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TO REACHING
YOUR PEAK
PERFORMANCE
Building Greatness with SWOLE
About the Authors
Steve Cook
Steve Cook is one of the most recognizable faces in the Fitness Industry. He is best noted
for being an IFBB Pro Men’s Physique Competitor, Optimum Nutrition and Bodybuilding.com
Spokes Model, international fitness personality, and the founder of Swoldier Nation.
Playing football for Dixie State College gave Steve the foundation and experience to achieve
a successful career in competitive bodybuilding. Steve has always excelled in this arena,
winning the Muscle and Fitness Male Model Search, Bodybuilding.com FitBody Contest,
BodyBuilding.com BodySpace Spokesmodel Search, and then moving on to become the 3rd
person ever to obtain his Men’s Physique Pro Card, 1st ever Men’s Physique Competitor to
qualify for the Mr. Olympia, and much more.
Today, Steve works to entertain and educate large audiences on fitness and health. Steve
aims to redefine how exercise is perceived across the world, starting with this program.
Jacob Hutton
Jake was a freak football player throughout his youth. He was named a Freshman
All-American as he played for the Utah State Aggies. After being courted by every single NFL
team, he became plagued by foot injuries that eventually cost him the opportunity to play in
the NFL.
He then started his coaching career at Southern Utah University, where he worked with
football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, and track and field teams. Jake is also CSCS, USAW,
FMS certified and is writing his Master’s Thesis in Sports Performance and Conditioning. His
specialty is in hypertrophy (muscle gain) and fat loss. He is well versed in dozens of training
methodologies and diets that greatly contributed to the writing of the SWOLE program.
What is SWOLE?
SWOLE is a program that is designed and proven to help you reach your peak performance.
Joining the SWOLE team doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get big, unless that’s your goal.
What it means is that you will be equipped with the resources needed to make a difference in
your life. You will lose fat, gain lean muscle and become the strongest you’ve ever been.
The SWOLE program is our recipe to making these body transformations. We do the
preparation and give you the ingredients. It isn’t easy, but, if done correctly, we guarantee it
will be successful.
In this ebook, we share some of the key fundamentals that the SWOLE community and
program embody. We hope you use this guide as a starting point in your fitness
journey with SWOLE.
Tips:
• Spend 3 days tracking your food to get an honest evaluation of how much
protein you are currently eating.
• The 1 gram per pound of bodyweight should be consumed in whole foods.
Shakes should be a supplement to meals and be used post workout to speed
up the recovery process.
• If your protein intake is very low, start by adding 3 grams a day until you reach
the desired amount. Your digestive system and toilet will thank you.
Magnesium and vitamin D deficiency are nothing short of an epidemic in the United States.
Magnesium deficiency is prevalent in the western diet due to grains, rather than leafy green
vegetables, making up our predominant source of plant based food intake. Magnesium is
critical for nervous system and cardiovascular regulation, as well as glucose tolerance.
Vitamin D has been proven in research to be important for power and force development,
muscle strength, bone development and lean body mass.
Tips:
• Find a high-quality multivitamin to help you fill in the gaps.
• Supplement magnesium daily with a minimum of 400 milligrams.
• Supplement your vitamin D levels with a minimum of 4,000 IU per day.
Tips:
• Start adding in additional squats, deadlifts, overhead presses and chin-ups to
build more muscle mass.
Focus on the growth of type II muscle fibers. Fast twitch (type II) muscle fibers are fibers that produce
the most force and contract very quickly. Luckily, these are the fibers with the most growth potential
as well. The best ways to tap into these fibers are:
1. Sloweccentrictraining
This puts you under the bar for a longer period of time with greater percentages of your 1 rep
max. Time under tension at heavy loads is the name of the game if you are trying to grow.
This causes more damage to the muscle and allows more potential for growth. The muscle is
built back bigger and stronger.
Tips:
• Add a day for dynamic effort training at least once a week.
• These movements must be prioritized to the beginning of the training session.
• To reap the full benefits of this type of training you must be fresh and able to
give 100% effort every rep.
Here’s the kicker - train to failure (or at least close to it). We’ve all seen people in the gym
rack weight the weight on a set of 12 when they clearly have more in the tank. Completing a
set of 12 when you are good for 25 reps isn’t going to get the job done.
However, for compound, multi-joint leg movements, you must be careful and follow a
periodized plan. Training to complete failure on these movements on a weekly basis can have
a negative impact on your training and overtax the central nervous system. With upper body
and single joint movements, training to complete failure can be done more consistently.
Tips:
• Train to complete failure in the 8-12 rep range on upper body accessory work
and single joint movements. Failure means you can’t complete one more rep.
Actually FAIL!
• Want big arms fast? Train 2 reps past failure in the 8-12 rep range.
Ex: BBBiceps Curl - you fail at 8 reps. Have your training partner assist with
the concentric phase of the lift (curling the bar up), then control the eccentric
(lowering) phase for a 4-6 count for 2 more reps.
6 Lifestyle Choices Your Gym Idols Make
Tips:
• Drink at least 12 ounces of water prior to falling asleep so you don’t wake up in
a fatigued state from dehydration.
• Take magnesium before bed as a sleep aid. Magnesium has a calming effect on
the nervous system.
• Get rid of the TV! Your bedroom should be a place you go to sleep. Taking away
distractions will allow you to get in a routine of falling asleep faster when you
enter the bedroom.
We recommend everyone spend at least two months following a diet plan with daily macro
goals. Ex: Every day you must consume 220 grams of protein, 300 grams of carbohydrates,
and 80 grams of fat. Learning to track macros will teach you what foods contain certain
macronutrients, portion sizes that best fit your body and how your body responds to food.
Learning about food will set you up for long-term success.
Tips:
• Find someone qualified to guide you through the process if you are new to
macro counting.
• Buy a food scale. Weighing and measuring your food for a few months will
teach you portion sizes.
The old saying, “eating five meals a day speeds up your metabolism,” has never been proven
by science. The reason people succeed when they eat five meals a day is because they are
making healthy food choices! Imagine someone eating five meals a day saying, “For meal
one I’m going to eat two donuts, I think I’ll have two slices of pizza and a soda for meal two,
etc.”
Maximize your willpower by planning your meals and structuring your life for success. No one
has an unlimited amount of willpower. Knowing that and preparing for temptation is a huge
step in the right direction.
Tips:
• Prep your meals for the middle of the day. Most people have time to make
breakfast and dinner, and this is where you can add more variety.
• Only buy and keep healthy groceries in your house. If you aren’t around bad
food, the chances of eating poorly reduce dramatically. Also, junk food is by far
the easiest to get your hands on. Never keep it in your house.
4) Cut out sugary drinks
Drinking beverages loaded with sugar is a huge factor causing Americans to become obese.
Our friend Bruce Pitcher from Extreme Weight Loss was over 400 lbs at one point in his life.
Years of soda consumption had a big impact on this. The calories he consumed from soda
every day was equal to about 17 donuts. 17 donuts on top of everything he was actually
eating!
Tons of different beverages out there are loaded with sugar and many people don’t even real-
ize it. Be aware of this and check nutrition labels. A 32oz Dr. Pepper contains 108 carbs, and
it’s not uncommon to see people drinking a couple of these a day. Cutting this out will have a
huge impact on your body composition.
Tips:
• Always opt for a 0 calorie choice.
• Save your calories for food, which will keep you full longer and give you more
sustenance.
5) De-stress daily
Meditation has a positive impact on hormone regulation. People who meditate on a regular
basis experience higher testosterone and lower cortisol levels. If cortisol levels are too high
they can have a negative impact on recovery and muscle building. Think you are too busy?
Ten minutes or even less can have a huge impact on your daily stress levels.
Tips:
1. Download and use the app Headspace for 10 days
2. Listen to Sam Harris explain meditation and practice it for 10 days
6) Train with purpose
Setting a goal, making a plan to achieve that goal and staying accountable are key compo-
nents to changing your body. You must clearly define your “WHY.” Why am I doing this? Why
am I getting up early to hit the gym while everyone else is still in bed? It could be to make it
to the Olympics, or it could be as simple as having a good Christmas picture this year. Define
your “WHY” and let it motivate you every day.
Next, you must figure out how you are going to achieve this goal. Make a plan and stick to
it. I f you don’t know where to start, find a qualified professional to guide you through the pro-
cess. Becoming part of a motivating community is a great way to bullet proof your success.
Our athletes feed off of each other, compete against each other and push to be the best
versions of themselves.
Tips:
• Find a good training partner. A good training partner is one of the most valu
able tools to stay accountable. Talking yourself out of going to the gym is
10 times harder when someone else is relying on you. Also, the chances of
having a bad training day reduces dramatically when you have a training
partner to raise your game.
4 Fairytales on Fat Loss
1) “A calorie is a caloire”
First and foremost, a calorie is not just a calorie. Everything you put into your body creates a
physiological response within the body. This is called the thermic effect of food. Animal protein
and leafy greens take much more energy to digest than white bread and candy.
This is why counting macronutrients is so important. It is a way to make sure your calories
are coming from foods that will help you be lean and support muscle repair and growth. 600
calories from ribeye steak, cauliflower and yams looks significantly different than 600 calories
from pizza, Oreos and Pepsi. You should look to consume nutrient dense, low glycemic index
food options.
Tips:
• Follow the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy nutrient dense food 80% of the time and allow
room to enjoy less healthy options 20% of the time. This will keep you on track,
while allowing you to eat food you enjoy and have fun with friends.
Tips:
• Eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids. (Ex. Grass fed beef, wild game, wild
caught fish, etc.)
• Buy a high-quality fish oil (look for total omega-3 content when making your
purchase).
Also, the hormonal response to high intensity interval training trumps low and slow cardio
every time.
Here’s a HIIT workout to get you started:
First - Test your mile time. Do an all out mile and record your time. We will be using this to
measure your intensity on the HIIT workout.
Workout:
Incline Treadmill Sprints
10 rounds–20 sec on 1 min rest 15% incline
Set speed at PR mile pace
If your goal is to reach the Olympia, you should hire a coach who has trained athletes to
reach the Olympia. If your goal is to set new PRs on your power lifts, you should hire a coach
who has coached athletes to get PRs on the power lifts. If you want abs that pop, hire a coach
that has gotten overweight clients six packs. You work hard for your money, don’t give it away
to an imposter that hasn’t actually gotten the results you are paying to get.
Thank you for trusting SWOLE as a guide on your fitness journey. Signing up for this program
means joining a team of individuals tirelessly working towards their goals and coaches
dedicated to seeing them to the finish line.
Making the transformation you’re looking for is a two-way street. While we will provide you
with the resources needed for success, it’s up to you to implement them.
We take our jobs very seriously, and we hope you do the same.