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The Trip of a Lifetime!Matt Dunn Wins our MORPH Contest and Travels to Venice Beach to Train with Mike Ryan and Stephen Adele at the Mecca of BodybuildingGold's GymCompliments of iSatoriBy Matt Dunn, Winner of iSatori's Morph Contest
A few months ago, we shared how you could win an all-expenses-paid vacation to Venice Beach to train with iSatori Spokesperson Mike Ryan and CEO Stephen Adele just for giving their breakthrough Time-Activated Muscle Builder, MORPH, a try. Here, Matt Dunn, the winner of the contest, shares his experience, in his own words. And iSatori opens up another roundso, who knows? You could be next! ![]() Matt learns a little bit about intensity from Mike Ryan. Ok, I made it back from California and wanted to share the details of my Morph trip with you guys. First off, I'd like to just say it was an awesome trip, and we had a fantastic time! My wife and I weren't exactly sure what to expect, but it definitely exceeded our expectations! In my opinion, these are the type of things that separate iSatori from other companies...and not just supplement companies. Customer appreciation and the personal outreach are things they don't HAVE to do, but they choose to because they want to...and it means a lot to me and to a lot of you I assume. So my wife Leigh and I drove over to the airport last Thursday for our 5:50 p.m. flight to LAX, and as soon as we walked in, our flight was delayed until 8:45 p.m.hate that! All the weather in the northeast had all of the flight crew schedules messed up, so that caused the delay. Shortly after that, they delayed it until 9:30 p.m.! It's not even 5pm yet, so we have a 4+ hour delay...not fun! ![]() Venice Boardwalk, a big tourist attraction in and of itself. Leigh and I both used to travel extensively for work, so we knew there was only one thing to do...hand over a little extra $$ and go wait out the delay in Continental's President's Club. While I would have still rather been on a plane heading to LA, at least we had a "comfortable" delay. Unfortunately, we didn't get in until almost midnight and missed dinner that night with Stephen Adele, the CEO of iSatori, and Mike Ryan. The hotel we stayed at is in Santa Monica, and it was great...right on the beach!! Alarm went off pretty early, but I met Stephen down in the lobby of the hotel at about 7:00 a.m. The hotel actually has a really nice fitness center, so we did some cardio on the bikes for about 45 minutes. It's funny because I had never met Stephen before, but I've been using his products, reading his magazines and books, and participating on the board for so many years that I felt like I already knew him in a way. We ended up talking the entire time about the company, the business, the industry, and a host of other things. I really enjoyed learning some of the history behind the company and the products. I even got the skinny on Eat-Smart, and he let me try a new supplement they are about to roll out. I won't say anything until they do, but the new supplement isn't even for adults...it's for kids, and it's cool!!! Later that morning, Leigh and I met Stephen and Shawn (head of Operations at iSatori) for some breakfast. While we waited for them in the lobby, I saw the coach of the San Antonio Spurs walk by...which was cool for me because I'm a huge basketball fan. After him, we saw each player come down one at a time to check out of the hotel...Tim Duncan, Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, etc... Of course my wife was hoping to see Tony Parker and Eva Longoria, but they must have stayed elsewhere. ![]() Venice Muscle Beach, an outdoor gym Anyway, breakfast was good, and we headed out to the beach to walk down Santa Monica/Venice Beach. The weather out there was so nice...clear and 60's. We walked all the way down to the Venice Boardwalk, which is a big tourist attraction in and of itself...real eclectic stuff for sale, and some very interesting people to say the least. Along the way is the Venice Muscle Beach, an outdoor gym...which Stephen says is pretty popular during the summer time and weekends. So we decide to head back up to the street and take a cab back, and as we're walking down a residential alley, we heard someone yell, "Hey!" We look over, and it's Mike Ryan sitting in his house. Pure chance that we walked down his street and he saw us walking by. So we hung out there for a bit before he had to leave for a training session. We grabbed some smoothies and got ready for my workout with Mike at 1:00 p.m. ![]() Mike Ryan joins in on the fun. We head over to the Mecca, Gold's Gym Venice, at 1:00 p.m. to train with Mike, and do the photo shoot. First of all, Gold's is MASSIVE! It has equipment everywhere!! Nothing too fancyjust weights and machines filling up every space. True bodybuilding going on there! We saw some pro bodybuilders, a few minor celebrities, and just a lot of others working out. Mike, Stephen, and I trained for about an hour or so, and they snapped photos throughout. It was a great learning experience training with those guys! What I liked about Mike is he keeps it to the basics but trains extremely hard. He pushed me for sure! We did this one exercise that I'll just call the "death rope." You sit down on a seat and just reach up for this rope, hand over hand, pulling down as hard as you can. You set the rope to a certain resistance, then do it for a minute...the longest minute in the gym for sure!! I'm telling you, it will work every part of your arms, your back, and will test your cardio/muscular endurance. We each did two sets of one minute. When you get done, it shows how high you climbed, and I have to brag, I clipped Stephen by a few feet!!! ![]() Matt experiences real pain on the "death rope." After that, we did some curls, pull-ups, shoulder presses, triceps pull downs, hanging ab exercises, and a couple more. Leigh even got in on the action and got some sets of abs in...and got photographed! All in all, great workout. I had a blast! I'd love to be able to train with Mike for a few months and see what I could do. After Gold's, Stephen, Shawn, Leigh, and I did some shopping on Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade...which is a very nice outdoor mall. There are a lot of street acts and musicians performing up and down the street, so it's a cool atmosphere. About 8:00 p.m. we met up with Mike again, and his buddy Chris... a hometown friend who is a sportscaster back in Boston. We went to eat at The Ivy in Santa Monica. As soon as we walked in, the first person we saw right in front of us was Bill Murray. He makes me laugh just looking at him! Caddyshack is still one my favorite movies of all-time, which we all know he is classic in! He was talking with someone who acts on ER...a red-head guy, not sure of his name, though. Anyway, we have a fantastic meal and had some hilarious conversation...most of which can't be repeated :-) It was honestly like hanging out with a bunch of buddies on a Friday...really laid back and easy guys to get along with. After dinner, Mike took us over to an outdoor bar called Hidden, where we all had some drinks and hung out until about 1:00 a.m. Very cool bar, good atmosphere. Only celeb there was a guy from CSI Miami...I think his character name on the show is Eric. ![]() At The Hidden, a very cool bar with a good atmosphere. We got up the next morning and rode to the airport with Stephen and Shawn, and then flew home. All in all, it was a great trip! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned a lot from Stephen and Mike! I'm lucky to have won the trip and tried to take full advantage of it! A Special Offer on Morph for Real Solutions Readers:Sounds like a pretty good time, don't you think? Interested in earning your chance for this kind of experience of a lifetime? Well, for a limited time, for each bottle of Morph you purchase, you'll be entered to win the next all-expenses-paid trip to Venice, California, to train and work out in the bodybuilding Mecca, Gold's Gym, with none other than Mike Ryan and Stephen Adele. Is that cool or what?! To order Morph right now, and enter to win your free trip, Click Here. And as a special incentive just for Real Solutions readers, I'd like to offer a $10 Instant Rebate off the normal price. Just use coupon code CBM10 in the checkout process of iSatori's online cart or call one of iSatori's certified fitness advisors toll-free at 1-866-688-7679 (press option 3).
Fill out the no-obligation form below to TAKE your free issue of the printed version of Real SOLUTIONS Magazine now! Still not sure? Click here to listen to a special audio welcome from our editor, Stephen Adele. |
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