Adonis Index Systems

Today we have an interview with Al Sandoval who placed 6th in the Open category in the latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures: And in case you forgot how Al looked when he originally started, check this out: This was Al's second contest. He won the transformation category in a previous contest. There really seems to be a pattern in this. It looks like guys get rid of a few pounds, get into a contest, get lean and then they focus on building more muscle and moving towards a specific shape. If you're like Al, you might actually be just two contests away from your ideal body shape. Al's Insights from His Second Contest Al was very proud of his final pictures and incredibly impressed with his first change. He wanted to take some time off, but convinced himself to do next contest. What is is like going from one contest to another one? Hard, but doable. He says motivation was tougher this time. Which is understandable, because putting so much energy and focus into this for so long without any break is really tough. It doesn't mean that you will do just one contest and then you are done for the rest of your life, no not at all, you obviously will have to maintain your look and will still have a lot to work on, but getting ready for a fitness photoshoot requires way more energy and attention, which is why most guys don't do two back-to-back contests. When you take some time off and just work out and eat to stay where you are, your desire to take your physique to the next level and compete gets bigger. But Al decided to give this a shot and showed up with some amazing pictures. During the preparation for the first contest he would look at his before pictures and at his "hate handles" as he calls them to keep himself motivated and to stick to his diet plan. This time he knew he looked good, so there was the temptation to slip a bit, since it wouldn't do any damage. And that's exactly it. Just because you get from overweight to a decent shape, it doesn't mean all of your life problems and everything will be solved. No, that's not how it works. Once you get over one challenge the next one will appear and so on, this is how you move forward and with a bit of determination you can get some amazing results. Most people will give up after a while, even if they get past the first few challenges...and with that said "most people" don't have extraordinary results and don't live extraordinary lives, do they? Once Al got in shape, his new challenge to face was finding a reason why he should continue when he already looks good, what goal should he aim for. He decided that he want's a six pack, because that is something he never had in his life and that's a goal worth pursing. And even now he is still on track and determined to get to that goal. The Leaner You Get, The Harder It Is to Lose Weight To get decent muscle definition and a six pack, you need to be willing to persist and take it further than most people. This is a point where we are seeing similar feedback from pretty much all the contestants. The leaner you get, the harder the fat loss actually becomes. When you have to lose 50 pounds, it will be quick and pretty easy compared to slow progress of going from average/lean to ripped/shredded. Water plays a huge role in this. When you are overweight, your body retains literally pounds of water that wouldn't normally be there. Second reason why it's easier at first is because your body has enormous energy storage that it can use. When you get to about 12% bodyfat, this changes. Suddenly there is very little bodyfat on you, your desire to eat increases because your body wants you to eat at your energy expenditure and it's really hard to limit your calories intake. On top of that when you get lean, certain metrics like the scale or waist measurement suddenly become useless. This doesn't mean it's impossible to get ripped,

Today we bring you an interview with Vivek. Vivek placed 3rd in the latest Adonis Index Contest in the Transformation category. Vivek started with no experience or knowledge about exercises whatsoever. If you told him that bench press is for building bigger legs, he would probably believe you. From a diet stand point it wasn't so much different. Vivek is vegetarian, but he had no idea what any of the diet claims meant. Calories were basically just something the brand put on the label along with the logo. Until 2011 dieting and exercising were unknown concepts for him. Finally he decided to get in shape and lose some weight. He went with the conventional fitness approach and started eating "healthier food". For two months he was basically eating brown rice, fruits and vegetables. However, since he wasn't paying any attention to calories, he didn't lose any weight at all. He was basically eating the same amount of calories, but from different sources of food and so called healthy sources. This "healthy eating" made absolutely no difference in how he felt or how much he weighed. Like he said, Vivek wasn't obese, but he was a bit overweight and needed to lose a few pounds and since eating 'healthy' wasn't working, he kept looking for something different. What Does an iPhone and Your Body Have in Common? Vivek has an IT company, so working with software and technology he understands that the golden ratio is an important aspect in developing any application and that aesthetics are the key. Just take an iPhone, you would have a really hard time finding a phone that would be more aesthetically pleasing than the one from Apple. And it's no coincidence either. The developers used the concept of a golden ratio in the development process. Same ratio that Vivek uses. Same ratio that Adonis Index workouts are designed to shape your body into. When he stumbled across the Adonis Index he was excited because somebody actually  quantified and put some science around the concept of aesthetics, took concepts he knew and applied them to building the ideal body shape. Seeing the same concept he used in technology development, for shaping his body was incredible revelation to him and he immediately knew it made sense. He started studying the program and implementing the advice. The implementing part is important, because you don't learn by gaining more knowledge, you learn when you change your behavior and take action. Learn to Use the Metrics Vivek made an interesting observation, and that is people have a poor understanding of how to use metrics, they either don't use them at all, or they don't use them correctly. He created a spreadsheet, tracked what he ate and realized that eating "healthy" is not an answer. Despite what the fitness magazines, personal trainers, dietitians and other "certified experts" say, in order to lose weight you can eat whatever you like, but you have to stay in a caloric deficit. Eat a balanced diet, with lot's of vegetables, but stay in caloric deficit, then you will lose weight, the answer is not by eating some magic, "healthy" food. Next thing is that your daily fluctuation will show on the scale, so the only way to know whether you are progressing or not is to measure your weight on a weekly basis. And that's exactly what Vivek did, he looked at what he ate on weekly basis only. He calculated his RMR multiplied it by seven and had a number of calories he burned each week without any additional exercise. And for every pound of fat he wanted to lose he would subtract 3500 from this number, being left with the calorie budget for that given week. At the beginning he pressed for a larger deficit when he had the most fat to lose and ate really low calories the first few weeks. It was way easier and simpler and the only thing he did was to log what he ate. He didn't eat six meals a day, didn't over-consume protein, didn't count macro-nutrients, didn't weigh food,

Today we have an interview with Keith Taylor who placed fifth in the Open category in the latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures: Never Give Up, Ever! Keith started lifting as a kid, all of the big guys were going to the gym, so it seemed like a good idea. He was basically mirroring what they were doing, which wasn't so hard considering they lacked any structure and always just picked the weights and pushed them up as many times a possible. There was very little back or shoulder work, basically it was just about working the "mirror muscles" - biceps and chest, and then they tossed in some squats for good measure. After high school Keith tried going to a public gym, but he didn't like it very much, so he decided to invest in a home gym. Back then he was just following advice from magazines and pretty much working out like he did at high school, without any structured program. He got stronger, but he didn't gain any size. You could look at him and tell that he was fit, but he was never ripped. Keith was also eating a lot and ate his way up to 170 pounds, which at height of 5'4'' is not exactly shredded. Then a few years later in 1991 he injured a nerve in his back while trying to lift something at work. As a result of this injury he couldn't do any lifting for the next 20 years. Yea, you read that right, it wasn't until 2011 that he was able to get back to weight training. And if that wasn't enough, he also had asthma. He couldn't run or do any high intensity training. So, if someone had a good reason to pity himself and blame the world for what has happened it would be Keith. Well, that wasn't what he did. Keith didn't give up and started researching for a way to get rid of his asthma. Then one day as he was looking for something that would help with autoimmune issues he found fasting. It didn't take long that he stumbled upon Eat Stop Eat. He didn't think twice about it and immediately tried it. And believe it or not, he got better in just 30 days. Keith just couldn't believe how much better he could breath after 30 days. It worked, he significantly improved his asthma to a state that he could do some physical activity. Determination Is the Key Next step was to work on his injury. He would try to start working out every year since the injury, but it was always the same, he just couldn't lift the weights. Then in 2011 he noticed a difference, he could finally lift something. Not that he would be strong, but the pain was bearable and he could move the weights. This was great news. He knew that in the Eat Stop Eat manual was a link to a workout program, so he went home opened the book and clicked on it and got to the Adonis Index website. Since he could lift some weights and improved his asthma he decided to jump on board and give it a shot. He started with some shoulder specializations and worked his way up to the regular workouts. After a while and with a few adjustments he could handle the volume and follow the full training program, for the first time after his injury. Keith's Diet and Interesting Findings about Gluten Last thing he tried was dropping gluten. And in just 30 days he lost about 20 pounds. This basically meant cutting out most of the refined and processed stuff, but since he likes to cook, he didn't mind. He wasn't sure that it was really the gluten, so he decided to put it back in his diet and he got worse and started gaining again. This was an obvious proof that it worked, so he decided to cut it out and keep it that way. He stayed away from gluten and could keep the fat off and asthma in control. Ultimately he figured out that he can have gluten a few times per week, but only a few times, because he is highly sensitive to it. And that's how it works, most people don't have any problem with gluten at all, some are completely intolerant, and some are just very sensitive to it. If you don't have any issues,

Today we have an interview with Shan Hefley, who placed second in the Open category in the latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his photos: "...I Just Wanted to Get Bigger, Then I Read Adonis Index." Shan started working out at an ea...

Today with have an interview with Blair Baxter and he placed 5th in the latest Adonis Index Transformation Contest. Check out his before and after pictures: Blair is a personal trainer and in the interview he says that he's probably let a few people down, because he has given advice that he now understands was useless. He openly admits the fitness industry is pretty pathetic and leaves us with more questions than answers. He always thought that he needed to eat every three hours or his body will go into a starvation mode. It's an irony that at college he pretty much understood how the body works, when he wanted to lose fat, he just cut out the calories and instinctively ate less. Without any nutritional courses he knew that it's just about calories in and calories out. Later on when he started following the fitness magazines he got mislead and bought into the whole bodybuilding lifestyle. Blair's Experience with the Adonis Index Being a personal trainer made the decision to start following the Adonis Index workout a bit tough. Blair just wouldn't want to follow a different training routine, after all he was fully capable of designing his own effective workout. He would follow the Eat Stop Eat and Anything Goes Diet principles, but not the workout, he felt like it wouldn't work and he knows better. He was predicting that his shoulders would hurt, that it would not help him build any more muscle mass and it seemed too complicated to him. He was just sitting at his gym and finding excuses why he didn't want to follow this training program. It took him a while to get his mind over the fact that he is going to do somebody else's program and not change anything. But Blair saw the pictures of the previous contestants and he knew that if this worked for so many guys before him, it would work for him too. So he decided to put his ego away and just try it for three months. Blair said that he works out not because he likes working out, but because he likes the results. However, in the past he was usually jumping from program to program every month. For the first time he was able to stick to one program alone and finish it. The basic Adonis Index program changes so often with so much variety because more variety and change keeps the program interesting and helps you to stick to it for longer periods of time. Make no mistake, this is completely by design. We know that most people have a very short attention span with their workouts and half the battle with designing a good workout is keeping you interested in it long enough to see the results. If You Want to Show the Work You've Done in the Gym You Have to Eat Less Blair was amazed by the results of just eating less, his muscles were actually starting to show up. He always thought he is supposed to just bulk up otherwise he would lose muscle. Now he was doing exactly the opposite and surprisingly enough, it worked. In reality the muscles were always there, but covered by fat. In the past there were a few attempts to lean out, but after a while he would always think that he is getting too small, so he would start bulking again. Now he has quite a different perspective. Here is how he put it: "When you feel like you are getting too small and you are almost there you have to keep going". And that comes from somebody who spent a good chunk of his life bulking up. The permission to be light seems to be a big challenge for most guys, especially for those not used to being lean and light. But truth to be told, no matter how it feels or what you now think, being big and heavy doesn't equal being a bigger man, that is not how it works. And while Blair was afraid that he will disappear if he drops a few more pounds, he persisted thanks to support of his friend that got him to Adonis Index in the first place and got himself a fine placing in the transformation contest. It may not make any sense to you now,

Today we bring you an interview with Dan Richardson who placed 4th in the Open Division in the last Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures: This is not the first competition Dan placed in. Right now he has three contest under his be...

Herman Douglas placed 3rd in the Sixth Adonis Index Contest in the Open category. Check out his photos: Herman has been working out since 9th grade, so he's a pretty experienced lifter. While he has a lot of experience in the gym, he was never in a really exceptional shape. And because he was afraid of losing all the muscle he ate a lot of calories that in reality prevented him from losing any fat. Herman is 5'9'' and was always scared of being lighter than 200 pounds. Like he said, it is pretty ridiculous to think that somebody his height should weight that much. If you are working out that sort of weight can look good in a shirt that perception drastically changes when you take it off. For Herman it wasn't until his wife took some pictures of him, especially of his back. Only then he realized how much fat really is on his body. Most guys never really care how they look from the back and focus on the mirror look only. When Herman saw that there is a lot of fat hiding from him or from what he can see in a mirror, he was really surprised. He thought he was in much better shape. After a friend introduced him to the Adonis Index he started to wonder if this new approach would get him some results. It still took him some time to get over the fact that he needed to drop not just 10 pounds, but really somewhere around 30 pounds of fat to get in decent shape. Stop Using Weight as a Fitness Indicator A lot of guys think that they need to get to 200 pounds and while it's impossible for the vast majority of guys to be that heavy while being lean, there is no need for that either. If you think you need to get big and hit the 200 mark as soon as possible, you are looking at it from the wrong perspective. Ask yourself this: "Do I want to look good and enjoy all the benefits of having a killer looking body?" If so then stop focusing on getting bigger and rather take a look at yourself and concentrate on a specific shape and proportions. Shape and proportion are what matters and what will determine whether you are in good shape or not, not how much you weigh. There are several issues with using weight as an indicator whether you look good or not. Weight itself tells you nothing. Weight is directly proportional to your height. A 6'4'' NBA player will have genetic potential for building more muscle mass than an average 5'10 gym rat. So setting up a weight goal without considering other factors just points out on a lack of perspective. Be different from other guys and don't set your goal for weight gain, focus on the ideal shape and proportions instead. When Herman first heard from his friend that he should be 30 pounds lighter, he wasn't ready or in a state to hear such advice. The idea of being over 200 lbs was still in his head and he was afraid of letting it go. He was happy with the weight and he looked good in clothes. He just didn't want to admit to himself what was really going on. He, like many other guys was scared that what he believes may not be true and didn't want to shatter his belief system. It took him a while, but seeing his friend getting in shape, he decided to give this new idea a shot and at the end he is glad he did. What Herman Did to Get in Shape Once he got over the belief that he needed to be heavy, he could start eating less calories and actually lose weight. At first he needed to lose a lot, so he was eating roughly 1000 calories per day, however this was getting tougher every week and he was forced to raise his caloric intake and he gradually went from 1000 to 1800 over the next couple of weeks. And this is something you can expect to happen, if you have a lot of fat to lose (let's say 30 pounds) then at the beginning you will be able to eat very low, however as you progress and get leaner, you will have to start eating more and more and slightly optimize to maintenance once you get to a single digit body fat number.

Today's interview is with Andrew Peters, who won the sixth Adonis Index Transformation Contest. Check out his pictures: Andrew is 24 and has spent the past few years playing rugby and lifting weights, however his training lacked struc...

Today's podcast is very special. It's an interview with the Adonis Index Open Contest winner Ryan Williams. Ryan has been on board for several months now and he didn't have a long way to go, but he definitely took it to the next level. Check out his pictures:   Ryan thought that it's near to impossible to get ripped and look like a Hollywood action movie star. He thought that it would require a very strict lifestyle and an incredible amount of work, which would be impossible to fit into his work schedule which requires a lot of traveling. However, with two kids (six and two year old), wife and regular trips across continents he managed to get in a great shape, a cover model shape you would say. The best part? He is willing to share how he did it. You have a chance to learn how he planned his workout, structured his diet and the other stuff he did to get in shape, you can take his best tricks and tweak them to fit to your own lifestyle. New Approach Got Him Results Ryan revealed that before finding the Adonis Index he was eating a lot, definitely more than his body could burn. He, like many other guys, thought that he can muscle his way to leanness, he thought that if he got big enough and built enough muscle, his metabolism would be so fast that it would burn all the fat on his body. On top of that in the past he read in a fitness magazine that he should never eat below 2000 calories. He never really weighed himself, but Ryan's estimate is that at one time he must have been way over 200 pounds, probably even close to 250. It wasn't until he found Eat Stop Eat and Adonis Index that he realized this is probably not the best approach to take to get in shape. Probably the biggest revelation for Ryan was that he could just diet once and stay like that forever, just do some micro diet management for maintenance and that would be it. He set his daily calories intake at 1800 calories and added two fasts on top of that. He wasn't counting calories, he was doing more of calorie guessing and just eye balling the food to know the rough calorie content. In the past he never followed a real muscle building program either. It was always just a mix of bodybuilding splits that he thought he should do from what he read in fitness magazines. In his own words: "I just trained the mirror muscles, that was it." The biggest shock once he started doing the Adonis Index workouts was of course the training volume. He thought that he was over-training and doubted that he could do it. However, after a few weeks the soreness went away and he realized that it wasn't over-training, but rather under-conditioning, he just wasn't used to such a physical stress before, so his muscles needed some time to get accustomed to such a high volume and intensity of training. Another important fact Ryan mentions in the interview is the importance of periodization, which is crucial, because if you don't change your workout often enough, you will get bored and you will not enjoy your workouts. And how do you plan on sticking to something if you don't enjoy it? You Need to Have a Flexible Approach Ryan said that what got him hooked about Adonis Index was the fact that it is oriented on aesthetics and proportions, the goal isn't to just get big, but to actually achieve a specific shape. Ryan is an opera singer and sometimes he needs to perform without his shirt on, in the past he would do some crazy strict fitness stuff like eating six times a day, eating tons of protein, because he was afraid of losing his muscles for the show and training a lot. Basically this made him a slave to his diet and gym routine for the sake of looking good on stage, however after the show he would always go back to looking pretty average. The big mind shift came once he tried the program. Six months is all he needed to get in the best shape of his life (sounds like something several previous contestants have in common).

Many guys lift their first weights when they're in their late teens. This is a great time to start working out because you can leverage juvenile muscle growth as well as your workout induced muscle growth...but it only works if you know what you're doing in the gym. Just showing up and lifting whatever weights you can find in whatever pattern you can find will not produce the results you want. Having a structured workout plan is critical to maximizing the effort you put in the gym. Many young guys have the effort but not the plan, this is like taking two steps forward and one step backwards and can lead to serious frustration. The plan is just as critical as the effort. A quote to remember: "The key to success is the combination of determination and intelligent effort" Just going to the gym and pushing hard isn't enough, you gotta combine that effort with an effective plan. An effective plan starts with a clearly stated goal. If that goal is to improve the look and shape of your body then you gotta get on a plan that will move you in that direction. Building muscle will be a critical part of this. Key take home points for guys starting out on a workout program: Focus on form and technique and never sacrifice form for weight Get clear on your specific goals Follow a plan that moves you towards your specific goal Don't waste time in the gym, ever minute in there matters Forget what other people say, it's your body your program, your rules, and your results Don't get caught up jumping from one workout to the next, follow one plan until it's done Remember that effort and determination isn't enough you must apply it intelligently for success   LISTEN:  

Eating during the holidays is usually associated with weight gain, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. You should be able to indulge in big holiday dinners as long as you plan your eating around that dinner accordingly. As we always say, every up needs a down. So if you're planning on having a few big christmas feasts at the end of this week, you should take it light on the days leading up to the big meal. Creating a calorie deficit throughout the week BEFORE you sit down to christmas dinner is a better strategy than waiting till after the holidays to work off the extra calories.

The 6th Adonis Index transformation and open contests are in the final stretch and it's time to get prepped for your final pictures. All of the poses from the posing tutorial are mandatory if you think you have a chance at being placed in the open category. You can review the posing tutorial video here: POSING TUTORIAL VIDEO We've outlined some ideas to consider for your final pictures in a previous podcast that you can review and listen to here: TAKING 'AFTER' PICTURES I strongly encourage you to listen to some interviews of past winners to get an idea of how to take an effective after picture. What needs to be submitted: 1. All mandatory poses including front, back and side shots with the front page of the current days newspaper visible in at least one shot. You will also need to do all the poses from posing tutorial video if you think you have a chance of placing in the open category of the contest. 2. Label each picture with your first and last name as well as the pose ex: "John_Doe_Front_Pose" 3. Write a 250 word essay describing your experience with our system and through the contest 4. Complete the contest data chart that you downloaded at the start of the contest, this includes your waist, height and shoulder measurements from before the contest and your final measurements, along with your ideal AI measurements for your height and how close you got to them. 5. Re-size your after pictures so they are approximately 500 pixels in height for the ones you submit (make sure you keep the original picture in it's original larger size for your records, also if you end up winning our cover model competition we will need the bigger picture file as well) 6. Compress all of these materials in a zipped file and send it to my email johnbarban (at) gmail (dot) com no later than midnight EST Nov 23rd. John  

Brad Greyeyes Brant has a very interesting name, but what is even more interesting than his name is the fact that he placed 4th in the Adonis Index Contest specifically in the transformation category. He went from being lean to being ripped, just take a look: When Brant first got interested in getting his physique handled he was 260 pounds. Even though he is 6'5'', 26o pounds is a lot. At this point even taking stairs was starting to be an issue. Just take a look at how Brant looked at this weight several years ago. After looking at himself in a mirror Brant decided to get in shape. And he started as most guys would, he found some muscle building and fat loss programs designed by a bodybuilder, he signed up for them and followed it for about six months. He was doing about an hour of cardio each morning seven times a week. He was training at specific times of the day, if the program said go to the gym at 5 p.m., he would go at 5 p.m. He was timing his meals to the minute, always made sure he ate every three hours no matter where he was or what he was doing. Even though his wife was very supportive, this approach was incredibly inflexible. Could you imagine not being able to eat your birthday cake? Or have a Christmas dinner with your family? This is exactly what he did. Brant is the type of guy who is all out or nothing at all. He though that his approach was a sign of dedication, but in reality what it really was, was an obsession. He Found Out He Can Enjoy His Life & Look Good at the Same Time After a while Brant came across Brad Pilon's blog and once he read what Brad eats during his day he was completely confused. Because Brad is in exceptional shape and he eats like an average person (some would even say like a kid), brownies, pizza and pasta are regular foods in his meal plan. In his schedule there was nothing about eating every three hours, having protein with each meal or preparing his meals upfront. Brad was just saying that he is enjoying his food and that the only thing he aims for is to limit the amount of calories to keep lean. On his blog he noticed the workout Pilon was doing and he decided to give it a try. He bought the Adonis Index Workout and started following it. Brant never wanted to look like a huge bodybuilder, so the Adonis Index philosophy of building a proportioned body with lean waist and visible six pack abs was something he was interested to build for himself. He gave the workouts a shot and after seeing the results never looked back It's all about what you truly want. Is it a really good looking body or do you want to be strong and focus on performance? What do you really want? Brant has chosen the look and even though he made this choice ironically he is stronger than ever. However, you still need to know what you are after. Most guys really want to just look good, strength and performance is secondary but many guys cannot separate the two ideas. If you have the same problem with getting over the goal of becoming stronger, you need to understand something. Strength is relative and specific to only those exercises you do on regular basis. For example you can get really good at incline dumbbell press, but completely suck on regular barbell bench press. Another example, Brant’s dad is incredibly strong, because he is used to doing physical work, however he can’t do a pull-up. On the other hand Brant is not as strong as his dad overall, but pull-ups are not an issue for him. Strength is relative. And if you are not a competitive power lifter then there is no point in aiming for strength for it's own sake. Set the goal of improving your physique and the strength will come along with it. Brant's Tips to Get Contest Ripped Brant placed 4h in the contest and that is an incredible accomplishment and requires a big amount of effort. Let’s take a look at what it is that Brad did that was different from other contestants.

Al Sandoval placed FIRST in the Adonis Index Contest in the transformation category. Al found a way to lose fat that he put on in the last 20 years. At the end of 12 weeks he managed to beat everybody else and win the whole transformation contest. T...

Nick Yarbrough placed second in the Adonis Index Contest in the Open category. Nick's after pictures are incredible. You would not guess that he is only 21 years old. His muscles really show in these photos and he is living proof that with effort comes...