This is a guest post by the most recent addition to the Physique Artist Nation… John McLellan. Enjoy!
Hey gang. My name is John, and I’m a physique artist. I say that with total confidence, even though if you currently saw me you’d see a guy who’s still somewhat of a “typical overweight Irishman.” Three months ago I’d have never made the claim that I’m a physique artist. No way. A lot can change in twelve weeks.
Life was forever flipped upside down for my wife and me last May when our son Finnegan was born. He didn’t sleep well for the first four months of his life, and although I’d try to go jogging or hit the weight room a few times a week, I was falling into poorer and poorer health. I was beat from getting up all night and I had zero focus on anything during the day. I pounded coffee every morning, drank beers at night to fight off the caffeine buzz and I had no will power to control my eating. Even the simplest of tasks like doing dishes or mowing the lawn seemed to take monumental amounts of energy. I had depression. Even though my awesome wife and healthy son made me happy, I was in a constant fog. My head was a mess. I knew that I had forty pounds of extra fat on my body that I had to get rid of if I had any chance of getting “back to normal.” I had no plan, only hope.
My adventure into better health started with my friend Fat Pat. Take the happiest most upbeat human you know and double it. That’s Pat. He’s a hockey playing, red meat eating, beer brewing bundle of good times. Since I’ve known him he’s had a rotund belly and a round face. He and his wife came to visit us last fall for a week. He walked through my front door and my jaw dropped. Fat Pat was no longer fat. He was skinny! His face was lean and he had some definition to his arms! His trademark big ol’ grin was there, but the fat was gone. Huh?
Pat recommended I read EAT TO LIVE by Joel Furhman. Dr. Furhman advocates eating a nutrient dense diet based on non processed whole plant foods. Due to this new way of eating and some moderate exercise, Pat had dropped a boat load of weight. Meat eating Pat had stopped doing bacon and eggs loaded with cheese for breakfast and instead would have lots of fruit, or he’d even make spinach smoothies for his breakfast. Huh?!?!
Turns out that spinach smoothies are quite tasty depending on how many strawberries, blueberries or bananas you add. (Pat’s wife taught me the “secrets” to a good spinach smoothie!) Again, three months ago I’d have never spoken of spinach smoothies with a straight face. Then again I no longer see food as just a way to alleviate hunger, boredom or stress. I now see food as nutrition.
I’m a “proof is in the pudding” type of guy. Fat Pat is now Skinny Pat. Although it doesn’t rhyme, Pat prefers his new nickname.
I first heard of the Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Program in an e-mail from Shawn Phillips. The program was completely in line with my own world views. I’ve always enjoyed the euphoria that comes from my muscles burning as I push them towards failure. I liked the idea of putting doubt behind me and simply trusting that I could do it. I envisioned that I could take my shirt off during the summer time and watch my grinning wife roll her eyes at me as thousands of giggling college girls gawked at my ripped abs. Silly, I know, but the thought of ripped abs wasn’t silly to me at all. I purchased the Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Program on the spot and read the whole thing that night.
The approach to the lifting exercises seemed pretty logical to me, but again I could see the proof in the pudding from Scott’s own transformation diary. His dedication to that twelve week lifting program took his physique from solid to RIPPED. If this scrawny little Canadian dude could get crazy ripped, well then I could too!
I’ve attempted transformations in the past and have failed. Pick an excuse. I get sick, miss a week in the gym, and a week turns into six months. I’d go on the road and miss a few workouts and six more months would go by. Most of the time I simply got wrapped up into my “social life” which always has revolved around a lot of food and beer. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun. The problem is your belly gets bigger too.
I’ve thought a lot about my past successes and failures. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve always failed because I’m simply not strong enough to change by myself. Some people can do it all alone. I can’t. I failed because I never asked for help.
I now know I need the support of everyone around me. Not just my wife and immediate friends and family, but even like minded peeps who are trying to transform themselves. The Metabolic Masterpiece Inner Circle has been awesome for me. I don’t have to explain my love for lifting, or explain why I consider taking my dog for a 45 minute afternoon walk as a form of “active recovery cardio.” The inner circle peeps all have the same goal. We want to be stronger, hotter, and have a better lift today than we did yesterday.
I started my own 12 week journey right after Thanksgiving. My first four weeks were right in the heart of Christmas season. I found I wasn’t dreaming of sweets and eggnog, but instead I was dreaming about my upcoming day in the gym. Crazy! I didn’t miss a workout. At 6 weeks in I was going for a walk listening to the mp3 recording of the conversation that Scott had with Tom Venuto. They were talking about using a photo shoot as an event. That idea intimidated the hell out of me, but then later that week Scott put out a blog post about how he’d used his own photo shoot as an event to keep him focused. He crushed it and I could tell he had a blast through the whole journey. Once again I found myself thinking, “well if Scott can rock it, I can too!” I got on the horn with a photographer friend of mine and booked my very first shirtless photo shoot for Thursday, May 8th of 2012, three days before my 35th birthday.
I’m currently starting week 10 of what will be a 22 week transformation. I’ve dropped 25 pounds and am down from 19% to 16% body fat. I’m journaling each and every lift and trying to improve week by week, whether it just be one more rep in a set or just 5 more pounds on the bar. Some weeks I hit it. Some I don’t. Regardless, I crank up the music in my ears and visualize each exercise before I start. I see myself pushing the heavy weights and I imagine how good the burn will feel. When it comes time to start the exercise, I no longer “attempt” to lift the weight. I simply rock it. I’m A.D.D. and my imagination runs wild sometimes, however I’m getting better at locking in my focus on the exercise at hand. By doing so I’m seeing better results than I ever have. It only makes me more excited for my next day of lifting.
I don’t want to sound like I’m just a clueless, happy-go-lucky guy. This hasn’t been easy to get to where I’m at currently. It’s a bitch. However, this go ’round has been FUN. Who knew that hard work could be such a blast? On the nutrition side of things it’s awesome trying out different recipes to see which ones are delicious and which ones are awful. As for lifting, Metabolic Masterpiece keeps things fresh by changing up the routine with new phases every four weeks. As soon as I’m starting to get into a groove, the next phase starts and totally shocks my body. Being a guy who likes that sort of thing, it’s awesome! My belly fat is still there but there’s a whole lot less of it than there was when I started! My arms look better week by week and I can FEEL my body getting more muscular.
I never want to get “back to normal.” That old John is gone. This is my “new normal.” I lift weights with focus, purpose and a goal. I’m approaching a place in my life where I’m doing things without guilt. I eat guilt free, I lift guilt free, and I have a new appreciation for my time spent with the people I love. I’m a physique artist, guilt free, and having a blast.
Thanks for having my back in this journey. I can’t do it without you. CHEERS! – John
About The Author
John McLellan is the lead singer and principal songwriter for Montana based band, The Clintons (www.clintonsband.com). He lives in Helena, Montana with his wife, Ingrid, and son, Finnegan. They also have a crazy yellow lab named Lola who enthusiastically enjoys her daily mid afternoon walks.