Day 12 – The Male Body

So today’s lesson is for Men who want to look better. There is a ton of information in today’s lesson, so if this isn’t of any interest, maybe watch this video of this adorable baby hedgehog instead…

The majority of men I Coach have 60-90% clarity on what they want to look like. I always see my role as a coach isn’t just to get the client’s desired results; it’s to help them determine what results we are aiming for (and give my clients things/skills I know are important regardless if they value it or not!)

Results can be somewhat subjective, as looking ‘in shape, fit or sexy’ can mean different things to different people. Over the years, my experience with clients and detailed conversations with Hollywood movie producers have given me a deeper understanding of what a ‘sexy and attractive’ body really means to audiences and the general public. (Sadly, for those men not white, ripped & waxed) the image Hollywood pumps out is still pretty unoriginal. So if you are going to transform your body, please always aim for an aesthetic that serves you!).

It’s important to be mindful of where you hang out too. When we hang out too much in gyms, we tend to get a distorted view of what looks good, as these spaces (some more than others, I admit) tend to promote a mentality where ‘bigger is better. That’s fine for some, but for most people, a ‘gym body’ isn’t the final goal – a functionally athletic and capable-looking body is the real aim. I would argue that most men who follow my work and read this want to look like you can run fast, win a fight, surf a wave and rock climb, rather than looking like you can squat 400 pounds.

While I can get people really skinny or absolutely huge, that is not my passion; when film studios or actors hire me directly, it’s usually to get an athletic but not an overly-developed body, so think more Ryan Gosling, not the Rock.

 

The Hollywood look

Hollywood superstar actors tend to dominate our consciousness. For example, “I wanna look like Brad Pit in Fight Club” is still something I hear (as being the perfect physique) from lean guys in the 30-50 age bracket. In recent years, as I train younger men in their 20’s, a slightly more muscular look is becoming popular, though. Actors like Michael B Jordan, You Tubers like KSI and Logan Paul, reality TV stars like Joey Essex are all more muscular now than celebrities from back in the ’90s. As the societal pressure for all men to have good bodies has increased, it’s no surprise that anabolic steroids are on the up with the younger generation – as they do give you a shortcut to building muscle quickly.

 

Steroids

Steroids and HGH (Human Growth hormone) do work but are dangerous and simply do not need to be considered for attaining a lean, athletic look. When you train hard, train smart and eat well. It’s amazing what changes you can make naturally. Also, when you train and live naturally, the gains you make will stay for longer.

One more reason not to take TRT, Tren, Deca, HGH et al, is that it’s really obvious when you’ve taken them. Muscles look bloated, the body often has major acne breakouts, the subsequent rise in estrogen causes man-boobs and in time, your face gets more blocky too (with HGH in particular ). It’s weird, and it really doesn’t look good. Please please, please don’t do it.

I get the pressure to get impressive results quickly, I see on social media how steroids, excessive and early use of TRT etc has been normalised… but that doesn’t make it necessary, intelligent or healthy. Another issue is when you take external testosterone regularly, your body slows down/ stops producing its own testosterone. This is problematic in numerous ways. For young lads reading this who wanna looked ripped to get laid more, it seems somewhat ironic. And unless you plan on taking PED’s forever.. you’ll lose the excessive gains once you finish your cycle anyway.. hence why so many get addicted. Being truly body confident is not about being as huge as possible.. it’s about being happy in your own skin. Being an athlete, looking lean, fit, strong and being super healthy is the way forward, and this can all be achieved naturally.

 

The body transformation journey

Being in shape is fun; it’s empowering, and the price of getting there naturally builds character and sends ripples to other areas of your life. Below, I will share a quick overview of the seven steps my team and I approach male body transformation projects with you.

  1. Listen & Collaborate – Listening to clients is key – this might seem like a no-brainer and obvious, but some trainers assume what the precise goals are, and as fitness goals can be subjective, a real understanding is needed. For example, if looking good/sexy/ripped is the goal, then together, we must define what that means exactly to you and, more importantly, WHY? There is no point in having an amazing map when you have no big desire to arrive at the destination.
  2. Assessment – We assess looks, movement, strength, athletic ability, learning style, lifestyle, sleep, stress, nutrition – basically everything that encompasses holistic training. If you’re not assessing…you’re guessing.
  3. Repair & Rebuild– This is in relation to athletic strength, movement and eating foundations. For example, assuming prior training experience, as a trainer, I don’t need perfect posterior chain firing patterns, TVA activation, kinaesthetic awareness or even posture to start training properly. I just need it to be good (so around 8/10 perfect) to get going! Getting from an 8-10 to a 10-10 ‘function’ can then be easily achieved moving forward.
  4. Training – So this is when I start to develop both the clients’ strength and cardio base. In this big phase, 80% of our time is spent doing compound weight-lifting movements and a mixture of interval and LSS cardio. You can get stronger and leaner at the same time if you train, eat right and recover correctly. Getting huge and then cutting is a bit old-fashioned and is only really suited to very few people. I want my clients to look amazing all year round.
  5. Sculpting. This usually starts around the half waypoint. This is normally 70/30 upper body focused when an actor requires a 6 pack, then we begin building the muscles in the external obliques and abs ready for when the body fat drops low enough to see them!. Also, we look at pectoral development; often, rather than their pure beefy size, we want a distinct vertical separation; Brad Pitt again is a good example of this, so we just work on that aspect of the inner pec rather than just benching all the time. We also look at arm and shoulder definition; I have found less bicep work, and more long head tricep and posterior deltoid work gives men arms like fighters .. which looks cooler than just massive powerlifter arms. When we sculpt, we can develop the exact body we want.
  6. Timed Peak. Often my male clients are training for a topless scene for a film (I’ve also trained four different guys for Men’s Heath Mag covers), so we often must aim to have the body looking at its absolute best on a particular day. We play around with diet and training to make sure this happens. It’s easy to overdo this aspect. If I restrict water too much or give fat-burning pills, there are immediate lousy side effects. Try being in the photographic studio with bright lights shining on you when your heart is pounding out of your chest, and you are so dehydrated that you’ve induced a migraine!. It makes the whole experience miserable. Or imagine feeling so weak from lack of food and spending 2 hours in makeup and then trying to do a fight scene while remembering lines and doing fight choreography. Our job is to help your body, not abuse it. When training yourself for an event, you won’t get it perfectly right the first time but don’t be silly about it and never compromise your health, please. It’s never worth it.
  7. Recover & Maintenance. After you train hard for the goal, you need a couple of weeks to chill, then go back on a program that is roughly 50% as intense or frequent to maintain the changes you made.

 

Case Study

One of my clients, Dimitri, went through a 12-week transformation with us a little while ago. I want to showcase him as he’s not an actor or model. Here is a video of his experience, some exercises he was doing and views of the experience. He took no supplements or protein shakes, just an hour of intelligent and intensive training 4- 5 times a week with a normal healthy diet.

I’m just sharing this video as it’s a great example of how a body, fitness and mentality can develop in just 12 weeks of living and training athletically.

Coaching services I offer that help Men:

Tomorrow’s lesson shares lots of free resources for women.

See you there…

Main menu
Day 13