| David Robson |
|
Back to Articles |
|
    
|
Q: Congratulations David on your win as MCBB Cybercontest overall winner. Tell us a little about yourself, your home life and how you are connected with bodybuilding. I am 32 years old, work as a freelance writer and gym owner/trainer and have two beautiful children, Curtis, 10, and Grace, 2. I currently run a personal training gym called Elite Physique, so named after the bodies that are created there. After joining my first gym at the age of 13, I decided that my life would be dedicated to improving my physique and physical performance. At 16 I began training serious bodybuilding training for rugby and martial arts (Tae Kwon Do), but the physical development I got motivated me pursue bodybuilding as a sport in itself. Although I continued Tae Kwon Do, my focus shifted to bodybuilding and I competed for the first time in 1994, placing third in the junior category of a local natural show. Since then I have done around 15 contests, during which time I have gained a great deal of experience in the areas of training and eating for performance. I began training others back in 1995 and have been doing this ever since. I have always believed solid bodybuilding principals and good, balanced training and nutrition programs will work for anyone whether they want to lose weight, improve their athletic performance, improve their health or build muscle. Q: How do you balance work, family and fitness? I think it is a matter of planning for success rather than living from moment to moment. I do rely on good time management skills and an ability to prioritise what is most important. Although the work needs to be done, family should always come first. It is a case of setting time aside for each. Q: You write for bodybuilding.com How did that come about? I sent off my first article to bodybuilding.com in 2004 and it was very well received. I continue to supply them with articles to this day. Upon finding bodybuilding.com on the web, I was very impressed with the amount of quality information they provided. I wanted to become part of what is clearly the biggest and best source for online bodybuilding and fitness information. Q: You must get so many different points of view on training, how do you select your own training program and do you have a philosophy that you follow? For instance, I fall into a Gironda/Draper category, where do you fall? I do tend to follow, with the majority of my clients, a good, flexible commonsense approach based on many years of experimentation. With some of my more hardcore clients, those who want massive muscles above all else, I ensure they are training very heavy with very few sets (maybe 2) and a good variety of exercises to target the entire physique. I combine this with limited aerobics. Their fat loss is achieved mainly through diet and resistance training. Those who want fat loss, improved athletic performance and a leaner physique will typically go with more aerobic work. But everything is based on the individual – extensive assessment is done before I design any program. |
| For my own training I tend to go with a heavy
basic approach as at this point I am doing
a size phase. My schedule follows: Monday: chest and triceps. -Bench press: 4 sets of 8 to 12. -Incline bar press: 3 sets of 8 to 12. -Dumbbell incline press: 3 sets of 8 to 12. -Flat bench flies: 2 sets of 8 to 12. -Lying triceps extensions: 3 sets of 8 to 12. -Triceps press-downs: 2 sets of 8 to 12. Tuesday: Cardio. 20 minutes of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) training on stationary bike. Night: biceps: -Standing dumbbell curls: 4 sets of 8 to 12. -Bar curls: 2 sets of 8 to 12. Wednesday: Back. -Chins-ups: 4 sets of 12 to 20. -Dead lifts: 4 sets of 8 to 12. -Bent barbell rows: 3 sets of 8 to 12. -Bent dumbbell rows: 3 sets of 8 to 12. Thursday: Cardio. 20 minutes of HIIT on the stationary bike. Night: shoulders. -Standing lateral raises: 4 sets of 8 to 12. -Dumbbell presses: 3 sets of 8 to 12. -Dumbbell upright rows: 3 sets of 8 to 12. Friday: legs. -Squats (variety of stances): 5 sets of 8 to 12. -Leg extensions: 3 sets of 8 to 12. -Barbell lunges: 2 sets of 8 to 12. -Standing calf raises: 5 sets of 8 to 12. Saturday: off. Sunday: Cardio. 20 minutes of HIIT. |
|
| I would describe this program as very basic,
but effective. Bodyweight is at an all time
high (87kgs of muscle) and body fat is relatively
low. I do have quite and active life training many clients, so need additional rest. The program is necessarily simple and allows for total recovery. *Often I will use low reps as a means to lift more weight. I do like to change the rep structure around quite often to challenge the muscles. Also I will cut back on, or increase cardio depending on how I feel or whether I consider it to be impacting muscle gains, but I do try to keep it in there for heath purposes. Q: What is your Christian background, how does it fit into your daily life including bodybuilding and fitness? I do have faith in God, but am not what you would consider a practicing Christian. I own a Bible and various books on Christianity and find many of the Bible stories inspiring. Believing in biblical principals does lead to a more positive mindset and a love for humanity in my view. Q: What is your favorite scripture and in what way does it speak to you? I have always like the quote: "Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed. (Proverbs 12:24).” Those are words to live by, I think. Q: What do you think of bodybuilding today? I think the opportunities are great for anyone entering the industry either as a competitor, trainer, nutritionist, coach, writer or publisher. Bodybuilding has certainly evolved to the point where it is now a lot more scientific and this opens the doors for those with the expertise to assist the competitors. I do think the physiques, especially at the pro level, have improved and the new judging criteria for shape and symmetry seems to had some positive impact on the way the athletes look onstage. Q: Do you think it is moving in both a positive or negative light? I think any athletic pursuit needs to advance in certain areas. Public appeal and sponsorship for the athletes always needs to be at a high level for the sport to keep progressing. Usually this involves a look that is marketable. Unfortunately, the freakier the physique, the more favourably received it is by the fans. So pro bodybuilders today probably need to maintain a certain look to attract fans and make enough money to continue. But I think the industry is growing and that can only be a positive thing. It should be remembered that bodybuilding for the average person is one of the most healthy activities available. Q: How do you use your fitness knowledge and ability to impact the lives of others? I think passing on life changing information is one of the most rewarding things I have been involved in to date. Teaching someone how to eat and exercise correctly and to maintain good habits throughout their lives is the best form of preventative medicine in my view. I do feel that personal trainers serve a more important function in society than do other health professionals because good health, for many, depends on their willingness to change old habits. Working alongside someone week in and out will eventually put him or her on the path to a healthy, productive life. Q: And how do you use your Christian walk to do the same? I just treat everyone as an equal and give respect wherever possible. Q: What do you see for yourself in the future? I will continue to train people and grow my gym business while writing articles and books on health, fitness and motivation. Will take good care of my family and lead a productive life. Q: As a refresher, what contests have you competed in, in the past year and in the past? I began competing in 1994 as mentioned and have done around 15 shows to date. My last show was the Waikato Championships in May of 2006, where I placed second. In my first show I came in third at age 20. That trophy is still the most important I have won thus far. Q: Have you seen a greater number of Christian bodybuilders competing and can you say that you've seen their impact on bodybuilding? I definitely feel that Christian bodybuilding has taken off, especially with the help of sites like your one. This makes sense, as Christian values support a strong body and mind, and the kind of self-belief that creates a winning physique can come through a strong faith. Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add? I would like to thank your site for doing a great job in promoting Christian bodybuilding and you for setting up the Cyber contest and providing inspiration to bodybuilders the world over. Would like to thank my children and beautiful girlfriend Sara for their support. Q: Thank you so very much for competing, contributing and doing the interview! My pleasure Bobby. |
|
 |
|
 |
|