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AT9 12-Week Transformation Winners Announced

December 3, 2012 by

The AT9 results are in and the transformations our guys made are simply amazing!

Congratulations to everyone who entered and finished!

Here are the winners:

Peter Dickison – 1st Place

Peter Dickison – 1st Place – Before Photos

Peter Dickison – 1st Place – After Photos

Renne Ramirez – 2nd Place

Renne Ramirez – 2nd Place – Before Photos

Renne Ramirez – 2nd Place – After Photos

Carlos Irizarry – 3rd Place

Carlos Irizarry – 3rd Place – Before Photos

Carlos Irizarry – 3rd Place – After Photos

James Sanders – 4th Place

James Sanders – 4th Place – Before Photos

James Sanders – 4th Place – After Photos

Matthew Vincent – 5th Place

Matthew Vincent – 5th Place – Before Photos

Matthew Vincent – 5th Place – After Photos

Greg Porter – 6th Place

Greg Porter – 6th Place – Before Photos

Greg Porter – 6th Place – After Photos

Matthew – 7th Place

Matthew  – 5th Place – Before Photos

Matthew  – 5th Place – After Photos

Mark – 8th Place

Mark – 8th Place – Before Photos

Mark – 8th Place – After Photos

Michael R. – 9th Place

Michael R. – 9th Place – Before Photos

Michael R. – 9th Place – After Photos

John Sanders – 10th Place

John Sanders – 10th Place – Before Photos

John Sanders – 10th Place – After Photos

 

If you are wondering about what program they used then check out the Adonis Index systems that all of them followed. You can also look forward to their interviews coming up in January.

And again congratulations to everyone, good job.

 

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

Phi-Life Series: Super Hero Marketing

November 26, 2012 by

Today we bring you a podcast from our phi-life series.

Today’s topic: The Danger of Super Hero Marketing

Do you think you can get as big as the Incredible Hulk? A lot of guys certainly believe they can even though they logically know it’s impossible.

So can you get as big as the Hulk?

Deep down we know we can’t get this big, but that certainly doesn’t prevent us from trying. This never ending journey of aiming to get as big as The Hulk includes steroid intake, falling for the myth of bulking and mega dosing supplements.

We have been exposed to Super Heroes our entire life. From a young boy reading  comic books to a grown-up watching the latest Super Hero movie.  Then finally,  once we begin to explore the world of  fitness we are introduced to the real Super Hero – bodybuilders.  These “Super Heroes” may not be able to fly, but their physique’s certainly reminds us of The Hulk.

This is where things start to head down hill for the “Average Joe.”

When we get into the fitness and bodybuilding community we (for some bizarre reason) wanna live like bodybuilders. We want the lifestyle of Mr. Olympia, so even though we are not him and never will be, we still live to train and eat…We’ve all been down that road. Which is completely contrary to what we now here at Adonis Lifestyle teach – Eat and train to live.

This is a dangerous path to be on, because suddenly it becomes your identity, you are the weird “fitness guy” who never goes out, doesn’t know how to have fun and often times isn’t even in such a great shape (shirt on big, shirt off average or fat).

Well, today we will look into this mindset and determine where it all began.  We will discuss what influences cartoon Super Heroes have and how they actually shape your your fitness goals and the perception of your own body.

Also in today’s podcast, John talks about his experience with a salesman trying to pitch the very supplements he developed!

You will also learn and discover:

  • What type of  environment the supplements stores create which always compel you to buy more supplements
  • The difference between “online” supplements store and supplements stores that are “brick and mortar”
  • There are only 3-4 important supplement ingredients that are used and sold… so why are there so many “other” supplements?
  • How people make billions by selling products that aren’t effective
  • Why people buy supplements even when there isn’t any scientific evidence it actually works
  • Whether you can actually look like guys in the fitness/bodybuilding magazines
  • What specific documentary movie you can watch to get a clearer picture about the fitness industry
  • Why supplements sell
  • Why guys wanna be larger than life
  • Why you continue to buy the  newest supplements even though the last one’s didn’t work
  • What is a “Pipe  Dream” vs.  what is actually attainable &  How this makes a world of difference in terms of marketing and driving sales
  • How supplements advertising works

Listen to the podcast here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: body image, Muscle Building, Phi Life, Supplements Tagged With: , , , ,

DEXA Results from Slow Bulking and Muscle Imbalance Correction Training

November 21, 2012 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topics: Body Composition Analysis – DEXA Results

You can use DEXA scan to track down effectiveness of your training and diet.

From season one of uncensored podcasts you already know how you can use DEXA to track your progress.

But did you know that it’s also a very useful tool for experimenting with your body?

Check out how John and Brad used DEXA scan to measure effectiveness of the things they were trying in the last couple of weeks. Each of them tried a different thing.

John’s Experiment – Muscle Imbalance Correction Training

As you may already know know John can’t do barbell bench press, because off his shoulder issue. The last time he got his DEXA the results were astonishing, on his right side there was almost 2 pounds less lean mass (shoulder and arm). That’s a pretty big difference, it was obvious that the right side was significantly weaker and less developed.

Because of this, he decided to try to bring the right side back to normal, so both of his shoulders and arms would be balanced.

Now this is tricky, because if you just do barbell based exercises, one arm will work harder than the other and you will only make the problem worse.

So how would you go about it?

And how do you track such is small difference?

You can’t even go just by feeling and strength, you need to get another DEXA done to confirm the results.

John decided to create a specialized plan for himself and get another DEXA scan done at the end of this test to see what he could do about this.

As it turned out, you really can affect one side of your body and bring your lagging part back to normal to balance them out.

Surprisingly the answer wasn’t more weight, but more work and better muscle activation – as John shares in today’s episode, he had to take more time to warm up the right side to achieve the same activation throughout his regular workout.

Listen to the podcast for more information on this experiment.

Brad’s Experiment – Slow Bulking

As Brad confesses in today’s episode, he really wanted for bulking to work and I mean who doesn’t, eating more for more muscles? Sounds like a bodybuilder’s dream.

Well, the reality is different and rather boring.

In the past Brad has tried every way you could think of (and more) to make bulking work. He tried the standard 6 meals a day, 300 grams of protein, cheat days and even cheat weeks with 10 000 calorie intake and no result at all…well he did gain fat, but that’s not what he was really after.

So, it’s safe to say that bulking doesn’t work.

Then a couple months ago he thought about another way of trying bulking. He realized that each time he would try it, it would be a very quick process, never slow. So he decided to go about bulking up slowly, just a couple hundred calories here and there, he didn’t change his workouts, recorded everything and did a DEXA scan after the experiment was after.

If you wanna find out about the whole process and more importantly the results, go down and listen to the podcast.

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

  • How to prepare the muscles that you have hard time activating for the workout
  • How can you bring up a lagging part back up to balance it with the rest of the body if lifting heavier doesn’t help
  • What is slow bulking  and whether it can work for you
  • How you can get your goals hijacked with focusing on strength gains
  • Why it’s important to stop chasing weight at some point and what’s more important when the goal is muscle growth
  • How if you are not careful “body building” can turn into weight lifting and power lifting and why this is dangerous to your physique goals
  • Is there a relationship between being well trained at a certain movement/exercise and looking good? (The answer to this might surprise you)
  • How DEXA can help you see clearly through fitness disbeliefs and help you discover what truly works for your body and what’s just BS you should avoid

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

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

 

Filed Under: Food, Muscle Building, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Getting Closer to Your Ideal Body

November 19, 2012 by

Today we have an interview with Gavin Rennison.

Gavin has been following Adonis Index for about 12 months now and today he has decided to share with us his astonishing progress.

He is definitely among the more experienced and muscular guys in our community.

Check out his picture:

The ideal body shape – Lean muscle mass, no excess body fat.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

Gavin got into weight lifting at the age of 25, so right after juvenile muscle growth. You would say that he could not build lots of muscle after the age of 25, but then he has pictures that show otherwise. This is a proof that you can still gain lots of muscle mass even if you are not starting with your training in your teens or early 20s.

However, Gavin as most of the guys who go to the gym wasn’t very consistent with his workouts, it was on and off training throughout the years. He also lacked any knowledge in how to structure his workouts, so he just did basic splits like everyone else. Since he tried increasing weights on regular basis he got some results.

However, then he felt into the whole bulking, 6 meals a day approach, gained lots of weight as a result and got up to 200 pounds.

After finding out about Adonis Index he was shocked at the contrast between bodybuilding diet and Anything Goes Diet we preach here at AI. The bodybuilding diet is very strict, but doesn’t provide linear results compared to freewill eating with the AGD principles were the results are linear.

And that’s the issue with the traditional bodybuilding and fitness approach – too much hassle for little results. It doesn’t have to be that way, getting in shape and achieving an ideal body shape isn’t as difficult as people think.

You can make it simply, and quite frankly you should, because the chances of you getting achieving your ideal body with perfect measurements are ten times higher if you keep things simple. Once you overcomplicate your approach, start to read dozens of diet books, you will second guess yourself, you will try various approaches like 6 meals a day, bulking or whatever is hot right now and for no results.

Gavin decided to keep it simple and stick to his approach and he got amazing results.

Here are a couple more of his pictures:

Gav’s awesome photos from his photoshoot.

More Tips from Gav:

  • Know your boundaries
  • Be consistent
  • Don’t make it your lifestyle
  • If you have some fat to lose, lose it first, because once you do you will never have to do it again, you will get lean for life and as a bonus you’ll finally see how much muscle mass you have
  • Don’t try to get big at every cost
  • Don’t obsess over supplements
  • Do a photoshoot after your transformation (you can use it as a deadline)
  • Don’t ever try the traditional bulking, it doesn’t work and it’s stupid
  • Get a workout program that keeps changing, because that will keep you interested longer
  • Bounce back when you push it too far

Gav’s measurements:

  • Waist: 31″
  • Shoulders: 48.25″
  • AI score: 1.56

Links from the interview:

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

Well, where do I start in thanking all at Adonis for what they’ve achieved in creating such a simplistic approach to all things diet and fitness?! The Adonis Index has been a truly and literally life changing find for me. It has…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, Sage Advice, Stories, Transformation Tagged With: , , , ,

You Get What You Deserve

November 16, 2012 by

You’ll never know what a body like this can do for you until you’ve got it. This is one of my training clients Joe, he’s got a perfect Adonis Index Ratio in this picture!

Working out takes time, effort, dedication, repetition, practice and a fair amount of pain and discomfort.

Dieting takes dedication, discipline, mental effort, emotional effort, and requires a degree of self monitoring and self reflection that likely surpasses almost any other thing you’ll attempt to do in your life.

So why do it? Why bother? Is the shape you’re hoping to get into really worth all the work? Is it just a look and shape? Or is there more to it?

The simple answer is yes, yes the body and condition is worth it, and so is the change you will go through in self perception, and how you interact with everyone around you and how they choose to interact with you.

If you’ve ever worked your way to a great shape you already know how things change. You already know how they way you feel changes and how the way everyone around you changes.

If you’ve lost that condition due to life getting in the way you know what it’s like to miss it and what it back. This memory of how good it once was is all the incentive you need if this is you.

But if you’ve never been in the shape you want YET you’re somewhat going on a leap of faith. You’re hoping that as you change all the benefits that I’ve just mentioned will actually come true.

I can tell you that it IS worth it, and it WILL happen if you put the work in, and all the things you hope will happen will in fact happen.

It’s a bit of a cliche but it’s true for working out and getting in shape…and that is you get out of it what you put into it. If it were easy and everyone deserved the benefit that comes with building a great body then nobody would value it and it would cease to be something worth striving for.

In reality only a few people will get there and all the benefits will fall onto them because they’ve done the work to deserve it.

So do you want to be one of those deserving few?!

John

Filed Under: body image Tagged With: ,

Do You Have to Give Up Alcohol to Get Ripped?

November 12, 2012 by

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

Today John talks to Rodrigo Caceres who placed 3rd in our last 12-Week Transformation contest.

Check out his transformation pictures:

Rodrigo’s 12 week progress with Adonis Index.

Rodrigo wanted to place in the top 10 and he did, he placed third, let’s look at his story and what he did that brought him this results.

Until recently Rodrigo wasn’t doing any sort of training. He was stuck in the rut of  gaining weight after getting married. .

One day he decided to get back in shape. So he got a routine from a  personal trainer and started going to the gym. He got a bit leaner, but also got annoyed and bored with his routine, so when he stopped training he fell back into the rut of weight  gain.

He once again got back on  track by attending some spinning clases  combined with a “whole foods” diet.

But as he got leaner, he had no muscle mass and started to receive comments that he was “too skinny.”

In response to these comments he decided to join the bodybuilding community and adopted the usual approach – eat more, eat every 3 hours.

The result? Fat Gain yet once again.

Over the years this became a never ending cycle of weight loss and weight gain.

Rodrigo truly believed that if he leaned out he would have more muscle.

So in an act of desperation, he went online to find a way to lean out and that was when he stumbled upon Eat Stop Eat, which lead him to Adonis Index.

At first he didn’t want to accept the ideology, but listening to the podcasts and the grand opening of  a new gym near his home convinced him to get started.

Before we get into his transformation, there is something you need to know about Rodrigo, let’s consider his educational background.

Rodrigo studied philosophy, so his perspective is a bit different than most. He was used to self-analysis and introspection and was always consciously aware of his feeling at any giving moment. Posessing this knowledge he expected to have very little  trouble with the mechanics and assumed that the mental part of the transformation would  be fairly simple.

However, quite the opposite happened.

Truth is that the mental part of any transformation is tough, no matter what your experience  or expertise is. Even though some people have it easier, everyone will have to overcome inner challenges that’s why we call it a transformation, because at the end of it, you are a different person, both physically and mentally.

Rodrigo was very motivated, but like everyone he had moments when he felt a bit depressed.

He told us that this was actually one of the hardest mental challenges he’d ever went through.

It all seems superficial, but it’s really not and even despite the fact that the contest is only for 3 months it’s still very challenging. It’s just not what people expect  it will be, you have emotional ups and downs, and the process is far from straightforward.

It will definitely push you out of your comfort zone and force you to break old habits.

We always say that it’s simple but not easy, however this doesn’t mean it’s not doable.  A successful transformation is indeed possible and as you can see here, lots of people have gone before you. It’s important to realize that the promises you see on TV are false, it’s what the marketers wants you to believe to be true.  Nothing worth  pursuing in life is ever easy.

Can You Drink Alcohol and Cut?

As you have read previously from the Naughty Guide post, you can have alcohol and still get ripped, the key is moderation, as with anything.

Rodrigo decided that he won’t give up alcohol and that’s something he wants to enjoy even during the contest prep and he did. You can too if you want, it’s up to you whether you want to enjoy your calories in meal or drink.

What Rodrigo realized was that with drinking comes a lot of eating, so he limited himself  to only a couple of glasses and refrained from eating. This allowed him to stay within his weekly calorie budget and continue  to lose fat.

If you keep your eyes on your calories, no diet is impossible for fat loss.

Summary Rodrigo’s advice:

  • Stick to the workouts, they work and are fun to do
  • Always think of your form first to stay injury free
  • Treat your workouts like a meditation, you should relax your mind and stay fully focused on the training
  • Be strict with the rest periods (use stop watch) – Timing is important, people fail to get results when they don’t follow the workout plan exactly
  • Don’t worry about your bodyweight or how much you are lifting
  • Listen to all the podcasts and interviews
  • You don’t have to do cardio if you hate it, diet is what matters for fat loss
  • Get involved in the AI community, use the support there and help others
  • Expect to have bad days
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment
  • Be aware that the process isn’t nearly as glamorous as the end result

Links from the interview:

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

In one of my first blog posts, I wrote: “I’m thinking of entering AT8. This way I know I’ll just get there, get to where I’ve never been before, travel the road I’ve travelled so many times, but getting to the end this time.” I never expected what was coming.

This is the first time I stuck with a program…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: , , , , ,
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