1. IIFYM.com interviews Flexible Dieting Contest Prep Coach and Diet Doc Clinician; Tyler Mayer.IIFYM: For our readers that might not be familiar with you, can you please tell us a bit about yourself? IIFYM: How did you get started in natural bodybuilding? I knew that I wanted to stay in shape to both maintain some athleticism and to look good, but doing the same thing day-in-and-day-out wasn’t getting me anywhere. I realized that if I wanted to take my athleticism and physique to the next level that I needed to set some goals and train like I never have before. That’s when bodybuilding sparked my interest. In 2007, I dove in headfirst and competed in my first show bodybuilding show…and was hooked! What’s ironic, is that prior to stepping on stage, I actually had never even seen a show before! I kept competing and eventually, I earned my IFPA pro card in 2011, then made my pro debut in 2013. IIFYM: What about powerlifting. I know that you have been perusing powerlifting the last few years. What is it about powerlifting that you prefer over bodybuilding? Additionally, I love powerlifting because you can typically eat more food (assuming you’re not cutting for a weight class) and get stronger at the same time. You don’t have to be stage-lean while prepping for a meet, and because of that, when training for powerlifting, my energy is much higher and I feel a lot better. Don’t get me wrong, I still apply some bodybuilding lifts to my powerlifting programming so I’m not losing progress in that area of my life. IIFYM: What are your numbers on the big 3? (squat, bench press & deadlift for those readers that don’t know about powerlifting) IIFYM: How about coaching? As a result, I got a lot of criticism for it. I fell in love with coaching pretty hard, particularly when athlete clients would tell me that flexible-dieting changed their lives because of the non-restrictive nature of the process, which aided in developing a better physique than they ever thought possible. For me, it was never about winning a stack of pro cards, it was about changing lives for the better…about changing minds to become permanently healthier mentally, having bodies heal and develop healthier, and watching clients maintain balance in their lives and in their relationships.
IIFYM: Do you manage your own contest prep diet or do you have a coach? I also really love the accountability, so when I’m prepping for a show, I have my coach Dr. Joe Klemczewski to guide me to the stage. He’s the one that introduced to me the concept of flexible-dieting a couple of years into my stage career, and he turned things around for me when my contest preps weren’t going well, and I’ve never looked back since. I could diet myself down, without a doubt, but it can become a real psychological battle that’s just exhausting. I would rather have someone that I trust tell me what to do and take the guess-work out of it for me. I’m sure a lot of people reading this who have prepped themselves can relate to the struggle, and likewise, others can relate to the experience of having a knowledgeable coach by your side and its stress-relieving effects on a prep experience. Despite being a prep coach for so many others, I HIGHLY recommend all competitors have a trustworthy and quality coach with integrity. IIFYM: What role does IIFYM play into your offseason and contest prep diet? Do you keep it clean most of the time or do you allow yourself to indulge? I typically eat fairly “clean” 70-80% in the off-season (so I’m getting enough micronutrients through whole veggies and meats), but I do enjoy my fun food equally. I’m a huge lover and indulger of ice cream, and I usually work in (usually) daily. I love flexible dieting! IIFYM: What about your clients? Do you encourage them to keep it clean most of the time or do you see a benefit in allowing some “cheat” type foods in to help? I do advocate for variety throughout the day and week because balance is healthy and it’s key for a well-rounded diet, but for sanity and saving social graces, I realize and encourage that partaking in pleasure food is important too. The qualifier to that belief, though, is in implementing careful strategy and not falling into “loose-tracking”—that’s the pitfall and often the gateway for over-indulging in craving-based treats that for some can lead to excessive over-indulging and into all-out binging sessions. It’s been my experience that one has to have a pretty strong mindset, approach and strategy for curbing cravings or lightly indulging within control, and I think every individual can achieve that. But, I am a believer of integrating small portions of pleasure foods to build a more controlling and healthy relationship with trigger foods than all-out restriction. Restriction is a powerful thing, and time and time again it’s proven that saying “NO” causes a tremendous (and sometimes unavoidable) inability to have the off-limits item. Lastly, I believe the IIFYM concept is often mis-contextualized and misunderstood. A lot of flexible-dieters attempt to make a point to non-flex-dieters that one can make progress while eating designated “bad foods”, and that’s what others come to believe: that the whole IIFYM approach consists of the junk food they’ve been presented in those advocating arguments…and that’s inaccurate. Having a diet consisting of macro-dense, low-volume pleasure foods can set new flex-dieters up for failure and over-indulging, so I recommend new flex-dieters to really research and seek out a coach that will demonstrate and provide the resources to implement this successfully from square 1. IIFYM: What are your thoughts on refeeds vs. cheat meals? During the off-season, or for some clients transitioning into a maintenance phase, I also implement “relaxed meals” occasionally that are strategically untracked, SINGULAR meals—typically used in conjunction with family and social events. There’s a degree of criteria that’s outlined as it’s part of the process of working with my client to build a strong mindset around this untracked eating experience, but it’s also about pushing for growth and release of responsibility, mindfulness, and the power of their learned knowledge to enjoy the meal stress-free but mindfully and balanced, too. Immediately after, we’re right back to tracking so there’s no hope for spinning out of control.
IIFYM: Let’s talk macros for a minute.
Every EVALUATION is different: sometimes competitors have higher amounts compared to someone just looking for fat-loss, or if someone is used to a higher protein intake by preference, I consider that, likewise if someone explains they’ve always had a hard time getting in adequate amounts of protein, I won’t designate an amount that makes them feel like they’re stuffing themselves with protein: that leads to discouragement and defeat in my experience. Additionally, sometimes medical conditions and circumstances play an important role in those designations—that’s all informed, educated knowledge that I bring to my efforts when calculating. IIFYM: What about carbs? Others, however, start low and over time are able to progress it upwards. Many initial clients who come to me with existing low-intakes and express a desire to prep for a show, are often turned down and we go through a process of reevaluating wants/desires/dreams versus the absolute need for HEALTH. With that in mind, I’ve had tens and tens of competitors and athletes hold tight to their goals, but defer their competition date in order to rebuild metabolically with a progressive experience of adding in calories while maintaining leanness and conditioning. This approach allows for them to come in with more preserved muscle-mass, general leanness and conditioning while maintaining a healthier-functioning body, and 100% of the time they place better because of these variables. In my experience of coaching people over the years, those that work with me the longest and do many shows together, typically end up eating a lot more carbs coming into shows. IIFYM: Let’s talk about reverse dieting and metabolism damage. There are many contest prep coaches that swear by it and many naysayers that hate the concept. What are your thoughts on reverse dieting? Other clients can handle more aggressive jumps; I’ll have them go into maintenance much quicker to jump-start their off-season more quickly. As one diets down and loses weight, studies have proven the metabolic rate will slow down because of lesser overall mass on the body—because of this decrease in mass, the metabolism naturally doesn’t NEED as much energy to maintain homeostasis…so it adapts. But this adaptation doesn’t last forever, either, it can increase again. I know research is being done on this topic, specifically, without definitive answers (yet) so I can only speak anecdotally about my experience with clients. Before I started working with this experienced bikini competitor, closely, she was eating about 700 calories a day and doing 2-3 hours of cardio a day…she had been doing this for TWO YEARS! (I don’t know how she survived that long!) Because we were working closely in proximity together, I knew she wasn’t binging. Progressively over a 2 year period of time, she did gain about 25 pounds during her reverse. Now, 3 years later, she’s lost all of that weight-gain, has added muscle mass, and is now eating almost triple her 700-calorie intake. Throughout the reverse process, she rarely had decreases in food and had minimal (almost no) cardio. IIFYM: Tell us about your approach to cardio. Hiit, LISS or both? How often? There are trends that have been true to inform a lot of my process with clients, like, if a competitor trains legs often throughout the week, typically they’re getting beat down pretty badly and adding in large sessions of moderate of LISS leg-based cardio can compound issues for recovery. By adding HIIT, many competitors can take more of a beating on the legs since the HITT session can be close to a leg workout by itself. I’m also a fan of bringing in LISS to help with recovery–how much depends on the person and the goal. Typically, I have some of my competitors doing more as they get closer to a show, but it’s a process of working the sessions up in quantity over the entire prep process than starting a prep with a ton. I like to keep LISS sessions no longer than about 40 minutes at a time, and I’ll have advanced competitors do as many as 15 intervals in a HIIT session.
IIFYM: Do you rely on websites like MacroTracker.com to calculate your macros or can you just eyeball it? IIFYM: What supplements do you encourage your clients to take while dieting? What about offseason? The supplements I recommend while dieting are: Core ABC’s (aminos), Core PRO/ISO (protein), Core Fury Extreme (pre-workout), and their creatine monohydrate. In general, to ALL my clients, I recommend a good multivitamin, fish oil, and a fiber supplement (only if they need the added fiber.) In the off-season, add Core Alpha and Core Hard to the mix. IIFYM: Who are your sponsors and how have they helped you get where you are? The second is MyOatmeal.com. This one goes out to you personally, Anthony. I don’t think I would be where I am today if it wasn’t for Anthony Collova and MyOatmeal.com. Anthony has helped me tremendously with business mentorship and just being an awesome friend and confidante. By being part of the MyOatmeal.com family, I have learned a thing or two about what quality of service is and how it should be provided to customers, which I’ve in turn provided to my own clients. I can’t thank you enough for everything!
-Do you follow a periodized program?
-What are your thoughts on Crossfit? IIFYM: Thank you for your time and insight Tyler! If someone wants to hire you as a coach, how do they contact you? Originally posted 2019-01-29 03:44:51. via Tumblr IIFYM Interviews Flexible Dieting Coach; Tyler Mayer
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