the press. Where are the biceps? They are in your pull-ups and bent-over rows. These are the ones I like to keep. Sometimes I may eliminate squat and dead-lift, but only because my thighs – at 24 ½ inches – are well ahead of the rest of my body. I think training provides a blueprint, and sometimes I want that blueprint to point to upper body, not thighs. But you can’t keep those out for long. People always seem surprised that squats are key for, say, building biceps. But I have always seen the biggest gains when the so-called core lifts are involved.

While variety is important, you can have all the variety in the world within the domain of the main lifts. For example, with squats, you can change the foot position. You can do wide, sumo squats, or narrow squats. That’s 3 foot positions (including normal). Now you can have a high (bodybuilding) bar, a mid (athletic) bar, or a low (powerlifting) bar. Suddenly you have 9 combinations of the squat to work with. What about box squats? Front squats? Partial squats? There is so much variety.

Periodization, or cycle training, is a proven means of assuring continued progress and avoiding plateaus. Can you give a summary of what this means to a bodybuilder who is preparing for a competition and how it might be applied?

It can mean a lot of things. I think a lot of people may have a limited understanding. There is periodization as a concept and everyone does this. When a body builder changes sets or reps or exercises, they are periodizing. Then there is specific set of guidelines that was established by a great pioneer, Tudor Bompa. He had a very specific training system, and periodization in his way is not so random. It involves not only variety, but also a very specific progression leading to a peak for an important event.

In very oversimplified terms, if the competition is the event, you work backwards from the event so that you peak at the event. You look at many parameters including nutrition. You start in what we would consider a general, or foundational, phase. This is where the bodybuilder will put on the mass—the infamous “bulking” phase!

Typically, the next phase is one of specificity, where you train coordination, strength, etc. You are focused less upon physiological, hypertrophic reactions and more upon neurological, strength and coordination reactions. Many bodybuilders will correlate this with strength training, but I think that misses the point. When someone is working on detail, he is specializing, and honing in on that detail. Here he is concerned with the quality of the session. For example, say I want a lat spread. I would use a higher volume of exercises on my back as compared to other lifts to send a signal to the rest of my body that the back is priority. I make my heaviest back routine earlier in the week when I’m fresh from my Sunday rest day, and I make it first in the workout. I prioritize. Even when a bodybuilder begins posing practice, he or she is doing this same thing – specializing, honing in, taking what was built in the general phase and further refining it for presentation.

Then we have this cutting phase where we are even less concerned about muscle gains. We are now drawing out the definition. This is interesting because the periodization might take place more in nutrition. Many bodybuilders believe they should train the same in season and off season – the only thing that they manipulate is nutrition. I think this could be a mistake. When someone is consuming fewer calories, it really does not take nearly as much stimulation to maintain muscle mass, so this is an opportunity to change the volume of training or possibly pursue strength and neurological gains. Others will argue that you should keep the volume high to burn calories and assist with the fat loss. So you see, there are many schools of thought, and quite frankly, many of them work – even when they apparently contradict each other!

A final phase is simply a rest phase in the days before the competition when the bodybuilder is trying to maximize glycogen retention so the muscles are full and pumped. Many bodybuilders will cease leg training a week or more out because the belief is that the training will localize blood and other substrates related to recovery and blur the cuts in the legs. Posing practice continues, and then, if all goes well, the bodybuilder peaks on the day of the show – sometimes the very hour he is presenting himself before the judges.

As just pointed out, competitive bodybuilders realize the importance of training, recovery, diet, and supplementation in their regimes. Of these factors, how would you prioritize each?

I always start with recovery. That is the key. Next is diet – you can train many ways to gain mass, but it is nutrition that ultimately dictates whether gains come from fat or muscle. Next is training, although one might only need to bend his arm to build a bicep, a competitive bodybuilder needs to take advantage of all of the protocols he or she can to maximize lean mass gains in the shortest time frame possible. Finally, there is supplementation. Just because I put it as the lowest priority does not mean it is not a priority. You can certainly get most of your protein and cofactors from food, but in the end, you will be standing next to someone on stage. Supplementation fills in the holes and gaps and helps you to stay on that edge. While I am less concerned with supplementation for general health, or for the average person trying to gain or lose weight, for a bodybuilder, it can be critical to success.

How big of a problem do you feel the use of steroids and illegal stimulants is in the sport of bodybuilding? Do you believe the problem has increased or diminished over the course of the history of the sport?

I guess this is tough for me to answer because I am not certain what you mean by problem. I have a problem with people breaking the law. I think it is wrong. But even that can result in quite a debate. For example, can I truly say that I have never exceeded the speed limit? And this is certainly not the place for ethical or moral debate.

When we are talking about athletes, I think people fail to recognize that the top bodybuilders in the professional circuits are incredible athletes. It takes more than steroids to build a massive physique. It requires dedication, training, intensity. These people endure incredible pain and even end up in the hospital having muscles reattached. These are not just steroid-abusing athletes, many top natural athletes are known for their incredible drives as well. So just adding steroids to the equation isn’t going to build the body. So the problem is not whether someone else chooses to use those steroids – again, I stress, there is a legal problem there-- but it goes beyond that. My problem is in finding a valid place to compete for those who choose not to break the law. And this is where it gets sketchy. It could be an entirely new article or debate. It is a complicated, political, ethical, moral, economic argument to which I can’t say I have the answer.

So back to your original question. Yes, I think a LOT of people use steroids in bodybuilding. I believe the amount of people using steroids has increased. There is research on thousands of athletes who have both admitted and denied using steroids that examines the ratio of fat-free (lean) mass to their height. It was generally determined that those not using steroids had an adjusted index of 25 or less. Those who admitted to using steroids had well over 25 – sometimes in the 30s. If you analyze the Mr. America statistics, you can see a similar trend. These bodybuilders were about 25 on the fat-free index up until around the 60s, when steroid use became prevalent. Someone could argue this change has to do with nutritional science breakthroughs and advanced supplementation, but I seriously doubt it. Again, I would personally skirt the issue of defining “problem” and getting into all that. However, yes, I think steroid use is prevalent, and yes, I think it has increased. I do not think 26” arms are simply the results of periodization and breakthroughs in nutrition.

On the day of an important competition, what things go through your mind? How do you mentally prepare yourself for this big event? Can you briefly describe the atmosphere of the “stage” and the energy flow of the “players” at these events?

Well, let’s get clear on one thing. I have been in my own “events” related to contests, such as photo shoots, and I have attended events as a spectator, but my first onstage event will not be until early 2004.

The mental preparation is hard to explain. When I wasn’t in control of my fitness, I would get very nervous doing any number of things. A lot of this was related to my self-image and self-esteem. To become fit, I had to take control of this. I had to believe in me-- in who I am and what I do. I had to gain that confidence and trust in myself. So, now, going into events, I am confident. I am excited. I no longer fear comparing myself to other people. Instead, I see it as an opportunity to showcase my hard work and commitment. So I have fun with it. Do I get nervous? Absolutely. But I have fun with it, and I look forward to it.

The stage at the shows I have attended was less tense than one might believe. I see a lot of friendliness between competitors – to the point where one guy will put the tanning lotion or posing oil on the person who may take the trophy from him. When on stage, however, there is a true sense of the stage presence. Here is where the line between bodybuilding and competitive bodybuilding is drawn. See, as a bodybuilder, I am constantly… well… building my body. But a competitive bodybuilder must do more than build that body. That person must market it to the judges and to the audience. Many people neglect posing, but that is the crucial element of an actual show – the presentation of the muscle…. That is where the sport really shines. It is not in having the largest chest, but in sharing that chest and convincing the judges that it is the chest. Here is where you will see competitors shine. While the individual routines demonstrate creativity, confidence, poise, and many other traits, I really enjoy the pose downs. It takes a good show to see a true pose down. The best shows are the pro-qualifiers, where the winner is invited to compete professionally. These typically attract the more seasoned bodybuilders. In a good posedown, people are not up there simply striking poses. They are feeding off of each other. One person strikes a strong triceps pose, the next person blows into his massive quads to try and draw the attention away. So the first person hits a pose that includes calves because he knows the other competitor doesn’t have calves – and on and on. When people are just in separate little corners striking poses, it is one thing. But when there are two close competitors, as was the case in the recent INBF Southern Natural competition, you really get fired up! And the energy and commitment is projected! And that is probably the most exciting thing-- when someone gains that pro card! There is nothing that can describe the fire and passion, the hard work culminating into the moment, the look on the competitor when he has received that honor. Really exciting!

Do you have any role models, athletes or otherwise, to whom you mentally call upon for inspiration? If so, what defining characteristics do these people possess?

At the risk of sounding cliché, Jesus Christ is one. I find inspiration within because I know that regardless of how my training goes, whether there is progress or adversity, He is always there by my side. It is about so much more than just the time in the gym, and I am reminded to balance that with other things. As for true athletes, my real role models are many of my clients and people with whom I have been blessed to work. I have one guy who dropped from 300 to 200 pounds and is working with me to compete around the same time I will be. He is a true inspiration-- to go that far!! And he is not ready to stop! He keeps on going – what drive! There is another who was around 312 and just broke the 300 pound mark. He is so excited. This is what inspires me. When I am training, I realize I have reached a healthy weight, that I have formed the habits. But I do not forget where I came from, how huge a barrier it seemed when I first began the journey – and I look at these people, and their accomplishments, and it is so inspirational. How can I back away from my cardio session or a heavy lift when someone 100 pounds heavier is making every effort he can to change his life? These people are true athletes! I wish I could hand out a medal and certificate to each and every one – not just to the people who have gained weight and then lost it, but also to people who stay in shape, and especially to those who share that zest for fitness with others. It is those people who make the world a better place. Like I have said, fitness is being the best you can be, and for me, it is getting on stage. For someone else, it means breaking the 300 pound barrier and then preparing to tackle the next 100 pounds.

In closing, is there anything you would like to get across to the readers that you feel has not been adequately addressed?

Not much. I have studied and learned much, but there is always more to learn. I do not want to give the impression that I know it all or have all the answers. If anything, I have just begun to learn to ask the right questions. That is why this is so exciting for me. It is the process – the journey – and how much I learn along the way. Bodybuilding is a funny sport. It is the only place I don’t get ridiculed too much for spending time in front of the mirror or sharing pictures wearing nothing but boxers with total strangers. But, like any sport, it is one of many ways to celebrate fitness and a healthy lifestyle. I like to have fun with it, and I like to share what I learn with hopes that others can learn and grow as well. I really enjoyed this interview, Todd, because I know you are one of those who have such a zeal for fitness. So I am honored to share what I can with someone I know works hard himself to help others.

Jeremy, thank you for the closing compliment. But more importantly than that, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to so fully elaborate upon my questions. In so doing, you have provided a wealth of insight and information. You are truly an inspiration to everyman!

George Sheehan once stated that every man is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not. Echoing these sentiments, Jeremy Likness has imparted an eloquent tale of how an ordinary, albeit troubled, man has steadily and rapidly become a super man. But in the process, he has continually stressed that he is in fact NOT a super man. Rather, he is simply that same ordinary man who came to realize the power of choice in an every day life. It is this ultimate power that has led him onto a journey of balance, discovery, and self-actualization-- and it is the same ultimate power that is granted to everyman…everyday.

Make sure to read Jeremy’s debut Dolfzine article at http://www.dolfzine.com/page246.htm . Jeremy can be contacted by email at jlikness@drtango.com.