Real People, Real Methods, Real Results...Part 1

All of you are probably pretty familiar with all of my beliefs in regards to training, eating and living. But i'm not sure how confident you may be in their ability to produce results. This is understandable because I've mainly used myself as an example. And for those of you who know me you know that I take things to the extremes. Well, i've now got an example other than myself to model some of my principles for optimal body comp. A client and friend of mine John came to my in July 2008 seeking out some advice to obtain optimal body composition by April 11th, 2009 (the day of the annual Kalamazoo Bodybuilding Championships here in SW Michigan).

John had played 5 years of college football so he was already in pretty good shape don't let me kid you. I'm not going to try to take credit for the most impressive transformation of all time but I'd like to show what it takes to go from an athletic look to completely shredded! If you're looking to get anywhere near 10% body fat (for guys) and 15% body fat (for women) then you might learn a thing or two from John.

We started in July of 2008 just making changes in his food selections (not portions, timing, or anything else). We made small changes at a time such as: meat and/or eggs for breakfast instead of cereal, water/almond milk instead of skim milk, fruits and veggies in place of refined sugars and starches, based every meal around an animal protein source, started to include fish oil and/or nuts with most every meal, etc. This led into the full on contest prep in the middle of December 2008. We got a little more specific on meals (selections, amounts, times, etc.).
We kept training real heavy in the gym on our main lifts. 6 reps and under with squats, front squats, dead lifts, push presses, bench presses, chin ups, etc... With the rest of our work being in either the 6-8 rep range or 8-10 for some accessory movements.
I didn't allow John to get on any piece of cardio equipment. He adhered to a regime of 2 moderate to high intensity cardio sessions outdoors per week for the first couple of months. This included all of the stuff you've seen in my videos (prowler, sled, sandbag, body weight drills). This progressed up to three prowler sessions per week and even a few 10-15 minute sled drag workouts on his own at his house several hours after lifting sessions.

I'll get into much greater details on each aspect of the transformation later, but this should get you thinking about the basics of attaining a better body composition.

Short summary of my recommendations:
-Eat real food (animal proteins, oils, nuts, vegetables, fruits, limit dairy, grains and sugar)
-Drink water and lots of it
-Lift weights, and use big compound lifts such as squats, dead lifts, over head presses, bench presses, dips, pull ups, dips
-Use short rest periods and still use
-Get off the treadmills and elipticals and get outside. Use prowlers, sled, kettlebells, kegs, tires, ropes, bands... These make for killer fat loss circuits and are lot funner and effective than walking on a treadmill!

John did very well for this being his first contest. He took 3rd place out of 11 competitors in the light heavy weight class. He was a drug free 198.6 pounds!

Take a look at the final product, I'll have some before pics in another post:









TO BE CONTINUED!...