Name: Roger de Kramer
Age: 20
Height: 1,81 m
Competition weight: 87 – 89 kg
Current weight: 94 kg
Current city: Johannesburg, South Africa
Occupation: Bounce inc
How did you get started in bodybuilding and fitness and what do you love about it?
I’ve always had a passion for sports, fitness and leading a healthy lifestyle. I started training in grade 11 by following the the schools fitness rugby program, from there I had realized that my body responded really well from the program that I was following.
After high school I acknowledged that I would have always been a good high school rugby player, but I would have never made it to Springboks level. After high school I then decided to start my journey in the fitness industry as I fell in love with the process of how one can manipulate the human body to do breathtaking things.
How important is the mental aspect of it? How do you keep a positive motivated mindset and attitude through setbacks?
The mental state of the game is vitally important to me. I live by the saying
‘You control the game with your mind’. Your body can endure almost anything, it’s your mind that you have to convince.
What I tend to do when I encounter a setback is I always take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture. It helps me understand that the situation that I am currently dealing with isn’t as big as I’ve make it out to be in my head. This helps me keep a positive aspect of life and to keep moving forward.
I’ll be honest, motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing, that’s why I recommend it on the daily.
Tell us a bit about your accident and how it affected your life, training and mindset?
My accident was a massive setback for me mentally and physically. I had to acknowledge what had happened, at that point in time I had thought that it was one of the most tragic things that could have ever happened to me, only to learn that only later on it has been one of my biggest blessings in disguise.
And how difficult was the recovery, physically and mentally?
Both were equally challenging, although I must say that without my mental strength I don’t think I would have been able to have recovered as well physically, as I have recovered up until now.
What are your future plans?
I’m currently studying my personal trainers certificate through TriFocus Fitness Academy which I’ll finish this year. I have started investigating to study further in my field of interest for next year at different universities that offer what I am looking to study.
Competing wise, I have already achieved what I had set out to achieve in my on season.
Currently I’m the IFBB men’s muscular physique champion in the three major provinces; KZN, Gauteng and Western Province.
I have just started my off season and have a few weeks to work to make sure that I can stick exactly to my next on season plan.
What are your top tips to a guy trying to gain lean muscle but is struggling to lose that last bit of body fat on his lower abs?
Its a bit of a tough one as everybody’s body responds to different diet techniques. But the secret to lower belly fat lie’s in the kitchen.
What process do you follow when its time to start getting ready for a competition/photoshoot or to just lean down?
I generally prefer to do as much as I can in my on season in regards to competitions/photoshoots. It’s easier to maintain my condition in my on season than rather just shocking my body in my off season to lean down quickly for a photoshoot. In my off season I do a lot more weight training compared to my on season where I will divide it between cardio and weights.
Take us through an average day of yours:
- First thing I do when I wake up is I make myself a cup of coffee and then I start making my breakfast.
- Depending on if I am working a morning or an evening shift at work, I plan my day out so that I can go train and then get in a few hours of studying in.
- While doing all this, I need to make sure that I’m getting all my meals in too. During my on season I just add cardio in on the mornings.
Do you use many supplements? What are the essentials in your opinion?
In my honest opinion, I don’t believe in using a lot of supplements as I believe that you can get everything you need if you follow a good diet. The essential supplements I do believe in and use on the daily is: creatine, glutamine, whey or whey isolate protein shake and BCAA’s.
Give us a brief description of your philosophy on your training schedule, how many times a week do you workout for and how long are your training sessions?
During my off season I train once a day for about 90 minutes maximum, only doing weight training.
During my on season I train twice a day doing 45 minutes of cardio in the morning and 45 minutes of weight training during the day/night.
What are some of the mistakes you see guys making when trying to gain size?
The biggest mistake that I’ve commonly seen is that people try to push extremely heavy weights, thinking it’s going to help them grow muscle quicker without building up the strength to push or control the weight, and they usually end up hurting themselves.
Diet wise I would say that people always try to bulk up on the wrong foods and then struggle to lose the weight when trying to lean down.
What are your three favourite exercises?
I enjoy the pull ups and dead lifts because they are quite challenging exercises for me and I enjoy a challenge in the gym. Bench press is because I enjoy training my chest and this specific exercise has helped improve my chest the most since I’ve started training.
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What does a typical biceps/triceps workout look like for you?
I usually split my arm days doing supersets between biceps and triceps.
What are some of your favourite shoulder exercises and shoulder training tips?
I must say that I do enjoy training my rear deltoids, so any exercise that involves training rear delts.
Best training tip I can give, is you shouldn’t exceed more than two exercises for each anterior, medial and posterior deltoids.
Do you like and incorporate other kinds of training activities or sports?
I definitely believe in incorporating other kinds of training or sport into my training as it helps bring a more aesthetic look to your physique.
Tell us a bit about bounce and the benefits of using trampolines as a form of exercise:
As I mentioned above about incorporating other forms of activities into my training, trampolining is most definitely one that I have added into my training program.
Its a scientifically proven fact by NASA that 10 minutes of bouncing is equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging. So on those early mornings when I miss my cardio, I just catch it up at work.
How long did it take you to master some of those cool things you do on the trampolines?
It was actually a bit of a challenge at first because when I started working at bounce I was still in the last stage of recovery from my accident. It wasn’t long after I had started working that I started putting in the time and practice to start mastering new tricks and compete with my friends and colleagues.
Does bounce offer fitness classes? if so what would a class entail?
Bounce does indeed offer fitness classes known as ‘BounceFit’ and classes are most days at 8am and 6pm. Bounce fit is an extremely fun, high intensity, strength and cardio training all combined into a one hour training session on the tramps.
What is the most common question you get asked?
- Q: How do I maintain my condition all year round?
- A: Sticking to a good diet and making sure that you train consistently year round.
Favorite Influential bodybuilders:
My favorite and most influential bodybuilder has to be Sadik Hadzovic.
Favorite Quote:
“You’ve survived 100% of your worst days.”
Best piece of advice you ever received?
Train smarter, not harder.
What advice would you give to someone just wanting to lose weight, build some muscle and be healthy but is unsure where to start in the gym?
The best advice that I can give is that they shouldn’t try to lose ALL their weight before they start trying to build muscle.
A healthy diet should be followed, and remember that competing is very different to just leading a healthy lifestyle, so chicken and rice is not always necessarily all you should eat.
There are various macro nutrients that can be used to set up a healthy diet.
Where can people get hold of you?
- Instagram: rdk25
- Facebook: Roger de K
- Email: roger.dk25[at]gmail.com
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