Sebastien, 38, shares the changes he made to lose weight and get stronger so he could be a better father and role model to his sons.
I’ve always endeavoured to achieve a good fitness level, by practising a lot of Muay Thai kickboxing, running and swimming, however I never managed to lose weight (and more importantly, fat). During Covid, I was in a constant state of sluggishness due to a lack of physical activity, and so I decided to sign up to Ultimate Performance’s 12-week program. I’d seen my wife and brother-in-law both achieve impressive results with Ultimate Performance transformation challenges. importantly, I wanted to ensure I could keep up, enjoy playing with and entertaining my two young boisterous sons. I didn’t want them to have a tired dad who after a busy work day could not give them attention, engage in sports and fun activities.
I would have defined myself as moderately fit in terms of cardiovascular capacity, however I carried too much fat and didn’t have a defined musculature. I thought I was strong but I clearly wasn’t, and acquiring muscle strength takes time through consistent resistance training routine. I was unfamiliar with resistance training as I only ever practised cardio workouts and had to learn about sets, repetitions, execution, form, and rest periods. It takes time to get used to, but the good thing about beginner trainees (as I was) is you can have good results fairly quickly. My best takeaway regarding resistance training is that it is the best type of exercise to achieve efficient fat loss, together with good nutrition.
Nutrition-wise, I had to make some big changes in the way I approached food. I learned about calorie control, starting with entering a calorie-deficit phase for efficient fat loss, and carefully tracking my macronutrients intake. Before UP, I had no awareness of how many daily calories I ate. Training at UP convinced me to change my diet for good: I now have a careful, but more intuitive, approach to calorie intake, macros compliance and overall making sensible foods choices. I cook whole foods such as meat, fish, green vegetables, good fats like nuts, avocado and healthy oils and other fat sources, completely eliminating processed or sugary foods/ drinks.
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I worked out four times per week for an hour with my trainer Marc, who designed an efficient whole-body German Volume Training (GVT) program consisting of full-body resistance training which allowed for a more aggressive fat loss rate and metabolism improvement. Examples of big compound movements involving large muscle groups would include hex-bar squats, bench press, Romanian or regular deadlift, associated with more isolated exercises such as lat pull-downs, rows, bicep and tricep curls, lateral raises, Bulgarian squats, and chinups. I found the mighty but incredibly efficient ‘Pendulum’ exercise, which works leg muscles, the toughest of all.
My journey mainly focused on fat loss whilst slightly increasing my lean body mass. I started at 77.3 kgs (170 pounds) with a body fat of 27.1% and ended up 15.3 kgs (34 pounds) lighter at 62 kgs (136 pounds) and a body fat of 9%. (When my family in France saw the new pictures of me, they thought I had Photoshopped them!) The greatest benefits, other than enjoying having a leaner shape, were a better mood and mental health, less stress, as well as improved sleep habits.
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This experience has also given me new confidence in approaching life, and taught me how to enjoy social events and food without feeling guilty or worried about gaining fat as long as I stick to a consistent clean diet associated with regular workouts. I feel more able to play with my sons and even carry them for long periods of time. Every parent knows that taking care of kids takes an incredible amount of energy, and my reward for training at UP is being able to keep up with my energetic boys.
I have decided to continue training with Marc at UP to build upon the successful transformation and push myself further into a longer-term muscle building phase. I now split my training between UP and on my own as I feel more experienced, and continue to benefit from Marc’s training and nutrition advice. Building muscle mass is a much slower process, but I now have the confidence and self-belief to succeed.
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My number one piece of advice for anyone would be: do not give up, believe in your ability to follow your trainer’s program and nutrition plan. Even with the best trainer in the world, only you can be fully compliant by prepping your meals, tracking calories/macros, notwithstanding completing 15,000 steps per day to accelerate fat loss. And just as importantly: try to enjoy every second of it, like I did!
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