Change is coming!

This once to be my primary page for everything on my mind but I have been in the infancy of starting my personal training business so I will use this page more as my rant page and my page as my fitness one. In the mean time check me out at www.youtube.com/motivationtogive and you can follow the changes as they occur. Thanks for your support! MB

The BEST PROTEIN ON THE MARKET (In my opinion!)   Well, if your into working out, lifting weights, playing sports, etc... then you know how important it is to keep an adequate supply of protein in your body. Over the years, I have tried a bunch of different protein brands. There are Soy proteins, casein proteins, hemp proteins, whey proteins, whey proteins with creatine, etc... Personally, I prefer a good whey protein though but I hate most of the extra stuff that comes with it. That is why Blue Bonnet's Whey Protein Isolate is so special!       The Whey Protein Isolate by Bluebonnet is free of egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans! On top of that, it is made with stevia extract and not SUGAR or ASPARTAME or SUCRALOSE!!! This is almost unprecedented these days! Bluebonnet has gone out of their way to provide us with a great quality product. So here's my general review of the product:  

          The Good-   Great Ingredients! No artificial colors or sweetners! Vegetarian and Vegan Friendly! 26g of protein per scoop! Mixes well and taste pretty good too! Not treated with rBGH Variety of flavors (vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mixed berry)        The Bad-      The cost! Varies from $26.00 to 36.00 for a 1lb container The cost! hmm, It would be awesome if their was creatine included but that's just wishful thinking...     Summary         This is a great product which I def recommend. I wish the cost could be a little lower but I understand that quality products cost more money so I don't have too much of a problem with that. Most of those other artificial sweetners have been linked to cancer and sugar is bad in its own right so I am pleased with the use of stevia here. Typically, I prefer to blend my protein with fruits and juice but I have drunk this with just water and it was still palatable. You can find this brand at most health food shops especially Wholefoods. Additionally, if you are interested in purchasing online, you can clink on my link "my amazon store" and it will take you straight to a vendor!

Are you still doing p90x or insanity

This is something I have been curious about, after your first round of insanity or p90x, are you still pressing play? Do these dvds keep your attention or keep you motivated enough to keep coming back? I enjoyed both of these programs but just can't make myself complete another round for some reason. I might do a few days, maybe even a week but I just don't have the desire to stay with the program. So I was wondering, is it just me? OR do you feel like I feel? If so, what are you doing to stay active and stay fit in lieu of the dads? Thanks for watching! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaUZ4pbFa9k

Journey to 20 pullups

Currently, I am trying to do 20 pullups straight! The most I have ever done was 15 and that was maybe about a year ago. After taking a long time off due to work and other obligations most of my strength had disappeared. When I did make it back to the pullup bar, I could only do about 7. 10 is the average in my opinion that everyman should be able to do at will. With that being said, I set out to become better than ever. I found a program on the internet along time ago that promised to get your pullup max up to about 20 pullups. Even if you can only do 1 or 2, it is supposed to systematically build your strength to the point where you can pop out 20! Well, we all know that it takes hard work and there is no magic formula but 3 weeks into it I am definitely seeing progress. Here are my daily results so far: Week1 pu/cu Mon- 18/18 Wed- 19/19 Fri- 20/27 Week 2 Mon- 21/24 Wed- 21/33 Fri- 24/41 Week 3 Mon- 30/42 These are after 5 sets. The first side is pullups, the second is chinups. Not the greatest numbers yet but as you can see, steady progress. Every set is getting better. I will do a max-out at the end of the week to determine where I am in my quest!

Met-Rx AMPED ECN NOS Concentrate - 250 Grams - Grape Bubblegum Met-Rx AMPED ECN NOS Concentrate - 250 Grams - Grape Bubblegum A review

Well this is an honest review of Met-Rx AMPED ECN NOS Concentrate - 250 Grams - Grape Bubblegum flavored. I just restarted working out again about 3 weeks ago. My workouts have been going pretty good but I was ready to kick it into another gear. Fastforward to NOS Concentrate. Supplements and things of that nature have never been the type of stuff I was into. Coming from the collegiate athlete background, I always did my best to be all natural. Hell, I didn't even take creatine while I was competing. Maybe a multivitamin here and there and a protein shake at the most. The reviews on various sites have been a mixed can of worms, some people love it, other people claim they felt like they were about to have a heart attack! I mean, I want a good workout but I don't want to die! lol... Well here goes, I took one scoop preworkout just to see how my body would tolerant the new stimulus. I hopped on my bike to do my warmup ride and thought,"man this is some bull...I don't feel a thing." About 15minutes later, in the middle of my warm-up sets of squats I decided I would add a few more lbs then normal. Still waiting for the sudden rush of adrenaline and power, I just didn't feel it. I was thinking, maybe I should have taken two scoops. However, rep after rep, exercise after exercise, set after set, I was still going strong! Pushing more weight than normal, and honestly feeling like a mini BEAST. I began to think, DAMN, this was not even 2 scoops (the recommended dosage!) After my workout was over, I didn't feel any of the jitters or pounding heart people were complaining about. Honestly, I haven't felt anything unsettling as of yet. I am trying to decide if I will increase the dosage next week from 1 scoop to 2 but I must say, I think this is a sufficient dosage as of now. Monday is my upperbody workout so I can't wait to see how I feel during that workout. I may increase the dosage to 1.5 scoops but I will probably stay in that range. So far, I am glad I tried this stuff out. If I feel anything bad, I'll be sure to write about it.

MSG and Aspartame: Two dangerous flavorful poisons

Do you suffer from headaches,the inability to concentrate,brain tumors, or cancer? MSG and Aspartame poisoning in the body is probably responsible. I have listed a few symptons that have been linked to these two toxins but that list is drastically abbreviated for brevity sake. The sad thing about it is that these toxins are included into almost every "good tasting" food on your grocery store shelves. I can't help but wonder why these additives are allowed into our foods but then again "Money answereth all things!" I could set her and write a long article on this subject but I will post a few clips that I think do a great job of explaining the issues in detail. One is a quick video from one of my youtube posts and the second is a movie entitled Aspartame: Sweet Misery- A Poisoned World. Do yourself a favor and watch this information! It may save you or one of your loved ones from a lot of suffering in the future. Here is a link to a story on MSG in cheetos... www.msgexposed.com/cheetos-and-msg-bringing-new-meaning-to-the-slogan-dangerously-cheesy

Why can't I find a good church???

I don't even know where to start with this blog. This topic is so twisted in my mind these days. It seems like no matter what church I go to, I just can't find a good fit.
And before you say, "Well brother, there is no perfect church!" I want to say, "I am not even looking for a perfect church!", I just want one where it follows the Bible and challenges me to be a better person. These days everyone wants to preach, "name it and claim", "It's your season", "Money cometh", "The check is in the mail" etc...
It's funny but I swear some pastors don't even mention Jesus in the sermon anymore.

-My background-
I came from a Catholic Background. My whole family is majority Catholic and I have an almost limitless collection of memories about my deceased grandmother either praying the rosary or trying to go to every mass available. There was a room in her house with nothing but saint pictures, rosaries and saint statues. As far as being a devout Catholic goes, she was as die hard as it gets. That being said, her influence on the family was very strong and goes without saying. In my mind, none of us would ever come close to the level of Catholic she was, but we all tried to be good Catholics.
When I went to college, my girlfriend started to question some of the Catholic traditions that we practiced. In particular, the limitless devotion Catholics have toward Mary. In my mind however, I didn't see anything wrong with praying to Mary or the "Saints" and I tried to dismiss her arguments and viewpoints as best I could. Overtime, her wanting to be a supportive girlfriend and not cause any strife between us, backed off.
That Christmas she gave me a Bible! I was like cool, It was a King James version bounded in black leather with small print just like I like it. This was the first time I ever really read a King James version Bible aside from my many attempts to understand the Book of Revelation.

-The Change-
It's not like I had an overnight Epiphany or Saul/Paul moment, but I would read a little here and a little there. More and more I began to get consumed with the WORD. However, as I would read, I would notice the Bible would instruct us not to do certain practices that were specifically practiced in the Catholic Religion. Long story short, I left the Catholic church and really have never looked back regardless of what my family thinks or thought.

-The Right Church-
My girlfriend and I started attending a Full Gospel Baptist church for a while. I must say, the music was much better than I experience in the Catholic church.The messages were always uplifting and inspiring but the service was just so long! Lol, coming from the Catholic church most of the time 45mins and you were OUT OF THERE! 1 hour 15 at best, but here, things didn't even get good until about an hour into it.Ah well, I enjoyed it so I guess that was just a little price to pay.
As more time passed by, something in my gut began to tell me this would never be the church for me. The Pastor was young, flashy and hip and slowly I began to hear numerous sources reporting about the indiscretions of the Pastor and other Leaders in that ministry. I wasn't too surprised with this Pastor's actions though so I simply moved to another church.
The next Pastor's ministry I set under a while seemed the exact opposite of the church I just left. Yes, they had the same "Spiritual Father", however their personalities couldn't be further from each other. This church was more family oriented and seemed a bit less showy. The new pastor seemed very humble. He was easily approachable and made a point to remember everyone's name. The church was growing at a moderate rate but everything still felt personal and genuine.
Over time, this church continued to grow into one of the premiere churches in the city. At the same time, it appeared to me that the Pastor's ego had grown the size of the congregation. This Pastor would always ask for money and call out people's names and how much they gave while collecting for the building fund. However he claimed this practice was based on Bible so I didn't question it. Time after time, friends and family members would visit the church and they would immediately be turned off by these practices but I still remained a loyal member.
The Pastor's wife was a big time promoter in the city as well. One of their big money makers was the Tyler Perry plays. I remember they would always say "Membership has it's privileges", because we would be able to buy tickets from them supposedly at a slight discount with better seat selection. However, it wasn't until I found out that they made money off of making sure a certain amount of seats were sold that my alarms went off. During that time I was also exposed to the ministries of two people that have ultimately remolded how I view church and most of these crooked pastors: Pastor Tony Smith and Pastor G. Craig Lewis.

-Where there is smoke there is fire-
Youtube is an amazing vessel. It reminds me of the Matrix because you can literally see and learn just about anything on there. I don't remember what specifically brought me to Pastor Smith's videos but I remember thinking this guy was off of his rocker. He clips were amazingly funny and controversial however the more I would listen to him preach, the more I would get convicted and think he was right about alot of things. "Why don't these pastors preach about hell and sin? Why are these messages seemingly only about the money? Why isn't anyone teaching about living the Holy life?" Then one day, he made a comment about these pastors playing Jesus in the Easter plays and things of that nature. This hit home because I used to play JESUS for years in the local Passion of Christ play we did at the church. And for those years people in the church would refer to me as Jesus and alot of the younger kids actually believed I was Jesus!!! I know Hindsight is 20/20 but that is not cool, and something is wrong with that. The Bible tells us not to make graven images or create/worship images of His likeness. So I could immediately see the wisdom of this scripture come to life. Yes, I am a follower of Christ and I try to be a good dude but I have many flaws and I fall far short of His Majesty and grace. I was beginning to be torn apart.

-The Truth Behind Hiphop-
Pastor G. Craige Lewis' (Exministries) truth behind hip hop dvds were the knockout blow. As I watched these dvds I felt I had learned so much. So many questions I had began to make sense. Pastor Lewis talked about the influence music has on one's spirit, the illuminati, demons, the influence of the world on the church, why hip hop should not be let into the church, etc... In my spirit I knew, I had to give these dvds my Pastor. In my spirit, I felt God warn me that he wouldn't be very receptive to these dvds because alot of the stuff talked about came down my Pastor's street. However, I never would have thought that would have been the beginning of the end of my time under that ministry. As a Christian, I felt iron is supposed to sharpen iron however when I asked him what he thought about the dvds all he could say was that he didn't agree with somethings and that people always have something to say about stuff. And instead of engaging me in a direct conversation about the issues and discussing the topics atlength, he chose a New Years Eve service to make a comment in passing from the pulpit which I felt was directed at me. Later, the youth group came up to perform a "holy" hiphop song but NONE of the youth in the congregation were feeling it. They looked bored and just stared at the guys waiting for the performance to end. It was as if the Truth Behind Hip Hop message about keeping the hip hop out of the church had just been confirmed!
After I left that church, I began hearing that the majority of the old members including leadership had moved on as well. Many marriages are struggling and falling apart there but the main priority seemed aimed at buying property and increasing membership. I could go on and on about the problems at this church but it isn't necessary, I just can't help but wonder, did the Pastor change with the church's growth? Or was he always showing his hand and I was just too blind to see it?

-I guess I'll keep looking-
Either way, that was the last church I belonged too. As I have matured as a Christian, I simply can not go back to the same foolish I have come from under. Time and time again, we try new churches but if the Pastor and First Lady aren't singing beyonce' or begging for all of your money, they are preaching the same old season, harvest, blessing, check in the mail messages you see on the tv everyday. I look at a lot of these pastors as nothing more than MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS!
If you want to be a motivational speaker that is fine, but please, please, say that from the beginning. Personally, I want to be taught the Bible. Teach me something I don't know. Apply the word to current events. Break down the Book of Revelations. Talk about the Return of Christ. Challenge me to be a better father, a better person Don't call yourself a prophet if you are only saying "The money is coming." The Prophets from the Bible spoke warnings to the people.
Personally, I am tired of seeing these pastors manipulate their sheep. I am tired of the pimps in the pulpit. I am tired of the child molesting, sleeping with every woman and/or man in here, pastors and bishops. Yes, no man is perfect but there was a time when being a man of God was supposed to mean something. I guess until I can find what I need I'll continue to listen to the True Church Perspective by G. Craige Lewis. Atleast this brother is sincere, follows God, and I can truly say challenges me to do better. Now if I can only find that here...

Sorry to type so much, I guess this had been building up inside me for a while.
-Just my 2 Cents