Here’s your new interview with one of the winners from the 8th Adonis Index Transformation Contest.
Today John talks to Cristiam Reinoso who placed 9th in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.
Check out his transformation pictures:
Cristiam’s 12 week progress with Adonis Index.
After going through different program Cristiam has decided to try the Adonis Index and he followed the program exactly as it’s designed, which is what we always recommend for the best results.
Cristiam understood from his gymnastics background that even though he may not be able to do all the workout programs at the beginning, as he keeps progressing the level of intensity he can handle will increase, it’s all just a matter of conditioning.
He told us that he knew he had it in himself to place in the contest, but he just needed some sort of motivation to push harder, this is when the forum really became a motivating force. Despite the competition everyone was super supportive.
So he decided to stick with the workout plan. He had the energy and as his conditioning was slowly improving he started to add more intensity to his training.
You have to understand that Cristiam is a very active guy. He is basically doing sports or some sort of physical training from five to eleven every day. Apart from strength training his activities include things like MMA or volleyball.
Because of all the sport activity Cristiam was always within striking distance, but never really ripped before the contest. What he also lacked was any sense of direction. This is one of the biggest down falls of the traditional bodybuilding approach. Most guys never get the body they really want, and their goals get hijacked by stuff like “performance training”, marathons or whatever is adored in the media.
And that’s what happened to Cristiam. He wanted a great looking body, so he tried all the famous programs you see online or in TV, he tried gymnastics, MMA and climbing among other stuff.
He tried eating lots of protein and timing his meals, but as you could guess he never got close to the ideal body.
Let’s take a look at the diet approach that finally worked.
Don’t Eat Your Breakfast
Each morning Cristiam woke up, had his coffee, skipped breakfast and continued fasting. He had a small meal in the afternoon and then something bigger for the dinner in the evening. He fasted for 16-18 hours daily.
FYI this is something that works for most people because it’s simple. Fasting creates an eating window, so you can focus on different things other than cooking and eating. You know you are not eating right at that moment, so you can think of something else and be more productive with your time.
And since you won’t be eating, you won’t get tired and sleepy, but in fact you’ll like feel more energetic instead. (might take a couple of fasts till you adjust and actually have more energy when fasted)
Another thing is that we have less “will power” towards the end of the day, we are more tired and usually have some sort of social interaction in the evening so it seem logical to eat at this time of the day rather than have a big breakfast and feel sleepy for the whole day like most people do.
Most people eat a big breakfast, spend the whole morning thinking about what they will eat for lunch, then clean the dishes, take a nap and suddenly it’s late afternoon and nothing got done. And when they actually go out with friends in the evening they play the whole “oh I can’t eat that, I’m dieting” game.
No surprise that the conventional eating pattern leads to a lot of frustration.
Just skip a couple meals each day and you will be surprised by how many things you can get done and how amazing you will feel.
Be Aware of Were the Water Deplete technique comes from
Water depletion is a technique borrowed (as most of the advice you hear from fitness media) from bodybuilders. So what you have to realize is that if you try these techniques they might get you just 10-20% of their results at best (if any).
There is a big difference in carb loading done when using the synthetic drug insulin and carb loading without insulin…just as there is a difference between water deplete done with diuretics and without diuretics.
So don’t expect the same results that you see in magazines. However, that doesn’t mean carb loading or water depletion might not help to get the best pictures. The best thing is to test it out and decide whether it’s worth the effort in the future or not.
FYI – for those techniques to work you will mostly likely have to be close to or under 10% bodyfat.
And if your look is naturally ‘dry’ and you don’t carry a lot of water then it might be something you don’t even have to do, as it would likely make almost no difference in your final look.
Tips from Cristiam:
- Regulate your calorie intake
- Fasting is an eating window, use it
- You don’t have to fast for 24 hours, you can fast for 16-18 hours and do that pretty much every day (drink coffee and water during the day and introduce food in the afternoon)
- Listen to your body and scale things up slowly
- Trying to make it happen faster might result in rebound, you need to be able to hold it, be content with slower progress
- It’s a lifestyle and about moving forward and not about getting overnight results
- If you hate running you can find other activities for “cardio”
- Detach yourself from food – the less you eat, the less you want to eat
- If you get injured back off, rehab and recover, don’t push through pain
Links from the interview:
- Main Adonis Index Workout
- Advanced Adonis Triple Stack Workout
- Eat Stop Eat
- If you want to get in touch with Cristiam, talk to him about his approach and get more tips, here’s his profile in our community
Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
About Allen Elliott