Biohacking: Getting Ripped with Brian Konash Partner Acrobatics Base
Have you ever had that friend on Facebook who all of a sudden has transformed themselves? Brian Konash is that friend of mine. Brian was a little guy, but as you can see he is now a muscular machine through lots of lifting, clean living and partner acrobatics. Check out his path to enhancement below.
What kind of geek are you?
I am a Systems Administrator with 17 years experience in small and large companies. I focus on Linux, MongoDB and VMware.
A few years ago you were a little guy in relatively poor health and overweight. What happened that you transformed into a ripped monster?
In 2012 I joined my current company and lived at work for the next year helping make it succeed with the team. After it began succeeding, the work became less intense, and I became bored. I needed something to do with my extra time. Partner Acrobatics is what I chose to do. I still work full time at the company, but in my off hours I train.
What do your recommend to others who are want to improve their strength? (Diet | Exercises | Types of Acro)
I follow these guidelines to maintain enough strength for partner acro:
Vegetarian diet
Treat bread/carbs like candy
Eat enough protein in the form of shakes
No alcohol, no drugs
Weight training 5x a week, arm/leg split
Partner acro training 6x a week
What do you focus on now for your training?
I am focusing on making routines with my partners for eventual performance.
Weight training 5x a week and practicing partner acro 6x a week seem like serious commitments. What motivates you to maintain this level of training?
Getting better at partner acrobatics means reshaping your life around it. I spend an hour in the weight room for every hour I practice acrobatics. It’s a large sacrifice. I don’t have a social life to speak of. Relationships suffer, to put it mildly. What makes me do it? I just love doing it. I’m bored if I don’t and boredom is worse than not doing this.
Is there any technology you use to train with? Apps, HR monitors or fitness sites?
I do not use any hardware to train with aside from safety straps in the weight room if I am lifting heavier than a 37 year old should.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
All good pointers. It’s hard for me to give up breads/carbs completely, likewise for the occasional social drink. I’ve tried to cut actual snacky things out as much as possible but a 5x/6x resistance/acro training is beyond my capabilities loL!! I guess I’ll just learn to be happy with my forearms as-is loL!!
@nicknormal – I like Brian’s attitude of treat carbs as candy. It’s not giving them up completely. As an ultrarunner I find that 70g of carbs a day is ideal for me. I take them in the form of vegetables and nuts. Maybe that could help with transitioning towards less bread/carbs?
All good pointers. It’s hard for me to give up breads/carbs completely, likewise for the occasional social drink. I’ve tried to cut actual snacky things out as much as possible but a 5x/6x resistance/acro training is beyond my capabilities loL!! I guess I’ll just learn to be happy with my forearms as-is loL!!
@nicknormal – I like Brian’s attitude of treat carbs as candy. It’s not giving them up completely. As an ultrarunner I find that 70g of carbs a day is ideal for me. I take them in the form of vegetables and nuts. Maybe that could help with transitioning towards less bread/carbs?