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Will Brink Interview

Article care of www.star-interviews.com

Will Brink is someone I have followed for a while now. His articles were always pretty interesting and he seemed like someone who enjoyed telling things as he saw them. I am so SOO tired of writer (loose term) who quote everyone they read and try to sound like they 'know' what the other 'experts' know. It's boring. So in a world of boredom, Will Brink came along and saved the day. I have read his stuff in several periodicals but most remembered his MuscleMag International work. Bob Kennedy was kind enough to print him and now ol' Will has a few books of his own. I haven't read them but I haven't read an industry or competitive book in a good 6 years. I will however pick up a copy of his first thing now that my new 300 pager is finally complete. That took forever it seemed. A month I think. Just kidding. Anyhow, this guy is quite brilliant. Read on Bat fans. Here's Will Brink. The man. The myth. The interviewee.

DON: What is your age, weight, height, body fat percentage: Now, at it's best, at it's worst: And what were your last two training sessions like as well as your last couple days of eating if you wouldn't mind.
WILL: I am 33 years old (soon to be 34.. yuk), a tad under 5'7", and I have not checked my body weight in years. I would guess around 170 lbs. The best I have ever been was around 205 lbs at 9% body fat. Ahhh, the good old days... my last two training sessions was shoulders, arms, and calves and legs a few days before that. My workouts are pretty much designed for maintaining.

DON: I suggest not having two large carb meals in a row unless they are the first two meals of the day and to sandwich 'later in the day' carb feedings in between protein feedings. In other words, if you don't have time for a follow up protein meal  later, don't do the carbs. Follow these rules but act on instinct. Let me ask you, what is a good pre and post workout meal plan?
WILL: I am not a big fan of food combining theory as a rule but if fat loss is the goal, I find it's best to eat the majority of carbs early in the day with the final carb meal following the workout, no later than say 5-6 pm. Later meals would be protein and vegetables.

DON: Habits I would assume come into play. How long after a session should you wait to eat? How long prior to the workout do you eat then? It's funny because physiologically, exercise on a full gut (i.e. swimming) isn't  sensible. But then a lot of people workout immediately following their  meals and they are just RIPPED.
WILL: Taking in some type of carb and protein immediately following the workout makes sense for many reasons, including some data which supports the idea that the anabolic window starts to close rapidly after an hour or so. Eating before seems to be fairly individual, but as a rule, an hour or more before working out, is as close as I would recommend.

DON: If there was one thing you could change about mainstream fitness, what would it be and what ARE you trying to  'revelate'?
WILL: I would change a LOT of things. The black and white view that aerobics "burns" fat and weight training only builds muscle. The idea that all fats make you fat and should be avoided. I can think of a million incorrect and/or unproven myths connected to mainstream fitness that has lead to a country of fat confused people.

DON: I hated needing to put ANY scientific info into my books at all but it was demanded. I limited it to the basics as most folk wouldn't understand it anyhow. What kills me are the people who ask for 'documentation' yet didn't need it before when they tried their last program and FAILED. Have you ever tried any of the fads? Zone, Atkin's etc.? What is your take?
WILL: That's a tough question to answer quickly so I wont even try.

DON: Tell me, what do you feel are the most essential supplements? The best for weight gain w/o getting fat and the ones for fat loss while preserving muscle?
WILL: The big three: whey, creatine, and flax oil. I tend to like supplements that improve health or at the very least, don't degrade it. Those three have decent data behind them, have many uses to any athlete, and have no problems with safety in my view. Of course a good multi vitamin and many other products can be used and recommended: additional anti oxidants, certain herbs, etc.

DON: Do you suggest to eat food instead of meal replacements or do you suggest meal replacements ARE food? Whose do you use?
WILL: It depends on the person and their goals and schedule. It's easy to make your own meal replacement type drink at home but most people are not at home all day. In that case throwing an MRP in a blender becomes the only option for some and is certainly better than not eating. It just depends on the individual. As for taste, I find the Lean Body by Labrada Nutrition in Dutch chocolate tastes the best to me.

DON: I recently tried the **** or whatever it is called. Was real let down. The ads and ****, the man behind the stuff all lied. It's so sugary I bloated like a balloon in moments. And so did everyone else who I gave the rest of the packets to. Everybody binges or has one food or meal that does them in EVERY TIME. There is also a part of their body they hate or even an exercise they despise and either still do, or avoid like the plague.
WILL: I have never tried that product so I can't comment. I do find however that many of the MRPs on the market bloat me up also, due to the types and amounts of thickening agents rather than the sugar content. They seem to think people want thick cake batter tasting MRPs. I like mine thin and easy to drink.

DON: How do you split your body up and what is your idea of rest and recovery session to session.
WILL: I do a basic three day split myself. Either mon, wed, Friday or tue, thurs, sat, type breakdown. Chest and back on Monday, legs on Wed., shoulders and arms on Friday, type break down but I change it around every few months.

DON: What progress has this split brought you or are you simply maintaining these days?
WILL: My workouts are designed more for maintaining these days but people can certainly make progress on a three day split if they put in the effort. I have the type of metabolism that unless I am eating a ton of food, training intensely and heavy, and sleeping 9 hours plus, I lose weight. I am just too buy for that so I have to be satisfied with maintaining and training/eating on the run often in bad hotel gyms.

DON: I limit my aerobics. I mean I do 12 minutes after each session with weights to flush my body of exercise debris, but what do you suggest?
WILL: I have you beat. I do exactly three minutes on the stationary bike on leg day only! I hate aerobics and consider it far overrated for fat loss and overall health. It's not that it's bad per se, but the love of aerobics in this country over resistance training is a joke. People are very busy today. In a perfect world, weight training with some aerobics is great, but I tell people if you only have a few days to hit the gym, always do the weight training first. If you have some time left over, do the aerobics. It also depends on the person. I often see some skinny kid with a fast metabolism complaining he cant gain any weight or muscle while he is on his second hour of treadmill! It makes me wanna slap them.

DON: What do you suggest to eat the day of a bodybuilding show or a photo shoot to look pumped and great but not flat and deflated? How about the pump up backstage? What about that?
WILL: Too complicated to get into

DON: What were the keys to your success?
WILL: Ask me in ten years.

DON: Have you had any professional consultation with a top level athletes or butted heads with anyone we would know by name? What was it about?
WILL: I have consulted to many athletes. We only butt heads when they allow their neurosis to make decisions for them which is often. Dan Duchaine likes to say the three most  used words when training athletes is "don't do that." He is 100% correct and it's why I do so little training anymore.

DON: Is there anything you think we haven't touched upon here yet you'd like to?
WILL: There is always something.

DON: Here's a question. What was the last movie you saw and last album or compact disc or audio cassette  you bought?
WILL: I saw the Matrix which I really liked. I also saw Shakespeare In Love which I thought was the most over blown over acted thing I have ever seen. That is beat Private Ryan for Best picture is the biggest joke I have ever seen and total proof how biased and out of touch the academy is. Best set design and costumes perhaps, but best picture? Please. I just picked up three new CD s the other day as I am a big music buff. I purchased The Cardigans new CD, which FYI is one of the best CDs I have heard in years and sounds nothing like their last album. I also purchased the new CD by Ben Folds Five and a compilation of Mozart concertos.

DON: What is your educational background?
WILL: I graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, which means it was basically a liberal arts degree that focused primarily on science courses. I chose that because it allowed me much greater flexibility to take science courses in many different areas of interest for me  rather than focusing only on one topic which does not jibe well to my personality.

DON: As a lecturer, what do you find are the most frequent interventions to your beliefs and respects?
WILL: Not exactly sure what you mean by this question. Can you rephrase another way?

DON: No. I was curious what was your most frequently asked question. Is soy protein safer for men to use if mixed with whey? Estrogen and all.
WILL: Oh, lately it's all about protein or creatine. Not safer per se but may have some advantages mixing them.  The issue of soy is complicated. Every time you find a study that makes soy look good for athletes, you find another that leads you to think it should be avoided. For example, the issue of soy phytoestrogens is interesting. Studies I have seen suggest the estrogenic effects are tissue specific. That is, the phyto estrogens in soy act as an estrogen in certain tissues but not others. The studies I have seen showed no negative effects in male monkeys. On the other hand, people like Pat Arnold claim there is research showing soy estrogens can reduce gonadotropin production, though I have never seen that research. Other recent research seriously questions the health benefits of soy and some studies actually point to soy as possibly shrinking the brain as well as having other downfalls. Proponents of soy tend to ignore the studies that show it is not all that great and ignore the fact that the supposed positive benefits for soy rest on some very weak correlational studies. I think soy may have its uses however. People interested in that topic can read the article at my site WWW.BrinkZone.com

DON: What changes are Muscle Mag trying to make surrounding the fitness industry this year? I know the IFBB and NPC are calling for a softer fitness look. Has Muscle Mag tried to change anything for the better?
WILL: I really don't know Don. I honestly do not. I don't have a clue what MMI is focusing on. I just fax in my columns and occasional article.

DON: I saw John did your logo at your site. He did mine too. Heck of a guy.
WILL: He is the man.

DON: Have you seen his Musclehedz Training Journal? What a riot!
WILL: I find a lot of his stuff is very funny, including the Training Journal. The picture he did of Dan Duchaine as the Guru makes me laugh every time I see it.

DON: I find anything about Dan Duchaine humorous. My clients have been continuing to make great progress during contest dieting saving aerobics until the last ten days. Without aerobics in the routine, are carbs still as important after a session of weights?
WILL: Probably, though it may be possible to take in less carbs.

DON: Mixing proteins. Do you think it makes sense to have an egg or two per meal when eating a steak, or fish, or chicken to compliment?
WILL: Not really. I don't see any reason to compliment an already complete protein. Not that it would do any harm per se, but I don't know of any reason for it or any research that would suggest adding and egg to a steak would increase anabolism. Now in the case of an incomplete protein like beans, it makes sense to compliment this incomplete protein with rice as most vegetarians will do.

DON: What are your fees for seminars?
WILL: It depends really on how far away it is, how much of a seminar they want, and what will be covered. Depends on the group also.

DON: Like Muslims as opposed to 7th graders, huh? Just kidding.  Your new fat loss book. Give me one hard selling point for my readers.
WILL: Like all my stuff, it will be concise, easy to read, unbiased, and useful information on the most common weight loss nutrients currently on the market. I find that although there is plenty of whiz bang new products coming out, most people still don't have a good understanding of what is already out there and are wasting a lot of money. I cover the top 20 or so most popular  products and a few most people will not have heard of before. What's good, what's not and what is a total waste of money. I pull no punches in this book. I think that is the type of information people want today.

DON: Priming the Anabolic Environment then. Your other book. The same? One hard selling point so my readers will say "WOW" and head to your site for more info.
WILL: Hmmm, I don't know what to say to get anyone to say  "Wow" short of taking off my clothes. Priming the Anabolic Environment has been around for a few years now. Most people seem to really like it. It's getting a tad dated in spots, but for a solid introduction to the right nutrition, training, and supplements, for gaining muscle and losing fat, I still think it's the best book of its kind. Some one once called it a "nuts and bolts" book on bodybuilding and I think that's a good description. What a lot of people don't realize is that book introduced certain concepts and information people now take for granted and don't realize where it came from.

DON: What did you think I was going to ask?
WILL: I figured "Can you date my ugly sister?" was going to be your next question. Sorry, I am married.

DON: My sister isn't ugly. She is Grace Grimes.
WILL: Oh. Laughs.

DON: Sad about Dan Duchaine. He was your friend and my nemesis. R.I.P.
WILL: Was a dear friend and yes, may he rest in peace or smile down on us and allow us to remember all his good works.

Visit Will Online At: www.brinkzone.com

Don Lemmon's Nutritional and Exercise Know How


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