There are volumes and libraries of information in our minds and we are continually weighing information. We hear new things, we compare it with things we've heard before, and we take from it what we feel is pertinent and throw away what we feel isn't necessary.

Get out, realize your dream, and go for it

I'm very hungry and there's still a lot to do. Rather than look at what I've conquered already and say "yeah, that was the greatest so far," right now I just stay hungry and keep moving forward.

My understanding about nutrition is not what I'd like it to be, so for a long time my dieting strategy was very crude. It's only very recently that I started to accept different ideas like using vegetables and natural seasonings that don't compromise the sodium and caloric value of the food while at the same time giving it some flavor. I'm still evolving; everybody is or at least should be in bodybuilding.

I'd like to get to a point where I am not considered natural by myself. When I say that I mean that I don't want to fit within the guidelines of what other people feel it is to be natural. If people feel that natural bodybuilders usually are the ones who lack legs or have poor body parts or don't train very hard or aren't very strong or aren't very intense, if that's your perception of what a natural bodybuilder is, then that's not what I want to be.

I think your posing and your onstage presentation is yet another piece of the craft. So anytime you get onstage to show the muscles and show the finished work, that should be looked at with the same kind of respect and appreciation. I'm glad everybody else appreciates it, but I still want to get better.

It’s a very interesting thing to try to be your absolute best—not a percent better or a percent worse than that.