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jody tiernani didn’t want to be just another nerdy accountant

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4 5

I didn’t want to become another overweight nerdy accountant

By Marty Gallagher

Jody Tiernan understood the need for fitness, but being a self-proclaimed “nerd accountant,” he didn’t have the first clue about how to go about it. The 41-year old Ohio native joined a local commercial gym in an effort to fix his physique. “I was headed towards diabetes and was overweight; I was also clueless about fitness. I wanted to ‘get in

shape,’ whatever that meant, but I had zero athletic background and the world of fitness was strange and off-putting.” Being an intelligent and observant guy, Jody would watch the experienced trainers at the gym and began mimicking their exercise techniques. Still, despite his best efforts, nothing of any real physical consequence was happening. Then

he happened to cross paths with a Parrillo super trainer named Scott Canatsey. “About three years ago a new trainer arrived at my gym. He had an energy and drive I had never seen in the other trainers. He was not only really working his people but also working with his people. The other personal trainers I had observed seemed like paid rep-counters that talked to their clients about training as much as they actually trained their clients. Scott was different. He was stretching his clients out ahead of time; he was working his people hard – but with kindness and expertise like I had never seen. And most importantly, his people were getting incredible results.”

Ah yes, results, the ultimate report card for any personal trainer. After all the talk is talked, after all the workouts are taken and all the recommended diets are adhered to, eventually it comes down to one thing – is the personal trainer able to obtain real results for regular people? We need factual results, not “the scale hasn’t changed because you exchanging fat-for-muscle” pretend results. A topflight pro obtains real results for regular people on a consistent and ongoing basis. Jody was dumbfounded by how quickly Scott was getting results, dramatic results. “I watched how Scott changed physiques.

Men over 50 under his guidance were becoming fit and muscular. After seeing all this with my own eyes, I decided I would hire Scott.” The approach Scott uses, while customized for the uniqueness of each individual client, is “pure Parrillo.” The Parrillo system has broad parameters and specific guidelines, yet the system has built in flexibility that allows for fine-tuning, based on the trainee’s situational reality. Scott had a comprehensive plan that initially was hard for Jody to wrap his head around. The Parrillo system has a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of things going on simultaneously: nutrition, supplementation, BodyStat, cardio, weight training, meal prep…there are a lot of different disciplines that need to be enacted and adhered to, fully and completely.

Right away Scott stressed to Jody that, “Nutrition was paramount. Nutrition is the key.” Again, within the Parrillo approach to eating and supplementing there are a lot of subtle things going on: meal timing, meal content, which supplements to take, when, how much? How many? Subtle and complex nutrition is what defines a real bodybuilder. Scott needed Jody to get on board with the Parrillo-style nutrition fully and completely. “When I began working with Scott, the first thing he did was completely change my nutrition.” Jody began to use a multiple-meal eating schedule. “Scott had me taking in calories six times a day. I also began supplementing with powerful Parrillo supplements.” Scott began tracking Jody’s progress each week using the Parrillo BodyStat procedure. Jody naturally was intrigued with this unique “body accounting” system. “Being an accountant, the BodyStat skin-fold body fat procedure fascinated me. Each week we were able to determine what tangible changes

were occurring within my body. We were compiling real data and using that data to make intelligent corrections.” Best of all, within a mater of weeks, Jody could see real changes, dynamic and undeniable changes in his physique. After three short months of diligent adherence to Scott’s Parrillo-inspired approach, the changes were so apparent that friends and family began to notice and comment. “After three months my muscle-less accountant physique had become way leaner and way more muscular. It was readily apparent that the nerd accountant was transforming. It was all so strange because I was leaning out – yet eating this crazy amount of food.”

The supplementation was another revelation. “The Parrillo supplements are so powerful and so potent that I was able to train harder, longer and more often. I was losing fat while I was eating more!” Jody transformed to such a degree that people started asking him if he was going to compete in a bodybuilding show. This was an incredible turn of events for the nerd accountant. Never in his life had Jody ever thought that he would have a physique like the one he now possessed. “I was thrilled that people were so impressed with my body that they would ask me if I competed or if I was going to compete. Imagine what an ego booster it

jody tiernanjody tiernan

“The Parrillo supplements are so powerful and so potent that I was able to train harder, longer and more often. I was losing fat while I was eating more!”

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jody tiernan

was to have folks think I looked that good. Honestly, those types of comments were more than enough accolades for my efforts. I don’t feel any burning urge to step onstage.” Honest praise is a mighty motivator. Somewhere during the initial stages of the transformational process, Jody had a light bulb moment and “it all came together.” After he had been living the bodybuilding lifestyle for a while and after he came to understand all the various moving parts, it occurred to Jody that bodybuilding and accounting were, in many ways, similar.

“I began to realize that in a lot of ways accounting and bodybuilding were the same. Things really took off when I made this weird connection: I built my tax business in a methodical and calculated manner. The Parrillo system as taught by Scott was building my body in a methodical and calculated manner. My business and my body are both disciplines that require thoughtful work and tremendous patience. Tax preparation and bodybuilding are both extremely strategic.” We asked Jody to expand on this interesting analogy. “My meals are planned and calculated; my training is planned and calculated; my accounting procedures are most certainly planned and calculated. I saw how a rigid and disciplined lifestyle was needed and required to morph my body. This is another form of goal orientation. Bodybuilding and accounting are nothing but numbers to me – and that is not a negative or a bad thing, that is a perfect fit for a super analytical guy like myself.”

The BodyStat procedure was another form of accounting. The measurements provide a basis for determining results – or a lack of results. “Scott would plot our next move based on BodyStat. His experience and his oversight

enabled me to shortcut the process in a way that I could relate to. Just as I would analyze the numbers in my accountant work, Scott would analyze the numbers that BodyStat produced. After a while I was able to see the logic and detect the patterns.” It is one thing to compile the data, it is quite another to be able to make the proper course corrections based on that data. It is of no use to determine that last week you gained fat and gained muscle if you are too inexperienced to recommend the proper remedial solution. Jody relied on Scott’s experienced guidance. “Whatever the plateau, Scott had a strategy for overcoming it: tweak the cardio, alter the lifting, cut back on the starch carbs, up the protein…or some combination. It was fascinating to watch.” Jody was his very own lab experiment and his due diligence, combined with Canatsey’s expertise and experience. proved to be a winning combination. The partnership was so successful that Jody’s wife Carey also decided to enlist Scott’s services. Jody said, “Scott works with me and my wife Carey. Our household is a Parrillo household. My daughters love the various Parrillo bars and Scott has taught us how to live healthy and become strong. We now know how to push a little harder and do things a little bit smarter.” Results come to those that adhere to the entire process.

“Motivation is a huge part of fitness and a huge motivation for me was the fact that Scott is older than me, yet he has a physique that is way better then men half his age. That means a lot to an older guy. It shows that results can be had and maintained later in life. I know I have a lot of untapped potential and I know Scott is the guy to show me how to tap that potential.” Jody is a terrific example of a man that was on the wrong side of 40 and

headed down the wrong path. He was smart enough to enlist some expert outside help to help him renovate his body and in doing so he also renovated his outlook on life. Is this not similar to when we enlist the services of a tax expert to help us navigate through the incomprehensible tax code? As Jody points out, “It is all about manipulating the numbers.” We suspect “Tax Nerd” will be muscling up far into the foreseeable future.

Training Split

Day 1 delts, abs, calves, and cardio.Day 2 legs, abs, calves, and cardio.Day 3 offDay 4 chest, triceps, abs, calves, and cardio. Day 5 back, biceps, abs, calves, and cardio. Saturday offSunday off

12 minutes of 30/30 interval sprints for post training cardio. Done daily.

Daily Meal Schedule

Morning celery, 6 eggs (3 whole, 3 whites)Mid morning (pre-workout) cream of rice with 2 scoops of Parrillo Whey proteinLunch cream of rice, chicken breast or tunaMid afternoon celery, Parrillo barDinner chicken, red meat or tuna, potatoes or rice, broccoliEvening snack cream of rice, chicken or tuna, Parrillo whey protein shake

The Parrillo products are superb. Plus they taste delicious. I am by no means any type of elite athlete, but I look better than I ever have and a lot of that credit goes to Parrillo Products. The CapTri® is an excellent and unusual product. I use CapTri® with everything; I cook my eggs and chicken in CapTri®. I put butter-flavored CapTri® over popcorn for a fabulous power snack. You do not have to compromise your taste buds. The Parrillo bars are delicious; clean protein, quality calories. The Parrillo supplements I use most often are Advanced Lipotropic Formula™, Essential Vitamin™, various Parrillo bar formulations, Optimized Whey protein™, Muscle Amino Formula™ and Liver Amino Formula™.

“Bodybuilding and accounting are nothing but numbers to me...

that is a perfect fit for a super analytical guy like myself.”

Jody is a terrific example of a man that was on the wrong side of 40 and headed down the wrong path. He was smart enough to enlist some expert outside help to help him renovate his body and in doing so he also renovated his outlook on life.

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muscle meets medicine

Questions and topic suggestions may be sent to:dr.jeremygirmann@gmail.com

Follow Dr. Girmann on Instagram @JeremyGirmann

By Dr. Jeremy Girmann

MEETS

In a previous question submission, Performance Press

reader, James, reported that he was stuck at a particular weight on the bench press and that he could not, despite repeated attempts and great effort, push any more weight. He stopped progressing and wants to know how he can break through his plateau.

I could begin by describing various training techniques that are likely to facilitate a bigger bench, however these are fairly difficult to articulate with brevity through text and often necessitate significant individualization.

If you have read the Performance Press since the start of my column, you’re likely to have developed the impression that I

like to provide answers that are perhaps less intuitive and that have far-reaching application.

My last column focused largely on the importance of the mind-muscle connection and this month’s question provides an excellent opportunity to expand on the importance of the mind and psychological influence.

I often hear people claim that they could never accomplish a particular feat because they have never been able to do so in the past, or perhaps because nobody has ever been able to accomplishthat feat.

Whether considering a personal best bench press, a world record squat, the creation of a new,

innovative company, or inventing a revolutionary technology, many people surrender to perceived limitations. They create an artificial barrier that imposes real restrictions that remain until someone redefines the possibilities. We can find examples of this concept throughout history.

Consider Bob Kennedy, the great American distance runner from Westerville, Ohio. Bob became the first American to break the 13-minute barrier for 5,000 meters. After he set this record it stood unsurpassed for 13 years. The accomplishment seemed too grand. Many in America imagined that it would stand for eternity. That is until Dathan Ritzenheim smashed the record by nearly 2 seconds. Shortly thereafter, even more distance runners successfully beat Bob’s record.

Consider also the story of Takeru Kobayashi, a competitive eater who ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes during his rookie appearance at the Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. This was double the previous record of 25 hot dogs and far greater than what most imagined was even possible. Following Kobayahi’s remarkable demonstration, eating 50 hot dogs became routine for many competitive eaters. The accomplishment was no longer a

feat of fantasy.

In cases such as these, the act of witnessing a specific accomplishment was enough to expand the realm of possibility for many. It made the accomplishment more tangible, more practical. As for those who are the first to set the records, they believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that perceived limitations are artificial, irrelevant, and without meaning.

Interestingly, one area of the brain in particular is heavily involved in this process of perceiving our limitations. It’s an area where nuclei connect to form a modulatory system known as the reticular activating system (RAS). This system is responsible for wakefulness and sleep-wake transition. It also serves as a sort of filter between the conscious and unconscious mind. Have you ever been among a group of people with multiple conversations taking place in the background? Most of it is just noise. The content of the conversations hardly registers in your mind until you hear your name. Whether or not the person was referring to you, your brain immediately recognizes the name despite the fact that you were not consciously listening to any other part of the conversation.

Imagine a similar situation occurring when parents of an infant child fall asleep with the radio playing nearby. They will remain asleep despite the music but will wake as soon as they hear their infant make even the slightest noise. The RAS helps the brain to decide what information to focus on and what information to ignore.

Fortunately, the RAS can be trained and is subject to our beliefs. It cannot distinguish between what is real and what is synthetic. As a result, as long as we entirely believe something, the RAS will filter to our

processes that facilitate that goal coming to fruition. It’s almost as if the universe gets entirely out of our way when we so clearly see the path that we intend to take.

This phenomenon is central to the Parrillo Performance philosophy. Helping others to clearly define goals and instill self-belief was the catalyst for the creation of Parrillo Performance and remains the principal mission that benefits so many athletes.

Whenever you seem to encounter a barrier, rethink the possibilities, redefine your potential, and realize that

limitations are often only what we make of them.

consciousness only information that supports and is in alignment with that belief. Have you ever heard that you attract the things that you think about the most? Successful people believe in great success, wealthy people think of themselves as wealthy, healthy people focus on good health, and people who set records on the bench press envision the achievement of that record. They believe completely in the goal, which sets into motion innumerable

It’s almost as if the universe gets entirely out of our way when we so clearly see the path that we intend to take.

Helping others to clearly define goals and instill self-belief was the catalyst for the creation of Parrillo Performance and remains the principal mission that benefits so many athletes.

...many people surrender to perceived limitations. They create an artificial barrier that imposes real restrictions that remain until someone redefines the possibilities.

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a bodybuilder is born

EpisodE 106: Could your training bE bEttEr?

As bodybuilders, we are always chasing perfection in

our physiques. To that end, we pour tremendous amounts of time and energy into our workouts. But are you getting the most out of your training? Could any aspects of it be better? There is always room for improvement. Let’s run down the main categories that we should all be running a regular ‘diagnostic scan’ on to see if we could be performing them better.

Exercise selectionsWhy do you do the exercises that you do? Hopefully you aren’t simply mimicking what you saw or read someone else was doing. Ideally, we should be selecting exercises that we have determined to be the most effective for us. At the same time, we should not avoid exercises simply because we don’t like them. For example, if you avoid front squats because they are uncomfortable even though they always get your quads sore, you need to put them back in your rotation on leg day. By giving many different exercises a solid chance, you will discover that some are worth your time and some are not. You also don’t want to do the same exact exercises all the time, as your body will acclimate to them and progress will stall. For instance, you can do your incline presses for chest with a barbell for a few workouts in a row, then switch to dumbbells.

Training splitHow you arrange your body parts to be trained is an individual matter, but there are some guidelines that should be adhered to. The biceps assist in nearly all back exercises, so you should not train biceps the day before back. Likewise, you should not train triceps the day before either chest or shoulders. If you are doing deadlifts for your

Working shoulders the day before chest is also not a good idea. If you have a seriously lagging bodypart, you may want to consider working it after a full rest day.

PrioritiesMost of us know that we should work our weak areas harder, and not put too much emphasis on our stronger body parts that grow much more easily. Yet how many of us succumb to the temptation to do the opposite? It’s far more gratifying to train muscle groups that give you that instant reward. Maybe you are a very strong bench presser and are proud of how much weight you can put up. So you might spend a good half of your 90-minute chest workout on the flat bench. Meanwhile, you might be one of those guys with such weak back development that you literally look like twice the size from the front, and half the size from the back – and you only do a few half-ass sets for back every week. If a truly balanced physique is your goal, you can’t show favoritism to your stronger body parts. Maintain them while you hammer your weaker areas, and eventually they will catch up.

IntensityDo you train hard enough? There is such a thing as too much intensity, but very few bodybuilders have ever pushed themselves that far. Most of us don’t give 100% every time. We may grunt and cry out with

effort, but deep down we know we had another rep or two in us. Unless you push or pull until you have truly reached that limit, you can’t say you left it all on the gym floor. Think of every workout as one chance to grow that you will never get again. Treat every workout like it’s your last. You should ease up every once in a while and even take a few days off from training a couple times a year, but for the most part, attack

the weights and give yourself no mercy, and no excuses.

FormHow’s your form? Let me say up front that aside from certain compound free weight movements like squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, and military presses, ‘perfect form’ is up for personal interpretation and should be based on your particular structure and leverages. That

being said, heaving and throwing weights around rarely accomplishes anything. It’s very common for guys to sacrifice any semblance of proper form in order to handle very heavy weights. While this may swell the ego, it does little or nothing to swell your muscles.

Mind-muscle connectionClosely related to the issue of form is your mind-muscle connection. How

back and squats for your legs, you should not be training those body parts on consecutive days. It’s just too much stress on the lower back in too short of a time. How you break up the body parts is something you can play around with, but back and legs should usually have their own training days; as each requires a good amount of effort and volume.

“Are you doing the exercises you should be doing?”

“Are you working your weak parts harder?”

12 13

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well do you feel the target muscle working during any given exercise? You should be able to feel the muscle contract and stretch on each rep. I often say the word ‘squeeze’ aloud on every rep to get someone to focus on the contraction. Millions and millions of people train with weights, moving weights from point A to point B, but very few of them own physiques that look exceptional. Only a small percentage of men and women use weights as tools to intentionally work a specific muscle group as hard as possible. These people are bodybuilders, and it’s why their muscles are so much better developed than their gym rat peers.

VolumeAre you doing too much in your workouts? Too little? Either is possible, and truth be told, some people respond better to volume that’s higher or lower than ‘normal.’ There is no magic number of sets, but it stands to reason that larger body parts require more sets than smaller ones. Your arms certainly don’t need anywhere near the variety of exercises and sheer volume of training that your back or your legs do. Yet you see people spending equal or even greater amounts of time on their biceps and triceps as you do for much larger muscle groups all the time! The length of your workouts can serve as a rough guideline for proper volume, assuming you aren’t chatting for five minutes between every set. Larger muscle groups should be completed in 60-90 minutes at most, while smaller ones should be finished in 45-60 minutes.

RecoveryThe workout is just the stimulus for muscle growth. Unless the muscle is allowed to recover and repair itself after the workout before it’s trained again, no growth will occur no matter how epic your workouts may be. Don’t work the same muscle

(except perhaps calves or abs) more often than once every 4-7 days. For those with hectic jobs and numerous responsibilities outside the gym, lean more toward 7 days. Get eight hours of sleep a night, but if you can’t, try to sneak naps in. Don’t sacrifice sleep to stay up late online or watching TV. Keep your ‘partying’ to a minimum if at all, as both alcohol and recreational drugs are counter to building a stronger, bigger, healthier body.

Do you respect training?I saved this for last because it’s a topic I happen to feel very strongly about. Once upon a time, bodybuilders were all about hard work in the gym. Men like Tom Platz, Mike Mentzer, Casey Viator, Rich Gaspari, Dorian Yates, and Ronnie Coleman were exalted for their brutal effort against the weights. Bodybuilders in general took great pride in training harder and heavier than the next guy, pushing the limits of effort and intensity. Somewhere along the line, most likely due to people getting lazier in general and looking for easy shortcuts, training somehow took a backseat in the minds of many in terms of significance. In recent years, the focus seems to have shifted toward drugs as the means to achieving any and all physique goals. In other words, as long as you use the right drugs in the right amounts, your training is fairly irrelevant. You don’t need to train hard at all, as the drugs will do the work for you and provide all the results you want. This is utter and complete bullsh*t, nothing more than an attempt by the weak-willed who lack drive and discipline to justify their unwillingness to put the work in. Nothing will ever take the place of hard training, and those who live and breathe that belief will always look better than those who look for a shot or a pill to build their physiques. Whether you choose to use performance-enhancers or not, you still have to bust your ass in the gym!

Ron Harris is now available for online training!

Nutrient supportAnother key element to muscle recovery and growth is your nutrition and supplementation. You can train like a beast, but if you’re eating like a bird, don’t expect to make any gains. A hard-training bodybuilders needs about 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight every day. You should be getting that from lean protein sources as well as protein powders like Parrillo’s Hi-Protein. Every workout should end with an ample amount of protein and carbs in liquid form, such as a 50/50 Plus™ shake. Snack on Parrillo’s bars, and add Cap-Tri® to your meals for more healthy fats and quality calories. Plenty of good food and plenty of good supplements are what your muscles need, so don’t deny them!

Facebook: Ron Harris WriterTwitter: @RonHarrisMuscleInstagram: ronharrismuscleYouTube: RonHarrisMuscle

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“Those who train harder will always look better!”

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parrillo principles

The Parrillo PrinciplesNutritional Support for Gaining Lean Muscle Mass

By Andre Newcomb

Anyone can gain weight - the trick is gaining muscle not marbled with fat!

There is an unbelievable amount of confusion in the mainstream bodybuilding world about how best to gain muscle. Modern bodybuilders seeking size are paralysed by the curse of too many choices. Full of angst and conflicted, they are petrified that they might add an unacceptable amount of body fat during the mass building process. They are tortured by the possibility that they might add a sliver, a scintilla of fat during their quest for size. The modern bodybuilder tends to be lean and lacking in muscle mass – yet so attached to their leanness that it prevents them from adding any muscle. Is this not a bodybuilding paradox? We are not speaking of the elite pro bodybuilder, or the topflight amateur competing nationally, we are talking about local bodybuilders, the type that competes in your area at the smaller shows.

Go to any local bodybuilding competition in this day and age and there are two things you will be struck by immediately: the locals have it down when it comes to showing up lean and the locals lack muscle. John Parrillo has consistently made the point that a bodybuilder needs both muscle size and leanness if they are to be considered a “true” bodybuilder. The Parrillo approach is designed to maximize both muscle mass

and leanness. The classical Parrillo nutritional and training strategies are intricately interwoven and make extensive use of logging and monitoring. As the Parrillo process proceeds, the bodybuilder is empowered with detailed information that allows the trainee to make timely tweaks, corrections and adjustments. We can add a significant amount of lean mass while keeping fat increases to an irrelevant minimum if the Parrillo policies and procedures are adhered to carefully.

Muscle mass versus muscle clarity:Even at small shows at the local level, leanness, muscle clarity, and crispness are commonplace. What is missing at the local level is MUSCLE SIZE, lean muscle mass. The locals have the lean part down; what has proven elusive for them is the muscle-mass part of the bodybuilding equation. In the olden days of bodybuilding it was the exact opposite, leanness was lacking yet muscle size was everywhere. The old timers lacked the knowledge of nutrition we have in this day and age, but the old time bodybuilders knew exactly how to add muscle size. However, it was size without clarity. There was a time in bodybuilding, and not too long ago, when only a select few insiders knew how to get ‘ripped,’ or as they called it back in the 60s,

‘defined.’ The lean-out procedures were closely held secrets. Look at the old pictures of bodybuilders of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. What is readily apparent is that the body fat percentile of the world’s best bodybuilders was much higher. Bill Pearl and Reg Park, unquestionably the best bodybuilders in the world during the 1960s, both competed while carrying 10% body fat percentiles – certainly no lower.

Primitive bodybuilding nutrition: In the mid 1960s, the West Coast bodybuilding community began experimenting with an early version of the “zero carb” diet. The infamous “fish and water” diet was just that,

fish and water, period. Men like Dave Draper, Robbie Robertson and Frank Zane would begin their serious contest preparation six weeks beforehand by eating some type or kind of seafood (usually tuna straight out of a can) and drinking water. Nothing else was consumed. You ate plain fish, you drank water, you suffered and starved, and this went on for weeks. By the time the competition arrived the bodybuilder was reduced to an exhausted, emaciated weakling. This extreme dietary regimen was the beginning of formalized bodybuilding nutrition. Today’s bodybuilders, even at the local level, are routinely and consistently able to obtain 5-10% body fat percentiles. They do so with astounding regularity. We all have access to the latest instantaneous information about all the different bodybuilding diet strategies. In some respects, the shedding of body fat is the easiest part of the bodybuilding equation: the dilemma is – what good is a 7% body fat percentile if you are packing 14-inch arms, a 43-inch chest and 24-inch thighs? Who cares about seeing a ripped and shredded skinny man in a set of posing trunks?

Nutrition defines a bodybuilder: Dietary discipline, when you think about it, is what defines a bodybuilder. The ability to eat right, to eat at the right times, to eat clean and eat in the right amounts, to be consistent - these are the traits that define a bodybuilder. If the bodybuilder doesn’t exercise nutritional discipline and precision they cannot be called a bodybuilder. A real bodybuilder doesn’t “fall off the diet bandwagon” once or twice a week. A real bodybuilder considers his nutrition as his defining characteristic. An athlete, a power-lifter or a strength athlete, will feel they are defined by their respective sport, with the nutrition

secondary. The bodybuilder will feel that the nutrition is his defining characteristic with the training being secondary. Bodybuilders that have successfully attained a good degree of leanness are hesitant to stray outside the eating habits they used to get lean, and stay lean. The problem for the thin and lean bodybuilder is that they will never grow any new muscle unless they dramatically increase their calories and heavy-up the training.

Want size? Get stronger! Ronnie Coleman is a giant of a man. It is not a coincidence that he is able to squat and dead-lift 800-pounds. Ronnie once famously said, “Everybody wants big muscles, but nobody wants to lift big weights.” He was noting that there is an undeniable relationship between getting stronger and acquiring muscle mass. If the bodybuilder is successful at getting stronger, muscle gains are sure to follow – provided you are ingesting sufficient calories to fuel the new growth.

Coleman’s prescription is the same as Dorian Yates’ prescription, get massively strong and massive muscles will naturally follow. While you are never going to squat 800-pounds, if you are able to move your current 240-pound bench press up to 300-pounds, then guess what? You are going to experience a dramatic increase in pectorals; front and side deltoids, triceps and even lats will grow. The eternal method for getting larger and more muscular is to get significantly stronger. We want to get strong in the big lifts – squats, benches, inclines, barbell row, power clean, overhead presses, strict curls, chins and dips. Don’t waste time getting stronger in minor isolation exercises like tricep kickbacks, lying leg curls or concentration curls, which is not where the big gains lie. Rip a page from an ancient playbook and use barbells and dumbbells in the basic exercises; look to get stronger and “nutritionally support” heavy training with lots of calories.

“Everybody wants big muscles, but nobody wants to lift big weights.”

-Ronnie Coleman

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parrillo principles

Quantity calories,quality calories: Back in the ancient days, bodybuilders were not afraid to eat; they took pride in how much food capacity they had. Reg Park once ate 20 veal cutlets at a single sitting. It was nothing for a bodybuilder of the 1960s to eat an entire chicken and wash it down with a quart of whole milk – for lunch! They understood that if they ate a lot, if they lifted barbells and dumbbells (all they had) hard, heavy and often, they’d get strong as hell and, in turn, grow big-ass muscles. At it worked! They made it a point to consume lots of calories to fuel growth. They understood the need for nutritional support in the quest for huge muscles. The old timers had it 2/3rds right: lift heavy and eat big. The landmine, as John Parrillo was

the first to point out in 1982, was that if the calories consumed are “dirty” calories, the excess will be used to create fat, not muscle. The way around this was, not to cut back on the calories, instead “switch out” dirty calories for “clean calories.” The clean eating bodybuilder had to eat a lot more food (volume) to match dirty calories. Fat calories contain 9-calories per gram while lean protein and natural carbs only generate 4-calories per gram. Clean eating means you have to eat twice as much protein and carb food to match the calories created by saturated fat. This is where nutritional supplementation comes into play.

Calories and the classic“Parrillo Meal”:When it comes to adding muscle,

the first order of business is to increase calories. Protein is the key nutrient, as far as John is concerned, and while the first order of business is to make a commitment to increase calories, the second order of business is to establish daily “protein benchmarks.” John Parrillo insists that if you weight train and do cardio as hard and as often as he recommends, “you need, at a minimum, 1 to 1.5 gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight.” At 160-pound bodybuilder looking to add lean muscle mass would require 160 to 240 grams of protein each and every day. In addition, Parrillo insists the bodybuilder consumes fibrous carbs at least three times per day; fibrous vegetable carbs are calorically insignificant, an entire cup of spinach might contain 50 calories. Starch carbs are natural

sources and used with precision. Too many starch carbs and an unacceptable amount of body fat is acquired; too few starch carbs and there is no muscle growth. The classical Parrillo food meal consists of a potion of protein, a portion of fibrous carbs and a portion of starch carbs. “Food combining” causes the protein and fiber to dampen the insulin spike associated with starch. Supplementation makes hitting nutritional benchmarks easier and more precise.

Plug the holes; fill in the gaps with potent Parrillo supplements: It becomes a lot easier for our hypothetical bodybuilder to achieve a 160 grams per day protein target if he can drink two Parrillo protein shakes per day and eat one Parrillo Protein bar. Two shakes and a bar equate to 85 grams of protein! This provides more than half of the day’s protein benchmark minimum and means the bodybuilder only has to cook and eat half the protein volume. If the bodybuilder seeking mass is really smart, they are using liberal amounts of CapTri®. This amazing supplement contains 120 calories per tablespoon and the calories derived from C8 medium-chain triglycerides cannot end up stored as body fat. Elite bodybuilders will drizzle CapTri® over their food, add CapTri® to their shakes and even use CapTri® as a cooking lipid, like olive oil, to sauté chicken tenders, fish filets and to make crispy, delicious potatoes and onions. A bottle of CapTri® can add a ton of clean calories to the daily count. We have just scratched the surface when it comes to Parrillo supplementation. There are an incredible number of high protein “Parrillo Foods,” pancakes, muffins, brownies, cakes, high protein icing, even Parrillo ‘Ice Kreem™,’ an amazingly delicious desert. Make studious use of supplements.

BodyStat, the mass-buildingreport card:How do we avoid the pitfall of adding an unacceptable amount of body fat during the mass-building process? We monitor body composition. To provide the nutritional support necessary for mass building we need to follow the basic Parrillo guidelines: establish a multiple-meal eating schedule and stick to it; eat clean calories and eat lots of them; eat foods preferentially partitioned into making muscle; eliminate foods preferentially partitioned into increasing body fat. Fill in the nutritional “gaps and cracks” with potent Parrillo supplements. Once you have all this in place and up and running, you will need a way to determine if you are being successful. John Parrillo devised the BodyStat system as a way for bodybuilders to determine body composition. BodyStat allows the diligent bodybuilder to take his game to the next level. BodyStat provides a weekly report card of exactly what is happening physiologically. There are actually quite a few possibilities…

1. Add muscle add fat2. Add muscle lose fat3. Lose muscle add fat4. Lose muscle lose fat5. Stay the same

Why fly blind:It would be invaluable information to know which of these five possibilities had occurred to your body over the last 7-14 days. BodyStat gives you that ability. The kit contains a set of callipers that enable the bodybuilder to determine body composition baselines. The results are logged and studied; corrections and adjustments are made with great precision; tweak the weight training, change the cardio, alter the nutrition, ongoing tweaks can be extremely effective when the goal is to add muscle without gaining too much body fat in the process. What better way to monitor the process than with BodyStat? Now you can understand exactly what is going on, in terms of body composition. What effects – or lack of effects – are you obtaining from your current training and nutrition? Are we moving towards the goal or away from the goal? Without BodyStat you are feeling around for a light switch in the dark. For those serious about adding some serious muscle to their current level of leanness, call our toll-free number (1-800-344-3404) and order the BodyStat Kit. Why fly blind?

John Parrillo was the first to point out in 1982 that if the calories consumed are “dirty” calories, the excess will be used to create fat, not muscle.

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Waffles2 cups Hungry Jack Extra Light Pancake Mix4 tbsp wheat bran1-1/2 cup skim milk100g egg whites (approx. 4)1 tbsp CapTri®

Preheat waffle iron. Mix ingredients together and pour into waffle iron. Serves four.

of the monthTips & TidbitsTips & Tidbits

w

?? ?

FoodFoodof the month

Question &Answer

Question &Answer SupplementSupplement

of the monthInterestingInteresting

Article Fact:

Egg Whites• Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid

contained within an egg• Since the cholesterol in eggs is all in the egg yolks,

egg whites have no cholesterol.

• Always use the lowest amount of heat to thoroughly cook the eggs, without destroying the texture of them. Overcooking egg whites in a microwave or on a stovetop, will denature (destroy) the protein in the egg white and taste less appealing

Nutritional Information for : egg whites, 1 cup

Calories: 51Protein: 10.9gFat: .00gTotal Carbs: .80g

Fiber: .00gSodium: 146mgPhosphorous: 15mgCalcium: 9.00mg

Iron: .10mgVitamin A: - Potassium: 139mg

Recipes including egg whites in the CapTri® cookbook• Waffles• Rima’s famous oatmean pancakes• Crepes• Country Mexican Omelette

RecipeRecipeSpotlight

Hi Protein High FiberSoft Chew Bar™• 22 grams of protein per bar• 17 grams of fiber per bar• Only 3 grams of Net Carbs and 130 Calories per

Soft Chew bar• Contains 2 grams of CapTri® C8 MCT Oil

The Soft Chew Bar has only 3g of Net Carbs and less than one gram of sugar. With only 130 calories, this delectable bar is a great portable snack when you’re on the go or you just need to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Question: What advice do you have for “hardgainers”?I can’t seem to pack on enough muscle!Answer: If you’re a “hardgainer”, then you’re simply not eating properly or taking the right supplements. Nutrition is the key. It sets the limits of your growth and recovery potential. To extend that potential, you must train your body to process more nutrients by gradually increasing your caloric intake. That way, you develop all the systems in your body, including the endocrine system, metabolic pathways and digestive system so that your body starts building musclesand burning fat more efficiently than ever. Use supplements such as CapTri® and Pro-Carb™ to increase your caloric intake. “Hardgainers” try to pack on muscle by following killer workouts. That’s fine as long as you are taking in enough quality nutrients and calories. But if proper nutrition isn’t there to help you recover, those workouts won’t have the desired effect.

The researchers, from the Neuroscience Program in Substance Abuse (N-PISA) at Vanderbilt University, USA, say understanding the mechanisms behind overeating could help prevent it and reduce the incidence of obesity.

“We have always been struck by how much animals -- and even people -- will over-consume tasty high-fat foods, even though they might be technically feeling full,” said Dr. Aurelio Galli, one of the authors of the study. “A high fat diet causes people to eat more, which ultimately impairs the ability of obese people to successfully control their caloric intake, lose weight and maintain weight loss. We have conducted several studies trying to understand why a high fat diet has this effect.”

Worldwide, obesity has more than doubled since 1980. Today around two billion people are overweight, and 600 million of these are obese. A number of factors contribute to the obesity epidemic, including economic stresses, changes in the built environment and changing food trends.

Biologically, obesity is the result of defects in the central nervous system that mean the body can’t match its energy intake through food with its energy expenditure. The amount we eat is controlled by survival and reward (hedonic eating) the body’s metabolism and our pleasure senses, like taste and smell. When specific signals in the brain are impaired, these two systems can fall out of balance, resulting in overeating.

The new study reveals a novel mechanism behind overeating high fat foods for pleasure. A specific signaling pathway in brain cells that control motivation, movement and attention determines the amount of high fat foods consumed. When the signaling is defective, the person only overeats high fat foods.

“We distilled the neurobiological mechanisms involved specifically in overeating for fat,” said Dr. Kevin Niswender, one of the authors of the study. “We defined the why, where, and how of ‘hedonic’ obesity and found that disrupting a specific signaling pathway in the brain can lead to overeating specifically food high in fat.”

The researchers studied one particular signaling pathway in the brain -- insulin signaling -- and the way it works in specific brain cell circuits. Defects in insulin signaling can override the body’s natural homeostatic mechanisms in favor of the reward mechanisms, leading to obesity.

Rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) is a group of proteins involved in insulin signaling in the brain. The researchers wanted to find out how insulin signaling and mTORC2 affect how rewarding high fat foods are. They genetically altered brain cells in mice by taking out a part of mTORC2 and found that the mice without a functioning mTORC2

Dietary protein and complex carbohydrates have negligible tendency to be converted to fat, whereas dietary fat is very prone to be stored as body fat.

Read more in John’s article on page 20 in the September 2013 issue of the Performance Press.

Go online to www.parrilloperformance.com to view all past and present issues!

News & DiscoveriesNews & DiscoveriesIn Fitness & Nutrition

ate high-fat food excessively. However, when provided only with low-fat food they did not overeat.

Furthermore, they found that the mice whose mTORC2 does not function also had less dopamine in specific regions of the brain. Lower dopamine transmission in brain cells is associated with obesity in humans and animals, and also in escalating substance abuse.

“Our findings reveal a system that is designed to control eating of rewarding foods that are high in fat and possibly sugar,” said Dr. Galli. “This system can be hijacked by the very foods that it is designed to control. Eating a high-fat or high-carbohydrate diet feels rewarding, but also appears to cause changes in the brain areas that are involved in controlling eating, by causing for example insulin resistance. Our study shows that when specific signaling in these areas of the brain is disrupted, it leads to a vicious cycle of increasing, escalating high-fat diet intake that likely further cements changes in these brain areas.”

The researchers now plan to find out whether the effect of disrupting the signaling system works. They plan to restore mTORC2 signaling in obese mice to see whether it leads to them eating a normal amount of calories.

Elsevier. “A high fat diet leads to overeating because of faulty brain signaling: Offering low fat foods could help prevent obesity, say researchers.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 September 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150921090147.htm>.

A high fat diet leads to overeating because of faulty brain signaling

20 21

calcium pyruvate

calcium pyruvate: WORK SOME METABOLIC MAGIC

By John Parrillo

There’s still no magic pill that will melt fat off your physique

– that happens through diet and exercise – but there is a supplement that may support fat-burning: calcium pyruvate (pie-RU-vate), or CP, for short.

Made naturally in the body, CP is involved in energy-producing reactions that occur at the cellular level. During normal metabolism, carbohydrate fuel (glucose) is split into pyruvate, also known as pyruvic acid, inside individual cells. Pyruvate enters the mitochondria, the energy factory of cells, and undergoes a further series of chemical reactions, ultimately releasing carbon dioxide and water, and producing energy in the form of ATP, a molecule that powers our bodies. ATP makes muscles contract, allows our organs to do their jobs, and promotes other cellular energy processes that are vital for life.

Since the 1970s, CP has been tested and researched at some of the leading medical centers throughout the world, and has been shown in many clinical studies to accelerate fat loss, boost endurance, and work in the body as a disease-fighting antioxidant. It is available as a commercial supplement; our product is Parrillo Calcium Pyruvate.

In one of these studies, researchers evaluated the results of supplementing with 6 grams daily of pyruvate to ascertain its effects on body weight, body composition, and mood in overweight men and women. Twenty-six people were randomly assigned to a placebo group and a pyruvate-supplemented group. In addition, all subjects participated in an exercise program three days a week, which consisted of aerobics and weight training. After six weeks of treatment, there was a significant decrease in body weight and body fat in the pyruvate group, but not in the placebo group. Mood improved in the pyruvate group too. The researchers concluded: “Thus, the ingestion of 6 grams of pyruvate for 6 weeks, in conjunction with mild physical activity, resulted in a significant decrease in body weight and fat mass.” (1)

How It Works

In an excellent guidebook titled Pyruvate: A Scientific Review and Practical Guide, James B. Rouf, Ph.D., a leading pyruvate researcher, outlined several possible ways, all based on scientific data and observations (2):

First, CP may rev up your metabolic rate. The faster your metabolism, the more efficiently your body burns fat. It is believed that CP increases thyroxine, a thyroid hormone. Thyroid hormones are chemical regulators of metabolism; thus, increasing their secretion may boost metabolism.

Second, because CP appears to increase muscle tissue, this accounts for a higher metabolic rate too. Muscle is your body’s most metabolically active tissue.

A third theory of CP’s mechanism of action has to do with its ability to stimulate fat-burning. In normal energy release, the body draws first on carbohydrates for energy, then protein, and finally fat. Remarkably, CP appears to reverse that order, causing your body to burn fat first for its energy needs. Why the reversal? What happens, theoretically, is this: Pyruvate may reduce insulin levels in the blood. Insulin is a busy hormone. Among its duties is promoting fat storage. But if insulin levels are low, less fat is stored in fat cells – which could partially explain CP’s effect on fat-burning.

One final theory involves “feed efficiency,” a term that describes how efficiently calories are turned into stored body fat. A high feed efficiency means more calories are stored as fat; a low feed efficiency means fewer calories are deposited. Somehow, CP seems to decrease feed efficiency and prevent excess fat storage; at least, this is what has been observed in animal studies. But potentially, you could turn your body into a fat-burning machine by supplementing with pyruvate.

I want to add, too, that CP appears to accelerate the body’s use of glycogen (stored carbohydrate) by the working muscles. It maneuvers more glucose, from the breakdown

of glycogen into cells, into muscle cells where it is burned for energy. CP may increase endurance and significantly reduce muscle fatigue – which is why the supplement has become so popular among all types of athletes.

Supplementation

For best results, take 1 to 2 750mg capsules of pyruvate 3 times/day – preferably in divided doses, about every 4 to 6 hours with meals. Some researchers feel that CP should be taken with a carbohydrate food, because carbs help pyruvate get into your system more effectively. Drinking ample water throughout the day (8 to 10 8-ounce glasses or more) seems to help CP work better.

If you’re already using Parrillo Creatine Monohydrate™, adding our CP to your supplement program is a great idea. Supplementing with both can help extend your endurance and increase your training intensities.

“Senior” athletes should definitely consider CP supplementation, because it seems to work really well the older you are. Why? Because the body’s own supply of pyruvate naturally declines with age. A study published in 2013 found that calcium pyruvate improved strength and muscle quality in men and women age 65 and older - without even lifting weights. (3) I don’t recommend that you disband your strength training routine and rely on CP only, however, since we know from tons of other research that lifting weights is a true fountain of youth.

Safety

CP is very safe, because it is a natural component of your body’s metabolism. Remember, your body makes pyruvate, more specifically

pyruvic acid, on an ongoing basis. CP causes no harmful side effects when taken as recommended.

Dietary Backup

Supplementing with CP doesn’t mean you can eat anything you want. If you do that, you’ll just get fat! Your best bet is to follow the Parrillo Nutrition Program – and train regularly, hard, and intensely – while adding CP to your supplement program

Sources

1. Kalman, D., et al. 1999. The effects of pyruvate supplementation on body composition in overweight individuals. Nutrition 15: 337-340.

2. Roufs, J.B. 1997. Pyruvate: A Scientific Review and Practical Guide. Intelligent Nutrition.

3. Stout, J.R. 2013. Effect of calcium β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (CaHMB) with and without resistance training in men and women 65+yrs: a randomized, double-blind pilot trial. Experimental Gerontology 48: 1303-1310.

22 23

Do I need Joint Formula™ and Max Endurance Formula™?

Getting Specific about replenishment

Weight loss insanity

Genetics overrated?

Muscle mass without strength increases?

Hi,

I am really getting into my cardio. I have discovered outdoor running and it has taken my enthusiasm to a whole new level. It turns out I have a really cool park a few blocks from my new home. Anyway, the weather is perfect so I am doing 30-40 minute runs (or jogs) and while I love it, I am feeling a little achy in my joints – not injuries, just some aches in the knees and ankles. This is to be expected going from nothing to 15 miles + a week. I want to keep going. Also, I am sweating a lot – which is fantastic – but new for me. I never broke sweat like this riding the stationary bike. Do I need Max Endurance Formula™?

-Renee, Tempe

You took the advice right out of my mouth. I would start supplementing with Parrillo Joint Formula™ as soon as possible. Two or three times a day take 1 to 2 Joint Formula™ capsules; this should help any nagging joint pains. You need to address them before “nagging” has a chance to take root and become chronic. Our Joint Formula™ is extremely popular with older weight trainers. Joint Formula™ is ideal for providing a bit of relief for those of us that train really hard and often. If you are sweating a lot, Max Endurance will help your body exude toxins efficiently. Those that do a lot of aerobic exercise will take a few capsules of Max Endurance™ before a sweaty training session. I don’t have to tell you to stay hydrated if you are sweating by the bucket full. You are new to this level of exertion and dehydration sneaks up on you. You will feel fine one instant and in the next be laying on the ground going, “What just happened?” It

sounds like you are in for the cardio gains of your life if you can keep this groove going: rid yourself of those minor aches, keep hydrated and start supplementing with Parrillo Joint Formula™ and Max Endurance Formula™.

Quad Stretch

This stretch will feel painful at first. The pain merely indicates that your quads are very tight. Many of the bodybuilders I stretch can barely get their knees off the floor. After a few workouts, however, I can lift their quads up 45 degrees or more. Lie on your stomach. Then bend your elbows and rest your head on your forearms. Bend your left leg up so that your heel touches your glutes.

Your partner presses down on your left ankle while pulling your bent leg upward with his right hand, as illustrated. This position is held for ten seconds. You should feel an intense stretch in your quad. Repeat with the opposite leg.

To stretch a higher portion of your quad, have your partner place his knee at your glute/hamstring tie-in. He pulls your knee up and then pushes your heel down to your glute.

start

stretch

variation

partner assisted

24 25

Hello Victor,

I know I am late to the party, but I am beginning to understand the need for post-workout replenishment. As I become stronger and a better bodybuilder it is becoming harder and harder for me to recover session-to-session, workout-to-workout. I know you are a huge proponent of post-workout supplementation and I know you always recommend the Parrillo 50-50 Plus™ product – what makes it so special and what are the rules for its use? Is there a guideline for post-workout supplementing? Are there protein/carb/fat micronutrient rules, depending on your size or sex? Is there an ideal amount of calories/nutrients for a guy my size? (175-pounds) If I take 50-50 Plus™, how much should I take? -Confused in Kansas

Replenishment is designed to accelerate recovery and becomes a serious issue once you start to engage in hardcore result-producing

Parrillo-style weight workouts. Once you start hitting the iron hard enough and often enough to trigger results, you have to have some sort of post-workout nutrition, or you won’t be able to recover in time for the next training session. We won’t waste time talking about that which has already been talked to death: obviously, if you really extend yourself in the weight room, the smartest move is to immediately ingest all the nutrients you just exhausted during the workout. Replenish exhausted glycogen, resupply supplemental protein, and take in lots of calories as calories create anabolism. 50-50 Plus™ is the 911 for shattered muscles. Muscles are made of protein, so why not take in post-workout protein? Workouts deplete glycogen, so lets replenish depleted glycogen immediately after training.

50-50 Plus™ was specifically designed as a post-workout replenishment supplement. John

Parrillo did extensive research when formulating 50-50 Plus™. He knew from his work with hundreds of competitive bodybuilders that they responded best when the post-workout meal or supplement achieved a 50-50 balance between muscle-replenishing protein and glycogen-replenishing carbs. How much replenishment depends on the size of the person: a 240-pound male bodybuilder is going to need twice the nutritional replenishment that a 120-pound female bodybuilder requires. The venerable Parrillo Protein bar is also a fantastic post-workout replenishment supplement. Check out the Protein bar’s stats: 230 calories, 20 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbs, 3 grams of sugar, zero fat. This is replenishment in a wrapper. My strategy is to have a killer workout, drink a 50-50 Plus™ shake and eat a Parrillo Protein bar; I flood my decimated body with every nutrient it needs to recover, heal and grow. And both supplements taste delicious!

Vic,

Did you see where Johnny Hendricks missed making weight for his UFC title fight by 25 pounds?! What the hell?! He is supposed to weigh in at 170 and shows up weighing 195. How is that possible? Does he not have coaches? How would John Parrillo handle a situation like that? In terms of weight loss – what would be the Parrillo approach to fighter weight loss?

-Phil, Jersey

First off, I like Hendricks a lot. I like him as a person. I like the way he fights. I like his attitude. As you know he comes from a heavy wrestling background and was a collegiate national champion. He was a high-level grappler and that is key to understanding how this could happen. Wrestlers have, over the

years, come to adopt as gospel some crazed ideas about weight loss. Basically, they stay heavy all through training camp and then use extreme deprivation and artificial techniques at the last possible minute to squeeze all of the liquid out of the body; this all happens right before the weigh-in. Amongst heavyweight UFC fighters, a loss of 20 pounds in 24 hours is not unheard of. Basically, the fighter alternates bouts of cardio with time in a sauna; back and forth, as long as it takes, all done while wearing a rubber-suit to enhance sweat loss. If a UFC fighter were working with John, he would have them lose weight at a slow and sustained rate. If a man was 20-pounds over the class limit, Parrillo would have the fighter start reducing ten weeks beforehand at a rate of no more than two pounds per week: keep the muscle, melt the fat.

Slow and gradual weight loss enables the fighter to lose body fat while retaining muscle. Muscle is what is needed to be a stronger, better fighter – body fat does not help a fighter fight. How much better is slow and gradual weight loss compared to going through the last-minute torture of a 20-pound weight loss, immediately before having to fight one of the best fighters in the world?! Haven’t you got enough to worry about without stressing over weight loss? John would augment fighter nutrition with powerhouse Parrillo supplements. Mark “The Hammer” Coleman is a UFC hall of fame member and Mark would routinely order a hundred pounds of Parrillo supplements each month when he was actively fighting. Compare Coleman’s body fat percentile to Johnny Hendricks (who is pudgy) to see the difference between weight loss approaches. Mark was way leaner, yet he was way bigger than Hendricks. Johnny would do better with Parrillo tactics. Ask The Hammer.Hello,

A top trainer at the gym I lift at uses genetics as an excuse every time he losses a client – which happens a lot. He is a very good salesperson, very persuasive and charming. He is not so good at actually getting results. He will use “the genetic card’ when a client bails on him. As in, ‘No one could get results for that person because their genetics were so bad.’ Everybody looks pretty normal to me. Do genetics prevent certain people from making fitness gains? If so, how large a percentage of the population would you suspect would be ‘genetically challenged?’

-Susan, Great Plains

Isn’t it odd that the suave trainer doesn’t point out their obviously bad genetics and insurmountable problems when he is signing

them up and taking their money; it’s only when they quit that he mentions how horrible the person’s genetics actually were. I know the type; well educated, they have an answer for everything and a solution for nothing. By in large, as it relates to the art and science of physical transformation, genetics are waaaaaay overrated. Generally speaking, 90% of the population have “average” genetics with 5% being genetically challenged and the other 5% of the populace being genetically blessed. There are shades and divisions and degrees within the larger 90% - however the 90% are basically all in the same ‘average’ gene pool. If you are reading this and into fitness, you have a 90% chance of being one of the vast middle, a regular human with average genetics. You hear a lot of talk about genetics around

Once you start hitting the iron hard enough and often enough to trigger results, you have to have some sort of post-workout nutrition

a man that is lightly built with narrow shoulders, long limbs and is 6’6 in height would be wise to pursue basketball, volleyball or swimming – if he insists on becoming a competitive powerlifter he is going to be sorely disappointed

26

bodybuilders. I usually hear genetics invoked as a rationale for a lack of progress. As in, “Yeah, my light bone structure prevents me from adding muscle mass. Nature dealt me a bad hand!” This is how genetics are used as an excuse.

Great height, a great singing voice, brains, good looks, perfect physical proportion, low body fat, these are all forms of genetic gifts, true genetic gifts. You can’t be stupid about accessing your own strengths and weaknesses: a man that is lightly built with narrow shoulders, long limbs and is 6’6 in height would be wise to pursue basketball, volleyball or swimming – if he insists on becoming a competitive powerlifter he is going to be sorely disappointed. On the other hand, a man 5-5 and weighing 200-pounds, a squat and stocky man, would be delusional if he thinks he has a future as a basketball player or marathon runner. We need to match our physiology and our obvious genetics when we select our athletic pursuits.

What’s up!

If a muscle gets stronger, must it increase in size? If a muscle gets bigger, must it increase in strength? In other words, does one always go with the other? Or can each be accomplished without the other?

-Rock, Iron City

We have had gigantic bodybuilders that are weak as kittens and I’ve seen skinny guys that look like death deadlift 770. Back in the olden days bodybuilders were “as strong as they looked” because they were less sophisticated and had fewer options and tools and variables. With the birth of the fitness revolution, resistance machines came onto the scene in a big way. Nautilus and Arthur Jones changed history that with his claims his isolative machines were just as effective as compound barbell/dumbbell exercises. That was and is flat wrong; but bodybuilders worldwide desperately wanted it to be true that sitting on a comfy padded Nautilus leg press device and pushing a payload locked into a frozen groove was just as effective as barbell

squatting.

The top bodybuilders, before the Rise of the Machines, were as strong as they looked because they were forced to use those loathsome and crude barbells and dumbbells. Arnold, Franco, Sergio, and further back, Reg Park and Bill Pearl were strong as hell. Franco was a genuine 525-pound bench presser and 700-pound deadlifter weighing 180 pounds. Jeff Everson once saw Sergio Olivia (29-inch thighs, 29-inch waist) bench press 255 for 15 sets of 15 reps and super set those with 15 sets of 10 in the wide-grip chin wearing a 50-pound dumbbell. Pearl squatted 600, Park was the 4th man in history to bench press 500 – this in 1959. Back to your question: some modern bodybuilders make a big deal that they train “old school” and lift weights, big ones, using barbells and dumbbells; Dorian Yates incline benches 435 for 6, Ron Coleman deadlifts 800.

There are some bodybuilders that can create massive muscles and do so without having to deadlift 800. Paul Dillet was a monster bodybuilder of the 1990s. He was famous for getting incredible muscle pumps using a pair of 35-pound dumbbells in the seated curl. He would use 205 for his sets and reps in the bench press. He weighed 270 with a 7% body fat percentile. I was flabbergasted when told that he used 155-pounds for sets and reps in the press-behind-the-neck. He looked like he could rep 350. Those that are able to build massive muscles using peewee poundage tend to be a distinct minority. It is possible, but generally speaking, muscle and strength gains go hand in hand. The top bodybuilders, before the Rise of the

Machines, were as strong as they looked because they were forced to use those

loathsome and crude barbells and dumbbells

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Plain, Chocolate, Lemon, and Butter Flavored ShortbreadContest Brownie Mix™ (Chocolate)High Fiber Chocolate Syrup Mix™

Nutrition ProgramNutrition Manual, Food Composition Guide, 30 Diet Trac SheetsCapTri® Manual, CapTri® Cookbook, Supplement Guide, and 450g Deluxe Food ScaleTraining ManualProper Exercise Techniques, Special Fascial Stretching and High Intensity RoutinesBodyStat KitBodyStat Manual, 12 BodyStat Sheets, and Skinfold CalipersPerformance PackageNutrition Program with BodyStat KitTotal Performance PackageTraining Manual, Nutrition Program, & BodyStat KitCapTri® CookbookStrict recipes using CapTri® to make your food taste greatJohn Parrillo’s Performance Press™12 Monthly informational-packed issues (US)

Product PricelistHigh Thermogenic Energy SourceHigh Thermogenic Energy SourceNutrients for Hard TrainingNutrients for Endocrine FunctionNutrients for Fat MetabolismNutrients for Healthy JointsVitamin-C with Bioflavonoids100% Natural Vitamin-EPower Packed Protein with Heme IronNutrients for Electrolyte BalanceNutrients for Muscle GrowthNutrients for Hard DietingNutrients for VitalityBoosts Muscular Energy StoresCalcium SupplementEssential Fatty AcidsEssential Fatty AcidsClean Carbohydrate Energy Source

Outstanding Functional Protein

Outstanding Functional Protein

High Efficiency Protein Dietary Supplement

High Biological Value Protein

High Biological Value Protein

Protein and Carbohydrates for Workout RecoveryProtein drink for chocolate lovers

Perfect Portable Nutrition

Portable 60/40 Nutrition

High Powered Nutrition

Chews Like Taffy

Our Newest Bar! Soft and Chewy Texture

Protein Packed Peanut Flavored SpreadHigh in Protein, Low in Carbs

Great Taste, Guilt Free

Great for Strict Diets

Delicious with the Parrillo Cakes and CupcakesMake Protein Ice Kreem™ in your ice cream maker

Try this on Parrillo Ice Kreem™ or Brownies!

32 fl oz32 fl oz150 capsules150 capsules150 capsules90 tablets90 tablets90 capsules500 tablets150 tablets150 capsules150 capsules150 tablets300 grams150 capsules90 gelcaps90 gelcaps35 oz

32 oz

20 pouches

28 oz

28 oz

20 pouches

32 oz

32 oz

12 / box

12 / box

12 / box

12 / box

12 / box

16 oz16 oz

24 oz

24 oz

21.2 oz

32 oz

25.4 oz

22.3 oz16 oz

$40.00$40.00$32.00$38.00$30.00$19.95$9.95$8.95$42.00$14.00$34.00$36.00$18.00$29.00$15.95$24.95$16.95$25.00

$42.95

$48.95

$47.95

$47.95

$53.95

$38.00

$49.95

$28.00

$32.00

$28.00

$32.00

$36.00

$21.95$28.95

$21.95

$21.95

$36.95

$52.95

$26.50

$34.95$21.95$49.95

$49.95

$39.95

$79.95

$129.95

$9.95

$29.95

We want to share your success story!

Send us your storySend us your storyYouve worked hard to get where you are today, so why not share your story of success by being featured in the Performance Press magazine? You can help inspire and motivate other readers to get where they want to be! Just send a letter (include contact info) and photos to the address below. Or e-mail graphics@parrillo.com

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Justin SavichJune 2015 feature athlete