personal-fitness-training

A few years ago, I had almost come to the conclusion that because of my body type I would never develop a really lean aesthetic physique again. I felt like I was eating pretty clean most of the time, but I just wasn’t the same bodybuilder I used to be.  After all, even if you put a Grizzly Bear on a diet it still remains a Grizzly Bear!  At the time this didn’t upset me because I had grown to accept it. All my life I’ve been what could be called “muscular-husky” — well built, but always fighting off the chub. I come from a family where adiposity is rampant. Even when I was competing a lot, I was never the leanest on stage.  Most muscular?  Absolutely.  And combined with the amount of leanness I was able to achieve, I had quite a great career of competing. But I was definitely never the leanest and I pretty much accepted the fact I would never be.

Over the last 3 or 4 years, I reasoned that if I couldn’t get lean, I’d at least get big and strong. I attained a reasonable amount of strength and put a lot of muscle on my body. Last winter I was in my “biggest” shape, going up to 236 pounds at 5′6″. I had a lot of muscle, but zero definition. 

That was a little big for me, I have to say.  So last summer, I started to trim it down.  And despite my efforts, I had mild success.  I got down to around 217 and I was feeling pretty good again.  I was bigger than before and had attained some leanness back.  I was able to fit into clothes again that I hadn’t been able to fit into in years. But if I was impressing anyone with anything, it was my muscularity and not my shreddedness.  Having accepted that I could never really be lean again, I pretty much went back to gaining some weight back - shooting back up to around 225 pounds.

Then last November something happened that basically gave me a good kick in the nuggets. First, I started dating someone just a couple of months earlier who competes in figure competitions (I am sure some of you feel like I have talked about this ad nauseam, but what can I say - she has had a huge,positive impact on my life and I love her!), and she was very clear that she would like me to diet with her when she started.  Then, one night while hugging her she made mention of my “Buddha belly!”  WHAT!?!?  Are you freakin’ kidding me!?!?  At the time I was around 225 pounds and felt that I was in pretty good shape. I truly believed that I was actually a little defined. Let’s just say that her comment proved me wrong. I probably looked more like the King of Queen’s little brother! This was a little much for me to handle so I immediately asked one of my colleagues to measure my body-fat percentage. It was a whopping 18%! I’d believed that it was only around 12-13%! (Amazing how many fat guys believe that, isn’t it? )
 

After my wake-up call, I said to myself, “James, you’re in the public eye in a fitness profession. How can you expect to convince people to train your way if you look like the Michelin Man?” Clients who worked with me respected me because they saw I was big and muscular (I still looked okay…I tend to be very hard on myself in hindsight), they knew my background, they have seen many pictures of my competitive days, they saw me lift big weights and the training I had them on was producing results. However, those who don’t have access to any of this knowledge would be a hard sell. Face it, image is at least half the work in this business! 

So I came to the following conclusion: My job is to not only know what I’m talking about, but to look like I know what I’m talking about! From then on I took a workman-like approach and embarked (and continue to embark) on a journey of body recomposition. I am going through three different phases in my quest for a better body (throughout this blog I have either given or will give you the precise diet and training programs I am utilizing). 

Phase 1: From Fat Bastard to Not-So-Fat Bastard

The first phase of my body transformation had me only consuming carbs at breakfast and post-workout.   Basically, I consumed almost nothing else but lean-protein sources, vegetables, and low-carb protein shakes with some healthy fats like nuts.  AND NO CHEAT DAYS!  After fourteen days, I then switched to a regular cycle carb diet with a rotation of 1 high carb day, 1 medium carb day, and 2 low carb days. This whole phase lasted for something like four weeks (all of January).
 

I did start to lose weight rather quickly and with the fat drop, I was appearing more muscular.

Phase 2: Finally, My Abs Are Back! 

In February,  I started to feel like there was a better way to incorporate cycling my carbs to correspond with my girlfriend’s one cheat meal a week.  I started going high carb on Monday, medium carb on Tuesday and Wednesday, and low carb Thursday and Friday.  Saturday starts out medium carb and our cheat meal is usually Saturday night.  Sunday is either low or medium carb depending on how we ate the night before and how I am feeling.  I still lost quite a bit of fat. After four weeks I was down to 198 pounds. 

I was able to go down to 9% body fat and for the first time in a very long time I can clearly see my abs! Even my serratus, intercostals, and obliques are starting to come in quite nicely.  This was great as I thought days of a ripped midsection were over for me. 

But even if I just continue the way I am going, I will eventually stop losing fat. This is understandable; 9% body fat at nearly 200 pounds is far above what the body is used to accepting, at least in my case. 

Phase 3: Peaking

At 9% body fat I am pretty happy with myself. I feel that this is an acceptable physique for a training authority, but part of me just isn’t satisfied! My plan is to go all the way! 

I designed a “pre-contest” routine for myself. The plan is going to start on March 16th and last for 12 weeks.  It is here that I will start to increase my energy expenditure through my weight training and added cardio (that’s right, I have lost 25 pounds without doing any cardio, yet).  There are three phases to it, but the last week will be very intricate.  I will post everything that I am doing in detail as I enter each phase. 

I told my girlfriend, my plan is to be at her show and have people ask (or at least think) “why isn’t that guy on stage!”  I plan to get down to or below 6% (which a year ago I never dreamed of achieving again - I would have been ecstatic with 10%). 

Obviously, my situation is favorable to a complete body transformation:

• I had the motivation to go all the way. I saw it as part of my job.
   
• I had the time. Being my own boss gives me a very flexible schedule.
   
• I had the resources. Training-wise I had access to myself (I know a thing or two about training).
   
• Last, but certainly not least, I had the added motivation, inspiration, and support system of my girl, Jackie. 

So, you could do exactly what I did without getting the same results. However, at each phase I did some things right (and some things wrong) and the breakdown of what I did might give you a few ideas. Let’s take a look at the Good and Bad of body transformaitons. 

The Good 

This is probably nothing groundbreaking, but it provides a solid foundation for optimal fat loss. Here’s what you should have learned by now: 

1) Consuming excess carbs makes it almost impossible to get very lean unless you’re some kind of genetic freak. I find that whenever I go above 200 grams of carbs per day (even if they were in the form of low-glycemic/low-insulin carbs), my progress stops. 

2) Consuming carbs and fats at the same meal (or less than two hours apart) is the fastest way to add a nice adipose layer to your body. In all three of my transformation phases I avoid(ed) fat/carb combos.  In all my phases,  I either consume protein/carbs (P + C) or protein/fat (P + F) meals. 

3) For most people, aerobic work is required to get extra lean. Although I have been able to drop 25 pounds without it and achieve a desirable degree of leanness, to get extremely lean most individuals will need to run or do other forms of conditioning work. 

Personally, I will rely on a combination of slow-pace cardio sessions with an occasional interval run. Come March 16th I will be doing five aerobic sessions per week - 30 minutes after each weight training session and 45 minutes on Saturday.  I will work my way up to 40 minutes after each weight training session and 45-60 minutes on Saturday. 

4) When I consume less carbs while still consuming enough to have sufficient fuel reserves (125 to 175 grams per day for me), I have more energy in training and feel less drowsy during the day. When I drop too low (0 to 100 grams per day), I have some trouble focusing and lacked energy. When I go too high (200 grams plus per day), I get tired and lethargic. Your tolerance levels may be different, but this is what works for me. 

5) High-intensity strength exercises (in the 80-100% range) are better than low intensity strength exercises (in the 50-70% range) while dieting. The higher training load helps you preserve strength and muscle while on a hypocaloric diet much better than super-high volume/low intensity workouts. 

We’ve been brainwashed by the various muscle magazines to believe that you should do high rep training for definition. This is absolutely ridiculous! Sure you use a little more energy, but think about it: the higher the training volume, the more energy you need to recover. The more glycogen you burn while strength training, the more carbs you’ll need to recover and progress. When on a hypocaloric diet your body has a lowered anabolic drive, meaning that it can’t synthesize as much protein into muscle. A super-high volume of work leads to a lot of microtrauma to the muscle structures; a lot of microtrauma requires a great protein synthesis increase. 

So if you use high-volume/low-intensity training while dieting you’ll breakdown more muscle and build up less. Not exactly good news! Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of high-rep training is an increase in blood and nutrient flow to the muscles, but if you have a reduced amount of nutrients available in your body, this benefit is pretty much wasted. 

6) Meal Replacement Powders, Protein Powders, sugar-free low-calorie condiments, and spices, are a dieter’s best friends! 

The Bad 

Now I’ll discuss some common things that I would do differently. This may help you avoid the same mistakes other’s have made. I do believe that you can achieve my results just as fast (or even faster) if you avoid these mistakes.

1) You do need some carbs to grow and progress. While you will lose a lot of fat on a ketogenic (no carbs) diet, it will probably slow down your progress and greatly diminish the amount of muscle you can gain. Now, I do know many people who make great gains and progress on no-carb diets.  But losing fat AND retaining/gaining muscle is rare in this case. 

2) There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I could probably achieve great progress from only two to three aerobic sessions per week.  And it is possible that when I push it to four or five I actually could regress physique-wise. I will try to prevent this by doing less high-intensity interval training than I have in my past competitive days and I will monitor my progress closely.  An athlete on a normal diet could probably handle it without too many problems, but while dieting it may be a bit too much for me. If I start to lose strength and/or size and not more fat, I will tone it back to two to three hard energy-system sessions per week (and perhaps one slow-pace cardio session on top of that).  Just like weight training, more cardio is not always better…especially while dieting. 

3) Don’t walk away from the heavy compound lifts while dieting. Research has shown compound movements (including the Olympic lifts) lead to the greatest energy expenditure per minute of execution. If you are going to start a transformation plan again I’d recommend you definitely keep using some form of heavy compound lifting in your program. 

4) I found that all of my clients that have had the best progress use a nutrition journal or food log. We can then track calories, proteins, carbs and fats. When they stop using the journal I found that they were more prone to cheat and indulge in a cheat meal. I find that having to write down what you eat forces you to think about if you really want it. 

Final Thoughts 

I’d like to say that my body transformation has brought me nothing but positives. I am soaking in compliments from my clients and colleagues; I can sense a new found (or regained) sense of respect from people; I’m now much healthier and have more energy; I get a lot more attention from people (and if you are someone craving some form the opposite sex, or whatever you’re into - - this may be a thing for you!) and my lifting has actually improved! 

A drug-free transformation such as mine is within your reach, too. I always believed (and still believe) that I have some mediocre genetics, at least when it comes to getting lean. My whole family has a history of weight problems and I wasn’t spared. So if I can get lean, there’s no reason why you can’t! 

Furthermore, with Mitotropin now available it will make your task that much easier! I started using it at the start of my physical transformation plan when it became available and, despite not counting calories and doing no aerobic work, I actually got leaner!! 

I have also fallen victim to Drug-Free Bodybuilding regulations. My original though was I might jump onstage at the same show my girlfriend is competing in.  After looking into their list of supplements they don’t allow use of, Gaspari Nutrition’s Novadex and Haladrol were on there.  On top of that, they want no use of them for 2 years.  Being that I don’t break rules and I tried both of these supplements when they first came out, I can’t compete.  But looking down the road, I may want to.  So even though they were a part of my original arsenal plan for my supplement stack, I am not and will not take them.  There’s no doubt in my mind that my progress would have be much faster and I would gain much more muscle size if those products were an option for me to use. 

If you decide to embark on this physical transformation journey understand that it will not be easy. There’ll be a lot obstacles and setbacks. The real key to a successful body-transformation program isn’t the training you do, the supplements you take, or even the food you eat — it starts and ends with dedication and tenacity! If you have that, plus a solid training program and a good diet, there’s no way you can fail! 

For some it’ll take longer than me to achieve good results; for others it’ll take much less time. But if you keep at it you’ll get results. Hopefully you’ll be able to learn from my mistakes and successes and will build that dream body of yours! 

Fast Forward: A Fore-Shadowing  

So what does the future hold for me? Well, I’m considering retiring as a strength coach/ personal trainer and starting a career as a porn star or a WWE wrestler (as if I had the height!) Nah, I’m kidding, I could never leave what I consider a passion more than a job. However, this transformation revived my interest in bodybuilding competitions. I feel confident that I may compete in a future Team Universe contest. And considering that I will be bigger and leaner than ever before, this could prove to be very interesting! 

If you can take only one thing from my post, it should be that dedication and mental toughness are the real keys to body transformation. I’m being honest when I say that there are times where you may seriously doubt your own sanity! But in the end, all the effort and all the pain is more than worth it. To be frank, never have I been so impatient for summer to show up!

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