March 14, 2016
World record-setting powerlifter Chris Duffin embodies what Teddy Roosevelt called “the strenuous life.” Not only has he trained hard to lift superhuman amounts of weight, but he’s strived to be the best man he can be in his family and professional life. Chris came from a life of poverty, but through grit and drive he’s been able to create a great life for himself and his family. You’ve got to read his backstory; if there’s such a thing as a self-made man, Duffin is it. Chris and I talk about strength training and why men should be physically strong, but we also discuss how he has managed to balance family, work, and competitive powerlifting. Lots of great takeaways from this show.
Show Highlights
How Chris went from living in a condemned trailer as a child to becoming a corporate executive, owning his own gym, and setting powerlifting world records
A crash-course on the world of powerlifting
Why a man should strive to become a “Kabuki Warrior”
How physical strength helps a man become a pillar of strength in his family and community
March 12, 2016
Well this last week was an incredibly challenging week. I finished off my cut and did a photo shoot on Tuesday followed immediately by flying out to the Arnold on Wednesday. What made this challenging is the fact I was incredibly sick all week so the travel, lack of sleep, and long NON-STOP days at the Arnold killed me. However I couldn’t have had a better week honestly. It was an incredible time meeting and interacting with fans, customers, and friends I don’t see very often. Dave allowed me and my team into the compound to get some training in as well so big thanks to him and EliteFTS.
For this photo shoot my goal was to come in much more filled out than the last one. The one I did last year I got quite lean for but my face was so drawn I was not that recognizable. So we were unable to use a lot of the images for marketing material because I didn’t look like me or looked scary. This time I started the carb up early and hit it pretty hard after the 2 week carb depletion I did running into the shoot. While this did result in a lot more spillover and soft loping appearance of he abdominal area than I would have liked to have seen I’m quite pleased wight the results. Got some great images and I look like myself. And considering this is only the second time I have done this with very little experience to pull from I’m pleased.
March 12, 2016
Every Sunday our coaches answer YOUR questions! Have a question and you want to know what the experts have to say? Email us at [email protected]
And don’t forget “Dear Willow.” Our resident yoga expert, Willow Ryan, is here to give you guidance on yoga, meditation, and the mind-body connection. Email your question for her to [email protected] and check for her response on Saturdays.
Dear Coach,
I was wondering if I could get some advice on protein intake. Recently I’ve been eating a bit more but my meals haven’t been balanced and I feel like my progress is shortened to a point because of it. Today for breakfast I randomly decided to have a huge breakfast consisting of lots of grains, fruits, vitamins, and oatmeal. This breakfast totalled out to be about 70-90 grams of protein, as well as lots of calories and carbs. This is one of the first times I have ever eaten a breakfast this big and it had a huge effect on my vitality and energy throughout the day.
March 12, 2016
It seems nowadays everybody wants to be jacked and tan, well I am here to tell you that sometimes you need to just get big, strong, and FLUFFY. If you are always on a quest to get lean and wondering why your lifts aren’t going up, but hey you look good with your shirt off right? So than why the hell do you compete in a sport that the strongest person wins, not the leanest or the tannest but the one who can lift the most weight possible. If you’re reading this and think who cares about being that strong I want to look good and be kinda strong so i can get all the likes on instagram then maybe you should actually compete in a BB or physique show where looks matter. Now I’m not saying go to the store everyday and eat all the chocolate bars and ice cream, but you will be eating that stuff if you really want to gain some weight. Adding muscle and size is extremely hard to come by if you can add albs of muscle to your frame a year you’re lucky, but take any person and you can drop 20-30lbs in a 8-12 week diet. So its time to put up your squeems, stop the salads and cardio and get ready to get huge and strong.
March 11, 2016
I am starting this series of back to the basics to simplify all the information that is out there on nutrition. There is so much information out there and new studies are coming out all the time. All this is great but sometimes it can get a little overwhelming and people spend way to much time reading instead of just starting. Knowledge is great so I definitely recommend reading what you can and learning from the people who have been there and done that but the best advice I can give you is just get started and make adjustments as you go.
First things first lets cover the most important part of every diet, calorie consumption. Simply put if you want to lose weight than you need to eat less calories than you are burning. So basically you need to be in a calorie deficit, there are two ways to do this. You can either exercise more to burn off calories or eat less. If you combine the two, exercise and a proper diet, the results will be that much better. So first you need to figure out how many calories you need to consume to maintain weight. This is called your resting metabolic rate and to calculate that you need to multiply your bodyweight by 12. Now this is just a very general rule of thumb if you have a physically active job than you multiply it by 15. Everyone is different but this will give you a decent base plan to follow. If you want more info on how to set up your diet check out this article I wrote a while back.