Bradley Martyn is a prominent figure in the fitness world, known for his impressive physique, social media presence, and entrepreneurial ventures. This article delves into the details of his diet and training philosophy, offering insights and practical advice for those looking to emulate his success.
Who is Bradley Martyn?
Bradley Martyn is an American bodybuilder, physique competitor, and social media celebrity. He is arguably one of the strongest social media fitness stars. Martyn’s Instagram lifting posts showcase his brute muscle and core strength, balance, and stability. Scrolling through his feed can be motivating, but it’s crucial to avoid attempting his stunts without proper preparation to prevent injuries.
Unhappy with his skinny physique, Bradley Martyn started working out at the age of 15. Thanks to his grit, determination, and good genetics, it wasn’t long before Bradley started seeing results. Martyn also created his own workout program named “BMFit”. He started his online fitness program in 2006 and in 2014 he also started his own YouTube channel. Bradley Martyn is a bodybuilding YouTuber, personal trainer, owner of Zoo Culture gym, and an all round fitness entrepreneur.
Martyn's Rise to Fame
Bradley Martyn began promoting his personal training and online coaching services as soon as Instagram came out. He believes he was one of the first fitness people to start doing this on social media. Things really started to take off when IG started allowing videos to be posted on their platform. Martyn gained fame from his viral stunts on social media, becoming an influencer. He’s also tried flipping a car over like Superman, and he’s benched a barbell with a girl holding onto either side.
Bradley Martyn’s Diet Plan
Martyn likes to keep it simple when it comes to his diet program. He makes an effort to eat clean and gets most of his calories from organic and whole foods. Martyn understands the importance of nutrient-rich foods, incorporating them into his diet.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
Dietary Principles
Martyn likes to consume different proteins every other week, and he believes in dieting clean and smart. Martyn sticks to eating a lot of vegetables and he also loves eggs. He thinks that it’s important to find a balance in your diet to stay in shape. Eating clean and strict will help your body to stay in shape. However, he also has cheat days like most people, including doing eating challenges, which he publishes on his channel.
Here is Bradley Martyn’s diet:
Breakfast
- Salmon
- Eggs
- Whole wheat toast
Lunch
- Bison Burger
- Flat Steak
Dinner
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- Fish
- Quinoa
- Green Salad
Intermittent Fasting
While he was actively competing, Bradley followed an intermittent fasting diet. During his bodybuilding competition days from 2011 to 2013, Bradley Martyn took a disciplined approach to nutrition by embracing intermittent fasting. This method involved abstaining from food for 16 hours each day, followed by an 8-hour eating window in which he consumed several substantial meals. Research suggests that an IF diet can increase your natural human growth hormone (HGH) levels and improve insulin sensitivity, which can help in building muscle mass and shedding excess body fat. An IF diet can also help in muscle recovery after workouts.
A basic intermittent fasting plan would give you 12 hours of eating time and 12 hours of fasting time. The basic premise of intermittent fasting is that you’re able to cut back the time you’re allowed to eat, and therefore you’re cutting back on the amount of food you’re eating. Martyn was going about it at a more advanced level, sometimes fasting up to 16 hours per day. While this may seem like a lot, your body and mind do get used to eating in that time frame. Since your body doesn’t have any carbohydrates to draw on, it has to start breaking down body fat as an energy source. Once your body starts using fat for fuel, it begins breaking down muscle as well.
Post-Competition Diet
Ever since hanging his competition briefs, Bradley Martyn has switched to a more relaxed style of dieting. These days when he’s not competing, Martyn takes a more chilled-out approach to eating. For one, he doesn’t do intermittent fasting anymore. In fact, his diet is pretty standard fare: clean, whole foods.
Loose Framework: His main rule focuses on minimizing carbohydrates. Emphasis on Macronutrients: Bradley prioritizes high protein and fat intake. The primary focus now is to keep carbohydrate intake low while ensuring a high protein and fat regimen.
Cheat Days
If his Instagram photos are to be believed, Martyn enjoys his cheat days. For one, he’s a big believer in giving yourself cheat days. Not only does this provide a mental respite, but it gets your body back into the groove of things. This might go against some of the other athletes we’ve looked at who swear by consistently sticking to a diet, but Martyn’s got it figured out as well. And since he’s been doing this for so long, he can listen to his body to be able to tell if he should be cutting back on the calories or loosening his belt.
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
Food Variety
According to Bradley, he gets easily bored. To avoid that from happening to his diet program, he switches up his protein and vegetables every week. He’s also brought up the fact that he’s not afraid of eating fat or eating carbs. Also, fat is necessary for keeping your body healthy and able to produce the chemicals it needs to develop. He also doesn’t shy away from the carbs-at least when he’s looking to pack on some extra muscle. The key is to always be adaptable while keeping your eye on the prize. If you do this for long enough, you’ll know your body to the extent where you can tell what you need to consume to feel (and look) good.
Since he does want to ensure that he stays on track but he also wants to not get bored of eating the same things over and over, he’ll actually switch up his protein and vegetable sources week to week. This helps in always knowing how much protein he’s putting into his body since the meals and portions aren’t new to him. The other option would obviously be to switch things up every day; but going from week to week can save a lot of time, especially if you consider meal planning at the start of every week.
Key Foods for Muscle Growth
If you’re aiming to sculpt a muscular physique like Bradley Martyn, incorporating nutrient-rich foods into your diet is key.
- Salmon: Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and high-quality protein, salmon is a staple for muscle growth.
- Quinoa: Often called a superfood, quinoa is packed with protein, fiber, and essential amino acids.
- Bell Peppers: Loaded with vitamins A and C, bell peppers are not just for flavor-they support muscle recovery and boost the immune system.
- Greek Yogurt: A powerhouse of protein and probiotics, Greek yogurt aids in muscle repair and keeps your digestive health in check.
- Almond Butter: Rich in healthy fats, protein, and vitamin E, almond butter is ideal for muscle maintenance and growth.
These foods are celebrated not just for their ability to bolster muscular strength but also for providing the essential nutrients that support overall well-being.
Macronutrient Balance
Most fitness rookies make the mistake of blaming the macro “fats” for their body fat. Eliminating fats is one of the first things they do after switching to a lean muscle-building program. Martyn recommends following a personalized diet and making adjustments to it based on your progress. On the other hand, if you feel you have put on excess weight, you should cut down your calorie consumption.
Number of Meals
Martyn likes to keep it simple when it comes to his diet program. Unlike most other fitness athletes, the social media star usually eats only three meals a day.
Caloric Intake
“It’s really simple. Eat enough calories to grow and make sure you’re in a calorie surplus. You do not put on size like him on a calorie deficit diet.
Supplements
Bradley Martyn understands the importance of supplements in a fitness routine. It is one of the reasons why he owns a supplement company. Despite owning a supplement company, Bradley sticks to the basics - the tried and tested. Protein powder, creatine, amino acids, and some multivitamins.
- Whey Protein: It is no secret that whey protein supplements are the bodybuilding industry’s darling. Although it comes from humble beginnings, whey protein is an extremely high-quality source of essential amino acids. Protein is the most important macronutrient if your goal is to build muscle.
- Creatine: Creatine is one of the most researched sports supplements. Creatine, along with whey, is one of the most popular supplements in the world when it comes to improving performance in the gym. Creatine is already naturally found in your muscle cells, helping your muscles produce energy during heavy exertion. In this case, heavy exertion means heavy lifting or other high-intensity exercises. For example, the cardiovascular system is tapped into when a longer-term energy source is needed. There’s a host of benefits that creatine imparts on your body. Furthermore, it can help you put on muscle mass and build strength in a short period. Furthermore, it can help in reducing muscle breakdown post-workout, while also lowering the levels of a certain protein (myostatin) which can inhibit the growth of new muscle tissue.
- BCAA: Help increase muscle growth, decrease DOMS, reduce exercise fatigue, and prevent muscle wasting. Although proteins are important to build muscle, they come in all different shapes and sizes. There are thousands of different proteins in the human body, but they’re all made up out of 20 different amino acids. This leaves nine that have to be ingested through diet, and we therefore call them the “essential” amino acids. But we can break things down even further! Of these nine essential amino acids, three of them are unique in that they’re the only ones that are broken down in the muscles rather than in the liver. These branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are found in most protein-rich foods, especially eggs, meats, and dairy. On top of this BCAAs are also useful in decreasing how sore your muscles are post-workout.
- Pre-Workout: A pre-workout supplement can help delay fatigue and improve focus and muscle pumps.
- Fat Burner: Since Bradley Martyn is not big on cardio, he uses a fat burner supplement to keep his metabolic rate high throughout the day.
Bradley Martyn’s Workout Routine
Bradley Martyn follows a high-volume training regimen. You’ll be performing at least 20 sets in every workout. Martyn’s training program consists of basic lifts. If you want to achieve your transformation goal, make sure you give the workouts all you have got.
Training Principles
Bradley Martyn doesn’t focus on lifting as much weight as he can. Martyn likes to incorporate many different exercises to target his entire body. He means that it’s important to focus on the movement and control of the weight.
Workout Split
Martyn follows a five-day training split. The fitness YouTuber doesn’t follow the same workout routine every day. Martyn incorporates both isolation (single-joint) and compound (multi-joint) lifts in his workouts.
Here is Bradley Martyn’s workout routine:
Monday: Chest Workout
Bradley Martyn’s chest routine features 5 different exercises with an average of 4 sets and 12 reps.
Here is Bradey Martyn’s chest routine:
- Barbell bench press (4 sets, 12 reps)
- Incline dumbbell press (4 sets, 12 reps)
- Machine chest press (4 sets, 12 reps)
- Weighted dips (4 sets, 12-15 reps)
- Weighted push-ups (4 sets, 12-15 reps)
Tuesday: Back Workout
On this back routine, Martyn hits 4 different exercises.
Here is Bradley Martyn’s back routine:
- Wide grip lat pulldown (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
- Dumbbell row (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
- Bent over barbell row (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
- Strict pull-ups (4 sets, 12-15 reps)
Wednesday: Shoulder Workout
His shoulder routine features 5 different exercises with an average of 5 sets and 10 reps.
Here is Bradley Martyn’s shoulder routine:
- Dumbbell press sitting (5 sets, 10-15 reps)
- Straight bar front raise (5 sets, 10-15 reps)
- Dumbbell lateral raise (5 sets, 20-25 reps)
- Cable face pulls (5 sets, 15-20 reps)
- Barbell shrugs (5 sets, 10-15 reps)
Thursday: Leg Workout
On his leg day, he hits 4 different exercises. The leg day has a problem. There’s nothing that directly works the hamstrings.
Here is Bradley Martyn’s leg routine:
- Barbell Squats (5 sets, 8-10 reps)
- Front rack lunge (5 sets, 10-12 reps)
- Leg extensions (5 sets, 12-15 reps)
- Dumbbell lunges (5 sets, 12-15 reps)
Friday: Arm Workout
On this arm routine, Martyn performs 6 different exercises with an average of 4 sets and 8 reps. Bradley was because every day was arm day according to him. This may sound like overkill, but if done properly and at a lower weight, it can be fantastic for developing a muscle. Doing something like arms every day (or the same exercise all day, throughout the day), is fantastic for cultivating a mind-muscle connection. If you do each rep by putting your mind “inside” the muscles being worked, and do them with intention and perfect form, those muscles are guaranteed to grow.
Here is Bradley Martyn’s arm routine:
- Close-grip barbell bench press (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
- Bicep curls with bands (4 sets to failure)
- Seated cable curls (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
- Seated overhead triceps extension (5 sets, 8-12 reps)
- Strict standing barbell curls (5 sets, 5-10 reps)
- Triceps press (5 sets, 10 reps)
Weight and Reps
The Instagram sensation is a hybrid powerlifter and bodybuilder. He prefers to train with moderate weights. He claims that he usually leans towards a weight that is 75-80% of his 1RM (one-rep max). “I typically lean towards a weight that is 75-80% of my max and focus on the total amount of reps, not necessarily a rep range. Martyn performs 8-12 reps of every exercise to maximize muscle hypertrophy.
Even 70-80% of Martyn’s 1RM is a significant amount of weight. Don’t get us wrong. We are not asking you to compete with Martyn, but at the same time, you should not use this as an excuse to remain in your comfort zone.
Form and Technique
No matter how heavy Martyn lifts, you’ll never see him put himself at risk of injury by disregarding his form.
Core Training
Although Bradley Martyn routinely performs awe-inspiring feats in the gym that requires a core of steel, he is not a fan of core training.
Importance of Patience
For example, he cites patience as one of the most important factors in getting big. And that’s indicative of one of the most important lessons that Martyn’s process can teach us: you have to love what you’re doing. But this is where a lot of us fail-you can’t make yourself love something. What’s the next best thing? Doing it in a way you love.
Bradley Martyn’s Personal Philosophy
Bradley Martyn is a testament to resilience and tenacity in the face of life’s hurdles. From a young age, he demonstrated an unwavering spirit, realizing early on that while certain aspects of life were beyond his control, they didn’t have to define him. His philosophy is encapsulated in his belief that challenges can either make you or break you. For Bradley, adversity was the catalyst for building a mindset akin to that of a champion.
One of the core lessons from Bradley‘s journey is the importance of not yielding to external pressures, no matter how insurmountable they may appear. In essence, Bradley Martyn‘s story imparts a powerful message: a strong mind can navigate and conquer any obstacle that life may present.
Bradley Martyn grew up facing significant personal challenges. At just six years old, he endured the tragic loss of his father, who died by suicide. Not only did he grapple with this overwhelming grief, but he also had to confront feelings of misery and depression, common in the wake of such a loss.
Influences
Bradley Martyn has been shaped by a variety of influences throughout his fitness journey. While he acknowledges the support of his friends, fans, and fellow competitors, a few individuals stand out as particularly impactful. His mother has been a guiding light, providing encouragement through both triumphs and challenges. Additionally, his long-time friend, Brandon Gerdes, has been a consistent source of strength.