From Plump to Pumped: The 'Fast' Way to Success

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog (though I've posted a few quick things on facebook, so make sure to follow/like the page!). It's been an extremely busy summer for me and so I haven't had the time to post anything. Now that the busy summer is over I can begin posting some more again :)

I'm excited to say my first returning post is an awesome one! One of my friends, Mykey, used the same principles I used last year detailed in my 12 week transformation series to get cut up for the summer. He was willing to let me interview him and share his dramatic results with others! 

He had tried cutting the previous year but with less success...he basically became a smaller version of himself due to following some bad ideas. But this year was a different story! The pictures below speak for themselves. He had awesome results and he looks amazing!

Check out the picture below from his attempted cut in 2011:

2011 Cut Attempt

You can see that he's significantly smaller but only slightly more defined. This meant he lost fat but also lost quite a bit of muscle :( Now check out the picture below for his 2012 cut! He's 185 lbs in the 'Before' picture and 163 lbs in the 'After' picture. A loss of 22 lbs!

2012 Aesthetic Cut!

Notice his abs are clearly defined, he has more of a V-taper, and clear separation in his arms and shoulders. He just looks damn good! Compare the 'After' pictures from 2011 and 2012 and you can see a HUGE difference this time around.  Mykey actually weighs 2 lbs less in 2012 but he actually looks bigger and more muscular! 

Mykey was basically was on his own with this and I wasn't personally consulting with him. He would occasionally ask me questions here and there, just like commenters on my blog do, but we weren't discussing his diet and training weekly or anything like that. He read my blog posts, used them as a guideline, and tweaked what he needed to find what worked best for him. So let's get onto the interview!

Aesthetic Muscle: I have to say this is the best I have ever seen you look. When I saw you in Vegas for my bachelor party, you looked aesthetic as f**k! 

Mykey: Thanks man, the advice on your blog really helped.  It feels great to work hard and finally get awesome results!  I knew we would all be shredding for your wedding so it would have been lame if I was the only one in our group of friends that was out of shape for the bachelor party vacation.

Aesthetic Muscle: Haha, more like shredding for the bachelor party :) What convinced you to cut this time around the same way I did in my 12 week transformation series?

Mykey: Around the holidays last year I was eating and drinking so much and was just getting fat despite working out up to 5 days a week at the gym.  After New Years Eve I just felt like a waste of life.  I took a picture of myself shirtless in the mirror and was unhappy with myself and decided that it was time for a change. 

I looked at pictures from my previous cut last year where I just ate less, lifted and ran on the treadmill everyday. I remembered you saying that my results weren't as pronounced as they could have been because I lost too much weight too fast.  I decided to try your approach because of your unbelievable results and I knew it couldn't have been a gimmick since I've known you for years.

Stop lying to yourselves and make a change!

Aesthetic Muscle: Yeah, seeing pictures of yourself is always a real eye-opener. I never understood how people can see themselves in pictures being fatter than everyone else and thinking its okay. 
So what did you do different between last year's cut and this year's cut?

Mykey: Last year I was just eating less and killing myself with at least 3 miles of running everyday combined with lifting.  

This year, the biggest difference was in my diet and using intermittent fasting.  I would fast for 16 hours and would eat within an 8 hour window.  I made sure to count my calories closely this time to ensure I was getting enough protein in my diet.  I cut out carbs aside from those I got from fruits and vegetables and I gave myself a cheat day once every weekend, but I made sure not to go overboard.  

I also took supplements like protein, creatine, BCAA's , preworkouts, fat burners,  fishoil and multivitamins in conjunction with my diet and exercise, which I never regularly did in the past. Below is list of the specific products I used during the cut. I didn't use all of them at once but used a variety of brands just because I wanted to try out different products:

Protein: Gaspari Myofusion, BSN Syntha-6, Musclepharm Combat Powder

Creatine: Universal Creatine Monohydrate

BCAA: Scivation Xtend, AI Sports RecoverPro, BSN Amino X

Preworkout: Cellucor C4 Extreme, Driven Sports Craze, USP Jack3d

Fatburner: USP Labs OxyElite Pro

Fishoil: NOW Ultra Omega-3

Multivitamin: Musclepharm Armor V, Universal Animal Pak, Universal Animal Flex

One of mine and Mykey's favorite protein powders. It tastes like a milkshake!

In terms of exercise, I switched to a 5x5 routine and lifted as heavy as I could. The only cardio I did was about a half hour to an hour of walking on the treadmill or elliptical every other day. This was a huge difference from the endless miles I was running last year. 

Aesthetic Muscle: I was trying to tell everybody that I didn't jog a single mile last year for my cut! I hope this helps more people realize jogging miles and miles is not going to make them look awesome. Its also too bad they changed the Myofusion formula and OxyElite Pro is harder to get now. Those were two of my favorites!
Which difference did you think helped you the most?

Mykey: I truly believe intermittent fasting really helped.  In the past I had always been able to work out and get into decent shape, but I think fasting helped me lose fat while gaining muscle.  Before this year, I never really saw good definition in my muscles.  Once I started seeing quick results, it was much easier for me to maintain the motivation to go to the gym and intermittent fast everyday.

Aesthetic Muscle: Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time sounds like a wonderful thing to me! Which part did you find to be the most difficult? 

Mykey: The first day or two of fasting was a little difficult since the feelings of false hunger were unfamiliar.  It seemed like I was surrounded by friends, family and coworkers that ate what they pleased and expected me to as well.  The hardest part was blocking out everyone else while disciplining myself to take control of what I would consume to look the way I wanted.

Aesthetic Muscle: Yes, that's very true. I used to work in an office environment where everybody was so concerned about what they were going to eat for lunch, all the while they were snacking away at their desk! Plus, everybody is always telling you to eat this and eat that. Offices are a terrible environment people create for themselves in terms of health and good looks. 
Did you do anything different than what I had outlined?

Mykey: I did your 5x5 workout and eventually switched to the Bill Starr MadCow 5x5 for some variety.  I also fasted for 16 hours (sometimes more) as opposed to your 20.  I also worked out in the mornings instead of evenings so I followed the Lean Gains Early Morning Fasted Training Protocol. 

Instead of having a whole cheat day every 2 weeks, I would just have a moderately sized cheat meal or two once every weekend.  If it ever got bad I would fast the entire next day and continue with intermittent fasting the day after that.

 A terrible environment for aesthetics. Why does office food have to be all carbs?!

Aesthetic Muscle: Haha, there have been plenty of times that I've gone overboard on a cheat so I'll fast the whole day the next day too. Everybody thinks its so dangerous not eating anything but I actually think it feels great! 
So now that you've reached a personal best level of aesthetics, what are your plans in regards to your diet and training?

Mykey: From this point, I'm going to try my best to gain as much additional muscle as I can while minimizing fat accumulation in the upcoming holiday season.   Then once Spring and Summer come around, I'd like to cut down again and take some measurements and new photos to see if I improved from this past summer.

Aesthetic Muscle: Thanks Mykey for sharing your results and success on my blog! Best of luck to you this year!

As you can see from Mykey's incredible results, I'm not the only one who can do it. Many people I know have tried intermittent fasting with great success! And if you find intermittent fasting doesn't sit right with you, just try anything else to change your body! Make the decision to change your body and transform your life! Transform your life for the sake of your spouse, for your kids, and for your family and friends. Stop thinking it is okay to get fatter and weaker as you get older. Find the motivation and make a promise to yourself to live a healthier life and do your part in stopping the obesity epidemic! Sorry for the rant ;)

Me (far left), Mykey (far right) and few friends celebrating our cutting success at an All You Can Eat Buffet! Remember its okay to eat junk when you don't look like junk :)