Day 493: “Mens Fitness” Success Story Goes Live!

G’day Shredders,

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Day 492 Video: Last Day On The Job what I do for a living over here in Japan is no longer a “secret”. This is because an interview I recently conducted with Brandon Guarneri from Mens Fitness magazine is now in print in the April 2008 US edition (which mentions my job!)

This truly blows my mind because I bought a copy of Mens Fitness when I was in Australia last year as a souvenir for my brother because it had Tiger Woods on the cover (my brother is a Australian PGA Golf pro living abroad). Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be in an issue of Mens Fitness 8 months later!

Below is a scan of the article as it appears in the April 2008 print edition.

Also, the web version of this article has now gone live. Below is how the article currently appears on www.MensFitness.com/success where they also link to my video, 84 Days In 48 Seconds.

P.S. I’d like to say a big thank you to Brandon Guarneri for interviewing me and writing an article that explains 7 years of my life so succinctly. Thanks mate!

by Brandon Guarneri,
Mens Fitness, April 2008

An English teacher living in Japan, he indulged in local foods and skipped workouts. When he finally decided to shed the weight, he needed some extra motivation. So he started photographing himself daily and posting the pics on his blog for the world to see.

After 84 days, Waters had completely transformed his physique. He edited together the pics, made sort of a virtual flipbook, and posted the video online. Since then, his success has spawned a series of online “missions,” where he continues to document his efforts to get as jacked and lean as possible.

Check out his first 84-day transformation here.

World Wide Waist
How logging online helped Adam reboot his body

There’s a lot of dreck on the Internet. That’s why it’s so easy to waste hours surfing sites littered with celebrity scandals and pop-up porn. But for Adam Waters, 33, the ‘net is more than just a place to read gossip or check e-mail: It’s the tool that helped him get fit.

Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Waters has been teaching English in Osaka, Japan, since 2000. He loves his job, but it came with unique obstacles that challenged his fitness. Lean and athletic growing up, Waters was a trim 6’0″, 156 pounds, with just 8% body fat, when he headed overseas. But with his new life in a new land, Waters could not maintain a healthy diet. “A lot of traditional dishes over here are very high in carbs,” he says. “And the term ‘vegetarian’ doesn’t compute.” To compound matters, Waters often traveled for work, forcing him to regularly miss workouts.

He got a rude awakening when he went on a beach vacation to Phuket, Thailand, in August 2006. When Waters peeled his shirt off, he felt self-conscious and ashamed, suddenly coming to grips with the fact that he’d let himself go to pot. “You just can’t relax when you’re out of shape,” he says. “That really kicked me into high gear.”

Though committed to becoming fit again, Waters, then a flabby 185 pounds, was unsure of how to proceed. After a few months, he took a shirtless photo of himself and measured his body fat—it was 20%. Knowing he had to do something and sensing that if he posted his mission online he’d be more motivated to stick to it, he created a blog featuring his picture and announcing his intention to get in shape.

Once he posted a link to it in a fitness forum, the challenge was on for the whole world to see. “I wanted external accountability in real time,” says Waters. Additionally, he promised to upload a new picture each day. “This gave me additional pressure to finish the job.”

Then, the transformation began: Waters started preparing his own meals, eliminating processed junk from his diet and opting for lots of chicken, fish, raw fruits, and veggies. In the gym, he did high-intensity cardio and circuit training.

By the end of January ’07, 84 days after he began, Waters had shed 21 pounds of fat and five inches off his waist. Pleased with his results, he edited together all 84 pictures in his archive, turning his three-month transformation into a 48-second movie clip, which he posted on YouTube. Though he’d made commendable progress, Waters wasn’t quite convinced that he should take his shirt off on a beach.

Eager for approval, he asked readers of his blog to vote on whether his abs constituted a six-pack. If the majority said no, he would skip his already-paid-for vacation back to Phuket. To his surprise, voters overwhelmingly applauded his achievement, and Waters went. Though he continues to inspire people, the ever humble Waters is reluctant to see himself as a role model. “I’m just an English teacher!” he says.

N.B. Below is a a merged picture that documents my “wake up call” in August 2006 while visiting Phuket and my “redemption trip” back to the same beach in March 2007.

You can also watch a video (below pic) that documents the M2 Judgment Day: Six-Pack Vote that is referred to in the last passage of this article.

P.S. Unbelievably, it is one year to the day when I went “live” with this idea of holding a six-pack vote! Check out today’s Day 127 RTP Time Machine post for how it went down.

Shred on,
AJ

P.S. The work suit I was wearing in yesterday’s Day 492 pic was tailor made while I was in Phuket in August 2006. That’s why the fit is so large on me now! Time to get a new suit I think…

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*Important:

Feel free to use this plan as a template that you can follow. However, this plan is is based on my own personal experience over 3 physique transformation missions. In other words, what works for me may not work for you in the same way.

Success in this game requires research, individual design, real-world testing, monitoring results and making adjustments when necessary. This is your responsibility, no one else can do it for you. However, if you’d like to research further the exact programs I have used (over my first 3 Missions) and will use for M4 Shred you can do so at the links below.

M4 Shred Components: Click each link to learn more.

1) Fat Burning: 16 Principles of BFFM: nutrition, mindset and cardio.

2) Weight Training: Metabolic Surge: 36 Day Rapid Fat Loss System.

3) Six-Pack Training: Flatten Your Abs: 7-Level Training System.

Click Below For Real-Time
NY4 Status Updates:

Suzette’s Direct Blog Link
Joni’s Direct Blog Link
Debbie’s Direct Blog Link
Lilla’s Direct Blog Link

ECSS 2008:
Final Countdown Video

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Eat Clean,
Shred Hard,
Think BIG!

Cheers,
Adam Waters, NESTA-CPT

P.S. Below are Day 493 Real Time Physique Blog Daily Pictures for March 15, 2008: Mission 4 – Day 118 of 125