How one man finally got traction in his quest to build a better body

By Duke Nukem

Reese Reynolds stood gasping for breath between his fifth and sixth squat rep. He had 455 pounds on his back and it felt like a house. “C’mon Reese! Three more reps!” Big Bo Bennington hissed as he stood directly behind Reese. Bo had his beefy arms underneath Reese’s armpits; in case Reese collapsed he’d catch him. Reese ground out squat rep number six, all the while listening to and obeying Bo’s commands: “Down, down, down, down – UP!”

Reese immediately began rep seven upon locking out rep six. He barely made seven. Utterly and completely spent, Reese needed to take in no less than ten giant breaths of air before he broke his knees to begin rep eight. While huffing breaths, Reese gathered his mental psyche and summoned up every ounce of power he had left. “C’MON REESE! PUSH!” Bo screamed as Reese ground out rep eight. It was a slow motion exercise in torture; Reese teetering on the brink of collapse throughout. “That eighth and final rep,” Bo would later remark, “expanded and redefined Reese’s ideas about limits and pain and pain tolerance.” Being a terrific coach, Bo Bennington threatened, cajoled, pled, and screamed – whatever it took to get Reese to make his reps. Eight reps in the squat with 455 was a new personal record for the 269 pound, 38 year old high school football coach.

As Reese locked his legs to complete rep eight, Bo grabbed Reese from behind, under Reese’s armpits and with tattooed 20 inch arms, dragged Reese back into the squat rack. Reese collapsed onto a nearby exercise bench and seemed in danger of having a heart attack. Bo ignored Reese’s labored breathing and beet red face. “Pull yourself together tomato man. You ain’t got no dramatic lead in no movie…no cameras or audience here, so let’s jus’ skip the post-set histrionics and get to moving. We still need to do leg presses and hack squats. Get your breathing normalized and let’s get cracking – I got clients stacked up like an air traffic controller has jets on a busy day at Dulles.” Reese looked up and raised a finger (not the one he wanted to) to acknowledge his coach. Bo proceeded to drive Reese through three quick sets of eight reps in the leg press: starting with 500 and working up to a final, high rep/forced rep set with 700+ pounds. This was followed by three, even quicker sets of hack squats, pyramiding ever upward in poundage on each successive set. The workout was concluded with endless alternate sets of calf and hamstring exercises. A set of calf raises then a set of hamstrings…back and forth, back and forth, for what seemed to Reese like an eternity. In reality the entire body-shattering, leg-decimating training session took slightly less than 90 minutes. Or, as Reese would later call them, “90 minutes of pure hell on earth.” It was gut-busting work from start to finish. This approach to weight training had, along with hard cardio and disciplined eating, miraculously transformed Reese Reynolds dramatically and in slightly less than a year.

Reese knew the smartest thing he could do after completing this type of super hard workout was to drink a triple serving of chocolate flavored Parrillo 50/50 Plus^™. As he sat sipping, sweating and recovering, he thought back over the past year. The year of his transformation…Reese Reynolds started training under Bo Bennington on January 3rd 2009 weighing 368 pounds, most of it excess body blubber. Coach Reynolds was on the fast track to a heart attack or becoming a diabetic. He knew this for a fact; his doctor had told him so. To his eternal credit, Reese actually carried through on last year’s annual “I’m going to get-in-shape this year” New Year’s Resolution. Reese had recognized that he had a fitness “problem” and needed some professional help. He had the good fortune to live in a neighborhood where a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer plied his trade: Bo Bennington was a Parrillo Certified PT and had been for the past ten years. Parrillo personal trainers are a breed apart from other personal trainers in that PCPTs are all about results: period, end of story. Bo Bennington was quite happy to get paid lots to kick Coach Reese’s ass, when and as hard as needed. Bo appealed to Reese’s manhood and to his sense of pride. He alerted Reese to an indisputable fact: if Reese did exactly as Bo told him, Reese would be able to transform his physique. And that is exactly what Reese did. He followed every nuanced instruction of Bo’s complex teachings; he followed all instructions to a proverbial Tee; he never missed a workout or a meal and he morphed magnificently, from fat and flaccid into lean and fit and all in eleven short months.

Reese had regained an amazing physical condition he had once achieved back in the mid-nineties as an All Conference defensive end. Reese was a star defensive player on a very good Division II college football team. After a short career as a professional football player, Coach Reynolds had let himself go. Fifteen years of garbage eating, combined with zero exercise, and Reese found himself weighing a few pork chops (with gravy) shy of 400 pounds. His doctor shook his head as he told Reese “straight up” that if he stayed this heavy, or got any heavier, he could expect to die by age 60. That conversation scared coach straight. That’s when Reese got religion and contracted Bo’s professional services. In the interceding year, and through a determined and sustained extended effort, Reese had completely renovated his body – and his life. Reese had blown the collective minds of his family, friends and coworkers. Best of all, Coach Reynolds had blown the minds of his high school football players. In a year’s time, Reese had gone from the butt of bathroom stall fat jokes to being a genuine inspiration to every overweight, under-confident young man that played for him. Reese stopped daydreaming when Bo plopped down on the bench across from him. Bo’s all-business, gruff coach persona had morphed into a kinder, gentler version. “Excellent effort, excellent leg session; four more sessions like that one and you’ll be handling 505 for reps. Your legs will explode with growth – assuming you ‘up’ your clean calorie intake.”

“I have a bottle and half of CapTri^® left. I love that stuff. I even cook with it. I am eating a ton of calories and I am still losing body fat. It’s amazing stuff. Getting my metabolism squared up made all the difference.”

Bo told Reese in a hushed way reserved for serious stuff, “You’ll need to increase your CapTri^® intake to compensate for how hard we are pounding you in the gym.”

Reese nodded. “I’m way ahead of you…I’ll up my daily intake of CapTri^® from four to six tablespoons; I’ll be taking in almost 700 CapTri^® calories per day,” Reese related. He was feeling slightly woozy and knew he needed to get home and eat a ‘real food’ meal before he passed out. “I hate to part good company Coach, but I have two pounds of giant shrimp thawing in the sink. I’d invite you by – but then I’d have to share the delicious steamed spiced shrimp with you – and then there wouldn’t be enough for me!” Both men laughed. Despite eating 4,000 calories of real food per day and another 700 CapTri^® calories, Reese was getting much harder and more muscular. This seemed impossible. How could a man eat so much and get leaner at the same time? Bo had ‘built Reese’s metabolism’ using a sophisticated Parrillo strategy designed to elevate a person’s Basal Metabolic Rate by combining intense sustained exercise with perfect eating. John Parrillo first proposed this specific approach thirty + years ago and ever since has added even more layers of refinement and nuance. Bo taught Reese how to eat his meals and how to time his supplement meals. It was critical that Reese ‘refuel’ at equal intervals throughout the day. Each succeeding week Bo had Reese eat slightly larger amounts, more wholesome, natural, highly potent foods…a continual increase in CapTri^® consumption. Reese started consuming the right foods in the right amount at the right time of day; Reese stopped eating processed foods. Reese began supplementing on a regular basis. Reese began melting off body fat and adding muscle.

Bo had Reese hitting cardio twice a day: once immediately after waking up in the morning and another less formal session sometime later in the day. Both sessions lasted for 45 minutes. Reese rode his fancy exercise bike stationed in his bedroom as soon as awoke and drank a coffee. He’d watch the early morning news show while pedaling and afterwards he’d eat the first of six meals. Reese made an egg white omelet using red onion, spinach, bell peppers, carrots, a dozen whites with two yolks. This provided him with 40+ grams of protein and a boatload of fiber. Reese sautéed his egg-and-vegetable omelet in CapTri^®; and mixed in some hot Italian pepper flakes to amplify the taste. He savored every delicious bite. Reese packed his various Tupperware containers, stuffing them full with the day’s food meals: chicken, turkey breast, tuna, salad makings, four Parrillo bars of various types, his prepackaged Parrillo Pills.  Into four sandwich bags Reese had allotted specific amounts of Parrillo pills and powders….

• Liver Amino Formula^™ – four

• Muscle Amino Formula^™ – four

• Bio-C^™ – two

• Natural E-Plus^™ – two

• Ultimate Amino Formula^™ – two

• Mineral Electrolyte Formula^™ – two

• Essential Vitamin Formula^™ – two

• Creatine Monohydrate^™ – three servings

Reese would squeeze in a second cardio session at school; being a coach at a high school made it easy for him to jump on an exercise bike or jog laps around the high school track at the end of the school day. Reese was pushing his body hard: a dozen cardio sessions each week, five weekly weight sessions – each one a crushing, devastating event. Reese had to eat 4,000+ calories per day just to survive the physical trauma. Reese would chow down at lunchtime on a mountain of lean protein, lots of fiber vegetables and a goodly amount of starch in the form of rice or potatoes. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon he would consume a “supplement meal.” The first consisted of a Hi-Protein^™ shake and a Parrillo cupcake^™; mid-afternoon Reese would drink an Optimized Whey^™ shake and eat a chocolate almond coconut Parrillo Energy Bar^™. Reese’s training split was consistent: Bo called it ‘Power Training.’

• Saturday      legs

• Sunday         chest, triceps

• Monday       off

• Tuesday        back, biceps

• Wednesday   shoulders, light chest

• Thursday      light legs, arms again

• Friday           off

Lately, at Bo’s suggestion, Reese had been downing a big handful of Muscle Amino Formula^™ capsules after every weight training session. Bo was big on the benefits. “I am convinced that taking a massive amount of branched-chain amino acid, in the form of Muscle Amino^™ capsules, ‘spares’ muscle wasting associated with hard and intense weight training. The most effective strategy is to wash down a handful of Muscle Aminos^™ with a 50/50 Plus^™ shake.” On the drive home Reese stopped off at the vegetable market and picked up a variety of fresh produce, along with some exotic rice. Arriving home, Reese unloaded the groceries. He steamed the shrimp and japonica rice; he made a monster vegetable salad and created a triple serving of chocolate Parrillo Pudding^™ for dessert. Before bed Reese drank a final Hi-Protein^™ shake and downed a handful of Enhanced GH^™ capsules along with a half dozen Liver Amino^™ tablets. After his delicious dinner, he couldn’t resist stepping on the scale before he climbed in bed. Even at night, after a full day of food and fluids, Reese only registered 270 pounds; he was within five pounds of his defensive end playing weight back in college.

In a year, Reese had lost 100 pounds and added a considerable amount of muscle: he was squatting over 500, benching 400 and deadlifting 550. He could strict front press 245 and power clean 295. He was strong and getting stronger. He was suddenly popular with the opposite sex. A year ago, Reese had given up on the dating scene: the women that were interested in him, he wasn’t interested in. The women he was interested in weren’t interested in him. What a difference it makes to lose 100 pounds of fat, add 20 pounds of muscle and discover that under all that facial fat, laid the sculpted face of a Norse God. Reese went from a zero to a movie star hero. Suddenly the hottest women were attracted to him as if by magic. His dating card went from empty to overflowing in a matter of months. It would have spun a lesser man’s head in a circle and made him into an egotist. Reese had been ignored for so long that he took in all this newfound attention with an amused air of detachment and quiet disbelief. Reese was smart: he stayed true to his fitness lifestyle and didn’t fall into the party scene trap.

His new goal for the coming year was to whittle his bodyweight down to 240 pounds and maybe even enter a bodybuilding show. Reese was determined to stay locked into his monk-like fitness lifestyle. That was easy for nowadays; no longer did he crave the manmade sweet treats and the endless cans of soda and beer that ruined his body; no longer did he lead a sedentary lifestyle; Reese now embraced “The bodybuilding lifestyle,”  and it suited him. Bo pushed Reese a little longer and a little harder each succeeding session each week in the gym. Reese ate with ever-improving discipline. He could run ten miles maintaining an eight minute pace and each week Reese seemed to grow a little stronger in one or another of his weight training exercises. Each succeeding week Reese was able to go a little further and do so at a little faster pace in his numerous aerobic activities. Each succeeding week saw Reese upping his caloric intake, just enough to accommodate his ever-increasing exercise frequencies, durations and intensities. After one savage back workout Bo clapped Reese on the back of his sweat-drenched tee-shirt. “It is truly unbelievable how far and how fast you have progressed. I have a suggestion and I think you ought to give it some serious consideration.”

“And what might that be?” Reese replied, exhausted yet elated. He sat on a lawn chair gathering his lifting gear and placing it back into his oversized Nike gym bag.

“You should consider becoming a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer.” Bo said. “You know the whole Parrillo System inside and out – that’s what I’ve had you do from day one. You have been groomed in the Parrillo approach to training and to nutrition; that’s all you’ve ever done – you have been immersed in the Parrillo System. Getting certified for you would be like a casual walk in the park – for a normal human, going through the Parrillo certification process is the equivalent of being forced to walk at bayonet point in the Bataan Death March. You could yawn your way through it; it would be like a dull day at the office for you.”

Reese’s first inclination was to dismiss it out of hand. He was self-depreciating and would cut himself down in a heartbeat; it was an old and bad habit he was working hard on overcoming. This time he caught himself. “You know what Bo…that might be one hell of a good idea!”