Bust Through Any Plateau

New science reveals how to reclaim your body and reach peak performance.

- Michael Easter

JONATHAN Montgomery was frustrated. His biceps weren’t popping, but his belly was. The 38-year-old firefighter was doing everything right, or so he thought. He lifted three or four days a week and watched his food intake, especially carbs. At first it worked – he got leaner and stronger – but he never quite hit the fitness level he was seeking. After a year, flab crept back and his fitness stalled. He tried to bust out of his rut by lifting more and eating less.

It backfired. He found himself at a chubby 100 kilograms, feeling strong but out of shape. It didn’t make sense, he says. One night he googled for answers and stumbled upon trainer Alex Viada and nutritionist Trevor Kashey, a duo with a no-nonsense, science-heavy approach to fitness. They’d gained their expertise in clinical research settings and teamed up because, they said, fit guys are training all wrong. And then they plateau. They get stuck and frustrated and start to regress.

Montgomery asked the pair for a plan, and their initial demands shocked him: eat more food, mainly carbs, advised Kashey. Do two 60minute runs a week at a boringly slow pace to supplement the lifting programme, suggested Viada.

“Their ideas seemed totally counterintuitive,” Montgomery says. “I always thought carbohydrates and jogging just made you fat. But my own approach at the time wasn’t working, so I committed to following through with exactly what Kashey and Viada instructed.”

By the time he’d completed six months of four weekly work outs, Montgomery had added 50kg to his gym total (combination of squat, bench and deadlift), shaved eight minutes off his 5K time, run his first six-minute mile, dropped 13kg, and sculpted a ripped body. Other men who have worked with Kashey and Viada have had similar results.