👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
My name is Kevin Weiss. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and am 48 years old. I am the owner of Bodyperformance Training and have been training and coaching people full time since 2000.
I competed in bodybuilding from the ages of 15 and 39 and powerlifting from 19 to present. I won the drug tested nationals in bodybuilding in 2003 and the world powerlifting championships in 2014. My best lifts in competition are 240kg squat, 177.5kg bench press, 272.5 deadlift as a 93kg M1 lifter. I currently hold the national bench press record of 165.5 in the 83kg M1.
I began training by myself in my basement at 12 years old. I had always had a fascination with muscle and strength so when I got the chance I dove right in headfirst. I also have been training BJJ for the last two years and hold the rank of blue belt.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I almost always train alone and do all my own programming.
My training is mostly strength-based now as I retired from bodybuilding competition in 2010. A typical week would be broken up into primary lifts (squat, bench press, deadlift) and then accessory work to complement the primary lifts and to address weak points.
My accessory work is based on “bodybuilding” exercises that complement and address weak points in the main lifts. Examples would be leg press and Bulgarian split squats for squat, flys and dB press for bench, leg curls and back extensions for deadlift, lateral raise and tricep extension for military press.
Squat is usually two times per week, bench three times, and deadlift once. This is not set in stone though. Each session is one to three hours in length depending on rest periods between heavy lifts, if more than one primary exercise is being performed, and how much accessory work is being done.
I almost always train alone and do all my own programming. I have a very well-equipped home gym that I train myself and clients out of, but I also have an office at a strength based gym in Calgary that I train and coach out of.
I do not take any supplements of any kind pre or post-workout and rely on whole food almost 100% to meet my nutrition needs. I track my training through an app and also use a device that measures velocity on the primary lifts probably 50% of the time. More common closer to competition.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
When I get asked how I have kept training for so long it seems like a strange question to me. I train because I like to train. I guess not everybody does and some people have to force themselves to be consistent so I get that but I am not one of these people.
Of course, I have days when motivation is lower and time like when I am on vacation when I don’t train but overall I don’t find motivation to be an issue. Training is enjoyable not something I endure.
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
At the moment, my training is focused on preparing for the Canadian nationals. I will be taking a year off from going to the worlds as a competitor but will be going as a national team coach.
Going forward from there, I am focusing on competing at the 2021 worlds, which will be my first year as a Masters 2 lifter (50-59 years old).
I am also looking forward to doing more team coaching at the national and international level as well as constantly building my own private coaching business.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
Ignoring injuries and continuing to train around them is not a good long term plan.
Over the last several years, I have had a few injuries and the biggest thing I have learned is you must meet them head on and do what you need to do to recover as quickly as possible.
Ignoring injuries and continuing to train around them is not a good long term plan. More often than not it will just lead to further problems that will affect results in a cumulative way.
Taking a step back will allow you to keep moving forward in the long term. Having a good team of quality practitioners is invaluable as well.
More often than not if people are getting a lot of injuries and not being able to recover its because they are programming over their heads and ignoring simple things like reasonable nutrition and adequate rest.
If you are not eating adequate calories and protein and consistently getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night, I would focus on that first.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
Lots of meat and eggs essentially.
If I need to lose weight to make my weight class, I tend to lean toward a lower carb higher fat and protein approach. Lots of meat and eggs essentially. I have used this for 30 years and know it provides a very predictable result. If I need to lose more then I track calories and macros but generally I don’t. As far a supplements
I very rarely use a protein supplement but when I do, my brand is Canadian Protein, other than that, I take no other supplements of any kind.
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
I am old school so I was inspired by books I found in the school library long before the Internet. In these books, I read about guys like Franco Columbo, Arnold Swarzenegger, Doug Young, Bill Kazmier and Bill Pearl.
These men all had great physiques and had a great appreciation for hard work and strength. This is all the inspiration I have ever needed. I don’t listen to music or have training partners. I find these things more distracting than motivating.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
The biggest advice I can give to anyone is you have to be willing to embrace the process and treat the results as a side effect of long term consistency and hard work.
Extreme programs and diets may produce short term results but without a solid foundation these results will fall away. It’s the reason I see people come and go all the time.
The quality people that remain year after year are few and far between. These are the people that keep their head down and put in the honest work day after day, month after month, year after year.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
I am always taking on clients both in private and online coaching. If someone has a very short term outlook I don’t recommend they hire me.
I don’t do cookie cutter programs, 12 week-challenges and other nonsense like that because these are more about marketing than quality training.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
Website: bodyperformance.net
YouTube: Kevin Weiss on YouTube
Facebook: @bodyperformancecoach
Instagram: @bodyperformancecoach
