Here’s your new interview with one of the winners from the 8th Adonis Index Transformation Contest.

Today John talks to Rodrigo Caceres who placed 3rd in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Rodrigo’s 12 week progress with Adonis Index.

Rodrigo wanted to place in the top 10 and he did, he placed third, let’s look at his story and what he did that brought him this results.

Until recently Rodrigo wasn’t doing any sort of training. He was stuck in the rut of  gaining weight after getting married. .

One day he decided to get back in shape. So he got a routine from a  personal trainer and started going to the gym. He got a bit leaner, but also got annoyed and bored with his routine, so when he stopped training he fell back into the rut of weight  gain.

He once again got back on  track by attending some spinning clases  combined with a “whole foods” diet.

But as he got leaner, he had no muscle mass and started to receive comments that he was “too skinny.”

In response to these comments he decided to join the bodybuilding community and adopted the usual approach – eat more, eat every 3 hours.

The result? Fat Gain yet once again.

Over the years this became a never ending cycle of weight loss and weight gain.

Rodrigo truly believed that if he leaned out he would have more muscle.

So in an act of desperation, he went online to find a way to lean out and that was when he stumbled upon Eat Stop Eat, which lead him to Adonis Index.

At first he didn’t want to accept the ideology, but listening to the podcasts and the grand opening of  a new gym near his home convinced him to get started.

Before we get into his transformation, there is something you need to know about Rodrigo, let’s consider his educational background.

Rodrigo studied philosophy, so his perspective is a bit different than most. He was used to self-analysis and introspection and was always consciously aware of his feeling at any giving moment. Posessing this knowledge he expected to have very little  trouble with the mechanics and assumed that the mental part of the transformation would  be fairly simple.

However, quite the opposite happened.

Truth is that the mental part of any transformation is tough, no matter what your experience  or expertise is. Even though some people have it easier, everyone will have to overcome inner challenges that’s why we call it a transformation, because at the end of it, you are a different person, both physically and mentally.

Rodrigo was very motivated, but like everyone he had moments when he felt a bit depressed.

He told us that this was actually one of the hardest mental challenges he’d ever went through.

It all seems superficial, but it’s really not and even despite the fact that the contest is only for 3 months it’s still very challenging. It’s just not what people expect  it will be, you have emotional ups and downs, and the process is far from straightforward.

It will definitely push you out of your comfort zone and force you to break old habits.

We always say that it’s simple but not easy, however this doesn’t mean it’s not doable.  A successful transformation is indeed possible and as you can see here, lots of people have gone before you. It’s important to realize that the promises you see on TV are false, it’s what the marketers wants you to believe to be true.  Nothing worth  pursuing in life is ever easy.

Can You Drink Alcohol and Cut?

As you have read previously from the Naughty Guide post, you can have alcohol and still get ripped, the key is moderation, as with anything.

Rodrigo decided that he won’t give up alcohol and that’s something he wants to enjoy even during the contest prep and he did. You can too if you want, it’s up to you whether you want to enjoy your calories in meal or drink.

What Rodrigo realized was that with drinking comes a lot of eating, so he limited himself  to only a couple of glasses and refrained from eating. This allowed him to stay within his weekly calorie budget and continue  to lose fat.

If you keep your eyes on your calories, no diet is impossible for fat loss.

Summary Rodrigo’s advice:

• Stick to the workouts, they work and are fun to do
• Always think of your form first to stay injury free
• Treat your workouts like a meditation, you should relax your mind and stay fully focused on the training
• Be strict with the rest periods (use stop watch) – Timing is important, people fail to get results when they don’t follow the workout plan exactly
• Don’t worry about your bodyweight or how much you are lifting
• Listen to all the podcasts and interviews
• You don’t have to do cardio if you hate it, diet is what matters for fat loss
• Get involved in the AI community, use the support there and help others
• Expect to have bad days
• Don’t be afraid to experiment
• Be aware that the process isn’t nearly as glamorous as the end result

Links from the interview:

Read Rodrigo’s experience with Adonis Index in his own words:

In one of my first blog posts, I wrote: “I’m thinking of entering AT8. This way I know I’ll just get there, get to where I’ve never been before, travel the road I’ve travelled so many times, but getting to the end this time.” I never expected what was coming.

This is the first time I stuck with a program…Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

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Here’s your new interview with one of the winners from the 8th Adonis Index Transformation Contest.

Today John talks to Justin Dyke who placed 6th in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Justin’s 12 week progress with Adonis Index.

Justin was accustomed to building  his own workout routines; he simply applied the information he read from magazines and online articles.

It wasn’t until he began college that the concepts of diet and exercise truly peaked his interest.

He realized there might be more to to health and fitness than just weight lifting.  Justin even considered the possible advantages of controlling his  food intake.

Rather than focusing on calories, he decided to follow the “healthy eating”  approach.  However, when he began to monitor his calorie intake, he finally saw a difference in the mirror.

What’s interesting is that even though he got some results, he continued to  look for new ways to improve his diet.  He became more and more obsessed with diet and controlling what he consumed.

His obsession reached new levels when he added the  bulking regimen in addition to his healthy diet.

He ate lots of food to gain weight. He was successful in this approach; the only issue was that it was gain of fat and not muscle.

Instead of  moving forward he was actually heading in the opposite direction (the worst feeling ever).

He felt powerful in the gym, but still didn’t have the look he wanted.

Justin was neither fat nor skinny, he maintained normal weight and BF%, but this bulking method ballooned his weight up to over 200 pounds.

The tide began to turn in his favor when a friend of his introduced him to the Adonis Index. Oddly enough, that was a couple years ago and Justin just didn’t believe the program would work for him, so he simply put it off.

It wasn’t until after listening to dozens of AI interviews and podcasts  that he finally decided to give it a shot. He asked himself “What do I have to lose by trying the workouts for 3 months and entering the contest?” when he realized that he could only gain from the experience, he decided to committ to the contest.

He stayed focused by keeping his goals in mind  and used the contest deadline as motivation to get the job done.

How to Slowly Condition Yourself to Eat Less

In a short amount of time Justin went from eating six times a day like a pro bodybuilder to eating just once a day by following Eat Stop Eat‘s intermittent fasting protocol.

So how exactly did Justin do this?

Well, he didn’t do it overnight, he took the slow approach.

During the first couple of weeks he transitioned from eating 6 times a day to eating just 3 times a day.

After he was comfortable with this pattern, he slowly began to skip the other two meals and tried fasting for 24 hours.

As soon as he realized that he is not going to die of starvation, he decided to incorporate fasting into his regular lifestyle.

It’s really just about mentally letting go and then physically conditioning your body to follow these new patterns.

For Justin, it was a tough mental game though. At first he had to let go of the emotional attachment he had to the bodybuilding diet and then start skipping the meals.

Summary of Justin’s Best Tips:

• Keep it simple at all times
• Focus on workout consistency
• Have faith in the process and it will work out for you
• Ignore other outside forces – You will be tempted to change things, so don’t, stick to this one thing and give it an honest try

Links from the interview:

• Main Adonis Index Workout
• Specializations AKA Boosters
• Eat Stop Eat
• If you want to get in touch with Justin, talk to him about his approach and get more tips, here’s his profile in our community

Read Justin’s experience with Adonis Index in his own words:

I have been working out since high school and never really started taking it serious until my junior year of college when I started concentrating hard on the nutrition side. At this point I didn’t have a ton of nutrition information and I was able to lose a decent amount of fat and get in pretty good shape. From that point I thought I had to change everything in order to gain muscle. I ended up gaining close to 25 pounds …Continue reading here 

Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

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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.

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

Subscribe: Android | RSS