REAL LIFE

STILL GOING STRONG

By: Rochelle Marapao

Max Muscle’s 2005 Max-Formation Life Challenge winner John Irvine, Jr. has maintained intense discipline and has developed an even better physique. Now he’s helping others achieve the same.

Since winning the Max Muscle MaxFormation Life Challenge three years ago, John Irvine, Jr. has accomplished what so few people losing a significant amount of weight have been able to: he has been able to maintain his incredible physique and actually improve it. His journey has been life-changing and today, John helps others by sharing his experiences and teaching them to believe in themselves.

At age 33, the Louisiana resident knew he had to make a conscious effort to improve his health and well-being. High blood pressure and diabetes ran in his family. His father had died at 49 and his grandfather died from a massive stroke at around the same age. Although athletic in his earlier years, John was overweight and was diagnosed with high blood pressure. He knew that if things didn’t change, he too, could end up dead at an early age.

In January 2004, John sought the help of Prairieville, Louisiana Max Muscle franchisee Jared Juge who educated him in nutrition, supplementation and training. Jared also encouraged John to enter the Max Muscle’s MaxFormation Life Challenge. Through Jared’s men-torship and expertise, John lost 78 pounds in 20 weeks, going from 275 to 197 pounds, and his body fat went from 30 percent to 8.6 percent with a 10-inch loss from his waistline. The remarkable transformation made John the winner of the transformation contest in 2005 where he was also featured in the June issue of “Max Sport & Fitness” magazine of the same year. John became a changed man.

Many positive changes followed John’s victory in the MaxFormation challenge including a positive mindset, a passion for health and fitness and improved relationships. “My rela-tionships with family and friends became stronger,” he says. “I believe this had to do with a greater respect for my drive and consistency with regard to my newly adopted lifestyle.”

And John’s overall health has also improved. “Working out regularly has allowed me to lower my blood pressure and my cholesterol,” shares John. Since becoming more active, he also enjoys time with his children. “I love to play basketball with my son and daughter. We bowl at the alley and also get some pretty good games going on the Wii. We enjoy brisk walks around the neighborhood and being outdoors, too.”

For John, the best part about changing his attitude and physique is the development of his self-esteem. The journey of having to maintain a high level of discipline and commitment to make progress has done wonders for his self-confidence and has taught him not to set limits on his capabilities. “Because of what I’ve accomplished physically, I never feel afraid or inferior to anyone as I did many times before living a sedentary lifestyle,” he admits. “I have noticed that I command a great deal more respect with a lean muscular body than an obese one. I think people make assumptions about a person’s work ethic and even their character based on outward appearance more often than not.” Coming to this reali-zation, John was inspired to help others with their self-esteem by starting his own home-based personal training business.

Never wanting to go back to the obese unhealthy individual he once was, John has stuck to the basic principles of nutrition and exercise that he’s applied to his life since his transformation win in 2005. And remarkably, he has actually improved upon his winning physique since then.

John’s impressive stats now include a body weight of 234 pounds with 18 percent body fat. He has put on 20 pounds of lean muscle since his transformation and sports a 50-inch chest, 18 5/8-inch biceps, 19 5/16-inch calves (his best feature) and 25 5/8-inch quads. He works out 5 days a week with 2 days off and targets one major muscle group per day.

To maintain his physique, John will eat 7 meals per day at 37 grams of protein per meal taking low-glycemic starchy carbohydrates in for the first 3 to 5 meals. He will eat fresh fruit early in the day and then fresh green vegetables for the rest of the day for fibrous carbohydrates. He is not a calorie counter, but remains conscious of his intake and will target 30 percent of his diet from unsaturated fats such as almonds, natural peanut butter, flax seed oil and fish oil.

Although John watches what he eats, he also allows himself a cheat day every two weeks. When asked about the foods that he likes to indulge in, without missing a beat, he responds, “Hot wings and beer! I crave them both constantly and have for years. I try to have them together at least once every two weeks to get my fix and then it’s back to my normal routine.” MS&F

John Irvine, Jr.’s Top 6 Motivational Transformation Tips:

Learn the Do’s and Don’ts. There is no need to work harder if all you have to do is work smarter.
Use quality supplements such as Max Muscle products that you believe in and that have been around long enough to stand the test of time.

Attach some accountability. If you can’t hold yourself accountable, recruit someone who will. This may mean spending a few dollars once a month or on some frequency to hire a personal trainer.

Identify goals for yourself and think about what motivates you. Spend a good deal of time up front doing this and be completely honest with yourself on this. This can be kept private, but don’t be inhibited by anything or anyone else’s expectations when considering personal motivation and goals.

Document your goals. Make up your mind that this is a personal commitment and your character is at stake. Tell others what you are going to do and don’t be afraid to fall short. Failure is a relative term and it’s more important to win the war than every individual battle.

If you believe, you will achieve. If you put in the work, you will achieve the results. Like the law of gravity or the law of averages, it HAS to happen if you put your
mind to it.