MAX CONDITION EXPERIENCE
BY JOSH BEATY
For EliteFTS

I remember very vividly one particular statement Jamie made when we had our 
first conversation about four months ago. "We need to do a complete 180 
with what you are doing now," he explained after learning what I had been 
doing for the last year and the results that accompanied it. You see, I had 
become a creature of habit with my training and it was showing not only in 
my results, but in my motivation and enthusiasm as well. Sixteen weeks ago 
I had two main objectives. Jamie implemented a very simple, practical plan 
on how to achieve these goals. I took the plan seriously and the results 
would turn out to be incredible. Let's take a closer look at the goals and 
how he used what he refers to as practical science to help me achieve them.

Goal one, improve physique dramatically! With a wedding coming up in a few 
months I wanted to look better than I ever have before. I wanted to do this 
by adding roughly 20-25 pounds of muscle tissue and being very lean upon 
wedding. I have been 6'1 175 with minor fluctuations in weight for almost 
ten years due to high school and college basketball, so this presented its 
challenges.

Goal two was to maximize absolute strength. I was interested in doing this 
because I had basically never trained this element before being that there's 
not much room in a basketball players training program for absolute 
strength. I was focused on becoming stronger and I would not be 
disappointed.

Now let's take a look at Jamie's plan and how he addressed each. First, 
improve physique by gaining muscle mass. This issue is much simpler than 
most make it. Everyone looks for the magic workout to build muscle mass and 
the bottom line is that altering body composition is quite simply a dietary 
issue (COUPLED WITH QUALITY TRAINING). Whether it's gaining massive 
muscle tissue or losing layers of body fat, if your diet doesn't support your training 
goals then forget about it. Jamie put together a diet for me that was roughly 28% carbs, 
42% protein and 30% fats. The diet consisted of whole foods and a high volume of water. I was 
to eat three meals and three snacks daily, eating a moderate amount of carbs while eating 
adequate amounts of good proteins to repair muscles. Not rocket science at 
all despite what some of the fitness industry would have you think. He just 
gave general caloric and macronutrient guidelines and that was it! And it 
worked beautifully!

Addressing the absolute strength was even simpler. A simple adjustment made 
to rep ranges and rest intervals was implemented to maximize absolute 
strength. Generally speaking, absolute strength is trained with heavier 
weights (80% max effort or greater) with longer rests (3-7 minutes) with rep 
ranges anywhere from 1-6). My reps stayed between 3-6 with a little shorter 
period of rest than is typically used when training absolute strength. (2 min.) My 
absolute strength gains were nothing short of amazing. Addressing my motivation 
and enthusiasm he had me do almost all new movements (fun movements). Compound
 movements that were difficult and very taxing, but fun nonetheless; exercises such as overhead 
step-ups and single-leg dead lifts. He even mixed up my GPP so that non-weighted and 
weighted were done together (sledge work immediately followed by 
calisthenics). This had a tremendous impact on my psyche and looking back I 
consider this the single most important element of them all. I was so 
excited again to workout, which helped me to attack my training with renewed 
tenacity. And when I saw from workout to workout myself getting 
significantly stronger this created even more enthusiasm.

Overall, I am ecstatic about my results since consulting with Jamie. In 
sixteen weeks I surged from 175 to a surprisingly lean 200 and change. My 
lifts went up each week, in the beginning as much as 15-20 lbs per session. 
I am much bigger and stronger, while remaining functional, flexible and 
athletic. I could not believe how knowledgeable Jamie was in all areas. If 
you want to run faster, jump higher, play or look better my advice is 
simple, consult with Jamie. He not only put together the training and 
nutritional parameters that made my goals possible, he was accessible 
throughout the entire program for answering questions and explaining every 
nook and cranny. It became very clear that he wanted to see me achieve my 
desired goals just as bad as I did and that is something you just don't see.

Copyright 2005 Josh Beaty