Trainer Dan’s Story By
Dan
I am fascinated by the body and its functions/systems ... I
admit to getting a certain thrill by seeing how far I can push it and change my
body beyond what I was genetically pre-disposed to do (my father is of small
build, and even though I am tall, my structure/body type is classical ectomorph).
As delusional as this may be, I see myself as proof to other "ectos"
that you
CAN build a muscular build onto that frame. It just takes alot more attention to
diet, and lots of work and supplements.
I was told early on that I couldn't do it ... couldn't get "big",
"cut", whatever. So, I do it just to prove those people wrong too.
Stickboy
This is what God/my parents gave me to work with ... not a
whole lot going on. I am 19 in the picture.
Who let me on the beach without a shirt?
... then I got fat ...
After college, I got a job (desk job). The commute was 60
miles, each way. With traffic, I spent about 1 1/2 hours in the car each way.
So, I ate breakfast in my car, lunch at the grill that was in our office
building, and dinner in my car again. Snacks were coffee and soda and whatever
else I got from the vending machines.
Breakfast was usually 2 or 3 breakfast burritos from WaWa (convenience store
around here) ... bacon, egg and cheese. Washed down with Coke.
Dinner was usually something quick from the same store (it was the halfway point
between work and home). Hot dogs, sandwich, etc.
By the time I got home, I was exhausted from work/driving and would usually
fall asleep in front of the TV with a bag of Doritos, or worse, something
ordered from the local pizza shop (cheesesteak sandwiches, etc).
Weekends were getting drunk either at home with friends or out at a club/bar.
All of that shows that my activity level was near zero, my diet was atrocious,
and my protein level was low ... and carbs sky high.
So, the skinny stickboy blew up and got fat. I wish I had pictures from the
first day I started. The best I have is about 6 months into it.
Who let me out without my shirt on again?
After being teased relentlessly by my brother (the saint
that he is), and just overall not being happy with the way that I looked and
felt, I wanted to do something about it.
... then I found the way ...
So, I picked up Men's Fitness and followed their advice about nutrition (low
fat, but 6 meals per day). That worked to a point. I also started running, which
I knew how to do already since I ran track and cross-country in high school. The
scale moved down.
Then, one day I was going through the fitness mags, I saw an ad that was selling
a computer software program that would program a diet for me, and I would get
abs! Of course, I bought it.
I got lucky because it was a good program (Bodycraft), designed with the help of
one of the legends in the strength training field (Dr. Fred Hatfield). Once I
was on the phone with the sales rep, she talked me into buying the "fit for
life" package, which consisted of protein powder (2 containers), bodyfat
calipers, and a heart rate monitor.
Of course, the menu program programmed in the protein shakes already, and the
exercise program that came with it required the use of the heart rate monitor
... so I bought it all. Hey, I wanted it.
That diet was my introduction to LC, because when I look at the menu plans, they
were way high in protein and relatively low in carbs, which when used were whole
grains, or veggies. Some fruit.
Anyway, everything kinda built from that. I got in decent shape and lost weight.
When I wanted to weight train, I asked my Dad for a weight bench for Christmas.
He said he would buy it, and that he thought he was wasting his money. Most of
my family said the same thing. That pissed me off.
 So
I threw myself into it 110% ... nutrition, training, lifting ... Then the
company I worked for put in a fitness center (I had been lifting at home).
I was in heaven. They even hired a trainer to make sure we didn't kill
ourselves.
Well, I was helping some of my co-workers with their workouts before the trainer
was hired, and when he came in I became friends with him. He told me, "Ya
know ... If you got certified as a personal trainer, you could make a living
doing this."
So, I went to get certified. At the very least, I knew that even if I didn't
work as a trainer that I would at least know the RIGHT way, versus what the
magazines tell us.
Eventually I was fired from that job, and it was a blessing. It was then that I
decided to try working as a trainer. It was the best move I could have made.
Still, my fat loss had stalled. Nothing I tried worked. I was on the internet
and subscribed to
a mailing-list type newsletter. By chance, it was the same time that Lyle
McDonald was still planning on writing his book about this funny thing called a CKD.
As he went deeper into explaining it, it sounded like something for me. So I did
it, and liked the results. That was my introduction to the LC WOE.
Even though I am generally happy with the way my body is, I still want to see
how muscular I can get. So, I alternate periods of intentional overeating
(combined with heavy duty weight training) to maximize my anabolic conditions
with periods of CKD which allows me to clean it up and see just how much muscle
I gained.
My last CKD (before my current one) got me down to 205, then I bulked from
November to January and got to 238. As I write this I am pretty lean (4 pack) at
220, so this bulk-and-cut works for me.
Here is a picture (used to be my avatar) from when Fern and I completed our last
CKD, just before out last trip to Hawaii in May 2001:
We are going back in a week, so I am sure that more pictures will be up here ...
Whew. There it is. The TrainerDan story.
Dan is a professional trainer, you can find his web site here QuadraFit
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