Fred is a longtime Parrillo advocate. “I’ve said this before but it deserves repeating; my current approach is based on a revelatory experience I had when I ventured to Cincinnati back in 1997 for the inaugural Parrillo Personal Trainer Certification Program: I thought I was a hard trainer; I thought I understood nutrition; I thought I knew how best to elicit significant gains for clients – everything I thought I knew went out the window after undergoing the Parrillo Certification course under John’s guidance.” All of Fred’s cherished preconceptions were demolished and smashed to bits. “It was wonderful!” Fred recounted. “I sensed immediately that Parrillo’s approach to nutrition and training was profound. Anyone who thinks that building muscle and melting off fat is easy or can be made easy is a fool fooling themselves.” Since 1997 Mr. Rowlett has been busy renovating physiques: out-of-shape beginners, motivated intermediates, men, women, young athletes, baby boomers looking to slow the aging process, national and international level bodybuilders…you name the type of body or situation and Fred Rowlett has helped individuals in that particular category make staggering improvement. “It’s somewhat ironic: regardless if the individual is a completely out-of-shape housewife or a nationally ranked bodybuilder preparing for a big show, fundamentally I have everyone follow the same basic guidelines and procedures – sure the details and specifics vary, but essentially everyone weight trains with a savage intensity, everyone performs hard cardio and everyone eats with complete discipline and precision. Those that adhere to this proven approach always make gains.”
Fred insists that all his clients and students use potent Parrillo supplements to amplify results. “If a competitive bodybuilder comes to me for advice or seeks to engage my services in preparing them for a show, the first thing I do is ‘switch out’ their nutritional supplements. If they are using some other commercial brand I have them switch to Parrillo supplements. I insist on this because I have to know that the supplements we are using are not sabotaging our efforts. The expert use of nutritional supplementation is critically important for a competitive bodybuilder. Supplements need to be both potent and ‘clean,’ that is, not loaded with questionable ingredients that will produce counterproductive results.” Fred’s knowledge of training tactics and nutritional strategies is vast: it can realistically be said that Fred has forgotten more than most personal trainers ever knew to begin with. Fred also has a reputation for being a savage taskmaster. He laughed when this was brought to his attention. He ruefully shook his head as he remembered back to when he visited Parrillo Headquarters many, many years ago. “People think I’m a tough and demanding trainer – I can’t hold a candle to John (Parrillo) – he is without doubt the most intense and effective trainer I have ever encountered.” Fred feels that Parrillo is underappreciated as a trainer. “When people think of John Parrillo they immediately think of his incredible and comprehensive line of nutritional supplements. While John’s nutritional approach and his potent products are what he is deservedly famous for, his training approach is, in my estimation, just as revolutionary and innovative as his approach to all things nutritional.”
Fred uses an Old School muscle-blasting approach towards weight training: lots of exercises for a particular body part; lots of sets incorporating a wide variety of rep ranges; he will attack a muscle from a variety of angles using every intensity-goosing tactic known to man: forced reps, drop sets, negatives, long-chain circuits – the idea is to blast a muscle into utter and complete submission before feeding the battered muscle and finally resting the muscle to complete the growth cycle. “Only by exceeding capacity is anything of any significance going to occur. In this same vein, I feel cardio should ‘hurt’ – not in the injurious sense of the word, but in the sense that I want those who perform cardio to generate so much intensity that they are barely able to breathe…literally. I want my students doing cardio to blast away at a pace so intense that they are skirting the edge of oxygen debt; I want them to go so hard that they are right at the point of ‘seizing up’ and having to quit. This is where the gains lie. We look to exceed current limits in weight training and cardio in every single session. We train hard, we train often and we eat lots of clean calories and take lots of Parrillo supplements to “support” this type of training. As a result, muscle is grown and body fat is burned.” Fred Rowlett churns out topflight natural bodybuilders like a GM assembly line churns out Corvettes. “I believe that if an individual trains right and eats right they can exceed the inherent genetic limitations assigned by nature. If the human body is shocked and rocked and blasted beyond its limits it will grow muscle and melt off body fat.” Fred works with a lot of great bodybuilders. He is particularly enthused about an Arkansas-based bodybuilder named Joe Wilson. Fred describes Joe as having “amazing potential.”
Joe Wilson
“Joe Wilson is a 29 year old Math and Geometry teacher at Bentonville High School in Bentonville, Arkansas. Joe has great genetics and is incredibly athletic. He was a college ‘yell leader’ at the University of Arkansas. As a male cheerleader weighing 240 pounds Joe could do sequential back flips! From the first time I laid eyes on Joe I felt that his raw talent, his athletic ability and his obvious genetic gifts made him positively ideal for big-time bodybuilding. Joe is a big, rawboned, country guy. He possesses a tremendous “base physique” for bodybuilding. Weighing 240 pounds I saw this guy do cartwheels and back-flips culminating in a sinking full split! More than just some giant gymnast, Joe has structural gifts: wide shoulders, narrow hips, small joints and incredible muscle bellies. Joe has a structure that puts me in mind of genetically gifted bodybuilders like Flex Wheeler or Sergio Oliva. I first started seeing Joe when he began competing in bodybuilding competitions I promoted. He consistently placed second in his class. I talked to him on numerous occasions and eventually he approached me about incorporating some of my tactics into his training and nutrition. I discovered he wasn’t doing enough cardio and he wasn’t doing the ultra-intense cardio that I insist on. Joe wasn’t taking in enough nutrients and the calories that he was eating were the wrong type. I suggested Joe start consuming Parrillo’s Muscle Amino Formula™. I am a huge believer that those who train as hard as I suggest need to take handfuls of Branched-Chain Amino Acids for a variety of reasons. Science has shown (and our own experience has confirmed) that supplementing with BCAAs accelerates muscle recovery and provides torn-down muscles with the raw fuel needed to heal and construct new muscle tissue. My clients and students take BCAAs by the fistful.”
Fred rounded out Joe’s new nutritional template with CapTri®, Liver Amino Formula™ and Mineral Electrolyte™ tablets. Joe had been eating around 2,500 calories per day and most of these calories were derived from carbohydrates. According to Fred, “Carbs kept Joe full but weren’t doing anything for his muscle mass.” Fred cleaned up Joe’s food selections and added lots of CapTri® calories into Joe’s nutritional plan. “Joe really started to take off when he began drinking CapTri® like it was going out of style.” Fred related that “Joe would tear through two bottles per month!” When Joe boosted his caloric intake to almost 5,000 calories per day Fred knew that Joe was going to blow some minds. “The more clean calories Joe consumed and the more supplements he took, the bigger and leaner he became. In six months Joe went from a 25% body fat percentile down to a 6% body fat percentile! His bodyweight dropped from 240 pounds to 185 pounds in that six month period.” During the final sixteen weeks of his transformational six month period, Joe’s bodyweight went from a 210 to 185. Fred also made changes to his weight training template: “We upped Joe’s weight training sessions and I had Joe concentrate on sets in the 12-15 rep range, pushing and pulling maximum poundage.” Fred recalled how Joe adapted to this hardcore approach towards progressive resistance training. “I would check in with him every two to three days by phone and after completing one of his extended lifting sessions, Joe would say, ‘Fred I am hurting! This new approach towards lifting is kicking my butt!’ To which I would say, ‘Great! That’s exactly what it should be doing!’” Joe won his Pro Card at the Gold’s Classic on September 13th 2008.
Joe Wilson is a work in progress and Fred Rowlett is unreservedly enthused about Joe Wilson and his future as a competitive bodybuilder. “If anyone can do it, Joe Wilson can do it! His physical structure is completely unique. Despite weighing the same as his competitors, he appears much, much larger. Because of his freaky structure, his small joints and his unbelievably beautiful muscle bellies, Joe dwarfs the competition. When he steps into the competitive lineup next year, Joe will look like a heavyweight. He will be able to come in much leaner, much more defined and refined than a heavyweight bodybuilder. Natural heavyweight bodybuilders have a difficult time getting totally shredded. Assuming Joe hits his stride he will look like a super tight, super-lean heavyweight despite weighing much less. He’ll overpower the lightweights and middleweights. This guy has an incredible future: in five years, if he stays on track, he’ll be the man to beat. If he can turn that elusive conditioning corner and obtain a 2-3% body fat percentile – while maintaining or improving on his already impressive size, shape and symmetry – Joe Wilson could set the standard. If he achieves the requisite degree of conditioning and allows his massive frame to fill out, he could become a dominant natural heavyweight bodybuilder. I think Joe is a genetic wonder with incredible athletic ability. Pair up his gifts with lots of intense work in the gym, back the work up with disciplined eating and plenty of Parrillo supplements and we could be witnessing the emergence of a bodybuilding superstar.” High Praise from Caesar!
Joe Wilson’s
Daily Meal Schedule
Meal 1: 1/2 cup oatmeal with two scoops Parrillo Hi-Protein™ + 1 tbsp CapTri®.
Meal 2: 10 egg whites with 1 cup spinach and 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
Meal 3: 8 oz lean ground turkey or lean ground beef, one head of Romaine lettuce
Meal 4: 8 oz chicken, 1/2 cup rice, 2 cups broccoli/cauliflower, CapTri®, Optimized Whey™ shake
Meal 5: 6 oz tuna, 1 can of salt-free green beans
Meal 6: 8 oz tilapia, 2 cups broccoli, Optimized Whey™ protein shake
Meal 7: 5 egg whites, 1 slice turkey lunch meat, 1 cup spinach
* I take 3 to 5 Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules with each meal or consume ten grams of Parrillo Creatine Monohydrate™.
Weekly Training Split
Monday: Chest, shoulders, triceps
Tuesday: Back, biceps, traps
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Shoulders, triceps, chest
Friday: Biceps, back, traps
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
* I start each workout with a “priority” muscle or muscle group. For my priority muscles exercises I try and perform five exercises that hit each muscle head. I will use 3-4 sets and perform 8 to 12 reps per set. On my “secondary” exercises I typically superset three exercises per muscle and use 10-15 reps per set. I find this rotational approach allows me to avoid muscle imbalances.
Cardio
Training Split
Off-season: 20 minute sessions three times per week.
In-season: 45 minute sessions six times per week and twice daily if needed.
*My cardio modes of choice are the elliptical machine, the recumbent bike or the revolving stair-stepper.
Joe is a promoter of natural bodybuilding competitions and puts on the North West Arkansas Classic. Anyone interested in contacting him can do so at…
www.nwarkansasnatural.com
Fred and Jan Rowlett put on bodybuilding competitions nationwide and can be contacted at
www.musclekc.com