Interview with athlete Paulo Fernandes.
- Name: Paulo Fernandes
- Age: 26 years
- Height: 1.77m
- Weight: 85kg
- National Champion Men's Physique Category Under 1.78m
How and why did you start training?
When I initially decided to join the gym, it was just to occupy my time, get some exercise and be with friends.
As time went by, I fell in love and decided to take this more seriously, just for the challenge of overcoming myself.
I grew up in a city where there was zero contact with bodybuilding, much less there were people who could help me in that aspect.
I studied and studied, there were days in a row where I spent 5 hours reading and studying everything that involves this sport, and I'm talking about several years like that.
Because I am a person of extremes, what I like and commit to, I give 100% no matter what it hurts, no matter what the cost, always with the intention of surpassing myself day after day.
My competition is with myself.
What type of diet do you follow?
How is ?clean? Throughout the year, I cycle my calories and carbs depending on my goals at the time.
Protein rises or falls depending on carbohydrates, always varying in protein sources:
- Egg Whites
- whey
- Tuna
- Salmon
- Hake
- Shrimp
- Chicken
- Peru
- cow
Fats are normally always around 60g:
- Dry fruits
- Avocado
- Coconut
- Oil
- MCT's
In the off-season, I usually have 1 or 2 unplanned meals per week, I really eat what I want and leave it at that, and even then I prefer to eat a good picanha meal than fast/trash food.
Diet example
- Meal 1: Egg Whites made with Coconut, Oat and Pineapple Oil
- Meal 2: Chicken Breast and Assorted Pasta
- Meal 3: Whole skinless chicken, Basmati rice and broccoli
- Meal 4: Whey and Dried Fruits
- Meal 5/Post-Workout: Hydrolyzed Whey, Maltodextrin, Glutamine, Creatine and BCAA's
- Meal 6: White Fish, Basmati Rice, Brussels Cauliflower and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Meal 7: Beef and Spinach/Mushrooms
- Meal 8: Casein
What type of training do you follow?
My training ideology is form > weight, MAXIMUM weight for perfect execution of the exercise. I vary my way of training a lot, I use supersets, giant sets, dropsets, forced reps.
I have weeks where I focus on strength and others on hypertrophy.
In the pre-competition phase I also include functional training, Cardio HIIT, circuits.
What are the main differences when you want to gain weight and when you want to lose fat?
During a weight gain phase, I always try to train with as much weight as possible, I cut back on cardio a lot because I have a lot of difficulty gaining weight.
The diet is much more flexible, I can use some foods with gluten and lactose and I don't pay attention to the sodium in the food.
During the fat loss phase, the diet changes, the calories are reduced and I even go zero carbohydrates on some days. Cheat days are also over.
The intensity of training increases, rest times decrease, I also start doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach or at night before going to sleep and I add some supplements such as a thermogenic, Vitamin C, L-Carnitine, and take others such as Creatine and Pre -workouts.
Where does your motivation come from?
My motivation comes from my way of seeing life, I am not bound by borders, stereotypes or limits.
I know how to respect constructive criticism and I completely ignore naysayers.
With that said, I do not and have never competed with anyone other than myself, it has always been that way and always will be.
What supplements do you use?
It depends on the stage I'm in.
- Isolated/Hydrolyzed Whey
- Multivitamin
- Maltodextrin/WaxyMaize
- Omega 3
- Caffeine
- Creatine
- BCAA's
- Glutamine
- ZMA
- MCT's
Any tips in particular for those just starting out?
Don't give up, get informed.
People nowadays have very high standards and sometimes think they can achieve the results of someone who has been training for almost a decade in just a few months.
This is a big journey, but I guarantee that if you start today you won't regret it.
Enjoy the journey to your goal with pleasure and never consider it a sacrifice.
Remember that our body is the only thing we really possess in this life and that it is ?our home? where we live. Take care of him, respect him.
I want to thank my sponsors, Myprotein, Miguel Mesquita from Slnutrition, Olga Cabeleireiros, and Kartódromo de Vila Real for believing in me and for all the support provided.
I would also like to say that since the beginning of this year I started working with Ramon Gonzales Freire as my trainer, and I hope that with his support we can get much further.
Starting this year #Ironbabyteam
- Social media
- Personal Page Facebook
- Athlete Facebook Page
And of course a big thank you to Ginasio Virtual for this interview.
