In this week’s FridayFocus blog we spoke to Johnny Rambo, a performance nutritionist and fitness competitor from the UK! Below we look at his fitness aspirations, favourite exercises and tips on how he stays motivated!
1. Who are you, where do you come from, and what do you do?
Hi, my name is Johnny Rambo (Johnny Rambotas). I am from the UK and based just outside of London where I currently work as a performance nutritionist, S n C coach and am also a fitness competitor.
2. Who’s your fitness inspiration?
Fitness for me can not only be quantified by both aesthetics and performance but also your ability to bring fitness to the masses with personality. I feel Steve Cook is the guy who has done this exceptionally well and it is inspiring to see.
If we are talking about performance Rodger Federer still winning Grand Slams at age 36 is pretty f**king inspiring too!
3. What’s your go-to exercise?
Now that’s a tough one. I wouldn’t say I have any one go-to exercise although, due to disc problems, I have struggled to back squat so I have been doing a lot of single leg work to be able to reduce the load on my spine. Out of these exercises I would say both leg elevated split squats.
I used to hate them but have grown to love them over time. They give an insane stretch on the quad on the back leg and challenge the core. They have been an awesome addition to my leg workouts.
4. When did you decide to get lean and why?
I have always been in reasonable shape as I spent most of my life before fitness chasing the dream of professional tennis. When I stopped playing, due to injury, I took to physique competitions as this allowed me to still fill my competitive need. I started my physique journey in 2014 and still find it fascinating how far you can push the human body year on year.
5. What will we find you doing when you’re not working out?
I love to walk and to read so to get two birds with one stone I will always tend to have an audio book in my ears on an early morning walk. I also love to play sport and, although I struggle getting back on a tennis court, I play basketball once a week which is my favourite cardio. Apart from that I will probably just be eating, sleeping and coaching others.
6. What’s is the most useful tool you’ve found to help you stay in shape?
Routine, routine and routine. When you find what works for you as an individual it is key to just keep doing what you are doing. This goes hand in hand with educating yourself not only about health and fitness but you as a person. When you know where your strengths and weaknesses are it is more easily to play to them in the context of creating a manageable routine to stay in shape.
7. How do you maintain motivated and focused?
Motivation for me stems from action. Motivation won’t just hit you while you are sitting on the sofa watching Netflix. This in turn goes hand in hand with focus as when I set a goal and focus on how I will achieve it motivation is quick to follow. If you strive every day to be better I think both remain elevated – It’s all about planning and action.
8. What are your fitness/life goals for 2017?
My fitness goal for 2017 is to step on stage in better condition than I did last year hoping that the past year of planning and action has paid off.
I recently graduated with an MSc in Sport and Exercise nutrition so from a life goal perspective leveraging my knowledge and experience of health and fitness to provide value to as many people as possible is my goal for the rest of the year (and many years to come).
Apart from the above my life goals always remain the same and that is to learn something new every day so I can continually wake up the next day a better person. I believe that life is divided among so many different areas such as health, wealth, love and happiness and as long as I am moving forwards in all aspects the goal for 2017 is to keep moving forwards.
9. What is your best piece of fitness advice?
The only person who can get you where you need to be is you. This means to always treat yourself with the upmost respect, hold yourself accountable for all your action’s and just do your best.
No one person is perfect and the day you admit that is the day you can begin to make improvements. Also with this in mind, never make any comparisons. Comparisons are the road to perpetual unhappiness and in a world driven by social media highlight reels it is very easy to become disheartened looking at others. Basically, just get excited at being the best version of yourself!
10. Who are your favourite people to follow online?
Admittedly I don’t spend huge amounts of time looking through social media feeds but when I do I follow a mixture of people. Some of my favourite people to follow are Steve Cook, Elon Musk, Kevin Hart, The Rock and of course Johnny Rambo 😊
11. Have you always been into your health and fitness?
Coming from a tennis background I have chased the dream of professional sport for most of my adult life. This has meant that health and fitness has been an integral to my being since I can remember and I think it will always stay that way!
You can follow Johnny on Instagram here.