1. Biography
•Name: Ed “Popps” Cook / Oldsuperman
•Age: 56
•Height: 5’ 11”
•Weight (Contest): 215 lbs.
•Weight (Off-Season): 235 lbs.
•Body Fat: 9%
•Hometown: Vancouver, WA
•Gym: Many
•Profession: Manufacturers Representative, Sponsored Cellucor Athlete, Writer, Motivational Speaker, and soon to be an IFBB Pro Bodybuilder.
2. What got you started in bodybuilding/fitness?
I’ve always enjoyed weight training and bodybuilding. I was a fat kid until the age of 15 when I started to do more outdoor sports like water and snow skiing. I started weight training then and liked what was happening. At the age of 40 though, I just stopped training all together and by the time I was 48, I was fat and out of shape. I had just returned from Hawaii and had an ear infection. I went to the doctor. He took one look at me and said it was time to check some things out. After a blood test, we talked. He basically said all the numbers that should be low are high and all the numbers that should be high are low! He gave my 60 days to change my lifestyle. If I didn’t change or if it didn’t help, he was going to medicate me for HBP, cholesterol, etc. I went to a gym that very day and signed up. After 60 days, I had lost 11 lbs. and all my numbers changed for the better afterwards. I just kept training and watching what I ate.
3. What keeps you motivated to train?
I love to compete! There’s nothing like standing on stage with your peers beside you. I love the pump and power I feel when I push and pull the iron. I love the smell of the gym! The look of the gym and the spirit of it all! My bodybuilding friends, Trainer Brandon Lyons and Conditioning Coach, Sean Calder are all a huge inspiration for me!
4. What workout plan has worked best for you?
I really mix things up a lot when I train. I do this to always attack the muscles from a different angle so all of my muscle fibers get challenged.
5. What is your philosophy about cardio?
I HATE CARDIO! LOL! Who likes it? Yet, I do it off-season three to four days a week and during my prep stage getting ready to compete, six days a week at 35 to 60 minutes a session. I do “low impact” beeping my HR at 115 BPM. For me this is the best HR to burn fat. Cardio also helps with endurance and recovering when training. That’s why I do off-season as well.
6. Do you prefer HIIT or steady state cardio?
I mostly do a steady state cardio. Yet, during my prep stage of conditioning, I may do a session a week. Again, for me it’s more about conditioning and recovering.
7. What are your top 5 favorite exercises?
Incline Dumb Bell bench, Seated DB arm curls, Seated cable rows, Arnolds shoulder press and Lunges (love-hate relationship).
8. What is your philosophy about nutrition?
The concept my coach says is that once you get to a steady BF and LBM ratio, you can live a 90% —10% clean eating lifestyle for bodybuilding. What that means is, you eat 90% clean and if you’re at a birthday party, you still eat clean for most of it, yet you have a moderate piece of cake and ice cream. If you go out with the guys Monday night, you eat clean, yet have two pieces of pizza. You have your cheat meals on your birthday, Fathers day, Easter etc. I had a cheat meal on Dad’s Day last year just weeks before Nationals, YET I WAS LEAN! So it had no affect on me.
It’s all about having a plan and sticking to it. Once you get to your ideal plan and you maintain it for a few years, you learn what works and what doesn’t. We are not all the same, yet it never ceases to amaze me how the fat peeps are always the exception. I know all about it, as I was a fatty too with all the excuses! So …don’t BS me!
9. What nutrition plan has worked best for you?
I eat six or seven times a day. Boy, it would take a lot to give a detailed diet. Let me just outline it this way: I eat about 200 to 600 grams of carbs per day. They are low to medium glycemic—like red or sweet potatoes, brown rice and oats. I eat about 370 grams of protein a day. I mostly eat lean red meat once a day and the rest is eggs, fish, chicken, turkey breast and buffalo. I also eat one cup of veggies from the green family each day and several green salads as well.
10. What is your favorite cheat food?
Big Mac’s! I know there are better burgers out there, yet there is something about chowing down six of those things at one sitting! I eat one to two cheat meals a week.
11. What is your favorite health food?
Sushi! Can’t get enough of it and IMO, the right combinations of rolls and sashimi you just can’t beat it!
12. What supplements have given you the greatest gains?
Your branched-chain amino acids and your building block amino acids like L-Arginine for vascular pumps, and creatine for fuller pumps and strength. L-Glutamine for repair and building muscle tissue.
13. What does your pre and post workout nutrition consist of?
Pre training: Cellucor M5 stacked with NZero drink has 16g waxy maize carbs, 5g Glutamine, 1000mg C5g L-Arginine 50g Cellucor Nutro Sport which has 30g way maize carbs and 3g L-Arginine.
Post training: 5g L-Arginine 5g L-Glutemine, Cellucor R3 Extreme RecoveryKre-Alkalyn, 1000mg C50g Cellucor Ultra Lean50g, Waxy Maize 50g. Dextrose BCAA.
14.Which tools have helped you most with your nutrition and training?
We live in a wonderful time when there are so many options and tools to help us succeed in accomplishing our goals. One of them is MuscleDog.com! So many resources at your fingertips with articles on every aspect of training and nutrition. A profile page is easy to set up and it lists all the things important to you in your fitness goals. It also shows facts about your progress and of course pictures! There, you can add friends that have the same goals and interests as you! Make daily reports and comments. Create journals and blogs. And, of course there are the forums. A community of people who’s experiences and opinions are unique to their own lives and situations! MuscleDog.com seems to have it all for the sports minded enthusiast, to the HARD CORE COMPEITOR! I LOVE IT!
15. Have online resources (social networks) helped you in your training? If so, what are they and how have they helped you?
If it weren’t for social networks like MuscleDog.com, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I have learned a wealth of information to help me reach amazing goals I never thought possible.
Also, my sponsor Cellucor at www.cellucor.com had helped me understand how the combination of these different amino’s work! It has been an amazing resource!
16. Where is the first place you turn to when looking for training / fitness / nutrition advice?
This has to be my Conditioning Coach, Sean Calder at www.seancalder.net. The man is a genius who has walked the walk. He is one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met.
17. Who are your favorite fitness/bodybuilder competitors or role models?
This is an easy one! I have had the privilege to have met many top IFBB Pro bodybuilders, and none can compare with Jay Cutler! He is the kindest and most giving man I have ever met. Next would be The Arnold! One of a kind for sure!
18. What obstacles have you had to overcome (injury, illness, relationships, etc)?
Two years ago, I was out riding my bike when a van crossed the intersection and hit me. I sprained both wrists, tore my meniscus in my right knee, ruptured a disk in my neck and lower back I sprained my sacrum. I was 9 months out from Masters Nationals. I still suffer from most of those surgeries.
19. What was the biggest mistake you made when you first started training?
This is a hard one as I did it all right. I guess you could say, I waited too long to get started! Yet—it’s never too late to start!
20. What tips would you give to a beginner?
You have to want it more then not want it! I believe we all get whatever we believe we deserve in this short life. If you don’t make it happen, it never will. Most people lack the consistency and intensity with their diet and training, and that is why they fail. Look at my before pictures. That was eight years ago. I did it at 48! I’m 56 now and I’m still making improvements. If I can do it, then you can do it!
21. What are your future fitness goals?
I started chasing the Pro-Card in 2008. I will do it again on July of 2011. I even made a fake IFBB Pro-Card that I carry in my wallet to keep my mind on my goal. There are only two competitions a year for us ‘old guys’ to get a Pro-Card, and that’s all I’m focused on.
22. Where can we find you on MuscleDog.com?
Check out my profile, and add me as a friend. The more friends, the merrier. You can check out my photo gallery there as well, where my before and after pics are shown!
