William had jumped around different training programs for years. It wasn't until he started working with ATP Personal Training that he started to see dramatic changes.

William, founder of an education business and father of four, was following a completely unstructured training routine, relying mostly on advice from social media influencers. His ultimate dream was to look like Chris Hemsworth in the movie “Thor.” William’s original body weight was 77.6 kg, with 18% body fat. So he was in what most people would consider “good shape” but he was dissatisfied with the results his efforts were giving and confused by the amount of contradictory information online.

"FItness is one of the biggest investments you can make for your life."

We spoke with William’s coach Jeremy to learn how he tailored the program to his unique requirements.

  1. Initial Focus on Fat Reduction: It took some time to explain to William that before focusing on building muscle, he needed to reduce his body fat to below 12%. Building muscle on a higher body fat percentage would not achieve a visually appealing physique.
  2. Quality of Workouts: William judged the quality of his workouts by how much he “felt” the exercise in specific muscles. He was not strong at the time and was overly concerned with the sensation of the muscles working. This approach can be detrimental until a decent level of strength is built. It was also a challenge to convince him to focus on increasing his strength in basic movements and progressively increasing the total volume of weights lifted from week to week and phase to phase.
  3. Inconsistent Workouts: William suffered from “workout ADHD,” varying his workouts every week based on what he saw on the internet. This excessive variety limited his progress.
  4. Advanced Dieting Techniques: In terms of nutrition, William was using advanced dieting techniques, such as carb loading, depleting, and intermittent fasting, which were not appropriate for him at the time.

William achieved really amazing results in the first 12 weeks of training with us- getting leaner than he had been before, stronger across all areas. This is typically where most transformation stories stop- but it’s really where ours begins.

Below you can read how Coach Jeremy guided William over the course of the next year to produce a noticeably more powerful, leaner and imposing physique.

ATP Personal Training client William doing dumbbell press

"I see this journey as not just about myself, it's for my kids as well."

Coach Jeremy outlines the training strategy.

Initial Changes

Initially, we increased his training volume and frequency, focused on getting him stronger, increased his protein intake, and lowered his total calorie intake. The goal of the first phase was to reduce his body fat to 10%.

By the end of January 2023, he had reached 10% body fat at 77 kg.

Second Phase: Muscle Mass Gain

The goal of the second phase was for him to gain muscle mass. We put him on a calorie surplus of 300 calories per day, slightly decreased his protein intake, and increased his carb intake, as carbs are highly anabolic when someone is lean.

For nearly a year, we focused on him gaining muscle mass. He eventually increased to 86 kg and 15% body fat.

ATP Personal Training client William with his coach

Third Phase: Lean Maintenance

In the third phase, the goal was to maintain as much muscle as possible while getting him as lean as possible. We implemented a 12-week diet, increasing his protein intake to 2 grams per kg and reducing calories to create a 25% daily deficit.

In 12 weeks, he reduced to 8% body fat and 78 kg, achieving his goal for a photoshoot.

Total Change from Beginning to End

October 2022:

  • Lean mass: 65.5 kg
  • Fat mass: 13.6 kg

May 2024:

  • Lean mass: 71.6 kg
  • Fat mass: 6.5 kg

Overall, William gained 6.1 kg of lean mass and lost 7.1 kg of fat mass.

Strong client William at ATP Personal Training

"I HOPE TO INSPIRE THEM AS A ROLE MODEL TO SEE THE VALUE OF HARDWORK AND DEDICATION."

William what is your biggest takeaway from the experience?

I think for me this has been ore than a 12 week journey- I experienced great initial results and got leaner than I’ve ever been before But the real value has followed since in bringing me to this point where fitness is totally integrated into my lifestyle I’d say that fitness and nutrition are now totally integrated into my life, they’re now something I couldn’t do without.

My advice would be to trust in the coach, be consistent and then the results will come.

"If you want to change something do it now and you'll be happy you started."