“Trust the process.”

What a simple statement yet one of the hardest things for the mind to accept. I have told this one simple concept to clients for close to 13 years now and no statement holds more true.

So what happens when the script is reversed? What happens when I become the client and I am told to trust the process?

This is exactly what has happened over the past three weeks for me. For the first time since receiving my first workout plan in 2001 from former Mr. USA John Defendis I am under the control of another trainer.

The trainer I chose to work with is Debbie Callahan who has been doing this for over 40 years. She is a bodybuilding judge, former national competitor and has owned gyms throughout those 40 years.

After spending just a few minutes in her gym and hearing the feedback from dozens of her trainers and clients that refer to her as the Oracle of Fitness, I knew I was in the right place.

Having competed in 15 shows previous to meeting with Debbie I had a good grasp of how my body responds to certain foods, fluid intake and strategies to burn fat and reduce water retention to reveal skin tight, popping muscles on stage. But what I didn’t know is that she was about to turn my whole world upside down!

The beginning of 2016…

After competing in three competitions last year I really felt this year was going to be a year off from the competitive stage to focus on finding a good balance of nutrition and fitness.

Just like so many of my clients and billions of people on this planet I I struggle to find consistency when I’m not focused on a specific goal and end date.

I tried powerlifting for a little while (squats, deadlifts and bench press) and ended up hurting my knees worse than they already felt.

I tried doing total body training for a while to create a more athletic physique. While this kept me consistently working out, it was not exciting enough or stimulating enough to keep me motivated.

Then in February I started a nutritional coaching program with a longtime friend Gus and my wife where we incorporated intermittent fasting. That was my true launching pad to success this year.

Within my first two months I was down from a starting weight around 212 pounds down to 192. I was working out regularly, dieting moderately and seeing phenomenal results. I was happy…so happy!

In June, Rich and Rolando competed in Hollywood, Florida and I offered to drive them and their overfilled bladders for the 5-hour drive that ended up becoming closer to 8 hours with all the stops!

The entire drive to Hollywood I kept emphasizing how happy I was that I was not competing this year and how I was going to be able to enjoy watching them from the spectator seats instead of tanned and oiled on stage. Well that’ll change within minutes of walking into the check in for them to weigh in.

As soon as I smelled the Pro Tan ( the nasty tropical scented bronze skin dye) in the air I knew I had no chance. Before they finished their check-in I had already picked out 2 contest that were 13 and 16 weeks from that date. Before the weekend was finished I even had my posing routine song picked out. Training was going to start Monday!

Late that Saturday night after the competition was over I started making notes of everything I wanted to improve in the next 3 months and what steps I need to take in order to achieve those goals. I also took the time to plan out how I was going to train and eat this time around. I wanted to do it on MY terms.

The one thing I have learned throughout the years is that you need to do what fits best for you and not for someone else. I bought a brand new notebook that I was going to document and log my entire contest prep so that I could share with my clients and review back later. That lasted 2 days. Not for me!

I decided that I should incorporate everything I’d learned from the previous 13 competitions that I had I did for along with the intermittent fasting I’d Incorporated earlier in the year. Instead of trying to eat every 2 hours, I focused on total nutritional intake each day and hitting daily goals.

Preparation meets opportunity…

4 weeks before my first planned contest I saw a Facebook post from Debbie Callahan that this was going to be the last Lakeland Classic this year. I had competed previously in that show and it was always my favorite show. So last minute I decided to jump in.

For the first time ever I competed as a heavyweight, weighing in at 201 pounds.

In a bit of foreshadowing there was a tribute that night to Deb for her work in this industry, client success stories and her amazing contest pictures from her years competing. I took video, pictures and of course anyone who knows me knows that I cried. Hey, I’m an emotional guy what can I say? 🙂

It was a great experience to compete alongside clients and first-time competitors Missy, Kirsten, Krissy and Mike. I had no expectations of placing, for the first time I competed for the experience and actually enjoyed it.

A renewed fire was lit…

For the Daytona Classic show 4 weeks later I trained harder, practiced my posing more, did more cardio and tightened up my diet.

For pretty much my entire contest diet…

-I stayed around 250 and up to 300 grams of protein daily.

-I ate as little carbs as possible Monday through Friday and 50 grams of fat daily.

-I would carbohydrate load Friday nights with 200 grams of carbs in one meal, 300 grams of carbs divided over 5 meals on Saturdays and another 200 gram of carbs in my final meal on Sunday nights before returning to no carbs on Monday.

Following this program I never felt deprived, had tons of energy and this was probably the easiest contest prep diet ever gone through. I lost fat consistently, I saw my muscles developing progressively and felt like I was on track.

I went into the Daytona Beach Classic as a light heavyweight at 192 pounds feeling confident and winning being the only option in my mind.

I was lean, my muscles were full and I felt I was holding very little water, revealing my best physique to date. I had never looked as good as I did and I was pumped!

The thing with bodybuilding or any physique competitions is that you can really only prepare yourself to be your best. You cannot control who shows up and what condition they are in.

As soon as the light heavyweights lined up to go onstage, that familiar feeling sunk my heart… “F@CK, WHY DID THIS GUY HAVE TO SHOW UP???”

I knew immediately first place was not in the cards for me and even second place looked unlikely.

As Michelle and I left the auditorium and I expressed my discontent to her, DYNAMITE went off in Shelly’s brain and she unloaded on me a verbal onslaught of years of built up contest prep frustration.

Spouses and contest diets…

Want to find out how strong your marriage is? Go through a four or five months contest prep and see how that goes 🙂

Luckily within the first few weeks of dating Michelle 8 years ago I was training for a contest. So we started our relationship in the toughest scenario possible to say the least.

Every meal, event, occasion or family get-together during a contest preparation becomes affected because most things revolve around food and because a competitor needs to eat frequently throughout the day to maintain their metabolism.

A competitor is so focused during this time on each and every meal, workout, cardio session, sip of water and so much more that your conversation subjects become less and less on anything else in your life.

After every contest you ramble over what you should have done or shouldn’t have done.

It consumes you and if you are not careful it will CONSUME and ANNOY EVERYONE in your life around you.

**SIDE NOTE- Michelle competed for the first time last year so I was able to experience this from the other perspective. It. Was. Not. Fun. 

So after the Daytona Classic prejudging when she released her verbal dynamite on me I knew it was coming from a place of love and years of support.

She wanted me to be able to achieve my best.

She was tired of seeing me work so hard and not be satisfied with the outcome.

She screamed, “you need to talk to Deb!”

The definition of Insanity…

Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same steps over and over again but expecting different results.

Knowing it was time to make a change I reached out to Debbie at the end of the Daytona show and explain that I wanted her help. She said to reach out to her and we would meet the following week.

Driving the hour-and-a-half to Lakeland to see her the first time I had no idea what to expect. I thought maybe she had some special tricks or something that I had never learned before.

She spent two hours with us that first day just talking about training, food, our gym businesses and her recommendation for peaking for the next show that was now only 16 days away.

She also confidently said that I would be 16 pounds lighter by the next contest and competing as a middleweight.

Whoa wait, what???

Getting out of my comfort zone…

She put me on a meal plan of lean meat and white potatoes. No seasoning, no sodium added and no condiments. That also meant no protein shakes or protein bars.

She told me to eat the food and let my body do the rest. I didn’t have portions to follow, I just need to focus on taking in enough protein throughout the day.

She bumped me up to three cardio sessions a day up to 20 minutes each session to constantly keep my metabolism active.

The intensity wasn’t as important as keeping my body moving. I would ride the exercise bike, do jumping jacks or walk the dogs depending on my mood.

With each day this got tougher and tougher and my body started feeling like it was being pushed further and further than it had been before.

New definition started showing and pounds started dropping off the scale. By the fifth day I was starting to wonder what would have happened if I would have followed her advice for the entire 16 weeks.

Relinquishing control not only was hard for me but it also provided incredible accountability because I did not want to let her down. I was determined to follow her plan to every detail so I would not sell myself short or have any excuses.

In the 16 days I drove to Lakeland 5 different times for her to help me with my posing, tweak my diet and any other questions I need help with. Each time I left with new found knowledge and confidence.

The finishing touches for a competitor in those final few days are the most important. The plan she put me on was completely different than any I had ever done and pushed my body and mind to the limit!

The final 5 days were some of the toughest mentally and physically that I’ve ever gone through in a contest prep.

My body had just been through 15 weeks of grueling workouts and not missing any planned workouts even through our vacations.

It’s like on a road trip when you have to pee for the longest time and you finally get to the bathroom and you can barely hold it for the last few feet.

Take that and amplify that times 4 months!!

You get out what you put in…

I ended up finishing second place this past weekend in the Ocala Cup Classic.

Am I disappointed for not finishing first? NOT a chance.

I ended up weighing 171 pounds Saturday morning which is a full 21 pounds lighter in just 16 days. I never knew that was even possible.

I ended up being in the best shape I have ever been in any contest. Each muscle had more definition and separation than I even knew my body was capable of showing.

And most importantly I ended up overcoming yet another challenge that will make me stronger in every future endeavors that I take on.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and I trusted the process. That’s my victory.

What’s next…

So I will end 2016 the same way it began trying to find a healthy balance of Fitness and Nutrition.

It will also be spent paying it forward to my clients to help push them out of their comfort zone, exceed their expectations and conquer another challenge that will make then stronger in every future endeavors that they take on.

Most importantly it will be spent finding balance in my life again with my wife who has sacrificed so much to allow me to dedicate all the time and energy spent over the past four months. I cannot tell you how many times she picked me up or gave me the push I needed. She was also a permanent replacement for my brain the past few weeks…more so than usual!

Scheduling date nights and going out to breakfast will replace meal prepping and cardio sessions. I promise I will be working on new conversation subjects too  🙂

Committed to your fitness success,

Derek Kuryliw