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Name: Rick Ryan
Before:
After:
I started at age 45 having just run a couple marathons and seeing that I had very little muscle tone and strength. My friend Mark Sidwell was a weight lifter and looked great he really inspired me to get started with weight training while continuing to do some aerobic exercise to manage fat levels and for cardiovascular fitness.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Rick Ryan.
I would have to say I did everything wrong at least once. I did a lot of experimenting with diets, meal plans, and workout routines. The more discipline I put into in, the more I learned about what worked and what did not. For example - I can not tolerate much saturated fat. Flax oil was a break through for me because I needed about 10% fat in my diet for overall health.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Rick Ryan And Dan Stuckart. Once I started using EFA's, I continued to burn off excess fat without the cravings for bad fats and sweets. I owe a lot to my trainer - Daniel Stuckart, owner of Titanz Nutrition, for guiding me and encouraging me to compete in bodybuilding contests. I placed 3rd at the SNBF Nationals in 2006, and will be going to the Excalibur in LA this fall to go for the 50+ class win.
I experimented quite a bit and realized that some supplements are critical all of the time - Megapros Carbo hit, Beverly International - just about any and all of their products depending on my goals at the time. I mix my own MRP's so that I can adjust them depending on need. For fat loss, I am big on CLA. And I take amino acids (BCAA's on the treadmill before breakfast), and liver pills, and of course, multivitamins.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Rick Ryan.
I break my diet into days off from working out, and the days I train. When I train, I add two meals (off season).
Meal 2
Meal 3
Meal 4
Meal 5
Meal 6
If I am training that night, I will take 80 more oz of protein and possibly a NO supplement 30 min to an hour before my workout. After the workout, I would take and extra 100 grams of complex carbs, and 120 grams of protein immediately after the workout.
I mix up the workouts a lot as fast as exercises go. And every three to four weeks I change up how I group the muscles I work together - and I change up how many workout days it takes to hit all of the muscle groups. Depending on my goals, I may focus more on isolation exercises, or I for mass building I may work more using compound exercises. I will also switch from pre exhausting muscle groups to starting with the largest muscle group or the weakest muscles within a group. But fundamentally, I always hit key areas of each major muscle group. I always stretch before working out, and between muscle groups.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Rick Ryan.
Then dips (leaning forward, wide grip position) to hit lower pecs. 3 sets to failure (10-16 reps each). Then smith machine flat bench drop sets (shoulder or wider grip - change it up set to set) higher reps. 180lbs to failure, then drop to 135, etc until the bar is empty and you are doing partial reps - and ready to cry! 3 sets.
Then I use 7-9 reps with shoulder width mid height leg presses adding 100 to 200 lbs each set till I hit 1200lbs. Then if I feel strong, I will drop 200 lbs and do a set then go back and take another 200 lbs off - without resting between sets, --- it gets easier when you get down to 280 and I can do 20 reps. The last set is toughest - 90 lbs for 50 reps (using rest pause when needed) for me that is about every 3 to 5 reps.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Rick Ryan.
For the donkey raises, I sometimes will balance the outer and inner calf by using a toes in (outer calf) and toes out (inner calf) sets. The next week I will focus on hamstrings and inner/outer thighs, and hack squats. I rarely use the glute press.
I go very heavy - (one arm up to 300lbs). I do not lean forward, as you can pull a rotator cuff easily. I keep the back arched slightly. Then I perform 3-6 sets of 10-15 reps with shrugs for traps, up to 125 lb dumbbells, or 450 on a machine.
For overhead DB presses, I like to do triple drop sets or increasing the number of drop sets with each set. For biceps, I do wide grip curls for the inner bicep usually straight bar. Then close grip curls for the outer bicep - sometimes with the preacher curl bench to get the muscle running underneath the bicep, if I am not doing hammer curls that day. Or I will use 1 arm cable curls to get more of a concentration curl form of the exercise. Finally, I like to burnout with dumbbell curls or machine curls. The last few sets I use high reps mixed - full reps for the first 10-12 reps, then force out 5-8 more partial (upper 1/2) reps to get a good contraction on the bicep.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Rick Ryan.
Set specific measurable short term goals. Gaining muscle or loosing fat. Keep track of your diet & workouts - keeping journals lets you see what is working and what is not. Measure your results every two weeks - are you getting the results you want? If not, find out why - too much stress? Not enough sleep? Overtraining? You must be consistent to understand what is working for you - listen to your body and take an extra day off if you are over tired or sore. Make adjustments so that you do not burn out and quite. Never give up on trying improving your health and fitness level!
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