How This Software Engineer Got JACKED Working 70h Weeks..

I think the main problem was like training without plan, because when you don't have plan, you can't track your results, your progress, and everything else. And I was training like not by the plan but by the feeling. Before coaching, I tried to— I went to gym and was training like, okay, now I'm going to do push, then next day I'm going to pull. But I wasn't like, I wasn't like writing down the results and weights and these things. And as I said, I was like working and studying and I didn't have time to Maybe time and knowledge as well to create plan for myself. So that's the, the huge benefit of coaching, I think.

Do you remember your hesitations? Why did you want to think about it?

To be honest, I don't remember, but maybe it was— this hesitation came from the previous experience.

Experience, yeah.

And I told you, like, I don't have time to Fix my training problems. So that's why I'm extending the coaching.

You gotta fix the mistakes.

Yeah, I learned how to control my body, and that's like the, the important thing because I can repeat it again, again, again, and I know the process. Maybe my advice would be like, when you are thinking about it, just try it for 3 months. Just try it. And you will see, but for 99%, you will be surprised, I think.

Okay, welcome everyone. I'm here today with my lovely old client Radovan. Yeah, Radovan, please go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell tell the listeners a bit about you, and yeah, shoot.

Okay, so I am now I'm 25 years old from Slovakia. I am like full-time working person. The like the one thing was to like thought about or figure out how to combine trainings with full-time work, which was not like that easy in the beginning to get used to. But like we found the regime and that was like my goal. For coaching, yeah.

I think worth to note there as well. You're not only working, but you've also been like studying as well. Yeah, a lot of things, a lot of things on on your table. I've been having to to fit in the workouts. Yeah.

In the one period of time, I was working and studying and training like six times a week.

So yeah, yeah.

So any more free time left?

Yeah, yeah. But most important, yeah, you you had a hectic schedule. Finding something that that could fit that, I think is one of the one of the most important things that we figured out. Can you tell them as well, Radwan? What do you think was holding you back from like reaching your goals on your own before we started working together? Because obviously you weren't at a bad starting point whatsoever. You'd been already training for a couple of years. You'd already seen a good amount of results, but you just wanted to take things to the next level. So What do you think was like the main thing holding you back from, from that?

I think the main problem was like training without plan, because when you don't have plan, you can't track your results, your progress, and everything else. And I was training like not by the plan but by the feeling. Uh, before coaching, I tried to— I went to gym And was training like, okay, now I'm going to do push, then next day I'm going to pull. But I wasn't like, I wasn't like writing down the results and weights and these things. And as I said, I was like working and studying and I didn't have time to create, maybe time and knowledge as well, to create plan for myself. So that's the, the huge benefit of coaching, I think. And that's the thing why it's worth of it, because you have someone who know how to create you a plan. And then when you have plan, you can see if you are progressing or no. And if you don't see progress, you can do some changes and—

Yeah.

And so on. So that's the most important thing, I think.

I remember, I remember also one of the first calls I think we had when it was like I was telling you kind of the expectations. Oh, I'm, I'm like, I want you to progress every single session. We're gonna take a bit of a different approach to what you were used to doing. And I was like, you know, trust the process, uh, the numbers don't lie, uh, and, um, Yeah, the numbers never lie, right? So just taking a look at the the data, that was what I told you, and you were you were like, okay, you're you're putting your trust in in me. And then I think just some compound movements like low incline press or something. I think we went absolutely nuclear in a short amount of time. Your strength just skyrocketed.

And I and I remember the first call we had. And we were talking about training plan. And before, I was used to like do, I don't know, 3 or 4 series of each exercise, which is the basic training plan which you can find on the internet. And then you told me like, do 2 series. And I was like, okay, we can do it. But I, I didn't know what to, what to expect. I thought that it will be— like small amount of volume, but it was something that worked for me.

Yeah.

And that was like my biggest surprise I had.

Yeah, because also I think worth to mention, you tried working with another coach before, other one, maybe not seeing the results, um, yeah, you, you wanted from that. And not to, to throw any, any trash on someone else, but, um, so we can leave that there, but Um, I guess also on that note, why, why did you decide to, to go, go with me? You know, you, you tried, you tried something that didn't work, a coach that didn't, didn't— you guys didn't maybe just find a solution for you. Uh, why did you give it another shot, I guess, and put your trust in me?

Yeah, I, I think the important thing to say, it's my goal was to gain muscles and like Uh, my— yeah, that was my goal. And I wanted to run. I wanted to do like, uh, trainings in gym. And then I wanted to do running. And the first time I signed up for coaching with another coach, I told this and he created me like training plan. But it's really hard. He didn't tell me nothing about it, and he created me a plan for gym trainings and running as well. But I didn't have results. And when I had like first call with you, I told you the same thing. I wanted that I want to gain muscles and I want to do gym training and running. And you told me like, okay, but it's not possible to do Running when you want to gain muscles because you, you have to eat like huge amount of food. And like that was the one thing that when I told myself, okay, this will be, this, this is going to be like better this time, I think, because you destroyed my imagination of, of combining the training. You told me like. Okay, like some months we are going to do just gym training without running and this thing, and that, and then we, we will run again.

Yeah, and some context to that as well. Obviously when I'm saying that, I'm obviously always over-exaggerating. I know I told you this as well, Radwan, like you can't become a bodybuilder and a marathon runner, like pro marathon runner at the same time, which basically Of course you can run and build muscle. Having a bit of cardio is still beneficial, but we have to take the whole context into play there as well. Radovan being a very busy guy, having a lot of things on his table, wanting to— you know, there's seasons for everything in life. So as obviously my advice then is always going to be, okay, let's— as I told you as well, Radovan, let's focus these first couple months to just stack on as much muscle as we can. Then we can kind of morph it over to a long-term plan, implementing all these things that you wanted to do. Uh, but it's— I think it's super important to note, it's the same thing with me. People looking at me right now like, oh, as long as I do what Lucas is doing, work out here and there and Ironman training, like, no, you're not gonna see the results.

Uh, yeah.

You're not gonna get the body that I have because I've been working out for like 4 years without doing any like long-distance stuff. So I've already built the physique and now I start to do the long-distance stuff. And this is, I, I think, a very big misconception. Especially what with like the hybrid athlete, uh, I, I think that's what you told me as well.

Yes.

I want to be a hybrid athlete.

And like, this is the thing what differentiates you and maybe another coach is that they will say yes to everything. Yes, you can do it like this, like you want. And you told me like, no, we can't do it like this way. We had to do this, we have to do it like Yeah, um, yeah.

Did you have any— I, I— you should have had— I remember, or I want to remember, you had some hesitations before signing up. There was a couple things that you were, um, maybe I'm gonna think about this. Uh, I think, I think we even left the call and you told me later, right? Yeah, you, you—

I don't remember this, but maybe.

I think you wanted to think about it and then you reached out a couple days, uh, days after. I think that was how it was.

But yeah, yeah, maybe because I was like careful about online coaching then.

Yeah.

I had first call with you, I was listening to you, and then I told you that I will think about it and I will write you.

Yeah, do you remember, do you remember your hesitations? Why did you want to think about it?

To be honest, I don't remember, but maybe it was this hesitation Came from the previous experience.

Experience, yeah, yeah. I think that it can shine a bad rep on someone, I want to say, at least trying to do the right thing in this, in this space.

Yeah, I think it's hard to do like online coaching like the proper way because there are so many online coaches now. You can, you open Instagram and you see them like Everywhere. Yeah.

Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I guess good thing you, you decided to do it at least, because now we're, now we're here a year later with some, uh, pretty decent results, I would say myself at least. Uh, in your own words, Radovan, what have you been able to achieve, you know, ever since we, we, I guess, started, started rolling? What have you been able to achieve in that, uh, in that time?

Like what I learned from the journey, or—

Yeah, and just like in your own words, where the starting point compared to where you are right now, like strength-wise, body composition-wise, like where, where were we and where are we right now? What have we been able to achieve?

Okay, so as I, as I said in the beginning, there were results after 1 year. There were like Strength results and body composition results and everything, but I think the most important one, what I learned was I learned how to control my body. I found out like what should I do with my body when I want to gain weight, what should I do when I want to lose fat, and these things, and that's like the important thing. Because I can repeat it again, again, again, and I know the process.

Yeah, so it's a knowledge from me that you're taking away. That's— yeah, I, I like that because obviously, as I've told you as well, my wish is that after working with me, you should like never need a coach ever again in your life, right? That's, that's my goal with my clients.

Yeah, and because— and I remember that you told me like in the first call that You don't expect to work with me like forever, and you know it. And it was, I think, like the first coaching was for 3 months, as I remember now.

Yeah.

Yeah. And then we extended to 1 year.

Yeah, I know. And that was one of the things as well, I think that's worth, worth to mention and kind of get your view on as well, because in already the first 3 months, I think we saw some amazing results, especially just looking at the numbers in the gym. Was it incline press? Just because that's the one I remember on the top of my head. Went from 30 kg dumbbells up to like 42.5s or something like this. It was just crazy strength gains.

Yeah.

I think by that time you already kind of had all the knowledge after, you know, the first 3 or months. But I remember—

I don't think so. I, I don't think so that if I wouldn't extend the coaching, I would reach the results then. Because there were moments when I didn't know what to do, and I told you like, okay, what now? And you told me like, you changed the training plan, you— or you did some changes. And so I don't think so that after 3 months I would be able to—

Okay, maybe, maybe not. But what I was gonna come back to— or you, you knew all that, you knew all the philosophies, the work, the approaches.

Yeah.

But maybe you didn't know the, the small tweaks in practice. And I, I know you told me one time, like, I want to stay because I want to see you fix my problems, like, when they are happening so I can fix them myself later. I know you told me that. It's like when you're exactly stagnant in a movement or something, and we kind of— yeah, I guess you can, you can say it yourself, but I like showed you the workarounds so that you know exactly what to do next time that problem appears, I guess.

Yeah, and there, there, there were these moments because after a few months there were moments when I was stagnating in some exercises and I didn't know what to do. If you remember, for example, I think pull-ups were the tricky ones. And I think that if I wouldn't have still coaching at the time, I, I wouldn't know what to do. Maybe I would told myself that, okay, now that's my, that's my point and I'm going to finish.

Yeah, yeah, makes sense. But I, I think also by that time that was the, the one place where you got kind of the most value out from, just the seeing me help fix your problems when they're appearing. And I think that's why you decided to stay for, for so long.

Yes. And I told you, like, I don't have time to fix my training problems, so that's why I'm extending the coaching, because you gotta fix the mistakes.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, that's, uh, that's good. Um, what do you think, Radovan, we did— or like this, what did we do specifically different compared to what you used to do before? And where do you think like the majority of the results—

Definitely volume. Yeah, training volume was what's the biggest difference. As I said, you told me like 2 series of each exercise, and I'm like training like this now today still because it's working. But when you tell someone who see— who sees on the internet like 3 or 4 series of each exercise They— I, I don't think he will believe you that it will work, the 2 series will work, until he will try.

Yeah, yeah, worth to mention there as well. I think you already had a pretty good nutrition in place when we started, so there was not a lot of tweaks that we had to do there. But, uh, yeah, I think as well, from my perspective, switching up the training and taking a different approach to what you had been doing before was definitely the needle mover.

Yeah. And the, the second difference was like nutrition because I had like good nutrition, but I, I didn't have like numbers. I didn't track calories before. And, and I thought that I, I know how many like approximately I am taking in, but I was, I was wrong completely.

Yeah, also another one. How has, you know, putting on a good amount of muscles, uh, I, I would definitely say, in, in getting into, I guess, your best body composition in your life, um, change not just your, like, health but also areas outside of just fitness? You know, how has that changed maybe work, confidence, all these things in your life as well?

Okay. I don't think that I'm— I don't think that I, I'm like looking, looking at myself like different, in different way as before. But it's good to know that you know how to control your body, and it's good to see the results after 1 year of work. So it's like the satisfying. moment, I would say.

Yeah, own, like, proof that you, you've actually put in the work, I guess.

Yeah. And when you see the results and when you look at yourself after 1 year and you see the, the change, you, you tell yourself like it was worth of it, the coaching as well. Yeah. At the end. So yeah.

If you could, uh, if you could, once again, the Radovan that were on that first call and was a bit hesitating, like, uh, should I really do this? Should I really give this a shot again? If you could give that Radovan some advice based on the information you have right now and based on like the results you have right now, what would you tell Radovan on that, uh, that first call? Yeah.

I would, I would tell him that let's do it, like it will work now. I would say, I would tell him, yeah, straight up, do it. Yeah, do not hesitate.

Yeah, well, this is good. And if someone is listening to this as well and they might be in the same situation as you were, Radovan, you know, still already gotten pretty good results, um, in their training, in their own, own journey, but, you know, wanting to take things on the to the next level, you know, they maybe are a bit on the fence. Should I get some external help? Should I get some coaching? What would you say to that person that was also just kind of in the same shoes as you were a year ago?

Yeah, I would say that let's try it because as I remember, you had like rule that if you don't see results after 3 months, you will pay back, as I remember. Yeah. So I would say like, You, you have nothing to lose. You, you just, you just can like earn from it because you will gain some knowledge and you will see the results and it will, it will be the boost for you. So it's worth of, it's worth of trying it, definitely.

Yeah, what's the worst thing that can happen? Not a lot.

The downside is, is the worst thing, the worst things can happen Will be nothing.

So yeah, yeah, that's— yeah, with that, it's a pretty simple equation, at least in my opinion. But yeah, I think that's some good advice. Yeah. And once, once again, Radovan, what do you feel was the biggest challenges that you had before that you feel like, okay, this is 100% solved by right now?

Challenges like before coaching? Yeah.

Like in your own journey, what, what challenges did you face? Yeah.

Um, as I said, the plan— I didn't have plan. When you are training without plan, you can't track the results. So that's the, that's the biggest challenge. But maybe consistency as well, because when you have someone who is like waiting for your results to Talk about them, to analyze them. You are in the back of your mind. You you have to go to train because you have to get the results. Because after one week when you have like check call, you have to have the numbers. So this can be something that can that can help you build the habit of training and of training like regularly. 6 times a week, 5 times a week. So that's another big value, I think.

Yeah, the accountability. It's, it's usually that. I mean, yeah, everyone knows.

Yeah, when, when you are on yourself and just training on yourself without coach, without plan, there are days when you are lazy or when you don't want to go to gym because bad weather, bad day. Or something, but when there is someone who is waiting for results, it's still like okay. I I have to go because what I will tell at the end of the week.

So yeah, exactly.

And then and this will create you habit after three months. Definitely.

Yeah, I 100% agree. Accountability is is very very important. I mean everyone knows they should be training and eating good. You know it's surprise surprise. But when it comes to Comes to it. Why aren't they doing it? Well, maybe it's because they don't have enough accountability in their life and a clear, a clear goal, a clear path, you know. So yeah, I think that's one of the main things. It's the same thing as I said, like setting the expectations, telling you, okay, you should be improving the weights every single session in the gym, blah blah blah, all these things. If you show up to a call and you're like Oh, I didn't do this. I'm gonna call you on your shit, you know. I'm gonna be like, hey, what the fuck is happening here? What are we doing?

Yeah, and I can imagine that there are people who doesn't have like the habits in nutrition as well, because that was, I think, a big advantage, my advantage, that I, that I had the nutrition habit to eat like healthy food and had, have had the proper diet. But I think that there are people who are struggling with diet, struggling with training, and it's, I think, almost impossible to figure it out on their own. Yeah, when you are going to work and all these things. So it's definitely— For 3 months at least, I think it's worth to have like coach for this.

I had a pretty good call with another client about this yesterday as well, where he said, yeah, I could put some time towards figuring these out, these things out myself, but I have more important tasks to do instead of trying to do all the research myself and wondering if I'm doing the right thing. I just want to have someone to tell me, this is what you have to do. Perfect. Then I'll just do that. And I think that kind of ties back to a bit your or our journey together as well, as well, Radovan, because you were like, just tell me what to do, I'll do it. I don't have time to, to think about, uh, what I should be doing myself.

Yeah, because you have two, you have two options. You have, you can like study it on your own from the internet, but there are, there is like a huge amount of information of everything, and you can't pick the right information if you don't have like, knowledge from that before. Or the second option is to find a coach.

Yeah, awesome, Radwan. I think that was about the questions that I, uh, that I had for you. Um, maybe some— or do you have any final, final words you wanna say to the people listening to this? Or yeah, tell, tell me.

Okay, maybe my advice would be like, when you are thinking about it just try it for 3 months. Just try it and you will see. But for 99%, you will be surprised, I think.

Yeah, I know. That's one other thing you, you, you've said to me earlier as well. You're like, when you're already thinking about it, you're already like, um, it's almost like you've—

It's the first step of your journey. When you're just thinking about it you have something in your head to like, am I, am I going to try it or no? And tell yourself, tell yourself, try it.

Yeah. All right, awesome. I hope you guys, um, found some, some value and some— got some good insight into this little talk or interview with Radovan. And, um, also Radovan, huge shout out to you for obviously Putting your trust in me and executing on the plan and yeah, putting in the work because as I also told you, I think on the first call, I can only do so much from my from my side. But when the alarm clock goes off in the off in the morning, I'm not going to be the one dragging you out of bed. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, that's thanks to you for for for that as well. But yeah. Awesome. Hope you guys found this valuable. Ciao.