Hey gang,

 
 

Andy here, and today I’m with Norma Jean Hall, the newest addition to the Personal Best team!

 Norma Jean (“NJ”) is a top Provincial Figure competitor, wife, mother and Certified Personal Trainer.    NJ is following her passion and beginning her career in the Fitness industry. In my 15+ years in the fitness world I have to say that the amount of knowledge and enthusiasm that NJ shares is a rare find!  

 

 

Andy: Hi Norma Jean, I’m super excited to have you on board at Personal Best Studio! How about first of all giving us a little background on how you got started working out and your journey to having the lifestyle you live today?

 

NJ: Well Andy, it is a long story, but I will try to shorten where I can. I was always active, exercised and tried to be healthy; however, weight loss didn’t come as easily after I had my son, Zander. I gained 65lbs or more and was quite uncomfortable. I knew that I had to lose the weight and be healthy for myself and for my family.  I tried all the gimmick diets and exercised at home in my tiny little room while my son slept in his car seat on the sofa.  I worked my butt off every day and ate little to nothing. At first I dropped a lot of weight, but then I hit a plateau and I no longer had any energy or drive. I started researching everything I could about diet and exercise and realized that I had become the newly coined term: skinny fat. I was not eating enough and was a so-called cardio queen.

Norma Jean (“NJ”) at the 2010 NLABBA Bodybuilding, Figure & Figure Model Competition

I signed up at a local gym, obtained a personal trainer and began reading everything I could on nutrition and exercise. There is a lot of information out there, and it can be overwhelming at first, but I stuck with my goal. I learned basic resistance training and nutrition and I was hooked. For once I was completely satisfied with myself and proud of what I had accomplished.

Then I decided to take it to the next level and compete in the provincial bodybuilding and figure show.  As you are aware, competing is a tough gig, but I wanted to challenge the  love that I had for this new life and prove to myself that I was being true to myself and that I was doing this for me. While training, I had an “A HA” moment (you ladies will know what I mean) and realized that this was no longer a hobby for me…This was a lifestyle…and a life that I wanted to live forever and share with others. I decided to focus on helping people reach their goals by sharing my knowledge and experiences, staying positive and motivating others whom needed the extra push.

I have trained, wrote programs and helped with nutrition for those I knew in the past, but worked full-time in a corporate position within the Oil and Gas industry. I was good at my job, but I was not being true to myself. So with the support of my close family and friends, you included, I decided to switch gears and become a personal trainer full-time!!! And I must say, I love every minute of it. When I help a person get through their last rep, or give someone a healthy recipe that they like, my day is made. It is hard to explain, but I know that this is what I am meant to do.

 

Andy: I know exactly what you mean NJ, working as a Personal Trainer is very rewarding and I, too, feel very fortunate doing a job I love. I believe that holds true for anyone, and anything; if you don’t love what you do, find your passion!

Also, congrats on such an amazing transformation and taking action with a positive lifestyle change! You mentioned at first you were a little overwhelmed, was there anyone that inspired you or was there a source of inspiration to help you stick with your goal?  

 

NJ: Although I have many inspirations, my son is top on the list.  I knew that I had to be healthy and increase my energy level if I was going to keep up with him. Prior to exercising and living a more healthy lifestyle I would have times when my lower back muscles would spasm and this decreased my ability to move.  One of my major goals in losing the weight after pregnancy was to improve my overall strength so my back would not give out on me and I could pick Zander (my son) up and play with him.
 
Once I lost the weight, I looked to local inspirations in the Health and Fitness industry to motivate me and keep me on track and I started to research the NLABBA.  Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not always easy but the more people you surround yourself with that have similar goals, the more support you have and the easier it gets.
 
I studied psychology in University and understand the importance of surrounding yourself with support systems to help you achieve and maintain your goals.  People often ask me why I need a trainer to keep me on track if I am a Personal Trainer myself.  The answer is simple: being accountable to someone other than yourself gives you the extra push you sometimes need when you can’t get through the workout and the support helps keep you in the game when you are having a tough day. Everyone needs that from time to time.

 

Andy: I agree NJ, accountability is huge. That is why we build an accountability factor into so many of the programs that we offer at Personal Best Fitness Studio. It takes more than just the right Nutrition and Training program for someone to see dramatic results. Training and Nutrition Journals, writing down what you eat (even the wine or chocolate cake!), writing down your goals, setting timelines/end-dates for your goal(s) are all forms of accountability that work! Also scheduling in your workout sessions with a Trainer and making your workouts at set appointment times might be just what is needed to see results.

NJ thanks for taking the time to share your story and fitness tips with us today. I’m thrilled to have you join the Team at Personal Best and I’m excited to team up with you on the “Fit and Fabulous” semi-private Personal Training group sessions and the brand new Ladies “Photo Finish” Transformation Program! I know with the knowledge and passion you bring to the table members at the Studio are going to love working with you and see some awesome results!

To close this out, lets wrap this up with a few speed questions, I want to know the first answer that pops in your head!

Favorite exercise?  Pull Up

Favorite body part to train? Shoulders

Figure Athlete you most admire? Nicole Wilkins

Favorite healthy meal? I know Garrison, your husband, is an awesome cook! Mexican Sweet Potato Bake – I will have to share the recipe soon!

Yes please, I definitely want that one! lol Favorite treat meal? Chocolate cake

Cool stuff NJ! Here are a couple of non-fitness questions…

Favorite band or music? Rod Stewart is one of my all time favs, but I listen to Top 40 music when I’m doing cardio.

Right on, Stacey is a Rod Stewart fan too, you’ll have to come to Vegas with us so you can go to the show with her and I won’t have to go, lol, just kidding!

Favorite movie? That is a tie between “GREASE” and “The Fighter”, depends on my mood

Awesome stuff NJ! Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us today!

 

 

 

As promised, here is the next installment of JP’s “Bodybuilding Corner”

To answer the above question in one word I would have to say BOTH. In this post I will go over leg training for maximum muscle growth and how periodization may be the key in getting the big quads and thick hamstrings you want.

If you have ever been to a regional bodybuilding competition you would have noticed that the most commonly underdeveloped body parts are usually: 1) thighs (i.e. quads and hamstrings) and 2) calfs. I believe there are a few different reasons for this.

First, training legs to failure, and past failure, is hard work. It is very painful and uncomfortable and those feeling can last days. My legs are usually sore for 3-6 days each week, averaging probably 5 days by the time all discomfort is gone and everything is good to go again.

Second, people don’t get the same “attention” from the general public for having well-developed legs as they would from having big arms or a broad chest.  A person’s legs are usually covered, unlike a person’s arms or chest (“downtown muscles”). Therefore, anyone who trains and has no concern for placing well in a bodybuilding competition or having a complete physique could use this as their reasoning for their lack of effort when it comes to leg training. I hear it all the time. I remember once when a guy, who I had seen working out at the gym I train at for over a year, asked me if he HAD to train legs. It seems logical to me that if your goal is to look a certain way or become stronger, you should put most of your effort into training the large muscle groups such as legs and back. These two muscle groups make up the majority of your body’s muscle – about half of your body’s skeletal muscle is in your legs alone. So yes, you do have to train legs….

The third reason is genetics. Every person has their own unique genetic strengths and weaknesses. Two people can give equal effort to grow and strengthen a specific body part but see unequal results because some people just respond and grow better than others. I have heard people say “I have bad genetics.” Yes, genetics do play a role in how strong you are and how you look but this phrase is too often used as an excuse for lazy people who don’t want to put in the hard work, sacrifice and consistency it takes to achieve their goals. There has to be HUGE amounts of work put in before you even begin to see what kind of genetics you really do have. You will never hear a true iron warrior complain about his or her “bad” genetics. That’s the whole thing about playing the hand you are dealt to best of YOUR abilities. There are obstacles that you will encounter along your journey and in life in general. Lots of them. But often times the difference between someone who will achieve their goals and someone who will not is perspective; one person will see something as the reason why they can’t achieve something and another other person will see that same thing as just another obstacle that they have to overcome. Simple as that. If a person is driven enough and willing to do whatever it takes, then in the time it takes for you to complain about your genetics they have either eaten their next meal or performed three extra forced reps. So don’t waste your time complaining about “genetics”.

Now I will outline a full 3-phase, 15-week Leg Training Program. You will train legs once a week as is normal in most bodybuilding splits, but you can incorporate some of these leg training techniques in your other workouts if you like. The exercises will stay the same throughout the whole Program, only the sets, reps and weight will change as you progress through each phase. There are basically two concepts to keep in mind: progressive overload and changing routines before the body can become accustomed therefore slowing down or stopping results.

 

Phase One (Weeks 1-5):

In this initial Phase you will be performing between 15-20 repetitions per exercise, per set. Work up to failure on your final set. For the first week of this Phase pick a weight which causes you to reach muscular failure at 15 reps. For the second, third and fourth week use the same weight as week one but each week increase your reps by one on each exercise. So at the end of the fourth week you hopefully will be doing 19 reps with a weight you could only do 15 reps with before starting this Program.

The fifth week will be a back-off week. When training this intensely, depending on nutrition, age and a number of other factors, overtraining the CNS is a possibility. In this week you will train hard enough to maintain the gains you made in the first four weeks but not hard enough to really put a lot of stress on your nervous system. There will be three back-off weeks throughout the 15-week Program (i.e. weeks 5, 10 and 15.) These are needed to ensure you are recovering from your intense workouts and not constantly putting tremendous stress on your joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles and CNS.    

 

Phase Two (Weeks 6-10):

In this Phase you will be going to failure on the final set of each exercise with a rep range of 6-8. Then you will use High Intensity Techniques (“HIT”) to push past failure on each exercise. All of the HIT techniques I mention below were explained in last week’s Bodybuilding Corner blog post: “Intensity, Intensity, Intensity”.

On exercise #2 you will do 2-3 forced reps. Remember to have a good spotter and use the safety rack pins so if you have to bail the weight you or your spotter will be safe. If you do not have a spotter perform your final set of exercise #2 as a Rest/Pause set.

On the final set of exercise #3 perform 3 forced reps. Perform exercise #3 with a weight where you reach failure in 6-8 reps then put your hands on your knees to spot yourself and perform 3-4 extra reps.

On the final set of exercises #4 and #6 perform a Triple Drop Set.

On the final set of exercise #5 you are going to do a Rest/Pause set.

Remember that Progressive Overload is the key. Log your sets and reps and make sure your goal is to slightly beat your numbers from your last workout, either by doing an extra rep or increasing the weight slightly.

 

Phase Three (Weeks 11-15):

In the final Phase we will incorporate a slightly higher volume routine. Keeping Progressive Overload in mind but going to failure on the final two sets of each exercise. In this Phase you will do straight sets with a weight that causes you to reach muscular failure at 10-12 reps. The goal is to try and get the same amount of reps on your second set going to failure as you did the first set. This is difficult to do after reaching failure on the previous set. If you can not perform the same amount of reps on both of the sets aim to get only one less rep on your final set.

Now the exercises:

Exercise #1 (Leg Extensions): These are done only as a warm up. Do 3 sets of 20 reps with 1 minute rest between sets. This will get the knees warm before you begin any heavy compound movements. The sets should be only a medium difficulty and do not go close to failure on them. 

Exercise #2 (Barbell Squats): Big surprise eh? Perform a total of 4 sets. Start off with a light weight and pyramid up each set. Do not go to failure on the first 3 sets. On your last set you will go to failure or beyond failure depending on the Phase. This is the “Money Set” you could say.

Exercise #3 (Leg Presses): Execute this exercise in the same manor as the Squats. I prefer to place my feet wider on the platform so it is possible to get a deep range of motion. A common mistake I see when people are doing this exercise is to load up the machine with too much weight and do quarter range of motion. This is going to be less beneficial for your Quads, Hamstrings and Glutes than doing a deeper range of motion. I think if you are going to do a compound movement, keep it a compound movement. Do it right and move some weight. When you do an Isolation exercise then you can target a specific muscle group or a specific area of a muscle group. 

Exercise #4 (Leg Extensions): This time perform your leg extensions as an actual working exercise. Go to failure on the later set, or sets.

That concludes the exercises for your Quads. After you finish these four exercises take a few minutes to rest and begin the following exercises to work your Hamstrings.

Exercise #5 (Hamstring Curls): Do 3 progressively heavier sets and then do your final set to failure with whatever rep/weight scheme prescribed for the Phase.                

Exercise #6 (Barbell Stiff Legged Deadlifts):  These are straightforward. Perform your reps/sets as set out in the Phase

I generally do not think it is a good idea to train your Calf muscles in the same training session as Quads/Hams/Glutes because by the time you are finished working your upper legs you should not have enough energy left to put the needed effort into your Calf workout.

There you have it. Give this Program a try and I guarantee, if your nutrition is in check, you will have a pair of slightly bigger and stronger legs after 15 weeks!

 JP

Andy here, today we have a guest post from one of my trainers, John Perry. John will be writing a weekly column called “Bodybuilding Corner”.  Even though John is only in his early 20s, he is as strong as an ox and I have a lot of respect for his knowledge of strength and muscle-building techniques. Take it away John!

 

Although I am only 22 years old I have learned a great deal since I began lifting at age 17. Growing up I was a skinny kid who got picked on a bit and spent most of my time playing hockey. In the summer before my last year of high school I began weight training with the goal of getting stronger for my last season of high school hockey. I quickly began to enjoy the lifting more than hockey.

 

When I began lifting I was 155lbs and 5’10″. I began lifting in a room at my house where I trained consistently, by myself, for a little over a year before moving away from the little community I grew up in to a place that had a real gym. Since I began training over 5 years ago I have bulked up to 260lbs then dieted down and competed in a bodybuilding competition last year at 198lbs. I have bench pressed 405lbs, squatted 605lbs and recently did a gym squat of 405lbs for 16 reps at a body weight of 220lbs. All of these lifts were in the gym, raw, with just wrist wraps and a belt.

 

I do not claim to know everything about all aspects of bodybuilding for all people. A big part of the bodybuilding journey is figuring out what works for YOU. For the last year I have been helping people do just this by working as a personal trainer and, recently, as the general manager of Personal Best Fitness Studio which is owned by my good friend, Andy Pratt. Now before I get started I just want to say that everyone is different; not everyone will respond the same to a certain training program or diet plan. However, there are some broader guidelines about training, diet and biology that apply to everyone:

 

Intensity, Intensity, Intensity!

 

There is a difference between training optimally and absolutely efficiently and just going in the gym with the goal of making a specific muscle group sore. One common mistake I see all the time is when a person forgets, after training for a little while and building a base of mass, about the two words upon which they were probably told to model their training around: PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD. THIS IS WHAT BUILDS MUSCLE AND STRENGTH LONG TERM.

 

Do not forget this simple principle. Keep track of your workouts, sets and reps either in your head or if needed, in a log book.

 

How many people have you seen in the gym actually going to absolute muscular  failure in their training the last month? Probably not many. The same people will not progress consistently over the long run because they are not training efficiently. Let me explain…

 

Someone may be putting in some effort and could be doing 30 sets per body part but that is not necessarily what is going to stimulate muscle growth after a certain point in your training as a bodybuilder. There comes a point in your training where the body has to be pushed past what it has previously done, either in reps or weight. And if you can push your body past this threshold consistently there is no reason you will not continue to get stronger, and a stronger muscle is most often a bigger muscle.

 

After the initial stage of strength training the body needs a greater stress placed on it to adapt to. Performing 225lbs on flat bench press for 8 reps, on your heaviest set, week after week WILL NOT cause your chest to grow. What WILL stimulate growth is doing 9 reps. One set of 9 reps is more beneficial than 5 sets of 8 reps in most cases.

 

What I am saying is you have to push past your limit in order to obtain continuous muscle growth. Keep in mind when intensity is as high as it has to be to push through your mental and physical barriers, the volume of the workout (i.e. the number of reps performed) cannot be too high. This is simply because a muscle group physically cannot perform many sets with an intensity level of absolutely 100%.

 

The following are three techniques you can incorporate into your workouts immediately to increase the intensity of your workouts. Remember to only use these techniques on your final and heaviest set of whatever exercise you are performing:

 

1.) Rest Pause: Pick a weight with which you can perform 6-8 repetitions to failure. Perform 6-8 reps then take 15 deep breaths and perform another 1-3 reps. Then take another 15 deep breaths and perform another 1-2 reps.

2.) Drop Set: Pick a weight which you can perform 8-10 reps. Perform 8-10 reps then lower the weight and perform another 4-6 reps. Lower the weight again and repeat this another 1-3 times to really break down the muscle fibres.

3.) Forced Reps: Pick a weight that will have you reach muscular failure within 6-8 reps. Perform 6-8 reps by yourself then get a training partner to spot you and help you move the weight for another 2-3 reps. I believe that this technique has been the most beneficial to me in my training.

 

I have found that if you reach failure on barbell squats, for example, and you have a spotter that you trust to help you to perform another 2-3 forced reps it may be the ultimate technique in increasing the intensity of the set. This, in turn, makes the set as productive and efficient as possible. Remember if you try this technique while squatting always have a good spotter and set the squat rack safety bars set to a height that if in the unlikely situation you have to bail the weight you will be able to escape from underneath the bar.

6-Time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yat

 

Dorian Yates, 6-time Mr. Olympia, once said that he has often seen people do too much volume, but he has never seen anyone train too intense. Now, let me clarify. I am not saying that training with a higher volume and multiple sub-maximal sets per exercise to failure is totally pointless. I have made gains training this way and the fact is, when you initially start training you do not have to do a whole lot to make gains in muscle and strength. This is because the body is going from doing nothing to lifting and this, in itself, is enough stimulus to trigger muscle growth. But I do not believe, over the log run, as a person becomes more advanced in their training, that high volume training is the most EFFICIENT route. In other words the guy who trains for half an hour with the goal of beating last workouts numbers will be much better off than the guy who is in the gym for an hour and a half training blindly with the goal of just getting a muscle group sore.

 

I hope you find these tips helpful and leave me a comment if you use these technique in your own workouts! Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more posts in JP’s Bodybuilding Corner!

 

JP

 

 

Please join Andy and the Personal Best team in celebrating one year at their new location! Come mix and mingle with new and existing clients and see all that the new Studio has to offer. Delicious gourmet sandwiches, snacks and drinks will be provided!

2 FREE WEEKS of semi-private training classes will be offered to all new faces!

Everyone who attends will be entered for a chance to win prizes including a DOOR PRIZES of…

2lbs Whey Protein Powder (donated by Heavyweights)

Fitness Package (donated by Spartan Athletic Products)

& 1 month of training at Personal Best Private Fitness Studio.

Donations will be made in honor of attendees to
KidSport™ Newfoundland and Labrador.

I want to introduce you to a good friend of mine Joey Vaillancourt. Joey is a leading fitness expert and the author of the Muscle Building program “Bones to Buff”.

 

Joey had built up an awesome physique, from being a former skinny guy to top Fitness Model Contest Winner!

I had the opportunity to interview Joey recently and he shared some killer muscle building tips!

Check it out!

1. Joey first of all thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me, I really appreciate it. I’m always curious how someone first gets started working out, or their reason why? Why don’t you share with the readers how you began?

“Andy it is my pleasure! Thanks for asking me to be on this interview with you. I have always respected your achievements and your capability to get your clients such amazing results.

When I was younger, in my high school days, I played competitive hockey and I was very athletic. I was never big or overweight but rather small in stature. In sports, the only advantage I had was being fast! But soon being fast even wasn’t enough and as I advanced in my hockey leagues, eventually size became a big factor at play as well. Soon I found myself getting clobbered in the corners and not being able to perform as well as I had been able to prior to advancing to the physical contact leagues. This and other personal reasons let me to quitting my hockey career. I didn’t feel like I had a real chance anymore and since at the time I really didn’t know that I could transform my body I decided I wouldn’t play anymore.

This was a sad time in my life but life went on.

I basically got my start lifting weights the first year into college. I had just moved away from a small town and after moving and settling in more a few months, I began to notice that the guys in my college were BIG!

Now some may have been un-natural, but others you could tell had worked hard for their physiques. This lead me to start questioning if I could actually change my own body. Previous to thinking this way, I had always been told that because of my genetics I was cursed with having the small body I had now and that I could never change that. I don’t blame others for telling me that because in all honesty they didn’t know any better.

But when you start to think for yourself and question things, sometimes good things follow. And that’s exactly what happened!

I began to dig for answers, searched the Internet tirelessly (I gave myself the nickname the ‘former fitness googler’), documented results, tried countless programs and continued setting higher and higher goals.

When I exhausted my questions and no one could answer the new one’s I had, I decided enough was enough, I needed to get formal education to continue broadening my muscle building theories. I then became a Certified Trainer. I mean becoming a trainer was a good thing, but experimenting with different theories before getting my certification really helped me keep an open mind and led me to thinking outside of the box when designing programs.

A lot of programs play it ‘safe’ and are very generalized designs, but not mine! I know what works for skinny guys looking to gain muscle and that’s the program I ended up designing from my experiences.

But I’m getting a little off track J I then went on to setting a higher goal of competing in my first fitness model championships and after 8 months of contest prep (4 months muscle building, 4 months fat loss) I ended up winning the competition and achieving an all time low bodyfat percentage of 3.1%.

At the same time of the competition, I was finishing writing my Bones To Buff Muscle Building Program which I now use as the foundation to help other fellow Hardgainers gain muscle and defeat their skinny genetics!

Now, my passion is still helping others while continuing to set higher goals for next year when I plan on competing at the WBFF competition as well as some new photo shoot plans and as always I continue to write new programs, diets and training plans for my clients.”

2. Did anyone in particular inspire you? Or was there a roll model you looked up to?

“No one really inspired me in particular…I think it was more the combination of feeling a sense of low confidence and seeing how other guys my age were much bigger than me at the time and receiving much more attention from the females because of it…that was a big motivator to step up my game and find a way to change!

But of course, I think Rocky has always been an inspiration to me. I think one of the reasons I looked up to him was not just his physique but also the fact that Rocky was not all that big starting out either…and even in the movies, he was not overly huge…he just possessed a lot of muscle mass on his frame which gave me hope that even though I had a small bone structure I too could pack on muscle mass and look impressive.

That, and his NO QUIT attitude really motivated me to be better in every aspect of life. I never wanted to be ‘soft’ and Rocky’s spirit inspired me to reach higher, dig deeper and go that extra mile when required.”

3. What is the most common problem you see people making in the gym that hold them back from building an impressive muscular physique?

“Haha! Just last night, I was asked by another guy training to help him out with his form and tempo on the deadlift exercise and he basically represented what most people are doing wrong!

So first, most people use way too much weight on exercises and their form is terrible and what happens is that when you use too much weight and you don’t use good form, the stress is taking off the muscle’s and places more stress on the joints which is not what you want when trying to stimulate muscle.

The other one (and again, it has to do with the guy I was helping) is program hopping. Program hopping is basically when someone continually switches programs. The guy I was talking with was on yet again a ‘new’ program. Jeez! Every week he switches and I am sorry to say, he doesn’t see the results he wants.

You see, I am not knocking all programs out there because to be fair, if you follow the program for an extended period of time, there is a good chance you will see some results. The mistake is thinking that by switching programs and combining all different programs you will get better results. A person who thinks like this couldn’t be more wrong. Sure program variation is important, but only after you establish a baseline and progress on your lifts throughout a micro-cycle (6-8 week period). You need to have a reference to progress from and when you can no longer progress in your workouts, then you implement ‘strategic program variation’.

Consistency will always triumph over program hopping and I attribute this flaw to the reason why people have a hard time seeing results.”

4. You’ve built up a very impressive physique, and you won your very first competition! Congratulations! What would you say was the #1 tip or rule you followed that helped you build muscle? With me for example, I worked out a little bit in high school, but didn’t really know what I was doing. My problem was I didn’t realize how much good food I needed to eat to make gains. A couple years later I got back at the weights, and once I figured out that I needed to pack away some serious grub, it really made a huge difference. Was there a moment where something just “clicked” for your self?

“Thanks Andy! Yeah I won the Central FAME championships back in April. For the competition, the difference between me and the other competitors was that I was mentally prepared. Every day that I did cardio, before going to bed and upon waking up I would visualize exactly how that weekend would play out from the drive to the hotel to accepting the award…I decided that I was going to win and visualized it over and over again!

But going back to building muscle, I think I am going to have to agree with you on this one regarding nutrition. I worked out for a few years before getting results and the time that everything clicked and I noticed my body changing was when I added good nutrition to my transformation plan. Before doing that, I never knew how much food I needed to eat and the amount I thought was good enough to help me grow was actually FAR from the amount I really needed.

Our bodies are designed to stay the same…they really don’t want to change. So to provide change and gain muscle, we need to do something different, make sense? We need to lift heavy weights and stress our muscles to stimulate both type 1 and type 2 fibers but we need to provide our bodies with the energy to do this. And if you want to get bigger, you need to eat more to allow that to happen.

It’s not only about the energy to lift the weights but it also has to do with recovery. Our muscle’s don’t grow in the gym as I am sure most people know. So it doesn’t end in the gym, you have about 22-23 hours in the day when your body has to repair that damaged muscle tissue and to do this, it needs building blocks (amino acids) and an energy source (fat and carbs) to do this.

If your giving it everything in your workouts but not seeing the results you want, I can guarantee it has to do with your nutrition.”

5. Give me three quick muscle building rules?

1. Form first, Weight second. Never increase your weights on a lift if you sacrifice form because of it.
2. Nutrition is king! Give attention to nutrition just as much as your weight training.
3. Develop a strong ‘Why’ behind the reason you want to transform your body. If you want above average results, you need an above average commitment level and that only happens if you have a deep desire and that type of commitment is within anyone who has a passion and knows why they want to transform their bodies.

6. Speed Round! Just for fun!

1. Favourite contest food?

 Protein Pancake! Every night my last meal is a chocolate protein pancake. Egg whites, protein powder, stevia, nutmeg and cinnamon mixed together cooked as a pancake and topped with natural almond butter.

2. Favourite cheat food?

There’s SOOO many! Haha. But I think my favorite would have to be Pizza. Although, now I have come up with ways to make pizza that I can eat everyday because its healthy J

3. Favourite exercise?

 Heavy rack deadlifts (4inches below knee) really hits the upper back when doing off of the racks

4. Favourite movie?

 Depends on my mood…when I am trying to get ripped and need motivation on low carb days I would have to say it’s a tie between 300 and any Rocky movie.

5. Favourite Band?

I am a musician as well so I have a very deep respect for artist’s who write, sing and play their own instruments and songs and even though its not ‘cool’, I like country music. There’s an Alberta artist by the name of Paul Brandt.

Wanna do a shout out to anyone?

“Well, I just want to first thank you for having me in this interview. It was my pleasure and I hope we can do it again sometime and I would also like to give a shout-out to my family and girlfriend. They have been big supporters and very patient through the contest prepping, book writing, late nights and low carb days haha! They are always there for me and I think that is important to have social support as well to help you achieve great things and a more muscular body.”

Cool man, that’s awesome stuff Joey!…Really great tips and advice..Thanks again for taking the time to share your story!

========

There you go gang! Some really great advice from my good friend Joey.  If you would like to pack on some serious muscle and build a Buff body you can check out Joey’s page here…

===> www.Bones2Built.com

P.S  Joey has some really cool extras on that page just for you!