Sonny Barger was the founder and “president for life” of the infamous Hell’s Angel motorcycle gang. Once

famed author Ken Kesey asked Barger, “How do you select Hell’s Angels? Is there a formal procedure? Do you put them through a series of interviews?” Barger spat on the floor, uttered a profanity and said, “Hell’s bells Kesey - we don’t select them, we recognize them.” The prototypical motorcycle thug needs to be big, strong and nasty. They need to possess a bad attitude and be prone to violence. All are social outcasts and when some gorilla with asocial/sociopath tendencies showed up; Barger simply recognized the obvious and announced the bad apple was now a Hell’s Angel. In the Parrillo world something similar occurred when Mike Grant showed up for his Parrillo Personal Trainer Certification course five years ago. John Parrillo remembered when Mike appeared at a two-day certification process, “99% of certification prospects are hanging on by their fingernails. Mike Grant was that rare 1% who came in and just ate it all up with a fork and spoon then asked for more.”

Mike became the prototypical Parrillo personal trainer. He had devised a system of training that duplicated hardstyle Parrillo methods. John Parrillo, like Sonny Barger, didn’t just certify Mike Grant, he recognized him. Mike Grant related, “John Parrillo and I see eye to eye on every aspect of training and nutrition all up and down the line. John and I both know that you get out of something what you put into it. The idea is to train hard - harder than you dreamed possible…really extend yourself. Then back up killer training with disciplined eating: the older I get the more I understand how important nutrition is…put together some serious training with really some super focused nutrition and results are not if but when!” Mike Grant is 44-years old and modifies physiques for a living. He lives in Woodbridge, Virginia, an upscale outer suburb of Washington, DC. He owns Life Design Personal Fitness Center and has a thriving business that caters to a wide variety of clients. “I work with out of shape people who have no fitness experience whatsoever. I work with teenage athletes who want to improve their athletic skills.

I work with bodybuilders, both male and female, that want to improve their competitive placing. You name it, executive, housewife, athlete, novice and elite; I get results for all of them because my methods (Parrillo methods) work every single time assuming the person using them implements them correctly and completely.” Mike and John Parrillo’s system, one and the same, always works because their system is based on science and biology. Over the years this method has been tempered and fine-tuned. After decades of real world competitive experience and after decades of supervising innumerable physical transformations Mike Grant has got the science of altering physiques (his own and clients) down to a fine art. After you’ve supervised hundreds of physical makeovers, certain themes and trends, certain commonalties and truisms become apparent. “After a while,” Mike said, “you come to understand what training and eating procedures work and which ones are dead-ends and a total waste of time. I find that I waste a lot less time getting results for the people I work with; I can size a person up quickly nowadays.

I find that I can tell a lot quicker if they’re following the program or not. It’s a fairly easy thing to analyze problems and proscribe new ways to bust through plateaus.” Mike Grant doesn’t suffer fools lightly and his drill Sargent demeanor says volumes without him having to say it. “Don’t waste my time - if you’re not going to get on board with what I am preaching and advising, then find another place to train. Someone else, someone serious, someone ready willing and able to do what’s necessary to make improvement wants your spot.” Nothing personal, but Mike Grant’s facility is all about getting results: if you are not super serious then don’t come knocking because MIKE GRANTLife Design Personal Fitness Center is not for you. Mike Grant is one hell of a bodybuilder and has the trophies, ribbons, medals, titles and championships to prove it.

A lifetime drug free athlete, Mike competes in the WNBF at the national and international level. He stands 5-foot 8-inches and weighs 205-pounds in the off-season. He currently competes weighing a ripped and shredded 192-pounds while carrying a 3% body fat percentile. “I love competing and I really enjoy the bodybuilding lifestyle. Getting into competitive shape is no big deal. Since I’ve gotten older, I now take a longer period of time to peak. In the old days I might whip myself into contest shape in 12-weeks where nowadays I’ll take more time, up to 20 weeks to reach my peak. By using a longer preparation period I find I can come in much harder and leaner without losing muscle size.” Asked what changes he’s made since passing 40-years of age Mike said that he’s upped his pre-contest protein intake. “In recent years I’ve really increased my lean protein intake and I’ll consume 2-grams of lean protein per pound of bodyweight each day. This comes to 400-grams of protein per day and I’ve found that a high protein intake - backed up with hard training - has really made a big physical difference.”

This man eats strict. “I don’t eat food for taste or pleasure, I eat food for fuel. I don’t eat food based on taste and can’t think of a food I crave. I eat the same all year around but kick up the calories when I have a competition coming up.” Mike follows the Parrillo weight training and aerobic approach “all down the line” and when it comes to nutrition Grant is a Parrillo-style eater and supplement user “100%.” He uses all the Parrillo Products and insists his clients do the same. “John’s supplements get the job done.” For a man who places a premium on perfect eating and potent supplementation this is the ultimate compliment. “I use Parrillo supplements every day and it seems that the products keep getting better and better.”"I use Parrillo supplements every single day. I am able to take in 400-grams of protein by consuming lots of Parrillo Optimized Whey^TM and lots of Liver Amino tablets^TM.

As soon as I wake up I have 3-4 scoops of whey then hit my aerobic session.” Asked if the carbs contained in Optimized Whey disturb the post-sleep glycogen-depleted state Mike said “No way,” without a second’s hesitation, “the few carbs contained in Optimized Whey have zero impact on the fat-burning results from my early morning cardio session.” Mike maintains that even for the greenest of clients brand new to the fitness game, “Parrillo-type nutrition combined with super hard training forms the foundation onto which everything that follows is built.” Mike personally supervises his clients training sessions so he knows they are training with the intensity and effort necessary to trigger growth and burn off body fat. Insofar as client nutrition, “I want even my beginners to take in 1.25 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. If you train really hard, hard enough to get results then you need protein and lots of it - I cannot overstate that! As long as they’re (the clients) getting 1.25 grams of protein on a consistent daily basis - and as long as they’re training under my direct supervision - they’ll be good to go.” At age 44, Mike feels he’s getting better with age. He still competes as a drug-free bodybuilder at the national and international level. “I competed in two competitions last year. On November 5th 2005 at the national master championships I took 4th place.

The following week I took 5th in the world championship in the open category. I like to compete against the

young guys and so far I can hold my own.” Mike Grant is the prototypical result-oriented Parrillo Personal trainer and like most Parrillo certified PTs, he teaches and competes. “I love what I do and I’m able to help people improve their physiques and their health. I feel as if I really have a talent for what I do and the people I work with get results because I give tell them and show them by example.” Mike is looking forward to competing again this year and feels he’s going to improve his own physique. “I feel that I can come in bigger and leaner and I feel that I will make significant improvements in my physique and the physiques of my clients.” Mike Grant does it the old fashion way, “Hard work pays off!” he says. There is no better walking, talking, living, breathing testament to the effectiveness of Old School methods and tactics than Mike Grant. Long may he roll!

Parrillo Performance
(800) 344-3404 

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