Naturally Ripped Alex Stewart Talks With Simplyshredded.com

How did you get started with bodybuilding?

I started lifting weights in high school to make me stronger for the varsity basketball team. Once I saw how I could change my body with weight lifting, my passion for the hardwood turned to weightlifting. I loved the feeling of pushing my body to its physical limits. At the age of 18 I decide to enter my first Bodybuilding show in the Teen Division, but 2 weeks before the show I dislocated my shoulder which needed immediate surgery. While rehabbing my injury I decided to learn as much about Bodybuilding as I could. I became certified as a personal trainer and nutritionist in this time and realized at the point of my injury I knew very little about proper training, nutrition and supplementation. For the next 2 years I worked my butt off. I ended up competing in my first show 4 days after my 19th birthday and Won the Novice Overall, Junior Division (20-24) and came 2nd in the light heavy weight class to the guy that went on to win the Overall. It was a rocky start but in the end it was better that my injury happened at such a young age because I learned so much from it and I am such a better more knowledgeable bodybuilder now.

Where does your motivation come from?

My motivation for training comes from the desire and love of pushing myself to sculpt the perfect body. The awards and trophies mean very little compared to the inner gratification I get from going to the gym everyday and beating my numbers or not quitting when my training partner did.

What is your training philosophy?

I have tried all different kinds of styles and find I get the best results from High Volume Moderate Rep Range work. I always try to lift as heavy as possible in the 8-12 rep range for the majority of my workouts. Sometime do a few less reps and sometimes a few more. I like to throw some shock techniques in my routine every once in a while to mix things up.

If you have to pick only 3 exercises, what would they be and why?

Hack Squats: I love this exercise I can go super heavy with reps and my legs grow like crazy on this
Deadlifts: This is my favorite of them all. Love the feeling of pulling heavy ass weight off the ground. Since I started I have been very strong with this exercise and the form seems natural to me
Incline Barbell Press: I have been working on my chest so much to bring it up since my shoulder injury 4 years ago and this has been my bread and butter exercise for this.

When trying to cut down do you prefer to use HIIT or just normal cardio?

When I diet I personally always use normal cardio as I find that my legs respond very well to it. Actually during the pre-contest my legs get better because of the increased amount of regular cardio. I have tried HIIT form of cardio and it personally is not something that works well for me as I have ankle issues and the sprinting aggravates the old injury. I use it more as a shock technique to help with getting over a plateau but it is not a main stay in my routine. That being said I have many clients that use this form of cardio in their pre-contest/dieting phase and they love it and the results it brings them.

What is your philosophy on nutrition?

Everyone is different regarding nutrition. I have worked with so many people and every one of them has different requirements to get them to where they want to be. For me I have found when dieting I can deal with more carbs than most people as I don’t include much fat or crazy amounts of protein like a lot of people do. This is so I can stay full with energy and use the carbs to help improve my body during the precontest.

What are your favorite meals and foods?

I love steak

Favorite cheat food?

Bacon Burger, In Miami we have the best Burger Places

What is your supplementation like?

I like all Betancourt Nutrition Products
Bullnox is my Preworkout
BullRush is my Intra/Postworkout
Big Blend is my Protein of Choice
For a Fat Burner I will go with the Ripped Juice Extreme Caps
I munch on the BCAA, Glutamine and Creatine Chewies all day long
Always have my Magnum Multi Vitamin Twice a day
Other than that I will take a Fish Oil Pill 2-3 Times a day.

Plans for the future?

As of right now I am in 100% offseason mode, which means heavy plates on the bar and heavy plates of food at the table. I am really focusing this off-season on putting size on my upper body to help it catch up to my over powering lower body. I could not be happier with the results. I am getting strong on all lifts. I am putting on quality size with minimal body-fat gained. I am looking to win my pro-card in 2011. I will be doing the same show BLNPA NEW ENGLAND NATURALs in which I took the Jr class in 2008 and 2009.