Some of you guys dropping in might already know me by name. To the rest of you, give me the opportunity to introduce myself. I’m Aziz El-Ezaby, which is a stripped version of a cool (read: long-ass) Arab name. Yes, I did ask my parents at birth to give me a cooler sounding name like Rock, Running Coyote, or even Jack, but that requires a whole other article all by its self. Anyway, you win some, you lose some.

I currently live in the country of Kuwait. I’m half and half, which you’ll have to figure out for yourself. I’ve lived and studied in the US for 4 years, met a lot of cool people, came back and lived happily ever after.

So What’s the Deal Jack?

The main scope of True-Reps.com is to educate our audience on Nutrition and Exercise as well as bring change to their lives both mentally and aesthetically. As an aside, I don’t consider myself a Nutrition demigod, nor am I certified by any respected institution — yet; but I’d like to think that I know enough to make a change. So is all this free? Yes! Please feel free to explore the website for large colorful donate buttons lying around. Trust me you’re not going to find them.

Rest assured that you’re not going to have to re-read some copy-paste did-you-know facts about why eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I’ll leave that to Wikipedia and the like.

So now I kind of gave you what True-Reps is and what it isn’t. Whats the catch? Well, simply put, I love learning and sharing what I learn. I’m just weird like that. Before building this website, I never knew anything about web development, HTML or PHP, but I had to teach myself to convey my message to the public. Whats a gym rat doing building websites? I don’t know! But it comes back to my main point — learning.

I embarked on this endeavor knowing good and well what kind of crowd I’m going to be reaching out to. If you are one of the few that follow up on Nutrition and Exercise, you’ll appreciate the articles I’ll be publishing. Every now and then I’ll be writing a few things outside the realm of this establishment to keep the rest of you entertained, but I wont tread too far, I promise.

The Man Behind the Curtain

It all started in my teens when my cousin who was in his early twenties at the time came to live with us before he traveled overseas for good. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”The Wizard of Oz His stay with us was very brief and when he left, he kept a lot of his junk around including a pair of 5 kilo dumbbells. Couple this experience with bodybuilding magazines and the release of Terminator 2 and I was hooked to Bodybuilding for life.

Fast forward a few years to the end of high school…

By now I’ve already graduated and I’m ready for the university life. I ended up graduating early at the age 17, just like all the poor souls in my generation who attended a British School. In the same year while doing nothing, I got word that by 18 I’ll be drafted to the Egyptian army. True story…

Fortunately, a few weeks later, the news of the draft subsided as my mother revealed to me that my acceptance letter to study in the US has arrived in the mail. It was during this upcoming phase that triggered the biggest set of changes in my life. Bodybuilding was completely derailed off the tracks, personal views were replaced by new ones, and many close friends were lost while undergoing the transition.

As soon as I settled in and got my act together, I joined a gym a few minutes away from my apartment complex. At first I didn’t know what I was doing. Just like every other newbie, I tried to lift the heaviest weight for a few reps, flex in-front of the mirrors and convince myself that I can take on Rambo. As far as my diet is concerned, it consisted of pizza and breadsticks every day, with the occasional protein shake. It’s not that I didn’t know how to cook, I did. I just didn’t have the time. Nevertheless, the results were satisfactory at the time, but mediocre in comparison to today’s standards.

By the end of the fourth year, I felt like I knew everything there is to know about Bodybuilding. Though I wish I possessed what I learnt today 4 years ago, I spent more time in the gym doing what felt right instead of whats proven right by scholarly sources. All my notions of what the sport seemed to be were proven wrong when I arrived to Kuwait and started viewing it from a scientific frame set.

A great man once said, “As per every life altering decision, one must prepare for the journey to come, through due diligence and hard work, before taking the first step”

Don’t you agree? My philosophy is that if you’re going to make up an unknown inspirational quote, attribute it to someone else. Nevertheless, that great man has got a valid point. Most of the things I learnt were from books I read, and articles written by well-established authors in the field at numerous websites, such as Bodybuilding.com. The name might sound like a community filled with meatheads, but it’s really not. You’ll come to realize that a lot of its members are unique in their own ways, some are engineers, some are doctors, others may be your next door neighbor.

With New Information, Comes New Thinking

The world of Bodybuilding seemed far more complex, than what the magazines marketed it to be. Though magazines aren’t the only ones propagating a never ending loop of bull, but coaches, personal trainers and supplement companies as well. Why?

Well, its because of good ole Benjamin Franklin. I’m not talking about the President, I’m talking about money. There is no money in marketing a framework consisting of hard work, but you can bet there’s a lot of it in overnight fad diets, as long as its pain-free, right? Funny thing is, those guys aren’t half as bad as the ones spreading “Broscience”.

Broscience is the predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles where the anecdotal reports of jacked dudes are considered more credible than scientific research.UrbanDictionary.com

Fortunately for us, there are authors who have dedicated most of their academic life correcting those mainstream ideas. Some have even revolutionized the sport, such as Alan Aragon, Lyle McDonald, Martin Berkhan of LeanGains.com, and the world-renowned strength training coach Charles Poliquin, just to name a few.

Don’t worry, it’s okay if you haven’t heard of any of those authors, you will hear me bring up their names every once in a while, and you’ll get to know them like I have.

So apart from the brief history lesson, where does this road lead then?

To be frank, I’m not entirely sure where the ending is. The way I see it, all roads lead to the same place. You never know what you’ll come across till you do. All I can say is that some people golf, others collect stamps. I love writing about things I enjoy as well as helping those around me.

I’ll leave you with this brief introduction, my thanks for dropping by and a question to stir up discussion. What would you guys like see come out of True-Reps.com?