You can achieve a lot in eight weeks if you set your mind to it.
Darren Kenny is proof of that after he completed a two-month training programme that got him shredded.
The sports mad 43-year-old was not in bad shape to begin with - holding a respectable 16.5 per cent body fat.
But a combination of diet and training was holding him back from the physique he wanted.
Now Darren, from Bexley in Kent, is down at a super lean nine per cent body fat and has to six pack abs to show for it.
Darren's brilliant transformation was down to two factors - cleaning up his diet and adding extra intensity to his training.
"I’ve always worked out and eaten well and was always somebody you’d describe as being in good shape for their age," said Darren, who is an income royalties manager.
"Like most guys at the gym, my body fat was always sitting around the 16-20 per cent range, which is why my body always looked okay but not great."
Darren says he decided to take on a luxury body transformation challenge at Embody Fitness, a personal training and body transformation studio in Bank, London.
The first thing PTs looked at was bringing his body fat percentage down by looking at his daily diet.
With a few tweaks to what he was eating as well as setting a training plan, they were able to trigger rapid fat loss and almost halve his fat overt the eight weeks.
The main adjustment Darren was told to make if he wanted to succeed in attaining his ideal body shape was the amount of carbs in his diet, as well as his sugar intake.
Lunchtime sandwiches and mashed potatoes for dinner made way for protein-packed portions of chicken and vegetables, salmon and sweet potato.
Snacking during the day was seen as crucial to Darren’s training goals, but instead of crisps and chocolate he was encouraged to replace these with fruit, nuts and olives.
This is what Darren's diet plan looked like...
| BEFORE
Breakfast: Toast and butter or Weetabix with sugar. Tea with sugar.
Lunch: Chicken and rice or tuna sandwich.
Dinner: Sausages and mash or chicken and chips.
Snacks: Crisps, chocolate, oatcakes with cashew butter. | AFTER
Breakfast: Porridge with rice milk and black coffee with no sugar.
Lunch: Chicken and vegetables.
Dinner: Salmon or chicken and veg with sweet potato.
Snacks: Fruit, nuts, olives, oatcakes with cottage cheese. |
Darren's training played a big factor in helping him achieve his body transformation.
He followed a modified version of German Body Composition training three times a week - which is a clever method of using supersets on compound movements designed to increase your metabolism and build lean muscle tissue.
GBC training sessions have short rest periods and a high volume of reps, which also followed a rigidly set tempo on the eccentric and concentric phases of the lifts.
This means the intensity is high and you can see average heart rates into 85% of the V02 Max, keeping the metabolism firing for more than 24 hours after you've worked out.
(It's not to be confused with German Volume Training, which is 10 sets of 10 reps at a submaximal weight on major chest, back or leg exercises).
This is one of the workouts Darren followed...
First Superset
A1 Trap Bar Deadlift 4 x 10-12 reps, 3-0-1-0 tempo - rest 30s.
A2 Flat Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 10-12 reps, 4-0-1-0 tempo - rest 60s
Second Superset
B1 Barbell Front Foot elevated split squat 4 x 10-12 reps (each side) 4-0-1-0 tempo - 30s rest
B2 Incline Dumbbell Bench Rows 4 x 10-12 reps, 4-0-1-0 tempo - 60s rest
Third Superset
C1 Backwards sled drag - 3 x 50m rest - 30s rest
C2 Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 12-15 reps, 3-0-1-0 tempo - 60s rest
Fourth Superset
D1 Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curls 3 x 12-15, 3-0-1-0 tempo - 30s rest
D2 Supine Dumbbell Triceps Extension 3 x 12-15, 3-0-1-0 tempo - 30s rest.
Darren was cut his body fat down to nine per cent through diet and intense training alone.
He said: “The visual difference between 16-17% and 9% was incredible and I’ve learned something for life now. My stomach looked so much better and my definition was great.”
“The main thing is Embody took me to the next level which 90% of gym goers never quite get to.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pViFCecO4A8
