Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Josh Thomas. I’m 21 years old and have been lifting weights seriously for the past few years. Bodybuilding has always been a passion of mine ever since I was in high school. I’m currently four weeks out from my first bodybuilding show and preparation is going great. I’m just looking forward to finally stepping on stage and presenting all my hard work.

How would you describe your training style?

I’ve always tried to really focus on the periodization throughout my training career. Continuously rotating different phases throughout my training has helped my progression grately. The style that I bring to the table is always changing depending on the goal at hand. I always incorporate a lot of compound movements when it comes to building more mass. Isolation is also key to really targeting specific muscle groups for new growth and development. I try to keep the intensity as high as possible as well by using super sets, drop sets, forced reps, and even the FST-7 principle.

What changes did you make to your diet in order to compete in your respective class?

A lot! When I first started training, my main goal was to build more muscle. It’s almost like the first five years of my training was all off-season. I was taking in way too many calories and my macronutrients were off. The body fat percentage rose from 4-5% to 10-12% (way too high)–especially when I never even had an actual on-season.

When I entered my prep for this completion we kept it pretty strict. The body fat had to drop to a reasonable level. Kept the protein intake high while slowly lowering the carbohydrate and fat intake. Now that I’m four weeks out, we’ve finally gotten ahead of schedule. The metabolism is going a little too fast at this point, so I’m able to thankfully have a cheat or two per week to keep it running at a good pace.

What EVOGEN products do you like best?

I’ve been using the Evogen GlycoJect throughout the entire contest prep. It’s been the perfect post-workout supplement for shuttling nutrients as fast as possible to the muscles after an intense workout. I recently started incorporating the Evogen Cell KEM into my supplement regimen as well. I have been able to tell that it has done wonders for the recovery process and as hard as I’ve been training for this competition, recovery is everything.

Based on the experience you have had training and competing, what advice would give to those wanting to compete?

I would have to say, just stay strong throughout the process. I’ve learned a lot about myself through these past few months and my passion for this sport has grown tremendously. It’s not about working harder and it’s not about working smarter. To truly be successful in this sport you have to be able and willing to do both.

What motivates you?

The motivation that has always driven me has just come from deep within myself. I’ve always wanted to be the best that I could be. If I just work hard I can achieve the things that I want to achieve. I have always wanted to inspire people through my hard work and accomplishments. To obtain a physique that inspires people takes a lot of hard work and that’s my goal. That motivation allows me to keep pushing everyday.

What encouraged you to begin competing?

I just always loved going to the gym when I was young. Once I started seeing results it just grew from there. My friends would notice my progress and they started going to the gym with me. After just a few weeks they all were just unable to keep up and so they stopped going. I stuck with it and was progressing year by year. Once I turned 21, I decided that I had built a pretty good foundation to finally begin competing.