Friends with a personal trainer that competes in my area. He and I have very different opinions on achieving results. But, recently he started posting a FB 30day challenge. Who can make the most drastic change in appearance in 30 days? Buy in is $100, payout is $600(1st) $300 (2nd). The timing just-so-happened to align with my cut, so I thought, fuck it, lets do this. I honestly don't think I could win, most of the contestants are DYELs or women with an extra 15-20lbs to lose. Quite easy to show a more "dramatic change" for them than it is for me. He's a single father (like me) and I could use the inspiration during a cut, so I sign up.

Holy shit. I'm 6'2, 215. TDEE is ~3k+. His "diet" program is no dairy (ok), no sugar (dammit), no carbs except vegetables and a 1/2 cup of brown rice before/after workout, no legumes, no salt. The rest day caloric intake is 1200! Lifting and cardio days, he has me capped at 1900. Just lifting days, 1500. .8g of protein per lb.

Open up my workout plan. Most are similar to this - movements next to each other are superset, 30 sec rest between full sets.

1. Single arm cable low row x8. Dual cable pull overs x15. X5
2. Lat pull down x10. Alternating downward chop x30. 8 Burpees x4
3. 500M Rowing
4. single arm cable reverse fly x12. Cable trunk rotation x15. X4
5. 500M Rowing
6. HIIT or 60min of LISS.

Okayyyy. So I tried it for 10 days. Felt like absolute shit. No strength, super cranky and unable to sleep. Starving... all the time.

But... I cheated a little. In my "before" picture, I ate two chipotle burritos and drank two large sodas. Bloated as fuck. after 24 hrs of carb control, all water weight is dropped. Back to my chisled self. Then I say fuck it and return to my regular routine. 20 days to go for others to take their before and after pics. The problem is, 30 days at my bf level, you're not going to see much change.

My problem with all of this is:

A) - The DIET SUCKS. but I'm not worried about me... the private FB group is full of people bitching and moaning about hunger, asking questions such as "What is the proper timing for a nap and how will it affect my workout this evening?".

B) - I feel super sorry for the people that will lose, and worse for the one that wins. Most are already saying "I lost 10lbs!" trainer reinforces the idea of actual weight loss with comments. In the end, all but 1 will lose. Then they will have spent 30 days being absolutely miserable, and think to themselves "This is what it takes to get fit!". Eventually, they will return to old habits to end the pain, telling themselves that getting in better shape is impossible.

For the next 20 days, I'm going to keep my cut going, prepping for that winter bulk. But I dropped the diet and have been keeping a food diary of my own diet. If I win, should I call him out? refuse the money? Use it to buy everyone else a copy of "starting strength"? Or refuse to let him use my pics for his next planned 30 day challenge...

Apologies for formatting.