Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Sage Advice

Hard Gainer U-Turns Onto Golden Way Drive: Interview with AT12 Winner Chad Frakes

February 24, 2014 by

Here’s your new interview with one of the winners from the 12th Adonis Golden Ratio Transformation Contest.

Today John talks to Chad Frakes,  who placed  1st in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Chad has been following the program since about April 2013.  He  competed in both contests AT11 & AT12.  He’s a great example of someone who may need to complete two transformation contests in order to achieve their “Golden” measurements.

Chad shares with us  his “Adonis Origins” images prior to the start of contest AT11.  See below:

Adonis Origins: Chad Frakes Beginning of Contest AT11

Adonis Origins: Chad Frakes Beginning of Contest AT11

Adonis Origins: Chad Frakes End of Contest AT11

Adonis Origins: Chad Frakes End of Contest AT11

 

“I have spent most of my life as a hard gainer, eating whatever I wanted. I was always motivated to train in order to put on size. But when it came to cutting the fat, I was clueless. I am truly blown away when I reflect back to the shape I was in prior to starting Adonis Golden Ratio Systems. “

– Chad Frakes, AT12 Contest Winner

 

Scroll down to read more of  Chad’s transformation journey in his own words.

But first, check out Chad’s  AT12 Pictures:

Chad Frakes - AT12 1st Place - Front Before/After Photos

Chad Frakes – AT12 1st Place – Front Before/After Photos

 

Chad Frakes - AT 12 Transformation Image

Chad Frakes – AT 12 Transformation Image

 

i00nd3kcu6

Chad Frakes – AT 12 Transformation Image

 

Chad Frakes - AT12 1st Place - Side Before/After Photos

Chad Frakes – AT12 1st Place – Side Before/After Photos

 

 

Chad’s Transformation Essay:

I joined Adonis Golden Ratio in April 2013, and quickly put the AGR workouts to the test. Right away I felt great with having a laid out plan to follow, I have been working out for about 14 years. Having a detailed exercise program to follow was something new to me, I have always just done what ever exercise or muscle group I felt like doing that day, with no real plan. For the most part, I would do chest/tris, back/bis, legs/shoulders. Doing this type of routine would give me results, but never gave me a total body plan that was goal objective.

When I first started the program, Dieting was something I did not understand; I have been a hard gainer for most of my life, I was use to eating whatever and however much I wanted. Since I have gotten older and life less active that has changed for me. Once I started to gain fat I really didn’t know how to get rid of it, I just kept doing what I have done for years.

The past 12 weeks have been a great experience. There were some difficult times along the way, it is my experience that when I started AGR and only eating 1000 calories, this was easier for me then when I got leaner and was eating 2000 calories, it seems the leaner I got the more hunger there was. I encountered some resistance from friends and even my own girlfriend as I was getting leaner, they kept telling me I was getting too skinny, but I ignored them and kept on the path to  achieving the Golden ratio. I think most people are not use to seeing other people as lean as they should be really, but the stares I get in the gym told me I’m on track!

I kept things simple throughout my transformation, just followed RTD: Reverse Taper Diet, ate what I wanted within my calorie deficit, that’s it.

Thank you AGR systems, my new body has been achieved from the results of this program!

-Chad Frakes

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Chad,

Congratulations on making a successful transformation.  You stayed the course through BOTH AT11 & AT12 never losing sight of your goal.  I really enjoyed listening to your interview and the mindset you had to push pass barriers to get the results you were working for.  Your hard work has paid off and we look forward to featuring you as a “cover model” on some our upcoming workout programs.   Your “U-Turn” onto the Golden Way has been a tremendous success! Keep up the great work and we expect to see and hear more from you along your fitness journey.

your brother in Iron,

Allen Elliott | Adonis Golden Ratio Ambassador

 

Chad’s Transformation Interview:

To listen to Chad’s transformation podcast interview click below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: body image, Contest, Sage Advice, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Traditional Bodybuilding Approach vs. Reverse Taper Dieting

February 20, 2014 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Traditional Bodybuilding Approach vs. Reverse Taper Dieting

Whether you Forward Taper or Reverse Taper to achieve your final look. Rest assured there's some hard work and effort involved.

Whether you Forward Taper or Reverse Taper to achieve your final look. Rest assured there’s some disciplinek and effort involved. Are you working SMARTER or HARDER?

Today’s podcast with John Barban and Brad Pilon compares the two dieting styles of traditional bodybuilding’s  “Forward Tapering” to the Adonis approach of “Reverse tapering.”  The key discussion points of the podcast were provided via a research paper studying natural bodybuilders preparing for an upcoming competition. Other items of interest that were measured caloric intake, exercise time, body fat levels, hormonal levels, etc.

The data from the research paper on the bodybuilders was fairly comparable to the data submitted by our prior Adonis Transformation Winners.

 

Traditional Bodybuilding Approach

“Forward Tapering”  is when you begin dieting at a HIGHER calorie level and continually DECREASE your calorie intake as you get leaner.

This is the traditional bodybuilding approach to preparing for competitions.  Most contest prep plans span between 12-20 weeks.  The goal is for the bodybuilder or competitor to “peak” or look their very best on the day of the show.  There are several tricks a person can perform to hit their “peak” or final look.  It normally begins with drastically cutting calories and increasing their cardio to resulting in depleted glycogen and fat levels.  More advanced preps might include sodium loading/depletion, water and/or carbohydrate cycling.

However most of these efforts are short-lived and hard to maintain because the effort it took to achieve that look is not easily sustained.  Unfortuately, if a competitor does not have a post-contest gameplan they are at risk of  the dreaded “post-contest rebound.”  Some have even ended up looking worse than before they started their prep.

 

Reverse Taper Dieting

“Reverse Tapering”  is the OPPOSITE,  you begin dieting at a LOWER calorie level and continually INCREASE your calorie intake as you get leaner.

 This Adonis Lifestyle approach is SIMPLE, but it’s not EASY.  It requires discipline upfront, when there is no deadline looming in front of you.  Your hard work is done in the begining and provides more room for you to make adjustments as you progress in your transformation.  The Reverse Taper  approach also focuses more on  calorie deficit through eating LESS food as opposed to eating MORE food and doing MORE exercise.

 

It’s Not a Competition, It’s a Lifestyle

Most people who would be opposed to this approach simply have to win the “mental” battle in their mind to believe that this process is more efficient and sustainable.  If they trust the process they can avoid the longer exercise periods needed to create a caloric deficit with the traditional bodybuilder approach. 

John and Brad truly deliver in this podcast, discussing the in’s and out’s of the “Fitness Competitor” lifestyle.  In conclusion, both of these approaches have proven results.  But the question you must ask yourself, are you working SMARTER or HARDER towards the pursuit of you fitness goals?

 IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

(If you are using Adonis Index Mobile, go to the left menu -> My products -> right menu -> Uncensored Season 3 -> enjoy, you can assign star to add it into Favorites for easier access next time, if you don’t have access to Uncensored Podcasts you can purchase Immersion Package inside the App Shop)

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: body image, diet, exercise, health, Model, Muscle Building, Sage Advice, Shape, Transformation, Uncensored Podcasts S03, Weight Training, Workout Design Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Lose Fat – Uncensored

January 22, 2014 by
Learn the effects of our modern North American Culture on fat loss and take corrective action the Adonis Golden Ratio System.

Learn the effects of our modern North American Culture on fat loss and take corrective action using the Adonis Golden Ratio System. Continue reading to learn more about the experiment you never want to be in!

The experiment you don’t ever want to be in!

John and Brad are going to talk about an experiment you never want to be part of.  Yet it’s exactly what our modern North American society unknowingly engages in and is why our society is becoming obese.

The study was done in Quebec in the late 1980’s. The subjects consisted of 24 sets of male twins with ages ranging from 18-27. They were sequestered in a university dorm for 120 days.  The experiment was to see what happens when you overeat by 1000 calories a day.   During this time they were not allowed to train -they were only allowed to walk for 30 minutes a day – supervised.  They only ate the food they were provided in a very controlled environment.

They were young men in very good shape.  Their average body fat went from 11.3% body fat up to 18% body fat by the end of the experiment.  The average waist size increased from 29.5” to 33”.

The average fat gained was 18 pounds, the fat weight gained ranged from 9.5 pounds to 30 pounds.  The twins in each pair had similar gains.  Everyone gained fat.

Why did some gain more than others?

Metabolism was the pretty much the same for all.

There was a fair relationship with testosterone preventing some fat gain – just a little.

Cardio training seems to help prevent future fat gain

Those that gained the least amount of fat were in the bestVO2 max cardio shape at the beginning of the experiment.  Remember they did not train during the experiment.

The cardio fitness has lasting effects; it seems to prevent or protect against weight gain.  Cardio doesn’t seem to affect actual fat loss much, but it seems to help prevent the gaining of fat and be a sort of buffer or shield against future fat gain.

Research shows it only takes 6-8 weeks of cardio training for both the up regulation of Vo2 max and the muscle enzymes responsible for increasing their oxidizing potential (or ability to burn fat), after which they begin to plateau.  A good experiment could be to have a block of cardio included in your exercise routine every so often, especially as part of primer before starting a fat loss program.

The bottom line – take corrective action and the sooner the better!

The dark side of the experiment is that everyone gained fat.  None of them ever got back to the level of leanness that they were at before the experiment.  They continued to gain weight over five years and ended up being close to what they were at the end of the study.

The bottom line is that no matter when in your life you allow yourself to overeat and gain fat, if you never do a compensatory under eat to correct it will never go away.  Corrective action must be taken, the sooner the better.

Don’t ever stop training.  Don’t let your waist size increase much.

If you have corrective action to take – get serious about taking the corrective action as soon as possible.

 

To hear more about what John and Brad have to say about the experiment you don’t ever want to be in and listen to today’s uncensored podcast click on the link below.

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

(If you are using Adonis Index Mobile, go to the left menu -> My products -> right menu -> Uncensored Season 3 -> enjoy, you can assign star to add it into Favorites for easier access next time, if you don’t have access to Uncensored Podcasts you can purchase Immersion Package inside the App Shop)

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: body image, Sage Advice, Uncensored Podcasts S03, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Questioning Metabolism

December 11, 2013 by

Questioning Metabolism

Chad Frakes 1st Place - Front Before/After Photos

Chad Frakes is one of our contest winners who knows how to walk the line; pushing hard with nutrition and workouts yet allowing his body to recover so he can keep a healthy metabolism.

 

What is metabolism?

  It’s a vague term.  It is the sum total of the various chemical functions in our body, not the calorie cost of those functions because that’s your metabolic rate, but your metabolism is actually how are all those functions working and are they working properly?   Most people are actually interested in their metabolic rate.

 There are many different ways to measure this and the outcome will be different for each method, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really give you what you need to make a change to your body.

 Generally people think that a higher metabolism is better or that a higher metabolism feels more energetic.  In fact people can’t really even feel metabolism.  

What you really want is a healthy metabolism.  Mainly all you need to do is avoid exhaustion and systematic fatigue.

People push themselves too hard with both a calorie deficit and exercise, get fatigued, and then blame their metabolism.  What they really need to do is stop pushing so hard without giving their body a chance to recover.

 Don’t try to make too much happen too soon.   Exhaustion is in your control, metabolic rate is not.

 To hear more about what John and Brad have to say about metabolism and metabolic rate click on the link below.

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: body image, exercise, Goals, Physique, Sage Advice, Transformation, Uncensored Podcasts S03

Vote for Allen – A True Adonis Spokesmodel!

December 6, 2013 by

Today’s post is about Spokesmodels…

So you may ask, what exactly is a spokesmodel?

A spokesmodel is someone who is an attractive or otherwise appealing person who is hired to speak on behalf of a company or product.

As you know, Allen Elliott is on our team here at Adonis and he’s been selected as a Top 20 Semi-Finalist for the 2014 Bodybuilding.com Spokesmodel search. He is a National Level Men’s Physique competitor and of course he’s got a perfect Adonis Golden Ratio!

 

Vote for Allen - A True Adonis Spokesmodel!

Vote for Allen – A True Adonis Spokesmodel!

 

We’re asking you for your support to go vote for Allen as the next BodySpace Spokesmodel and give the world a bit more exposure to a true natural Adonis Golden Ratio Body!

Allen definitely has the look most guys are aspiring for so let’s give him some support for making the most out of his body and fitness modeling career!

Allen’s BodySpace Username: CaptainHealthy

Vote for Allen here ==> VOTE FOR ALLEN

– John Barban

Filed Under: Golden Eye, Model, Muscle Building, News, Physique, Sage Advice, Stories Tagged With: , , , ,

Questioning Body Fat Percentage

November 27, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

 

Questioning Body Fat Percentage

 

Caroline and Tori are fitness competitors who both got in amazing shape and hit their Venus ratio’s. Both had 23-24% body fat in their legs yet 5-7% in their upper body. The main thing here is everyone, depending on their genetics and heredity, will compartmentalize fat differently on their body. You can’t compare yourself to others.

Caroline and Tori are fitness competitors who both got in amazing shape and hit their Venus ratio’s. Both had 23-24% body fat in their legs yet 5-7% in their upper body. The main thing here is everyone, depending on their genetics and heredity, will compartmentalize fat differently on their body. You can’t compare yourself to others.

 

What is so important about body fat percentage?

Hydrostatic body fat percentage is the gold standard.  It is the method which every other method is calibrated on.  There are no assumptions; they use just the properties of your body in the water.

What is so important about of your body fat percentage?  It’s a number.

It reminds Brad of eating for calories when you need to lose weight when really you just need to eat the right amount of food to lose weight.  People like to go to an online calculator and find out they are supposed to eat 2712 calories a day as an example, then they don’t lose weight and they think their metabolism is broken.  The calculator just gave them the wrong estimate for their body.  People forget that the body is the end game, not the calculator, chart, book, theory, or what someone else did to lose weight.

The total over all body fat percentage does not tell you a whole lot unless you reach a dramatically low percentage that it is irrelevant.   It’s just like how your overall body weight on the scale doesn’t tell you a whole lot either.

DEXA/DXA is the most accurate and is the key for a health standpoint because it tells you regional fat percentages.

DEXA/DXA is the most accurate and is the key for a health standpoint because it tells you regional fat percentages.

 

Everyone stores fat differently

 

Brad and John have a lot of data to look at and today they focused on two female fitness competitors who were both approximately 15% body fat which is very low for females.   This is dramatically low for a woman.   One of them had 6.9% Bodyfat in her trunk (her upper body from the waist up).  The other one had below 5% in her trunk (she had a full set of shredded abs and her back was totally visible).

Tori and Caroline are fitness competitors that places first and third in their respective categories so they were both in amazing shape.  Neither of them looked awkward, they both looked totally feminine.

Both had 23 and 24 percent body fat in their legs.  See the difference between the upper and lower body?  The main thing here is everyone depending on their genetics and heredity will compartmentalize fat differently on their body.

So another female could have 20% in her legs, but maybe 11% in her upper body, and roughly the same overall body fat percentage as Tory and Caroline and look totally different.  If she tries to compare herself to these fitness competitors (or anyone else for that matter) at the same overall body fat it totally falls apart.

Everyone stores body fat in different patterns.  These storage patterns are genetic and you cannot manipulate them.  There are some schools of thought that you can manipulate them with diet but there is no data or measurements that prove this theory.  The theories are purely anecdotal and guess work.  

 

Don’t let body fat measurements hijack your goals

 

Setting a goal as a percentage body fat can mess you up.  It is a form of goal hijacking.

If you get down to your golden ratio and then would need to go a lot leaner to get the ab definition it could change your overall aesthetic to not be as visually appealing.  Also total body fat percentage is totally dependent on how much muscle mass is there.  Body fat is relative to your lean body mass.  So if you increase your lean body mass without losing any fat your overall body fat % drops.

Body weight and body fat percentage is only useful if you have a “shape” to go with it or a measurable goal like  Adonis or Venus  Ideal or Ratio.

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Filed Under: body image, exercise, Goals, Physique, Sage Advice, Transformation, Uncensored Podcasts S03
« Previous Page
Next Page »
Support