Lessons from Richard: Accountability and Consistency using AI Workouts

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

Today John talks to Richard Tesorio who placed 8th in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Richard’s 12 week midterm results.

Here’s Richard’s story…

Richard graduated high school at 115 pounds soaking wet.  Naturally skinny, he was constantly trying to bulk up.

He always wanted that big, ripped defined body.

So one day he started working out  with a friend who had him been involved in some badass tactical operations. However, as awesome as that may sound,  he couldn’t even walk home after his first workout.

Something needed to change…

Richard decided to get a new trainer, however this guy was Somalian and just freakishly strong. Even though he got some results, there was no end goal to his training.  It was at this  time Richard hit an all-time low; he simply stopped going to the gym.

Finally, with a renewed vigor  he resumed his workouts, still chasing his dreams of attaining the ever so elusive ripped physique.

He knew of the Adonis Index System as early as 2008, but busy with life, he never applied himself to the workouts.

Before fully committing to AI, Richard tried running, cardio and insanity workouts…he was stuck in a cycle of hopping from program to program, not getting any results.

To make matters worse, although he recovered from a thyroid issue, he made no changes to his diet which ballooned his weight from 115 to 140 pounds; his weight gain finally leveled off at 159 pounds.

Now burdened with the unwanted bulk from his weight gain, Richard tried a few diets, but hadn’t yet learned the concept of calories in and out.

He also had no understanding of body shape, he would lose weight, only to become a smaller version of himself and not the better looking version, as he hoped for.

He was very unsatisfied with his physique, however, since he was still getting the Adonis Index emails and had the program, he finally decided to commit and try this Adonis thing.

Patience Will Help you Win the Game…Rushing Will Only Backfire your Progress

Richard’s initial approach to the Adonis Index workouts was very smart.

Before he started worrying about big gains he just wanted to get into the habit of going to the gym. In the evening there’s simply too many people, so he figured that mornings will be less crowded and more equipment will be free for him to use.

At first he was like everyone else comparing himself to other people, but you know you shouldn’t do that, and like Richard said, looking back most of these people don’t even know what the hell they are doing.

Once he figured out that he needed to focus on himself, he started learning the moves and focusing on the lift with lighter weights. He basically gave himself a permission to lift light at first. By learning the proper techniques he progressed quickly without getting injured in the process.

Richard starts his mornings with water and black coffee and performs his Adonis Index workout; he then fasts until 5:30PM.

This routine is in accordance with most people’s schedules so he is able to remain social at events that normally occur in the evenings.

A typical diet normally involves some sort of restriction, but most people try to restrict too much, because they strive for quick results. Sadly, this is a proven method for failure. The goal should be to make that restriction feel as minimal as possible.

You can have sweets and cupcakes, it doesn’t matter as long as you restrict calories and have some balance in your diet. However, be prepared for some resistance. Because it looks crazy if you are eating “junk food” in public, it doesn’t make any sense to them that you could be eating like this and be following a supposed fat-loss diet. In the grand scheme of things. that donut is insignificant; no one knows you fasted for 16 hours and will finish with a medium-sized dinner. They’ve had their two meals already and plan on having another two, so if they ate a donut they know it might be too much fattening food for them.

In conclusion, although Richard’s Journey was filled with many peaks and valley’s, his lessons learned in consistency and accountability led him thru a successful 12 week Transformation.

Tips from Richard:

  • Set boundaries and live within them
  • Find a text buddy for encouragement (FYI you can use the forum for that)
  • Find an app to hold you accountable with going to the (Richard shares a name of that app in the interview)
  • Learn about the concepts of the Reverse Taper Diet
    • You need to get used to the idea that the progress will get slower, don’t get attached to the speed that happens at the beginning, we all want it quicker, but that’s why people rebound when they try to make quick progress.
    • Ask yourself this: “Do you want quick results or permanent transformation?”
    • It has to take long time in order for you to learn how to keep your new body – Accept the slower result
    • You wanna keep looking good so make it a lifestyle, make it sustainable
  • Everyone proved the Adonis index workouts work, so just follow them
  • Keep going even if nothing seems to be working, you will get there eventually and once you are on a right path it’s just a matter of time
  • Don’t let anything (or anyone) discourage you
  • Find your best time to work out, work out when you have the most energy or when it best fits your schedule
  • Photos and measurements are really important, but don’t worry about the scale
  • Listen to the podcasts, find people you can relate to and learn from them
  • Filter and ignore other advice (this should be #1 tip of any coach), it will help you keep on track, if you let any advice come to you, you will never get any results

Links from the interview:

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

I first heard about the Adonis Index back in 2008 through Brad Howard who was doing some dating advice for men with a guy named Scot McKay. So in November 2008, I signed up for the Adonis program, got beta access to the forums and workouts. But, I put it away because I was busy with life at the time.

Fast forward to January 2012 & I was at a point where I wanted to get my life in order. I had tried other workouts…Continue reading here

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

The Truth about Silo Science and the Misinterpretation of Research

Here’s the first part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic: Silo Science.

What is Silo Science?

Silo science is focusing on one specific area of research without seeing how it affects other areas. In the case of diet and fitness it’s looking too closely at one spot without seeing the bigger picture and how all systems of the body are related.  John Barban

The real science is different from what you hear from media.

Silo science is like doing a research, but with your blinders on.

Why?

Because silo scientists are focusing only at one specific area and ignoring the rest. But as we know, your body functions as a whole system, so looking into what’s going on in one area and ignoring anything else is not very useful for us in real life.

However, this type of research is exactly what’s misused online. It’s gotten to a point where people are now confused about science and the human body.

The truth of the matter is you have to look at the bigger picture, you can’t take only what you like and ignore the rest.  Which is exactly what most the fitness marketers and journalists are doing.

No supplement does just one thing, there’s always more to the story.

Case in point, Ever took a pill and experienced side effects?

Every time you introduce something into your body there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

Most people understand this with drugs, but almost no one considers this possibility with supplements.

Not only do people who use silo science try to make a point about how the body works, they often leverage only the abstract or headlines of some papers to conform the research for their benefit.

You should especially be aware of the perfect answers about hormones you see online nowadays, because most people never bother looking at the whole picture, only the results you desire.

Today we are going to look at the reality of the research and it’s misinterpreted online and in fitness media.

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • How the mechanics of a study works and what we look at in the research
  • How the study gets funded and why it matters to you who funds it
  • Why everything you see online should be taken with a grain of salt
  • How many people actually participate in the study (less than you think) and how this affects the results of that study
  • How robust the studies actually are (not as much as the media would have you believe)
  • Anything that has a dose response will or can have side effects
  • The reality of people doing the whole gotcha with science argument and scare mongering you into buying new products that you don’t need
  • How to find out if people quoting studies really understand what they are saying or if they just read the abstract at pubmed

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

Our Youngest Adonis

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

Today John talks to Tommy Lacaprucia who placed 2nd in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Tommy is our youngest contestant.

Tommy isn’t even 17 years old yet, so he is by far our youngest contestant.

For only a 12 week transformation, his progress is outstanding.

Tommy admitted that growing up he was always on the chubby side and he  deeply desired to get in shape. As a result, he turned to a popular TV fitness program.  However, with this program he was constantly overtraining and under eating. His motivation was spot on, but the process he followed didn’t yield the results he wanted.   After all, his goal was  to be in shape yesterday

No fault of his own, as this is what we all want. But during a transformation patience is key.

Sadly, Tommy  ended up losing muscle mass, and became what we call “skinny fat”.  To make matters worse, he even began to receive comments from his family concerned about his health and appearance.

Before doing this crazy TV finess program he at least looked good with his shirt on, but  mentally, this program really screwed him up.

Thankfully, the tide turned in Tommy’s  favor in January of this year when he discovered the Adonis Index system. He agrees that this was a game changer for him.

He used our regular workouts with a few booster specializations, accompanied with the Reverse Taper Diet and Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat.

Standing at a height of  5’10” he went from 163 pounds to 144 pounds, gained muscle and lost significant amount of fat.  His new look landed him a more aesthetic body shape with visible abs, just scroll up for pictures.

Keep in mind, this is only after 12 weeks, just imagine what Tommy can look like after 12 months or 12 years. It’s amazing what can happen when you find a program that works and stick to it.

 

Experience Cannot Be Bought

Do you remember your very first workout?

You probably felt endless amounts of pain the next few days after your workout. That’s because your body wasn’t used to the physical stress; you were probably sore for a week just from one workout.

But as you probably also remember this changed pretty quickly and in no time you could handle 3 workouts like that in a single week.

But there is one more thing we haven’t mentioned yet. Once you get over this “muscle learning curve” you can handle as many  workouts as the older, more experienced guys.

Why is that?

This is partly because when you are new to weight training, you can’t use the workout in it’s full potential like somebody with let’s say with 20 years of experience.

Younger and less experienced guys just can’t generate the same amount of intensity with training.

Tommy’s solution was to was add SEVERAL boosters to the main workout module.

If you recall the interviews with Vivek and Adam, you’ll recall that they both trained twice a day!

Sure you might get sore, but if it’s not an injury, why not suck it up, train more often and get double the gains?

This is something you might wanna consider and experiment with.

As long as you have the energy and time, there is no reason for you not to add more training volume and sessions to your regimen.

Links from the interview:

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

I’ve been following AI since January 1, 2012 and I absolutely love everything about it!

Currently I am following the RTD and fasting twice a week. While doing so, I still eat large meals and I am always feeling satisfied, even while being in a caloric deficit. With this approach I’ve gained a tremendous amount of muscle and strength, while simultaneously losing BF.

This has not only transformed my physique, but it transformed my life in many ways also! Being in high school, it’s…Continue reading here 

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

“The D.I.Y. Photo-Shoot” feat. Anthony Rivest

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

Today John talks to Anthony Rivest who placed 5th in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Anthony’s 12 week mid term results.

Anthony was very proud of the progress he made in his 12 week transformation.  His next goal is to achieve his “ideal” AI numbers.

However, it’s his amazing pictures that we’d like to highlight in this blog post.

The phrase, Do it yourself (DIY) refers to building, modifying, or repairing something without the aid of experts or professionals.

Surprisingly enough,  Anthony didn’t hire a professional photographer nor did he did do anything crazy for his photo-shoot prep.

It was all homemade, just a bed sheet, mild water depletion, and a short fast.

The result? No pressure, no money spent, and zero stress.

Anthony even had cake and fajitas on the day before the shoot!

While there are several different approaches to arriving “photo-shoot ready”, most of them are essential only if you are well-developed  and taking performance enhancement drugs; otherwise not really.

 

Let’s Uncover the Mystery Around Dieting

Since Anthony is a bit taller than most people his BMR is significantly higher and so is his appetite.

This means that when he eats, he eats a lot of food at one sitting. Let’s break down his approach a bit and maybe you can incorporate some of his techniques into your lifestyle.

For the most part it’s based on the principles of Eat Stop Eat and Anything Goes Diet, it also happens to be an approach that lots of people in the Adonis community have incorporated.

The thing is that apart from the many flaws that the traditional approach “eat every three hours” has is that if you eat light meals all the time you will never feel satisfied and that can lead to some serious binge eating.

This is why it makes more sense to have fewer, but big meals.

You will also spend less time on cooking, eating, cleaning the dishes.

Not eating AKA fasting not only saves time, removes the thinking about food, but it also helps you stay more focused and productive.

Anthony also told us that fasting helps him with school, he even credits getting better grades because of it. When all the students get back from launch break to class, they feel tired, but Anthony is full of energy and he is able to concentrate.

And it’s not just that skipping lunch helps, skipping breakfast is the same. You have to realize that as soon as you have at least a medium size meal you will feel tired and sleepy, definitely not like learning or working.

Most people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, well what it seems that actually skipping the breakfast and eating food later is the best thing you can do.

It’s literally breaking the fast, so try to move it as far into the day as possible. …And my guess is that you aren’t even hungry when you wake up, just thirsty and need to drink some water, so maybe you are mistaking hunger for thirst.

If you are not ready for a full fast yet, try to gradually move the first meal of the day further ahead.

If you wake up at 6am, regularly eat at 7am and want to benefit from the intermittent fasting, try to move your first meal to 10am.

Once you are comfortable with that you can move that first meal to 2pm and then try to do the full 24 fast. Just give it a few weeks until your body gets used to it.

It’s better to start your day with a coffee and if you are like Anthony, you would start your day not only with coffee but also with your workout.

If you do your workout in the morning, you have the rest of the day to do whatever you like. However, if you planned the workout for the afternoon,  chances increase that you may skip it.

This may sound non important but this is one of the reasons people don’t get results – they just skip the workouts…and there is always an excuse…

  • I’m too tired
  • I need to finish my work
  • I have stuff for school
  • I’m going out with friends
  • I’ve just eaten
  • I’m hungry, I need to eat
  • There will be too many people (and meatheads!) in the gym

…and so on.

Set the conditions in a way that your success will be inevitable.

In the morning it’s usually easier to get things done, you have more energy, you are fasted, there is less excuses to choose from, there is enough time, you have more will power and nobody is bothering you, because most of the people are still sleeping. Simply nothing comes up in the morning.

On the other hand some people prefer working out at noon because that’s when they are the strongest.

Try both for a couple weeks and go with the option that feels the best.

Are You Overtraining?

Anthony never wanted to be a big freak that everyone is staring at (in reality it’s mostly guys who stare, women  think it’s disgusting).

What Anthony wanted was to build a good looking body and become a guy who projects leadership and confidence. And since you are reading this my guess is that you have a same goal. Anthony was using the main AI systems and the boosters (not just one, but several) and he was training 7-10 days straight without any break.

You may think that this could result in overtraining, but this term is overrated, misunderstood and misused a lot in the fitness industry. You would have to be a professional athlete or military to reach your limits and experience true overtraining. If your training seems too much it’s because you are under-conditioned.

Stop Focusing on Weight and Trying to Impress Other Dudes in the Gym

Anthony had to give himself a permission to be light and permission to lift light.

This is important and a lot of guys struggle with it. Stop trying to impress that big guy in the gym.

Realize that athletes or models,  are outliers with amazing genetics and lots of them are using various drugs.

And it’s not like you are walking with a weight label on your forehead, nobody gives a sh*t about how much you weigh. The only time weight would matter would be if you were competing in a sport with weight classes, i.e. boxing.

As far as people in the gym are concerned, nobody cares how much heavy you are or how much heavy you lift, everybody is doing their OWN thing. We can be very self-conscious and self-absorbed, just think for a minute, the gym is basically a room full of people just staring at themselves, so why would you work to  try to impress them?

What’s Your Goal Really? Find Your “Why” and You Are Half Way There…

You need to find your why, what is it that drives you? To feel comfortable around women? To become a better boyfriend? – these are all great reasons and will work well as your motivation.

 

For Anthony it’s becoming a great model and actor. There are a lot of reasons for you to want to improve your physique.

Remember, if you do the work, the results will come.

Tips from Anthony:

  • What works for me is having two big meals a day, when I eat I like to eat big
  • I really like to sit down and enjoy food, but I do this at the end of the day, so I can be more concentrated when needed
  • Most people will do better pushing the first meal further back in the day
  • Every single morning I wake up and get my AI workout done, I know when I wake up and take action; I’m one step closer to  my goal
  • You don’t need supplements, I took no supplements during the contest, honestly I just started taking creatine a couple weeks ago
  • Visualizing and doing affirmations in my head helped me stay focused
  • You need to have a big enough “why”
  • It takes time, patience is get results

Links from the interview:

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

My young Adonis Journey started April 12th. The real dedication to work towards one of my greatest goal, have the most aesthetic physique possible naturally, at my height of 6’3.5”. The Adonis philosophy is the best thing that happened in my life so far. I love to… Continue reading here

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

Eat for “Flavor” & The 6 Step Recovery Method from Orthorexia

Here’s the second part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2 on Orthorexia.

Check out the first part here: The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

What we covered in the first part:

  • We’ve talked about how certain foods can completely mess up your personality and social identity
  • You learned why people in the fitness industry feel superiority over you because of their diet choices
  • You discovered why you should bother tracking and testing things related to nutrition and not just training
  • You learned about the connection between people suffering from orthorexia and drug addicts
  • You also discovered what’s really in the root of the search for healthy eating and if that goal is really achievable
  • You learned that orthorexia is a marketing driven eating disorder and that the food and fitness industry are making billions just from people getting fatter every year

Let Go of the Good Food/Bad Food Belief

You need to learn to let go of the good food, bad food belief and dump all the bad food lists. And instead start focusing on the foods that taste good, are filling and make you feel great.

It’s a mind shift and a whole different perception, especially if you have been exposed to the mainstream fitness media for the last couple of decades.

Ask yourself this question: ” What do I like to eat?” And eat exactly that!

A lot of people will be thinking that this statement means you can eat burgers and ice cream all day long. Well, that’s not true. Nobody can do go on a diet like that and that’s a pretty boring lifestyle to have.

There are lots of food choices, if chicken with broccoli and chocolate with ice cream are the only meals you know you are limiting yourself and preventing yourself from tasting some amazing foods that are also rich in nutrients.

Get a variety in your diet and start experimenting with different cuisines. Just ask yourself, what exotic meal you haven’t tried yet?

Believe it or not, there are other foods and meals outside the “healthy” recommended by fitness media and “unhealthy junk food” like chocolate or burgers. There are a lot of other options and they can be very tasty.

Today John Barban and Brad Pilon will show you how to switch  from good/bad thinking into “eating what I really like and what makes me feel good” and “what would be the best and most tasty option for me?“.

If you’ve heard the first podcast and you’ve read so far then you understand what’s the point of it, but you may still be unsure of the whole process, so before you listen to today’s episode where John and Brad discuss this in great detail, let’s look over the steps you can take to recover from Orthorexia and start eating for flavor:

  1. Realize that any health message is a marketing message
  2. Understand that you won’t cheat death, and especially not by choosing different foods
  3. Create new food lists, but assign them different meanings (e.g. rank them by flavor)
  4. Make a list of foods that makes you bloated or that you are allergic to
  5. Evaluate every food on those lists based on how much you enjoy it, how many calories it contains etc.
  6. [you will have to listen to the interview for this one :)]
There is a lot of choice outside the traditional healthy and unhealthy lists AKA good foods/bad foods. European and Asian cuisines are very rich in different flavors and tastes, just start experimenting. Today we are going to give you the permission to do that and explain you why it’s beneficial and how to go about it.

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

After 4 Years in the “Fitness Wilderness”… Finally on the Path of The Adonis Lifestyle

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

Today John talks to Miguel Garcia who placed 10th in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Miguel never trained in his life until recently. He began his fitness journey about 4 years ago when he  joined a gym and began working with a personal trainer.

He created a workout routine for Miguel that was all about endurance (why endurance?!?)…but even after 6 months of doing this intense training routine he didn’t see any changes, so he dropped out of the program.

After that he started researching on the Internet wanting to learn more about fitness and training. And since 99% of the websites talked about bulking and cutting philosophy it seemed like  the next logical step for him.

He noticed a few changes, but it was only with his shirt on. He gained weight, but he still wasn’t satisfied with the way he looked. The regiment of eating five times a day and  just wasn’t sustainable for him.

It felt like another job for him and truth to be told, that’s really not how it’s supposed to be.

Miguel never wanted to be huge and live a bodybuilding lifestyle. He just wanted to be in shape with defined muscles.

So he started researching again.

He believed his chances of achieving  a body he would like would be near impossible.

So instead he focused on being more healthy, he took on running and jumped on the famous P90X workout. He finished that program, but he told us that by the end the only thing he wanted to do was to break the DVDs, that’s how difficult it was to get through the program.

He gained musle, lost fat, and could run faster, but it still wasn’t what he expected; let alone the enormous amount of effort it took for him get there.
This just reinforced the belief that it was extremely difficult if not impossible to get in shape, at least for him.
It was at this point that Miguel hit an all time low.
He dropped off everything and was done with fitness, he was just so beaten up and disappointed that he didn’t want to exercise anymore and he started eating a lot.

He gained lots of weight, and it wasn’t even the bulk look, it was just plain fat.

One day he looked at himself and became concerned he was losing control and that his health was at risk.

He found another workout program, finished it and saw no results and no change in his body shape yet AGAIN.

And on top of that, because it was a pretty intense program it stimulated his appetite and pushed him to eat more.

It was a lot of work with no pay off.

He started researching again and FINALLY he found the Adonis Index.

At first he thought it was some kind of scam, which doesn’t come as such a surprise considering he came from hard work, no rest, bulking philosophy approach and here at Adonis Index we contradict almost everything that you hear from the conventional fitness media.

But since he never got any serious results, he gave it a shot and after 12 weeks of the mid-term contest for the first time in his life he started seeing some good change, just check out the photos at the top of the page.

Today he is on the path of getting the body he wants… So what about you? Where are you on the path to achieving the body YOU want?

Moving on, let’s hear a little more from Miguel.

Tips from Miguel:

  • Be social during the weekends and just prepare for it during the week
  • You can go undercover with your approach, my girlfriend was the only one who knew what I was doing
  • Progress is progress, even if it’s just baby steps
  • Seriously try something and make up your mind after you do it, not before– give it an honest go, then you will be able to say if it worked or not
  • Trust the program and take measurements along the way

Links from the interview:

  • Muscle Building Foundation – Do you think you are too far from even think even ideal body shape? Do you want to build some mass first, try the MBF
  • Anything Goes Diet – Diet program that lets you eat the foods you love, it’s time to dump your “can’t eat that” list and start enjoying your food while getting leaner
  • Eat Stop Eat – Diet Lifestyle protocol designed to help you to lose fat and regain freedom in your food choices
  • Adonis Index Main Workouts 3.1 – The original AI workout responsible for the best male online transformations
  • Adonis Index Specializations – Bonus workouts designed to help you boost muscle growth in weak and lagging body parts

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

Support