I love bodybuilding. I love going to shows, I love helping people prepare for shows, I love the whole process. That said, the only bodybuilding DVD I have ever purchased was Pumping Iron, let’s be honest, it’s kind of a requirement to be a bodybuilder.
Today however, most bodybuilding DVD’s are pretty much crap. There is no ingenuity, lousy editing, little story, not much information, just straight B-roll footage of a guy lifting and eating with the occasional driving to the gym scene. Even the footage looks grainy often times. I often wonder if instead of hiring a camera man, they just strapped a camera on the back of their dog and had the dog follow them around throughout the day. Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh. The camera work probably at least requires the level of a highly trained chimpanzee.
Raising the Bar 3 immediately stood out as soon as I loaded it into my player. It actually had a decent menu that was easy to use. Put a check mark in that category. As soon as the DVD starts it is quite apparent that this is not going to be a normal bodybuilding DVD. It is a straight documentary about Dave Pulcinella’s last shot at winning a pro card, but it is well done with a great narration by Mike Pulcinella. I especially like the fact that each scene is introduced with a quote or a statement regarding what is going to follow. It piques the viewer’s interest.
Five minutes into the story I can tell you that Dave and I are almost complete opposites. I do not think you could have carved us out anymore differently. I am a big proponent of trying to make bodybuilding fun, enjoyable, and making it fit in balance with the rest of your life. I try to promote ‘moderation’ in that I may have a slice of pizza every now and then but I never eat the whole thing and I never beat myself up over it. Dave is the exact opposite. Dave is ALL OR NOTHING. He mentions after his last show he took months off from lifting and proper nutrition.
Dave is definitely an extreme personality, but this makes it entertaining to the viewer and particularly myself since Dave is so much different, it intrigued me and kept me wanting to learn more about him and how his all or nothing lifestyle.
The core of this movie is Dave’s pursuit of his pro card, and it is very compelling. Even though I found Dave to be very different from myself, I could not help but root for him and I even found myself getting nervous as they were announcing the placements at his show. I know what it’s like to want something with all your will and I know what it’s like to stand up onstage in an overall pose down with your eyes closed, mouth dry, and heart pounding so hard you can feel it through your chest waiting to find out whether or not you have achieved the ascension to the next level.
However I believe the underlying theme of this documentary is Dave’s struggle to find balance between bodybuilding and the other areas of his life. As he says, when he prepares for a show, all other areas of his life suffer. Without giving away too much of the movie, I will just say I found this struggle almost more compelling than his quest for a pro card, as I too went through a similar struggle finding balance between bodybuilding and my life. Once I found balance, it actually made bodybuilding far more enjoyable and I actually had better workouts and stuck to my diet more consistently. I find myself rooting for Dave even more so in this area than I was for him to win his pro card.
One thing this documentary captures better than any other bodybuilding DVD has ever done is capture the emotional and psychological battle every bodybuilder wages within their self. If it was just as simple as working hard in the gym and eating right, then competing would be far easier. Unfortunately mind games can play hell on you during prep. As Dave says in the DVD ‘one person just saying one wrong thing to you can throw you off.’
For people who have never done a show, you simply can’t possibly imagine how difficult those psychological and emotional battles are to win until you’ve actually done a show, but Raising the Bar 3 does a fantastic job of making you feel those emotions and the internal battle that is waged through Dave. If only they could have borrowed a line from Spiderman 3 perhaps they could have marketed part of the movie with the quote “The greatest battle lies within” as I found this to be another truly compelling part of RTB3.
If there is one thing Dave is, he is real. He never sugar coats it and he shoots it straight. He is the kind of person that a lot of people will love and a love of people will probably hate, but most everyone will respect. Whether you agree with his philosophy and how he does things, you can’t help but root for him, his emotion is just too raw and in your face to escape. His brother Mike does a fantastic job of capturing it all. If there was one critique on the film it would probably be that some of the footage was a bit grainy, but that might have been for effect.
Overall, it was a great watch and left me really curious about how Dave is doing and rooting for him as a competitor and as for someone struggling to find balance, like so many other bodybuilders. I hope to meet Dave one day and shake his hand.
Layne Norton
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Buy RTB1, 2 & 3 here...
http://mikepulcinella.com/dvdsforsale.htm
