Today we have an interview with Robert Robinson who placed 4th in the Transformation category in the latest Adonis Index Contest.

Check out his pictures:

Chances are that you too are just a couple of pounds away from being ripped!

You would say that a 30 year old guy who works in a lab and is getting a job as a teacher AND planning for his wedding in his spare time will be pretty busy (and maybe too busy) with his life to be concern with getting in shape or even entering a fitness contest.

As impossible as it sounds Rob proved to us again that it can be done, no matter how busy you are and how stressful your life is.

Rob told us that contrary to what we would guess, a busy life provides structure and it’s actually easier to get things done when you have very little free time. You may have noticed this yourself, that on some days when you have a lot of work, and need to get your workout done, you are really productive, because you have so much planned out, you have to keep going until it’s all finished, no laziness or looking for ways to kill time – productivity only.

Most people would consider being ‘busy’ as an excuse and would complain about how they have no time to go to the gym or eat properly. Not Rob, he saw an opportunity in this (that’s the spirit!).

Before we dig into his approach, let’s look at his diet and training history (expect some interesting stuff).

Everyone Expected Rob to Be Big for the Rest of His Life

Believe it or not, but at one point Rob was 300 pounds!

He was big, but like he said he wasn’t big like bodybuilders, he was big and overweight.

Back then he didn’t think about the look of his body and since it didn’t affect his work, he didn’t concern himself with it.

He loved Arnold’s movies, so he thought being big is a good thing.

It was also sort of expected from his family.

Rob’s transformation over the years, he lost an impressive 140 pounds! (The last two pictures are his transformation with the Adonis Index)

Then he had a moment when he visited a friend of his who had Arnold’s encyclopedia of bodybuilding. After reading it and going through the pictures he realized that he doesn’t look the way he wants or should and he needs to change.

Using some diet approaches he found on the internet he got down to 216 (from 300) and basically lost 80 pounds in six months (pretty impressive).

And then he stalled at that point for a while.

After some time he got even further down to 180 pounds, but he wasn’t sure what was causing the results. Which is pretty interesting, because even though he managed to lose that much weight he was still afraid of gaining the weight back…this is because everyone who lost weight he knew always gained it back.

At first he thought that just because he was eating a diet low in carbohydrates he was losing fat. Later  after finding Adonis Index he realized that what really caused his massive weight loss was a reduction in calories, combined with a drastic increase in activity, and most importantly – consistency in these two areas over time.

He lowered calories somewhat unintentionally since he though that carbs are the bad guy or he would do hours of activities and not realize hoe many calories it was burning.

Being Big vs. Being Ripped

Rob was glad he lost all that weight, however like he said he was skinny-fat, he had (in his words) “no muscles at all” at that point.

At the beach when he would take off his shirt, he would just be smooth with no muscle definition.

He was low in bodyweight, but not satisfied with his physique, he simply didn’t look the why he envisioned for himself.

This is further proof that there is a huge disconnect from how you look and what the scale says.

People don’t understand this concept and get scared as soon as the scale number gets low (in their opinion).

The truth was that Rob never focused on developing any muscle mass, so it doesn’t come as such a surprise when you think about it.

We are so culturally focused on the number on the scale, but completely ignore the “quality” or the “whole picture” that makes up the look and health of our body.

Then at the end of 2010 Rob found Eat Stop Eat and Adonis Index.

He started listening to the podcasts, got the workouts and followed them as written.

Was it enough or did it work?

Well, scroll up and take one more look at the pictures.

Here are some tips from Rob you can incorporate into your approach:

• Don’t get caught up in day-to-day look
• It’s a process and the transformation is both physical and mental
• Enter the contest!
• You will not get abs in 8 days as you see in the ads, it will take more time, but it will happen
• What’s a couple of month or years of dedication compared to living the rest of your life as a happy and healthy person?
• Don’t get pressured into being ‘big’
• Realize that for most guys it’s not realistic to be 200 pounds and ripped (look at all the Adonis Index contest winners, NONE of them are over 200lbs)
• Stop looking at the scale and start looking in a mirror and best of all – take pictures
• There is no reason to do more work for the same results, be smart about your approach
• The podcasts are huge, listen to all of them
• Macros don’t matter, calories are responsible for weight loss or weight gain
• Eat the food you like, just eat less of it
• Don’t eat breakfast if you don’t want to
• You don’t need to live the bodybuilder lifestyle to have a great physique

Useful links from Rob’s interview:

• Adonis Index Main Workouts – The Main workout program, also responsible for one of the most amazing transformations online
• Adonis Index Community – The friendliest and most supportive community in the fitness world. UPDATE: Free access when you buy any Adonis Index program here
• Eat Stop Eat –  Lifestyle approach to get lean and stay lean all year round, by Brad Pilon
• Anything Goes Diet – No BS Diet Book that lets you in on how fat loss really happens (Hint: It’s different than what you hear from media)

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

The result was an undeniable success, to me. Adonis not only helped me to get lean so that I discovered the great physique I had, but Adonis also helped me to do that while planning and organizing my upcoming wedding, moving into a new career field, and maintaining my normal social life. How can…

Read the whole story here

Listen to the interview here:

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Today we have an interview with Adam Murphy who placed 4th in the Open Category Level 1 in the latest Adonis Index Contest.

Check out his pictures:

Since you are getting in a killer shape, it's a good idea to schedule one studio photoshoot and then one more photoshoot outside the day after.

Today Adam looks at training and lifting differently, they are two different terms. Before finding the Adonis Index Adam was already very familiar with going to the gym and working out. However, just like he said, he was just lifting, not really training and that’s a big difference.

This is an important key factor that will determine what results will you get. We’ve talked about this concept countless times, but let’s go over the basics quickly:

• If you go to the gym to chat with your buddies and staff you are really only working out not training
• If you go to the gym to work on your “mirror muscles” like chest and biceps you are working out not training
• If you focus on lifting as much as possible you are working out not training
• If you go to the gym determined and focused, not minding other people you are training
• If you have a purpose, some kind of goal and plan, then you are training
• If you are hitting all of your muscles from various angles with different rep/set/rest patterns you are training
• If you aim to fully contract your muscle, you are training

Print this list and review it each time before going to the gym, seriously.

Adam’s Journey

6 months ago Adam purchased the Adonis Index Workout and for the first time in his life really started training in the gym. Since he finally had a clear goal (achieving the golden AI ratio) and solid workout plan it was almost inevitable that will get into amazing shape.

The pictures he took are cover model quality, which is why we’ve decided to put him on one of our covers, just take a look:

Free motivation: If you get into really good shape and take quality pictures, you might end up on one of our covers. How cool is that?

Adam has been involved in the fitness community for a while. He has hundreds of magazine issues in his office and even teaches this kind of stuff.

He wanted to achieve the look the models had in the magazines, but despite following their advice, he just wasn’t getting there.

Then everything changed as he found Adonis Index.

And Like Adam said, the program and philosophies made so much sense that he was hooked right after he read it. He finally had a goal to shoot for – Ideal Male Body Proportions. A look that he could accomplish and be happy with.

Getting in shape is not magic and we always try to give you the facts, exact numbers and specific research to make a point, not just what we think is right.

It’s All About the journey

Building muscle takes time, lots of time and effort.

And that’s not the only thing Adam learnt during his AI journey.

He would listen to all of the interviews and listen to how other guys would handle their challenges. And this is really important, you can take a look at the pictures and numbers to know what’s possible and what’s not, but without listening to people’s stories you won’t know how to get there.

The easiest thing you can do is to listen and study successful people and people that have been through what you are going now and learnt from them and how did they achieve their goals.

The interview are what tell the whole story, there isn’t anything better than when people discuss their challenges and what worked for them.

If you want what somebody else has, you have to do what they did to get there, no matter what it takes.

To give you two different examples: If you want to compete in the top bodybuilding contests then that will mean some serious dedication, big sacrifices, and drugs. If you want to get there that’s what you gotta do.

Now more realistic goal. Maybe you like Adam’s pictures and you want to look like him in the next 6 or 8 months. Well, that means you have to do what he did, you can’t expect to sit on the couch and watch TV and just show up in the gym twice a week and get his results.

So, what was his approach?

Adam’s High Frequency Training Approach

Adam shadowed the first contest and then started with the basic AI 3.0 module  (link in the section below) and the rages (overreaching workout plans that are part of the AI 3.0 module).

He was a bit disappointed with his results though, because other people started posting their pictures in the AI community and it seemed to him like they were getting to their goals quicker than him.

So, he decided to experiment and see if he can push himself more.

He would hit the gym with his friends and then once he got home, he’d do the same program again (about 10 hours later), but just a miniature version of it. So, after a few weeks, his buddies were still out-gaining him, but no longer as much and as quickly as before.

This may sound like to much to handle and you may be thinking you will overtrain if you do such a thing, but you couldn’t be further from the truth.

This way Adam would get 10 workouts in a week instead of just 5. That’s some serious workout frequency.

Lots of guys are afraid of overtraining so they end up going to the gym 2-3 times a week thinking they are doing good themselves, but then they wonder why the hell do they still look the same even after 5 months.

Well, you have to train hard, but you also have to train often.

If you can’t handle a higher workout frequency it’s not because you are overtraining, but because you are rather underconditioned.

Most athletes train every single day, several times a day. They might know what overtraining really feels like, not you.

If you can’t handle 6 workouts a week, then you need to work on your conditioning, not scale it down like most guys do when they feel a bit sore.

Adam just listened to his body and when it told him that he should take a break, he would just do one workout a day for a couple of days and get back to twice a day after several days of “resting”.

You are stronger than you think, you just need to improve your condition to handle more volume and frequency and then keep it up, the results will come.

Adam’s take home message for skinny guys:

• Don’t stress yourself over things you can’t control
• Listen to your body
• Realize that you wouldn’t get in shape if you were the only person in the world
• Your limits are further than you think
• Push yourself, analyze results, and adjust
• Don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it
• You will come up with excuses if you don’t really want it
• Surround yourself with people who are willing to support you
• If you can’t handle a higher workout frequency it’s not because you are overtraining, but because you are rather underconditioned
• Stop being chubby and unlock your potential
• Even if you are lean, you need to watch your calories
• Play the cards as you are served, everyone has his own challenges
• Don’t compare yourself with other people
• You will most likely find your answers in the Adonis Index Community
• You can always do more
• At some point you won’t be able to hide your progress and people will notice
• If you test different approach, make sure you test it for long enough to see any noticeable changes
• You don’t need to do cardio to get ripped
• If you don’t have healthy functional shoulder, use dumbbells instead of the barbell
• You have time to work out, you just have to find it
• Change your mindset and change your body

Links from Adam’s interview:

• Adonis Index Main Workout – The Main workout program, also responsible for one of the most amazing transformations online
• Adonis Index Specializations – The program that Adam made on the cover
• The Theory of Ideal Male Body Proportions – Adonis Index theory about proportions
• Adonis Index Community – The friendliest and most supportive community in the fitness world
• Golden Ratio Is the Key to Building an Ideal Body Shape – Interview with Vivek that Adam mentions
• Satisfaction With Your Body Starts With the Right Goals – Interview with Pierre that Adam mentions

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

This has been a transformation of mind, body and education. I have learned so much about the way my body reacts to foods, calories and training. I am looking forward to the rest of my life with the knowledge and body that I am taking forward. I could look at this as a twelve week transformation but for me it really has been nonstop since the day I purchased my copy of the Adonis Index. So for about the last six months…

Click here to continue reading

Listen to the interview here:

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Today we have an interview with Ross Goldsack who won the Open category level 1 in the latest Adonis Index Contest.

Check out his pictures:

This is the Adonis body. Lean and masculine.

Ross looks great and he was really happy with his look and how the pictures turned out.

Here’s one more:

Ross is ripped. If you met him on the street would you think he always looked like this or would you believe that he was over 210 pounds just a few years back?

Ross has a very common story and experience with fitness. A few years ago he decided to work on his physique and started going to the gym with his buddies and also started consuming fitness information, mainly the fitness magazines.

The workouts became a habit and he was really enjoying them.

And like everyone else in this position he naturally wanted to improve, so he progressed into reading bodybuilding magazines and started reading more about various ways to build more muscle and lose fat.

However, he felt victim to the traditional fitness advice and made a lot of mistakes.

Let’s discuss a few of them.

Mistake No.1 Consuming Lots of Fitness Information

Fitness industry is full of companies making billions in revenue.

The goal isn’t to get you in shape though. The goal is to continuously have you buying their products.

And as a result, you start to feel that you absolutely have to get the new magazine, full of the latest tips that nobody knew about four weeks ago, or the new “functional workout” protocol, or the new protein supplement that just came out promising those amazing gains in the first three weeks… and we could go on and on.

If you have been in this industry for a while, you are probably overwhelmed by all the fitness information and various approaches. At this moment you should take a completely different approach. You should detach yourself from the fitness industry and focus on doing the simple things that will get you the most results.

Mistake No.2 Comparing Yourself to Bodybuilders

One of the biggest mistakes Ross made at this early stage of fitness, before finding Adonis Index, was going through the bodybuilding magazines and comparing himself to the photos in them. The issue with this magazines is that they are full of pictures of professional bodybuilders.

With the transformation contests here at Adonis Index, you’ll get pictures that can be compared with fitness covers, because we give advice on how to make yourself look bigger or leaner by posing, show more muscle definition with a tan or water deplete. However, comparing yourself to bodybuilders is a bit ridiculous if you are not willing to take the “extra” mile.

Yes, that would mean taking steroids.

If you are not taking anything beyond supplements, why are you comparing yourself to guys, who inject themselves with stuff you have never heard about and in a dose that would scare off a horse?

Mistake No.3 Doing the Bulking & Cutting Stuff

A few years back Ross got caught in the conventional bulking and cutting approach.

Ross got to a point where he would weigh about 210 pounds. He could fill out a large shirt, but still not have the look he desired.

Like he said, he looked like crap. He was feeling bigger, but fatter.

And no surprise, because what he gained was all fat, he was basically trying to eat his way up to bigger muscles, which is a bit ridiculous and biologically impossible.

There is nothing wrong with being big in a shirt, but most guys will probably prefer looking good shirtless than in a shirt.

So, what will it be shirt on big and shirt off fat or shirt on fit and shirt off ripped?

Make a choice.

FYI when Ross did the cut down and lost the fat, he lost the exact amount of weight he gained during the bulking phase.

So, he went through the misery of gaining fat and losing it again all for nothing, muscle mass as we would expect did not change at all.

What’s the point of that?

Slowly Re-Focus on Building a Natural Body

After finding Adonis Index through Eat Stop Eat, Ross started listening to all of the podcasts and reading every article at Adonis Index he could get his hands on.

He realized that he is not interested in stepping on stage or becoming a bodybuilder, so he re-focused on building a body that is lean and masculine, not big and bodybuilder-bulky.

Ross cut off all of the other streams off fitness information and decided to just follow one simple fitness approach – eat less, workout more.

This worked pretty well. In one year he lost about 20 pounds and got ripped (take a look at the pictures above).

At the age of 30 he got to the best shape of his life.

Take Home Message from Ross:

• If you are spending hours every day consuming fitness advice, but look the same month after month, then realize that you don’t need any more information, you just need to take action
• If you take the photos correctly, they will represent the effort you’ve put into diet and workouts in the past 12 weeks
• If you do a fitness photoshoot expect to shoot hundreds of pictures, but choose only a few
• Take pictures today, even if you don’t like the way you look, you will regret not having the before pictures later when you will want to compare your progress
• As you progress, lose fat and get closer to your ideal body towards the end of the photoshoot or contest, the fat loss will happen at a much slower rate
• You will not get anything from discussing your approach with other people, so don’t
• There are talkers and doers, which one are you or which one would you like to be?
• Find what works for your and stick to it
• Don’t make your life about fitness, balance the other aspects of your life, don’t be the “fitness guy”, the point is to be fit, not obsessed with fitness
• Switch from relax and maintenance mode to contest mode once or twice a year for a few months, enjoy the rest of the year looking good
• Gain muscle and stay lean
• Find the source that you want the information and advice to come from and then block everything else
• Do your own testing, don’t rely on other people
• If its works, keep doing it and don’t stop!
• Get into the Adonis Index Community and post your measurements every week or month to keep yourself accountable

Links from the Interview with Ross:

Theory Of Ideal Male Body – Build your natural ideal body shape

Adonis Index Workout – The Main Adonis Index workout responsible for the most amazing transformations online

Adonis Index Community – Hang out and talk to the Adonis Index winners, workout authors and ask your most pressing fitness questions

Eat Stop Eat – Lifestyle approach to get lean and stay lean all year round, by Brad Pilon

Read Ross’ experience with Adonis Index in his own words

The contest has turned out to be great and I feel I have followed through on my plan and I am hoping that I can find a nice equilibrium post contest. I did AI 3.0 and loved it! It was so cool to just turn up, open the page and just follow it as written. I liked the variety and the timing of the program; it meant that I never got board.

Click here to read the rest of the story

Listen to the interview here:

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Today we have an interview with Phil who won the latest Adonis Index Transformation Contest.

Check out his pictures:

If Phil can win the Adonis Index Transformation contest while having four kids and four jobs, why couldn't you?

Phil started lifting weights after graduation, he didn’t think he had favourable genetics, but he had the “hard work genes” as he says.

However, the issue was that he was doing the same exercises and routine for the next 20 years. And it wasn’t until the Adonis Index that he realized you can do more for your biceps than just a curl.

When you look around in the gym, you will notice that people are doing the same stuff over and over again, then they go drink some protein shakes and do the magazine promoted post workout things etc. This doesn’t change throughout the years, the issue is that they just look the same year after year. However, they believe that what they are doing works and this approach is what will get them the results. Phil was exactly the same way until he started training with Adonis Index.

However, let’s take a look at his rather unbelievable story before finding the Adonis Index.

Phil started working out and was in the gym on and off throughout the years, but not having any workout program wasn’t the biggest thing.

At first it started with his career getting too crazy which led to being a bit sloppy with his workouts. And when you don’t have any consistency in your workouts, thing will go into a downward spiral. Next thing he knew was that he started gaining weight and at being 6 foot tall he would get to 190 pounds by 2006.

Then his wife got pregnant with not just twins but with quadruplets! This resulted in a massive stress, because the doctors were telling them that she can’t make it and the other two kids were too weak to survive.

Unimaginable stress.

After this was over, the economy crashed and for somebody who relied on Real Estate and Hollywood jobs, this meant massive life problems. Another insane stress in his life, almost unbearable.

And like it wasn’t enough, one of Phil sons was diagnosed with Leukemia and they almost lost him.

Just ask yourself, what would you do in his place?

Maybe your struggles aren’t so big when you compare them to other people. Just because your boss yelled at you, you had to stay at work for an hour more and got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes afterwards doesn’t mean you can’t go to the gym tonight.

At this point he felt like he had lived a life of a 60 year old, but in reality he wasn’t even 40.

It was a time for a change.

Phil got all the way up to 212 pounds, he decided that if his son has to work hard to survive, he should start working hard on himself too.

At first he tried the zone diet, running and got back to weight lifting, which worked to some extent.

While his son got better, Phil stalled at 180 pounds and couldn’t figure out why, which frustrated him.

Frustrated with Your Results? Change Your Approach…

At this point Phil finally decided to do some research online. One of his jobs was in Hollywood, so he decided that he wants to build a body like Brad Pitt had in his famous movie Fight Club.

He wanted to know what he has to do to build a shape like Pitt.

Here comes the shocker, he found out that Pitt was only 150 pounds at 6 foot. This got Phil thinking, being 6 foot too no wonder why he wasn’t satisfied being 30 pounds heavier than Pitt.

After doing even more research on various workouts and fitness programs, he found Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat, which ultimately lead him to Adonis Index and the free podcasts. He downloaded every single podcast and started listening right from the beginning. And we are talking about years of recording podcasts, so that took some time to get through, but the advice Phil gained was priceless.

As he told us, everything was broken down to simple terms. And this ‘nuts and bolts’ approach of talking about fitness without sugar coating anything helped him understand how this really works and this ultimately gave him the roadmap to build a body of his dreams.

He calculated his calorie intake and when his bodyweight came down to the 150’s he could finally see his abs. He felt like a completely different guy. Phil achieved something he did not think was possible. Before the transformation, he felt like an old man, he had stomach and knee issues and never thought he could look like this and feel like he does now.

Then he decided to invest in the Adonis Index workouts and that took his transformation to the next level and won him the first place in the Adonis Index contest.

Phil looks great, today he looks even better than Pitt in this movie. He super passed his initial goals. Now if he wants to look like Brad Pitt from fight club, he just needs to start smoking and get into fights!!!

One of the important things this transformation gave to Phil is that if he ever gains weight, he knows how to lose it again, so he can easily and quickly get back in shape, if some challenges arise, there is nothing stopping him from overcoming them.

Today Phil has four kids and four jobs to support his family and despite all this, he still manages to find time to work out EVERY day.

The approach he is following now is different, he is doing things he has never even seen anyone else do in gym and he is working out hard. After his workout he’s done no fancy post workout rituals, while other guys run to take a protein shake, because there is supposed to be some “magic window” after the workout.

As Phil admits, the Adonis Index workouts are special. Not only because you have a certain body shape to shoot for, but your muscles will be shocked by the workout structure and will be forced to do stuff they have never done, leaving them with no choice but to grow.

After years of doing the same over and over, this was unbelievably refreshing.

Dudes Are Supposed to Be Big…Eh, Are They?

Not only that Phil was pretty surprised that Brad Pitt was only 150 pounds in his fight club, but he also found out that in the Rocky movies the weight they say “Rocky” is in the ring is actually almost 40 pounds more than Stallone actually was.

Phil basically found out that the dudes he thought are heavy and big are actually much lighter.

And this comes down to the simple concept of: permission to be light.

Most guys have this believe that we should be enormous and anything below 200 pounds is girlish. Well, if you are not at least 6’2” you are not going to be ripped at 200 pounds. Well, at least not without any “extra” help.

So, it really comes down to whether you wanna be big or look good, which one will it be?

Once Phil realized this fact, there wasn’t any barrier standing between him and his physique goal.

Advice from Phil if your life is too stressful for you to even think about fitness:

• You can do it, it’s not your circumstances, but your excuses that prevent you from achieving the body you want
• If you want to eat, stop for a moment and ask yourself whether you really want some food or if it’s not just your reward system trying to get something tasty in you
• You don’t need any insane cardio plan, it can help, but usually a few hours walking per week is enough, diet is the key
• Don’t tell other people what you are doing, they will discourage you, most won’t believe you and will try to hijack your goals or tell you that what you are doing is bad for you
• The best way to reset and calm down your reward system is to either go to sleep or go to the gym
• Sugar free candies, coffee, diet coke can help you with cravings
• You can eat virtually anything as long as you limit the amount
• Do a water deplete before the photoshoot to better show your body
• If you want to be ripped you have to overcome your limiting beliefs about weight and give yourself permission to be light
• If you want change in your life, your body has to change too
• Keep yourself busy and focus on your work rather than food, you will be productive and lose weight, that’s a win-win outcome
• No matter what happens in your life, or what you are going through, you can and also should get in shape
• The physical transformation will translate into being a better person overall
• When it comes to achieving a good looking body, it’s really all about achieving a quality lifestyle
• Listen to the podcasts, implement the advice, figure out what suits you the best and keep doing it until you get your desired results
• The way you will see yourself after the physical change will be remarkable
• Lots of people eat out of boredom and use it for entertainment, realize this and avoid it
• Just do it

Links from Phil’s interview:

• The main Adonis Index Workouts – Here are the original workout plans that have been responsible for some of the most amazing transformations online.
• Eat Stop Eat – Diet and lifestyle protocol that will help you stay on track with your weight loss while enjoying social eating events at a same time.

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

I thought the best years of my life were behind me.  In retrospect, it was one decision, one month prior to my birthday that truly changed my life.  I decided that I didn’t want to turn 37 feeling like a “chump.” That decision would begin a research process that would land me square in the middle of what I would come to know the Adonis Lifestyle.  The following is a sample of what I learned…

Click here to read the rest of the story

Listen to the interview here:

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