Interview with Vince Del Monte

Vince Del Monte has earned the nickname “The Skinny Guy Savior” in the world of fitness.

As a fitness guru who takes the thin and skinny and transforms them into the lean and muscular, Vince understands the intense journey it takes to build and maintain a fit and healthy physique.

Having gone from the guy who couldn’t gain weight for anything, to a bodybuilder and fitness model, Vince knows the ins and outs of packing on some healthy mass!

What was the turning point in your life when you went from being skinny to muscular and lean? And what caused the results?

I met a provincial-level bodybuilder in my church, and he taught me how a natural novice lifter should begin with bodybuilding.

He introduced me to methods such as full body training, variable rep and rest training, time under tension, and how to rotate intensification phases (i.e. strength training) with accumulation training (i.e. hypertrophy training).

That was another big lesson — understanding that training for strength is VERY different than training for size. You can get extremely strong without getting bigger. And you can get bigger without getting extremely strong. That was just the beginning…

What would you say is the most successful way to bulk up from being skinny but without appearing fat?

Manage ‘The Number.’ In business, we focus on numbers like traffic, sales, conversions etc. In bodybuilding, ‘The Number’ would be how much weight you gain each month.

We know the human body can only manufacture 0.25 to 0.5 grams of dry muscle tissue, which is about 1-2 pounds of dry muscle per month.

With each pound of dry muscle, your body increases storage space for glycogen and water which can result in about 4-5 pounds of lean muscle mass per month.

I teach my clients to strive to gain 4-5 pounds per month; often times anything more than that will be excess fat accumulation.

I teach my students, “What gets measured gets managed.” This is why you need to track your calories, macros, training volume, cardio etc.

What are some of the most important rules to follow in the kitchen with the goal of putting on lean muscle mass?

• You will always eat everything that gets brought into your home, so the battle is won and lost when you go to the grocery store.
• Focus on eating at least five whole food meals a day and one liquid shake after your workout each day.
• Establish a regular meal cadence, whether it’s two-to-three hours or four-to-five hours; doesn’t matter. It’s most important to consume your daily calories and macros.
• Focus on rotating your food sources, especially protein. I never eat the same protein source twice in a day.
• Strive for ten to fifteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Eat a variety of colors.
• Earn your carbs. I time my carbs two hours before I train, during my workout, one hour and four hours after I train.
• I schedule two half-cheat days per week. Every Thursday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to midnight, I go off my diet and enjoy my favorite foods.

What style of exercise have you found most beneficial to transforming your body?

Your body does not understand “exercises.” Exercises are just names some dude gave certain movements.

Your body understands tension. Any movement that creates tension within a muscles accessible range of motion will be an ideal movement. Exercises should focus on all three positions of flexion – the mid range, contracted, and stretched position of flexion.

Again, your muscles don’t know ‘exercises’ – they only understand being lengthened and shortened and your goal is to use movements that emphasize both ends of the movement.

What advice would you give to someone who is currently skinny but would like to be muscular and lean?

Get a mentor/coach. Today there is SO much information and most guys suffer from these problems:

• Lack of focus. Not committing to either bulk up or lean down. Pick one. Complete the goal then switch.
• Too many chefs in the kitchen, i.e, taking advice from too many conflicting opinions at once.

Pick a program and follow it to completion. The best program is the one that you follow.

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