Vitals: Height, Weight, Age
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 205 to 207lbs
AGE: N/A
Background / Bio: Just briefly tell us about yourself. Where you grew up, went to school, any records you hold, competitions you’ve won, stuff like that. Any credentials or membership to professional organizations?
I grew up as a very skinny athletic growing up in Southern California and I went to a high school in La Verne, California where I played basketball and ran track. I was one of the fastest guys in Southern California in high school. I graduated as the 2nd fastest guy in the history of my high school called Damien High School. I won Sprinter of the Year and Co-MVP of the track team. And I also played basketball in high school.
I went to Cal State Fullerton on a track scholarship where I ran the 100, 200 meters and 400 relay. I had an opportunity to play basketball and track in college and be a two sport athlete. But I realized that this would be difficult to do both and juggle academics and still be successful. So I chose to just focus on track.
I was the school record holder in the 100, 200 meters and 400 relay and I was Co-athlete of the year at the university. I placed Top 5 in the 100 and 200 meters in the Big West Conference 2 years in a row.
I first started lifting weights consistently was when I was 17 years old right after I graduated from high school and entered college.
What inspired you to get into bodybuilding?
What inspired me to get into fitness was sports because I felt that the stronger I was and the more lean muscle mass I had the better athlete I would be in sports. Also I was a really skinny kid growing up so lifting weights really helped me fill out the shape of my body. I used to get made fun of when I was growing up because I was so thin. So that motivated me to lift weights and the positive results of that gave me more confidence in myself.
Because I was a tall lanky guy my transformation wasn’t one of those that happened over night. It took a lot of time, patience and many years of working very hard in the gym. But with consistency I was able to build a really lean, natural and athletic physique which helped me as an athlete in college. And also has helped me as a successful health and wellness professional.
What inspired you to write “The Cut”?
TheCut came from the transformation of Hollywood A-lister Actor Morris Chestnut. I got Morris Chestnut in the best shape of his life for a Universal Pictures movie called The Best Man Holiday which came out November of 2013. I helped him lose 33 pounds in 12 weeks for that movie as he was playing a Professional Football player in the movie. He came to me in the worst of his shape and I got him in the best shape of his life at 44 years old.
While he was doing a national press tour promoting his movie all the daytime talk show hosts seem to ask him more questions about his ripped physique than the movie. I am at home watching him all over national TV doing this Book Tour and I was taken back by all the attention on his body. So a lightbulb came into my head about that he and I should do a 12 week diet and exercise transformation book together.
I asked Morris we should be a book together and he was like I am game. But I didn’t want the book just to be about Morris’s diet and exercise program. I wanted the diet and exercise book to be about transforming the average person over 12 weeks to get in shape not just about the transformation of a celebrity.
We ended up signing a major book deal with the third largest book publisher in the world called Hachette. We did a huge national book tour April of 2017 as we were on national daytime talk shows such as Rachael Ray, Dr Oz, Wendy Williams, Steve Harvey, Kelly Live, The Chew, Home & Family on the Hallmark, The Today Show and many others. After the book tour the book became a best-selling diet and exercise book.
You can watch all of those interviews below:
Were you born ripped, or did you have to work for it?
I was born very skinny/string bean and I really didn’t have any lean muscle mass to start with so I had to work so hard in the gym to build my physique. I graduated high school at 167lbs at 6’2” and now I weigh 205 to 207 at 5 ½ to 6% body-fat walking around every day.
What gets you going? More importantly, what’s keeps you motivated to keep going?
What motivates me is knowing that so many people look to me for inspiration to be better health and fitness wise. So that alone will force you to never let yourself go physically whatsoever.
And also I am motivated to maximize my potential in business, career and health. I want to attempt to be the best in everything I do and it’s not saying that I will be the best. But my intention is always to put in the work to try to get there.
What is your personal fitness routine in an average week?
Feel free to break down a typical week of exercises here (I.E. Monday: Back/Bi’s Lat pulldowns 4 X 12, One arm DB rows 4 X 10, etc.)
A typical exercise routine:
Monday– Chest/Biceps- Flat Dumbbell Press, Butter Fly Chest Machine, Incline Dumbbell Press and Chest Cross-Overs. 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Superset between Chest and Biceps
Biceps- Preacher Curls, Standing Dumbbell Curls, Standing Cable Curls. 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Wednesday- Shoulders/Back- Shoulder Dumbbell Press, Shoulder Shrugs, Dumbbell Upright Rows and Dumbbell Front Raises. 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Superset- Shoulders and Back
Back- Pull-Ups, T-Bar Rows, Seated Low Rows, Lat Pull-Downs- 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Friday– Legs/Triceps– Hack Squats, Leg Press, Seated Curls, Lying Down Leg Curls, Seated Calf-Raises and Calf Raises on Leg Press Machine. 4 sets of 10-12 reps. All calf machines about 20 to 25 reps each.
Superset- Legs and Triceps
Triceps– Dips, Triceps Pull-downs, Dumbbell Triceps Kickbacks. 4 sets of 10-12 reps
What does a typical day of meals look like for you?
Breakfast- Oatmeal, Banana, Tuna,
Lunch- Chicken Breast, Baked Potatoes, Garden Salad
Snack- Unsalted nuts
Dinner- Steak, Brown Rice, Asparagus, Apple
Which is more important, diet or exercise?
They are both equally important and without good nutrition it is very hard to maintain or lose weight and/or even build lean muscle mass. Nutrition and supplementation is one of the most integral building blocks to maintaining an adequate and athletic high body composition. They work hand in hand and neglecting one over the other is like taking a shower without soap.
What advice do you give to people trying to break into the Fitness Industry / Competition?
Try to be authentic, honest, ethical and credible and create a brand that is unique and not like everybody else. With social media and if you are saavy enough you can really create a brand without ever really accomplishing anything. So if you create a formidable platform make sure you study and read everything on exercise science and nutritional science.
Don’t be one of these fake fitness experts and fitness professionals who post daily images of themselves but don’t know the difference between a Whey Protein and BCAA. Don’t just be an influencer who has lots of followers but has no substance, no education or no credibility. Most people with any common sense can recognize who is a legit fitness professional and who is a fraud fitness professional.
What do you think is the most overrated exercise in the gym? Most underrated exercise?
I think the most overrated gym exercise is bench press because it doesn’t really work your chest that much. It works the shoulders more than your chest and it’s not a functional exercise at all. When will your back ever be flat on the ground in that benching position. It is a non-functional exercise and people always seem to ask the most common silly and stupid question which is, “How much do you bench?”
When cutting, down do you prefer to use HIIT or just normal cardio? What’s your favorite cutting exercise?
I prefer to do HIIT cardio because if you incorporate it when you are cutting down you are able to maintain your lean muscle without losing lean muscle mass. Because HIIT training is an anaerobic workout and anaerobic workouts tend to build and maintain lean muscle mass. My favorite cutting exercise would be doing sprints.
What is your diet like?
My diet consists of chicken, turkey, steak, baked potatoes, apples, oranges, unsalted nuts, oatmeal, etc.
What is your supplementation like? Any particular favorites?
My supplementation is the following: I take a Whey Protein, Fish Oil, Pre-Workout and a Heart Healthy Supplement. In fact I just started my new supplement brand called Obistrong Nutrition that just launched December 31st.
Because Ive been so unhappy and distrustful with many supplements brands in the fitness industry I decided to start my own brand with some very smart business partners of mine.
The supplement brand is a science based brand that actually will do what it is says it is supposed to do. I teamed up with one of the best formulators in the country to create supplements that has 3rd party validation testing to each ingredient in our products.
We have no stimulants, no ephedra, no synephrine in our pre-workout whatsoever which is called Obi-Stim.
Our Whey Protein called Obi-Whey is a gluten free whey protein with 20 grams of protein per serving which is a lot of protein. No fillers and if it says 20 grams of protein there is 20 grams of protein in there.
A second phenomenal component of the whey protein is the whole food form complex carbs which helps make you more fuller because of the extra fiber component. After taking the whey protein it really sustains you and makes you feel more fuller. And you don’t feel that you have to eat a meal right away.
We have a healthy heart supplement called Obi-Heart that helps to improve blood flow to the heart and also blood flow to the sexual organs. Any I don’t think anybody will complain about that part…LOL.
It also prevents oxidative damage to cells which is one of leading causes to aging and age related conditions. And it does a great job on giving you incredible mental and physical energy which is a great post workout type of product. I typically advise people to take the healthy heart supplement after they workout.
And most importantly we have a very powerful appetite suppressant/metabolism booster supplement called Obi-Slim that helps to reduce appetite and support weight loss.
Many people don’t have self control late at night because they binge but the Obi-Slim will prevent late night binging or overeating while also helping to speed up your metabolism.
The first 5000 people that purchase any of our Obistrong supplements will receive a free 12 week 90 page exercise e-book created by me. You can check out our products at obistrong.com. I guarantee you that if you try them out that you will love them and won’t try anything else.
If you were starting over right now, what would you do differently?
If I was starting all over again I would have put more energy, time and effort on pursuing mainstream opportunities a lot earlier in my career. As opposed to putting the effort and time so much later on in my career.
What’s the best training advice you’ve ever received?
The best training advice I’ve received is be patient as you can’t a build a beautiful temple or building overnight. And that is the best advice that I’ve ever received. I pass that same advice to other young fitness enthusiasts that want to get in better shape.
When people ask you what your secret to cutting is, what do you tell them?
The best advice to cutting is what you put into your body nutritionally. The quality of foods you eat will help tremendously in dropping body-fat. So there is really no deep secret to cutting honestly. But the high quality clean foods that you will never go wrong are fish, tilapia, chicken, broccoli, sweet potatoes, asparagus, egg whites, oatmeal, etc.
Favorite cheat meal?
My favorite cheat meal is eating fried chicken at Popeyes or KFC which is something I rarely do because it is so fattening. But once in awhile I will eat it and by the way that is a severely bad cheat meal.
What has been your biggest accomplishment in the fitness field?
It is really difficult to figure out what my biggest accomplishment in the fitness industry because my career isn’t over yet and it is still going very strong. But one of the highlights of my career was co-authoring a diet and exercise book with an A-lister Actor in Morris Chestnut. The book was a best-seller and it was ranked as high as #12 on Amazon for all books in all genres.
And it was ranked #1 and #2 in the exercise and diet genre on Amazon which was such a tremendous honor as a first time Author. And then being a guest on every major national daytime Talk show across the country promoting the book. Very very few fitness professionals from the fitness industry have ever had the opportunity to do that. So I feel blessed in being able to achieve that.
Also being metrically selected as one of the Top Ten Most Influential Fitness Experts on the Web by Dr Oz’s Sharecare.com site.
Is there any final things you would like to say in the interview?
I want to thank Rob for giving me the opportunity for this interview. Also I want to let everybody know that I will be on NBC’s Access Hollywood giving health and wellness tips on January 3rd in the early morning time so check your local listings. And I will also be on Access Hollywood promoting and plugging the Obistrong supplement nutrition brand. Also my best selling diet and exercise book TheCut can be purchased at thecutbook.com
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