Fit to Print Volume 24 Issue 3 September 2015 | Page 16

Fantastic Four
continued from page 4

On the Floor With The Winning Team: L to R
Jose Calvet, Rajeev Malhotra, Pedro Calvet, Trainer Eileen Jacinth, Frank Calvet

PC: We approached Eileen with our
team. The first time I'd ever met her was
when Jose recruited me, and working
with her I got into good shape—though
obviously not like I am now! I had such a
positive experience. So no, I wouldn't
consider working with another trainer.
Eileen is perfect for me, perfect for us.
PS: So the contest is underway, and
you're training, and Eileen is supplying
you with diet information—
EJ: “Nutritional Plan,” we say…we don't
use the “D” word. And anyway, it's really
a Life Plan.
PS: Do you all continue to follow the Life
Plan?
FC: Oh, yeah.
PC: Absolutely.
PS: Can you identify any aspect of your
contest experience that strikes you as
the most difficult? The toughest?
FC: Honestly, we were so into it, that…I
mean, it was tough, I won't kid you. It
was hard. But every time we had a
weigh-in, we got positive reinforcement
from Eileen. She kept us going.
EJ: They got hugs when they left. Oh
yeah, hugs. Big Hugs! Sometimes they'd
get kissed too! It all depended on who
lost the most as to what kind of hugging
they'd get. I'd be, like, “None for you
this week, but you get double.”
PC: For all of us, in the beginning the
exercise was challenging. We were all on
some level indoctrinated with the
nutrition plan from experience. But as

you progress, the physical demands
become more manageable, and you
reach the point where you look
forward to the exercise.
EJ: And here is where this group is
different again. Typically guys go in
for bench presses, squats, lift
presses…I believe in compound
movements so we did funky stuff. We
did things that worked multiple
muscles at the same time, and these
were always more effective
workouts. They could, on days when
they were working out without me,
do the things they were used to, and
then on the days we were together
we'd do something crazy.
JC: When you have a good team, the
workouts actually become
pleasurable and even easier than
they would otherwise be. We keep
each other up and, with a great
trainer, have had a lot of success.
The hardest thing, I think, is when
you are not with your team.
Basically, you have this nutritional
plan that excludes alcohol. So when
you're not with your team and you're
in the real world with people who are
not only not in the contest, but not
even members of Fitness Incentive
(or any gym), that is the hardest part
of the contest. The real world versus
the contest where you are focused
and doing these amazing things. The
real world is the other ten months of

the year when you are not training in
the contest. The people you socialize
with are used to you behaving in a
certain way, which you can't in Fit 4
Summer. You are doing this, and they
expect that. To me, that was tough.
PC: A big motivator was that you had
this great team and great trainer, and
you didn't want to be the guy who let
everybody down. That was huge for me.
PS: We keep going back to the value of
the team and the format, and I know
from earlier interviews with other
winning teams that your experiences are
representative.
PC: The team is huge. And it also helps
that three-quarters of the team is my
brothers.
EJ: And not only are they brothers, but
they also work together. They are
together a lot. It's not a case where you
join a team, and you're accountable
twice a week or a few hours a week.
They were and are accountable all the
time, particularly at meal times. “Who's
bringing what for lunch…who's eating
what for breakfast…” When you see your
team outside the gym, this is big. Really.
PC: It helps that we're brothers.
FC: And also business partners. The four
brothers—there's another in addition to
the three of us who is not a Fitness
Incentive member but who plays adult
lacrosse—we own a dental lab together.
Sometimes when I mention this to other
people and they look at me like I'm
crazy…that it's a recipe for tension and
drama. But it works really well for us. It
was huge for us that we were doing
something together outside of work that
was so powerful. The glue was already
there.
PS: Can you identify an aspect of the
contest that you have found most
instructive? What did you take from your
experience that you believe will stay
with you over the long haul?
FC: Discipline, which you can apply to
all aspects of your life. Put it this way: I
gave up drinking altogether. That came
from the contest.
PC: The nutritional plan. That's going to
go forward with me forever, if possible.
Knowing that I can rely on that is big for
me. That, and as Frank says, the
discipline. Knowing I have enough to
continue working out.
EJ: Pedro was different from most
people in the contest, in that he was
quite lean to begin with. The others had
done the contest before, and a chief
goal for them was weight loss. From
their past contest experiences, and

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Autumn 2015 FIT to Print