Q&A With YouTube Fitness Guru Alphadestiny – Owner of Outalpha.com!
For all of you who don’t already know, Alpha Destiny is one of the top strength and conditioning coaches in Montreal and is only getting started with his powerful online business. He is hands down one of the most hard working and consistent trainers that I have ever met and he walks the walk. I have been watching Alpha for almost 2 years now and he has become one of the only fitness guys that I actually watch on YouTube because of his good communication skills and passion for the whole lifestyle. Not only does he talk about training, but he also talks about women and just how to become more of an alpha-male.
What are your goals for this year lift-wise and weight/body-fat % wise? What is your dream physique?
Initially, I wanted to reach a 385lb-405lb touch and go bench press, but because I was sick for the entire month of December I ended up dropping 10lbs of weight. The result is that my bench press went down tremendously, but the rest of my body was relatively maintained. Essentially, I was leaner, but still pretty strong. When 2016 began, I had a choice. Either I spend the next 3-4 months regaining my previous bench press strength, or I can focus on something else. So I think that’s how I shall approach this year. My goal is to overhead press 225lbs for a 1 rep max. I also want to neck curl 90lbs for 3×25-100 repetitions and improve my forearm and grip strength through various special exercises. In terms of body composition, 200lbs at 15-20% bodyfat is ideal. My ultimate physique is the one described in Naturally Enhanced. That is, developing the six essential muscles groups that make you appear much more massive than you actually are.
Where do you see the Alphadestiny YouTube channel 5 years from now?
I see Alpha Destiny expanding to well over 100,000 subscribers, because I am a man who speaks the truth and actually gets his clients results. All my supporters report significant strength and muscle gains when following my advice, because I have successfully combined exercise science and experience into layman’s terms.
What drives and motivates you to be so consistent with your training and your business throughout the yearly cycle? Also what motivated you to start the channel in the first place?
Nothing really drives me. I go to the gym because it’s become a habit. It’s similar to brushing my teeth. I know that this is what I have to do and there’s simply no way I’m missing a workout. I don’t have to force myself or watch intense training videos to feel the need to train. I just follow my schedule and be quiet about it. As far as business goes, I cannot stand the 9-5 lifestyle. I never wanted to be part of the rat race, and with my extreme leadership and commanding personality, I knew that I was destined to be an entrepreneur. Being the boss is great! That’s why I initially started my YouTube channel, because it was a way for me to get started in the fitness world.
Do you ever have days where you feel demotivated and just get tired of working out?
It’s rare, and like I mentioned previously motivation does not affect whether or not I will train. Sometimes I might not feel like doing certain accessory exercises due to fatigue, but that’s about it. Concurrent training is so fun due to the high exercise selection that I seldom get bored with training.
I’ve noticed that you said in one of your videos that you drink beer a few times per week, do you find that this helps with your lifts or it doesn’t make a difference at all. By the way I LOVE beer and could probably beat you in a beer drinking contest.
I’m a social drinker. I would never buy alcohol for myself, I only drink in the presence of others. I don’t find it affects my performance unless I have more than 2 beers. Moderation is key.
Would you ever consider opening up a gym or studio in the future to train clients?
That’s too early for me to tell. I will focus on my online business and see how the market expands from that point. However, I do plan on continuing the one on one personal training.
What are your 3 favorite things to do outside of training related stuff?
I’m a very simple guy, so my interests are limited. One thing I love to do is self-educate. Whether that be reading a book/article, listening to a podcast, or watching seminars/videos, I just can’t stop myself from learning every single day. It’s my obsession. The two topics that intrigue me the most are business and seduction. Another thing that I love doing is playing video games. For the longest time, I neglected them, but it’s only recently that I learned to accept the inner nerd inside of me. I was a professional gamer for over 15 years, and for me to just drop it suddenly created a void in my life that needed to be filled. Obviously, I’m not as obsessed as I used to be, so nowadays I only game about an hour a day. The last thing I love doing is watching movies. I’m a huge movie buff. Everything down from the classics to modern films is what I’m looking for. I enjoy the cinematography, the actors, the stories, etc. Can’t get enough of them.
I know you aren’t into pop culture, but what are your top 3 favorite rap song of all time?
I’m old school. Not to sound like a hipster, but I just can’t listen to the new rap.
1) Tupac – I’d Rather Be Your NIGGA
2) Ice Cube – Ghetto Vet
3) Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg – Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang
What are your 3 favorite movies?
1) Scarface 1983
2) Casino 1995
3) Third one is really hard to answer. There’s too many that compete and it would be unfair to the movie creators.
Without thinking too hard, what are your top 5 favorite foods for putting on mass?
1) Pasta
2) Rice
3) Banana
4) Fruit juice
5) Any junk food (pizza, burger, chips, cake, etc)
At this given moment, what are your top 3 favorite muscle groups to train and why?
My first favorite muscle group to train is the neck. I absolutely love it! It’s the most underrated muscle group, but it can literally make or break a physique. When I first started training my neck it was only 15.5 inches. Today, it’s slightly above 18 inches. The fact that my neck is so wide just looks super alpha. Second muscle group to train is traps. That’s because it ties in to the neck, and I enjoy doing various special exercises for this region because you can go very heavy. Last muscle group is the forearms. Grip strength is an incredible universe that so many people fail to explore. I love my wrist curls, open hand strength, crushing strength, etc. Besides, big forearms are very impressive, much more than big biceps in my opinion.
For someone trying to hypertrophy their shoulders as much as possible and doesn’t care too much about getting a big chest, how much benching would you really recommend and how much overhead pressing would you recommend?
I would keep bench presses in the program, but would train with mainly close grip variations and band presses. This builds the shoulders to a tremendous degree when combined with overhead pressing. In terms of vertical presses, it must be the foundation of your program. You must use all the special exercises that build the standard OHP automatically, similar to how a powerlifter uses a multitude of movements to build his competition bench. Overhead pressing 2-4x a week is recommended.
A lot of people say that when you bench for chest hypertrophy you want to squeeze the chest at the top for more pec activation, does this same philosophy apply to squeezing your shoulders at the top of shoulder presses?
I’m going to say no. If you can’t feel your shoulders working with heavy weight above your head, you have other problems that you need to address. Actively trying to squeeze them makes no sense from a physiological perspective. All I can see this do is potentially shrug with the traps more.
3 Must-have exercises for people trying to improve their vertical jump and 3 for people trying to improve their 40 yard dash?
1) Depth jumps or box jumps are a must. Read into Dr. Verkoshansky’s work for more info on this.
2) Box squatting using multiple heights (high and low), with and without bands
3) Barbell Squat Jumps
If the goal is to get bigger forearms would you recommend doing all direct bicep/triceps/forearm work with Fatgripz 2.5 (except maybe a few top end sets of certain curl variations). If yes, then would you eventually work up to the point to using Fatgripz 3.0 if maximum forearm hypertrophy is the goal?
I would not recommend using exclusively thick bars. I talk about this in Naturally Enhanced. For optimal forearm and grip strength development, you must use a multitude of implements. Thin bars, thick bars, odd objects, etc. Limiting yourself to just one bar diameter can only shortchange your gains. In terms of working up to Fatgripz 3.0, I would say that they could be incorporated eventually. For most lifters this is unnecessary, but for advanced guys who want that extra edge it might be helpful.
The upper traps on most people are overdeveloped, what’s your favorite way to train the lower traps?
Doing rear delt work in addition to multiple rowing variations should be more than enough to grow the lower traps. It’s all connected, you know.
Better mass builder, Pendlay or Barbell Rows?
I don’t like either/or situations. You’re going to have to use both so comparing the two in isolation is worthless. What I can tell you is that Pendlay rows do not have much of an eccentric component, which makes it easier to recover while still moving heavy weight. However, there is less stretching of the lats, so it’s debatable whether it can build more size than a conventional barbell row. Like I said, work both of them into your program and performance with size is covered.
I noticed that you mentioned the Glute Bridge instead of the Hip Thrust in Naturally Enhanced, is there a reason for this?
No magical reason. I prefer glute bridges because the range of motion is always maintained, and it’s easier to setup when using very heavy weight.
What is your favorite glute activation drill for you and/or your clients?
There is no drill. Pretend you’re in prison and that will cover it. Squeeze those ass-cheeks together to the point that they are about to tear.
What is your favorite way to show newbies how to activate their lats during rows and pull-ups?
It’s easy to do. Make them row with a band or have them do rear delt flyes. Then, you get behind them and tap on the muscle. Annoy the hell out of them until they can eventually squeeze the back. I’ll even have them isometrically squeeze their back by moving their arms all over the place. Finally, teaching them proper form ensures that they are using the desired muscle groups 100% of the time.
What do you tell a client if he/she can’t feel face-pulls in their rear delts?
They are pulling too low. The face pull is not a row. Pull to the throat, nose, forehead, or behind the head. I’ve never had a person complain of not feeling this region when performing the exercise in this fashion.
Clients dealing with stretch marks in random places in their body, what’s your advice?
Deal with it. Some people get them, some people don’t. I don’t recommend using special oils because I believe most are scams.
Without thinking too hard, what are the 3 biggest female training myths out there that need to go away asap?
1) Women get bulky from weight training (good luck, it’s even hard for men)
2) Women should train differently from men
3) Women must “tone” their muscles with high rep isolation exercises like kickbacks and endless cardio
For a novice female lifter who can only make it to the gym 3x per week and wants to do some conditioning at home (but only has access to a jump rope), what would you recommend that she does? Or what would you recommend that she buys?
I will recommend two things. Brisk walking with ankle weights outside every day for 20-30 minutes, or 10-20 minutes of jump rope every day. She doesn’t need anything else.
Share your details on how you got a deeper voice?
Well, one day I was screaming so loud that I tore my vocal cords. From that point forward it was difficult for me to talk loud so I just spoke in a calmer manner. I feel like being grounded is what caused my voice pitch to lower. When you are talking loud and fast while trying to be enthusiastic to an audience, your voice pitch tends to rise. I’m more relaxed nowadays, so I sound deeper. Also, I like seducing women on the phone so I think that definitely helped.
What are some of your tips on time management, procrastination and doing things that you hate?
Successful people do what they have to do whether they feel like it or not. I didn’t invent that quote by the way. I see it like this. If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to happen. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. And if you make excuses, you’re probably not cut out for this, so I would say that quitting is probably a good idea. It’s survival of the fittest, point final. That being said though, if you really have a problem in this department start looking into the self-improvement world (not the overhyped change in a day marketing crap) and see how that can help you out in the long term.
What is the most important personality trait that a strength and conditioning coach could possess?
Obsession with learning. If you think you have all the answers even though there is more to learn, you’re done for. Whatever stagnates dies.
Before we go, what is your top tip that you could give all trainers out there for having a successful business?
Read exercise science textbooks. Stop listening to advice from bodybuilders. If you truly become qualified, your work will be better than your competition, because the truth of the matter is that most trainers don’t know what they’re talking about. This is good for you! Be better than them, and once you have that knowledge base established you’ll want to do a lot of research on marketing and actually get involved in the fitness community. With these things combined, your business should expand.