WHEN DID YOU START WORKING OUT?
I started training by accident really, messing around lifting furniture or anything heavy, back home in Holland with my brothers. We must have been about 12 or 13 years old. I have two brothers, one is older and the other is my identical twin. We are all very sport orientated: swimming, boxing, kickboxing, running and wrestling. In fact, I was the Dutch wrestling champion in Greek-Roman and freestyle for three years running from the age of 23. I started weight training in a gym at 15 and loved it from the start. When I was 17, my brother’s mate (a professional bodybuilder) took me under his wing and we started training in the men-only section of my local gym. Working out with someone with so much experience and positive energy taught me a lot and gave me great results.

WHAT’S YOU TYPICAL GYM ROUTINE?
I go to the gym 5-6 times a week, training for no more than an hour each session, three sets for each exercise.
1st set: Warm up; 50% of my maximum weight, 15 reps.
2nd set: 75% of my max, 12 reps.
3rd set: This is the one that will make me grow and is maximum weight, as many as I can till failure.
Day One: Four exercises for chest, two for shoulders.
Day Two: Three exercises for biceps, three for triceps.
Day Three: Three exercises for legs, four for abs (50 sit-ups) and then three exercises with weights maximum of 20 reps – until I really feel the burn!
Day Four: Three exercises for back. Then back to Day One’s routine.
I use a mix of machines, dumbbells and bench exercises to vary my routine – I keep it interesting by changing it regularly. I do cardio 5-7 days a week, mostly by cycling everywhere. I also do wrestling and tae kwon do, which keeps me agile.

WHAT SORT OF WEIGHTS DO YOU LIFT?
These are some of my main exercises –
Chest: Bench press, my maximum is 160 kilo.
Shoulders: Neck press, maximum 100 kilo.
Arms: Standing barbell curl, max 70 kilo; tricep push-down, max 80 kilo.
Legs: Leg press, max 420 kilo.
Back: Lat pull-down, max 130 kilo.

DO YOU TAKE ANY NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS?
Good quality, straightforward food is my main source of healthy nutrition. I have six small meals a day, starting with a breakfast of porridge with raisins, which is an excellent source of carbohydrate, with protein from the milk. I always combine protein with carbs with every meal, about 1.6 grams of protein per day for every kilo of lean body weight. Any more than that is of no benefit. I go for low fat option wherever possible. And I’m a real fan of ‘five a day’ portions of fruit and vegetables.
I take a few supplements: creatine, glucosamine sulphate, cod liver oil, milk thistle, dandelion root and evening primrose oil. Occasionally if I miss out on a meal, I’ll take a replacement drink with protein/carbs. I drink about three cups of green tea with peppermint a day.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PERSONAL WORKOUT ADVICE TIPS?
You can spend a lot of time at the gym, so you really need to find one that suits you. I like to train in a gym with the best range of equipment, but just as important is a place where I can feel relaxed and have a laugh. That’s why I’ve trained and worked at Paris Gym in Vauxhall for the last 15 years; the staff are great, it’s clean and there’s no attitude. Feeling good about yourself is down to eating, sleeping and training well – I always say ‘push yourself to failure on the last set.’ But you also have to find time to relax and enjoy life. The holistic approach is better than a one-dimensional obsessive attitude: if you take longer than an hour to train, you’re doing too many exercises or taking too long breaks between sets.
If you’re a beginner, I recommend starting two to three days a week for the first month or two, taking your time to learn the exercises and train safely. If you train in a focussed, steady way, you’ll see results within a few weeks.
I’m really into negative reps – there’s plenty of research evidence that they can show great results. So on those last couple of reps in your last set, lower the weight as slow as you can and feel the pump!