He co-published a book with John Romaniello that I have read which has a lot of good information. The accompanying program, however, is a little more intense than I was able to handle. I also tried it without much support and I freaked the hell out when I messed up even the slightest bit.
I still keep track of Adam's articles and posts on various social media. He very much believes that you can get into shape and still have a piece of cake once in awhile.
What puts Roman over the top for me is that despite his self-professed "Hero Complex," he occasionally struggles with bouts of clinical depression. His description of what depression feels like to him so exactly mirror my own feelings that his article brought me to tears. I keep ahold of it and read it when things are particularly bad. It helps to know that someone else is out there who really knows what it feels like. His recommendations on what to do to dig your way out are some of the best I have ever heard anywhere.
I have actually applied - and been accepted - into an online coaching program by Roman, but for several reasons have decided not to pursue at this time. I have no words for the shock, the amazement, and the pride at seeing Roman's words saying that he was sure - SURE! - that he could get me to reach my goals. I applied thinking somewhere in the deep corners of my brain that I would be rejected, that he would say "shit, man, I just don't know that you can do this. You've got too much working against you." He didn't though. He said I was an easy win, and I will never be able to express how much pride and confidence I draw from that one simple phrase from one of my heroes.
The thing is, he's none of those things. Sure, he has this weird obsession with Chik-Fil-A and Chipotle, neither of which I'm crazy about for various reasons. He posts shirtless posts on Snapchat to show his progress, but it's not a "hey, look at how awesome I look" kinda' thing. It's a "here's my journey, this kinda' comes with the territory" kinda' thing.
His energy is infectious, his smile could melt anyone, and he is so genuine when he says he wants to help people, to pass along information. I cannot fathom how this young man is single. Surely he could land just about any girl (or guy, who knows) he wants. Not ready, perhaps. He's still young, still out to change the world. He publishes an app just because he couldn't find a good one out there that tracked macros, and he gives it away for free when everyone else sells that shit. Daily social media, near-daily YouTube videos, articles. The boy never stops, and I love him for it.
I have at least two more that I want to write about. Hell, I want to write about these amazing men a little more, too. I may have to write another post going into what these guys mean to me, not just in my pursuit to get into shape, but also as men.
You're going to find that improving myself as a man and finding mentors and role models who meet those goals is very important to me right now. It's not that there aren't a lot of amazing women out there. It's just that subtly in my childhood I was given the impression that being male was undesirable, that women were superior, smarter, more elegant, more balanced. Men were hairy and smelly and stupid and less. Shallow and base and ugly. I don't think it was an impression fed to me on purpose, but it was received none-the-less. I am 43 years old, and for the first time I can say that these men, these athletes, are among my heroes.
