The 22-year-old hunk from Ohio reveals the secret behind his incredible body.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: An ice-cube every hour was all Paul Satyanathan had on the big day he had waited for literally all his 22 years.
And when his time came he did not disappoint– least of all himself. He won the prestigious Nicole Wilkins Classic Natural Michigan Championship in the middle-weight category. Not to rest on his laurels he annexed another title—the men’s overall championship.
‘’I won first place in the Middleweight division and then I went on the win the Overall. The overall is simply a competition between all of the first place winners with respect to their weight class. For example, the overall competition had one guy from the bantamweight class, one guy from the lightweight class, one guy from the middleweight class (me), one guy from the light-heavyweight class, and one guy from the heavyweight class. I only weighed in once and I came in at 160.6 lbs.,’’ Paul told The American Bazaar in an exclusive interview.
The event was held at Rochester Hills, Michigan in July, and was an NPC (National Physique Committee) show. It was for natural bodybuilders. This meant that competitors would be required to submit to a urine screen to look for any traces of steroids or other muscle-enhancing drugs. Body-building is one of the many sports today that has been ravaged by drugs and performance inducing cocktails that generally peak the body in no time but at huge physical after-effects like damaging organs and psychosomatic disorders.
Known for its drug free management, the event is named after Nicole Wilkins, a well-known name in the body-building circles. He had bagged thrice the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding) Figure Olympia Champion and a three time IFBB Figure International Champion.
Paul, with his very Indian surname Satyanathan, had come a long way. His father Reggie, with his roots from Kerala, had been his primary source of inspiration.
“My dad always adored a good physique and this trait rubbed off on me. He encouraged me into the world of body building from a very early age. But it was only in the latter years that I picked up the complexities of building a championship winning physique,” said Paul, who stays in Tiffin, Ohio. “I’m very fortunate to have a wonderful support system including my father Reggie, my girlfriend Krystal, my coach Luke, and my close friends,’’ he adds.
The win, that too in his maiden appearance, has made Paul love the sport even more. He speaks of dedication, focus, sacrifice and winning, having an indomitable spirit, the hall mark of a matured sportsman. He speaks about peaking at the right moment during the grueling championships and the spartan diet schedule he endured (not for the weak willed though). He simply terms it as a ‘lifestyle’.
’’This is not a lifestyle for people who hide behind excuses, it is a lifestyle for those who go after what they desire,’’ said Paul.
Paul gave an insight into how he became the champion he is now.
Diet – ‘’You have to be dietician, a cook and doctor all rolled into one to be a winning body-builder,’’ says Paul. He says he controlled his diet into a regimen that would make an anorexic’s head bend with shame. The hardest part to control for Paul has been the aromas of food wafting through the air or the very presence of delectable goodies none of which he could even taste. “Food is so basic to the body, but the increased pressure on me to cut carbs (carbohydrates) before the competition many times had rendered me a bit weak and I have to really take out strength, god knows from somewhere, to keep up the intensity of the workouts.’’
His woes seem not to end there. There were innumerable nights when Paul had to go with very little sleep as he churns out those special match winning dishes that ultimately would contribute to that chiseled winning looks but unfortunately not in sync with his taste buds. Paul says attaining the Greek god physique is all about managing the carbs that you eat, so much so that ‘’the day of the show I was allowed one ice cube every hour. This seems crazy but it is the only way to really fine tune your body so every muscle striation is visible.’’
This is how Paul fine-tuned his physique during the final leg of competitions.
‘’I began the diet by using the method known as “carb cycling”. This is where I would consume no more than eighty grams of carbs for three consecutive days followed by one day where I would consume about 300 grams of carbs. These carbs were coming from oatmeal, sweet potatoes, protein pancakes (homemade), vegetables (on my low days), and brown rice bread. Once a week I was allowed one cheat meal and this was done to ramp up metabolism and allow your body to get a really high amount of carbs and fats to be used as energy. I stopped having these meals when I was five weeks out from the show because that was when I really needed to deplete my body of stored fats and carbs. I then went down to five days at forty grams of carbs a day with one day at 100 grams and one day at 150 grams of carbs a day. Four weeks out I was at forty grams of carbs a day for six days with one day at 150 grams. Three weeks out I was at forty grams daily and that lasted for two weeks. At one week out I went down to zero grams of carbs a day. Since I was going slow low on carbs I had to continue to increase my protein intake to keep my calories around 2,000.’’
Paul’s advice to aspiring builders: “As you begin to deplete the amount of carbs you are eating (eventually going down to zero grams of carbs daily) you may feel like you are losing strength thus meaning you’re losing muscle. This is not necessarily the case. You should still be able to hit a really heavy weight (relative to what is heavy for the individual) but you WILL NOT be able to do it as many times as before. This is simply because you have depleted the stores of muscle glycogen and you are not replenishing it with carbs. This is completely normal and you can adjust your training to accommodate for this, just remember to go as heavy as you can with proper form for at least 8 reps.”
The Training: “As for my training, I was training five days a week and doing cardio six days a week. I would do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach for one hour and then I would go home and have one to two meals before returning to the gym for my weight training session. I split up my training, as follows: Monday is chest and triceps, Tuesday is back, abs, and calves, Wednesday is hamstrings, Thursday is shoulders and biceps, Friday was only cardio, and Saturday is quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Generally I would do about 2 warm-up sets and 4-5 working sets and my repetition ranged from 8-15 reps. It is important to lift as heavy as you can for those 8-15 reps (while still being able to control the weight of course) because that is how you will continue to build muscle while burning fat. Doing sets of 20+ reps on a calorie restricted diet with only cause catabolism which results in breaking down more muscle than what your body can recover.
Paul is currently attending the University of Findlay, Ohio and had worked at Little Caesars for three years before moving to nutrition experts GNC. He has pinned his sights on the next body-building show contest. But as of now he is concentrating on finishing college. He has not shelved the idea of a modeling and an acting career too.
He says: ‘’I live with my father, Reggie Satyanathan, who works as a pharmacist at our local Kroger. He was incredibly supportive of me and was a tremendous help. My mother, Parish Pennington (remarried) was also very supportive of me and she also resides in Tiffin, Ohio. I have one half-brother James, who was in the United States Army and now lives in California.’’
(Rajiv Theodore is India Bureau Chief, The American Bazaar)