Alberto’s Personal Training Transformation

How did Alberto go from the average gym goer to superhero with his personal training transformation!

Great transformations often look like there has been a dramatic intervention needed from those looking from the outside. People see the ‘before and after’ picture and think ‘I couldn’t do that’ or that person’s life must have been so boring for 6 months. However, people who perform a personal training transformation with one of FORMs coaches know that this isn’t true. There is thought behind the process to make it as simple and sustainable as possible. This is something we really value ourselves on.   

Confusing a dramatic transformation and the need for a number of dramatic interventions is incorrect and is one that is damaging the fitness industry. No matter how outstanding the transformation, the best and long lasting transformations don’t happen overnight and nor do they require just a few strenuous, defining interventions. Sustainable transformations follow a predictable and consistent pattern. A lot of people say to us that they don’t feel like they are in the right position to start personal training yet or that they don’t have the time or energy. It is our mission to teach people to make training as time efficient as possible. It is also equally important to educate them in the ways to make everything work into their busy schedule without feeling like a chore. This is exactly what we did with Alberto and he has the body and skills to maintain this for life!

Alberto came to FORM after he was feeling like he wasn’t getting the return on his investment into fitness. He was putting a large amount of time and dedication into his training and nutrition. He had always kept up to date with what was going on in the latest Men’s Health magazines and with what was the latest trends on social media but couldn’t seem to advance his fitness and physique from where he currently was. This is where he seeked out a personal trainer and was ready to do something dramatic if needed. 

He filled out the on-boarding personal training questionnaire and food diary and it was clear to see that Alberto was doing a lot but didn’t really have much structure or a plan. Alberto was performing 4 gym sessions per week with a mixture of just about everything from weights, cardio, abs, HIIT….. Just about everything. Then his food was very good but again lacked any structure. Alberto wanted to increase muscle size and strength whilst keeping lean and if he could – reduce body fat a little. It was our job to use this information, along with that collected in the FORM personal training experience session to come up with a plan and present this back to him.

For us, it is key that everyone who undertakes a transformation is educated along the way so that they can continue to stay in amazing shape with great fitness levels for life. Alberto’s plan was one that was all about keeping things simple, going back to basics and getting really good on those things. He was someone who loved going to the gym and enjoyed the social element of it so we didn’t reduce his number of days per week. We just changed this to a more structured workout that really worked on increasing strength and muscle size and giving him targets to hit in the gym to keep him engaged and competitive.

‘Keep things simple’

We did 4 different workouts per week but all had a very similar structure. Two main upper body workouts and two main lower body workouts. Each workout had large movements with lower repetitions to begin with to really work on strength (example – 4 x 8 Trap Bar Deadlifts), followed by accessory lifts working on smaller muscle groups that would really help with his physique (example – 3 x 12-15 Shoulder Press). This is a very similar structure we follow at FORM for muscle hypertrophy and is something we do in a Train by FORM online programs. We ran each program for around 4-6 weeks with a few changes in repetition and set during that phase before changing some of the exercise but ensuring we maintained the same level of load and intensity in each workout.

With Alberto’s nutrition we didn’t change things up too dramatically but gave him some simple rules / structure to follow and looked at increasing his protein intake and his carbohydrates around his training. The plan allowed him to enjoy meals out and didn’t mean he needed to panic if he had forgotten to take his lunch to work. It gave him a simple structure. The effectiveness of this plan was then monitored through his strength improvements and changes in weight and physique week by week. If we weren’t progressing we made a few changes where needed and if we were progressing we kept with the plan and rode it out until things plateaued before making any interventions.

It was after around 6 months of personal training where we knew that Alberto had a great level of strength and muscle mass that a dieting phase wouldn’t have placed too much stress on his body and therefor having a negative impact on his work and general energy levels and most importantly it would make the new leaner physique one he could maintain for life. We were now ready to start targeting body fat!

So what magical personal training intervention did we do at this point? What is FORMs secret?

Like mentioned above, a great sustainable transformation is somewhat predictable and consistent. We kept with a very similar meal plan and simply reduced things a little. Increasing his calorific output by increasing his daily steps and doing a little more cardio in the gym. Then monitor his progression week by week and made plans if we needed more of a caloric deficit and would work out a plan of either reducing intake or increasing output……. Simple!!

I think what is key to take away from this blog and Alberto’s transformation is keep things simple. Work on improving one or two areas of fitness that are most important to you and keep track of a few simple variables. Monitor your progression, be consistent and trust the process. The ‘before and after’ transformations don’t happen overnight. they are a consistent push in the right direction that leads to something that looks dramatic not day by day but looks incredible when you look back over a few months.

Interested in find out how we can help you achieve your fitness goals? Contact us here and book in for a free FORM personal training experience session