I have always tried to keep things very simple. When I look back on all the mistakes I have made as a bodybuilder, complicating things is usually the culprit. I have tried many different methods of training and dieting, and I am still learning about my body. The two biggest mistakes most people make are not training with enough intensity, and ignoring their nutrition. These sometimes result in years of wasted time.

When I work with a client, I help with all aspects of their program, not just diet like so many do. With some clients I design absolutely everything, supplement programs, exact amounts of food, exercise selection, and workout schedule.

I use a 5 day split, training everything once a week. Calves get hit twice. I take 2 days off per week, and like to follow the same schedule every week. My split is currently as follows:

When I start getting ready for a contest, I add cardio, but the training stays basically the same. I concentrate on form, and getting a quality stretch and squeeze on each rep. I train as heavy as I can without sacrificing form, it is far too important. I would rather impress someone with my form and intensity, than with weights. My workouts are usually just over an hour each. A leg workout can be a bit longer sometimes.

I am not blessed with a huge appetite. Most people think I eat a lot, but they don't understand the massive amount of force feeding I have done over the years. The best gains I have ever experienced have all been when I was force feeding the most. In fact, the first half of my contest diet is usually hard for me to stomach, I don't really get hungry until 8-10 weeks out.

This year I reached a high of 312 lbs. At that weight I was consuming between 5500-7000 calories a day. I would have three clean "bodybuilder" meals (steak, chicken, eggs, pasta, rice, veg, oats), two shakes (whey, weight gainer, skim milk or juice, fruit), and one restaurant meal of whatever I wanted. This was as much as I could ever imagine eating, and I was very consistent with it. I always tell people that the hardest part of being a bodybuilder is the food. People assume the workouts are dreaded, but they are the fun part.

16 weeks before a contest, I change my diet. I drop out all my junk, fruit, and pasta. I use chicken, lean steak, tuna, rice, potato, and veggies. I still have a couple scoops of whey protein after my workout for the first half of the diet. This is the hardest eating of the year, because my food volume actually goes up even though my calories drop down to 5500 per day. As the diet progresses and I get my bodyfat slowly dropping, I usually wind up eating a very comfortable amount of food for several weeks. Then, as my calories drop I start to experience severe hunger. To combat this I raise my veggie intake to add more volume. The key is to drop weight slowly and avoid losing muscle.