My good friend, Seth MacGillivray, is a bodybuilder in the Seattle, Washington region, and was kind enough to answer a few questions that I had about his sport, his training and eating regimen, his passion for bodybuilding and his look on life.
1. What path did you take to becoming a bodybuilder/involved in the fitness industry?
I’ve been working out since I was 24; I just always wanted to be one of those guys who was big. I’m self-aware enough to understand that this stems from insecurities, but over time, training became less about how others perceived me, and more about how I perceived myself.
There is a trap that can come when your identity is wrapped up in how you look, but for me, training has become a daily challenge, and I am always pushing myself to become better.
I became a competitive bodybuilder when I started training with a pro bodybuilder. I saw the stage as the ultimate proving ground for the work I did in the gym and in my daily eating.
2. What does your training routine entail? How dramatically does it change when you near a competition?
I train 4 times a week. I start with 20 minutes of HIIT cardio, followed by about 1 to 1 ½ hours of weight training. I’d prefer to keep the weights to an hour duration, but I train with two other guys, so sometimes workout run a little long. All totaled, I spend about 6-8 hours a week in the gym.
When I’m training for a competition (or for the summer), my weight routine doesn’t change, but my cardio does. I’ll gradually start to add cardio days, and eventually double-up on the cardio. Typically, I’ll work my way up to cardio twice a day (once mid-morning, once in the evening), 5-6 days a week.
3. What are the hardest and easiest body parts for you to work in the gym?
I have been training for 14 years, and lately have been doing legs twice a week. This means I’ve done somewhere in the range of 800 leg workouts. I have hated every single one.
I still get a little nausea in the pit of my stomach a few hours before a leg workout, and am always thankful when it’s over.
Arms are always fun to train, because you can see the results instantly in the pump.
4. Eating disorders and body image disorders are very prevalent among women, however, body dismorphic disorder is increasing in men, especially those involved in the bodybuilding and strength training industry, where they feel as though they are not as big or strong as they are or wish that they could be. Have you encountered this with other male athletes in your gym or in your network of friends?
Of course. Men are competitive, and see other men as a challenge to their identity. No matter how big or strong you get, there will always be someone bigger and stronger, or leaner, or with a better bodypart, or with a more aesthetically pleasing physique.
In the short-term, the key is to compare yourself to where you’ve been or the goals you’ve set, not to where someone else is.
In the long-term however, a result of growing older is that your toil will produce diminishing returns, so you have to make peace with that.
In all of this, we have to find our identity in something other than our outward appearance. This is difficult, since society puts such pressure on us to look a certain way, and with the information age being what it is, this becomes more pronounced. However, society is simply a group of individuals, and as such we can make the decision to allow that pressure to crush us or not.
5. What are your feelings on supplementation, ranging from protein shakes to Creatine to steroid use?
This is a big question. Supplementation is useful if used correctly. For instance, we don’t generally eat enough EFAs, so I think taking Omega-3 pills is probably a good idea. Over the years, however, I’ve gotten more and more away from manufactured sources things like protein, and have learned how to eat more healthfully. The dirty little secret is simply this: none of what you take that comes from a supplement company is unavailable in what you can already get from natural food sources.
Supplements are a huge industry because they make a promise that if you take them, you will perform better, look better, be better. The truth is that you can do all these things without them. For me, they aren’t worth the money.
Steroids are an entirely different issue. I’m not a fan of steroid abuse, but I generally have no problems with steroid use. In fact, I would say that I come down more on the side of being pro-steroid than against them, though I no longer use them.
This is an over-simplification, but for the sake of brevity, it will have to do: most steroids are designed to raise testosterone levels, which does a whole host of things; increases libido, increases muscle mass (which in turn increases your metabolism and bone density), increases your healing ability, shortens recovery time.
In addition, testosterone helps with moodiness and slows aging. Now, there is a ton of propaganda out there that talks about things like “roid rage”, but this is typically more fiction than fact. For instance, you take every story in the last few years about pro wrestlers and bodybuilders who did horrific things like kill their families or commit suicide, and you’ll find another common denominator; anti-depressants and painkillers. In fact, I remember very clearly a recent headline during the time of the Chris Benoit incident (where the pro wrestler killed his wife and children and then himself). The headline read something like “Autopsy confirms Chris Benoit had steroids in his system”. The sub-headline? “Doctors say steroids likely had no effect”.
I really don’t have the time to get into the whole conspiracy aspect to this –how pharmaceutical companies lobbied to have steroids made illegal in the 80’s- but I would simply say this; patients who were prescribed a small weekly dosage of testosterone would be able to forgo many other medications such as ED meds.
6.What is your general eating regimen? A lot of athletes seem to veer towards a low fat or low carbohydrate menu; what do you consider a balance diet based upon your goals of optimal performance?
I think we were made to eat natural foods, and I stick with that. Low fat is stupid; your body needs fats far more than it needs carbs. I eat whole grains for my carb source, but need very little carbs to function. I eat organic, grass-fed beef, organic chicken, organic yogurt, whole eggs, coconut oil, olive oil, butter, almonds, vegetables, organic jams made with real sugar, that type of thing. Lots of fats, plenty of protein from organic food sources, good veggies, fairly low carb.
6. How do you prepare for a bodybuilding competition?
Gradual addition of cardio, less and less calories per day. That’s pretty much it. It’s a science of trying to figure out how much less you can eat in order to drop fat, while still maintaining muscle mass. I also pretty much drop all of my carbs except for one day per week, to shock my body and to retain my sanity.
7. What do you see as the worse habits of bodybuilders in or out of the gym? (ie. exercises or diet regimens, etc.)
I think the overall attitudes of most bodybuilders is the worst habit. Strutting around, getting into fights, trying to prove themselves. This is the based on same insecurities that anyone else feels, the difference is that they are bigger and stronger than everyone else.
8. Name the top five to ten most essential exercises to meet your particular goals?
HIIT cardio. Intense weight training (though not necessarily heavy). Dedication. Persistence. There is no one exercise that can take the place of those four things.
9. Do you prefer to workout alone or partner up?
Partner up. If I worked out alone, I’d find excuses not to go in. A training partner never lets you get away with anything.
10. What are your fitness goals for the near future?
Stay healthy, stay lean.
11. Amongst bodybuilders, what injuries are most prevalent?
Oh man, that’s easy. Joints; elbow joints, wrists, knees. That, and lower back. If you’ve never experienced issues with those, you’re either 19 or you haven’t been training very hard.
As I get older and wiser, I’ve learned to adapt my training to minimize damage to my joints and tendons, but it still comes with the territory.
12. As a business owner, are their skills or lessons that you have learned that you can use and apply to being an athlete?
The human mind and body can take a lot more than we think we’re capable of. Once you’ve made it through a leg workout where every bodypart is screaming in pain, where your mind has said again and again that this is too much, you can’t take anymore, where you’ve laid on the floor trying not to throw up, only to get back up and do another set; once you’ve starved yourself for 15 weeks, gotten up every morning 1 ½ hours early to get in your cardio session, gone to the gym after work, laid down in your bed exhausted and hungry only to wake up to do it all over again; once you’ve seen yourself 2 weeks out from a show, standing over your sink eating plain boiled chicken and started crying because all you want is a piece of bread… once you’ve been through all that, what’s left to overcome?
13. As involved you are with the church, and with your devotion to God, how has that influenced your work in the gym?
There is a general assumption out there that when you give your life up in service and worship to God, your life becomes boring and bland. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s true, I don’t do some of the things I used to do, but that’s because I no longer have the heart nor desire to do them. There is a spiritual transformation that takes place when you give your heart to Jesus Christ, and the outworking of that transformation is new desires.
For training and diet discipline, it takes on a whole new, deeper level of meaning. Where once my desires were selfish in nature; to look a certain way so I could gain respect, get girls, engender fear and admiration; my desire is now to be a good steward with the gifts God has given me, and to use things like training as a way to glorify God.
If we define worship as how we spend our time, our talents, and our treasure, then everything we do in our lives is a form of worship. We worship money, or sex, or food, sports teams, work, our spouses, our kids, a bigger house and car, and ultimately, ourselves.
To understand that those things weren’t given to us as the ends, but as a means with which to enjoy our lives in gratitude and worship the Creator of them, is to understand the true meaning of why we were created and what we were given those gifts for.
For me then, training is no longer simply a pursuit of self-glorification, but a way to daily challenge myself, push myself to be and do better, and enjoy the fruits of my labor; all with the understanding that in doing so with a grateful heart and a humility towards the God who gave me life and breath to begin with, I’m fulfilling my purpose for being created.
