João Fialho is a Men's Physique athlete who debuted on stage this year and soon with excellent results. Get to know him better in this interview.
He started with the South Regional where he got second place in his category, and after a week and some adjustments, he took the stage at the IFBB National Championship.
Not only did he take first place in his category, he also became absolute Men's Physique champion in the Overall, in other words, it's the current national champion.
- Name: João Fialho
- Age: 26
- Height: 1.72m
- Competition weight: 70/71 kg
- Out-of-competition weight: 76 / 77kg
- Regional South 2016 - 2nd Place
- National Championship 2016 – Absolute Champion
How and why did you start training?
I started training, in fact, going to the gym when I was about 15 years old with my great friend André Cambin. At the time I played football and I wanted to have nice muscles, but I didn't make the effort to do so.
Regularly, with diligence and dedication, in 2013, when I was finishing my higher degree in Sports, here yes, it was my change!
I started studying, researching, testing training methods, making some adjustments to my diet and the first results started to appear. I started this process because I decided I wanted to change. I wanted to be different and I wanted to be taken as an example.
I believe that in my area, the fitness area, we as coaches must be the example for our students/athletes. It doesn't mean that you have to have huge muscles, but rather, you should be in shape.
What made you want to compete?
I always liked competition, this was the main reason.
I like to compete to test my abilities and at this moment, since my great passion is training, mainly weight training, I thought it would be time to, as I said before, test myself and measure ?forces? with others who share the same passion as me.
I do not enter to ?participate? but to do the best you can.
I structured my preparation and put it into practice, luckily it went the best way!
What kind of food do you follow?
My diet is based on what I consider basic for the results I want to achieve.
I rely heavily on good amounts of protein and fat, and smaller amounts of carbohydrates, especially when I'm cutting.
When I want to increase a little muscle mass, I increase carbohydrates and lower fat.
This management is done with the help of the Nutritionist who accompanies me, Dr. Rita Mestre, an extremely competent person, with good knowledge of sports nutrition.
For example, when I want definition, I do something like this:
- Meal 1
- protein source
- Meal 2
- Oatmeal with fruit and nuts
- Meal 3
- source of protein and fat
- Meal 4
- Sweet potato and chicken
- OR
- Lean beef with salad and fruit
- Meal 5 (Usually pre-workout)
- source of protein and fat
- Meal 6 (Usually post-workout)
- Fast source of protein and carbohydrates
- Meal 7
- protein source
- meal 8
- Same as meal 4 but with less carbs
- meal 9
- source of protein and fat
What kind of training do you follow?
I can't say that I follow the ?X? or "Y" but yes, I have training methods that I use at specific times.
As my own trainer, it is necessary to have good self-knowledge to be able to assess which method and when to use it.
I personally like techniques like super-series, tri-series, giant series, drop sets and rest pause.
Now, as I'm in a phase where I want to keep myself with a low percentage of fat, because it's summer and everyone likes to feel good, I choose Super Antagonist Sets, and I train the main muscle groups 2 times a week.
Weekly planning
- Second ? Chest / Dorsal and Abdominal
- Tuesday ? legs / deltoid
- Fourth ? Biceps/Triceps and Abdominal
- Thursday – Pectoral / Dorsal
- Friday? Legs / Deltoid and Abs
- Saturday? Cardio HIIT
Training example – Legs and Deltoid – Supersets
- Press / Military Press – 5 x 12
- Leg extension / Dumbbell flights – 4 x 10
- Leg curl / Sides – 4 x 15
- Squat / High row – 4 x 8
- Standing twins / Shrinks - 4 x 15
What are your 3 favorite exercises?
No doubt they are the Squats, Military Press it's the Dead weight.
Where does your motivation come from?
From myself and those who support me (girlfriend, brother, parents and friends), I always try to be better than I was before.
I consider myself demanding because I look for perfection, I am never satisfied and as such, to stop is to die!
Of course, I admire the great Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeremy Buendia, Jeff Seid, Felipe Franco, among others, however, if the motivation doesn't come from us, there will certainly be no one to do the work for us!
What supplements do you use?
Any tips in particular for those just starting out?
The same that I always say to those I follow closely: Don't be in a hurry and respect the natural process of things, nobody was born ?Big?!
Do not abuse the loads and prefer to use intense workouts instead of very bulky workouts with huge loads.
Goals for the future, what are they?
I intend to continue my work and return to competitions in the future.
It's not easy, but I intend to make my international debut. I think it's a good experience and as I'm a fan of the old maxim that ?with work everything is possible?, I'm going to work for it!
Accompany this athlete in the Facebook.
