Starting my first official T-Nation training log here as a part of the 2025 Transformation Challenge (shoutout to @TrainForPain for all his efforts in coordinating it!). I’ll be updating it as I progress with workout progress, wins + challenges, and reflections on the process.
The theme and approach I’m taking to this process is “brilliance in the basics.”
I’ve been training for over 16 years and have tried practically every workout and diet approach you could think of. Lately, however, I’ve been obsessed with the concept of being brilliant at the “basics” for great health, strength, and overall fitness. To me, those basics are…
Sleep
Nutrition
Movement
Stress Management
Recovery
To that end, I’m going to make this log a holistic one, cataloging my experiences and efforts to become exceptionally consistent in these areas.
More to come, as I’m currently writing this from an airport lounge before a transatlantic flight.
Let’s make 2025 our strongest, healthiest year yet!
The training and nutrition principles I’ll use to help me achieve them
Share some snippets from this week’s first workout
What am I Trying to Achieve, and Why Does That Matter to Me?
I’ve been training since I was 16 years old. In that time, I’ve gone on to lose 100lbs., get a featured transformation story on Bodybuilding.com, compete in two NPC bodybuilding shows and one (unofficial) powerlifting meet, and be published in a NYT Bestselling men’s lifestyle and fitness book as a success story by a former T-Nation writer.
Outside of these gym-specific pursuits, I also played rugby for years.
In short… I feel like I’ve done a lot in my training career. I’m proud of myself. And I’ve taken all I’ve learned and achieved and used it to “pay it forward,” as former T-Nation editor Nate Green once said. I now coach people professionally, helping them improve their nutrition, stress management, movement, sleep, and recovery.
Which brings me around to the t-ransformation2025, why I joined, and what I’m looking to achieve.
I’m 33 years old now and work at Google, where I’ve been for 10.5 years. I also run my coaching practice on the side. Fitness used to be all I could use my time for, but as I really “make contact” with life, I’m up against those competing priorities that younger Ian didn’t want to hear from his older, wiser elders about the challenges of balancing health and fitness with real-life responsibility.
“What, not everyone only has 2 hours of class a day and then fuck-all to do except train for 3-4 hours?!”
This balance - or rather lack of it - hit me hard in 2016-2019. Due to everything changing about my life circumstances - including starting my career and moving to Ireland in 2017, where I currently live and work as a dual citizen of America and Ireland - I “lost my way” with my health and fitness. I regained 50lbs., and I experience a small identity crisis.
“I’m supposed to be the health and fitness guy,” I said to myself. “What the fuck is going on with me?”
I came to understand that my inability to recognize my approach to health and fitness was set on “all-or-nothing” mode, relying on old circumstances and mindsets, was what was holding me back.
Thankfully, in 2019 and throughout the pandemic, I was able to detach, pick up some professional certifications through Precision Nutrition, apply the principles to my own life, and lose close to all of those 50lbs. I had regained.
Now, as a part of my lifestyle and fueled by the t-ransformation2025, I want to embody the principles I’ve learned and coached.
I’m seeking quality, simplicity, and balance for all of the major areas of my health: sleep, exercise, stress management, and recovery.
By executing in these domains at a high level, I’ll not only make health and fitness a balanced part of my identity (and also “walk the walk” even more-so for my clients), but I’m confident I’ll also achieve an awesome transformation.
In terms of hard outcomes, I’m aiming to…
Lose at least 10lbs. in the next 3 months
Aim for 90%+ consistency in training and diet over the course of those 3 months
Training and Nutrition Principles I’ll Use to Help Me Get There
With the context and goals covered, let’s chat principles and tactics.
Training
I’ll be running a full-body, 3x per week training program. This is a blend of personal experience, former T-Nation writers’ programs and wisdom, and principles borrowed, adapted, and applied from receiving 1:1 coaching myself.
A few notable callouts:
I don’t do the “Big 3” barbell lifts anymore. Beyond the usual risk/reward ratio discussion, they a) don’t feel great on my body after 16 years of hard training, and b) aren’t necessary to reach my goals. Selfishly, I feel it’s necessary for my ego to say that my numbers on the Big 3 weren’t too shabby: 450lb. Squat / 300lb. Bench / 550lb. Deadlift.
I worked with a calisthenics-focused coach in the fourth quarter of last year who introduced me to a new method of lower body training he dubbed the “total work” approach. Simply put: pick a lower body movement, pick a rep target, and try to hit that target in as few sets as possible. This has not only been a godsend for achey knees and hips, which flare up when I load knee-dominant patterns, but also built some legit work capacity in my lower body. They feel better than they have in years, and - truthfully - I don’t even care if I lose a bit of size if I regain athleticism, function, and am pain-free.
Day 1
Neutral Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Deficit Push Ups, Feet Elevated: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
DB RDLs: 2 sets of 8-10 reps
Deficit Reverse Lunges: 50 reps per leg, total work method, increasing 5 reps per week
Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 15 reps
Day 2
Inverted Rows: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
DB OHP: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Hip Thrusts: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Bulgarian Split Squats: 50 reps per leg, total work method, increasing 5 reps per week
Tricep Press-downs: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Day 3
Neutral Grip Cable Rows: 4 sets of 8-10 reps
Incline DB Bench Press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Hamstring Curls: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Step Ups: 50 reps per leg, total work method, increasing 5 reps per week
Hammer Curls: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Nutrition
I’ll be following a simple diet: 3 main meals per day and 1 high-protein snack. Each meal will have at least 6-8oz of lean protein, at least 1 cup of complex carbs, and 2-3 cups of vegetables (or fruit, if we’re talking breakfast), and 1-2tbsp of healthy fats. I’ll drink 1 gallon of water per day as well.
Supplementation
I’ll use the following @Biotest supplements to help support my transformation:
Superfood
Flameout
DFix
ElitePro Minerals
Surge Workout Fuel
Some Results and Media from Monday’s Day 1 Workout
Tuesday, January 21
Off day from training, but managed to get 10.2k steps in and some meditation for active and passive recovery. This was off the back of a (very) bad night of sleep the day before, where - for the life of me - I couldn’t fall asleep until after 4 a.m. I was dangerously close to pulling an all-nighter! I attribute this to 1) late p.m. caffeine use (before my workout), and 2) an early evening workout (where my standard is usually late morning or early afternoon). I think I was too amped up to sleep, so did what I needed to do on the recovery side the next day.
Wednesday, January 22
Training - Day 2
Decided to train in my home gym setup today, ~7:45 a.m. start time.
Inverted Rows: Bodyweight x 3 x 15
DB OHP: 45lb. x 3 x 15, 13, 10
Hip Thrusts: 70lb. DB x 3 x 15 reps
Bulgarian Split Squats: 50 reps per leg x 2 x 30, 20
DB Curls: 15lb. x 2 x15 (I barely train arms, so kept this light to feel it out)
Energy levels are normal, and I’d say stress is currently at a 6/10.
Also - weighed in at 217.8lb on Monday, so we’re 12lb. off my “goal” weight of 205lbs.
Tomorrow will be another rest day, where I’ll try to get at least 10k steps in, maybe some LISS cardio, and some stretching / mobility work. I’ll also do some stretching before bed this evening.