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Why Weight Lifting Is Just Like Playing Music

August 6, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Johannes Platz who placed 6th in the Open Level 1 category in our latest Adonis Index Contest.

Check out his pictures:

Johannes is Ripped!

Johannes is a musician which requires him to sit for long hours on end during performances and rehearsals.  He was never physically active growing up and combined with his work as a musician he began to experience  issues with back pain which prompted him to pursue more of a fitness lifestyle, specifically weight lifting.

However, Johannes journey into fitness was not without some setback and disappointment.

At first he went to a therapist, who got him to do some basic bodyweight exercises and later on prescribed a weight lifting program consisting of a few exercises of 3 sets with 15 reps.

After six months he saw some decent results.

It wasn’t exactly a complex fitness program, but at least he began to exercise regularly and was able to eliminate his back pain.

Be Aware of Goal Hijacking

When Johannes relocated to to Switzerland; he was away from his therapist and began to seek out a new fitness routine.

He jumped on a few weight lifting programs and got into a decent shape, but he fell victim to the conventional “eat bit to be big” approach.

After a while he realized two things:

  1. He never wanted to be huge like bodybuilders
  2. He gained muscle, but he became “pudgy” in the process

That’s what we call goal hijacking – you have a goal (getting in shape in this case) and you start moving in a right direction, but you fall off track on your way there (ex.: by aiming for the bodybuilder type of look).

The whole purpose of the programs Johannes tried was to get bigger by  gaining a ton of muscle – you know those claims like “gain 30 pounds of muscle over summer” programs.

Even though it worked to a certain degree, he had to prepare and eat meals up to six times a day, which is pretty time consuming, considering the fact he didn’t like the way he looked.

It wasn’t until one day when he discovered new role modes of an ideal shape from images of guys like Taylor Lautner and Ryan Gosling.  From that point, he realized that this is the body shape he wanted to achieve.

Through a few referrals he found Eat Stop Eat, the Anything Goes Diet and lastly the Adonis Index.

He  immediately started following the nutrition advice and doing the workouts.

Eat Stop Eat helped him understand that it’s okay to skip meals and he found it very freeing. Anything Goes Diet was a relief as well because somebody finally told him that he doesn’t have to worry about the food he puts in his mouth, and that there is no evidence of high caloric diet supporting muscle growth.

It even got him into cooking, which is something he never did before!

And once he saw Andrew Peter’s pictures he decided to  jump in and participate in one of the contests and take his physique to the next level.

Tips from Johannes: 

  • If you aren’t exercising. start weight lifting ASAP
  • There are a lot of fitness programs, but none of them are as flexible and simple to follow as Adonis Index (plus this one actually works)
  • Take before and after pictures to really see what amazing progress you have done
  • The little bit of bodyfat you drop can make a huge difference in pictures
  • People start noticing that you are in shape roughly at AI 1.5
  • Don’t compare yourself to others, it’s just your progress, everyone is different from genetic potential standpoint
  • Competitors are often times very genetically gifted and in some cases on drugs, so don’t take their bodies as your ideals
  • There is always someone who looks better than you
  • Be consistent with your effort in the gym
  • Stay in your calorie budget
  • Don’t be afraid of cooking the food yourself

Links from the interview:

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

I found the adonisindex site a while ago, but didn’t buy the program until last summer. Before that I had a long journey going through different fitness programs, but I think I finally found what works best for me (…yours J).

The first time I was searching the web for muscle building I found…Continue reading here

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

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Filed Under: Contest, Podcasts, Stories, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

9 Pounds Muscle Gain Since His Last Contest

July 30, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Vivek who placed 3rd in our latest Adonis Index Transformation Contest.

The topic of this interview is muscle gain and how quickly it can happen.

Check out his pictures:

Make sure you set up good lighting or book a studio for the shoot.

This is the second time Vivek has placed in one of our contests.  To make matters more interesting, this is Vivek’s first year of weight training.

After the first contest, Vivek was very lean, however,  his  muscles were still undefined  and his abs weren’t visible.

For the second contest, he chose to focus on muscle gain; ensuring that any future weight gain would be from muscle and not fat.

He followed the Main AI 3.0 workout for the contest followed  by MBF.  He also recorded his DEXA scan measurements every four weeks to track his progress.  His training efforts  yielded a steady increase of 1-2 pounds  in lean body mass every month during the contest itself.

Vivek’s philosophy was, “you don’t know the change if you don’t know the data.”

Unfortunately, despite Vivek’s progress,  he developed tennis elbow and had to stop training to recover completely.  However, he continued his DEXA scans and observed that there was no change while he was receiving from the elbow issue, which is proof that muscle growth doesn’t occur when your body is resting, but only as a response to training (like some so called “experts” would have you believe).

Your muscles remain in an anabolic state because of the work performed and not your protein intake.

All that matters is the amount of work you did on that muscle group.

With this realization and experience, Vivek decided to do 10 workouts a week. Why? Simply because more work equals more muscle.

For his morning routine, he did the Hyperthrophy and Strength modules from the main workout; in the afternoon, he chose Strength Endurance and Specializations for his weaker areas like abs, chest or hamstrings.

Lots of people do some kind of cardio in the afternoon, however if you take away the health benefits, then you are really doing it for the calorie burning, so why not add some weight training instead since the usual cardio doesn’t stress the muscles?

And the bonus is that you will still get some health and conditioning benefits from the Strength Endurance workouts too, so it’s kind of win-win.

Double the Work, Double the Gains

Vivek doubled the work, made sure he followed the rest periods and took DEXA scans every four weeks to track progress.

Did double the work translated into double gains?

Since we interviewed him a few month after this contest he was prepared to share the results…

And the answer is…YES!

In the first month of doing this he gained 2.9 pounds of lean body mass, he kept doing that for another month and he gained another 3 pounds.

This was after the contest, but still part of his Adonis transformation and the results are just astounding.

And Vivek is not the only one who tried doing the workouts more often, one of our previous contestants Adam Murphy did the same thing.

Now, should you also work out twice a day?

Well, the answer is “It depends”.

If you are just starting out then the regular program as it’s laid out will be more than enough, also if you follow one of the more advanced protocols from the Adonis systems, then you won’t be able to add much more on top of that.

But if you went through the AI workouts at least once and you are familiar with how they work, then you can play with it, and maybe just like Vivek, do two per day instead of one, well at least if your lifestyle allows you to do that.

Ice Cream as Pre-Workout Meal?

Vivek has a pretty unique pre-workout routine. He likes to grab an ice cream, for no other reason than that he enjoys it. Now if we take the regular ice cream that Vivek gets it’s roughly only 150 calories (about two apples worth), so no big deal, but he was driving people nuts in the gym. Imagine everyone pounding protein shakes and pre-workout drinks and then Vivek walking in the gym at less than 6% body fat and ice cream in his hand.

What they didn’t realize was that their shakes probably had more calories than his small ice cream.

The point is, you can eat whatever you want. If you keep some balance in your diet and limit the amount, then there is no reason why you couldn’t have an ice cream before your workout.

Forget about the bad foods goods foods dogma and focus on the basics that really matters.

Take Lots of Photos

Here are a couple more photos of Vivek:

Vivek’s back muscle development over the months.

…And a few more:

Once you are at it and doing the photoshoot, make sure you take some pictures with your casual clothes, those photos can be handy.

Tips from Vivek:

  • “Use the permission to lift light approach”
  • “Make it a goal to stay away from injury”
  • “Lighter weights (still challenging though) in the combination with high reps can help you keep your joints healthy and will improve your strength endurance”
  • “AI approach works, at 38 years old I’m experiencing growth that’s similar to  juvenile muscle growth that only guys in their teens and 20s typically get”
  • “If your lifestyle and fitness condition allows it, train more often”
  • “Stop killing your time in front of TV and get to the gym, it’s a great stress reliever”
  • “Focus on building muscle without gaining fat mass”
  • “The name of the game is TRACKING, if you’re not tracking you’re likely not progressing”
  • “Learn the basics of dressing and body language to present yourself and your new body properly”

Links from the interview:

  • Main AI Workout – Workout protocol responsible for one of them most amazing transformations online
  • “MBF” – Muscle Building foundation is designed to help you gain size and optimize your AI ratio

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

Competing in AT7 was essentially the challenge of increasing muscle mass while still keeping my fat mass low.  I had lost a lot of fat and had very low body fat percentages by the end of AT6. 

I started off with MBF right after completion of AT6, the week after thanksgiving.  Being able to eat at maintenance gave me a lot of energy to give it all I had with MBF.   When I started off MBF, my squat and Bench numbers were relatively low.  However by the end, I had almost doubled…Continue reading here

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: Contest, Podcasts, Stories, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Adonis Index Program Works, You Just Have to Do It

July 16, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Gabriele Lazzari who placed 2nd in the Open Level 1 Category in the latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures:

What will be different today though, Gabriele doesn’t speak well in English so he has agreed to do a written interview.

Here it is:

What workouts or programs have you done in the past and how did you find Adonis Index?

I followed too many programs and advertised workouts. I was excited to try them all and I jumped many times from one training system to another within just a few weeks.

All the consistency I was able to insert in my schedule derived from random principles put in together. I wanted to experiment with all the things I found to be interesting. So, I followed all them as I encountered different ads on my fitness journey, but unconsciously i knew that the lack of perseverance was the main problem.

Another weakness I found I had was the desire to change the various workouts and programs.

Another problem was all the various subscriptions I had, my email box was flooded with them every day and that just left me confused.

After discovering the Adonis Index program I finally realized that i needed only one program and that I had to stick to it. The results I obtained from Adonis Index  Lifestyle speak for themselves.

What did you think about the Adonis Index system when you first heard about it?

Once I heard about this kind of training philosophy, I was hooked. Something in me resonated, deeply.  In the beginning I was fascinated by the concept of subconscious attraction.

Afterwards I fell in love with the whole lifestyle of the Adonis Index System.

What program did you use during the contest?

I used AI 3.0 Workouts with the Fibonacci Pyramids rage module. The workouts were very challenging, but let me say that especially the rage workout was insane!

When I was in doing them I was shocked at how much intensity I can handle. Both physically and mentally, it was very challenging to do them, but finally, when I returned to the AI 3.0 system (hypertrophy cycle) the normal routine suddenly became easier and I could progress faster. I bet it was due to the shock my muscles were introduced to during the rage phase.

I just didn’t allow them to adapt.

What do you do for dieting?

At first the conditioned habit of manipulating macronutrients was creeping up on me.

However, prior to that, I decided to trash this old approach and as preached in the Anything Goes Diet, I started  controlling my daily calorie budget only. I stick to the advised range of protein by Brad Pilon from his book How Much Protein, plus the caloric indications from the Reverse Taper Diet.

So, I basically just limited calorie intake and maintained good protein intake.

I think that simplicity is the best way because it’s sustainable in the long term, that’s what I discovered anyway.

What were the specific challenges you faced during the contest? 

The contest itself was a pretty big challenge.

The level of intensity in the various workouts’ phases was not easy to sustain, especially during Strength Endurance and Rage. The nutrition side is simple, but as I pointed out above the old patterns die hard.

The real challenge was of course mental. I faced many weaknesses that I thought were buried in the past. I suppose that is the main lesson you are waiting to hear: when you are in the fray you have to play. This body transformation involves an entire evolution of your being. In this transformation you will encounter your “different sides” at some point.

How did you prepare for the photos and what did you think when you saw them?

I decided to hire a professional photographer. I did some research on the Internet and I practiced posing every week for at least one hour prior to the photoshoot session.

When I saw the photos I was a little bit disappointed. I set the bar very high and I wanted to achieve more than was possible, I guess fitness media would be to blame. However, the response from friends, acquaintances and fellows of AT7 was incredibly positive and that made me realize just how much of a change I really made.

The professional images from the shoot compared to what I viewed  in the mirror  allowed me to view a better version of my body. Lighting is the key. But at the end I am satisfied, especially when I compare my conditioning to previous photos.

What advice would you give to other guys who want to get into the kind of shape you did?

I strongly recommend to calm yourself and focus your attention on the program. Set the daily problems aside and stick to the Adonis Lifestyle. Focus your concentration like a laser and you will succeed. Secondly, I would  recommend comparing your results only to yourself and not others. Each man runs a different race.

I love the Adonis Lifestyle!

Here are a couple more pictures of Gabriele:

Here are Gabriele’s metrics:

Gabriele’s before and after measurements.

And here is Gabriele’s essay from the contest:

I want to be sincere and tell that, when I discovered this new way to approach body-building, I was a little bit skeptical. I tried so many hyped training programs that I lost the count.

In the beginning I considered Adonis Index Workout to be yet another overhyped product. But something in myself said to prove it, so I decided to dive into it.

I find that this training system is highly counterintuitive and, in the same time, full of wisdom.

I enjoyed myself  following the contest plan and the…Continue reading here

 

Filed Under: Contest, Podcasts, Stories, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , ,

About the Adonis Physique You Should Aim for, with Kidafi Byer

July 9, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Kidafi Byer who placed 2nd in the Open Level 2 Category in the latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures:

Find the pose that shows your body the most.

Kadafi is no newbie to weight training or to the Adonis Index Lifestyle. He has been with us for a while now.

And this wasn’t his first Adonis Index contest either. From last contest he successfully maintained his fitness and even managed to gain a bit of lean muscle mass without putting any fat mass on, if anything he got more ripped!

And that was exactly the point – get in shape with one or two contests and use the next one to find out how to maintain your body and get even more ripped.

Decide, Plan, Act

When Kidafi saw Allen Elliott‘s winning pictures in one of the contest he knew he would be a worthy opponent and that it will be hard to beat him.

He decided to take his time to strategize, prepare and then put in as much effort as he could into building the Adonis physique for the contest.

This time he wasn’t fasting very often, just a few times in the last four weeks prior the contest.

Rather than fasting he used the Reverse Taper Diet principles and tapered his calories up towards the end of the contest.

In his diet he didn’t change anything, he ate pretty much exactly what he did last time, just a bit more since he wasn’t really cutting much.

And that’s what you can expect to happen. If you’ve been eating too much in the past and gained a bit of fat, then you need to start eating less. However, once you lose the fat and you get lean you can slowly increase your calorie intake closer to your maintenance.

At this point dieting becomes super hard and cutting is a really big challenge. Basically your body will have very little fat stored and it will force you to eat more calories more often.

This is why fasting at 8% bodyfat it’s almost impossible.

Have someone else take the pictures, so you can focus on posing.

Can You Take the Pictures Yourself or Do You Have to Pay for a Photographer?

For the photoshoot itself Kidafi recommends having someone else take the pictures.

You can either have a friend/spouse take it or pay for a professional photoshoot. A lot of our contestants like to schedule the professional photoshoot, because it helps you with accountability and also gives you a clear deadline to shoot for.

And since you are going to put a lot of effort into all this, you might as well capture it professionally and have the pictures for life. However, a professional shoot is not necessary to win a contest. We’ve had quite a few people take amazing pictures at home or on the beach. Kidafi’s pictures are great and he did them by himself!

Just realize that taking pictures is an art and there is a whole niche of photographers who specialize in fitness, so don’t be surprised when your pictures aren’t magazine cover quality when you take them yourself.

But why would you even take the pictures?

Well, even if you are not comfortable taking pictures right now, that will change once you get in shape.

It’s worth getting a real photoshoot to really see what you got.

Kidafi’s Approach for Building the Adonis Physique

This time around Kidafi didn’t care about his weight. His goals were to get a bit leaner, gain more muscle if possible and generally have more of a “fuller” look while remaining injury free.

He is not the biggest guy in the gym, he is not the heaviest, but he is ripped and he loves the look.

Apart from the fact that weight is irrelevant and doesn’t tell the whole story, if you weigh yourself on a daily basis it’s guaranteed to mess with your head. There simply aren’t any big changes you’re going to see day to day besides water fluctuations.

In his workout Kidafi shifted from lifting heavy to concentrating more on the lifting technique.

He gave himself  permission to lift light and focused on the squeeze and tension of his muscle contractions instead of just lifting heavy weights up and down. The feeling after the workout was very satisfying, he gained more lean muscle mass and was injury-free the entire year.

Like most of us, Kidafi is a busy guy. He could just have just made excuses whenever he didn’t fell like working out or was short on time, but instead of making excuses he found a way to do the program. He split the workout in two. He did the first part of the workout focusing on optimizing the AI ratio in the morning and saved the second part for the afternoon and added a bit of volume there to keep the intensity.

And that was it, really.

For his diet, he just ate less than most people, made sure he followed the AI workouts and kept this going throughout the entire course of the contest.

There is no secret, no magic pill.

…Just hard work and dedication.

More tips from Kidafi:

  • The community is where it’s all happening, hang out there with same minded guys who will support your goals
  • You have to be mentally ready for the commitment
  • There is no magic, you need to put the effort in and go through the process and work your way up
  • Its easy to jump from program to program, but if you want to see the results you need to stick to it to the end
  • Consistency has always been the name of the game
  • It takes time, so don’t fall for overnight quick fixes
  • Don’t compare yourself to anyone else
  • It’s all a lifestyle
  • You have to want it for yourself, the motivation has to come from within you
  • The strength to endure the challenges and roadblocks has to originate inside you
  • It’s a commitment for life and no excuses are allowed
  • You have time to work out, find it
  • Everybody wishes to see changes after one workout, but that’s not the reality – accept it
  • You don’t have to live in the gym to look good, for most people 4-5 workout sessions a week is more than enough, just make sure they are worth it
  • You don’t have to do any traditional cardio, walking the dog is a calorie burning and healthy activity too
  • Don’t be the “fitness guy”, be the the guy who is in shape, but never talks about it
  • Hope to make small improvements every day
  • The goal is to look good, so make everything you do move in that direction
  • Listen to your body
  • Move forward, that’s the right direction

Links from the interview:

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

This is now my third time participating in an Adonis contest and I must say I feel like a veteran around the whole Adonis system and philosophy. The experience this time has been very different as there were less reaction to what I was doing or what I looked like from the outside. It was more of a mental experience and growing experience as a person. At first…Continue Reading Here

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: Contest, Podcasts, Stories, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do Less Work to Stay Ripped: How to Approach Maintenance

July 2, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Andrew Tullio who placed 3rd in the Open Level 2 Category in the latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures:

Make sure you set up good lighting and background when taking the after pictures.

Andrew had to re-think everything. He had to figure out a new way to eat and what would be the best time to have each meal.

He was always used to have big meals. He was never a fan of working on eating smaller portions. However, when you eat three times a day, it might not be a such a good habit to have, because it’s very easy to eat too much food. Most people can get away with eating one big meal, some can even get away with two big meals, but almost no one can eat three large meals every day, and still be lean.

And this need to figure out a new way of eating is not the first time we’ve heard about it. It’s actually a recurring theme.

It’s great if you have figured out how to lose fat and you’ve got lean. However, if you also want to STAY lean, you have to figure out a whole new way to eat to maintain your new body. If you start overeating or get back to your old eating habits you will start gaining fat quickly and you will erase all your progress in a matter of weeks.

There are three basic ways of eating:

  1. The one that gets you overweight
  2. The one that makes you lose fat
  3. The one that you need to learn to keep your new lean body

Since the old habit Andrew had wouldn’t help him lose weight and keep it off, he had to do some thinking.

At this point he only knew how to eat to gain weight and how to eat to lose weight, but nothing in between.

He had to figure out how to eat in a balanced way so he would stay lean all year round.

He tried a few things that mostly revolved around having multiple meals and just counting the calories. However, like he told us, it was just too much counting and he couldn’t enjoy the big meals he loved.

Then, he figured it out.

What really worked for him was having one big meal at the end of the day.

This way he would stay in a deficit, because there is only so many calories you can eat at one sitting. and he didn’t have to count calories, so it was a win-win.

Now Andrew doesn’t have to count anything, he doesn’t worry about maintenance or gaining weight. It’s all taken care of with one meal a day.

He can still eat big with just a small compromise on his part.

But is it really that big of a compromise?

Sometimes he might allow himself a snack, but usually he just eats a big dinner. Snacks are good, if you can keep the calories in check (think of fruit as a perfect low cal, but tasty snack). The issue with snacks is that most people snack on high calorie options and they don’t stop at just one.

Another issue is that the moment you start eating, your appetite goes up and you will want to eat more. FYI this is one of the reasons why eating breakfast is NOT a good idea.

This is Andrew’s overall progress. The first pictures are from his first Adonis Index contest.

Why One Meal a Day Works and What It Can Do for You?

Assuming you already understand the benefits of intermittent fasting, eating one meal a day has a bit more to it as well.

  • Not having to count calories
  • You can have snacks if you limit the frequency and the amount
  • You can enjoy the weekends a bit more
  • You can eat “normally” at some unexpected social eating event, because you are in a slight deficit
  • You can eat a really big meal every day!
  • You can finally focus on something different than food during your day – that’s the productivity cure you were looking for the whole time
  • You will have more energy during the day and you won’t feel tired as a result of eating every three hours

Andrew would have a big meal and small piece of chocolate with it almost every single day.

What other diet will allow you to have chocolate every day?

Not that many, right?

Obviously you have to choose the right foods, you can’t eat nothing but cake, but still it doesn’t have to be “clean” by the conventional fitness standards. You really can have chocolate or pizza if you want.

What you are basically doing is variety in one big chunk each day.

And how would such a meal look like?

You can be creative, but here is an example:

Salad + chicken + potatoes + slice of pizza + small piece of chocolate cake

Sounds good?

Well, you can easily make this under 2000 calories, which is perfect for most guys to maintain.

Just remember, you can have your cake, but everything is good only in moderation.

More tips from Andrew:

  • Learn a way to eat everyday without gaining or going overboard
  • You don’t have to count calories once you figure out a consistent pattern that works for you
  • Judge your progress by the mirror and photos, are you getting soft? Not seeing obliques anymore? If so then you need to eat a bit less (or add more exercise/cardio)
  • Myotape is also good for tracking progress and staying at maintenance
  • When you get into a good eating pattern, stay there don’t mess with it
  • At that point you will intuitively know when you go overboard
  • If you get on the scale too often, weight fluctuations due to water fluctuations will start messing with your head
  • Multiple ways to do it, find the way that works for you
  • Stick to one workout plan
  • Your workout plan should mix things up every once in a while to keep your mind in it and your muscles growing
  • The goal is not having to think about your body, fitness, diet, training, just doing a little work here and there and still looking awesome
  • Re-think and question everything

Links from the interview:

  • Adonis Index 3.0 – The workout program responsible for one of the most impressive transformations online
  • Adonis Index IXP – Advanced muscle building protocol
  • Eat Stop Eat – Lifestyle base around the beauty of intermittent fasting

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

This is the third Adonis contest I took part in, AT3, AT4, and now AT7… The first few contests I spent a tremendous amount of energy focusing on my caloric intake and trying to lose weight and then trying to figure out how to eat for my new leaner physique. Sometime during my prep for AT4 I realized that having one big meal over three smaller meals was a a lot easier and definitely helped me to maintain a level of leanness, unfortunately I would usually find myself overeating during the weekends and to compensate I end up regularly fasting for… Continue reading here

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: Contest, Podcasts, Stories, Transformation Tagged With: , ,

Fitness Modeling: Show Up and Let the Best Win…Oh Really?

June 25, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Allen Elliott who won the Open Level 2 category in the latest Adonis Index Contest.

Check out his pictures:

Learn posing to present yourself in the best way possible.

Allen is kind of our lifetime achievement winner. Whatever contest we threw at him, he won it. Improving and taking it to the next level each time.

His results are obvious and truly amazing.

AT7 was the first time Allen arrived at his golden metrics.

If you aren’t tracking you are guessing. In order to know whether you are improving or not, you have to measure.

Competing at the National Level

As an ex-athlete Allen was just looking for a way to improve his look. When he found the Adonis Index program three years back, he was preparing for a national show in natural bodybuilding.

And as it turned out, the AI protocol worked pretty well for him;  he finished in the top 3 at this show.

However, bodybuilding wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, so he started searching for something different.

As a result he got into fitness modelling and started pursuing a career there.

At that time there was a new division that just opened – Men’s Physique, in which competitor’s wear board shorts instead of the traditional posing trunks of bodybuilders.  Nevertheless, the criteria to be judged upon is all about getting that hard, attainable, good looking physique -a goal perfectly aligned with the Adonis Index ideology.

And apart from bodybuilding there were clear instructions on what body shape they were looking for, so if you used drugs you would have over done it. This is different compared to traditional bodybuilding where it’s all about big you can get and everyone is using the same drugs.

Allen placed in the top 5 in his first Men’s Physique competition, won the Adonis Index Open Level 1 contest and was pretty satisfied with his results.

Allen also used the fitness competition as an opportunity to get some feedback. He went down to talked to the judges and asked them what areas he should work on.

Then he modified the AI plans to help him target those weaker areas. It worked! He won his next regional show and finished in the top 25 at the final National Level Competition to complete the 2011 season.

This year, things were a little different.

He won the AI Open level 2, however he placed last in the Men’s Physique contest, which shot his confidence down.

The mistake Allen made was that he showed up to his physique competition “too conditioned”. For what they were looking for he was too dry and lean. They wanted to see a slightly smoother look.

If you ever get into fitness modelling, this is what you have to expect.

There is a huge disconnect in what you do to look good and what the judges at each show will want.

You may not realize this.

When you look at Allen’s pictures, that’s the golden look – perfect AI score, incredibly lean, big, but not overly – attainable, realistic, great looking physique.

But for the judges, it was too much this time.

And that’s what this is about. You don’t just train and diet, show up and let the judges pick the best body.

Even if you compete in the shows where there isn’t any drug abuse, you are still left with two major issues:

  1. Politics – Famous model with sponsorships will have better chances of winning
  2. Judges’ body shape idea – What they are looking for, looking good is not enough, you have to meet their specific criteria at that given show too place well amongst your competition.

This is the issue with competitions. Everyone on that stage is in killer shape, the judges are basically splitting hairs.

You also have to match your physique with the competition and judges. Certain competitions want bigger, more muscular look, some may look for the dry, shredded look, while still others want a smooth beach body ideal.

Based on the different criteria each show and each judge is looking for you can win one contest and place last in the very next one you enter.

…This is exactly what happened to Allen.

He showed up with great conditioning, but at the wrong competition.

He showed up the biggest he has ever been at a local show and didn’t do very well, the judges told him he was too big and needed to be leaner. So he took this advice and got much leaner for an upcoming national show, and again he didn’t place well. When he talked to the judges after the national show they said they wanted him to be bigger and not so dry and ripped. So he showed up in the exact opposite shape that the judges at the local and national show were looking for…live and learn.

Presentation Is Everything

What exactly determines your impression?

It’s not just about looking good.

Everyone looks great.

So, what sets you apart?

It’s all about showing off the body.

Once again, presentation is EVERYTHING.

How you flex your muscles, your tanning, the angle at which you present yourself… it all makes a difference and this is just a start.

The shorts you wear make a difference too.

The lines can make your legs either look bigger or smaller. It depends on whether they are vertical or horizontal. If you are like Allen and you have well developed big legs then you need to wear shorts with vertical lines, because you need to put less focus on that area.

Conclusion

Remember, if you want to win, you have to show up with the right look at the right show.

And before you go there, you need a solid game plan, know your purpose for going there. It’s about networking, strategy and feedback from judges.

After the show is over, go talk to the judges and find out what area you need to improve, to work on. Are those your shoulders, arms or upper chest? Go and ask and adjust the workout plan based on that.

Don’t expect to prepare for a show, win, get rich and famous. It doesn’t really work like that.

First of all, it’s rare to win a show the first time you enter it, second, you don’t get any money from the shows. If you win, that’s the prize.

Why?

Well, if you train people and you have won a couple of shows, then you have proof that you really know what you are talking about. It helps you brand yourself and be the authority on this topic.

If you go to shows with the mindset that you are going to present yourself in the best way possible, network with other models, get feedback from the judges, then that’s a good strategy, a good plan.

Look at yourself as a professional, Allen sees himself as a “physique business”, what about you?

You are the one who has was it takes to make the commitment to be a walking billboard promoting yourself as your own personal brand?

Once you do that, you can start pursing this career, look for opportunities. Pursue photographers, sponsorship, modelling work, training work etc.

Just realize that it’s you who has to pursue THEM, not the other way around.

What can this result in?

You will gain an amazing experience.

You will build friendships and hang out with like minded individuals.

Keep moving and keep looking for opportunities, work on yourself in the fullest way possible.

The payoff is huge.

More tips from Allen:

  • The show itself doesn’t pay, how you use the experience to brand yourself will pay
  • No one forces you, it’s your commitment and ability to achieve your goals
  • Competition will build your confidence and self-esteem
  • Everyone should at least get ready for a fitness photoshoot if nothing else
  • As you progress it becomes a routine
  • If you have done something once, you can always do it again
  • If you don’t try, you will never know
  • It’s about changing your body, learning how to fit socially and making yourself a better person
  • No plan and contest prep is ever perfect
  • Harness the fear
  • You won’t be photoshoot ready 24/7, don’t be discouraged if you wake up and your abs are smooth and you feel weak
  • It’s a lifestyle, you can do something you are passionate about and inspire other people
  • Lots of people are in shape, don’t expect photographers to knock on your door, you are the pursuer here
  • Create a brand and carry yourself in public in that way, people will be drawn to you
  • It’s a never-ending process of self-improvement
  • Understand that there are lots of people in shape, you must work on setting yourself apart from the pack
  • Only a few people can make a business with their body, in most cases being in great shape is a compliment to your actual business or work
  • Competitions can help you build yourself as a brand and provide proof of your ability
Links from the interview:

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

My experience of the Adonis Level 2 OPEN is best summarized as “The Perfect Storm.”  I have faithfully followed the program for almost three years.  The program has propelled me to success beyond my wildest dreams!  Since picking up the program in May of 2010 I have competed and  placed with top honors in Men’s Natural Bodybuilding, National Physique Committee Men’s Physique, Fashion Shows, and have published work as fitness model.  Adonis Lifestyle has given me unstoppable confidence to pursue …

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