|
Name: Brett Fitzgerald
Before: January 8, 2006
After: May 28, 2008
When I graduated from high school in 1998, I weighed about 120 pounds. I considered myself to be a hard-gainer, but found out that I played so much basketball (30 hours a week at least) that it didn't matter what I ate. While in college in 2001, I found a web site about building muscle, skinnyguy.net. I followed the free advice on the site and by the time I was out of college in 2002, I weighed 175 pounds and had a wrestler's body, although I did get fat in the stomach. I continued to do manual labor jobs and it didn't matter how much beer I drank or how many Oreo cookies I ate right before I went to sleep, I just hovered around 160-165 and didn't get any fatter.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Brett Fitzgerald's Barbell Row Progress. In October 2004, I began working as an independent contractor selling library books and spent most of my time driving, so I was no longer doing manual labor. I was still drinking heavily and eating fast food to save time. I would eat a double cheeseburger, large fries, large soda, and eat the same thing three hours later! It hit me July 2005 when I was at my uncle's house eating some barbecue. I stood on the scale and was at 190 pounds at 5'7" and a small frame to boot. My fairly muscular cousin who's 6'2" stood on the scale and weighed 180. It hit me BIG time! I have to lose this weight!
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Had To Lose The Weight.
I lost some weight by just eating Subway and drinking water or tea. I got down to around 175 by Christmas, but it wasn't good enough for me because I wanted to be lean and at least somewhat muscular or at least toned. Now that I wasn't on a college wage anymore, I decided to purchase the program from skinnyguy.net. What I found is the book doesn't just teach you about workouts, but it taught about hormones, proper diet, proper lifting form, dealing with adversity, etc. - way more than I'd ever expected to be covered in a book! I also read Body For Life by Bill Phillips, which contains invaluable information as well.
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Wanted To Be Lean And Muscular. As for training, I did cardio 3 times a week for 30-60 minutes each session at least 75 percent of my target heart rate. I prefer the stationary bike to help my knee problems. I lifted weights three times a week for 45-60 minutes each session. I ate six meals a day spaced 3 hours or less apart from each other and followed a 40/30/30 ratio for my daily consumption. For the diet, forty percent of all calories came from protein (lean only), 30 from carbs (mostly fibrous carbs - at least 25g of fiber a day), and 30 from fats (Omega 3,6 & 9, as well as unsaturated). I based my daily caloric intake on my lean body mass (body weight - body fat) x 12.
For example, I was 173 pounds with 23 percent body fat. 173 x (1-.23) = 133 pounds LBM x 12 = 1600 calories a day. On lifting days, I had 2000 because I consume a 400 calorie recovery shake immediately after I'm done lifting weights. NO TRANS FATS EVER! However, I allow myself 1 cheat meal a week for good behavior. Even if I couldn't get a full meal, I at least made sure that I had some form of protein every 3 hours, whether that is a protein bar or beef jerky - I never missed getting essential protein so that I could try to maintain my muscle mass. Here's the diet math:
Other Supplements:
Most of my day is spent driving, so the diet was quite difficult for me and I had to be somewhat creative and find foods that wouldn't spoil in the heat/cold, but still tasted well. This is pretty much the diet that I started with. As I got further, I was able to "wing it" a little bit better.
9:00 AM: 12:00 PM: 3:00 PM: 6:00 PM: 9:00 PM: On lifting days, I would have 1 serving of Twinlab's Ultra Fuel (100g of carbs/400 calories) immediately after my session, then I would go home and have my post workout meal. I think a person should always have a "yes" list of protein, carbs, and fat. Simply choose foods from that list and be creative with your meals. For example:
 Click Image To Enlarge.Brett Fitzgerald.
Basically, I never do the same session for longer than 6 weeks; I always switch it up to avoid a plateau. For the most part, I separate everything as pushing (chest, shoulders, and triceps), pulling (biceps and back), abs and legs. Due to my traveling lifestyle, sometimes, I was only able to lift twice a week, but I did my best to follow it as outlined. I never have a cardio day before a leg day because I want my legs to be 100% for that day, so I always have a "rest" day before leg day.
Session 1: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
Session 2: Legs
Session 3: Back, Biceps & Abs
Session 1: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
Session 2: Legs
Session 3: Back, Biceps & Abs
Session 1: Chest & Back
Session 2: Legs
Session 3: Shoulders & Arms
Repeat cycle but keep cardio difficult. Always try to increase the speed, angle, resistance, etc. of your machine to challenge yourself.
Something that really helped me in the beginning was when I took a photo of myself and found a photo of Matthew McConaughey (who, at that time, was voted best body in Hollywood). I taped them side by side on the mirror I used every morning to shave, brush my teeth, etc. This served as a daily reminder of who I was and who I want to be. I think having an ideal goal body in mind and a daily visual is a great motivator.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Having An Ideal Goal Body In Mind Is A Great Motivator. Don't listen to negative people and do your best to surround yourself with positive people. Most people in the gym offer bad advice - it's easy to tell because you see the same people in the gym year after year lifting the same weights and doing the same routine, and their bodies never change. What I've learned is that 99.9% of people just talk and 0.1% do. Stay focused, do your job, get in, and get out.
Don't dream, instead, set goals. Dreams are what people want to have, but people who set goals strive to earn those goals then set new goals. Good luck on your journey and come visit my BodySpace! Male Transformation Of The Week Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
Related Articles
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Sign in for more FREE features and tools!
|
|
Give Us Feedback:
Report A ProblemSite Feedback |
Follow Us:
|
Bodybuilding.com Newsletter
Receive exciting features, |
