John traveled the world to learn the best training and nutrition principles and trained alongside top pro bodybuilders at Gold's Gym California. He was a student of Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus and Medx Fitness machines, and the pioneer of hi-intensity training. John developed the HIT3 Training System, which transformed his physique to win countless bodybuilding competitions at just 18 years of age! He was also the first bodybuilder to utilize Faradic Electric Muscle Stimulation in his training and intermittent fasting during his competition prep. John’s SHREDDED Nutrition Diet helped him build one of the most shredded physiques of all time. His diet program incorporates fasting and nutrient timing to help athletes build lean muscle while losing body fat.
A nutrition program based on Macronutrients, Intermittent Fasting and Supplementation. The goal of his SHREDDED diet is to eat the right amount of carbohydrates to fuel hi-intensity workouts, lean protein to feed muscle growth and repair while minimizing fat instake to keep daily calories as low as possible.
Q. What role does nutrition play in your HIT3 workout program?
A. Nutrition is key to being able to work out with maximum intensity. Without the right fuel in the muscle cells, you cannot workout hard enough to stimulate any kind of hypertrophy.
Q. I understand that the term “SHREDDED” was coined after you. How did that happen?
A. Bob Kennedy, publisher of MuscleMag saw me the day before a competition and I remember him saying to me “you are ripped my boy”, I flexed my right thigh for him, showing him the cross striations across my thigh and I replied, “I’m beyond ripped, I’m Shredded". Bob wrote an article about me titled “Beyond Ripped-SHREDDED!”
Q. What are some of your main principles of your nutrition program?
A. My SHREDDED nutrition program is based 3 principles.
First: Macronutrients of 60% carbohydrate, 25% protein, and 15 % fat. Second: Intermittent fasting of 22 hours per day with a 2 our feeding window. Three: Supplementation for cell repair.The goal of my diet is to eat the right amount of carbohydrates to fuel hi-intensity workouts, lean protein to feed muscle growth needs, while minimizing fats to keep daily calories as low as possible.
Q. Is this a diet for fat loss or for people that also want to gain muscle?
A. It’s actually for everyone. The idea with my diet is to eat healthy so that you have maximum energy and no extra calories are going to be stored in fat cells. The intermittent fasting allows the body to draw from fat reserves for energy, which will make you leaner.
Q. Can you describe how your philosophy on nutrition has changed over the years, and what it’s today?
A. Basically, I’ve realized that people need far less protein than what most nutrition experts advocate. They advocate 1 gram of protein per pound of their total bodyweight, which in my opinion is too high. If you calculate how much muscle a person carries, it’s usually about 40% of their weight. Therefore, a person weighing 200 pounds may carry about 80 pounds of lean muscle. The most protein needed would be 80 grams per day. Besides, excess protein is either excreted by our kidneys or it gets converted into glucose and stored as body fat, if it’s not needed immediately for energy.
Q. Do you follow your program all year long?
A. My SHREDDED nutrition program is a lifestyle program. I follow it all year long because it’s easy to follow. I don’t experience cravings or have hunger pains whatsoever. Saturday evenings I have a treat meal eating anything that I may crave. It’s perfect for a night out. I don’t have to worry about eating food prepared in a restaurant which is usually high in fats and various salty seasonings.
For more info on John Cardillo, check out his website at johnrobertcardillo.com or right here at Muscle Insider at John Cardillo.
*Some images courtesy of Instagram.
