Josh Ingraham (Chef from Cleveland) has always considered himself a fairly healthy guy: he trained in Taekwondo (4th dan black belt), played Division 2 college baseball, ran a few miles whenever he felt like it, and also kept a pretty good diet.
But in just one year (about five years ago when he was 33), Ingraham found himself in a situation he simply didn’t recognize: his family grew as he and his wife welcomed a new baby girl, and at the same time he also took on a new job as a chef for a professional baseball team (Cleveland Indians).
Between the demanding hours of his job and taking care of a baby at home, his fitness routine went awry, “All season, I didn’t take time for myself. I don’t think I worked out even once,” Ingraham said. “From that point everything just got out of control. I didn’t sleep, and I was so busy that I didn’t pay attention to what I was eating. I would just grab what was convenient and not what was right.”
Josh could feel the pounds slowly creeping on his body, but at that very moment, he received an email inviting him to participate in a 90-day fitness challenge. The training and professional advice were included in the price, and there was also a cash prize.
Ingraham felt he could easily beat the challenge with his athletic background, so he took his “before” picture, as you can see on the left in the article’s lead image. When the weight was no less than 100 kg, he realized that he was facing a much more difficult challenge than he expected from the beginning.
Ingham finds it hard to forget said photo: “I just didn’t realize what I had become until after I took that photo,” says Ingham, “I was devastated. This was not the guy I ever imagined I would be.”
In order to make time for training in Ingraham’s busy schedule, he started setting his alarm clock for 5 a.m. every day, or in other words, the excuses of “I don’t have time” are over. He knew that if he didn’t get up on a certain day, he would miss the planned workout, and from there the deterioration to being out of rhythm is very steep.
For 90 days he followed his plan religiously – he focused on strength training along with 5 km runs five times a week. After three months, he lost 10 kilograms, but unfortunately he did not win the challenge.
Ingraham was shocked and frustrated, especially after looking at the guy who won the challenge, and not understanding why he wasn’t the big winner. He signed up for another 90-day challenge, and this time he fixed everything that wasn’t accurate in the first challenge.
Less running and strict rest days
After researching everything there is to know about weight loss, Ingraham revealed that he made a lot of mistakes. “I didn’t get enough out of my workouts because I didn’t give myself a break,” he explained. It even made me “hungrier” for the next workout and filled me with motivation. I just looked forward to my workouts more.”
In addition to his rest days, he alternated his long runs with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Every morning, he would start with strength exercises in his garage, from lifting weights to bodyweight exercises such as parallel bars and pull-ups. Instead of doing a certain number of reps and sets, he worked to positive failure for each exercise, and didn’t count a set if it didn’t “hurt.”
In addition to strength training, he would go to his local park, place two cones about 10 meters apart, and perform 10 to 20 minutes of HIIT about three times a week: “I would do 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest with 10 minutes between the cones , and alternately combines jumping instead of running. In any case, never more than 20 minutes.”
Healthier food and no alcohol
While his training routine changed in the second challenge, the issue of nutrition was also stricter and tighter: “I reduced my consumption of processed food and simple carbohydrates while at the same time I stopped consuming dairy products.”
Ingraham also gave up alcohol: “I’ve always loved alcohol. There was a point in my life when I even got really into wine, and I considered becoming a sommelier,” he says, “but I realized it was something I had to cut out if I wanted to see the results I was hoping for.”
The latter also commented on his new general view regarding nutrition: “You have to sacrifice quite a few social events and understand that you can taste a dish instead of eating the whole thing. There are no discounts here, this is a 100 percent commitment for success.”
Try to eat as much as possible at home
It does sound a little “unwise” to hear such a sentence from a chef, but Ingraham claims that eating at home allows you to monitor what goes into your body, which he also claims is very difficult to resist the temptations of restaurant menus.
Ingraham’s claim is also backed by science: A UK study of more than 11,000 men and women found that people who ate at least five home-cooked meals a week were 28% less likely to be overweight and 24% less likely to have excess body fat than people who ate less than three home-cooked meals a week.
It’s hard to argue with results
Ingraham knew he was doing something right in the second challenge when he started seeing abs he didn’t know existed and feeling better than he ever had in his life (this time he also won).
At the end of the second challenge he already weighed 87 kg and really had no intention of stopping: “In a way, I still feel like I have more work to do, so I don’t want to let go now”
At this point it should be noted that since that challenge, Ingraham has become a kind of fitness anchor in the US in regards to athlete nutrition, when, among other things, he took part in the television show “The Titan Games” hosted by The Rock.
pay attention – Everything mentioned in this article is for enrichment only. Before you choose a training program or a diet of one kind or another, you must consult with a qualified person who will adapt your training to your current state of health and fitness.
The writer Shi Lev previously served as the editor-in-chief of the ONE site and these days edits the health and fitness section of the site. Basketball coach by training, gym instructor and certified TRX trainer.
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