Isaac Hinds - LIFTstudios Blog

This falls under the under the category of WHAT THE HELL? Are you kidding me?! I caught this segment tonight on ABC’s Nightline and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. ABC was in Denver, Colorado interviewing people related to a new surgery that costs between $15,000-$20,000. UNBELIEVABLE. There is one doctor who claims you need "you have to get to 3-to-5 percent body fat. Unless your job is working out at the gym and the rest of your job is eating broccoli, you’re not going to be able to work that off," in order to have sixpack abs. Are you for real?

This is the story that ran on the ABC Nightline, “sign of the times”:
Amazing Abdominals

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)
It’s the ultimate symbol of hunkiness — six-pack abs. Many products and workouts promise results, but for most people, no amount of crunches can eradicate that spare tire.Dr. John Millard and Dr. Alfredo Hoyos might have the solution. They’re two of a handful of plastic surgeons offering a new procedure called VASER High-Def Liposculpture. According to Millard’s Web site, the procedure emulsifies and removes fat, just like traditional liposuction. But the technique uses deep and superficial liposculpture “in specific anatomical areas…to create a more natural muscular appearance.”

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)
“Every guy we see in a magazine, they all have six-pack abs,” said Joshua Conn (not pictured), a personal trainer at the Colorado Athletic Club. “Everyone sees all these movie stars, sees movies with Brad Pitt walking around with a six-pack, and people want to be like him.”

Vaser High-Def is best-suited for people who are already in good shape, and also transfers fat to areas like the pectorals that the patient would like enhanced. The procedure promises to sculpt your abs into a work of art. “If Michelangelo was born in the 20th century and had access to this procedure, I’m pretty sure he’d have been a plastic surgeon,” Millard said.

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)
Stephen Riebold, seen here, is a 35-year-old engineer who worked out 5 times a week before having the surgery, but nothing worked. “You know, I tried modifying my diet, changing my workout routine, just about everything.”

Riebold says that the recovery was difficult. “It felt like I got hit by a bus,” he said. “The first couple weeks were pretty rough, you know, I was in a lot of pain, I wasn’t moving much.”

He says he was “shocked” by the results, and has been inspired to work out even more. Since the surgery he’s lost 20 pounds.

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)
“Patients will start to see definition after about two weeks of the procedure,” Millard says. “They’ll have their final results at about four months.”

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)

Most patients who undergo the procedure are in good shape to begin with, and Millard says they aren’t “cheating” by having surgery to get the body they want. “I don’t think so, no,” he said.

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)

Millard says he has performed the procedure on approximately 200 patients, and that he and Hoyos have trained 26 other surgeons worldwide in the procedure. The surgery costs $15,000-$20,000.

(Courtesy John A. Millard, M.D. and Alfredo Hoyos, M.D.)

Millard says in order to achieve a six-pack "you have to get to 3-to-5 percent body fat. Unless your job is working out at the gym and the rest of your job is eating broccoli, you’re not going to be able to work that off."

If you are in the Denver, Colorado are stop by and meet IFBB Pro bodybuilder Cathy Lefrancois. Cathy recently won the 2008 IFBB NY Pro.
Her schedule is as follows:

Monday, May 19th 11am-2pm
GNC
Smoky Hill Road & Gibraltar Way
5616 S. Gibraltar Way
Aurora, CO  80015
303-400-9512

Tuesday, May 20th 11am-2pm
GNC
Denver Pavilions Mall
16th Street & Glenarm, 2nd floor
500 16th Street
Denver, CO  80202
303-454-9611

She will be doing demos on all Gaspari products. The Gaspari line will be on sale with 20% off while she is in the store. If you have a gold card you can apply another 20% off on top of that!

I met up with IFBB pro bodybuilder, Andy Haman yesterday for a shoot. We met at Dylan and Heather Armbrust’s gym. Dylan showed me the new logo for Armbrust Gym that is in the works and it’s pretty cool. They are doing an awesome job of fixing up the gym and still keeping it one of Denver’s lone hardcore gyms. Andy and I shot for a few hours in their gym and then went to Steve Hess’ gym FORZA to get some shots of him on the HARDKORE gym equipment. Steve is a good dude who is getting ready to compete at the Colorado State Championships. Andy consumed more sushi than humanly possible in between shoots. He needed it after doing a few sets with the 170lb dumbbells. Check them out - pretty sweet looking. Andy is getting ready to make his pro debut at the Europa Super show. Any one who knows him knows he’s a guy who doesn’t take himself too serious and is always cracking jokes. We had a good time and got some great shots.

Keep your eyes peeled for some of these shots to land in the pages of the muscle magazines in the months ahead.

Andy doing chest with 170lb dumbbells. Some heavy ass weight!

Andy hitting the shrugs!

Andy hitting the HARDKORE gym equipment at FORZA.

This is one figure diva you’ll want to keep an eye on. She’s competed only once and won her class. She’s set to compete again in Denver. We had a chance to shoot last week and these are a few shots from that day. One funny story to share. While we were rapping up the shoot and getting a few more shots in near a stream we heard a crashing sound. We look over to catch a man on a motorcycle tumbling over the handle bars of his bike. Yes, Rachel literally stopped traffic. Fortunately, the driver of the motorcycle was ok and wasn’t going fast enough to cause injury to him or his bike. He was more embrrassed than anything.

Enjoy…