The Parrillo philosophy of physical training is multidimensional: there are a lot of components and these components need to be put in play and executed simultaneously. To further complicate an already complex approach, approximately every four weeks the lifting and cardio needs to be changed to avoid stagnation. The Parrillo approach is so sophisticated and effective that stagnation and inertia are actually anticipated ahead of time and significant revisions are made to the training template on a predetermined basis.

Before we give the reader the impression that the Parrillo approach is rocket science (or as celeb-retard Paris Hilton calls it, “Rock science”) and too complicated to implement, be aware that the individual component parts are easy to grasp, examined one at a time, and the way in which a trainee weaves the parts into an overall training matrix or template are just as easy to grasp if given a good explanation – which is exactly what we are

going to do….

Parrillo-style Progressive Resistance Training

The foundation of

the Parrillo resistance workout, intensity:

At the most elemental level, weight training is one of two training methods used in the Parrillo System; cardiovascular training is the second training mode used. Parrillo-style weight training needs to be intense enough to trigger hypertrophy, muscle growth, and to that end, Parrillo training uses a lot of intensity-amping methods to take the trainee “past failure.” The mistake most weight trainees make is they select a poundage, perform 8-12 reps in comfortable fashion before moving on to the next exercise. Muscle hypertrophy is not triggered by sub-maximal sets done comfortably; muscle growth only occurs when the “adaptive response” occurs and the AR only happens when a muscle is pushed past its momentary capacity: forced reps, drop sets and other “take it past failure” techniques and tactics are used to force the muscle to grow.

The Parrillo

“three-phase” set:

The second fundamental Parrillo Principle is defining and implementing the Three-phase set. On every weight training exercise, on every set from warm-up to completion of that particular exercise, the trainee does the weight training set – the 1^st phase – follows the lifting immediately with a 2^nd phase fascia stretch and finishes the set with a 3^rd phase muscle pose and flex. Pump, stretch and flex are the Parrillo training mantra and differentiates Parrillo training from every other system of weight training. After hitting a weight training set that targets a specific muscle, a specific fascia stretch is done that forcibly stretches and elongates the same muscle. Finally, after being pumped and stretched, the same muscle is repeatedly flexed to the point of cramping. This procedure builds muscle, loosens the confining casing that surrounds every muscle then pushes muscle into newly elasticized surrounding.

Train often:

Elite bodybuilders training under John Parrillo’s direct supervision, competitive athletes seeking to maximize their unique genetic potential are advised to weight train six times a week generally hitting all muscles twice weekly using different exercises in each session. Intense weight training has a dramatic impact on the human metabolism. After an intense weight training session the metabolism becomes and remains “jacked up” for hours after the cessation of the session. Think of the metabolism as a bodily thermostat: we want to set the thermostat upward to burn as many calories as possible over the course of the day. Intense, Parrillo-style weight training increases the metabolism, intense Parrillo-style aerobic training increases the metabolism and Parrillo-style nutrition, eating certain foods at certain times amps up the metabolism: when all three elements are in place and practiced, intense weight training and intense cardio done often combined with metabolism-amping foods and supplements, the metabolism is “built” to use the Parrillo phrase. Intense, endorphin-releasing weight training needs to be done intensely and often. Exercises are rotated within the weekly template to avoid

staleness.

Use high and low

repetitions:

Generally speaking, high repetition weight training affects muscle fiber differently than low repetition weight training. Most progressive systems champion one repetition range over the other. John Parrillo has long held the philosophic position that rather than being an “either/or” proposition, the savvy elite weight trainer needs to perform both rep ranges within the same exercise. During the first phase to the Parrillo Three-phase set using any exercise, the trainee is advised to “pyramid up” ending a particular exercise with a low-repetition, 3-6 rep heavy set. The Parrillo trainee then “pyramids downward” by stripping weight and performing continued sets of the same exercise using higher and higher reps. The Parrillo trainee will finish an exercise with a 20-100 repetition set before moving on to the next exercise. Training in this fashion covers all the muscle-building bases and ensures that each muscle is exhausted and decimated – thereby triggering hypertrophy – before moving on to the next exercise for a particular muscle or muscle group.

Use a wide range of

exercises:

Generally speaking, an average trainee is advised to hit each muscle or muscle group twice a week. If by way of example, chest is trained on Monday using barbell wide-grip flat benches followed by narrow-grip dumbbell bench presses and finishing with dumbbell flyes and cable crossovers, the second chest routine done Thursday might consist of dumbbell incline presses followed by barbell decline presses and ending with pec deck done on a machine and cable crossovers. By being creative and imaginative the Parrillo trainee can perform a wide variety of progressive resistance exercises and never have to perform the same exercise twice in the training week. John Parrillo discovered decades ago that most bodybuilders grow best when subjected to a wide variety of exercises using both high and low repetitions. Often we will hear bodybuilders complain that they are incapable of recovering from one session to the next and invariably the cause is inadequate or insufficient nutrition: as Parrillo pithily put it four decades ago, “There is no such thing as over-training – only under-eating.” In almost every case, training-related fatigue is directly caused by insufficient caloric

intake.

Fascia stretching is not

optional: Parrillo-style training is not a cafeteria line where the trainee walks down the food line, selecting items they like, rejecting others based on their biases and whims; the Parrillo progressive resistance training system is a fully-formed PHILOSOPHY that is fully integrated and interwoven; when all the various aspects are in place and practiced with due diligence, the results exceed the logical sum of the parts. The number one aspect to Parrillo weight training that inexperienced trainees ditch, toss or eliminate is fascia stretching. The Parrillo three-phase set is the foundation of the Parrillo weight training system: fascia stretching is integral, not optional. The whole idea is to stretch between each set, even the lighter warm-up sets; stretching on the light sets ensures that by the time the heavy sets and the high rep/super-pump end sets roll around, the fascia tissue, the sausage-like casing that confines and limits the size of a muscle, will be warm and the stretches done deep. Saving fascia stretches for the top sets and the high rep sets is ill advised; ditching fascia stretching altogether takes the Parrillo out of the resistance training. Pump/stretch/flex – no ifs, ands or buts!

Parrillo-style Aerobic Training

Go intense or go home:

What differentiates Parrillo-style cardiovascular training from all other aerobic formats? The absolute insistence that all aerobic exercise must be done with great intensity; the polar opposite of Parrillo aerobics is a guy casually riding an exercise bike reading a magazine or distractedly watching television. In the Parrillo lexicon, sub-maximal aerobic exercise is underperformed aerobic exercise. Unless the trainee is drenched in sweat at the end of each cardio session that session has not been as productive as it could be. John Parrillo is a physiological scientist and long ago discovered that if cardiovascular exercise was done with great intensity – intensity being defined as tooling along so hard that breathing is labored – then the working muscles will, over time, literally reconfigure themselves. Mitochondria are cellular blast furnaces and for bodybuilder purposes more mitochondria equates to larger muscles and more leanness. Intense cardio builds mitochondria density: go hard or go home!

Sweating is not an option: Parrillo Performance puts out a dandy product called Max Endurance^™. Designed to counter the effects of ureic ammonia that occurs when a trainee sweats profusely, this product says volumes about the Parrillo approach to cardio. Think about it; Parrillo athletes sweat so hard and so profusely that they need a product to counter the negative effects – meanwhile the rest of the fitness world is talking about the nonsense of staying in the “fat burning zone” and how unnecessary it is to go too hard too fast or too long. Parrillo athletes go so fast, so far, so long and so often that they need to take Max Endurance™ (loaded with potassium and magnesium aspartate) in order to clear ammonia and endurance-robbing waste products. Those that don’t sweat buckets are under-training, those that are cruising along in cardio comfort and those that are talking to their neighbor as they perform aerobics are all underperforming. In Parrillo world during cardio the athlete tools along as hard as humanly possible, going as fast as possible just shy of the point where oxygen debt forces the athlete to quit. Hard, labored breathing is the Parrillo benchmark: labored breathing and cardio that requires muscular effort (as opposed to effortless cruising) creates mitochondria to be constructed and body fat to be mobilized and oxidized. Hard cardio accelerates the metabolism for hours. Profuse sweating is the indicator that you’re doing it right!

Mix mediums and keep the body guessing:

Don’t fall into the aerobic trap of doing the same type of cardio in the same way at the same pace. Advanced weight trainers understand that routines need to be periodically changed in order to keep muscles from becoming complacent: complacency is the enemy of progress. The same strategy needs to be adopted for cardiovascular exercise. Those that always sit on a stationary bike and use the same duration and pace year round are missing the boat. Gains come from targeting weak points instead of continually playing to your strengths. If you are used to a certain mode, change modes regularly; if you are used to 45 minute sessions try 30 minutes at twice the pace or sixty minutes attempting to duplicate your 45 minute pace; if you always use a “legs only” cardio machine or mode, find a device or mode that forces you to use arms and legs. Be imaginative and legislate change into your cardio format: sameness begets sameness and in order to elicit progress the body needs jolting.  Plus mixing formats and altering durations and intensities keeps cardio interesting. John Parrillo often advises trainees to leap from one cardio machine to another within the same workout! Make it a point to alter cardio modes and methods with the same regularity used to alter weight training.

More is better: In the Parrillo approach to aerobics, early morning cardio is the gold standard. The rationale behind pre-breakfast cardio is so sound and the results gotten by elite bodybuilders so profound that every serious bodybuilder or fitness buff needs to expropriate this tried-and-proven strategy: cardio done coming off a full nights sleep is cardio done when glycogen stores are at their lowest. The human body’s preferred fuel is glycogen and when it is present it will preferentially burn glycogen first. Once glycogen is exhausted the body will burn its second favored fuel source: stored body fat. Early morning cardio, torrid, sweaty cardio, rips through any residual glycogen and starts burning fat for fuel. This is ideal and this strategy has become standard operating procedure for elite professional bodybuilders worldwide for decades. In addition to this stupendous strategy, first proposed by John Parrillo in the 1980s, performing a second cardio session after the final meal of the day has also become SOP for the bodybuilding elite. The idea being that performing the second session accelerates the depletion of glycogen before the long sleep fast. Between two cardio sessions per day and weight training, the metabolism is turned into a blast furnace. Intense, Parrillo-style cardio done twice daily accelerates the metabolism, intense Parrillo-style weight training accelerates the metabolism and Parrillo-style nutrition accelerates the metabolism. Put it all together and the bodybuilder “builds the metabolism,” the cornerstone philosophy of all Parrillo Philosophies. Put it all into play and transform your physique in a matter of months.

Typically, the first question a new client asks of a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainers is, “How do I fit in training when I am working long hours and have lots of outside responsibilities and commitments? I can’t spend two hours a day in the gym.” Any Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer (PCPT) will be quick to point out transformative fitness does not need to take a lot of time if the time spent is well spent. In Parrillo World, when we train, we train all out: cardio and weight training are done with gut-busting intensity. Better to spend thirty minutes using blistering intensity than to pretend train for two hours, engaging in halfhearted training, interspersed with lots of socializing and talking with other gym members. If you work hard and work smart you can get by with way less, particularly if you make it a point to not socialize during workouts. As one fabled IFBB professional once noted, “When I train, I feel as if I am in a battle with my own body. I am not at the gym to hit on women or shuck and jive with the other fellows. I might say a few words to my training partner about how I want him to spot me on the next set. Other than that, don’t come over and try and strike up a conversation with me while I’m training. You’ll get the cold shoulder. If you want to talk with me save it for after the workout.” In every single workout maintain tight concentration and become completely focused; that way you’ll get the most return for your time investment.

When it comes to obtaining real results, the Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer trumps the run-of-the-mill personal trainer you’ll encounter at the local fitness facility, gym, club or spa every single time. 99% of all personal trainers only know one way to train. You could fit their nutritional knowledge on the head of a pin. The average personal trainer insists that you train their particular way – not because his or her strategy is all that sensational, factually this is the only way they know. You are the square peg being jammed into a round hole. Any PCPT is ready, willing and completely able to select from a dozen different customized training templates. PCPT will customize a training strategy for every single client. The idea behind Parrillo-style weight training and cardio is to make maximum use of the available training time – no matter how limited or sporadic that might be. Parrillo Certified Personal Trainers have umpteen training strategies all right at their fingertips and all equally effective. A PCPT will quiz you about your work schedule and effortlessly constructs a training template that meshes perfectly with your lifestyle. How best to deliver the most results for the least amount of time investment? Subject yourself to the most grueling, intense and effective weight training and cardio sessions of your entire life. Intense training is result producing training. If you train hard and if you train intense, you don’t necessarily need overly long workout sessions. Those employing the services of a PCPT can expect to see dramatic physical improvement by the end of the first month.

How do we manipulate ordinary circumstance to obtain extraordinary results? Here is a true tale based on the true story of a Parrillo Performance Press reader and his dramatic transformation working under a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer…

Ron is a real estate agent working in a down economy; he manages a branch office for a national real estate firm and has a work schedule that requires him to put in 50+ hours per week. He starts his workday at 9am and most days he heads home at 7pm. He works a half day on Saturday and has a wife and two teenage boys that need attending to. Over the past ten years Ron had packed on a ton of bodyweight and he weighed 240 pounds standing six foot. The former star football halfback looked like an out-of-shape nose-guard. He was worried that the combination of job stress and fast food was going to give him a heart attack by age 50. Determined to ‘stem the tide’ Ron engaged the services of a local PCPT. Ron was spurred into action when he saw the fantastic physical transition a friend of his underwent working with a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer. His friend was a settlement lawyer and shed 70 pounds in a year. Ron quizzed his attorney pal on how he’d managed to make such an incredible physical transition. He discovered that the amazing makeover was overseen by a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer. Introductions were made and Ron met Phil, a longtime PCPT. Phil had a no BS approach that Ron related to. Ron agreed to commit to a 12 week program that included weight training three times a week and cardio five days a week – all done in the morning before work. In addition, Phil had Ron adopt the Parrillo Nutrition Program, complete with supplementation and weekly BodyStat body composition testing.

Both men agreed that the only way Ron could fit training into his hectic work schedule was for Ron to wake up early and train before work. Monday thru Friday Ron awoke at 5 am and headed to a local fitness facility on his way into work. For the first four weeks Phil had Ron on a “shape-up” routine. This was designed to get Ron back into some semblance of basic physical condition without killing him in the process. Cardio was done five times a week and in each successive session, Phil asked Ron to go a little faster. Each successive weight training session, Phil had Ron lift a little bit heavier or squeeze out a few extra reps in each exercise. Each successive week Phil had Ron clean up and tighten up his eating. At the conclusion of each training week, Phil gave Ron a Parrillo BodyStat test; he used skin-fold calipers to determine changes in Ron’s body composition. By the end of the first month Ron had shed 11 pounds of fat and added 3 pounds of muscle. He was now ready to swing into the second month. “You are in good basic shape, now you have a handle on the basic eating and supplementation template and now we can start the real work!” Phil said as he laid out the training template for month two and three. The key to “fitting everything in” was to get it done before he started his workday. Now instead of dragging into work and having to drink four cups of coffee to get the day started, he burst through the door fired up from his just-finished training. He tackled the workday with gusto. Here is how Ron’s 2^nd and 3^rd month training template was constructed (see below). He weight trained and performed cardio five times weekly.

Parrillo-style cardio: Ron left home dressed for the gym. He carried with him his business suit which he stashed in a gym locker. At 6:30 every morning Ron mounted a cardio machine and began a brisk 5 minute warm up. He would then gradually increase the pace and before long he broke into a terrific, toxin-expelling sweat. “If you ain’t sweating, if you ain’t huffing and puffing,” Phil would continually remind him, “Then you ain’t working hard enough to burn off fat and spike the metabolism.” Ron was a Type-A personality and he found that he had an ability to push himself in the gym. Ron also bored easily. He found that one way to keep his interest peaked on cardio was to jump from one machine to another, alternating machines every quarter hour. After 15 torrid minutes on the elliptical machine, Ron might leap onto the Step Mill. This gruesome device was tough and he labeled it, “Pure hell.” After the Step Mill, Ron would shift to the relative ease of a stationary bike and attempt to keep the intense pace up for the final fifteen minutes. Phil showed Ron how to cruise along right below his oxygen debt threshold. Done, Ron would jump off the bike, change out of his sweat-drenched t-shirt into a dry one and down a double chocolate 50/50 Plus™ shake. Now it was time to weight train!

Parrillo-style weight training: “The key to result-producing weight training is finding some manner or fashion to equal or exceed capacity in each and every session,” Phil told Ron repeatedly. While Phil did not expect Ron to exceed his personal best in every lift in every session, he did expect him to work up to (and past) his capacity – even if his capacity was diminished. “While you cannot be expected to exceed all-time best lifts in every single session, you can still get a result-producing workout,” Phil explained. “You might show up today and be a bit off, for whatever reason; perhaps on an off day you lose 10% in your exercise capacity…that’s okay…we work to equal or exceed those reduced capacities.” Phil was real big on forced reps and whenever he was around he would assist Ron in performing forced rep sets on whatever body part Ron was working on. Phil showed Ron how to use drop sets to “goose the training intensity.” Phil called drop sets “forced reps without a training partner.” If, for example, Ron was performing the overhead dumbbell press, on his final set he would finish off using the drop set strategy: he would work up to a pair of 50 pound dumbbells for a top set of 5 reps. The instant he finished the 5^th and final rep Ron would replace the 50s and immediately grab a pair of 40 pound dumbbells and again “rep-out,” pushing the 40s for as many reps as possible…he would replace the 40s and immediately grab a pair of 30 pound dumbbells and do a final all-out drop-set rep-out. This excruciating strategy was used on curls, tricep pushdowns, lateral raises, pec dec, seated machine bench presses, leg extensions and leg curls. Within three months Ron had doubled his strength in every exercise. His formerly flaccid physique developed a visible thickness and hardness. With each successive session he grew stronger, more muscular and leaner. Friends, relatives and coworkers were amazed.

The final piece of the puzzle: Phil completely revamped Ron’s nutrition. Phil taught Ron how to prepare massive amounts of “acceptable and approved” bodybuilding foods ahead of time. Sunday afternoons were used to grill chicken and turkey; he learned how to create steamed vegetable concoctions and prepare brown rice and potatoes for consumption during the week. Ron would cart his prepared bodybuilding meals to work and heat them up in the office microwave. His multiple-meal eating schedule was “straight Parrillo.” (see chart below)

To Ron’s everlasting credit, for three straight months he never missed a workout, never missed a Parrillo Meal and he took his supplements faithfully. His reward was an astounding transformation. In only 90 short days Ron had gone from stressed-out, fat and unfit into lean, trim, strong and vibrant: he looked, felt and acted 10 years younger and his pant size went from 38 down to size 32. His bodyweight plummeted from 238 to 204. His shirt size went up from 44 to 48. His bench press went from an awkward 135 for four reps to 225 for one and 205 x 5. Best of all he felt healthy; more than just feeling healthy, his blood pressure dropped, his cholesterol dropped, his stress levels dropped and his resting heart rate dropped. His progress was so staggering that his wife Denise started training with him. She had ballooned up to 150 pounds and after seeing her husband’s radical progress she wanted in. “I can’t believe you eat all that food and still lose weight,” she said repeatedly. Denise morphed from a naysayer into a cheerleader and finally a participant. One night after a killer weekend workout they had taken together, they talked over grilled salmon, fresh asparagus, spinach, potatoes roasted with butter-flavored CapTri® and Parrillo Ice Kreem™. Denise shed 10 pounds in her first month. She looked at her lean and taunt husband and said, “Who knew fitness could be so fun and dieting could be so delicious!” Ron just smiled and silently thanked his lucky stars he’d crossed paths with a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer.

To locate a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer in your area, call us at 1-800-344-3404

Take the target muscle past capacity: John Parrillo was his usual matter-of-fact self when asked at a seminar a few years back about his strategy for muscle building. “First and foremost – you have to push yourself past your current limits in training. Keep in mind that “limits” can take many different forms. Nothing of any particular muscular significance is going to happen if you never push past your limits in training. The adaptive response is only triggered if and when a muscle is pushed past capacity. In response to stress, the body reacts and makes a muscle stronger and larger to cope with the repeated muscular stress of regular weight training sessions. If the human body favorably reacted to mild or light workouts, everyone would look like a professional bodybuilder.

Comfortable workouts cannot create dramatic results. Intense workouts are needed to trigger the adaptive response, the necessary prerequisite for muscle growth.” Obviously Parrillo’s contentions are dead-on and totally accurate: the question then becomes, what constitutes stress sufficient enough to trip the switch and build muscle?  There are many different ways to create the required stress. Stress-inducing techniques include: forced reps, rest-pause reps, short rest durations, drop sets, “down the rack” style dumbbell training, ultra-high rep Parrillo Extended sets, negatives, partials, slow-motion rep speed sets and long giant sets. All of these stress-inducing techniques can and should be used at various times to create the stress required to force the body to construct new muscle.

When you train, be it weights or aerobics, you want to equal or exceed capacity in some manner or fashion for that particular day! This is an important point and often misunderstood; let’s say your all time best bench press is 315 pounds for a single rep. You can do 275 for 5 reps and 245 for 10 reps on a good day. Just because you cannot match or exceed these marks in every single workout does not mean that you cannot have productive muscle-building training sessions. Maybe you come in to train and on this particular day if you were to accurately self-access you would only be capable of 300 pounds for a single bench press rep, 265 for 5 reps and 225 for ten reps. Yet even being “off,” you can grow muscle by equaling or exceeding your capacity on this particular day. One way to train when you are a bit off might be to work up to 255 for a set of 5 to 6 reps then have your training partner step in and administer another forced rep or two. Then you could drop the poundage down to 225 and ride that poundage to failure, hitting 8 to 10 reps before again performing a few more forced reps. Regardless of your capacity on a particular day, you grow muscle by exceeding capacity – even if it’s diminished capacity. Another way to know that you have trained hard enough to grow muscle is if you feel the unmistakable glow associated with the release of endorphin hormones. Endorphins are only released into the bloodstream in response to intense physical effort; endorphin secretions are pure hormonal bliss and hardcore weight trainers routinely trigger endorphin release; long distance runners also experience endorphin release and call it “Runner’s High.”

The King of all Stress-inducers – a properly applied forced rep: Most novice and intermediate bodybuilders do not know how to administer a proper forced rep. Like Goldilocks, the temperature of the porridge needs to be not too hot (too much help) not too cold (not enough help) but just right (barely enough help to keep a poundage moving.) Elite bodybuilders do not administer endless forced reps to one another. The Big Boys rarely go past three forced reps and more often, forced reps are kept to one or two. When a man is forcing reps with 400+ pounds in the bench press or 1,300 in the leg press, safety becomes paramount. When a pro bodybuilder digs into the forced reps at the end of a set already taken to failure, massive poundage exponentially multiplies the risk of complete collapse. Making a man push or pull on gargantuan poundage past one or two forced reps is risking disaster. Spotters must be on continual alert and ready to grab the bar or the dumbbells in a split second should the lifter falter. As a forced-rep administrator and spotter, training partners have certain responsibilities: first and foremost is to keep the lifter safe! Be prepared to haul the weight off the lifter if he collapses. Be alert and be ready to prevent a 1,000 pound leg press from falling on a lifter when he suffers a complete leg blowout two inches shy of lockout on the 9^th rep. The perfectly administered forced rep is a thing of beauty. A really experienced pro bodybuilder can push himself to do much higher numbers of forced reps using resistance machines. Murphy’s Law says the instant the spotter loses concentration is the instant the lifter collapses and experiences a career-ending injury. Great spotters allow the good bodybuilder to become a great bodybuilder: there is a level of physical development that is only attainable through the expert use of expertly applied forced reps.

Forced rep perfection: Your training partner is preparing for his top set in the bench press: he wants to push 405 for 4-5 reps then have you, his training partner, step in and administer one or (at most) two forced reps. He has already dispatched 135 for 15 reps using the Parrillo Intensity Set protocol that “makes the weight feel heavy.” He then hits 225 for 5 reps, 275 for 3 reps and 365 for a single explosive rep as his final warm-up. Now it’s time for the heaviest bench press set of the day: 405 for 4-5 reps. Up until this set, your partner, who is preparing for the NPC Junior Nationals in eleven weeks, has handled every bench press without any assistance. His procedure has been identical on every set: lift the poundage for the proscribed number of reps then immediately perform a targeted Parrillo Fascial stretch.  He finishes the Parrillo Three Phase set by performing a most muscular pose; he flexes his pec muscles to the point of cramping. He has performed four Three Phase sets and now it’s time to push some serious iron in his top bench press set of the day. He sits down on the end of the bench and carefully positions his feet. He rolls back and underneath the barbell; you step to your lift-off position behind the bench at barbell center. He places his hands 28 inches apart and simultaneously you grab the center knurling with a double overhand grip: you are about to do an upright row with 405.

“On three.” Your training partner says as he sets his body, clears his mind and prepares to lift the weight out of the stanchions. “One…Two…THREE!” You tug upward with all your might as he pushes upward. The weight clears the supporting racks and with a practiced technique you help guide the barbell forward. At liftoff the barbell was behind his head and now it is over his eyes. “GOT IT!” he hisses. You let go as he unlocks his elbows and commences the first of four easy reps. He barely makes the 5^th rep. You instantaneously grab the barbell with each of your hands just inside his. He begins lowering for his 6^th rep, the first forced rep. You have stepped forward as far as the bench allows. You are feeling his power transmitted through the barbell; he is resisting the lowering and the barbell vibrates with his effort. At the turnaround, where descent becomes ascent, you imperceptibly begin pulling upward, slightly assisting your partner. You stare at the center of the barbell and nothing else. Your task is simple and requires 100% concentration; the bar must move upward in a sustained fashion. If you feel the bar slow down it is your job to pull upward with enough power to keep the barbell moving at the original pace. If he stalls and the bar ceases moving, you are failing in your responsibilities.

The perfect spot: Let us follow the 405 pound forced rep set to conclusion. As your training partner locks out the 6^th rep with 405, you keep your hands on the barbell. You listen intently for your partner to give you direction; he’ll either say, “Take it!” meaning “help me get this bar back into the safety supports” or “Another!” meaning, let’s do another forced rep. On this day he says, “Another!” You’re not surprised, the previous 6^th rep was 90% him. He begins to lower the weight to his chest and you grip the bar in anticipation of a complete physical collapse. If that happens and you are spaced out or distracted by the gym eye candy, catastrophic injury is a very real possibility. At the turnaround on the 2^nd forced rep you really have to step up and dramatically increase the amount of upward pull needed to keep the bar moving smoothly. The lockout is extremely tough and you know before he says “Take it!” that this set is definitely over. With a mighty tug, up and back, you guide the heavy poundage back into the safety supports. “Excellent spotting, that was absolutely
perfect!”

He slaps your shoulder as he bounds off the bench and heads over to a chin bar to perform another set of Parrillo Skin-the-Cat fascial stretching. After stretching for a full minute, (“I can’t explain it, but relaxing in an upside down pec-pulling skin-the-cat stretch position is therapeutic. I almost start meditating.”) He flexes in the mirror and his pectoral and front delt muscles look as if they will pop through the skin. Not done, he hits an eight rep bench set with 365 and you administer two forced reps. You later administer top set forced reps to your partner on heavy dumbbell incline presses; then onto more forced rep sets in the cable crossover and pec deck. By session’s end, and with your help, your partner has taken another step closer towards his ultimate goal of winning an IFBB pro card. The experienced training partner is indispensible for keeping the elite bodybuilder safe through alert spotting. The champion bodybuilder cannot administer his own forced reps, now can he? Forced reps are an integral part of every elite bodybuilder’s training regimen.

How many, how often: The first rule of forced reps is that you save them for the big stuff: no sense doing forced reps on dinky warm-up sets. Save the forced reps for the top sets of an exercise. There are two legitimate schools of thought regarding the sheer number of forced rep sets it is advisable to perform within a session: one school of thought reasonably contends that forced rep sets wreak havoc on the central nervous system and therefore a rookie trainee should use forced reps sparingly if not at all; the intermediate trainee can use them more often; the advanced man can use forced reps frequently. Another school of thought disagrees with this CNS hypothesis: why shouldn’t a sharp training partner step in and help the beginner or intermediate trainee complete a tough rep (or two) at the conclusion of every top set? Is it really that devastating? To NOT do so seems a wasted opportunity. Most card-carrying professional bodybuilders expect their attuned training partners to step in and help them perform an extra rep or two on every top set of every exercise in every single session. They know that is where the muscle growth lies. The surest way to know you’ve trained up to and past capacity is to do some serious forced rep training. Forced rep training ensures you train hard enough to trigger endorphin release. Forced rep training causes muscular hypertrophy. Take yourself past what you are capable of using forced reps. Just make sure you have a smart, savvy partner and make sure before each set that you both understand what you want to happen. Never start a forced rep set assuming your partner knows what to do.

Forced reps & nutrition: Intensity-enhancing training techniques are commonly used within the extended Parrillo community of competitive bodybuilders. The central nervous system’s ability to handle stress improves over time. Being subjected to the various intensity amplifiers, such as drop sets, negatives, forced reps and extended sets, requires the bodybuilder has their nutrition “squared up.” A big part of being able to thrive on a steady diet of forced reps, drop sets and extended rep sets is to make sure the bodybuilder’s nutrition is right. John Parrillo states that often nutrition seems to be the answer to just about any question or problem related to serious bodybuilding. There is an old Parrillo saying, “There is no such thing as over training – only under eating.” Nowhere is that maxim more accurate than when it comes to the use of forced reps: if you utilize forced reps, if you use them often, then you need to be firing down copious amounts of quality nutrients on a consistent basis. If you perform lots of forced rep sets and then under-eat, you will wear out the body in no time flat. Without quality nutrition, recovery from session to session becomes problematic.  Forced reps are an amazing tool if applied properly and used correctly. Use them to blow through all of your current physical sticking points – just heed John Parrillo’s words and “Make sure the nutrition is right!”

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!”

Reese was determined that this year would be different from all the previous years. One thing that differentiated this year’s attempt was that he was highly motivated: his doctor shocked him to his core when he told Reese pointedly that he was “borderline diabetic.” Another thing different about this year’s assault on his fitness goals was that he had decided to seek some professional help and had hired a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer.

His motivation this particular year was born out of deep hurt. Reese was a high school gym teacher and the offensive and defensive line coach for the Symington High Screaming Eagles. He was using the bathroom one fall afternoon when he’d seen the message scrawled on the bathroom stall wall. Written in indelible black magic marker it read, Coach Reese is a fat ass! His first instinct was to use terror tactics and find the perpetrator. He’d pull every last member of the varsity offensive line into his office, one at a time, and grill each boy like they were being indicted on a murder charge. He’d find the graffiti artist and make the author scrub off the message with a toothbrush. Then he’d suspend him for three days after a parent conference…that was Coach’s fantasy. The reality was doing that would make him look like an angry, mean, snide jerk – just like the kind of coach he’d hated when he was a high school athlete. The stall scrawl cut him to the bone like a knife – yet he had to man up and pretend it was an irrelevant nonevent.

In college Reese was a genuine football star, a real pro prospect. He stood six foot four inches and weighed a rock hard 270 pounds. He was an all star defensive end that had played for a winning bowl team on national TV. He’d won all conference honors and was drafted. Reese was selected by the Chicago Bears and labored on the Bear’s Taxi squad for three years before retiring. Nowadays Reese weighed 370 pounds. He was blubbery and un-athletic and unattractive and at age 37 he was determined that he would “show the world” by transforming himself back into that fearsome chunk of chiseled manhood that he’d once been. His timing was good. Reese was unencumbered with formal coaching responsibilities from January until summertime, so he’d have plenty of time to train. After the doctor shocked him silly, after the ‘fat ass’ graffiti appeared, Coach Reese began acting out of character. He began doing things he’d studiously avoided. For example, for years he had driven by a hardcore gym every day on his drive to and from school. In mid-December he impulsively swerved his jeep into the Iron Man gym parking lot; this spontaneous act would prove to be a life changing event. With trepidation and hesitation he pushed through the double glass front doors and got his bearings: the gym layout was littered with every type and style of exercise equipment imaginable. Huge guys were lifting huge weights. Reese Reynolds waddled over to the counter and made the acquaintance of a man that would rock his world. Ben “Bo” Bennington was a physique champion, a powerlifting champion, a mixed martial arts coach and a no nonsense guy. Bo knew what Reese needed before Reese opened his mouth. By the end of their initial thirty minute conversation, Reese hired Bo as his personal trainer.

The two men clicked; both were the same age and Reese was impressed by Bo’s mind-blowing physique, his articulate intelligence, his accomplishments and his no-BS approach. Bo told Reese the hard cold truth about what he’d have to commit to: the time, the energy and the intense physical demands that he would demand of Reese. “There are times that you will hate me.” Bo said. Reese laughed. Bo did not. Bo was tough as nails and told Reese that he would work harder than he’d worked since his football years. Unless Reese was willing to eat with complete discipline, unless Reese was willing to give up all the sweet treats and his precious beer, then it all would be wasted time, effort and money. Coach Fat Ass signed up and the two men met for their very first training session the very next day (Saturday) at 8am.  Bo called Reese into his office, sat him down and handed him a Parrillo Performance Nutrition Manual and a series of workout schedules printed on sheets. “Read, learn, absorb…This is the roadmap that will lead you out of the land of eternal obesity.” Bo then led Reese out onto the gym floor and proceeded to kick Reese’s fat ass six ways to Friday. Bo led Reese through a chest and tricep workout that pushed Reese in a way he hadn’t been pushed in fifteen years. After the killer weight workout Reese sat panting on an exercise bench. Sweat dripped off his head and onto the rubber mat gym floor. Bo said impassively, “That’s mild compared to what we’ll be doing Monday.” Bo then had Reese ride an Old School push-pull handled exercise bike for 45 minutes. Bo wobbled out of the gym physically shattered yet psychologically elated. In years gone by, Reese had jerked around with sub-maximal training and safe-as-milk diets: he pretended to train and diet and the softball methods pretended to deliver results. Comparing his previous “Resolution Efforts” to what he was experiencing with Bo was the difference between splashing around in the baby pool and being thrown out of a helicopter into a hundred feet of ocean and being told to swim or drown.

Coach Reese loved the harshness and grit of hardcore training; he loved the gut-busting effort of Bo’s approach. It took him back in time and caused him to remember how he’d feel after a game or after a perfect practice. This was just a different flavor of how he used to train, back when he was a real athlete – had he forgotten all those lessons that he’d learned as champion. Back in the day Reese Reynolds was no joke: he not only won a college scholarship to a Division I school, he become a starter as a junior and had been his team’s outstanding defensive lineman. Reese’s physical disintegration had crept up on him one Twinkie at a time, one beer at a time, one bowl of ice cream at a time. Suddenly he was a few biscuits shy of weighing 400 pounds and the kids at school laughed when someone said coach Reese used to be a star athlete. A few weeks into his transformation Reese realized that he’d been guilty of applying a double standard: while he demanded his high school football players “strive for excellence” he strove for mediocrity. He had no problem screaming and yelling at his lineman, exhorting them onward and upward, demanding they work and sweat – yet he’d given himself a pass. In his own life, he used patty-cake methods exerting minimal effort.

Was it any wonder that he had to “re-resolve” with each approaching New Year’s Eve? Bo had a system that worked “every single time it’s implemented correctly.” Bennington’s Parrillo approach towards nutrition and training was rooted in Bo’s own  career as a top athlete. “When it comes to nutrition, I am 100% Parrillo all the way: Since I am, then you are too. You’ll learn the Parrillo nutritional strategy, you’ll institute a multiple-meal eating schedule and you’ll learn to prepare loads of nutritious food ahead of time. You’ll eat six times a day and take plenty of Parrillo supplements. Nutrition is everything. I can easily make you 50% stronger. I can easily get you into good enough shape to run a marathon – yet without the nutrition you can be strong and have great endurance and still be fat. The idea is build muscle and in doing so boost your sluggish metabolism. Simultaneously you’ll get lean and ripped. This ain’t no half-measure, let-me-ease into-this-thing deal; once we start we go all out – on all fronts – simultaneously.”

All of which was music to Coach Reese’s ears. After his initial Saturday training session, Reese stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the gym. He bought a mountain of boneless, skinless chicken breast, fish, eggs, scallops, shrimp and steak. He purchased a sizable amount of raw, fresh vegetables and some bottled water. As soon as he got home he emptied his cupboards and refrigerator, dumping sodas and beer down the sink drain, tossing pies and cakes and sweets into a green plastic garbage bag. Later that same day he ordered a pile of Parrillo supplements: Ben had been very specific about which Parrillo supplements to buy and how and when to use them. Reese purchased a month’s worth of potent Parrillo supplements and set up a “Parrillo cabinet” in his kitchen. By avoiding beer, sodas, junk and frozen foods Reese saved a ton of grocery money. He redirected the savings toward the purchase of quality food with plenty left over for the purchase of his Parrillo supplements. Essentially, Reese was eating healthy and clean and supplementing with delicious Parrillo supplements without increasing his monthly grocery outlay one red cent. Here is what Reese purchased for the month of January…

Big Reese absolutely loved the weight training and no matter how hard Bo was kicking his “fat ass,” Reese ate it up. He trained four times weekly using a classical training split…

• Monday legs and shoulders

• Tuesday chest, biceps, triceps

• Wednesday off

• Thursday back and abs

• Friday shoulder and arms

• Saturday off

• Sunday off

Reese performed cardio every morning before breakfast. On weekends he began playing basketball in a league and during his workday he might slip in some laps around the school gym or he might ride a stationary bike in the team weight training room. If the weather was nice he liked to run giant laps around the school grounds after school following a cross-country course. Reese started his renovation program on January 4th and by February 4th he’d dropped 23 pounds of blubber and felt fantastic. Factually Reese had lost 30 pounds of body fat and added seven pounds of muscle. Bo was happy. Reese was ecstatic. “You’ve got a lot of dormant muscle memory.” Bo said, “You are reawakening old athletic habits and instincts; your flaccid muscles are responding big time. I got to warn you – the gains come real fast for the first few months but after that initial burst you are really going to have to kick things up to the next level in order to keep the gains coming.” Reese just smiled. “I am so into this thing at this point that taking it to the next level will be no problem  whatsoever.”