Summary: Today we have an interview with Carl Thomson who placed 5th in the Open Level 1 Division in our latest Adonis Index Contest. Check out his pictures: At the beginning Carl was like most of the guys, he was skinny and wanted to put on some muscles. He went on the web and found a local gym. Over the years he tried several different programs, but his upper body shape remained unchanged. But this wasn't everything. Carl also did a powerlifting workout program, where he was supposed to progress every week on his bench press and squats, having a specific weight target he needed to hit workout after workout. Considering the fact that Carl could squat 395 pounds and deadlift 440 pounds at the age of 14 he was a bit inclined towards the powerlifting type of training. He is also 5 foot 4, so his height is ideal for this sport as well. However, after a couple of weeks, he couldn't even fit into his jeans, his legs were huge. He started researching some ways to measure his legs, so he could buy more fitting jeans. And searching for measurements and proportions he ended up at the Adonis Index website. Why Adonis Index Style Is the Way to Train What Carl really liked was the fact that the main workouts were mostly dumbbell based thus easy to do and he wouldn't have to wait for equipment in his overcrowded gym. The powerlifting program he was using was very difficult to do, because if he didn't get to the gym early he wouldn't be able to get his exercises done. And like he said the workouts were fantastic. The phase he enjoyed the most was the strength endurance and the progression to hypertrophy of the main module. After a couple of weeks his body shape finally started to change in a way that he wanted. Carl realized that powerlifting isn't his primary goal, but rather having a good looking body is. Shortly after reading the Adonis Index and experiencing the change he realized that there are different body shapes you can get yourself into. Think about it for a while. Just by working out in a specific way you can change the way you look and completely transform your body shape. Just think of the various shapes in the different sports you see like cycling, swimming, tennis, soccer, sprinting, marathons, football, hockey...every player of those sports has a characteristic body shape that is defined by their sport. HOWEVER, the important factor is that they look the way that is best for their performance in that given sport! Swimmers have really developed shoulders, rowers have well developed backs, marathon runners are extremely lean and have less muscle than the average person, however this undersized body helps with their run performance. Do you see the point? Those physique's are all performance based! At no point have I mentioned whether the physique looks good or not. Your form is built by your function, so you must choose your function wisely. And this is an important thing to realize. Carl did both powerlifting, and endurance training for marathons, but the training he loved most was physique training with the Adonis Index. And that's the question. Do you want to be an athlete and allow your function to dictate your form or train for a specific look and have the lifestyle that goes along with a good looking, healthy body? If so, then the training isn't the goal, the outcome, your body shape is. It only makes sense to focus on improving what looks the best, which is a muscular, lean body with a dominant V-taper shape (perfect AI ratio). Once you are on this path and aiming for the perfect V-taper, you will see some amazing changes, your body will transform and people will act differently around you. And once you build a solid body shape you can also focus on your lagging muscle groups or even stop training those muscles that are already well-developed. For example Carl will never have to train his calves or thighs very much from now on, take a look:
