Reg (July 2017)

TO make a significant and lasting change, you have to be a willing participant in the process. If you need to lose weight or body fat or have a desire to get fitter or want to overcome some form of addiction, no-one else can do the work for you.

Screaming at and pestering and forcing someone to change doesn’t work. At least not in the long term.

So when Reg first came to see me, it was with the full understanding of what he was taking on. His wife had bumped into Stacey Satta shortly after she’d completed the Amazing 12. They’d previously worked together and chatted about Stacey’s experience. Stacey passed on my details. Reg’s wife and I then began a conversation.

It was clear from the beginning this wasn’t going to be a typical Amazing 12 transformation. Reg, at 6ft 1in, is a big man. Lifestyle had directly contributed to him piling on the pounds. He had reached a whopping 25st.

Drinking and eating the wrong stuff had taken its toll. As a dentist of 24 years, Reg admitted he didn’t move a great deal during his working day. He was consuming two litres of Pepsi Max daily, drinking wine, eating large portions of food. Combine that with a lack of movement and, before you know it, your body changes shape and composition and begins to strain under the increased load.

Reg had a problem with his heel and, periodically, his knees. He had to miss a few sessions early on because of the pain, but Reg could feel how the addition of movement, training, healthier eating and drinking water to his daily routine was making him feel much better. From 40 training sessions, Reg missed five. 

He admitted before starting: “The image I had of myself was not the true me. At home we don’t have any mirrors. They are only from the neck upwards.”

Basically, Reg thought he was slimmer than he actually was.

But one day Reg was out shopping, saw a full-length reflection of himself and was shocked. “I know I am overweight,” he conceded.

When we first talked, I made it clear this was going to be a long-term project. Although Reg wanted to sign up for the eight-week program, I knew he’d need more. So did Reg.

But he had a family holiday planned and we went into the eight-week program with the mindset of it being just the beginning of a grander transformation. This was the first phase.

Reg, 49 and the father of three children, was unhappy with his physical appearance. Moving was difficult. Breathing was even challenging at times. Going up steps was taxing. Yet he was up for the job.

Reversing years of neglect doesn’t happen in a few weeks, though. You take it a day at a time. Slowly, you replace unhealthy practices with healthier ones. It took a lot of courage for Reg to enter a gym from scratch, expose the truth of his condition and even take off his shirt to be photographed.

It shows, though, how committed Reg was. As someone who comes from a family five generations deep in the medical profession, he knew his health had to improve. “Getting fit [again] will allow me to do more things,” he said.

Reg hadn’t even returned to his native Ghana for years – decades –  because of his weight! The last time he saw his mother, Reg weighed 17st. “She was so aghast when she saw a picture of me recently,” he said.

When he came to England in 1990, Reg weighed about 13-14st. He was 18st when he got married in 1997.

Prior to the Amazing 12 (8), Reg hadn’t trained for three years. He played golf regularly – and to a good standard – but hadn’t done any other kind of exercise.

He wanted to lose weight, get fitter and gain leaner muscle mass. But there were obviously concerns.

Would he be able to stick to the diet, find the time to train each day, be consistent in his training, be fit enough, handle training with other people?

We did a week of training before we officially started. I wanted to show Reg the movements and see how well he could move his body.

Reg trained mostly evenings – at a time when he’d usually be reaching for food – although several times we started early in the morning; whatever was needed to get the job done.

Reg was obviously strong and powerful. But he was panting hard from any kind of prolonged exercise of a slightly higher intensity. He’d bide his time going from one movement to another, doing what he could to manufacture extra recovery. 

Steadily, though, we progressed. Reg was always in good spirits and great company for those he trained alongside. You couldn’t meet a more likeable man. He tried hard, always.

I got him doing things he hadn’t done since he was probably a baby – like crawling. This he found harder than anything else – and it was only the warm-up!

The first time we tried, I had him crawl forwards about six feet and then backwards. He just about made it forwards and couldn’t reverse at all!

Fast forward eight weeks and Reg progressed to a 30m crawl without stopping. The look of amazement on his face was priceless. He made it back about a quarter of the way before needing to stop.

He lost about 2st in weight overall, but most of it fell off his lower body which is why the comparison photos don’t look dramatically different. His trousers were all hanging loose. His legs no longer fill his jeans.

But this eight-week stint wasn’t so much about a transformation of body shape. Reg’s transformation was more about what you CANNOT see in the photos. It was about starting a man on a journey to get himself healthier, stronger, fitter and leaner.

Body fat will disappear over time – with commitment and consistency to training, diet and improved lifestyle. The loss of two stone from the body of a 25st man is less noticeable than on an individual half his weight or less.

But beneath the cloak of excess fat is a strong body waiting to come out. If Reg keeps going, as he says he will, his full transformation will be revealed.

The greatest pride I have from watching and training Reg is in how he now moves so much easier, how he recovers from prolonged bouts of more intense exercise far better and the weights that he found to be a struggle to move about four weeks into the program are significantly lighter than what he was lifting relatively effortlessly at the finish.

In the first weeks, he had trouble bench-pressing 32.5kg for multiple reps, yet finished with nearly 70kg, which was nowhere near his limit. He also had difficulty strictly shoulder-pressing 15kg for reps in the beginning, yet increased his working weight to nearly 40kg in two months.

Fitness-wise, I had him push the prowler up and down the gym 10 times as fast he could at week 1 and then again in week 7. His time dropped from 4 mins 32 seconds to 2 mins 51 seconds and, if I’m honest, there was more in the tank. A week later he even started jogging with it!

Those are just a few examples, but Reg’s transformation was, for me, a dramatic and inspiring one for more reasons than I have already stated.

This is a story of a man with the odds stacked against him. A man who could very easily look at the task before him and be overwhelmed by the enormity of the mission, but instead chose to take it on with the mindset of ‘I’ll get it done no matter how long it takes’ and ‘I have to do this because the alternative is much worse’.  

Reg’s attitude was excellent, his spirit strong, his laugh infectious, his commitment first class and, with us both being sports nuts and Liverpool FC supporters, his company super-enjoyable.

The intention now is for Reg to resume the program in September, this time for 10 weeks, but he will have the experience of knowing the movements, recognising his abilities, understanding the diet and his body will be better conditioned.

If you are seeking results, need guidance on lifting, training and nutrition and ready to make the commitment to make that happen, send a message to Claude@intelligentstrength.co.uk for further details on the Amazing 12. The next wave begins on September 18. Places will be limited.