"I have lost about 40 pounds of fat and visibly gotten bigger muscles and more definition."
Daniel's Progress
Before
3 Months
7 Months
What has happened so far on the program?
I played basketball pretty seriously up until I was around 19 years old, so I have a background in sports. After the military I started my own company and pretty much didn’t care about anything else.
I partied, ate pretty much whatever, slept poorly and did little-to-no exercise. I just didn´t take care of myself. I figured that at some point in the distant future I would get in to shape.
I have now been cutting for about 7 months. However, during my summer holiday month I really did not care and was not on point with either diet or exercise.
I started out at 246 pounds and around 24% body fat. I finished at 207 pounds and 9-10% body fat.
I have lost about 40 pounds of fat and visibly gotten bigger muscles and more definition.
Squat went from 175 to 285 for 6 reps
Bench went from 130 to 210 for 6 reps
Deadlift went from 175 to 375 for 6 reps
Military Press went from 75 to 145 for 6 reps
What, if anything, almost kept you from buying the book or starting the program?
Funny thing, I was looking for business books to read that entrepreneur´s recommend. I stumbled upon one guy´s blog post and he had listed ten well-known business books and one of them was Bigger Leaner Stronger. I bought all ten books, but ended up reading just BLS!
I was quite skeptical as the book cover seemed all too familiar with promises of an extraordinary body and had a guy (Mike) topless showing his muscles. And of course the before and after pictures.
What do you like most about the program?
After three weeks in I saw some real results that helped me continue. After a few months I was convinced that this is how you should go about eating and exercising, and my friends started noticing that I was doing something different.
In the past I was one of those who looked funnily at people who count calories and macros. Now I really don´t know how people can eat properly without knowing their numbers! Before it would have felt like a pain in the ass to start counting your food. Now it is the most natural thing ever.
Following the program was much easier than I thought (having bad experiences from PT´s). It has now become a lifestyle for me. This is something Mike and many others also speak about – it becoming a lifestyle rather than a “diet” or “program”.
Many people still ask me what kind of diet I am on. I just tell them that I eat whatever I like. 😉
How does this program compare with others you’ve tried?
I was on a personal trainer´s program (basic shenanigans) a few years back. I think I did it for four months or so. It was quite high-rep and super-set to exhaustion. I would spend about 1.5 hours in the gym including all the treadmill warm-up and cooling down.
And the trainer just copy-pasted a meal plan that didn’t even count caloric-intake. That didn’t work, surprisingly. But after reading BLS, where Mike really explains how things work, I got informed and very interested in the science-part of training, eating and overall well-being.
I have enjoyed the workouts so much! I train fasted in the mornings before going to work. I have progressed on all my major lifts. Deadlifting is now one of my favorite exercise. Before I thought it was a horrific exercise.
How has what you’ve achieved with your body changed other areas of your life?
The most important thing now is that I know exactly why I do specific exercises and why I eat the way I eat. I know that if I were to get fat again I know exactly how to cut it away and how long it would take.
My energy-levels are constantly high and when I go to bed I fall asleep like a baby. The change in my productivity at work has also changed significantly. I am just mentally sharper and enthusiastic.
When I come home to my family I have energy to play with my kids, cook dinner and do the basic home stuff.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I would definitely recommend the program. I get very enthusiastic when people ask what I do and almost to the point that I am trying to convince them to read BLS/TLS. My colleagues have, perhaps unwillingly, received a summary of BLS.
This has changed my life. I am so happy that I found Mike, his books and blogs while I’m still relatively young. I didn’t picture ever getting back to such shape. And now I am in the best shape of my life!
I would like to add that we have two little kids and they wake up a few times a night. I mention this because I know many people who live the busy times of their lives with kids and work. You can find time. Just commit to this and then figure out how to make it work in the day-to-day.
Make it happen because this is the best thing you can do for your kids. One of my mental goals is that when my kids are grown up and see pictures of their dad they can say, “Damn, father was ripped!” 🙂
I have done this with very little cardio. I got down to about 10 % body fat with 0-1 cardio sessions a week. The past two months I have done zero cardio. But I have constantly lifted 4-5 times a week.
Also I have been quite flexible with my diet. Many times a week I have eaten lunch at restaurants and I have attended more than a few parties where I have drank to the late-night hours. I just make sure to drink dry or sparkling wine. I probably would have gotten results faster if I avoided these, but it has worked for me and now I am not obsessing with every spoonful I put in my mouth.
While cutting I use Pulse and Forge before training. Afterwards I take Phoenix, Recharge and fish oil with my post-workout meal of bananas, porridge and some Whey+. It has become a routine. The guys at Legion are legit – and funny!
Of course you do not need supplements to make results – they are just a way to perhaps speed up progress and Whey+ is convenient and fills up your protein intake without adding fats. If you decide taking supplements I highly recommend these guys.
Want to become a success story too? Here's how he did it
The program that made this transformation possible:
Mike Matthews is the founder of Legion as well as the author of several award-winning fitness books, including Bigger Leaner Stronger, Muscle for Life, and The Shredded Chef.
His simple and science-based approach to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy has sold over a million books and helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever, and his work has been featured in many popular outlets including Esquire, Men’s Health, Elle, Women’s Health, Muscle & Strength, and more, as well as on FOX and ABC.
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We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you live in the UK or Canada, your order ships free when it’s over $99.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you’re outside the USA, your order ships free when it’s over $199.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
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In consideration of the services and/or products offered by Legion Athletics, Inc. (“Legion”) including, but not limited to, nutrition plans, exercise routines and coaching, and in addition to the payment of any fee or charge:
I knowingly and voluntarily enter into this waiver and release of liability and hereby waive any and all rights, claims or causes of action of any kind whatsoever arising out of my use of Legion’s services and/or products, and I hereby release and hold harmless Legion and its consultants, officers, contractors, agents, owners and employees from any and all responsibility, liability, cost and expenses, including for injuries, damages or disorders (physical, metabolic, or otherwise), resulting from my use of Legion’s services and/or products.
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Some popular pre-workouts are all-natural. Some contain the right mix of high-quality ingredients. Some provide clinically effective doses. But only Pulse checks each of these boxes.
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While these types of chemicals may not be as dangerous as some people claim, studies suggest that regular consumption of them may indeed be harmful to our health. And that’s why we don’t put any of them into our products.
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Analyzed for purity and potency in a state-of-the-art ISO 17025 accredited lab by Labdoor™, the gold standard of third-party lab testing.
Analyzed for purity and potency in a state-of-the-art ISO 17025 accredited lab, the gold standard of third-party lab testing.
This product doesn’t just “contain natural ingredients”—every ingredient is naturally sourced from plants and animals. This product contains no artificial or synthetic sweeteners or flavors of any kind.
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