The Most Impressive Client Transformation I’ve Ever Seen - Eshan’s Story
“Real transformation requires real honesty. If you want to move forward - get real with yourself.”
Key Takeaways
Eshan is the current title holder of “Most Impressive Solokas Focus Transformation.”
More so than any other client I’ve ever coached (and there have been plenty) he bought in 100% and did everything according to plan.
Over the course of 4 months, Eshan lost just under 30lbs, gained strength, and nearly eliminated his low back pain.
Eshan’s keys to success were consistency, precision, effort, discipline, and enlisting help.
If you’d like to contend with Eshan for most impressive transformation, you can start today by signing up for your free consultation HERE.
Full Story
If you believe in popular fitness dogma, a lot of things are impossible. It’s impossible to...
Lose fat while gaining strength.
Attain a six-pack while eating your favorite foods.
Get into the best shape of your life while working 50+ hours/week.
Rehab low back and hip pain without medication or time off from the gym.
In the early days of my fitness coaching journey, I may have agreed. That was before I worked with Eshan, who accomplished all of the above and more.
In fact, Eshan is the current title holder of “Most Impressive Solokas Focus Transformation.” He’s even got a shiny medal to prove it.
I can’t take all the credit. Scratch that - I can’t take even a fraction of the credit. Sure, I programmed his resistance training, conditioning, nutrition, and injury rehab protocols, but that’s the easy part.
More so than any other client I’ve ever coached (and there have been plenty) he bought in 100% and did everything according to plan. Down to the final rep and last calorie. It’s no wonder why he earned such incredible results.
Want to know the crazy part? He did it all in 16 weeks. He began in May and completed the final stage of his “transformation” before the beaches closed for the summer.
He did the unthinkable and lost fat, gained strength, and reduced pain while balancing work, a social life, and relaxation. Without further adieu, here’s how Eshan - Mr. Impossible - got into the best shape of his life.
Day 1
One fateful day in mid spring 2021, Eshan exclaimed to his friend Jonathan, “I’m sick of it, man! I just want to lose fat the right way without losing all my muscle in the process.” To which Jonathan replied, with a knowing smirk spreading across his lips, “Man oh man, Eshan. I know exactly the guy you need to talk to. Here, his website is solokasfocus.com - let me send it to you.”
Okay, I don’t know the particulars of the conversation, but the long and short of it is that Eshan and I met through a mutual friend (shout out to Jonathan, who I met at the James Madison University Gym because the 2 hours a day we each spent there almost always seemed to overlap).
Next, Eshan checked out my website and decided to see what I was all about. He signed up for his free consultation (which you can do yourself, HERE) and we discussed:
His experience with exercise/nutrition
His injury history (including a physical assessment)
His goals
How he may want to tweak his current training plan/diet to see results
How I could help him do so
After our conversation, he decided to start working with me. After I sent him more information and asked him more questions about his lifestyle and goals, he sent his first payment and I got to work. Within 48 hours he had received his first training program and his first week of nutrition goals.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Month 1
Eshan’s ultimate goal was to lose fat. So, of course, I started having him eat more food.
Yes, seriously! When Eshan came to me initially he was consuming around 2400 calories and his weight loss had plateaued. For a guy his size and his amount of muscle mass, his current intake was way too low to continue an effective fat loss phase.
I recommended that Eshan eat more calories to “stoke his metabolic fire”, if you will. The increase in calories served to:
Increase his metabolic rate (the amount of calories he burns at rest)
Fuel his first phase of heavy strength training
Normalize his hunger levels
In a perfect world, Eshan would be full of energy and be eating tons of food before we started his fat loss phase so that he would have wiggle room to drop his calories steadily without enduring intense misery. The plan worked perfectly. After a few weeks, Eshan was ready to begin losing fat.
Month 2
After establishing a solid training foundation and bumping up his calories, we started to focus on fat burning. With just the slightest reduction of his calories and increase in daily step count he started to quickly shed fat with minimal hunger.
Because he wanted to look athletic and toned, we adjusted his training to include high rep, low weight training to tone the muscles to avoid him looking big and bulky.
Just kidding, of course! If you’ve been reading Solokas Focus for any amount of time, you know that the idea of lifting low weight for high reps to get “toned” is total nonsense.
As a matter of fact, Eshan continued to lift even heavier. The style of training that is most effective for building muscle and strength - compound exercises, 6-15 reps for most sets, 1-3 reps short of failure - is also the best way to prevent muscle loss while losing fat.
By the end of his second month, Eshan had lost about 8lbs of fat while maintaining his strength. Here’s the best part - he was eating plenty of carbs, had great energy for his workouts, and rarely felt hungry. He was off to an excellent start.
Month 3
The start of the 3 month mark is about the time that most start to plateau. The body fat doesn’t come off as easily, the initial wave of motivation has passed, and overall energy is low.
Just when I thought Eshan was going to fade, he kept coming back stronger and stronger (literally and figuratively).
He continued to gain strength in the gym and stuck to his macronutrient prescriptions with laserlike precision. Now down almost 10lbs, he was still eating over 250 grams of carbs and enjoying his favorite foods in moderation (Eshan’s favorites are chocolate milk and sugary cereal, in case you were wondering).
Nothing fancy. We focused on progressive overload (increasing total amount of weight lifted over time) in the gym and on consuming mostly minimally processed foods in the kitchen. After 3 months of trusting the process, Eshan was starting to see some very impressive results.
Side Note - Just Walk
The 3rd month was when we started to focus on Eshan’s daily step count. Before, Eshan averaged between 5-7k steps/day. Now, I was asking him to get between 11-13k steps/day.
I can already hear you saying, “But John, walking is way too easy! It can’t possibly help with fat loss.”
Walking is highly underrated. Especially when calories and energy levels are low, walking is the most effective form of cardio you can do to lose fat. Here’s why:
It’s low impact, i.e won’t increase soreness or joint pain
It’s “easy” and results in low central nervous system/total stress
You can do it any time, any where
It’s free
You can do it while accomplishing other tasks such as food shopping, listening to podcast or audiobook, or scrolling instagram
The proof is in the pudding (sorry for comparing you to pudding, Eshan). Walking was the primary form of cardio Eshan performed and it was an integral component of his ability to lose fat in a sustainable way.
Month 4 - The Final Push
The final phase - the time to dig deep, push past fatigue, and cross the finish line. Over the course of this month, Eshan continued to train heavy and hard, with the majority of his working sets between 5-10 reps with and pushing 2-3 reps short of failure.
Even though his calories were lower than ever and his endurance was low, he was still able to complete his workouts week in and week out.
In addition to strength training 4-5x/week, Eshan was now up to 16-18k steps/day. No, this amount of activity is not advisable long term and goes against my training philosophy of sustainable fitness habits, I know.
In this case, we were taking extreme measures to achieve a short term goal. I don’t expect you, Eshan, or myself to walk 18k steps every day, 365 days of a year. However, pushing it to the limit for a few weeks or months to accelerate fat loss will not kill you.
During the final few weeks, Eshan was hungry. Hunger is a normal physiological response to getting very lean. Fortunately, we had a few tricks up our sleeve to dampen hunger and make it manageable. These included:
Eating High-Volume, Filling Foods
Eating Plenty Of Fruits And Vegetables
Staying Hydrated and Drinking Calorie-Free Beverages
Consuming Caffeinated Beverages Wisely
Avoiding Empty Calories
Restricting Feeding Window
Understanding the Difference Between Hunger and Craving
Finding What Worked For Him
For a full breakdown of each of these strategies, check out this article.
The final few weeks of a fat loss phase require discipline, grit, and hard work. Eshan has all 3 in spades. I layed out the plan and Eshan followed it to a T. Good times were had by all.
What About Supplements?
You may think you need magical potions, pills, or high octane fat burners to achieve Eshan-level results. You don’t.
Here’s exactly what Eshan took:
Creatine monohydrate (5g/day)
Caffeine (200-300mg/day)
Ashwagandha (he only took it for the final 2 weeks to reduce stress and balance hormones)
That’s it. For more on supplements that may or may not help YOU with your fat loss, check out these articles:
Eshan’s Keys To Success
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Eshan achieved such amazing results. The keys to Eshan’s success were:
Consistency
Over the course of 4 months Eshan almost never missed a workout. Even more impressive, I could count on one hand the amount of times he didn’t hit his daily nutrition targets.
Anyone can work hard for a few days or a few weeks, but short term effort never amounts to noteworthy progress. It’s when you string together months of consistent hard work that you’ll start to really see significant change.
Precision
Not only did Eshan work hard for four months, he was absolutely meticulous in every aspect. He took detailed notes on every exercise of each workout, tracked his food in an app, and monitored his energy levels.
When trying to lose fat or gain muscle, you don’t need to be as precise as Eshan. However, recording your workouts, tracking your nutrition, and taking notes on other important variables will help you reach your goals more quickly with less wasted time.
Effort
Eshan didn’t just show up and go through the motions in the gym or hope for the best in the kitchen. He trained with intensity to force his body to adapt and planned out his meals to make sure he didn’t overeat. Day in and day out, he gave 100% effort and it shows.
Effort is directly correlated to your success - the more effort you put in, the better results you will see.
Discipline
Making a transformation as radical as Eshan’s is not easy. To reiterate, by the end of Month 4 Eshan was working out 5x/week, getting 15-20k steps most days, and eating just over 2000 calories. In other words, he was not having fun.
Everybody, including Eshan, has days when they don’t want to workout, eat vegetables, or go to bed on time. The differentiating factor between those that achieve their goal and those that don’t is doing the difficult things when they don’t feel like it.
Enlisting Help
When Eshan came to me he already had the intangibles for success down. He was willing to do whatever it took to reach his goal. There was only one problem - he didn’t know what to do.
Making a plan was the small role I played in Eshan’s success story. By combining my education and experience with the personal details Eshan provided, we were able to create a roadmap to lead him to his goal. If you want to improve your fitness as quickly and effectively, hiring a professional is the best decision you can make.
Take It From Eshan
Don’t take my word for it. Here’s Eshan’s two cents:
“The program you built almost 'unlocked' strength I had built up over the years. The way you had charted out the rep scheme, rest periods, RPE week over week helped me get the biggest net strength gain since my first year of lifting. Essentially got over a multi-year strength plateau during a damn cut. How is that even possible haha - was so impressive.”
“The progress was awesome. Can't believe I held on to as much size as I did given that I dropped almost 30 pounds - not to mention fully recovered from a back injury and in the best cardio shape of my life without forcing myself to run lol. Seriously, thanks again - this is the best progress I have ever made in a single period!”
Wrap Up
Eshan, take a bow. Your journey is nothing less than remarkable and will serve as inspiration to Solokas Focus followers around the globe.
The most exciting part for you, dear reader, is that it’s entirely possible to have similar success.
As a reminder, Eshan pulled off this transformation while working over 50 hours/week, enjoying his favorite foods, and without spending his entire life in the gym. Achieving Eshan-level success with your fitness is challenging but not complicated.
My 1 on 1 coaching service follows a simple formula:
Commitment + An Evidence-Based Plan = Getting into the best shape of your life, improved health, and sky-high self-confidence.
You bring the commitment, I’ll formulate a tried and true road map unique to you, and the results will speak for themselves.
Your first step is to fill out the quick and easy coaching application below.
Or, if you’d like to jump right to it and schedule your free consultation, you can do that HERE.
Eshan has set the bar incredibly high. Do you think you can top it?
