Metabolic Masterpiece

Lose Fat and Get Jacked

Transformation Insights: Looking Back and Moving Forward

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It can be an interesting and eye opening experience when you come across a picture of yourself before you made the choice to transform your body and strive for your true potential.

Some people prefer to bury away their “before photos”, while others post them on their fridge as a reminder of what happens when you don’t care about what you stuff into your mouth.

When I see pictures of myself from a few years ago I am reminded of the struggles I faced at the time. The mild depression (which is hard to believe for the people who have always known me as the ‘happy-go-lucky’ guy). The lack of ‘zest’ and vitality. The embarrassment. That empty feeling of knowing that I wasn’t able to give the best of myself to my wife and children. The frustrating feeling of ‘wanting better’… but not having what it took to stick it through to the end.

…but I also look at those pictures with an overwhelming sense of pride and achievement. They are a measuring stick of just how far I’ve come in this life-long journey. It’s a reminder that I always had what it took to achieve incredible success. I’ve always been capable of greatness, but for some reason I wasn’t quite ready to unleash it at the time. I needed to struggle a bit more… learn from those experiences… and wake up to the fact that I deserved the very BEST!
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Sane and Simple Nutrition: The Ultimate Common Sense Approach To Eating For A Better Body

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There’s a reason why people fail on diets… They simply find it too difficult to stick with the rigid and strict guidelines. When they slip up they feel guilty and defeated… and that saddens me. Seriously… it hurts me to see men and women beat themselves up because they couldn’t follow a diet to perfection.

If you’ve been in this place… feeling like you’ve tried every diet plan out there and frustrated that none of them worked… it’s time to take a break from the diets and embrace a sane and simple approach to nutrition, which just so happens to be the title of widely celebrated book written by my friend Nia Shanks.

Sane and Simple NutritionSane and Simple Nutrition is not a diet book. You won’t find any strict rules, meal plans, foods to avoid, or minute details.

What you will discover are 9 core KISS (Keep It Sane and Simple) guidelines. Bottom line… you will learn to master the fundamentals while experiencing nutritional freedom.

This is that part about nutrition that most people skip. They’re looking for the secret… the magic… the “weird tricks”, while ignoring the factors that are responsible for most of the results.

It’s like playing an entire round of golf with just your putter… and you know what they call that… GOOFY golf.

Yes, like the putter, the “weird tricks” are a part of the game… but, as in golf, you don’t use it until you’ve put in the rest of the work to get to the green.
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At What Body Fat Percentage Do You Look The Hottest?

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During your body transformation has a friend or family member told you that you’re too skinny… your face looks gaunt… and that you look “sick”?

Do you think they are just jealous… struggling with their own insecurities… or is there actually some merit to what they are saying?

Could it be true that some people simply do not find ripped abs attractive?

I know… hard to believe… but you know what they say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

The feedback that Angie and I received from our last photo shoot has been 99% positive. I think we both look healthy, vibrant, and strong in this photo…


get ripped abs

…yet during the week leading up to this photo shoot Angie had a family member tell her, “OMG you’re too skinny. Women don’t want abs like that.”

I thought to myself, “Really? I’ve heard countless women tell Angie that they would love to have her abs.”

At the same time I had friends ask me if I was sick… if something was wrong with me… Mind you, this was when I was fully clothed and it was from friends who hadn’t seen me in a while. It was my face they were looking at.
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Stubborn Calves Solution

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Ben Pakulski Calve WorkoutDo you have stubborn calves? Do you get pissed off at guys with genetically monster calves who have never had to “earn them”? Hey man, I can totally relate. But we can’t just bitch and whine about our genetics and blame them for our shortcomings. We need to take action… and I’m here to offer you a solution to shock your stubborn calves into growth.

The first step is brutal honesty. How much focused effort are you seriously dedicating to training your calves?

When I answered this question it was obvious that I had been using crappy genetics as an excuse for too long. Frankly, I avoided calve exercises during most of my early years in training. I didn’t enjoy training them at all. It burned like hell whenever I would do a set. Bottom line, it was hard freak’n work!

Then, when I began to take my leg training seriously I would perform about Stubborn Calves Solution

The Art Of Body Sculpting 33 Day Challenge: Day 8 Leg Press

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leg workoutDay 8 of the Art Of Body Sculpting 33 Day Challenge reveals the top tips that have taken my weakest body part and brought it up to par with the rest of my physique… legs.

I’ve always been pretty strong with the Leg Press, but it wasn’t until I began practicing these mind-muscle strategies that I finally began to experience growth.

If you are new to the challenge, please visit the introduction page for complete details and rules.

When lifting heavy weight I found that I placed a great deal of the stress and tension on my upper thighs around the hip area.

By following the rules of The Art Of Body Sculpting 33 Day Challenge; a) check your ego at the door, b) reduce the weight, c) slow down the tempo, d) play around with stance and pressure points… I have been able to focus the tension on specific areas of my thighs.

This has been the key factor in not only building my thighs, but also sculpting out great detail.

Are you in a habit of about The Art Of Body Sculpting 33 Day Challenge: Day 8 Leg Press

Self Image: It’s Personal

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I’m about to do something taboo among men… share my freak’n feelings. I’ve had some interesting experiences in dealing with self image throughout my ongoing body transformation and I feel that we can all benefit from an open discussion on this topic.

It’s a mixed bag of emotions from feeling fat with a lack of confidence, to feeling sexy and on top of the world, to feeling small (not big or muscular enough), to worrying about feeling fat again while gaining muscle. All of that and so much more…

In The Beginning

It’s true… I’m not some genetic freak.

Although I once was a “skinny little maggot” as Jason Ferruggia so eloquently puts it 😉 weighing in at a whopping 123lbs in my early 20’s…

…I proved that I could gain fat just as quick as everyone else when I ballooned up to 190 during my late 20’s all thanks to a high stress lifestyle and a bout of depression.

During this time I felt like a fraud, considering I was a personal fitness trainer who was in worst shape than most of my clients. I struggled to hold my breath while tying my shoe/skate laces, I couldn’t stand to look at my side profile in the mirror, and worst of all I felt unattractive to my wife.

Thankfully, I turned things around and found a solution that worked for me and my lifestyle during this busy time in my life as an entrepreneur and father of two young children.

It felt great to be lean again. I looked good, but I still lacked confidence with my physique. I had some abs, but when I sat down a roll of stomach fat would bulge over my pants.

This made me feel quite uncomfortable. I was still hiding behind my t-shirts and felt like I wasn’t living life to my fullest. I didn’t feel “free”.

The inspiration to take things to the next level and transform my body two years ago came in a single moment while I was looking at myself in the mirror. I saw an average physique staring back at me.

Now that’s all fine and dandy for some people, but I hold higher standards for myself. There’s something about about Self Image: It’s Personal