This article will review a discussion I had with one of my sales reps recently. As anyone who has ever visited a car dealership may realize, the majority of the sales force does not exactly qualify as the physical ideal. This business requires long hours and the retail nature doesn't promote the consumption of healthy foods at structured times. It always seems to happen that you are with a customer when lunch gets delivered, or a customer walks in just as you are about to eat. Consequently, fast foods are the staple of the salesman's diet. The fact that salesmen often work until 9 P.M. or later is another contributing factor. Guys get off of work at 9-10 P.M. and then go home and eat a large meal (they didn't get a chance to eat earlier).
This brings us to my conversation with Joey. Joey is in his late 30s. Joey was an athlete in his youth and still loves sports. Joey is also a weightlifter; he has been off and on for 20+ years. Joey has always been completely natural and is very proud of that fact. At his best he did very well in bench press meets (capable of a raw bench in the low 400s). Joey has worked for our organization for over 9 years. As it is with most people, the car business has been good for Joey financially, but not so good physically. Joey's training over the last several years has been sporadic to say the least, but his diet has been consistent, consistently bad! As a result, Joey has become, well…, a bit cuddlier over the years.
Recently, I had noticed that Joey had lost a fair amount of that accumulated fat. He appeared to be trimming down and regaining some of his former athletic shape. Just the other day Joey approached me with a look of deep thought etched on his face. He sat down next to me. I expected a drawn out conversation about something troubling him at the dealership (I am the general sales manager so I deal with all of the brain damage of day to day operations). He looked around secretively and sensing no one else was listening he said to me, 'Do you have a second? I need some advice.' I let out a deep breath and prepared myself for the problem. I said, 'Sure Joey, what's up?' He said, 'Why are you giving me that look?' 'What look, what the heck do you want Joey?' 'I want to ask you a question about training and diet.' 'Ahhhhh, I thought you were going to whine about something here at work. What's up, what do you want to know?' 'I don't know if you have noticed but I have been dieting and hitting the weights hard again lately.' 'I have noticed Joey, you are looking great!' 'Thanks man, but I have a problem.' Now, at this point I felt the need to give the proverbial male bonding ribbing. 'You're kidding! Joey, you have more problems than a college calculus test!' '*5^!!##&* you! I'm serious man!' 'Lol, sorry Joey, what's the problem?'
'Like I said, I have been dieting and training hard lately and have seen some pretty decent results in terms of fat loss, but I feel small!!! I have lost so much weight that I am swimming in all of my clothes. My lifting has kept some of the muscle I had, but I am small! I want to add some size, but I don't want to put back on any of the fat I have lost!' I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts on the topic. Joey kept talking, 'I have been busting my ass in the gym, but I am just not getting any stronger.' 'Well Joey, adding muscle while dieting is a very difficult thing to do. However, it looks to me like you have lost as much fat as you need to, right?' 'Yeah, I just want to get huuuuge now!' I smiled. 'I understand Joey. You are a natural guy and planning on staying that way, right?' 'You bet your ass!!!' 'Ok Joey, now from what you have said you want to gain lean tissue, no bulking, right?' 'Absolutely, I have worked too hard to piss it all away!' 'I understand. How many calories are you eating right now?' 'I have been trying to keep it at 2500 or so per day.' 'Now, are you still losing fat or are you stabilized?' 'I'm pretty much staying the same. I haven't lost any weight in a few weeks.' 'Ok Joey, first thing I want you to bump your calories by 200 per day. Continue this until you are no longer gaining weight, then bump 200 calories again. This should allow you to continue to pack on lean tissue without adding fat. Now, and this is very important, those extra 200 calories per day should come in the form of proper supplementation.' Joey got a confused look on his face. 'Well, I take a multi-vitamin in the morning and drink a protein shake before bed, is that what you mean?' I couldn't help but laugh a bit. 'No Joey, that is not what I mean. I don't mean some half-assed taking of a Flintstone vitamin every morning and the occasional protein shake, I mean intelligent supplementation. When you are restricting your caloric intake it is absolutely essential that you properly supplement your diet if you want to see anything in terms of meaningful results from your training. Your body needs more protein, vitamins, and minerals than you can possibly consume on a restricted calorie diet.'
'Ok, so what the heck do I take?' I told Joey to get a pen and a piece of paper. He has a great mind for sports stats and product knowledge, but seems to get a bit scatterbrained about other things. 'Ready to write Joey?' He got that stupid grin he always gets when he is feeling manic. 'Sure am boss, let's roll baby!' 'Ok Joey, take deep breaths, concentrate on the rest of our conversation. First, you are going to need a solid protein supplement.' Joey is about 6'1 and 220 lbs or so. 'A guy your size is just not going to get enough protein on a restricted calorie diet. I'll hook you up with some Nitrean and Opticen. How many meals per day are you eating?' Joey looked up from his notes, 'Ummmm, at least 3 a day when I can, and I have been making it a point to do so for the last couple of months.' 'What sort of foods are you eating?' 'The normal diet stuff, you know, fish, lean meats, chicken, rice, pasta, and some veggies. I don't eat any bread and try to limit my carbs.' 'Now Joey, remember, you need to eat a balanced diet and to include carbs to fuel your workouts.' 'I know, I am, I'm just not going crazy on em'.' 'Ok, right. Remember I told you to add 200 calories a day for a short time?' 'Yeah.' 'Here is what I want you to do. Keep with the 3 meals a day. Make sure to eat breakfast lunch and dinner. Between lunch and dinner I want you to mix one scoop of Opticen in water and drink that. I then want you to eat dinner and just before bed I want you to mix a scoop of Nitrean in water and drink it. That is about 200 extra calories. The difference between them and 200 calories from most foods is that you will be consuming almost no fat. When you are on a restricted calorie diet fat can be tricky because it is so calorie dense. You need to squeeze as much nutrition out of each calorie as you can.' 'Right, but you need fat, right?' 'Absolutely, but I am sure you are getting plenty of fat from the foods you are consuming. You also need to make sure that the majority of the fat you are consuming is unsaturated. Peanut butter is a great source of healthy fat and protein. You have to remember, if you now want to add lean mass, we need to give your body the protein, vitamins and minerals it needs. Extra lean muscle tissue is not something the body loves to add, especially when you are restricting your calories. We need to create the same sort of nutrient rich atmosphere that is present when people are consuming an excess of calories, but without the excess of calories. The incremental calories I mentioned should come from the Opticen I am going to get you, that will give you the right mix to add lean mass.'
Joey said, 'Ok, protein, I got it, what else?' I smiled, 'Glad you asked Joey. The next addition to your diet will be brewer's yeast.' 'Brewers yeast???' Joey had a look of uncomprehending shock on his face. 'I've heard of it, but what the heck is it?' 'Brewer's yeast is one of the best supplements you can possibly take if your goal is optimal health. Brewer's yeast is especially important to restricted calorie diets. It is packed with health. It contains all of the major B vitamins (except B12, but many companies produce yeast which contains it), it is a complete protein, and it contains numerous minerals. If it contained vitamins A, E, and C it would be considered a whole food. Let me put it this way Joey, since I restricted my intake of processed sugars and included brewer's yeast in my diet I have not been sick for one day! I think it is a truly amazing supplement, especially in this day and age of processed crap which gets passed off as nutritious food.' 'Where would I get some?' 'You can get it at just about any health food store in the country, or you can order in online.' Joey was scribbling notes as I spoke. 'Got it Joey?' 'Got it!'
I figured Joey had about reached the limit of his A.D.D. restricted attention span (he isn't really, but he does lack focus from time to time…). 'Ok Joey, this is the last one, you seem to be getting tired.' 'I'm not tired, I'm fired up!' 'Ok, ok Joey, take it easy.' Joey can get kind of loud during his manic fits of energy. 'We do have customers you know.' 'Whoooooo, I'm ready BABY!' 'Ok Joey, shut up, seriously.' Joey's crazed look faded, 'Ok, sorry about that.' 'No problem head-case.' Head-case is my pet name for Joey, I know, I know, cruel etc. Joey knows it is said with the greatest of affection. 'Let's finish this up Joey, I have to get to a meeting soon. Last, but not least, you need to add creatine to your diet. Creatine monohydrate has been proven over and over again to add lean muscle tissue and to increase anaerobic strength, the kind of strength you use when lifting.' 'Yeah, I just saw an ad in a magazine for some effervescent creatine which is supposed to work 500% better than regular creatine or something like that.' As Joey was making his statement I was shaking my head. 'Joey, don't believe all of that crap! Effervescent creatine will work not better than monohydrate. There are way too many gimmicks with respect to creatine because it is so well known and widely sold. Most supplement companies feel they need a marketing edge so they come up with crap like that. The main component to the effectiveness of creatine is its purity. You need to buy top quality stuff Joey, not hype. Go to www.atlargenutrition.com and buy their Creatine 500. It is monohydrate, the most proven form of creatine, and it is super pure. The creatine they use is German, and it is killer stuff.'
I looked at Joey as he was writing down the website address. As he finished, I asked him if he had any questions. 'Well, no, not really. I mean, this will do it, right?' 'Joey, if you follow my directions to a T, and keep training like I know you are capable of, you will meet your goals in short order. I 100% guarantee it! Now, get your ass out there and sell me some cars and worry about your body on your own time!' Joey looked at me and kind of shook his head. 'How many appointments do you have Joey?' 'I have two.' 'Where the heck are they?' 'They're coming…' With that he jumped up from his chair and went back to his desk. I couldn't help but smile as I knew Joey was on his way to getting in the best shape of his life.
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