Fouad Abiad

Growing up I was a skinny kid playing soccer through most of my childhood, never thinking about bodybuilding. When I hit high school I got the itch to play football since my friends and brothers had all played, still never thinking about bodybuilding. Throughout my five years of football in high school I slowly gained weight until I was in grade 11-12 weighing a chubby 230lbs. Around that time I decided to start eating a little cleaner and doing some cardio to burn off the fat. I did that and after a couple years it just became boring doing all that cardio with no real goal in mind. So I began to lift a little iron here and there and then I began to think about bodybuilding.

On May 21, 2000 a good friend of mine was competing in a Toronto Pro/Am show so me and some friends decided to go watch. After seeing him compete I was very impressed with what I was seeing….then the pros came out! I was in awe at the size of some of these pros and how conditioned they were. I decided that night that I was going to start competing. I decided I would give myself some time to really put some muscle on since all I had at the start was a small chest and traps and nothing else.

I decided the Windsor Cup in November 2001 would be my first show, so I gave myself a little under a year and a half to get myself ready. The time I took paid off because with good friends and a good coach on my side I was able to win my first show, class and overall, at 192lbs. From that day on it became a bigger part of my life and after a couple more good showings I decided it was going to be my life and here I am today. I am living the life I chose and proud of how far I have come even though I know there is so much more to do. I am on my way, hopefully you are all with me.

My training philosophy from the very beginning has been to go to failure throughout the entire workout. I try not to train like a powerlifter although heavy is the only way I know how to train. Heavy is a relative term that for me means as heavy as I can lift for 6-12 reps depending on the set or exercises I am preforming. The workout below is a sample of what my workout week might look like.

Sunday – Off
Monday – Back/Hams
Tuesday – Biceps/Triceps/Calves
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Quads/Hams
Friday – Chest/Shoulders
Saturday – Triceps/Biceps/Calves

I usually preform 12-20 sets depending on the bodypart. I always try to stick to free weight movements for the bulk of my workouts. Compound movements are a must, deadlifts, squats, bench press are all very important. That being said I also make sure not to do deadlifts and stiff leg deadlifts in the same week since they will effect my lower back to much. I try to alternate all the exercises I preform especially the compound ones.