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:

• The “Photo-Shoot Ready” Recipe – Article from Allen Elliott about preparing for a photoshoot
• Eat Stop Eat – Diet Lifestyle protocol designed to help you to lose fat and regain freedom in your food choices

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:

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

Today John talks to 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 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:

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

Today John talks to Simon Bernard who won 1st place in the 12-Week Transformation.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Simon’s results after 12 weeks of the contest.

Simon has entered  a couple of our  contests but never  achieved his desired results. He stands at 5’7” and was about 145 pounds before finding the Adonis Index; today he weighs 127 pounds.

For this particular  contest,  he change his approach slightly.  What he decided to do differently was what  Adonis Index  preaches all the time – lose fat first, build muscle afterwards (or in the process).

Here’s his whole Adonis transformation:

Simon’s overall progress with Adonis Index.

Simon shared with us that while growing up he was always referred to as “the chubby kid”.

He had this idea of losing fat first and then building muscle already in his head in the past, but once he got involved in the fitness community his thinking became skewed. He was lead to believe that he should focus on getting bigger and bulking up. The industry convinced him that “mass & bulking” is the goal he should aim for and that excess energy will simply be converted into muscle tissue.

However, it really makes sense to get lean first and go from there. You can lose fat pretty quickly, it’s building muscle that takes some time. And since you can’t really eat your way up to bigger muscles, it doesn’t make sense to get fat in the process of  attempting to “put on” more muscle.

Another thing most people don’t realize is that you can actually do both!

You can build muscle while being in a caloric deficit. It won’t be that much and you won’t impress any bodybuilder with it, but if your training is good, then you can do it.

And since your energy levels and calorie intake will get better once you get lean you don’t really have to worry about the speed of building the muscles.

Focus on what you want, don’t let the fitness industry dictate your goals.

“Getting in Shape is Complicated and You Will Suffer in the Process”…Oh Really?!?

When it comes to mainstream media, people often lose touch with reality which results in the disbelief that getting in shape could be simple.

According to most fitness “experts” fat loss revolves around hormones, pills, special foods and supplements…it couldn’t possibly be about calories; a concept so simple even an eight year old could figure it out.

People try to  overcomplicate things, look for excuses and then wonder how they never manage to get in shape.

Simon did several 24 hour fasts during the 12 week contest period, he ate almost anything he wanted  and never skipped weekend social eating events full of drinking, eating at restaurants and snacking on “unhealthy food”.

During the week he ate a little less to prepare for the weekend in order to remain in the “fat burning zone”.

During the day he ate two meals – his first being breakfast and second, a late night dinner.

He kept it simple.

He didn’t even count calories;  simply guessing how much he ate.

Many will wonder how someone like Simon comes along and  makes a stunning transformation while eating pretty much whatever he wanted.  It appears magical when it’s actually just how your body works.

Once you understand the process, it’s just about finding a way to make it happen for you within your own  lifestyle.

Tips from Simon:

• Keep it simple
• Be consistent
• Follow the program as it is written, don’t change stuff
• Don’t involve too many people in the process (when you talk to people even if you are explaining things in the right way, most tend to be jealous and will question to your methods despite the fact that you may look better than them already)
• Prepare for your social eating events in advance (you can use intermittent fasting for example)
• Nobody has 12 weeks of perfection, you will have your ups and downs during your journey/contest
• I  have two different jobs and still managed to have time to got to the gym almost every day, it’s more about your mindset and  not the “in-depth” mechanics of your lifestyle

Links from the interview:

• Main Adonis Index Workout 3.1 – The workout that’s responsible for the most amazing transformations online
• Muscle Building Foundation – Build your muscle mass foundation in the next 12 weeks
• Booster Specializations – Bring up your lagging body parts

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

When I think about it, I’ve always wanted to have a great looking body. As a kid, it was probably more to resemble my favorite actors, like Shwartzenegger, or Van Damme… Later, I just understood all the benefits (health and social status) related to looking good. The only problem was I spent too much time philosophing and playing music rather than playing sports and ended up rather chubby. I tried many different approaches and…Continue reading here

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

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

Today John talks to Lester Sing who placed 4th in the 12-Week Transformation.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Awesome progress in just 12 weeks, what do you think?

Lester was always lean, at least till he got out of high school. That’s when he started gaining weight – and it wasn’t muscle.

This is pretty common, most people get out of school, stop doing sports, and begin living a sedentary lifestyle.

Lester gained quite a lot of weight and at his height 5’4” he got up to 180 pounds.

This is something that happens when you stop paying attention, start eating more, start attending more social eating events and stop exercising.

Lester realized that he had to do something about this so he invested in a couple workout programs and tried several different approaches.

He dropped to 139 pounds (achieved his goal) and decided to stay active.

However, he still wasn’t happy.

Even though he improved his body, he wasn’t comfortable taking his shirt off, yet.

As he said, he didn’t think he could see his abs again.

…Then he noticed an online ad for Adonis Index.

He jumped on board, got the workout plan, got into the community and started training.

He wanted to test out whether the program can produce any results for him.

And he was very surprised when he saw his final pictures.

Results Come with Patience

Lester played around with fasting and Pilon’s 24 hour fasting protocol called Eat Stop Eat.

What worked for him the most was fasting for 15 hours and then having the first big meal of the day.

It took him a lot to get from eating every 3 hours to eating just once a day.

And if you are experiencing something similar, then understand that changing your eating habits may take up to two weeks.

Your body needs to get used to eating less often. You will experience a hunger pang followed by a strong urge to eat.

It will take some time and effort to get used to it, but after about two weeks you will be comfortable with having an empty stomach and it’s at  that time when you will begin seeing the results.

The first week you will think that what you are doing is wrong, it will feel uncomfortable, because it’s simply something new.

…And your body subconsciously fights when you are trying new things.

But after you get over this initial first bump, you will feel great, you will feel alive, more in control.

It’s necessary to go through this, because it’s probably the best way to learn how to manage your food intake, you will just learn so much about yourself and about food and your eating habits that it’s impossible to describe it (even though Pilon did a pretty good job in his latest ESE book).

Tips from Lester:

• Dedication and consistency are necessary for you to succeed
• It’s a slow process so how much you want it will determine the results you will get
• Take lots of photos and then put them side by side
• Fat won’t come out all at once
• You will eventually get there it just takes time and patience
• You have the time to work out, and even if you miss a tv shows, so what?
• If you are used to eating at certain times (same goes for food choices) it will take a couple weeks for you to change it
• Don’t eat 6 times a day, it’s easier to track the calories when you have just two big meals
• Keep track of everything – weight log, strength log, measurements, photos
• Don’t be afraid to be light, it’s nothing to be ashamed of and quite frankly nobody gives a sh*t
• If the weight is messing with your head then don’t even bother, the mirror/photos is what matters

Links from the interview:

• Main Adonis Index Workout 3.1 – The workout that’s responsible for the most amazing transformations online
• Adonis Index Community – The friendliest and most helpful fitness community in the world
• Eat Stop Eat – Diet Lifestyle protocol designed to help you to lose fat and regain freedom in your food choices

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

Right after AT7, I had a binging frenzy and gained about 7lbs from 129 to 136.

Granted i’m short, but that 7 lbs made me look like I gained about 15lbs. The biggest mistake I think I did was restrict myself too much cutting calories down to 1200 a day throughout the contest, causing me to binge a lot of times in the weekend.

This time around my plan was to Continue reading here

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

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