A few years ago, Bryan Szweda decided it was time to make some major changes in his life to improve his overall health and fitness.
To challenge himself, Bryan Szweda entered into the bodybuilding world to learn more about how diet and exercise can impact the human body.
His journey with bodybuilding began in 2011 at the Musclemania show in Minnesota. Bryan Szweda trained for six weeks and established a diet consisting only of protein, fibrous carbs, and limited fats. He would even boil his chicken to ensure all processing chemicals were eliminated. With these efforts, Bryan Szweda lost 10 lbs. and finished 4th in the competition. Looking back at his first bodybuilding experience, Bryan Szweda realized that this was not the correct way to diet.
At his next show in October of 2011, he began to rotate his carbs and eat healthy sources of protein. At this show, he competed in 2 different classes: the Novice Tall and the over 35 year old class. Bryan Szweda won the Novice Tall class and took home 4th in the 35 year old group. At this time, his fitness journey began to take on a whole new level.
A major opportunity to improve upon his goals and make a healthy transformation came about with the 2013 Spring Life Time Training 90 Day Challenge.
Working with trainers, making dietary changes, and committing to challenging workout routines, Bryan Szweda began to feel better than ever. He was feeling happy, healthy, and confident and found it to be the perfect time to try something new and enter into a natural bodybuilding competition.
Natural bodybuilders avoid the use of steroids or other performance enhancing drugs and instead focus their time and energy on optimizing their results through proper training, dieting, and exercise. This natural method of bodybuilding actually accelerates recovery time and increases overall strength.
Throughout his training during the 90 day challenge, Bryan Szweda learned a lot about how to maximize fat loss in a healthy and effective way. Most of his training involved a balance of aerobic and resistance training as both types of exercise results in a different effect of fat loss.
Resistance training is essential for all individuals. It makes the muscles more metabolically active, allowing them to burn more calories throughout the day. Only participating in aerobic exercise allows the body to learn how to conserve fuel while exercising, ultimately leading to lower levels of fat loss. Combining the two methods of exercise and training leads to a much greater rate of fat loss.
With a well thought out diet and exercise plan in the works, Bryan Szweda was motivated and ready to challenge himself and test his limits. Overtime he began to slowly increase his reps while also focusing on sufficient recovery time. He met with his trainer to help record and keep track of his measurements and body fat levels so that he could really see his results and hard work in action. With a strong amount of motivation and encouragement, Bryan Szweda demonstrated great success in his efforts, winning both the 90 day challenge as well as the natural bodybuilding competition.