Transformation Dates: January 21,2004-June 1,2004 (133 days)
Here are my first set of photos taken on January 21st,2004:
BEFORE
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N1.1.21.04stone.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N2.1.21.04stone.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N4.1.21.04stone.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N3.1.21.04stone.jpg
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Here is my latest set of photos taken on March 11th,2004:

DAY 50-I've lost 2.5 inches off my waist and my thighs are one inch larger. Both arms are a half inch bigger too. I'm still standing crooked though :confused:
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N1.3.11.04stone.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N2.3.11.04stone.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N4.3.11.04stone.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/N3.3.11.04stone.jpg


Here's my own attempt to improve my body's function and appearance. I took the before pictures on Jan 21 and the second set were taken on Feb 4. I plan to take the third series tomorrow (Feb 25). The end goal is to feel satisfied by June 5th(my wedding day) that I've done all that I can in 19 weeks. I wrote John an email about a week after I first came across his site. He just wrote back to me today and he convinced me to post my progress.

My before stats:
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 205
Waist: 38"
Chest: 43"
Problems: Love handles, back fat, bad hunched posture(lordosis/kyphosis?), extreme stiffness, no muscle tone, white skin, hairy back and gut, skinny legs, saggy pecs and skinny pipes, zero balance or range of motion, constant back pain, rotator cuff problems, wrist problems.

The plan is basic:

1. Eat clean-2,000 calories/day: No fast food, processed foods, sweets, white flour, or any 'empty calories'. Limited alcohol consumption. My diet isn't particularly strict but it's drastically better than how I used to eat and how most Americans continue to eat. I always supersized it and drank several beers every night while watching TV. Now I mainly eat lean meat and vegetables. No potatoes, rice, corn, not too much bread of any kind especially not the dough. I try not to eat anything after 8 p.m. I drink water all day-about 20 pints a day.

2. Hit the weights hard 5 days a week. I'm on a 2 on/1 off schedule. I do 3 workouts in the gym which each take 50 minutes:
WORKOUT A:Back, Rear Delts, Abs
WORKOUT B:Legs, Calves, Abs
WORKOUT C:Chest, Front Delts, Triceps, Biceps

I also do a separate workout at home which is geared toward rehabbing my shoulders (rotator cuff problems), low back, and wrists. Yeah I sound like an old man. It involves very light weights with some pilates-like movements, plus the 'twist and shout' for the forearms (a rope tied to a piece of PVC pipe with a 5 lb plate attached that I roll up and down till I can't hold on)
I'm keeping my focus on perfect technique using moderate weight-I don't give a damn about what I can bench anymore so I just use dumbells for chest. If more people would just quit benching, their fitness levels would improve from the extra time they would spend on what really matters.

3. Cardio 5 days a week. Sometimes I do this after a weight workout but sometimes I'll have time to do it on its own-which is ideal. I generally spend 15 minutes doing something high intensity-I just try to keep my pulse at about 170 the whole time. This would be the stairmill or the stairmaster, whichever is available. Then I spend 25 minutes with my pulse around 160 either on the bike, elliptical machine, or treadmill. Running tends to be too jarring and the elliptical machine too easy, so I stick to the bike most of the time. I realize that HIT calls for around 20 minutes and I'm doing more like 40, but I'm willing to burn some muscle in order to achieve true cardiovascular fitness. You can really feel the difference the rest of the day when you do 45 minutes of cardio in the morning.

4. Functional Training/Stretching-This includes exercises with the swiss ball, balance board, medicine balls, and lots of other movement-based exercises. I do this about 3 times a week-usually in conjunction with a cardio workout depending on time and available space. This is the area most lacking with most people I see at the gym. I would consider these to be the most 'old-fashioned' exercises but since bodybuilding is in style these are now considered unusual. If I had access to some kettlebells I would train with them but I can't afford the shipping costs and don't have room in my house anyway.

I have two gym memberships which cost me about $75/month between them so I feel pressured to workout at least 7 times a week. I prefer to do some two-a-days and have a rest day than to go to the gym every single day. I would never try to do two weight workouts in one day-that would be counterproductive.

Hi Nico,

It's great to see that you posted your pictures - way to go! :tu:

I'm really impressed with the amount of research and forethought you've obviously put into your fitness plan. Stick with it and keep working hard because I think you are going to see excellent results. I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress, so keep posting and stay motivated.

:gl:

Thanks for the encouragement. I have learned a lot about fitness over the years while I let my own training slip. Like you, I swam in high school-but that was 12 years ago.

It makes it a lot easier to make improvements when you know how to train and diet, but the most important ingredient is MOTIVATION. It's what most people struggle with the most. But once you are somehow motivated, it's not that hard to maintain the regimine and diet. Somehow sleeping in, watching hours of TV, and eating crap don't appeal to me anymore(for now).

By posting to a forum like this, I am hoping that I'll stay motivated for another 100 days to reach my goal.

With a plan as complete as that, you will get there for sure! Dont "hope" you stay motivated, and reach your goal... You WILL get there! Keep us updated on your progress!

Great job on the research. Your stats look similar to mine when I started. I'm 6'2" and was 205- now ~188. This is my sixth week cutting...when I reach 8 weeks I'll post some pics of my results.

I'd like to know a bit more about your goals and diet. Are you trying to lost fat/ build muscle at the same time? Or are you just trying to cut?

Also, I'm a bit concerned about the amount of training you do...lifting and cardio 5 days a week and your supplemental training 3 days a week. All that excersice could be counterproductive.

Just my $0.02...

Great job on the research. Your stats look similar to mine when I started. I'm 6'2" and was 205- now ~188. This is my sixth week cutting...when I reach 8 weeks I'll post some pics of my results.

I'd like to know a bit more about your goals and diet. Are you trying to lost fat/ build muscle at the same time? Or are you just trying to cut?

Also, I'm a bit concerned about the amount of training you do...lifting and cardio 5 days a week and your supplemental training 3 days a week. All that excersice could be counterproductive.

Just my $0.02...

Sole, To answer your questions:

1. Yes I am trying to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. I realize that this isn't generally recommended, but it's working well for me so far given my personal goals. The key to staying out of a catabolic state for me has been to:
A. Get most of my calories early in the day and make sure I'm never hungry during the day.
B. Limit the number of sets per bodypart during these four months when I'm doing a lot of cardio.
C. Sleep at least 7 hours every night on a fairly empty stomach.
D. Drink massive amounts of water.
E. Never train a muscle group if it's still sore from the last session.

I tend to rest very little between sets (45 seconds-1 minute) so I don't lift as heavy as if I was training just to add mass. I believe this has the effect of taxing my body less overall while keeping my heart rate up for the entire 45-50 minutes of lifting.

2. Yes I am doing a lot of exercise, but I'm very careful to monitor my body for signs of overtraining. My day job involves sitting almost perfectly still for hours at a time (I'm a CPA), so I don't feel like on the whole I lead a very active life even if I'm doing intense exercise for 10-12 hours a week. When I lift my top goal is to use perfect technique and this is how I'm avoiding injury.

Think of how a boxer trains for a fight, or marine trains during boot camp. They get into the best shape possible through cross training and working their body hard every day for about 3 or 4 months at a stretch. They lift, run, swim, stretch, spar, and stretch almost daily. No one could maintain the boot camp/pre-fight regimine all year, but it's a good method making overall gains in fitness in a limited time period.

I'm not interested in looking like a bodybuilder either-I'm looking for overall fitness so I don't think I'll ever undergo a 'bulk cycle' or a 'cutting cycle'.

I do agree it's not for everybody-when I post my new set of photos on Thursday hopefully you'll be able to notice a considerable improvement in the last 5 weeks from my BEFORE pic's.

I posted my newest pictures at the top of the thread and got rid of the 15-day photos. After 50 days, I'm feeling much better about my progress when I look back at Day 1. This website and John's story really helped with my motivation.

I've slipped up on my diet a few times but on the whole I'm eating clean and sticking to 2,000 calories a day. I haven't bulked up much or cut up much-my program is designed for gradual changes and emphasizes overall fitness. I'm running faster, cycling longer, benching more, squating more, weighing less, and looking better all at the same time. :D

Any comments or questions are welcome.

Man your looking great. Losing fat and building muscle can be difficult, I know, I feel like the old term "hard gainer". But when you think about it when your gaining muscle without losing fat, sometimes it just looks like your making more muscle gains because your building it under a layer of fat, which in turn makes you look bigger muscularly(is that a word?) than you really are.

You've made some good progress. That's a pretty full training schedule. Hope it's not too tough to keep it up.

Under problems, you listed white skin. I noticed you're darker in the second set. Have you been tanning?

Anyway, good job. Your wife will be proud. :tu:

You've made some good progress. That's a pretty full training schedule. Hope it's not too tough to keep it up.

Under problems, you listed white skin. I noticed you're darker in the second set. Have you been tanning?

Anyway, good job. Your wife will be proud. :tu:

My future wife is the one taking the photos-and she likes the progress. Yes I've had to resort to the sun lamps to help me out on the white skin. Hopefully it's not too fake looking.

Man your looking great. Losing fat and building muscle can be difficult, I know, I feel like the old term "hard gainer". But when you think about it when your gaining muscle without losing fat, sometimes it just looks like your making more muscle gains because your building it under a layer of fat, which in turn makes you look bigger muscularly(is that a word?) than you really are.

Thanks for the encouragement. It's true that when you're just bulking without concern for fat, you have an easier time looking 'huge' than when you're also trying to cut the fat out. It may work for bodybuilders, but I'm also training for a 5 minute mile so I need a balance between mass and definition.

Thanks for the encouragement. It's true that when you're just bulking without concern for fat, you have an easier time looking 'huge' than when you're also trying to cut the fat out. It may work for bodybuilders, but I'm also training for a 5 minute mile so I need a balance between mass and definition.

wow, 5 minute mile. A runner I've never been. That's awesome and good luck with that as well.

I'm looking for the same, I want the six pack with the guns, proportional to the rest. Don't want to get near as big as the pro bodybuilders though, I like my arms resting closer to my body when I'm walking. :flex:

You are really looking good. You seem to have a frame to support a large amount of good solid mass. In the pics showing your back, you definitely have the makings for a HUGE back bro!

You are really looking good. You seem to have a frame to support a large amount of good solid mass. In the pics showing your back, you definitely have the makings for a HUGE back bro!

:D Thanks brotha...back is my favorite muscle group to work-in fact I'm heading out to do a back workout right now! I wish more people focused on back and leg training instead of obsessing about chest and arms. In my opinion, the one exercise that would benefit people the most is pullups. I can't do as many as I could do in high school, but I'm aiming to be able to do 15 by June 1. Right now I'm only doing 6 or 7.

:D Thanks brotha...back is my favorite muscle group to work-in fact I'm heading out to do a back workout right now! I wish more people focused on back and leg training instead of obsessing about chest and arms. In my opinion, the one exercise that would benefit people the most is pullups. I can't do as many as I could do in high school, but I'm aiming to be able to do 15 by June 1. Right now I'm only doing 6 or 7.

I think a lot of people work on "show" muscles more. Who cares about a nice back when you have pecs and abs poking out?! I too enjoy working my back. I get the best feeling when I do wide grip pull ups. I can just feel my lats working! I used to be able to do 20 of those, now like you, I am only doing 6! :( That is with only a 6 month rest!

I think a lot of people work on "show" muscles more. Who cares about a nice back when you have pecs and abs poking out?! I too enjoy working my back. I get the best feeling when I do wide grip pull ups. I can just feel my lats working! I used to be able to do 20 of those, now like you, I am only doing 6! :( That is with only a 6 month rest!
It takes a lot of work to make the comeback-but it's a different kind of reward. When you finally reach the point where you were when you were at your best, and push through it, it's like you get to relive all the original satisfaction. Like John, I was in good shape in high school and in my first few years of college but totally slacked off once I got a job sitting at a computer for 12 hours a day. Doesn't it seem like a lot of people on the board are in their mid to late 20's? It's no coincedence since our metabolisms have slowed and we're looking at people in their 30's and 40's with huge guts and thinking-I don't want that shit happening to me!

I was playing raquetball on Saturday for just the second time in my life. It makes you move in ways you're not accustomed to. So I end up wrenching my back and neck to the point where I couldn't move my neck more than about one inch. My head was pulled toward my right shoulder and it hurt like a bitch.

It's now Monday morning and I'm about 70% better. I promised myself I would go see a chirpractor at least and then maybe find a good bodyworker.

I'm ready to go back to working out after three days off but I can't do it because of this f@cking injury.

Because I hurt my neck, I've had to severely cut back on my training. I'm not doing any chest or shoulder work because it feels sketchy in my neck when i'm underneath a weight. So I'm focusing on abs, back, legs, calves, and core training. I'm too busy to do cardio since I'm in the middle of tax season, so this next month I don't know how much progress I'll be making. Maybe my abs will come out I dunno. I'm trying hard to keep my diet in line during this modified routine. As soon as I can I'm going to a chirporactor and then a massage therapist.

My neck and back seem to be back to normal, so I'm ready to resume my regular lifting schedule now. :bb:

First of all...Great work!!! You have had impressive results thus far.

I noticed you don't eat after 8pm. I would consider eating some casein protein and EFAs before bed to prevent muscle breakdown during the night's fast. Personally, I have a cup of Cottage Cheese and a tablespoon of Flaxseed Oil.

First of all...Great work!!! You have had impressive results thus far.

I noticed you don't eat after 8pm. I would consider eating some casein protein and EFAs before bed to prevent muscle breakdown during the night's fast. Personally, I have a cup of Cottage Cheese and a tablespoon of Flaxseed Oil.

Thanks man...things are going well because I'm sticking to it, but building muscle takes a lot of persistence!

Eating before bed
Yeah that's actually something that I want to start doing-I never really thought about it but I wouldn't go 8 hours without food during the day, so why do it at night-provided it's not processed food or carbs or pie

I've made some changes to my routine because of time constraints and a focus on flexibility.

I've reduced cardio to 1x/week
I've reduced my weight training to 4x/week using max ot principles. I don't do nearly as many sets or reps as I have been but I'm lifting as heavy as I can each set. I end up leaving the gym feeling like I could do a lot more work, but I think this way of training is going to make me grow faster than the old way (dropsets, rep range of 8-12) because I have more energy throughout the 30 minutes to make each exercise really count.

I'll be posting photos again on day 90 of my 133 day transformation. That gives me about 3 weeks. :bb: :db:

Wow! In just 50 days you look to have made major strides in size and definition in both arms and back. Keep it up!

Wow! In just 50 days you look to have made major strides in size and definition in both arms and back. Keep it up!
Thanks bro-I'm lookin to match those gains when I post my 90 day pics. This board really motivates me for some strange reason. Even knowing that there are just a handful of people who've seen the pics makes me want to make all my workouts and not eat crap, because I want to continuously improve.

Sort of like the difference between being an athlete in high school versus when your out of school on your own. When I ran track in school, there were rivalries, healthy competition, and peer review on a daily basis. Positive peer pressure so to speak. Once I was on my own training solo I only had myself for motivation and it just wasn't enough.

Down the road I hope to be able to throw around some of the kind of weight that your using!

I've been working out MaxOT style for two weeks now and things are going really well. My workouts are shorter, my weights are going up on every lift, and I'm really learning to feel the difference between overload and fatigue. Once I get married on June 5th I will have been on an 8-week Max OT cycle, so my honeymoon will give me the perfect week off from training-plus a few days.

Then I plan to do another 8-week Max OT cycle and see what the results are. Doing MaxOT, a spend a greater portion of my workout using the kind of weight that really challenges my muscles. I'm staying with fairly good form but moving the weight quickly.

I think all the routines I've ever done which involved dropsets, supersets, burnouts, superslow, giant sets or whatever the hell else I did that involved tons of work to fatigue the muscle were all designed for the anabolic steroid user. Without the roids, those routines end up just giving you a nice pump and reduce the intensity of each set.

Now I can focus for about 25 minutes on a large muscle group like back, chest, and legs, and spend 15 minutes on triceps, biceps, calves, shoulders, traps, low back, and forearms.

My split now looks like this:

Day 1: Back/Biceps
Day 2: Quads/Hamstrings/Glutes/Calves
Day 3: Chest/Triceps
Day 4: Shoulders/Traps/Abs
Day 5: OFF

I'm also doing a lot of ab work and shoulder rehab exercises on the side. I'll be posting my third set of pictures at 90 days, which will be on 4/20. By then I'm hoping to see a pretty big difference from my Day 50 pic. :D

:) Just wanted to reiterate the fact that MaxOT kicks ass. :)

My lifts simply continue to go up every week without fail!

Since I started using Max OT about three weeks ago, I've made the following improvements:

Bench Press:165*6 to 195*6
Pullups: None to 8
Leg Press: 315*8 to 405*8
Barbell Curls: 70*6 to 85*6
Dumbell Shrugs: 40*10 to 70*10
Calf Machine Presses: 180*10 to 250*10

The shorter workouts are easier to fit in my schedule therefore I'm less likely to skip a workout-consistency has led to some good gains.

I'll be posting my "AFTER" pic's on tuesday-lots of cardio between now and then to try to cut as much as possible before the photo shoot. Then I'll be going to my wedding and honeymoon and no lifting for 3 weeks.

When I return I plan another 4-month cycle where I do MaxOT for 3 weeks, then my traditional routine for 3 weeks, continuing this for the duration of the 4 months. I've slacked on my diet as of late but I've stuck to my exercise plan besides a few minor injuries and nagging back issues.

I don't think I would have focused as hard as I did if it hadn't been for John Stone's efforts to improve himself and demonstrate the possiblities to everyone through his website and forums. Thank you john. :bow:

I blew my chance to get 'after' pictures. There was no chance to have them taken yesterday and I won't have internet access for the next several weeks so I'll have to post some when I get back from my honeymoon. take care everyone-you won't be hearing from me for about a month!Here are some pic's of where I'm headed-

http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Avv001_tif.jpg http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Avv002_tif.jpg http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Avv003_tif.jpg
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Cr002_tif.jpg http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Cr036_tif.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Sun001_tif.jpg
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Sun011_tif.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Sun017_tif.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Sun100_tif.jpg
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Wav166_tif.jpghttp://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Costa_Rica/tn_Wav179_tif.jpg

Anyone interested in following my progress should go here:

Challenge (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=6107)

Here's my progress for the first month of my challenge with jk0 and Marcman. Any criticisms/comments would be appreciated as no one seems to be checking out the challenge threads:

http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Challenge_1.2/Comparison1.1.jpg
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/Challenge_1.2/Comparison1.2.jpg

Back definitely looks more muscular.
I think the challenges in general would get much more traffic and comments if the pics were updated more consistently and frequently. What do you think?

Back definitely looks more muscular.
I think the challenges in general would get much more traffic and comments if the pics were updated more consistently and frequently. What do you think?
I guess you're right since there are some people who take daily photos and they seem to get more traffic.

I just don't think I can notice changes week to week. It took a whole month of working out hard to show slight improvement for me.

Seems like most of the people in the challenges are flaking on the photos. It's a pain because someone else has to take them for you to get the poses right.

I think once a month is just right for me, because then each time I get the photos done it's a big deal. I'm hoping at the end to take the four pictures(7/1,8/1,9/1,9/30) and make an animated .gif showing the morph.

why do you aim your fists forward on your double bi pose? sorry to be a flake on the pics, i'll try and do better.

why do you aim your fists forward on your double bi pose?

I don't know much about posing, but from what I've seen that's how it's supposed to be done. See pic
http://www.sportsmachines.net/Stone/97jrusa6.jpg

huh.

i always thought you aim your fists towards your heard, but I think that I could definitely be wrong - aiming your fists forward definitely pops the forearm muscle out a lot more.

interesting

huh.

i always thought you aim your fists towards your heard, but I think that I could definitely be wrong - aiming your fists forward definitely pops the forearm muscle out a lot more.

interesting
I think for people like me who's biceps are sort of 'short'- i.e. big gap between the elbow and the start of the muscle-we look better by pointing the hands forward to bring the forearm into play more. You sacrifice the biceps peak this way, but my arms would look pretty bad if I posed with hands facing in. you'd see a peak, but it would be less like a mountain in the alps and more like a speed bump.

How's your progress coming Nico?

I've been cutting for a few months and I've lost about 10 pounds. Thanks for asking-I think I'm a little improved since the most recent photos from August of 2004 but I don't know that I have as much mass in my back and legs. I didn't work out all that much from September through the end of the year, and since hitting the routine hard in January I've not gotten any stronger.

I'll probably post some photos in a few months if I can get down to 190. I weighed about 210 on January 1 of this year.

I've been cutting for a few months and I've lost about 10 pounds. Thanks for asking-I think I'm a little improved since the most recent photos from August of 2004 but I don't know that I have as much mass in my back and legs. I didn't work out all that much from September through the end of the year, and since hitting the routine hard in January I've not gotten any stronger.

I'll probably post some photos in a few months if I can get down to 190. I weighed about 210 on January 1 of this year.

Well stick with it brother, you've always encouraged me! :tu: