A graduate of Nottingham Law School, competitive amateur bodybuilder and aspiring fitness model. Jordan managed to change his life around through bodybuilding and fitness and hopes to inspire others to do the same.

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When did you start training and what motivated you to start?

I started training and lifting weights about 1 or 2 weeks before my 17th birthday, which would be just over 5 years ago. I imagine like most people I was initially inspiration to start training by the physiques that I saw in the fitness magazines, action movies and professional wrestlers, however my motivation to train was actually fueled by a friend in school called Mark, he had been training for about 2 years and had made some solid progress and we used to talk about it in class, so I decided to get myself in the gym.

I had originally planned to start training at this Christmas before, however I made my excuses and didn’t go until the summer when I finally decided I shouldn’t be making excuses and should just do it, and here I am 5 years later. Initially I worked out to improve a body that I wasn’t happy with, increase my low self-confidence and self-esteem, attain the ‘mens health’ look and maybe get more attention from girls, however after about a year or so I fell in love with the lifestyle and routine of bodybuilding and began lifting for myself and striving for something bigger and better.

Bodybuilding and fitness has had a massive impact on my life, has helped me overcome my social anxiety, self-esteem and self confidence issues as well as eliminate the depression I sometimes used to suffer from, now the only time I get depressed is when I don’t hit a PB I was aiming for!

What does your typical diet look like?

I wouldn’t say I have a typical diet, rather I have set macro-nutrient targets and I eat whatever I like to hit those targets, so I guess you could say that I advocate and following the If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) principle, advocated by Matt Ogus (a former POTW Winner) amongst others.  However with me currently dieting for a show my macro nutrient targets are quite low and therefore I am limited in what foods I can eat to an extent, but if I want to have a chocolate bar or a slice of cake then I will, I simply factor it into my macros and readjust my food intake for the rest of the day. The staple foods of my diet are the typical bodybuilding foods;

Chicken
Beef Mince
Fish (Tuna, Salmon, Tilapia)
Oats
Brown Rice
Quinoa
Sweet Potatoes
Vegetables

When I am not dieting for a show or for summer then my diet is much more lax, usually eating whatever I feel like eating with the aim of gaining size until my condition starts to wane, then I will reintroduce stricter eating habits and maybe bring back cardio to regain my condition.

Do you have cheat days / meals?

I am a huge advocate of cheat days! Usually once a week when dieting as a way to keep sanity and to restore glycogen after a week of low carbs, cheat days also allow you to enjoy yourself and eat the food you enjoy, I also find that after a big cheat day I am ready to dedicate myself to clean eating again for the next week as it totally satisfies my cravings.

For me a cheat day consists of cheesecake, doughnuts, ice cream and other sweets. Although as I am currently prepping for a show they are much less frequent in occurrence.

For maintaining a lean physique at about 10% body fat however a cheat day once or even twice a week is more then acceptable and will unlikely hinder your condition and will certainly help with your motivation.

Do you drink alcohol?

Yes I do drink, or should I rather say binge drink as I’m not one to have a quiet beer after work or just go out for a couple to watch the game. Once a week for 6 months of the year during the University term time I will go out and drink to excess, however outside of term time I will rarely drink. I can take or leave alcohol, I can have just as good a time on a night out with or without it and I think that once I am no longer able to go on student nights out then I will likely very rarely drink it. I can think of better things to spend my money on then something that give such temporary satisfaction and usually results in a wasted day afterwards!

Do you use many supplements?

Yes I do use supplements, I believe that they are essential part of training and nutrition, especially if you want to get to a high level, with that said I try and keep my supplement usage to a minimum and stick to the basics, after all they are their to supplement a good diet, not replace it. My current list of supplements is as follows;

Whey Protein
Caesin
BCAA
Multivitamin
Caffeine
Green Tea

I also sometimes make use of pre-workout supplements if fancy some extra pump or if I’m feeling low on energy from work that day.

What does your typical training routine look like?

I currently train with a 5 day body part split, with 3 cardio sessions, so 7 days a week, my split looks something like this;

Monday-AM-Cardio
PM-Legs
Tuesday-Back
Wednesday-Chest
Thursday-Shoulders
Friday-Arms & Abs
Saturday-Cardio
Sunday-Cardio

Between 4-7 exercises per body part with a rep range between 5-12 depending on the exercise, big compound lifts are usually worked in the lower rep ranges, sometimes as low as 3 reps while isolation exercises use a higher rep range. I really try and focus on controlled reps and the mind-muscle connection on every exercise, since I started properly doing this about 18 months ago I have seen significant improvement in both my size and strength gains.

Exercise selection changes depending on what I am trying to target that particular session. For example, If I am trying to build more back width then I will include more pull down and pull up movements and drop a row movement from my routine and vice versa. This all depends on my goals that session or in that phase of my training. Each training session lasts between 40-90minutes, shoulders and arms being the shortest and legs taking the longest, cardio is usually 40mins in duration at a steady state.

Do you have any inspirational figures you look up to?

I draw the majority of my inspiration from sources closer to home rather then magazines, while I admire the physiques of IFBB Pro’s and Fitness Models they can sometimes seem like an unattainable goal. Those guys also have a lot of assistance access to some of the best sports nutrition and advice in the world, whereas if you look closer to home you will find people who are just as inspiring who can push you to achieve your goals but also give you realistic and impartial advice when you need it.

My first source of inspiration is my good friend and training partner of 4 years, Eser Ekici. We first started training together when we were freshers at university and continued all throughout university and afterwards. We bulked together and both got terribly out of shape at the same time and also cut together and got into fantastic shape at the same time. Our strength levels are pretty much even which made training sessions like a competition every week and I could always count on him to motivate me through those session where you feel like you can’t be bothered. He’s also never been afraid to point out flaws in my physique or form during an exercise and vice versa and helped me a lot with plans for my diet, honestly I doubt I would have progressed as well as I have over the past 4 years if it wasn’t for him.

My second source of inspiration is my close friend Darren Hoff. I first met Darren in the gym last year and he has become one of my best friends and occasional training partner in that time. We both share pretty much identical goals in regards to fitness, that is to go as far as we can, compete on stage, break into modelling and hopefully inspire others to follow this lifestyle.

Third source of local inspiration is another good friend and often training partner, Alex Carmichael, his dedication to his diet and staying lean is second to none out of all the people I know, and the fact he maintains his leanness year round while still gaining size and strength astounds me.

And of course, all 3 of them are former Physique Of The Week winners!

Two other notable close to home inspirations are my friends David Bissell and Alex Smith, both recently had great success on the bodybuilding stage winning their classes (Junior and Novice) as well as ‘Best Presentation’ and Overal Champion respectivly at the BNBF Midlands show. Both have fantastic physiques and both should go far in this sport. Seeing them both on stage got me even more excited to step on stage myself in 4 weeks time!

Also as mentioned I do look up to physiques in the magazines and the pro-circuit, IFBB Pro Steve Cook, NPC competitor and personal trainer Joey Gloor, both have what I would call my ‘goal physique’ muscular and lean but not to the point where the size become over powering like you find on say a  the Mr Olympia stage, although I also admire the physiques of the top IFBB Pro’s, Phil Heath, Ben Pakulski and Erik Fankhouser in particular.

Have you ever competed, or did any modelling? If so, tell us a bit about it?

No I have not competed yet, however I am currently 4 weeks out from my first show, I’ll be competing at the UKBFF East Of England Championships in Leicester on 2nd September in the Junior Class. I had originally planned to do a show last year but decided against it as prep would have taken place during my university finals and I needed to focus all my efforts on those so dieting was the last thing on my mind.  I’m hopeful that I can place in this show and if I’m fortunate enough receive an invite to nationals in October.

I am also just starting out in fitness modelling, I have taken part in a few photo shoots so far and am in the process of booking more shoots over the next few months, hopefully that can lead to more opportunities in this industry in the future

Where do you see yourself in the future? (bodybuilding / modelling / competing etc)

My dream is to be an IFBB Pro, however I am realistic as I know that we only give out one pro card a year in the UK so the chances are very slim. Maybe if they were to give out more pro cards or even introduce the Mens Physique class into the UKBFF like they have in the NPC and IFBB then it would be more likely to occur but we’ll see what happens. Until then I’m hoping that I can just continue to make improvements to my physique, compete consistently at a national level, carry on doing fitness photo shoots, become a sponsored athlete and hopefully inspire others to follow this lifestyle or just get fit and improve themselves!

Where did you hear about Physique Of The Week?

I first heard about POTW through my friend Gareth on facebook who thought I’d have a good shot at winning, so I entered one of the first weeks of the competition, unfortunately lost to Paula Harrow who is now sponsored athlete with PNI Supplements. I tried again a few weeks later but lost to Kevin Lisak who is a successful online PT and Mens Physique competitor from America. I gave up hope of winning after that until my friend Eser won the contest a few months back so I decided to try one more time, 3rd time lucky as they say!

What do you think about Physique Of The Week?

I think POTW is a fantastic concept and competition, it gives people like myself who are perhaps just starting out in this sport/industry a  chance to effectively market themselves and get their name out there and the prizes on offer are an extra incentive, I hope it continues to go from strength to strength!

If you could give our readers one piece of advice what would it be?

Consistency! Consistency is key to everything in this sport, and in life if you want to go anywhere or achieve anything. Consistency in your training, consistency in your diet, consistency in your education and consistency in your work will achieve the results you desire and take you were you want to go!

What is your strongest bodypart? And how do you train it?

I’d probably have to say my strongest body part is my back, I have good back width, thickness and muscle maturity in it especially considering my age. Initially I built my back with deadlifts, for 4 years once a week between 6-8 sets of deadlifts pyramiding up to a 1RM or a 3RM then drop down slightly for more reps, this was how it usually worked out;

Deadlifts
60kg 1×8 (Warm Up)
100kg 1×8 (Warm Up)
140kg 1×5
160kg 1×3
180kg 1×3
200kg 1×1
180kg 1×6
180kg 1×4
140kg 1×8

This was at the beginning of my workout, I’d do lower reps building up to my max to conserve my energy, then once the max had been completed would then drop down and do higher reps, incredibly demanding workout but one that I totally attribute the majority of my back development to. At my peak strength I pulled a one rep max of 240kg and a 220kg for 3 reps.

Now however I no longer perform deadlifts, only every 6 weeks or so just to make sure I’ve still got my strength, they are still one of my favourite exercises but currently they just don’t hold a place in my routine, my current starting movement is a Pendlay/Bent Over Row, in a similar pyramid style to the deadlifts working up to 100kg for about 6 reps then dropping down for higher reps with more control for additional stimulation.

This is then followed by the following movements

Lat Pulldowns
DB Pullovers
Single Arm Rows
Seated Cable Rows
Close Grip Pulldowns

All for 4-5 sets at 8 reps a set, the lat pulldowns are usually performed in a drop set fashion starting at the top of the stack dropping 2 pins each time for 4 separate sets within the one set to totally stimulate the lats as the pulldown machine in my gym doesn’t go heavy enough for my liking. I also perform weighted wide grip pull ups every other week with a 20kg plate followed by some bodyweight pullups to help with my back width.

I found that since increasing the number of pulldown/pullover exercises in my routine my back width has come on significantly, this was one thing I’ve mad a conscious effort to improve on over the past 18 months knowing that I was going to be competing I need to look as wide as possible to make sure I stand out amongst the junior class and to make up for my naturally wider waist.