1) Who is Patrick Umphrey? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc)
I live in central Minnesota an I'm an online coach and owner of Eat, Train, Progress which is the name of my brand and also my amazing facebook group. I'm a father of two awesome kids who are also sometimes dicks, but I still love them a whole bunch.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1757960127817969/
2) How many years have you been training?
I've been training for about 8 years, and I love it. It's something I get a great deal of enjoyment from.
3) Whats been the most challenging/hardest part of your journey so far? and how have you overcome them (set backs, rejections, injuries, basically anything difficult that you have had to overcome)
The hardest thing I've had to deal with so far has been imposter syndrome. The feeling of not belonging and the feeling of not deserving the business I've built or the position I am currently in. Truth is, I'm not sure what the solution is, but I choose to deal with it by helping others which then lifts me up, so to speak.
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like?
I train 4 days per week primarily for the sport of powerlifting. When I'm not prepping for a meet I still primarily train like I am although not quite as aggressively. I squat 3 days per week, I bench 3 to 4 days per week, I deadlift twice per week, and I do some accessory movements as time permits. I train in a variety of rep ranges and intensities throughout the week.
I use %RM to get within a reasonable loading range but I then use RPE to autoregulate load and fine tune volume as needed on a per-session basis.
As far as my diet goes, I basically just eat by habit. When I am in a dieting phase I usually start it off by tracking for 1 to 2 weeks and then I stop, and I'm able to get "lean enough" using this method, and I also find this method WAY easier. I also tend to increase NEAT during fat loss phases mainly by walking more often.
When I'm not actively trying to get lean, I range somewhere between maintenance and a small surplus, and over the fall and winter months I gradually gain weight until Spring and then I basically repeat.
For context here, when I get lean I get down to about 10-11% body-fat and I only mention that for perspective sake. If I ever wanted to compete in a physique sport I would very likely need to track my intake.
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition?
So this isn't necessarily new knowledge but it's definitely a change in strategy from a coaching standpoint and so I think it's probably worth mentioning. I'm becoming a bigger fan of more frequent diet breaks for most people.
So for example instead of taking a 1 to 2 week diet break every 8 to 12 weeks, I'm a bigger fan of taking shorter but more frequent breaks (something along the lines of 5 to 7 days of a break every 4-5 weeks). I'm also leaning more heavily towards 4-5 deficit days per week with 2 to 3 maintenance or refeed days.
I want to be REALLY clear on this that it's not something I do with everyone -- context matters here. It's just that I find more people can adhere better with a setup like this, likely because the maintenance days make the deficit days easier to stick to. From a training standpoint, I'm becoming better at making tweaks to client programming based on RPE and other subjective measures from the client (how they feel, how they are performing, motivation to train, etc) and so I'm now more reactive and proactive when it comes to adjusting acute variables, like adjusting volume or intensity on the following few sessions based on the previous few sessions. This is something I was doing in the past, but it's something I feel more confident in and it's something I do far more frequently now.
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?.
There's a local joint by my place called Norm's Wayside. On the outside it looks like a dump. On the inside it's a sports-bar with a casual feel to it, with several road signs and gas pumps and that kind of decor. The food there is REALLY good, far better than you'd expect at a dumpy dive bar. They do a double in and out burger and it's just simple, but fresh and delicious. I love cheeseburgers and this thing is probably my all time favorite. Hnnng!
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
I think I'd be totally fine without any supplements. Having said that, I love whey protein and I also take creatine and Vitamin D.
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
I don't train primarily for physique and so I don't think I'd do anything differently in that regard. However, my first two years of training were done in a corporate gym without barbells and so if I were to do it over again, it would have been cool to see where I'd be if I started squatting and benching and deadlifting on day 1 instead of year 3.
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
SEVERAL people, and as much as I hate to exclude people I'm going to name two.
First, Alan Aragon. He was the first person who challenged a lot of ideas I THOUGHT I knew, he was the first person I really "followed" in the fitness industry and he's responsible for causing me to challenge my own beliefs. He's been a big help as far as my coaching business goes as well.
Next would be coach Eric Helms of Team 3DMJ. I don't know where to begin with Eric but he's a remarkable teacher, a brilliant and level headed thinker, and a true role model as far as how he conducts himself and the passion he demonstrates for helping others.
These two guys have definitely helped me get where I am today and I'm incredibly thankful
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
It really depends on what we mean by "starting out". If someone is starting out with weight loss, I'd suggest they focus on the basics. Manage total calorie intake (consider tracking it in an app like myfitnesspal for a few weeks). Eat fruits and vegetables daily. Eat protein with each meal. Eat mostly whole and minimally refined foods and limit junk food to just a small portion of your daily intake. Spend more time moving and walking when you can, and try to sit less.
If someone is starting out with exercise, I'd suggest choosing something you enjoy or at least choosing something you don't hate. Don't do tons of it on day 1, but get out and do it a few times per week and see if you start doing it more as the weeks go on.
If someone is starting out with resistance training, I'd suggest using mostly multi joint exercises and I'd suggest starting out only doing one or two sets per exercise your first week or two. I'd avoid training to failure early on, and I'd try to make small incremental increases to the amount of work you are doing whether that's an increase in repetitions or an increase in load. I'd suggest looking at some basic pre-written programs which you can find on the internet either to follow directly or use as examples to understand a bit about how it works.
I'd suggest finding a coach or trainer so that you can make sure you are using proper technique and you can get some quality information and education along the way.
Finally, if someone is starting out in the fitness industry I'd suggest learning how to listen to your clients and learning how to accept being challenged and being wrong at times.
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
My website and blog are almost done and so that's the immediate goal. I'm working on continually expanding my brand so I can reach more people, and I've got a group coaching platform launching soon. As far as athletic goals, I'd like to hit the powerlifting platform this year in at least one USAPL meet and I'd be happy to just get close to my previous total pre-injury (hip injury followed by hernia surgery -- so as you can imagine by total went down).
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
The best place to find me right now would be here:
