I can remember back when I started working out, my goal was to be 175 lbs at a height of 5’9″ with some decent definition.
I wasn’t trying to get on a bodybuilding stage or get as low as single digit body fat, I just wanted to look like a muscular guy who could take his shirt off and be proud of my body.
My mind-frame was similar to a lot of beginners at the time; I didn’t want to be huge and I would have been happy with just muscular looking and defined.
Once I got to 175 lbs I realized that my perception of what 175 lbs would look like wasn’t what I thought it would look like.
What I mean by that is that if I wanted to be leaner then I’d be cutting back to 150 lbs and I wouldn’t have the musculature that I wanted.
So then my goal became to grow to 190 lbs. But then once I got to 190 lbs I realized that if I wanted to be as lean as I wished to be then I’d be back at 170 lbs.
You see, this is sort of like wanting to date a specific girl. In the beginning it may be great, but then her true colors shine and you may realize after 6 months of dating that the wanting was better than the having.
Once you gain 20 lbs you may see the true colors shine and realize it wasn’t the same picture that you had in your head.
Your goals then change and you may wish to add more muscle mass before going on a strict body fat loss approach. I have to establish this up front with you, because the bottom line is this…
YOU CAN’T DEFINE MUSCLES YOU DON’T HAVE!
So if you’re whole goal from the beginning is to just go for “a ripped up look” then you will probably be disappointed at what being ripped up looks like with no muscular development.
I constantly hear guys tell me that they would be more than pleased with a body similar to the way the actor Brad Pitt looked like in the movie Troy or maybe even in the movie Fight Club (although he looked like a string-bean to me in Fight Club, but that’s just my opinion).
Brad Pitt is an actor, not a bodybuilder. He’s a damn good actor at that! But here is something I want you to understand about that physique. First off, the camera adds about 20 lbs to your body and most actors aren’t big people to begin with.
Second off, he looked to be about 150 – 160 lbs in the movie Fight Club, and maybe 175 – 185 lbs in the movie Troy. His physique was definitely more of my taste in the movie Troy than in Fight Club.
Okay, to achieve the look he had in either of those 2 movies, Brad Pitt did not start off at a thin stature lifting weights and dieting just to get shredded. He probably got up to around 190 – 200 lbs before training for those movies.
I’m not one to say whether someone is all natural or not and personally I don’t care. Is Brad Pitt’s body from the movie Fight Club or Troy achievable without the use of steroids?
Yes, in my expert opinion it’s definitely achievable. Now, did he do it without using performance enhancement? Who knows, and personally I don’t care.
All I’m trying to get through to you right now is that you’re not going to start off working out to just get ripped up and end up with this type of body.
Regardless of what mainstream media, online literature, and magazine publications are pushing I’m here to tell you the truth! If you’re new to working out then my advice is to first begin getting your body accustomed to working out.
I started off with push-ups, sit-ups, overhead presses, curls, and jogging to build at least some sort of foundation and prime my body before getting more into traditional gym workouts.
Let’s be honest here, if you haven’t been working out at all then even just doing push-ups will help your chest stick out more and leave you sore at that! Doing light dumbbell curls or pull-ups will make your biceps sore if you have never done them or even regularly done them!
From this point forward you can progress into more traditional gym workouts without risking injury. It becomes easier for your body to adapt to bench pressing if you’ve already been doing push-ups and your chest is used to contracting and recovering.
But there is a lot that someone who is a beginner may not know about working out and eating properly. There is a lot of bullshit floating around that is trying to make you believe that it’s all supplements and specific rep schemes for building or cutting up.
And there is definitely a lot of “achieve this in 90 days” bullshit floating around too. If you’re new to it all then here is the damn truth right from the get go… you won’t achieve “that” in 90 days!
It takes many steps to get to where you probably want to go with your body, far beyond just “do this for 90 days to look like this guy.”
How to look like Brad Pitt from the movie Troy or Fight Club.
#1 – Build a foundation of muscle first before even trying to diet to see your abs.
For most people this will take more than 1 year of weight training and an increase of 20 – 40 lbs of actual muscle tissue!
#2 – Learn the ropes on eating to grow and how your body responds to nutrition and training before you partake in any strict fat loss plan.
You’re going to need to figure out how much food it’s going to take you to put mass on your frame. This is largely based on your genetics, activity level, age, metabolic rate and body type.
#3 – Be consistent! One month of serious training followed by a month off isn’t going to cut it.
A few days of eating enough to grow followed by slacking off the remainder of the week isn’t going to cut it! In order to gain the amount of muscle mass needed before you can even worry about shredding up to look like Brad Pitt from Troy is going to take at the very MINIMUM, one year of consistent eating and training to grow.
Then you can try to shred the body fat to look like this. Don’t listen to everybody’s bullshit about how that physique is attainable in just a few months of “training to get shredded” because it’s not! Do I look like Brad Pitt from the movie Troy? No, I surpassed that look a long time ago.
But everyone has their own ideal physique and there are plenty of guys who would be perfectly happy with that look! Whether it’s your ideal look or not, it’s still to be respected in my opinion!
Go hard- JD
This is excellent advice. I contacted JDB a while back wanting to get ripped, but he looked at my physique and recommended I grow instead. I trusted him, followed his advice (and PAID him to walk me through the steps – trust me, the investment was more than worth it), and I grew some more muscle first. I looked far better, even though I wasn’t leaner!
Trying to get lean just so you can see your abs is silly if you don’t have a thick chest and back to complement the midsection.
Hey J, I’m 210 6′ tall prob 20-25 % body fat have ran two test only cycles and have finally gotten serious about eating. Want to gain Lil more size and then shred down. I was gonna run test 500 and deca 300 to try and achieve the look I’ve been after, been hitting gym hard for two years now. Just want to see what u think about dosage for my goal and should I add anavar or winny or just stick with the test and deca, wanted to get your advice on what to do
Thanks
DP
Drugs like anavar and winstrol are only things I personally would use to retain muscle once I got closer to 10% bodyfat. Sticking with just test and deca at the dosages you’re talking about should be plenty to use when dieting to get down more to that initial 10% bodyfat, I’d save the winny and anavar for when you’re leaner, just my .02- JD
Hey JD,
Excelent post as usual. Simple, actionable advise that cuts through the bullshit.
I got tired of telling people, new to fitness, that consistency and good diet is the way to go.
The majority, especially the younger, are lost in the supplement industry and the fairy tale bullshit marketing.
Waiting for your new book.
Any publising date yet?
should be out sometime by spring, not sure on date yet. Book is scheduled to be complete by Feb 25th and then it’s on to editing
Ah man isn’t that the truth that as you go along what you want and think you can do changes. I am at the weight I was before I started working with John but my look is radically different and after each cut/bulk goals change a little more “Maybe I can get leaner this time” or “Maybe I can pack on 10lbs more of muscle than I thought” But it certainly isn’t a 90 day thing, kicking myself i didn’t start 15+ years sooner than I did!
That’s the truth with everything you set out to do! The goalposts always change, it’s never what you expected it to be etc… That’s what Arnie said when he arrived in America.
I think the point is though, you enjoy the journey and you end up in different cool places.
Thanks for giving me the reminder that I’m going to need to commit to training for years.
The damn internet somehow brainwashed me into thinking I can learn things in three months. Not True.
One of the biggest things I’ve changed in 2017 is not curling 40 or struggling to curl 50 pounds. Now instead I literally use 15-25 pounds and then do 4 sets of 12. Just doing that has made my biceps more defined and I get a better workout. Starting with the foundation and building up really is the right way to begin.
Regards,
Dylan Madden
Hey John, just wondering what do you think celebs use for movie prep such as brad pitt in this movie or other actors that play “hero’s” like superman, captain america, tarzan or zac efron in baywatch. They all seem to have had decent builds before and then in under 6 months sometimes in only 2-3 months they completly transform there bodies from a respectable natural gym goer to a bigger, harder and leaner look. I know they arent just doing anavar and they also aren’t blasting tren so what do you think they’re using ? I’m assuming alot of it pharma grade since they’re rich . Don’t worry I’ve been training for 4 years and have already done 2 low beginner cycles last year. Just curious since this seems what most guys are going for.
nothing different than any other gym rat, and probably paying 3x more for it