I always wanted to try the sport of bodybuilding so I decided to try it on my own. The experience of my first show proved overwhelming and frustrating. I was constantly online searching for tips on dieting, peak week, sodium, potassium loading. You name it, I read it and I tried it. As a result the process was anxiety ridden and draining mentally, with no clear direction. I had no one to bounce ideas off of or anyone with any experience to guide me. What I had was a bunch of half sources from people at the gym, to Internet with no clear plan or purpose. I almost quit the sport before I began, due to the mental stress. I managed to place third in my class, mostly due to weak competitors, but, became determined to improve my physique and therefor the result of my next competition I entered.

Not knowing where to turn for help I remembered a fellow competitor at the 1st show say the promoter, Joe Franco, had a great reputation among the BB community, so I decided to call him. We talked about my goals in general and based on the initial conversation decided to start his cyber training. Joe provided a workout routine, reviewed my diet, and gave me a blog spot to post my workouts and ask questions as needed. His response to any question was always less than a few hours and many times faster than that, especially if I posted in the AM. After about a month of cyber training, I saw great results with faster workouts and less cardio. So, I decided I would like a little more hands on help in addition to the cyber training. We met at his studio, evaluated areas of improvement, goals, and set a timeframe for a run at another bb show. We decided to meet twice a month for a 1 hour session in addition to the cyber training. I came to realize Joe has an old school philosophy which I like, work hard and expect results. There is no magic except for consistency and effort. As my body began to change I became more and more excited for the next show, so I decided to start training once a week with Joe at his studio and skip the cyber training. I began to diet for the show early as per Joe's recommendation and Joe tweaked my diet as necessary if I hit a plateau. Joe provided various routine splits and exercises to keep my body constantly growing. What amazed me was that as I was getting leaner, I was getting stronger at the same time, almost all the way to contest day. On top of that, I did about one half less cardio than I did the first time around. Joe provided a detail calorie and training breakdown from start to finish. As the final two weeks approached Joe provided a spread sheet with all the variables on it making it easy and stress free to follow. Joe also taught monthly posing classes and helped with the posing routine from music to choreography of the routine.

I would strongly recommend any bodybuilder or weight lifter in general looking for a trainer to call and speak with Joe. He has passion, knowledge of training and diet combined with a calm professional demeanor, that will help any athlete overcome the stressful hurdles of bodybuilding. Bottom line is the sport of bodybuilding is more mentally challenging than it it is physical. To have someone as knowledgeable and professional as Joe to guide me in this process is invaluable.

Al Torcini