Transformation: Mitch Watson Packs on 65 Pounds

March 2013 to February 2016  |  3 years  |  @Jaymitchellwatson

Mitch played a full season of football at 6'1" and 140 pounds. He went into the weight room to fix that and ended up quitting the team for it.

Where he started

Mitch had been skinny his whole life. Since childhood he had wanted to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he could never put weight on, so he gave up on it repeatedly and played football instead.

The turning point

Finishing an entire season at 6'1" and 140 pounds. He decided he needed to gain, and planned to come back bigger and play running back like his father did.

What actually happened is that he fell in love with the weight room while training for the sport. He found himself caring less about what would help him on the field and more about adding size, and about the pump.

What he changed

Year one was a three-day-a-week full body routine. Year two he moved to a split, still built around the core movements. These days he trains mostly bodybuilding style. Cardio has always just been running.

Food was deliberately uncomplicated. From day one he set a daily protein number and a daily carb number and hit them. He stayed away from fast food, but says he has never had much trouble staying lean, so dieting was never the hard part for him.

The hardest part

The choice. When the next season came around he had become far more interested in lifting than in playing, so he quit the team and kept going.

He is specific about his three mistakes. Training triceps too hard for the first two years, which left his biceps looking small even at 17.5-inch arms. Letting protein intake slip, where he watched his strength drop almost immediately. And neglecting his legs after an injury, which he admits he used as an excuse and has since fixed.

Where he is now

His first milestone was benching 225 and squatting 315 around the same time, roughly eighteen months in. The other was hitting 185 pounds on the scale, which he never thought he would see.

Three lessons: train compound movements, do not kill yourself over dieting, and do not spend money on supplements if you are not willing to work, because nothing replaces the work.

Never give up on something you love. If you feel like it, think of why you started. Mitch Watson

His advice if you are starting today

Do not look for the way around it. Do not buy the skinny-guy shortcut plan. Eat until you do not want to move, dig deep, and use compound movements.

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.