About Me

My early years

My name is Paul McIlroy, I'm 28 years old and I'm from Belfast in the north of Ireland. For the past 15 years my life has revolved around physical fitness and sport in all its many forms. As a child I was always fascinated by super heroes and mythical Celtic warriors and champions, martial artists etc. I looked up to my parents who always encouraged and supported me in everything I set out to do, I was lucky in that my parents were the type of people who always taught myself and my brother that we could do anything we put our minds too.
I feel this constant positive reinforcement had a big part to play in all of both our future successes. I was always very athletic, even as a child, and won many awards in football, soccer, track & field, swimming, water polo, etc. I was always well ahead of the boys my own age when it came to most things physical.

But once I reached adolescence thing turned around dramatically! All of a sudden everybody was bigger, stronger, faster…..and HAIRIER than I was! Instead of coming first most of the time, I now came in out of the medals every time, at every thing. Looking back now I realise this is a stage of life which affects a lot of people in a similar way, and is a very natural thing meaning only that I was a late developer physically, at the time I was very very concerned about the whole thing, fearing something was really wrong with me.

You see, it wasn't just on the field where I came off second best, it also occurred in playground fights! People who previously I had no problem in fighting off were now having little problem in beating me up, no matter how hard I tried. I was never bullied in the traditional sense of the word. I rarely didn't face up to them (although always petrified), I just never won when I did fight back, Ha Ha! It was this social 'change of the tide' coupled with my already life long obsession with strength & power which fuelled a steely determination inside of me to hone my body to the point where I felt I had no obvious weaknesses.

So, at the age of 14, also heavily influenced by the successes of my older brother (whom I looked up to then and still do now), who was a champion kick-boxer, I joined the local boxing club, The Immaculata ABC in West Belfast.

Turning point

I believe now looking back that this was truly the point that changed my life forever! I took to the sport very naturally, I had success for the first time since I was a child because in boxing there were weight classes, so I was able to win things! This raised my self-confidence and I was hooked on the sport.

As I grew older my body FINALLY started to mature. With this returned the competitive advantage I enjoyed over my peers as a child, plus I was now developing around the sport of boxing so 'wannabe' playground bullies were no longer an issue.

But with success came complacency. With complacency came inconsistency. Inconsistency and boxing don't mix! I would take long layoffs, come back and win a few fights, then take another big long layoff. As it ended up I boxed over about a 10 year period, but was probably only active for half that time at best. So really I never amounted to all that I could've in boxing, although coach after coach always said I had the ability to do so.

Weight lifting and powerlifting

When I was fighting I always lifted weights as part of my preparation. In doing so I discovered that I became stronger than everybody in the gym very quickly, those that were stronger were only slightly, but were much much larger men. It was at this point that I discovered power-lifting. Basically I competed in the under 23 years old category and the 67.5kg or 10st 8lb division from August 2002 until October 2003 and won Ulster, Irish, British and World titles in three different organisations (for the full list see my profile on this web site).

I also broke world junior records in the deadlift in my last competition, but in doing so I paid a high price. I herniated the L4-L5 lumbar disc in my record breaking lift!!

The 6 months that followed were very painful and even more humbling. I went from being able to deadlift 3.25 times my own body weight to not being able to pick up two wet socks! All joking aside, I was practically bedridden for 6 months, not being able to sit, stand, or put my own socks or shoes on without having to have my mother tie the laces as she did when I was an infant! The doctor told me the herniated disc was so bad that I'd never lift at the same level again and should settle for a basic level of function to be regained within a few years at the earliest.

Believe in yourself

Eighteen months later and I was back lifting weights, at 2 years I'm back deadlifting and now at about 2.5 years later my deadlift is stronger than ever and I hope to win the WDFPF world senior Deadlift championship later in the year! Please don't set limits on yourselves, set standards and meet them. Don't believe in the sometimes overwhelming negative socialisation of others….. believe in yourself!

It should also be said that I have a strong belief in God, and how God may work through good people to helps get back to where we need to be. Without this kind of assistance I wouldn't have been able to be sat here typing this article. Back help never comes without effort, no matter what always make 100% effort to succeed in what ever your goals maybe, remember it doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down, what matters is that you keep on getting your ass back up!!

Men's Health cover model competition

Right around the time I was first able to start deadlifting again, about 6 months back weight training, I noticed an advertisement in Men's Health magazine announcing the cover model of the year 2005 competition. The way it works is readers/members of the public send in physique model pictures of themselves in the hope of making it to the final, which consists of 12 to 15 of the best picked by the Men's Health editorial staff, I believe the entry rate is in the region of 10,000.

Upon seeing pictures of the 2004 winner, and seeing that he was also form the north of Ireland I felt I had a shot. This was aesthetically based, not performance based so I was well and truly in strange water. But ever since I was a child I've always had a prominent 'six pack'. I'll never forget the first time I learned I had something that others wanted. I was a young boy, maybe 10 years old, and a much older by seen me playing foot ball with my top off and asked how I got 'that six pack' I asked….What's a six pack? Anyway, I dieted for about 10 days, merely cutting out all processed foods, got some picture taken and sent them off, I got the call that I had made it to the final and trained like a man possessed for about 1 month, producing the pictures you see of me here.

Training for Men's Health Cover Model Competition

My training for the Men's Health photo shoot was far different to what I do now for powerlifting, the eating plan was not dissimilar from that which I adopted when making weight for a fight. I did no cardio because with my genetics I would've gotten too lean and loss muscle fullness. I did only weights, I kept the exercises the same, big basics like bench press, weighted chin/dips, military presses etc and really started to train my abs hard for the first time ever. But what changed was how I trained them.

I did less weight and more sets while keeping the reps constant at about 5-6 (allowing me to still use a reasonable amount of weight). Often doing as many as 10 sets of 6 on the bench press then 10 x 6 on weighted chins, then Incline dumbbell press as many sets of 5 or less reps that could be done in 15 mins,. The next day I would 10x6 dumbbell shoulder press then train bi's & tri's (again body parts that normally I wouldn't isolate). I trained abs heavy with 5 sets of 5 reps everyday or every other day, which I believe helped to give them that thick look. Lower body I kept training in a powerlifting format as I knew this part of my body wouldn't come under the scrutiny of the camera's lens.

Although I didn't win, I felt I could've done no more with the time I had allotted, so my satisfied with my performance and really enjoyed the whole experience. It put me in a position which I honestly never thought I'd be in, working as a fitness/physique model! WHAT!! I can remember thinking…..How the hell did I end up here??

It has opened new doors up and I am now looking into the world of acting (a hidden passion I've had since a teen, as I scored very high in drama GCSE and A level), and I will always look back fondly on my time in London at the photo shoot and everybody there, all of which were great people!

I am now also currently involved in developing my own personal training business checkout my web site at www.paulmcilroy.com for further details, and don't worry if your not local to the Belfast area as I am currently developing online training so feel free to contact me if interested.

The Shape Of My Current Training

I'm now back training like a powerlifter, for me this mean squat, bench press, deadlift, weighted chins, military press and little if anything else. I also firmly believe in 'cycling' your training loads if strength is your goal. This basically means (presuming you know what your 1RM is or the most weight you can lift once in any particular exercise) starting a training routine using about 70% of your 1RM and working your way up over the course of 4 to 12 weeks to the point where your then lifting slightly more than your previous best. The reps stay low as do the sets, say 2 sets of 5 reps or 2x5 as it's known. Now 2x5 with a 70% weight will be easy, but that's the point, this allow your body to get good at the movement, leaning efficiency in it like it would any other skill like kicking a ball.

This easy start allows the body time to build 'momentum' like the long jumper taking a run-up before jumping, he'll go a lot further that way than if he were to just stand at the board and jump. The same thing applies to strength building, don't just keep lifting maximal weights, all you'll do is burn out your nervous system and injure yourself. Instead, start light, don't train to muscular failure, and add weight to the bar in small but frequent jumps. It is common for me to train all 5 exercises 5-7 days per week!

Did someone cry OVER TRAINING? Before you do consider this, powerlifting/weightlifting is not bodybuilding (I trained the same muscle group less frequently whilst preparing for the Men's Health comp), I'm doing low sets and low reps and for the vast majority of the cycle I'm training nowhere near muscular failure, thus experiencing no DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).

Your reps should drop further towards the end of the cycle culminating in at least a 5% gain over your previous 1RM if you structure the cycle right.

There you have it, I how all who have had the patience to put up with my ramblings have at least gained something useful along the way.

On a personal note I'd like to thank LA Muscle for the opportunity they've given me here and for the sponsorship they offer me, of which I'm already benefiting. I recently started using the product ZMAX Compound, and to great effect! I feel more recovered when I wake in the mornings no matter how beat I am when going to bed the night before, this has been showing in my workouts, my strength is going up for no good reason!!

Thanks for reading !

Paul McIlroy