Ok, this is still a work in progress, but as John threw these comparison pics up on his social media yesterday, how can I not be proud of what he’s been doing.
I’ve know John a long time. When he first opened his gym (gaglione strength) I came in to talk about nutrition and optimizing results for athletes at one of his first seminars. I had a blast, and was glad we could both help each other out in some way.
over the years, despite growing his business and his reputation, I’ve watched as he kept trying different approaches and advices to get his physique in line, nothing really paying off in the end. So this last summer, I reached out to John and we ended up meeting for coffee. I told him that despite so many BBers and PLers always feeling they were at odds with each other, there was plenty of information that each could benefit from that was used by the other camp.
John agreed, and we discussed how to best keep him progressing with his competitive lifts while embracing a different type of split, training, and of course, nutrition!
With John on the road a lot, we had to make sure he had a few tips and tricks, as well as understood what his goal was when making choices that he couldn’t wholely control.
He’s down about 60 lbs, and as the body composition analysis he’s sent me attest, fat is down and muscle mass is up!
I’ve got my personal idea of where I’d like him to ultimately end up, but it’s a long road, and we always take things like this one step at a time. I’m hoping he’ll eventually write a little article on his experience, I’m sure plenty of powerlifters would benefit from it. I know Brad would love to get him on our podcast when we can look back over the long road and really see just how hard he’s worked and how far he’s come.
Awesome work. I read he also hit a deadlift PR at a meet just a few weeks ago, so it’s not like fat loss always means losing strength. Walking that line between “eating for performance” and “eating for body comp” can be a stumbling block for most guys.
I’ve found this to be especially true for deadlifts. I’ve seen A LOT of examples of guys hitting PR deadlifts at lighter bodyweights. Seems to help with leverages. Generally speaking, the folks who have a better squat than deadlift are carrying a lot of extra weight around.
Yeah. I don’t wanna over generalize, but plenty of PLers I’ve known just don’t put the effort into their nutrition that they do into their training. I’ve been fortunate to have had a good number come
My way with dreams of dropping weight while hopefully hitting PRs. Luckily you help a few with a little nutrition magic, and suddenly you’re “the guy” -lol.
I was at a CSCS exam prep clinic last weekend and one of the instructors mentioned a PL gym he knew of nearby and I asked him if it was Gaglione. It was. That gym has a great rep. I’ve thought about joining but I’m about five hundred pounds away on my total to fit in there, lol.
Again, I just want to emphasize thatvthis is a work in progress, and I only said anything now because John himself put those two images side by side for the public to see.
I’m really glad he was into letting me help him when I first reached out. Once someone sets the self up as a coach, or expert in one field, they can’t always acknowledge that they need help from anyone else.
Like I said, I’ve known him for a long time, and watching as he kept going to people in fields far from anything that deals with body composition or losing weight to coach him, and never succeeding despite making social media proclamations always bothered me, but how do you bring such a thing up without sounding like an ass? -lol
So what is the strategy? Would you drop fat slowly or do a full-out cutting phase? I’m only really looking to lose about 5lbs. of fat though, my main goal is to get a lot stronger.
Definitely true. Counting calories and that kind of thing is a step too far. I keep track of protein to some extent (just make sure I’m eating enough) and don’t eat excessive amounts of fat or carbs, but there is definitely a lack of precision.
And another 3 lbs down since last week. According to John he hasn’t weighed under 270 since 2008. He derailed a bit during thanksgiving, but I told him if he sticks to the plans and updates I keep giving him, his consistent movement should keep up. His numbers are still relatively high because I changed his programming around to include a lot more hypertrophy type work (which not only requires more calories, but is responsible for his steadily rising lbm according to Dexa scans).
That’s pretty awesome, Stu. It’s really impressive when a powerlifter drops weight. I knew a guy from the highland games that dropped about 30 lbs and looked about ready to compete in a bodybuilding show.
The funny thing is that our deal originally included John writing an article about how he got himself a coach, and all the things he learned in the process about nutrition and physique recomposition from a “bodybuilding coach.” -lol
He’s been through so many “coaches” in the last 3 years, and still pretending that while he might have picked up some advice here and there, he did it all himself.
Whenever he does anything that pops up on the radar, my texts and DMs immediately start pinging from various respected names in the industry who share the similar stories and opinions…
It’s pretty simple when you consider the pattern of behavior (which I didn’t know about at the time) and why people like Thompson, Mendelson, Green and even Simmons all hate/don’t respect him and have their own stories.
(The added reason why Dave Tate removed all of the articles JG “wrote” from his site is yet another reason for his reputation)
