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How did you get started with bodybuilding?

I originally became interested in bodybuilding at the age of 15 after watching Rocky IV. Stallone’s muscular and ripped physique along with the hardcore training montage made me say “I want to look and train like that!” At that point I began doing a dumbbell workout I got out of my dad’s Men’s Health magazine. After doing that program for a few weeks I was ready to step things up a notch. My uncle gave me an old bench, barbell, and weights he had in his garage. With this new equipment I could now to a host of new exercises. After doing what I could with bench a bench, barbell, and dumbbells I then purchased a squat rack with a pulley system and turned my parents’ garage into a gym (thanks mom and dad for letting me do that LOL).

I trained and prepped for my first bodybuilding competition in my parents’ garage. Once I graduated high school I began training in a real gym.

Where does your motivation come from?

My motivation has always come from within. I have never lacked the motivation to go to the gym or follow a structured diet because I do all of it for myself. I do not train and diet to please or impress anyone, I train and diet as a challenge against myself. I have always enjoyed bodybuilding because my results are 100% dictated by how hard I train and diet and not by any outside factors. My favorite part about working out is trying to beat my previous performance each and every workout. Every time I enter the gym my goal is to out-performance my previous performance for that workout and I use this as my motivation.

Tell us about your training philosophies.

I am a big believer in progressive overload. By this I mean you should always focus on betting your previous performance, be in lifting heavier and/or completing more reps; if you are getting stronger you will get bigger. I am not a low-volume guy per se, but I believe you should focus on going all-out on your sets instead of holding back to do more sets. I believe that all exercises have their place as long as you can progressively overload the targeted muscle with them. Instead of getting bogged down trying to figure out the best number of sets per muscle group and best rep range focus on progressively getting stronger.

If you aren’t gaining strength then you probably need to tweak your workouts.

Derek Charlebois Deadlift  (425 X 3)

What does your training look like?

Right now I am doing a six workout rotation as follows:

Week 1

• Monday Chest/Delts/Tris A
• Wednesday Back/Traps/Bis A
• Friday Leg A
• Saturday Chest/Delts/Tris B

Week 2

• Monday Back/Traps/Bis B
• Wednesday Legs B
• Friday Chest/Delts/Tris A
• Saturday Back/Traps/Bis A

Week 3

• Monday Leg A
• Tuesday Chest/Delts/Tris B
• Thursday Legs B
• Friday Back/Traps/Bis B

With this setup I complete all workouts twice in a 3-week time span. I alternate between low rep, heavy workouts and higher rep, higher volume workouts. I mainly set my training up like this to keep my lower back happy. I suffered a lower back injury in the summer of 2006 and it took about three YEARS for me to get back to the point where I could squat and deadlift again, so I have to train smart to ensure I don’t re-aggravate this injury.

Derek Charlebois Hits Squats

When cutting do you prefer HIIT or LISS Cardio?

I like to use a mix of both. I prefer to do HIIT cardio on non-weight training days and LISS cardio on weight training days either post-workout or in the evening (I train in the morning). Note though when I do LISS cardio I still like to keep the intensity higher. While bulking I do 2 HIIT sessions per week on non-weight training days.

Tell us about your diet philosophies.

I am a big believer in prioritizing your protein and fat intake above your carb intake. Protein and fat are essential nutrients, meaning these nutrients must be obtained through the diet, while carbs are not essential. So whenever I create a diet my clients I first establish their protein and fat intake and then the rest of their calories come from carbohydrates. When bulking I will raise their carbohydrate intake while leaving their protein and fat intake as is and when cutting I will decrease carbs before I remove protein and fat. I also create my diets based around food choices instead of counting every single macronutrient. For example, for protein if the person is to get 42 grams per meal they can have 6 oz. of a meat or 2 scoops of Scivation Whey. I don’t count the trace protein in carb or fat sources. For the most part people eat the same foods every day. Someone isn’t going to eat all peanut butter (which contains carbs and protein) for their fat one week and then do all oils (which have no carbs or protein), so even though they don’t count every macro their caloric intake is still constant due to using the same foods.

This makes dieting much easier as you don’t have to sit and calculate every meal. You know for all meals you are to have 6 oz. meat or 2 scoops Whey protein for my protein intake. There is no sitting and thinking “well there is 7 grams of protein in my rice so I can’t eat as much chicken or if I eat oatmeal instead I have to eat less peanut butter…” You know exactly how much of eat food group (protein, carbs, and fat) you can eat without doing any calculations.

Derek Charlebois Bent Over Row (285 X 6)

What does your diet look like?

I am currently cutting for a photoshoot for Scivation, so my calories a pretty low.

• Meal #1 = 4 Scoops Solution 5
• Meal #2  = (PWO) = 1.5 Scoops Scivation Whey + 1 Cup Skim Milk + 1 Cup Oatmeal + 10g Honey + 20g Almond Butter (all mixed together in a bowl = DELICIOUS!)
• Meal #3 = 6 oz. meat (chicken, turkey, fish) + 30g of Peanut Butter/Almond Butter/Nuts + veggies
• Meal #4 = 6 oz. meat (chicken, turkey, fish) + 30g of Peanut Butter/Almond Butter/Nuts + veggies
• Meal #5 = 6 oz. meat (chicken, turkey, fish) + 30g of Peanut Butter/Almond Butter/Nuts + veggies

That is it! I space my meals out every 4 hours and drink 2 scoops of Xtend between meals to spike leucine/protein synthesis levels. When trying to gain muscle my protein and fat intake will be similar but I will add carbs in to every meal.

What supplements do you recommend?

I recommend sticking with the scientifically proven-effective supplements:

• BCAA
• Whey Protein
• Creatine Monohydrate
• Beta-Alanine
• Citrulline Malate
• Glutamine (Immune system functioning anyone!)
• Fish Oil/GLA/CLA
• Alpha-Lipoic Acid/NAC
• ALCAR/Tyrosine
• Elastamine/ Chondroitin/MSM/Cissus (Joint health)

I guess from the above list you can see why we supplement the Scivation supplements like we do! Every day I see a new supplement come out with a “top secret herbal extract only we can create” and people buying into the hype and shelling out tons of money in hopes that the company has created a magic pill. These supplements are usually popular for a month or two then fade off the map and people are left with little to no gains to show from spending their hard earned cash.

Stick with the scientifically proven-effective ingredients and stop looking for a secret magic pill!

Plans for the future?

• Continue to work for Scivation, release top-notch supplements, and help as many people as possible through Team Scivation.
• Train smart and continue to bring my lower back closer to 100%.
• Regain the strength I had before I injured my lower back.
• Get back on stage and compete at the NPC Michigan Natural in 2011! Yup I said it, I am planning to make my return to the stage and compete after a long layoff.

Derek Charlebois Gallery

Derek Charlebois is certified personal trainer, competitive bodybuilder, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from The University of Michigan. Derek is the Marketing Director/R&D at Scivation/Primaforce and Director of Team Scivation . Derek is an accomplished author with articles printed in various magazines and websites. For one-on-one personal training consultations contact Derek at beastpersonaltraining@gmail.com

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