Sheila Marie
“I never thought that I would end up competing in powerlifting to be honest. I never thought I would compete in any physically geared activity actually. Throughout my life I have gone through an athletic body in my youth to an overweight college body, through a weight loss adventure into a skinny fat runner’s body and eventually settling into a quasi-bodybuilding phase. About a year ago I made friends with a group of people who trained in powerlifting and after talking to me about it for some time I decided I would give it a go. I developed a novice base in the months to come that built the confidence in me to go from “I would never compete” to actually signing up for my first USPA powerlifting meet, unfortunately my adventures in powerlifting came hand in hand with power eating and I found myself sitting uncomfortably heavy at 188 lbs. the heaviest I had been in years. When I signed up I knew I wanted to not only prepare properly for a meet with a knowledgeable strength coach but I also really wanted to strip off the weight I had managed to pack on.
Enter Joseph Ferratti Franzo
Introduced to me by a friend and Flexx Training Systems teammate, Joseph was welcoming, knowledgeable and upfront from the beginning. I reached out to several coaches and Joseph was the only one I felt instantly trusting of and comfortable with. I informed him I wanted to compete in the 165 weight class and he was straightforward in telling me it would require instant alignment with the program but that it was doable. In only 11 weeks under his guidance and keen directions on nutrition I was able to drop 22 pounds of real body weight and only needed to rely on water cutting a pound for competition. During prep I was never starving, I never felt like I couldn’t get through the challenging workouts he prescribed and I never felt like anything I was doing wasn’t good for my body. I dropped weight right and I got stronger doing it. I seriously say that Joseph’s program is magic because who gets leaner and stronger at the same time? I ended up weighing in underweight and achieved PR’s in every lift earning a class 1 total in my first meet qualifying me for another I really wanted to participate in. Additionally, 2 weeks post meet and a multiday music festival I still weigh in at comp weight and am hitting my lift numbers… No weight rebound or loss in strength because I started right back onto a subsequent program with Joseph and his guidance kept me on target. I can’t thank Joseph enough for constantly keeping me focused and headed towards my goals and leading me to a successful first meet and a body that I am proud of.
I can’t recommend him enough. He is a nutritional magician, a knowledgeable and caring coach who has proven over and over that he programs for strength and success and last but not least a genuine and honest person whom I cannot be more happy to have as my coach now and in the future. Joseph has given me the roadmap to strength and physique success that I would not be able to obtain without him. I know I can only get better with him leading the way.
Thank you,
Sheila”