Rugby pro turned bodybuilder Phil Vickery explains exactly how he managed incredible body transformation
Phil Vickery has explained how he pulled off the career turn from playing professional rugby to becoming a bodybuilder, as the 50-year-old showed off some of his results.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, he explained that a few years ago he 'went on a bit of a mission to just get some weight off and did a body transformation'.
While he was working out in the gym one of the coaches there told him 'you should do a show'.
"Well, I'm not a bodybuilder. I've got long levers. I'm tall, big rib cage. It just doesn't work," Vickery said of his initial doubts, but then he was told something which encouraged him to go for it.
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He was told 'you haven't got the courage to stand on stage', and for the former England rugby player that pretty much cemented his decision to go ahead with the transformation and become a bodybuilder, which meant adapting his lifestyle.
When he started out with a trainer named Chris Bradley he explained that he spent about six years going through 'three or four different little cycles of building and and then taking back'.
Saying he tried to be 'food led', Vickery explained: "My go-to is porridge, It's oats, it's protein powder, probably 120 grams of oats, 60 grams of protein powder, sort of 50, 60 grams of dried fruit, raisins and sultanas are my favourite.
"So, I tend to go with that. That's that's a morning get up and go. And then you say lunch but spread throughout the day when you're bulking and going for it big style maybe 750 grams.
"This is all lean. This is all uncooked weight. 750 grams of lean protein so chicken, turkey breasts. 250 grams rice which you think is not a lot but cook that up.
"In between that you've got protein shakes, depends on when you're training. A final meal, potato, sweet potato, greens."
He said that there was a lot of maintenance needed, otherwise that body would disappear in a matter of weeks.
As for his exercise regime, he told the BBC that his current routine involves three or four weight sessions a week and he combined that with daily walks to dovetail with the diet.
"What it probably did for me is ignite that ex-pro rugby player in me of detail, discipline, turning up when it's dark and dingy and cold, competing, and we went from there," he told them of what really appealed to him about bodybuilding.
"What I've fallen in love with, with the bodybuilding, it's a very singular, isolated sport, because it is you against you. It's not about anyone else.
"There is no out. You can't hide behind a keyboard. You are stood on stage. Your physique and what you look like is a direct reflection of your effort and what you have done, and that is quite scary."
Joe Harker