Transformation: Dave Rynecki Gets Completely Diced!

November 2013 to April 2015  |  18 months  |  @davidryneckifitness

Dave was already a personal trainer training hard when he decided to compete. What changed was not the effort, it was finally getting the food right and getting a coach.

Where he started

Life was going well. Dave was finishing school, working as a personal trainer, and training hard and consistently. This was not a story about being out of shape; it was about a specific goal.

The habits went back further. At fourteen his gym class weighed him and the scale read 210, which is where he first decided enough was enough. He lost weight, got into lifting through high school, and taught himself as much as he could. That is what turned into wanting to coach other people.

By mid-2013 he had drifted back to 180. He was still training hard, but he was eating considerably more than his body needed.

The turning point

Realising that training hard was not the missing piece. This time he hired a coach, RJ Perkins of ATN Coaching, and stopped trying to figure it out alone. They spent the next eighteen months getting him into the condition he needed to step on stage.

What he changed

Training was built around the main lifts, the big compound movements with accessory work layered in. They identified his weak points and worked deliberately at turning them into strengths.

Cardio stayed low early and increased as the show approached, mostly high-intensity work and never more than an hour, on specific days only.

Food was simpler than most people expect from a contest prep. He cut nothing out. He knew which foods worked for him and did not cause him discomfort, and he followed macronutrient targets set for his goals rather than any named plan. He says that is exactly what made the prep manageable: he kept eating food he enjoyed.

The hardest part

Time. He was working full time an hour from home, finishing graduate studies, in a relationship, and trying to find any space to rest. Some nights he slept two hours because training had to happen before work, since the commute ruled out training after it.

The other struggle was explaining to friends and family why this mattered enough to organise his life around. He credits a supportive girlfriend and family, and his coach, with making it possible.

His mistakes are mostly mental: doubting whether he was doing the right thing, worrying that small deviations from his nutrition would undo everything, and not taking enough time to rest, recover and practise his posing.

Where he is now

In his debut show in April 2015 he placed first in lightweight debut, lightweight novice, and novice overall. He went on to take fifth in Open short at the No Gear Classic in May, and fifth in Open lightweight at the Charm City Classic that October, taking the judges' feedback forward each time.

What he learned: persistence and self-belief go further than people think, one deviation will not make or break you, and one missed workout or meal does not erase months of work.

Worth noting on the stats above, the 3% figure is stage-day conditioning for a bodybuilding show, achieved under a coach. It is not a year-round number and it is not a target for general training.

One missed workout or meal is not going to ruin months and months of hard work. Dave Rynecki

His advice if you are starting today

Make the decision, then ask yourself how badly you want it and how far you are willing to go. If you want something, go and get it, and do not let anyone tell you that you cannot.

Results vary. This customer's results are not typical and depend on individual effort, training, nutrition and consistency. Statements on this page describe one customer's personal experience and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. No product mentioned is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.