Then Vs. Now: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

Today’s post is our latest installment of a new series called the “Coaches Corner.”  Our Adonis Transformation Coaches will share their knowledge, experience, and best practices to help ensure your successful transformation.  To continue the series, our topic  comes from none other than Adonis Legend,  Jason Haynes.

 

Then vs now

AGR System Development: 2007 to 2015

 

Today’s post was inspired by some guys on the Adonis Forums who were curious as to some of my thoughts on the state of the AGR Systems these days, I began to think back to when I first began AGR…some time around 2007, if my memory serves.

Just the topic of this blog makes me feel like an old-timer…lol.

 <in my old raspy “Grandpa” voice> 

“You youngsters think it’s so bad now…well, let me tell ya somethin’:  When I started on AGR, it was called AI, and we didn’t even have a nutrition calculator…we had to do research and actually work towards finding our caloric intake.  We only had three programs…way before the specific categories and paths that you have now.   Yep, Eat-Stop-Eat and AI…that’s all we had…and we were grateful, dagnabit!“

 

Ugh…but old man-reminiscent ranting aside, the above statement is true, nonetheless.

The AGR Systems have come a VERY long way since I started back before Adonis Transformation 1 even saw the light of day.

 

A Stroll Down Memory Lane:

It’s been several years and millions of brain cells ago, but I do (kind of) remember the initial program:  Adonis Index 1.0…yes, 1.0.  There were three categories…Build, Burn, and Build and Burn.  They were designed to do what they were named.  Three RAGE workouts existed.

 

Adonis Index Origins:  How I began my journey into the Adonis Lifestyle.

Adonis Index 1.0 : How I began my journey into the Adonis Lifestyle.

 

That’s it.  No extra workouts, no booster series (much less the advanced booster series), no Category 1,2 and 3.  And no nutrition calculator.

Somewhere around AI 2.0 we got a chat forum introduced which was a typical phpBB forum (I guess that’s what it’s called) with bare basics…I honestly don’t remember pictures being posted but I figure we posted pics.  I can name maybe 10 other guys on that forum…but there were only 5 or so that were on daily (who were the ones to make big changes, btw, but that’s another story).

AI 3.0 is when big things started to happen, though, and this train really picked up steam.  We got introduced to such things like MBF (Muscle Building Foundation), ATX, IXP, the Gauntlet…advanced boosters!!  We got one new Rage workout, too.

 

AI Rage 3.0:  The beginnings of something special.

Rage Workout Series circa. 2010: The beginnings of something special.

Anabolic Again was first introduced (not an AI Product, persay, but a great program developed by Brad Pilon).

Honestly, I don’t recall when several things fell into the treasure chest that is now called (or associated with) the Adonis Golden Ratio (AGR)….things like Covert Nutrition, The Anything Goes Diet, Muscle Index, etc.

Even as I’m writing this, I just KNOW I’m forgetting to mention some things…there was just so many things throughout the years.

There were many guidelines to follow as to what to do when, and a pluthera of podcasts to listen to.

 

Anabolic Again Month Two: This was a Beast of Workout; Most Memorable!

Anabolic Again Month Two: This was a Beast of Workout — Most Memorable!

 

Things I wish we had “Way Back Then”

 

 

AGR nutrition Calculator

AGR Nutrition Calculator

 

 

The nutrition calculator is a game changer and to the best of my knowledge there is nothing else like it out there.  Back in the day, we had to “best guess” our nutrition….take a dozen or so online calculations for our BMR or RMR, average them and then tweak for our personal situation.  It was not a small time spent in research, calculation, and tweaking.  These nutritional calculators often had a range of up to 1000 calories between the lowest and highest numbers!!  Then factor in all the other things (ie:  “how does this particular website calculate ‘intense workout?’” some calculators didn’t figure in all the necessary metrics, etc) and we had somewhere to begin…but it often took WEEKS to nail it down.

(Side note:  John Barban even told me that I, and others like me, were his guinea pigs in developing the nutrition calculator….which used to, and still does, make me smirk).

Now, we have the Nutrition Calculator.  Just plug in a few numbers and get going.  And as all the guys doing the AGR systems have the same goals, we don’t have to worry about the logistics behind other calculators/websites.  Now, while it is true that there is ALWAYS a period of adjusting to an individual’s needs and situation, it is not NEARLY as long or drawn out as before…and certainly not all the work (on my part) as it used to be.

 

AGR Reloaded: The Complete AGR System at your finger tips!

AGR Reloaded: The Complete AGR System at your finger tips!

 

I also wish we had the “complete system” that is AGR these days…it’s all laid out for you.  If you want to do it for yourself, you can do so, but if you want a specific “guided path,” that’s available these days too!

 

immersion-advanced-growth-shoulder-specialization-part-1

Immersion Content: Advanced Growth Series

 

Advanced Boosters:  Yes, we had them around AI 3.0, but they were in addition to the base program…as in:  “do 4 days of AI and then add in 2 days of these boosters.”  Nowadays, they are a COMPLETELY different animal altogether:  the boosters are complete programs in themselves!!  Oh, how I wish I had those “back in the day!”

 

How Do You Cross A Minefield? Walk Carefully Behind Your Coach!

 

 

The Coaching program, which I am privileged to be a part of, is a HUGE thing that lots of guys could have benefited from.  I was blessed to have John Barban as my coach (back in the day when there was just a few of us on the system), and I cannot speak enough of the benefits of having a guide to help and encourage a trainee during the process!  We even have several coaches, so if one of us has a story or background that clicks with you, you can even request one of us, specifically.

Conclusion:

It has been my privilege to have been around AGR throughout the years…and to see its evolution into what it is now:  a Complete System that leaves the guesswork out of it.  It’s flexible if you want it to be, but if you want something all ready to be used, there is a roadmap that has been made over the years and with hundreds of men testing it and accomplishing great results.  

I do not know what John and the crew have in mind for the next phase of the AGR Evolution, but I do believe that the system will continue to get better and better.

Until next time.

Train hard, train smart.

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2007-2010

Jason Haynes is one of the oldest members of the AGR community and has been around since he participated in the first and second AGR Transformation Competitions, of which he placed second and first, respectively.  Having found a system that he is confident in and that works, he has faithfully stuck by it ever since.  Now in his 40’s, Jason enjoys living the life of maintaining his physique easily and with little effort, thanks to the AGR system and tools provided.  He is also a coach in the Adonis Premiere Coaching program and desires to help anyone to achieve their fitness goals.

When Abundance Abounds…Shred Season Begins

Today’s post is two-fold.  It is both a reflection of the Summer Season,with the conclusion of contest AT-14. Also, returning to the regular line-up,  the latest installment of the new “Coaches Corner” with Jason Haynes.

 

Shred Season: The Final Countdown of AT14

Shred Season: The Final Countdown of AT14

Enter the Shredder: Final Countdown of AT14

In the last remaining days of AT14 it’s imperative that you maintain your pursuit towards that  “Golden” transformation.   Many will be making there final preparations this weekend or have already done so.

Contest Photo Submissions for AT14 will be due no later than Monday August 11th at midnight Eastern Standard Time.  AT14 is trending to be our largest competition to date based on the number of contest entries.

For many contestants, this is the first workout program that you’ve followed consistently.  Thank you for your commitment to the Adonis Golden Ratio Program and more importantly for your commitment to your own personal goals.

The time of this particular contest in conjunction with the summer months have been unofficially proclaimed to be the “Shred Season.”  Many people begin to shred not only their clothes, but their diets in order to hit the beach looking there very best.

Win or lose, remember that your transformation is a personal achievement and you should be very proud of your accomplishment.

In a previous post, I discussed the Four Key Ingredient necessary in order to become “Photo-Shoot Ready” on command.  Those ingredients are:

1. Conditioning

2. Posing

3. Tanning

4. Photography/Lighting

Keeping these concepts in mind will help you capture some amazing images of your new & improved physique.

In conclusion, to all my brothers in Iron, I hope your enjoying living the Adonis Lifestyle and to those contestants in AT14, come August 11th, I look forward to congratulating you on your transformation!

If you have any questions on the contest email me at:

ALLEN.E.MODEL@GMAIL.COM

Abundance Abounds

To continue the series, our topic  comes from none other than Adonis Transformation Coach and AGR Pioneer, Jason Haynes.

First, let me apologize for my absence and lack of blogs these days.  We have re-located internationally and as many of you may realize, that is NO small task…and with everything that it includes, some things naturally get put off until a later time.

But, I’m back and while FAR from settled in, 75% of all the major things have been handled and thus more time is available for writing.

So the last few weeks have been a hectic mess as we settle into life in the US after moving from Asia where I had lived for the previous ten years.  While there were a myriad of challenges and hurdles to overcome while living in Asia, abundance and ease of accessibility to food was NOT among them.

Indeed, in terms of food, nutrition, and drinks, we led a rather simple life simply because of what was available to us.  We ate lots of oatmeal (with protein powder thrown in), eggs, rice, noodles, pork , yogurt and vegetables.  We ix-nayed on the high calorie cakes and comfort foods simply because they were not easily accessible and, quite frankly, most of them didn’t appeal to me (or taste that good…I mean, no offense if you like them, but shrimp flavored potato chips simply have never “done” it for me…and the bakery cakes were simply too spongey).

So, because of these reasons, getting lean and staying that way was quite simple…I would almost say it was easy.  With the exception of a bi-weekly trip into downtown where we would indulge in a stuffed-crust pizza, everything was pretty standard in our household, meal-wise.

Weekly we would buy enough “fresh” meat from the market (or wet market), some frozen dumplings, and some other staples.  We’d buy fresh eggs almost every 3 days (we would go through 24 of them in about that amount of time), and fruit and vegetables daily.

Yes, we lived in the boondocks, BTW.

So when I used to hear John Barban or Brad Pilon talking about just how abundant and ultra-convenient food is here in the US and Canada, I could totally see and understand it although the true depth of that truth was impossible to grasp.

That is, until I got back home.

I have only been here about 28 days, but I can totally see what they saw…and what many of you ( and now me, too) have to deal with in terms of struggles with the super abundance and ultra convenience of the modern world.

I mean…wow.  Walking into a 7-11 for the first time in 10 years was a jaw-drawing experience.  I just went in for a coffee…a simple cup of unsweetened black Joe…and I froze in my tracks as there were what seemed like a dozen choices….and some of them seem downright odd (I mean:  I truly enjoy blueberries, and indeed they are probably my favorite fruit, but…blueberry coffee??  Really?).  The next sight I saw was what appeared to be a 20 ounce Red Bull, but I could NOT have seen that right…I mean..sheesh.

Walking to the cooler, I was greeted by a 4-pack of pre-made Muscle Milk in small, individual serving bottles. If I remember right, it was $7 for 2 bottles.  I remember doing the math at that time…to buy the pre-made stuff once a day every day would cost 3-5x more than just buying a 5lb bottle and mixing it yourself, depending where you bought your 5lb bottle, of course.

But hey, if you can afford it and want to throw money away…it is crazy convenient.

And that is just talking about convenience…but what about abundance???

Wow.

I could go on and on about just how ABUNDANT calories are here…and high calories at that!  With the amount of choices and the accessibility to food, it is no WONDER there is an obesity epidemic.

Don’t get me wrong…there are MANY wonderful and healthy food choices available.   Personally, I have taken a liking to something suggested to me on the Adonis Forums:  greek yogurt mixed with a certain brand of chunky applesauce and some cinnamon.   Same amount of protein as a standard 30g scoop of protein, basically, with minimal caloric differences.  I’ve also re-discovered old favorites I have not eaten for YEARS such as cottage cheese.

shred season-2

“Abundance Abounds in our Western Culture… Second only to Convenience.” – Jason Haynes

 

But I must, as I assume everyone struggles with, not allow the abundance and convenience of what is available to me to cause me to stray off target with my nutrition.  Yes, I have some leeway and also some “tricks” that any and every AGR client is encouraged to follow, but it is SO easy to fall into the caloric pit that access to tasty food can trap even the most diligent and strong-willed golden physique maintainer can fall into.

It is something we all must learn “on the fly.”  We also must learn to adapt as needed. We must not allow the abundance and convenience of the foods that are so tempting to overindulge in lure us away from our path of achieving and/or maintaining that golden physique.

All of this is pretty much standard fare for those guys who hang around the Adonis Forums for long enough.  Lots of tips and tricks are freely shared there as well. If you are an AGR client, I highly recommend you go and check it out.  If a forum search does not produce the results you are looking for, then post a topic.

Similarly, if you are looking for a dedicated coach to help you design your training and nutrition needs….someone who has done it successfully for himself and maintained his success, then check out the AGR Premiere Coaching program.

Train Hard, train smart.

Jason

 

No Training = No Muscle: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

Today’s post is our latest installment of a new series called the “Coaches Corner.”  Our Adonis Transformation Coaches will share their knowledge, experience, and best practices to help ensure your successful transformation.  To continue the series, our topic  comes from none other than Adonis Legend and AGR Pioneer, Jason Haynes.

No Training = No Muscle

No Train No Gain!

No Train No Gain!

 

Bodybuilding legend Vince Gironda used to advocate that bodybuilding was 80% nutrition and 20% training.

Granted, I am not a bodybuilder nor do I want to be one, but stay with me here.

This belief of “the Iron Guru” naturally leads to reason that without that 20% training you are not going to build any appreciative muscle.

Sorry, but that’s the way it is.  You can eat all the raw fertilized eggs and Rocky Mountain oysters all you want…you can mix the eggs into as much heavy whipping cream as you want (which is what Gironda advocated for muscle gaining diets), but you are still not going to gain any muscle without training.

Fact is that muscle is not going to mystically pop up on your body without putting in time and effort in the gym.

Now here is where the “nutrition only” people will want to skin me alive:  at the same time, guess what?  If you don’t watch your nutrition…if you eat like crap in more amounts than you need, but you still consistently train intensely…you’re going to gain muscle.

Now sure, chances are you’re going to get fat in the process if you don’t monitor your caloric intake…but the basic fact is that we can eat whatever we want in whatever amounts and gain muscle IF WE TRAIN CONSISTENTLY!

Conversely, if you eat 99.9999% perfectly and you don’t train, you’re STILL GOING TO BE SKINNY AND WEAK!  If your goal is to have an outstanding physique, you’re not going to even be remotely close to the physique that you desire if you’re not training consistently and with intensity.

On the contrary, I don’t care how perfect your diet is, without a properly designed training regimen that you follow consistently you will NOT…repeat:  NOT…achieve an outstanding physique.

PERIOD.

We at Adonis Golden Ratio Systems do NOT encourage nor endorse “bulking up” (i.e. eating massive amounts of calories which only end up making one fat), but the simple fact is that fat can be dieted away.  The muscle gained stays in a caloric deficit.  Therefore, as I said, if one is training consistently but eating like crap, muscle is still gained.

However, focusing purely on nutrition without proper, consistent training will make you “healthier” (what is the exact definition of that anyway?), but will get you NO WHERE on your journey to a golden physique.  I don’t care if you eat the most healthy (whatever that means) diet of perfectly measured protein, macro-and-micronutrients, and fruits and vegetables,  but if you don’t train you’re still not going to gain one single gram of muscle whatsoever.

REMEMBER: Muscles are torn in the gym, fed in the kitchen and built in bed.

REMEMBER: Muscles are TORN in the gym, FED in the kitchen and BUILT in bed.

 

Look, I am all for eating healthy, clean, unprocessed, natural foods with no chemicals.  I am still on the fence about GM (genetically modified) foods, although I am definitely more on the “No Way” side of that one.  Yet, when it comes down to it, there are two parts of the equation:  training for muscle mass and nutrition/diet for losing or controlling fat gain.

Takeaway:  without worrying about nutrition, as long as you are training and challenging yourself, you’re still gaining muscle mass.  You may look like crap shirtless…fat, bloated, whatever, but you’re still building up your muscles.

(Side note: strangely enough you don’t have to eat well to lose fat.  Look at the “Convenience Store Diet”/”Twinkie Diet” experiment by Professor Mark Haub of Kansas State University as an example.)

Anyway, back on topic, about it:  how many fat, bloated guys do you see in the gym?  Now, taking “gear” (steroids) out of the equation because they just “change the rules of the game,” how many fat but strong guys with appreciative muscle mass (but with no “cuts”) do you see in the gym?  They have muscle because they train for it.  They have strength because they train for it. But they look like crap because they are paying no attention to calories in vs. calories expended.

However, if these same guys paid attention to just nutrition but didn’t go to the gym…at best they would just be skinny…or worse:  skinny-fat…or just plain old fat.

Look, people say “well nutrition is 80% of the overall bodybuilding equation.”   Yes, I’ll agree with that.  But, that is:  if you want to be a bodybuilder.    And being a bodybuilder, by basic definition, means that you “build your body,” and that is done through using weights.

(Side note again:  are you truly wanting to be a “bodybuilder?”  Do you want to be on stage all oiled up and flexing?  If not, then you might want to consider what you are doing NOW to get to your goals instead of using the methods for those who are not after the same goals as you.)

Fact is:  Take away the work out…take away exercise…you can have the most perfect dialed in diet down to the .0001% of everything being perfect and correct…and you are STILL going to look like skinny, fat,  or skinny- fat.

Build muscle at the gym.  Lose or control fat gain through nutrition.  Period.

End of story.

If you’re looking for something to help you get that golden physique, then check out the AGR systems, which has helped hundreds of men of different ages and sizes to achieve outstanding results…numerous of them jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring.

Finally, if you need some extra accountability or any extra help with your transformation, sign up for our premier coaching system.  Each of our coaches (including myself) underwent their own personal transformations and have maintained their physiques for years.  Frankly, even professional athletes have a coach to tell them what to do.  Even the best of the best professional athletes don’t need to do it for themselves, and neither do you.

As always I welcome your comments via the AGR community forum.

Train hard.  Train smart.

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

Jason Haynes is one of the oldest members of the AGR community and has been around since he participated in the first and second AGR Transformation Competitions, of which he placed second and first, respectively.  Having found a system that he is confident in and that works, he has faithfully stuck by it ever since.  Now in his 40’s, Jason enjoys living the life of maintaining his physique easily and with little effort, thanks to the AGR system and tools provided.  He is also a coach in the Adonis Premiere Coaching program and desires to help anyone to achieve their fitness goals.

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes: May 2014

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes: May 2014

 

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