EXCLUSIVE Peter Fitschen Interview!

[NaturalPursuit]

A strong body is a necessity in being successful in bodybuilding, but having that type of physical strength accompanied by a strong mind is when you find greatness. This type of greatness was found when Natural Pursuit sat down to interview an up and coming amateur bodybuilder! He is currently on a quest for his natural pro card after competing in his fair share of shows and was one of Bodybuilding.com’s 2009 amateurs of the week. I am proud to present to you a Natural Pursuit exclusive interview with Peter Fitschen!


Name: Peter Fitschen
Age: 25
Height: 5’8.5”
Current Weight: 195lbs
Competition Weight: 162-163lbs

What got you into bodybuilding?
I played baseball through my sophomore year of high school. I was a decent baseball player, but I was small (5’8” 125lbs) so after my sophomore season ended, I started lifting weights at a local gym in the spring/summer of 2002. I met a local bodybuilder at the gym who taught me how to eat properly and train. I began working out with him and by the summer of 2003 I was up to nearly 170lbs. People accused me of taking steroids because I had gained so much weight so fast. In the fall of 2003, a few of the local bodybuilders at my gym asked me if I had ever thought about competing in a teen natural bodybuilding competition. In early 2004, I began dieting for my first competition and in late April I stepped onstage at the NANBF 10,000 Lakes. I competed in the teen and novice-medium classes and took dead last in both of them. From that point I was hooked and was determined to make improvements because I knew I could be better than last place. From there, the rest is history.


What is your diet like?
I typically eat 5 meals a day, which is less than the typical bodybuilder. However, I supplement BCAA’s between my meals. As far as my macronutrients go, my metabolism is fairly fast so I eat somewhere in the 225g protein, 500g carb, 80g fat range at the peak of my offseason. As for contest prep, I typically have 2 high carb days a week of ~400g carbs and 5 lower days at ~250-300g carbs. However, those numbers are adjusted as needed throughout my contest prep. I’ve worked with Layne Norton during my 2006 and 2008 contest preps and will be working with him again during my 2012 contest prep and he takes care of adjusting my diet as needed during contest prep. In my opinion, it is critical to have a second set of eyes on you when doing a contest prep because your mind can start playing tricks on you and you may start making some unneeded drastic changes to your diet.


What supplements do you currently take?
I don’t take very many supplements compared to many competitors. I just stick to the basics: Scivation whey protein, Scivation xtend, creatine monohydrate, a generic multivitamin, and fish oil.



What does your training look like? What type of style of training do you use?
I’ve been lifting for nearly a decade and have experimented with many types of training. I’ve done the typical 1 bodypart per day workouts found in the magazines. I’ve also done
Max-OT, dogg crapp, DFHT, S****, HST, 5x5, PHAT, Westside, sheiko, and I’m sure there are others I have done along the way that I am forgetting. As a result, I have found that I respond well to a combination of low-rep (2-8 rep range) and high-rep (8-15 rep range) workouts and for that reason PHAT has been the staple of my workout routine. However, I have gotten some very good gains over the past year by using a modified sheiko 29 and 37 where I train the big 3 as written, but swap in “bodybuilding” auxiliaries such as back width work, biceps, calves, and side delts for the auxiliaries listed. I also typically add a 4th day for more auxiliary work. I have found that running a couple cycles of Sheiko alternated with a few months of PHAT as really worked well for me over the past ~14 months.


What are some of your bodybuilding accomplishments?
2004 NANBF 10,000 Lakes:
Teen: 2nd
Novice –Medium: 4th

2006 NANBF Eagle’s Wings:
Novice – Medium: 1st
Open – Short: 2nd
Best Poser Award Winner

2006 NANBF Best of the Midwest:
Open – Medium: 2nd

2008 OCB 45th Parallel:
Open – Tall: 2nd

2008 NANBF Mr. Natural Minnesota:
Collegiate: 2nd
Open – Medium: 1st

I was also amateur bodybuilder of the week on bodybuilding.com back in 2009


What are your current future plans?
I’m currently just finishing my offseason and will be starting contest prep soon for 3 contests in June/July of 2012. My ultimate goal is to win a natural pro card someday; however, I realize that I am not the most genetically gifted person so I’m not someone who wins their pro card in their early 20’s, I’m going to have to work and continue to improve so that I get as close to my genetic potential as possible and then let the chips fall where they may.


What are some accomplishments you’ve made outside of bodybuilding?
I haven’t been onstage since 2008, but I have been busy life outside of bodybuilding. I earned my B.S. in Biochemistry and a Nutrition minor with highest honors from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in 2008. I earned my M.S. in Biology with a Physiology concentration from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in 2010. I also won the most outstanding graduate student award from the university in 2010. I began working on my Ph.D. in Nutritional Science at the University of Illinois in June 2010. I got married in 2011 and also published my first 2 scientific papers in 2011. I’m currently working on numerous research projects and scientific papers which will hopefully be published of the next few years.


Do you have a day job? If so, what is it?
I am currently working on my Ph.D. in nutritional science at the University of Illinois.


What advice would you give to beginners?
Things I wish I would have known when I began bodybuilding:
1. Results take time. You are not going to just start lifting today and suddenly gain 30lbs of muscle in a month. This is especially true if you are natural. I think one of the hardest things to do is to remain patient, but I assure you that if you keep working hard for a long enough period of time, you will see significant improvements.
2. Gaining as much weight as possible in the offseason is a terrible idea. Keep your body fat in check to make your contest prep easier. If you gain too much fat in the offseason, you will lose any additional muscle you gained with it during your prep, perhaps even more.
3. Give yourself plenty of time during contest prep. This is especially important during your first contest prep because you do not know how your body is going to respond. 12-16 weeks may not be enough. I typically give myself 6 months so I can diet slowly while retaining muscle, but still get stage lean.
4. You do not have to train to failure or beyond failure on every set of every workout to make gains. Doing this will probably result in injury.
5. When prepping for a contest, be sure to practice posing. It can drastically affect your placement at your contests.
6. Track your macros, even in the offseason. This will help you gain weight at a nice slow pace.
7. Don’t just listen to what other people have to say about training, diet, etc. Read studies, do some research, think for yourself, experiment, and come to your own conclusions.

I’m sure there are plenty more, but these are things I have learned through trial and error over the past decade.



What are your opinions on IIFYM'?
I’m more of a middle of the road kind of guy on this topic. I don’t think that you can just eat pure garbage, hit your macros, and make gains. However, at the same time I don’t think you always need to eat “clean” foods. Personally, I would say that a majority of the foods I eat fall into what bodybuilders would consider “clean” foods. With that being said, I also eat things like baked lays, whole grain cereal, low-fat crackers, and fat free cheese as long as they fit into my macros. I would say I don’t really side with either side of this debate, I’m actually somewhere more in the middle.


Tell us a little bit about being a bodybuilder while being in college.
Do you live in a dorm? If so how does that affect your diet,
lifestyle, etc.
I’m currently in my 8th yr of my college education, so I have some experience bodybuilding while in college. However, I only lived in the dorms for my first 2 yrs of college. While living in the dorms, I was in the offseason basically the entire time (unfortunately this was the offseason where I decided I would gain as much weight as possible, as I said earlier, not a good idea). However, I still ate bodybuilder friendly foods. My cafeteria always had a salad bar with cottage cheese, fruit, hard boiled eggs, and veggies. You could always get turkey and chicken sandwiches on wheat bread. They also always had whole grain cereal and brown rice available. It was all I could eat, so I normally would do ok. I would also commonly sneak subs out of the cafeteria back to my room. Additionally, I had oatmeal, tuna, whey protein, whole grain cereal, potatoes, nuts, and protein bars in my room. Long story short, I always was able to hit my macros. Near the end of my time in the dorms, I actually began contest prep for my 2006 contests. My food selection was somewhat limited, but I proved that contest prep can be done while living in a dorm room. Once I moved off campus, I began buying and making my own foods so everything got a lot easier.


Contact Information:

Feel free to contact me @ chuckles_345@hotmail.com or find me on ********. I’m also just starting contest prep for my 2012 contests and have started a contest prep training log on bodybuilding.com. Here is the link to my training log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=140373583



I would like to personally thank Peter for giving me the chance to interview him and learn more about him. I hope this interview can help inspire and teach everyone who reads it!

Alex Kikel
www.natural-pursuit.com
“Train like a champion today, become a champion tomorrow!”

[wheathins]

great interview man, nice job - pete's gonna kill it this season!!

[NaturalPursuit]

great interview man, nice job - pete's gonna kill it this season!!

Wheathins,

Thanks! It was great interviewing Peter and I am looking forward to seeing what he brings!

[chuckles_345]

great interview man, nice job - pete's gonna kill it this season!!

Thanks man. I hope so.

[Rypt1]

That was a great interview. Well done and very inspirational.

[chuckles_345]

That was a great interview. Well done and very inspirational.

Thanks! I wasn't sure if anyone was going to care what I had to say, but I'm glad someone was able to get something out of it.