Garry Turner In The Spotlight

Garry “Turner-Nator” Turner of NSW features in Australian Natural Bodz Magazine Volume 6 issue 3 In the Spotlight Profile.

Occupation: HSC Biology teacher / Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant and a Commercial Model.

Years in the fitness industry:
Mainstream “fitness” ie Mens Health magazine etc: 7 years.

What made you decide to compete in your first Physique and Modeling event?
Good mates with Ben Abstacker who pushed me into doing it. Plus I’d done a variety of Men’s Health/Mens Fitness covers already and wanted a new challenge. I’ve been training Abs for so long for fitness magazines and clients, that I figured I already had a very solid base for stage competition. I’ve also been following many of the IFBB pro’s online in the quest for the Olympia Title and I love that there is now a class for guys to have aesthetic physiques, without the need for being too muscular, which would kill my modeling career.

Competition Titles/sporting achievements?
Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness covers in three continents. Ex GB junior track athlete and strength and conditioning consultant to my brother Andy Turner, who is Commonwealth gold medalist 110m Hurdles. State rugby union player.

What type of diet do you follow leading into an event?
An incredibly regimented one. I’m a hard gainer, so my intake of carbs is still relatively high on refeed days, and my protein intake is high year round. I’ll typically cycle my carbs on a 3:1 cycle, with 3 low – no carb days and one refeed day with around 600-800g clean carbohydrate sources, for around 8 weeks, depending on the goal. Always paleo, I love fats, I eat the yolks and eat a lot of organic nut based products. I’ll eat 6 times a day, excluding pre and post workout snacks. Meat sources are standard chicken, turkey, steak and tuna, always tarted up with spices and herbs. Carbohydrate sources are brown rice, pasta, sweet potato, seed/wholemeal bread in the mornings.

How many days a week do you train and do you prefer weight training over cardio, what works best for you?
I train 6 times a week. I prefer to train at peak times, in the evening and normally on my own. The gym is a personal space for me and i’ll have my hat low and tunes on. I might bring in the help of a training partner on the lead up to a competition or shoot to help with extra negatives, but generally I’m a one man wolf pack. I train heavy, with weights over cardio and I try to make 8-12 reps per set and include drop sets and always super-set my workouts. I train at very high intensity. Due to my fast metabolism, I don’t do a lot of cardio, unless its the run up to a competition or shoot. In this case, i’ll ensure I make 5 hours of low intensity cardio a week, usually incline walking.