Greg Plitt: biography, training program and athlete nutrition

Greg Plitt is a fitness model and athlete who promoted his own philosophy of life, closely related to training. A man with a capital M, a man of unbending will to conquer himself, promote a healthy lifestyle and be in excellent physical shape, Greg will be remembered for many years. His tragic death came as a true shock to a huge number of fans around the world. Greg left his legacy behind by creating the intense MFT28 training program. Starred in cool inspiring videos with millions of views. We will talk about her in more detail in today’s article, and along the way we will get acquainted with the biography of the great athlete and a real motivator of the early 21st century.

Born George Gregory Plitt Jr. on November 3, 1977. in Maryland in the small town of Literville. At school, Greg paid attention to football, went to wrestling, and also liked golf. My interest in fitness began around the sixth grade, when my father set up a home gym. Plitt's future was largely influenced by his older sister, who amazed him with her changes during his time at the Naval Academy. After graduating from high school, Greg followed in his sister's footsteps, and after training, he served in the 75th Parachute Regiment, also known as the Rangers, for five years. He made more than one and a half thousand parachute jumps and trained a company of soldiers who were under his command. This experience helped him find the right approach to the training process and develop MFT28.

This program contains four weeks (the number 28 is the number of days) of real hardcore training that will shock and change your body. Probably, each of us dreamed of lightning-fast results when we started working out in the gym. Greg's training will give you this result, but get ready to work hard - these will be a difficult twenty-eight days of your life.

Classes are designed to maximize the effort required from the body.

Shock is the engine of progress. Sitting on the sofa and waiting until the form of Apollo comes to hand - that's hell!

You will have to train to the fullest, but you will radically improve your own physical fitness, gain muscle mass, and improve your endurance. What can we say about the excess fat that will melt before your eyes every day. To become more powerful, better, stronger - that is the goal of these classes.

Biography

Greg Plitt didn't immediately become a fitness icon, magazine covers, or even a film actor. His biography contained many difficulties that helped in the development of his iron character and unbending will on the path to his goals.

Greg Plitt Jr. was born on November 3, 1977 in Burbank, California. His mother worked in a design agency and had a daughter, so Greg was the second child in the family. My father was in real estate. Greg began playing sports as a teenager, which greatly influenced the strengthening of his character. His father personally built a personal gym in the house, which became an excellent motivation and hobby for the future athlete. In addition to strength training, he also enjoyed football, golf and arm wrestling, although he later focused on bodybuilding. In Greg's first gym, his favorite apparatus were the parallel bars and the horizontal bar.

Greg's sister served at the Naval Academy and her physical capabilities and example impressed the young star so much that after graduating from high school in 1996, he entered the same educational institution. It was the academy that gave incredible strength of will, self-discipline and the ability to overcome any difficulties. Upon completion, Plitt became a ranger and remained in the service for another 5 years. He has completed more than 1,500 parachute jumps and finished his service with the rank of captain.

Curb your pride

In the gym, pride is your worst enemy. And if you don’t contain it when you get there, you can forget about progress that day or in general. Pride allows the worst to happen - it allows others to influence the process of your training. Pride can cause you to make an impression: you lift more weight than you can handle, lose proper posture, and often injure yourself.

Pride makes you lift heavy weights to prove something to someone. The resulting injury will keep you out of practice for a month or more.

The fastest route to muscle development and growth is always through ideal shape, which usually means lighter weight. Growth does not come from lifting weights. It occurs due to the work of muscles.

Career

Greg Plitt's career in the fitness industry began after arriving in Los Angeles, where Greg became a licensed trainer. He makes impressive progress and quickly becomes the holder of the title of “athlete of the year.” After this, Plitt decides to create his own unique training system called MFT 28. The peculiarity of MFT28 is the abundance of complex and universal movements, which are aimed not only at gaining muscle mass, but also at increasing physical capabilities. For example, the program placed a lot of emphasis on various types of push-ups for the chest muscles. The back training included exercises such as tire hammer blows, London bridges, which Greg clearly borrowed from Ranger training, and other non-standard movements.

In addition to coaching, Greg is developing in other directions: he participates in various projects, appears in magazines, appears in films and major shows. He acted as the face of the Thierry Mugler's Angel Men project and acted as a model for such famous brands as Calvin Klein, Old Spice and others. On his account:

• Participation in more than 30 music videos;
• The title of the most successful male fitness model;
• More than 200 publications in magazines.

Greg Plitt is also the only person in history who managed to get on the cover of the country's main fitness magazine for 5 years in a row. His entrepreneurial activities were also quite successful. He was the creator of the sports supplement Whey Up and the Metaball multifunctional exercise machine, which brought the athlete more than one million dollars in profit.

"Level of Respect"

We begin training with limitations and some specific strength and form parameters based on our current fitness level. To improve these parameters, we must push our body beyond its limitations. When we lie down to squeeze out, for example, eight times when we could do 10 or 12, we are doing an injustice to our potential. The speed of body improvement depends on the mood in the gym. Perhaps the gym is the only honest, objective place where progress or lack thereof directly depends on our efforts. Consciousness determines success and the speed of its achievement. If we stop after eight times when we could have done 10 or 12, we miss the point and are not training at a “respect level.”

Practicing at a “level of respect” means doing it to the best of your ability, without regret. When you leave the gym, you should be proud of the work you've done and the progress you've made.

Leave with increased self-respect and the respect of everyone who watched you. Consistently practicing at a “respect level” will make your dreams come true. A beautiful body is a combination of sweat, blood and tears. These liquids reflect victory in a test of willpower, determination and desire. Failure is your friend; it is the best marker of the level you have been at and where you are now. When you fail, you should be happy because you have just overcome your own limit and taken a step forward. Failure leads to growth!

Filmography

Despite the fact that Plitt's filmography is not as extensive as that of Hollywood actors, Greg participated in many top films. He has produced such famous films as:

• "Slaughter Revenge";
• "False temptation";
• “Terminator: Let the Savior Come” (although its scenes were cut during the final editing of the film);
• "Days of Our Lives";
• Watchmen - he played Doctor Manhattan.

He also made cameo appearances in a large number of films and participated in many shows.

Doing business and filming

The athlete has also achieved great success in the field of entrepreneurship. Thanks to several successful projects, his profits amounted to millions of dollars.

While acting in films, the athlete advertised exercise equipment, protein supplements and other things in this area. The basis for one famous film was his biography.

The athlete himself starred in many famous films. Suffice it to recall such films as “False Temptation” or “Terminator”. In addition, he was a participant in many American talk shows, which were very popular among viewers.

Training program

Greg Plitt's entire training program was designed to simultaneously develop mass, strength, endurance, and also maintain low body fat. The athlete performed 5 workouts per week, working each muscle group separately:

1. Monday - back;
2. Tuesday – chest;
3. Wednesday - shoulders;
4. Thursday - arm training;
5. Friday – legs.

He pumped up his abs after every workout, spending at least 15 minutes on it. After the cycle, the training days were changed to avoid muscle adaptation; only the abdominal work remained unchanged after each strength session. The peculiarity of working out the abdominal zone was also that Greg pumped one of the muscle areas (lower abs, upper abs, obliques) for each workout. This allowed for proper recovery even when working on the abs for 5 days a week.

The training time was most often in the morning, around 6 am. This was dictated by the busy schedule, filming and other events in which Plitt took part. He himself commented that after developing the habit of working out in the morning, he began to feel energetic throughout the day. Although the athlete never promoted such a lifestyle, in his books, interviews and program he advised exercising in the evening, when after a hard training you can have a good rest and sleep. If possible, Greg would conduct a second training session in the evening. It mostly included cardio or light exercise.

Ideal body equation

Aerobic exercise + Anaerobic exercise + Proper nutrition + Rest = Ideal body The ideal body is the sum of four equal parts. If you neglect any part of the equation, your form will never reach perfection. Throw out part of the equation and you will never reach your goal. By not doing aerobic exercise, you are sacrificing your health and the ability to get oxygen and blood flowing to your muscles. If you don't strain your muscles with anaerobic exercise, they won't grow. If you don't support your muscles with proper nutrition, they won't grow! If you don't rest, your body doesn't recover and your muscles don't grow.

Nutrition

The athlete’s diet was quite familiar for fitness - an abundance of protein foods, a minimum of carbohydrates, with an emphasis on vegetables and any slow carbohydrates, healthy fats and the absence of junk food. Sometimes he did cheat meals, which help maintain low levels of body fat and provide psychological relief.

Among the supplements Greg Plitt used:

• Pre-workout: 50g whey protein, creatine, pre-workout supplement (including caffeine and arginine);
• Post-workout: 50 g whey protein, creatine, glutamine, stirring in natural juice;
• Before bed: 50 g of casein.

Constant change

I change the course of the workout every time. And don't think that this is a difficult task. It's easy to change the course of your activities. Keep your body in the dark, don't let it adapt to the monotony of your workouts. If your body begins to guess your route, it will find a more efficient way through it. Adaptation is a wonderful ability of the human body, but it interferes with our goal of becoming stronger. Your body improves when it has to adapt to new challenges. Your body becomes stronger to cope with these difficulties. You can easily change the course of your workout: by swapping parts of it, or by working out with dumbbells instead of barbells, or barbells and dumbbells instead of exercise machines. Change your weight and rest time. Do the same, but either with more weight 6-8 times per approach, or with less weight 18-20 times. This makes training more fun and interesting, and also stimulates your progress.

Cause of death

How the athlete died gave rise to many theories and mysteries. It is known that Gregory died at the age of 37 after being hit by a train. This happened while filming an advertisement for a famous energy drink. In the video, he had to outrun a train as Superman after taking a sip of an energy drink. During filming, he ran forward, where, according to the idea, he was supposed to be overtaken by a train running on the next line. As a result, when shot from the side, it would look as if the fitness star was actually overtaking the train behind him. But technical experts made incorrect calculations, which led to a terrible disaster. Eyewitnesses interviewed by the police claimed that after the sound signal the athlete ran forward, and only in the last moments did he realize that the train was moving right behind him. Greg died at the scene from the impact, which is listed as the cause of death. The official video of Greg Plitt's death was confiscated by police during the investigation.

Strength of will

If you don’t have the rage and passion to make it happen, then in the end it will all come down to regrets like “what if.” It is now that you need to find inner strength to prove your convictions. You should not lower your head because circumstances overcome you! At this very moment, you clench your willpower into a fist and show who you really are. This external pressure creates the need to rise above the situation and accelerate oneself like a racing car. If you win, you will fly higher than ever, and this is a real victory over yourself!

According to Greg, the main thing is to enjoy training, and muscles are just a side effect

Morning mass phase

Your morning workouts are a hard mass-building session. Before you begin, be sure to do a warm-up - “Dust off your guns and get ready to shoot.” Warm-up prepares your body for heavy loads, enhances trophism in tissues and allows you to warm up your muscles.

When choosing a working weight for the MFT28 program, don't let your ego take over your body. Choose a challenging weight, but don't go too far and sacrifice technique. And remember, the reps that don't help you grow are the reps you don't do. Therefore, choose a weight that you can perform 8-12 reps with and aim to reach exhaustion in that rep range. Be a servant in the gym because outside of the gym you will be a BOSS.

• Aim for number of reps: 8-12
• We try to perform each set until exhaustion
• Rest interval: 60-90 seconds

Evening phase

Essentially, your evening workout will consist of the same exercises, but the details and results will be radically different. Some of the exercises will be easier, and the overall duration of the workout will be significantly reduced. The evening phase is not intended for bulking - it will be a high-speed, high-repetition, metabolic workout.

You reduce the working weight, reduce the rest time between sets and increase the number of sets to train muscular endurance and energy systems. This time there is no need to perform every set until exhaustion. It is important to concentrate on technique and keep your heart rate elevated with a short rest period.

• We aim for the number of repetitions: 15-30*
• Rest interval: 30-45 seconds

*Note: Since it is not possible to adjust the weight on some of the bodyweight exercises, perform as many repetitions as your fitness level allows.

#1 Chest workout

Watch video material on the technique of performing exercises for the pectoral muscles here: Bodybuilding.com

Start this 5-step exercise with wide push-ups on the floor. Perform 8-12 reps, then place the bar on the lowest step and immediately perform another 8-12 reps in that position. Move the bar up another notch and perform 8-12 reps with a medium grip. Continue moving the bar and performing the prescribed exercises. The entire series of 5 positions is considered 1 approach.

Complete 3 reps with the first exercise. Then drop 20% of the weight and do 5 more reps. Again, remove 20% of the weight and do another 7 reps. The last time, reduce the weight by 20% and do 9 more repetitions. After this, immediately proceed to dilutions. This counts as one approach (in the evening phase with other values).

The exercise is performed on a bench at an angle of 30?. Choose the heaviest weight with which you can do no more than 1 repetition. Perform one rep, then drop the weight one bar and perform 2 more reps. Remove another tile and do 3 repetitions, etc., until you get to number 10. This counts as one set. Each approach has 55 repetitions.

Bring your hands together in the first exercise - starting position. Perform 8-12 (20-30) repetitions with one arm, then the same with the other. After, immediately perform 8-12 (20-30) repetitions in the second exercise, then step back, put your feet together, straighten your torso and do 8-12 (20-30) repetitions in the third exercise. This counts as one approach.

• Ladder push-ups - different hand positions help to work the inner and outer parts of the chest
• Bodyweight flyes - make sure the plates are not fully secured so the bar can roll easily
• Drop sets in dumbbell exercises - prepare all the necessary dumbbells in advance so you can continue the exercise immediately
• Decline Bench Press - To create the most incline, place one end of the bench on an elevated surface.

#2 Back workout

Watch video material on back exercise techniques here: Bodybuilding.com

The back is the largest muscle group in your body. The MFT28 program will help you get wider, stronger and more defined, thanks to an arsenal of super-intense exercises.

• Upper rows help create a V-shaped torso
• Dumbbell and barbell rows add thickness and definition to your back
• Close-grip seated rows work the muscles closest to the spine
• Wide-grip seated rows work the outer back muscles and lats.

Choose a heavy dumbbell for yourself and do 6 repetitions with each hand in the first exercise. Then, without resting, take the dumbbell 20% lighter and perform 8 reps with each arm. Immediately grab a dumbbell 20% lighter than the previous one and do another 10 repetitions with it with each hand. Without a break, move on to hitting the tire. Only after this do you rest for 60-90 seconds. This counts as one approach.

For a video on how to perform shoulder exercises, see here: Bodybuilding.com

If it is not possible to use ropes, then light dumbbells will serve as an excellent replacement.

Watch video material on arm exercise techniques here: Bodybuilding.com

• Short head of biceps - narrow grip
• Long head of biceps - wide grip
• Take your time - stretch and contract the muscles as much as possible

Watch video material on leg exercise techniques here: Bodybuilding.com

Legs are a very massive muscle group. Intense leg training stimulates the natural release of testosterone and growth factors throughout the body. Never skip a leg workout.

For the third exercise, focus on lowering your torso. Raise your torso explosively and lower yourself to a count of five.

For the second exercise, alternate the position of your feet every 15 to 20 repetitions, turning them outward and inward to target different areas of the lower leg.

Training protocol

This workout is designed to work the entire upper body:

• Backs
• Breasts
• Press
• Hand
• Shoulders

5 muscle groups - 5 exercises in a circle (one exercise for each group). Only 3 laps. Total - 15 exercises.

All exercises are performed in the AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) protocol. I wrote about it in a separate article dedicated to circuit training protocols.

The time to complete each exercise is 1 minute (60 seconds). During this period you should try to do as many repetitions as possible.

Rest between exercises is minimal. We finished one exercise, got ready for another, turned on the timer and moved on.

Cardio

I usually do three cardio workouts a week, sometimes even five. My favorite activity is swimming. It strengthens the muscles and helps shape them. I usually do cardio late at night before bed to make sure all the food in my stomach is burned off. If you're bulking up, you can still do cardio in the evening, just make sure you eat a high-protein meal or drink a protein shake before bed. I collect all my worries, stresses and problems in my head. And then, at the end of the day, while running through the streets near my home, I solve them. I plan tasks for the next day; I think through what I would like to happen.

I find that when I have a problem, thinking about it while doing cardio allows me to come to a solution faster than while sitting in a chair. Exercise also strengthens your mind.

The “Open” in the picture on a Sunday evening is a place for anything I missed during the week or anything that needs special attention. I do abs every workout except the one on my back. Just like your abs, you can train your calves almost every day. If your calves need an extra workout, strengthen them on all days other than your leg workouts.