Interview With Kyle Hunt of Hunt Fitness

Interview with Kyle Hunt of Hunt Fitness

 

Interview conducted by – Nick Smoot

Editors Note: Well its not everyday you get to post an interview on yourself…but we haven’t published any interviews lately here at MM and Nick Smoot had a bunch of questions for me so I figured we would run it! I tried to pack it full of useful information so I hope you all enjoy!

 

 

Q: I’m sure there are not many people who follow Machine Muscle that have never heard your name, but for those readers who haven’t, tell us a little bit about yourself.  How did you get started in Bodybuilding, and when did you decide to become Strength/Nutrition Coach? What are your credentials?

 

A: Well considering I’m the editor of Machine Muscle I would assume most of the readers are at least somewhat familiar with the name lol!

To answer the second part of your question, I have always been involved with sports for as long as I can remember. I started wrestling and playing football when I was around 8 years old.

My 8th grade year I got called up to wrestle on the Varsity team. The only problem was the lightest weight class in NY at the time was 96lbs which required you to weigh in at a minimum of 88lbs. During that time I only weighed about 83-84 pounds so I would literally have to drink 4lbs of fluid and eat before weigh ins just to be able to wrestle! To make a long story short my coach told me I needed to get into the weight room in the offseason to grow into the weight class.

Basically from that point forward I really took an interest in learning as much as I possibly could about becoming big, strong and ripped!

As far as credentials, I am an ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer, ISSA Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist, and will be graduating in May with a B.S in Exercise Science. I run my online training/nutrition company Hunt Fitness.

 

Q: Do you prefer to create training or nutrition plans for your clients?  Which would you consider more of your specialty?

 

A: That’s a tough question. I will start by saying I work with a lot more Nutrition Coaching clients than anything else. I think that is in part due to being know as the nutrition guy.

But to be honest I actually prefer creating training plans, its a lot more fun. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy coming up with nutrition plans but they all boil down to numbers. Nutrition is really just a numbers game. When I am working on nutrition clients I will have my calculator out and I will be going at figuring out macros like I’m in a high school math class. Designing training plans allow me to be a lot more creative. I can really dig in and have fun with it.

 

Q: What do you feel sets you apart in such a large industry?

 

A: Really this industry is all about getting your name out there. I mean marketing is HUGE in any industry but with the emergence of all these online training companies it becomes even more important. The last thing I want to be is just another guy with a website and YouTube channel selling T-Shirts. I actually never expected Hunt Fitness to turn into a business. I initially just created a free blog site to post up a few articles. HF has really grown into more that I ever thought it would.

I try to set myself a part by offering an unmatched value to my clients. When trying to come up with prices for my services I never really looked at what others were charging in the industry. I was honest with myself and what I was offering and came up with what I thought the VALUE of the service was.

But at the end of the day its all about the results. The best way to set yourself and your business apart is by delivering excellent results for your clients.

 

Q: What is your philosophy regarding training? Compound over isolation exercises, high volume training..etc?

I wouldn’t really say I have a “philosophy” per se, it really depends on the individual client.

However, I am big on designing programs around basic compound exercises. I tend to have my bodybuilding clients or just body composition clients in general do a lot more performance based stuff then they are probably used to.

I absolutely hate the general 3 sets of 10 approach most bodybuilders follow. I like to incorporate a wide variety of rep ranges. There is a lot of benefit for going through training phases of high reps for muscular endurance, low reps for strength and moderate reps for hypertrophy. It doesn’t matter what your goal is there is a benefit to training in all rep ranges. I feel a mistake people sometimes make is staying in one rep range for too long.

Another point I like to stress is progress. Obviously for a training program to be successful there needs to be built in progression. Everyone is quick to equate that with lifting more weight. While that is true, lifting more weight is a form of progression but there are other ways to incorporate progression into your training. For example, I like my clients to break rep records as much as possible. Think about it, if you could only bench 225 for 10 reps and over the course of a training cycle you were able to hit 225 for 15 reps, you got stronger. On the other hand if you are constantly using the same weights for the same reps week after week month after month you have not gotten any stronger and chances are you haven’t got any bigger either.

Volume is relative but for the most part I would consider myself someone who prefers a higher volume approach. In the literature a high volume approach tends to consistently be superior for hypertrophy.  As far as strength goes, some of the best powerlifting programs such as Smolov and Sheiko are both a higher volume style as well. I think high volume is starting to come back in style. It went out of style in the 90s when it seemed people were getting good results from using a considerably less volume style popularized by Mike Menzer and Dorian Yates.

I also prefer a higher training frequency approach. I believe in hitting muscle groups more than once a week. I did a video on this recently, check it out Optimal Training Frequency to Build Muscle.

 

Q: What is your current training like and what goal are you currently striving for?

 

Right now my training is centered around getting bigger and stronger. Basically I will start my sessions off with a couple (usually 2 sometimes 3) “main lifts” where an emphasis will be put on hitting a desired weight and trying to break a rep record. Typically these are kept in the lower-ish rep ranges depending on what type of program I have myself on.

After my main lifts I will do some assistance exercises based around where I need work. I tend to do quite a bit of volume.

 

Q: What is your general nutritional philosophy in regards to bulking and cutting?

 

A: Man your killing me with these tough questions haha! Questions like this make me want to say…it depends.

Its hard to boil it down to a nutrition philosophy but I will try to give you a little insight into what goes through my head when designing nutrition protocols.

I want to start by saying the end of the day macronutrient, fiber, and micronutrient intake accounts for 95% of your success and/or failure in regards to your nutrition. The other  5% or so will fall to things such as nutrient timing, meal frequency, etc.

In my opinion most people start the dieting process ass backwards. What I mean by that is they start a diet by eliminating what they consider “bad” foods and start loading up on what they feel is “good” foods. The problem with this logic is they have no idea how much and of what they should be consuming. Just eating ”clean foods” whatever the hell that means is not enough.

The first step is to get a handle of what your macros (Protein,Carbohydrate and Fat) and calories should be. Once you have that figured out then you can begin to eat to fulfill your requirements.

 

When a nutrition client starts with me I first figure out what I feel their macros should be for their goal. Once I have that figured out I like to give a sample meal plan to follow. Basically I just take the calories and macros I figured out already and fit common foods into it. Its like the expression “if you give a man a fish he eats for a day but if you teach a man to fish he eats for years”. The sample meal plan is like giving the man his fish. I then proceed to explain/teach the client how they can really eat almost whatever they want as long as they can fit it into their macros. That is teaching the man how to fish. Once someone grasps the concept of using My Fitness Pal, Daily Burn, or Fitday their dieting future is wide open! No one can eat the same thing day after day, so having the ability to mix and match a variety of foods while still staying true to the plan is huge.

As far as specific bulking and cutting philosophy, I will leave you with something very simple and to the point.

When bulking, slowly increase your calories consistently until you start gaining too much body fat. At that point either slow down the increase or stop increasing altogether. Once you have your protein set it should not need to be increased therefore you will be increasing either carbs and/or fat.

When cutting try to eat as many calories and carbs as possible that will still allow you to lose fat at the degree in which you choose to. Again once you have your protein set it should not fluctuate much when dieting. So that means you will have to decrease carbs and/or fat.

In both cases the slow and steady path is the best way to go!

 

Q: Where do you see Hunt Fitness going in the future? What does the future hold for Kyle Hunt?

 

A: Well I see it always being a project of mine. This is something I want to continue to build and grow no matter where life takes me. I absolutely love doing Hunt Fitness work. My favorite part is working with clients and making a difference in their lives. I know that sounds corny but its the truth!  The relationships are what is very important to me.

Fitness is my passion. I will be graduating in may with my exercise science degree so I assume 2013 is going to be a HUGE year for me. I am excited to see what the future holds.

 

Q: What inspires you to push through any challenge you face?

 

A: That is easy, success. I am driven by a desire to not want to be average, the worst thing I can be is just like everyone else. To me progression is huge. I have have to be able to see myself making improvements. That is probably what attracts me to fitness and business.

As Marc Lobliner would say “Complacency is Mediocrity”. I love that quote.

 

Q: Will you be at the Arnold this year?

 

A: Oh hell yeah and I hope to see everyone there as well!

 

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule for this interview.  It will be inspiring to watch your continued rise to the top.