Here’s a quick Q&A with Julian Jones who came 1st in the men’s transformation category in the latest 8-week Ultimate You Challenge.
- Give us a short history of your journey to health and fitness before the challenge.
Luckily I’ve always been a very active person, been an avid gym goer for some years now and also still take part in sporting activities like rugby, social cricket and golf, the transition into stepping it up for the competition however was a bit of an eye opener as it showed me I didn’t really push myself to the fullest even though I tried to lead an active lifestyle.
- What prompted you to join the ULTIMATE YOU Transformation Challenge?
We have had a few friends that have entered in past challenges, and just seeing their transformations was truly the deciding factor to me, was always in the back of my mind….hey, that could be you too if you just push yourself, so decided to take the plunge and enter with Loren and give it my all and see how things turn out, which in the end didn’t turn out too bad seeing as we both exceeded our goals.
- Give us a quick overview of the nutrition and eating plan that you followed during the challenge.
This was the hardest part for me in the challenge, with the rugby practice twice a week and game days on Saturdays (over and above gym) I really but in a lot of effort into getting my portion sizes right as I was burning a lot of calories and didn’t want to really loose size, portion control was key for me and getting the results I wanted. A normal day would probably consist on oats and eggs in the morning, snack would be a fruit salad & protein shake or bar, lunch would be a decent portion of chicken with some veg (broccoli) and for dinner it would range between stir fry or some ostrich steak or patties, depending on the craving I’m having in regards to meat.
- Give us a quick overview of the training and exercise plan that you followed during the challenge.
Training was a little bit easier for me, have had a routine iv followed for some time now, but would gym from a Monday through to Friday, this would include gym before rugby practice, then off to rugby practice twice a week for conditioning training for two hours after gym and on Saturday would be game day. So all in all I trained 6 days a week with Sunday being a proper rest day used to prep my meals for the week.
- If you could give 3 pieces of advice to future challengers, what would they be?
If the going gets tough, the tough get going, bit cliché but really worked for me in helping my mind set through the challenge
Never underestimate what you can do, your body is a lot more resilient than what you think, push to the end no matter what
Enjoy it, it’s a great learning curve, can only help you in the end if enjoy what you doing
- What did you find most valuable about your experience?
That this has turned into a full lifestyle now for me, there is hopefully no turning back for me and will just carry on leading the same healthy lifestyle.
