Letter from Daniel O’Donnal to Marc Perry, BuiltLean creator:

Marc,

Hopefully I am not stepping over any bounds sending you this and that it helps your business in some way. Happy Holidays.

I have read everything you have on your web site and every single email that you have sent out regarding diet and exercise and aging and success stories, etc. All this that I have read and researched has caused me to change my entire life and become healthier and more fit than I have ever been.

My name is Daniel O’Donnal and this is my transformation:

I am 30 years old. Happily married and a father of 4 beautiful children. I was an athlete throughout high school and stayed active through college as well, but was never able to hit the fitness goals that I wanted to bc I didn’t know how. I made excuses and didn’t make the time and diet changes necessary.

I got a career and let things go a bit physically. I wasn’t obese or injured. I just didn’t make it happen for me. I didn’t get off my butt and fight for myself like I should; like we all should. Our bodies are just one and we need to take care of them and be fit. Well, that’s when I started making changes and ran into your site.

I wasn’t educated in what I really needed to do and eat and through what you teach I was able to change my life and fitness. I feel confident that even when I am old and grey I will be built lean and fit and that I will be able to play with my grandkids and enjoy all the activities that I do now at 30 yrs old. I hope one day to actually have your program and am able to use it when I can afford it, but for now I will continue to stay in the loop through the info and video feeds that you email me and what you post on your site.

Thanks Marc for all your inspiration and help,

Attached you will find some photos of me and my 3 month/90 day transformation. Lost 22.7 lbs and 9%+ Body Fat

-Daniel

My Stats
Age: 30
Occupation: Chief Marketing Officer of a national Pest Control Company – Edge
Residence: Utah
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Body weight before: 180
Body weight after: 158
Body % after: 7%

Do you have a success story you would like to share? Email me right here: BuiltLean Contact

Let Daniel know what you think of his transformation!

Background

Age: 18

Occupation: Restaurant service, Natureworks

Residence: New York, Whitestone, Queens

Hometown: New York, Whitestone, Queens

Why did you get out of shape and gain weight? What happened?
I got injured and dislocated my knee cap. But after the injury all I would do was sit on my butt and eat, which made me gain more and more fat.

What sparked you to make a change?
I didn’t feel comfortable with myself and I wasn’t confident

How did you come across BuiltLean?
Marc Perry – he comes into Natureworks restaurant every day where I work for my family business.

Results

What results did you get with the BuiltLean Program?
Before = 185lb PURE FAT After= 145lb Ripped and in only 8 weeks

What have your friends thought after seeing your results?
I look 100 times better and happier.

BuiltLean Program Review

Me and Constantinos in front of Natureworks Restaurant - NYC

How did the BuiltLean Program help you reach your goals?
It helped me trim down fat and get ripped.

What did you like most about the Program?
How each week it would get tougher and all the pictures of the exercises made it easy to understand the workout.

What are the workouts like?
I actually enjoy working out now because I know I’m going to look better the more I work out. But at first I hated it so much because I never worked out so hard.

Can you elaborate on how you’re eating habits changed?
From eating 3 subway footlongs, Burger king, 2 bags of chips a day, I changed to eating egg whites/ oatmeal at breakfast, lean meat and vegetables at lunch and dinner and sometimes I would take a protein shake in between lunch and dinner. Eating at Natureworks breakfast, lunch, and dinner helped me so much to keep a healthy diet because the food is delicious and healthy for you.

What would you tell someone who’s on the fence considering the BuiltLean Program?
Buy the program. It’s going to be the best decision of your entire life.

“Almost everything we have been taught about aging is wrong. We now know that a very fit body of 70 can be the same as a moderately fit body of 30.”

–Dr. Walter Bortz, MD

Do you use your age as an excuse for not feeling, or looking your best? For not being strong, fit, or flexible?

If you do, you need a wake-up call my friend! I’m hoping this article inspires you to reach your true potential to live a longer, fuller, happier life with the fit and strong body you deserve.

I remember my first year in the work force as a 23 year old, my friends would complain about back stiffness, or not being able to lift as much as we did in college. We all had become “has-beens” and in a way, we thought it was funny.

I don’t think it’s funny anymore. The idea that we cannot improve our physiques as we age is simply inaccurate. I’m going to make the bold claim that my body will look and perform better when I’m 50 years old than it does today at 29…as long as I don’t get hit by the proverbial bus and maintain good health.

Are you ready to make that commitment, that claim? If you’re already in your 50′s or older, can you commit to exercising at least 2x per week for the rest of your life?

I have below profiles of 5 men who can inspire you to believe in your own potential and believe that you CAN look and feel better as you age. Interestingly, all these men have different diets and training regimens, but there are two common themes:

1) Eat Real Food – Unprocessed, nutrient dense food

2) Strength Train – Use resistance training with one, or a combination of the following: dumbbells, barbells, or bodyweight exercises.

Let’s begin…

Herschel Walker at 48

Herschel Walker is a former professional football player and heisman trophy winner who as a child was “pudgy” with a stutter. In this photo at 48 years old, I’m sure you would agree he’s anything but pudgy. “Totally jacked” is a better description.

Herschel Walker’s daily workout routine is legendary; he claims he’s done 2000 situps and 1500 pushups a day for the last 30 years…and mostly at 5:30am.

Not only are his exercise habits atypical, but his nutrition habits are just bizarre. A vegetarian, Herschel doesn’t eat any red meat or fish and eats one meal a day. He claims he can run as fast now compared to his professional football days…but his guns are bigger.

Herschel Walker on Aging:

“Everybody talks about 48, but I think I’m in just as good a shape as at 20, or 30 years old. Somebody posted a tape on my Twitter of me working with some kids. I look exactly the same in 1983 as I look today. My guns got a little bit bigger, but I look the same.”

Herschel Walker On Exercise and Nutrition:

“I’m just not a guy that loves to eat. I love to work and love to work out. I think I go against all the nutritionists who say you need to do this, or need to do that so I’m one of the oddballs.”

Tony Horton at 51

Celebrity trainer and P90x creator Tony Horton has inspired millions of people around the world to improve their health and well-being. His initial desire to get into fitness stemmed from his ambitions to become an actor in LA. He was told getting in shape and getting a better body could land him some acting roles.

While his acting career didn’t quite pan out, he did become a very successful trainer and would later team up with fitness marketing company Beachbody to launch several fitness programs sold through infomercials.

Tony Horton on Nutrition

In his book “Bring It!”, Tony recommends eliminating sugar, processed foods, gluten, caffeine, and alchohol, and dairy consumption. Pretty hard not to get a lean body following that advice.

Tony Horton on Intensity:

“Intensity is finding your fire and working out as hard as you can, based on where you are today (now, here, in the moment), without sacrificing exercise form. Intensity is a moving target too. It changes from day to day, and there are so many variables outside your control. It’s your job to show up, and that’s within your control.”

Dave Draper at 54

Dave Draper (nicknamed the “Blonde Bomber”) is an accomplished bodybuilder who used to train with Arnold Schwarzenegger. As you can see from the photo of Dave at 54 compared to 25 years old (on right), the density of his muscles has increased and he is leaner.

The following quotes are from Dave’s book Brother Iron, Sister Steel, which is one of the most sensible, passionate, and well-written books on strength training and bodybuilding I’ve read:

Dave Draper on Fitness and Aging:

“Now I see that just as the mere awareness of age can affect your ego and attitude, so can a more confident and determined attitude awaken you to the fact that the other side of forty, and fifty, sixty and seventy holds a valid promise for improving your physique.”

Dave Draper on Lifting:

“Superset. Hit heavy workouts…Push it, blast it, no tiptoeing through the fields of metal. Train with confidence and enthusiasm – the only way to train. If you perceive exercise and hard work as dull and dubious, they will be. Fact is, they are fun, exciting and fulfilling. Your perception may be broken and your confidence not established. Tune them up. Pain, strain, gain.”

Is this guy awesome, or what?

Dave is now approaching 65 years old and is still hitting the iron hard!

Mark Sisson at 58

Mark Sisson is one of the pioneers of the “paleo” movement, defined by the desire to eat and exercise like our ancestors before the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago. The motto of his very successful fitness blog Mark’s Daily Apple is “primal living in a modern world”.

In short, Mark avoid grains completely, eats low carb with a high fat diet. He also eats plenty of meat, vegetables, and fruits. Mark does strength training 2-3x per week, high intensity sprints “intermittently”, and moves slowly a lot.

Needless to say after I saw photos of him, I read his Primal Blueprint book (which I will review at a future date) and a large chunk of his blog.

Mark Sisson on American Lifestyle Trends

“Hecitic schedules compromising quality family time, processed foods in place of natural foods, prescription drugs used in place of lifestyle change, digital entertainment replacing physical activity, and overly stressful exercise programs that cause even the most devoted to fail with weight loss and fitness goals.”

Mark Sisson on Exercise

“You can get healthy and fit on two hours a week of walking around, one mini-strength training workout a week lasting less than 10 minutes, one complete strength training workout lasting 30 minutes, and a sprint session every 7 to 10 days with perhaps 10 minutes of hard work (bookended by sufficient warm up and cool down).”

Jack Lalanne at 67

The late Jack Lalanne is a “fitness legend” who passed away last year at 96 years old. His spirit lives on, however, through his videos from the 1950′s “The Jack Lalanne Show”, which have amassed millions of views on Youtube. For my tribute to Jack and a bunch of facts about him, see: Jack Lalanne Tribute: Facts About Fitness Icon.

Jack Lalanne on the American Diet (my favorite):

“Would you get your dog up every day, give him a cup of coffee, a doughnut, and a cigarette? Hell, no. You’d kill the damn dog.”

Jack Lalanne on Aging:

“Your waistline is your lifeline. It should be the same as it was when you were a young person.”

Jack Lalanne on Looking More Manly (so to speak):

“If you lose a couple of inches off your stomach, your business down there will look an inch longer.”

So what do you think? Inspired?

I encourage you to get fired up about your health and commit to some long term goals – and I mean long term. What about 20 years from now, how are you going to look and feel?

I encourage you to share this article with your friends and take one step toward your long term fitness goals today .

I have below a Q&A with South African Willem Steenkamp (photo to right) who completed the BuiltLean Program with some impressive results; he lost 6 inches off his waist (42 inches to 36 inches) and lost 20lb of fat (227 to 207lb) to name a couple changes.

When I first saw an order from Namibia, Africa, I was surprised to say the least. In the ensuing weeks, I was able to converse with Willem via email during his journey to transform his body. Since I launched the BuiltLean Program, I have answered all customer questions myself (and I will for as long as I can!).

While Willem is still focused on losing more fat and getting in even better shape, his transformation in only 8-weeks is impressive. I hope you find his story inspirational!

Background

Name: Willem Steenkamp

Age: 36

Occupation: MD Seasonaire (Pty) Ltd (Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Contractor)

Residence: Namibia, Africa

Hometown: Windhoek

How long have you been in Namibia?
I was born in Namibia

What is it like living there?
Best place in the world, very beautiful landscapes and wide-open spaces

Why did you get out of shape? What happened?
The most contributing factor was eating habits. We have a farm and a lot of unhealthy fatty meat, always for free.

What sparked you to make a change?
I felt unhealthy and unfit, even though I did cycle from time to time it was just not enough.

How did you come across BuiltLean?
I saw an advert on the Internet

Results

What results did you see after 8 weeks with the BuiltLean Program?

Weight loss: 227lb to 207lb in 8 weeks

Waist inches lost: 42 inches to 36 inches in 8 weeks.

Total inches lost over my whole body in 8 weeks = 16.53inches

All of this was just in 8 weeks, I am still focused and doing the program all over again. I would love to see core strength improve.

BuiltLean Program Feedback

How did the BuiltLean Program help you reach your goals?
It was the combination of everything: exercise, nutrition guide, and motivation.

What did you like most about the Program?
The fact that when I walked to the exercise area in the morning, I had no worries about what to do, or how many I must do, in what sequence etc. Everything was worked out for me. I just had to show up.

What are the workouts like?
Loved it, still doing them.

Can you elaborate on how your eating habits changed?
The biggest change were the following 4 things: (1) stopped eating unhealthy fats, (2) cut out a lot of sugar, (3) changed my portion size, (4) no alcohol for 9 entire weeks!

What have your friends thought after seeing your results?
They are jealous.

What would you tell someone who’s on the fence considering the BuiltLean Program?
Go for it. It is worth your while 100%.

Get started on your transformation journey today:

5 Tips To Get Fit in Fall:

Here are the 5 tips I talked about along with more detail on each tip in parentheses:

1) Set Your Primary Goal & Reason Why (Get Lean Guide)
2) Strength Train Using 5 Basic Movements (Facebook Video)
3) Make Workouts Harder Over Time (Exercise Progression)
4) Make Small Nutrition Changes Over Time (Small Changes Add Up)
5) Track Your Progress (Get Lean Guide)

Here Are Some Photos From The Segment:

Here’s Me With Lu Ann & Bill After The 10! Show

I want to send my sincere thanks to the 10! show team along with a special thanks to Lu Ann Cahn and Bill Henley, the co-hosts of the show.

I look forward to doing more live TV shows in the future. It’s a lot of fun!

Are your thoughts connected to the life you experience?

Can your thoughts directly affect how you look and feel?

I think the answer is YES, definitely!

In fact, the power of your mind can shape everything; your life, your body, and your happiness.

In this article, I will show you how you can leverage the power of your mind to help push you towards the body of your dreams as if by divine influence. An invisible force will drive you forward, closer and closer to the body you envision.

Sound farfetched? Well it’s not…

Visualization is a time-tested, proven technique that involves focusing on positive mental images in order to achieve a particular goal. Visualization is so powerful because it impacts our subconscious minds and without us even realizing it, we are propelled in the direction of our thoughts.

Many of the most successful people in the world use the power of visualization on a daily basis to achieve both personal and professional goals. For example, Michael Jordan used to visualize making the game winning shot thousands of times in his mind before he actually made the shot in countless games.

So how do you create the right visualization that inspires you?

I encourage you to spend a couple minutes visualizing how you want your body to look and feel. Think deeply and take into account the following questions:

• What are you wearing?
• What are you doing?
• Are you with anyone?
• Do you hear anything?
• How exactly do you feel? What is your emotional state?
• What is it about the way you look that is so appealing? Anything in particular?

The more detailed the visualization, the more real, the better. If you are 5’10” and visualize yourself as a ripped 6’6” guy who can do a 360 dunk, that visualization is not going to help much. But you can certainly make your vision more extreme, like an ideal.

Finding photos of guys who really inspire me to improve my physique who also had similar body types as me helped make my visualizations more concrete and real. Here are some of the photos I put together that inspired me:

In time, I developed a physique comparable to the guys in the photos above. It was a surreal feeling looking at myself in the mirror and seeing a reflection of the body I dreamed about for so many years. The constant visualization of the body I wanted manifested itself into physical reality.

There is one major challenge to making this visualization work for us 24/7. It’s such an insidious problem that it can make our visualization exercise almost worthless:

It’s Belief.

We must believe in our visualization. It’s only a matter of time before the vision becomes reality.

Here’s a shocking statistic for you: As I mentioned in the Top 10 Quotes For Fitness Motivation, some studies show that more than 90% of our approximately 60,000-70,000 thoughts each day are negative, and most are the same as the previous day.

Are these negative thought patterns impacting our success? You bet.

These negative thought patters create self limiting beliefs that derail any chance of success.

So next time you have a negative thought, or are stressed out, step back and think about it. Making negative subconscious thoughts conscious can snap you out of a negative thought pattern.

Here are some examples of making a negative thought into a positive one:

• Going to the gym for a tough workout is not a chore, but an opportunity to improve your body and your health.

• You are not depriving yourself by asking for salad on the side instead of fries, you are improving your body and your health, getting one step closer to your visualization.

• The soreness you feel after a workout is not bad, it’s proof you had a good workout.

Ascribing positive thoughts to actions or things that you typically would ascribe to pain is a game changer!

I usually know within 5 minutes of meeting someone whether or not they will reach their transformation goals, because it’s all in their head!

It has NOTHING to do with genetics, or even with lifting experience. It’s all about mindset. Period.

I’ll leave you with a few great quotes on the power of visualization:

“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”
-Muhammad Ali

“As you think, so shall you become.”
-Bruce Lee

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint, and begin to build.”
-Robert Collier

Have you ever used visualization to help you achieve a goal in your life?

Leave a comment below!

About Neil

Age: 38

Occupation: Musician/Entrepreneur

Residence: New York City

Story: Finding himself overweight and out of shape after working several years in the corporate world, Neil decided to make fitness a priority in his life in his late 20′s. He took up activities like martial arts and bodyweight exercises.

Whenever he tried to lift weights in the gym, he would get some results, but would invariably plateau and not get to the next level. He thought he was in reasonable shape before starting the BuiltLean Program, but he had no idea how far he could take his body.

Neil started out as a Level 3 exerciser (Level 1 is beginner, Level 2 is intermediate, and Level 3 is advanced).

Fitness Goal: To help build muscle, learn more about lifting, and reshape his body

Favorite Food While On The Program – Buffalo!

Results: From average to a six pack! Neil was able to a lose considerable fat and build solid muscle in only 8 weeks on the BuiltLean Program. The exact numbers are pretty shocking so I would rather not even include them. These results are atypical because he worked very hard, ate very well, and his body put on slabs of muscle (my belief is lifting his legs intensely for the first time helped create a very favorable hormonal response).

If you want to change your body, the BuiltLean Program will NOT disappoint. I want to feature YOU as a success story!

What do you think about Neil’s results? Leave a comment!

Over the years, I’ve heard hundreds of excuses for why people don’t exercise, or skip a workout. I must admit, I’ve certainly used a bunch of excuses myself after a long day at work.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to make excuses and skip exercising, even though exercising is so fundamental to helping improve the quality of our lives and how we look and feel.

I compiled the list below of the top 10 excuses I hear for why people don’t exercise, or skip a workout:

1. I don’t have the time

2. I’m too tired

3. I’m lazy

4. It’s boring

5. It’s painful and uncomfortable

6. I don’t know what to do

7. It’s inconvenient

8. It’s too expensive

9. It doesn’t do anything

10. I’m embarrassed

And yes, the list goes on, and on.

Must See Video:

Below is a must see video on the topic of excuses I came across that has spread around the web. This is a video that you can send to your friends when they start making excuses:

If you find yourself constantly making excuses about not exercising, check out this post:
31 Reasons to Get In Shape and Exercise.

If you think I missed an excuse that should be in the top 10 list, please leave a comment!