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 By: John Downs Jr.
Name: John Downs Jr
After graduating college I was depleted from putting myself through school and supporting my stay at home wife. I was way out of shape and not happy. Through my life I had never been involved in any sports or physical activities. Furthermore I did not have a clue on what was nutrition was.
  Click Image To Enlarge. I Was Depleted After College. Now, that I had more free time to put my energy toward researching nutrition and exercise. This decision had to become a life change. In the past anything I put my mind and passion toward I succeed at, so this was no different. It was game time!
 Click Image To Enlarge. I Knew Nothing About Nutrition.
Once I decided that I would make this a life change and have to stick with it forever the journey began. I would visit Bodybuilding.com and read the transformations of the week and also the current and past amateur bodybuilders of the week, to find out what they were doing.
 Click Image To Enlarge. Reading Up On Other Transformations Helped Me Make My Own. To my amazement the core of all their statements were the same. At that moment I realized this was not rocket science. I began to eat high protein, moderate carbs, good healthy fats. I started working out a little at first. The food became a problem in that it was boring and bland. Bill Philips had come out with an Eating For Life Cookbook that changed everything. I always wanted to learn how to cook and now I was making great healthy food. After 1 month I didn't even feel as though I were on a strict diet. I then did not even want to eat junk food, although I do have a free meal or two once a week in the middle of the day on Sunday.
From 06-05 to 02-06 I was making small consistent gains. February of 2006 is when I decided to get really serious and built my home gym; worked out 6 days a week by incorporating weight training. This is when I really started seeing results. The success just compounds every week. It is slow but bit by bit adds up. A little fat loss here some muscle here and before you know it WOW!
My inspirations were previous transformation of the week winners John Stone, Louis Dorman, and Kevin Hubbard. Reading their stories really kept me going. If they could do it then so could I. My entire transformation was achieved by building a home gym like John Stone, "Thanks John." I calculated how much I would spend over a lifetime at a gym ($45x12mths x40yrs) ($21,600) and at the end have nothing to show for it. Buying high quality equipment one piece at a time was a great investment. Everyday I don't have to waste time driving to a gym, I just wake up hit my Precor elliptical machine or weights and I am done. I have not yet arrived or achieved my goal of having the body of previous bodybuilder of the week Brenton Robinson of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but it's something I work on every single day.
If I start to get sick of a certain type of food then I mix it up and do not eat that food for awhile. Once I got so sick of cottage cheese I did not eat it for almost half a year.
I do a pyramid system and then do 4 sets of 6-8 reps of heavy weight. The exercises that I perform are the same tried and true ones used for many years, bench press, squat, military press, ect. I just started doing cardio for 5 days a week for more body fat loss.
 Click Image To Enlarge. The Tried & True Exercises Worked The Best. I am going back to 3 days a week after my abs are more clearly defined, so I can add more muscle. I would like to be 215 full muscle low body fat. Cardio is done in the morning on an empty stomach.
Find someone who will inspire you and who has achieved a similar goal of what you want to achieve, it helps. Don't be fooled by all the advertisements for junk food out there, you think Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise are eating what you eat, heck no they are eating chicken breasts with broccoli or something like that. If you want to look like them you have to work and eat like them. They have personal trainers. You have Bodybuilding.com. Having my MP3 player really helped make my workouts fun. Every time I didn't want to workout I would download a new song and it would make it fun again. Watch the movie Super Size Me! Take pictures of yourself at least once a month, if you are doing everything right then watch out, the pictures will blow you away. Eat clean at least 6 days a week. Eat at least 5-6 times a day. I recommend the Eating For Life cookbook. Learn to cook your own food.
 Click Image To Enlarge. Take Pictures At Least Once A Month. It has been said a million times, but the way you eat is about 85% of the transformation. Be consistent in your eating and exercise routine. With any new routine start SLOWLY or you will feel light headed or risk injury. I think one of the greatest things that came out of this journey is that my children and wife now eat as healthy as I do. I am not passing on bad habits of eating and lack of exercise. I feel great about that. You are going to have days when you want to work out and feel good and you are going to have days when you don't want to work out and feel bad, either way you have to do it. Oh yeah and try to have fun.
 Click Image To Enlarge. Have Fun!
John Downs Jr. Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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