How did you get started?
Growing up I had always played sports, like basketball and baseball and I excelled at both playing All-Star Baseball and AAU Basketball. Once I got to middle school my focus went straight to Basketball and Baseball was no longer in the picture. In 8th grade my team had only lost 1 game in basketball. This was also when weight training came into the picture. I absolutely hated it, and the temporary pain that came with it. Although to me it didn’t feel so temporary. When I was 17 years old, it was a time in my life that I didn’t focus on the things that I should have. Instead of doing school work and playing sports I chased a buzz. My priorities were obviously screwed up. I went through a period where I would take shots of straight vodka as soon as I got home from school at 3:30 in the afternoon before going to work at a car wash.
This was a daily habit that formed and led to what my story is all about. One random school night my friend Daniel and I went over to a friend’s house to get drunk and that’s exactly what we did. Since it was a school night I had a curfew. Driving home I was doing fine up until the point of about 2 minutes away from dropping off Daniel. He lives on top of a mountain and I was going around a turn and misjudged it. I was going too fast and we ended up rolling.
I was knocked out and when I came to, my upper body was hanging out of the window that my shoulder had busted out. My parents showed up in disbelief. Then the police showed up. I ended up blowing a .17 and luckily somehow I did not get a DUI. I was only charged with wreckless driving. Emotionally I broke down at the scene and was so upset with myself and what I had just done. I could’ve easily killed Daniel or myself or both. So please next time you think about getting behind the wheel and driving intoxicated DON’T because you might not be a lucky as I was. After going through this it was a wakeup call to a certain extent. A year later once i graduated high school we all went on our senior trip to the beach. My friend Justin at the time had been working out for a couple of years and had accomplished a physique that inspired me right away as soon as I realized the attention he was getting from everyone and confidence he had.
So right away when I got back from the beach I started studying how to weight train as I wanted to get big. When I started at age 18 I weighted 175lbs and now I weigh right at 200lbs lean!
What keeps you motivated?
All of my drive and dedication stems from quite a few sources and personal life experiences. Ever since getting into the modeling industry in 2007 I always struggled with getting into top shape. It was from my battles with food which led to an eating disorder. Mentally I was in the darkest deepest depression I’ve ever been in and I really didn’t realize how bad it was until now that I’m myself again. I had no direction, no ambition, no drive, and felt sorry for myself. I was embarrassed to eat around people because I thought they were judging how much I was eating. I would hide junk food in my apartment room because I was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to know I was eating this way.
What this eating disorder did to me has not only made me a stronger person now but at the time it stripped away all of my confidence, no self esteem, no sex drive and I can honestly say I really didn’t care about life.
It’s very strange to me now looking back at this because food had total control of my life and I was just slowly letting life pass by. It wasn’t until I left NYC in March to go stay with my girlfriend Suzanne in Nashville that I realized I needed to make a change and make one fast. She knew right off the bat when she picked me up from the airport that something was wrong. She said I looked sick with dark circles under my eyes. So I slowly started to get my self back together. When I say slowly I mean this was a month to month process. I would still have binges. At that time Suzanne was a member of the YMCA so I started going there and went back to my roots and started weight training again. The binges progressively got smaller and less frequent. From March to the end of May I stayed in Nashville and by the time I went to Roanoke to stay for a few weeks to try and figure out what my next move would be, the binges were close to being gone but not completely. Good thing muscle has memory is all I’ve got to say. My body bounced back quickly and I really started to focus on a well balanced nutrition plan that wasn’t restrictive and was enough food to keep me feeling healthy.
October 2010 was when I devoted myself to this fitness lifestyle and I told myself I will never put myself through that again. The constant emotional roller coaster that food can give you is not worth it AT ALL.
There is no better feeling in the world than of always being in shape. My confidence is through the roof now! It tears me up inside to think of how depressed I was but like I’ve said before you can make change! I changed myself with no medication and no therapy. My therapy is my workouts! So I hope each and every one of you that reads this can take something from this and make positive change in your own life. I was always told that I wouldn’t be able to get in shape and if I did then I wouldn’t be able to keep it because I like food too much. This is why I take weekly digitals to prove them wrong. Also I was told I would never achieve a 6 pack and that my skin was too thick. These comments were made to me when I was going through my eating disorder. So now anytime I’m at the gym and if I feel like I want to slow down or I’m towards the end of a hard set, I’m able to push out a few extra reps because all of these thoughts that will go through my head in those split seconds of extreme pain.
On the more positive side of things, all of the emails every day I receive from people saying I’m such an inspiration makes me feel amazing considering what I’d been through and I just never thought I would be able to inspire people.
What’s your current diet like and do you have an off season?
First of all, for me I have no time for an off season. I have no interest in gaining extra unnecessary weight and look bloated because this will only slow my career down. Also, I feel like the human body was not designed to go up and down in weight in extremes like that. If I didn’t stay lean and in shape all of the time I would be depressed and lose confidence. I’ve been there, done that and that’s not me. I eat a healthy diet most days of anywhere from 5-8 meals it just depends on how I’m feeling. I have my weekly cheats every weekend also.
Sample Diet:
- Meal 1: 5:30am 1/2 cup oats w/one scoop whey, one scoop whey shake
- Meal 2: 8:30am 12 egg whites
- Meal 3: 10:30am 35g whey shake
- Meal 4: 12pm 6oz chicken breast 1 tbsp acv
- Meal 5: 3pm 8oz skinless boneless chicken thighs 1tbsp acv
- Meal 6: 4pm 1/2cup oats w/one scoop whey
- Meal 8: 7pm 54g whey shake
- Meal 9: 8:30pm 8oz chicken breast
What’s your current workout split?
My philosophy is to keep the body in constant shock by doing something different each time you step in the gym as I never do the same workout twice. I only take days off when needed otherwise I’ll workout seven days a week sometimes. I recently started boxing and I’m absolutely addicted to perfecting it. Right now I’m in the very beginning but I’m working with Josh Hightower, a MMA trainer here in Nashville.
Sample Routine:
Arms/Abs
- Standing BB curls (superset) x3 6-12 reps
- Two arm overhead seated db extension x3 6-12 reps
- BB preacher curls (superset) x3 8-12 reps
- Rope press downs – x3 8-12 reps
- Hammer curls (superset) x2 10-12 reps
- Close grip bench press x2 10-12 reps
- Seated concentration curls (triset) x2 10-12 reps
- Reverse grip barbell curls x2 10-12 reps
- Close-grip pushups x2 10-12 reps
- Hanging Leg Raises (giant set)
- Rope crunches
- Oblique floor twists
- Weighted sit ups x2 to failure
Shoulders/Calves/Cardio
- Seated sideways on bench one arm db lateral raises – 3x 10-12
- Upright rows 3×10-12 (2 drop sets on last set)
- Standing DB Laterals – 30lb x 10 (drop sets)
- Reverse pec dec – 3×12 (one drop set on last set)
- BB shrugs – 3×12
- Dumbell front raises – 3×12
- One arm cable shrug – 3×12
- Standing calve raises – 3×12
- Jump rope 10 minutes
Chest/Triceps/Cardio
- Pec dec – 4×12
- Incline barbell press – 3×12
- Flat hammer press – 3×6-12 one drop on last set
- Decline press – 3×12
- Flat dumbbell fly superset dumbell pullovers – 3×12
- V-Bar press down superset with overhead one arm extension – 2×10
- Run 20 minutes intervals
- Stair climber – 5 minutes level 8.0
Back/Biceps/Abs
- T-bar rows – 4×8-12 2 drop sets on the last set
- Reverse grip pulldowns – 3×12
- Standing DB rows – 3×12
- Seated cable narrow grip row (superset) – 3×12
- Behind the neck pulldowns – 3×12
- Deadlifts superset with straight bar standing pulldowns – 3×5-12
- Standing BB curl (superset) 3×10-12
- Cambered bar rollouts 3×10-12
- Standing Concentration curls (superset) – 3×10-12
- Rope crunches – 3×10-12
Legs
- 10 minute bike warm up
- Leg extensions 3×12-15
- Squats 4×8-12
- Lying leg curl 4×12-15
- Leg press 4×12-15
- Stiff leg deadlifts with dumbells x20 (superset)
- Walking lunges x20
- Seated calf raise 4×12-15
What supplements do you take?
Currently I’m taking my own little cocktail. My goal is to someday work with a supplement company and to be a sponsored athlete.
Supplement stack:
- Whey Protein
- Flaxseed Oil
- AAKG
- Creatine EthylEster
- Beta Alanine
- Vitamin C
Favorite bodybuilders?
I have a few people that inspire me. First would be Greg Plitt. He’s ridiculous and after I overcame my eating disorder I joined his website and I would watch his videos daily. Now we have the same webmaster. Others would be Arnold and Frank Zane. As far as current body builders, Muscle Mania Natural Pro Matt Liller and IFBB Pro Phil Heath.
What’s in the future for Tyler McPeak?
Well it’s a lot of baby steps. But these baby steps will hopefully lead to something great. I have a vision and I’m just going to continue staying positive and making the right daily moves to progress. Hard work pays off! See everyone at the Arnold!
Website: To learn more about Tyler check out his website: www.tylermcpeak.com
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/tylermcpeak
