Dietary Dilemma - Anthony D’Arezzo To The Rescue

How to Break World Records While Getting Ripped

How to break world records while getting ripped.

Bad to the bone dietary guru: 280-pound Anthony D’Arezzo, monster bodybuilder and 550-plus bench presser.

Anthony D’Arezzo Joins Team Kirk

Anthony D’Arezzo became part of Team Kirk, Kirk Karwoski, in the early 1990s. Anthony was our dietary expert. Why does an elite powerlifter, a world champion, need dietary advice? Kirk Karwoski wanted to take his game to the next level.

The three-time world champion in the 275-pound class had a radical dream. He wanted to reduce his bodyweight downward to the 242-pound class, set world records, and win the national and world championship. Once he attained ripped-and-shredded condition at 240, Kirk would then switch directions and slowly add back 35 pounds of muscle, morphing into a gargantuan superfreak as a 275-pound lifter.

He needed expert nutritional advice because he was impaled on the horns of a physiological dilemma: he needed to become stronger while losing bodyweight. In part one of his two-part dream, he had to stay world-record strong while losing thirty pounds of body fat. In part two of his dream, the leaned-out Kirk would add back bodyweight, slowly, with great patience and discipline.

Kirk Karwoski’s Two-Part Dream

At the time of the dream, 1993, Kirk was a chubby 275-pound world champion. To become truly great, he needed to switch out fat for muscle. He needed to reduce from a 20% body-fat level weighing 275 to a 10% body-fat level weighing 275.

The first order of business was to become a rock-hard, ripped-and-shredded 242-pound lifter. He sought to morph from just another national champion, here today gone tomorrow, into an immortal, a power god. He wanted to freak people out when they saw him, like when folks saw Joe Ladnier, Doug Furnas, Kaz, or Mark Chaillet walk into a room, gym or bar.

Chubby lifters don’t get that kind of respect or attention. Freaks do. Kirk sought to become a physical freak and do freaky things. To actualize his dream, he sought the counsel of a certifiable freak: Anthony D’Arezzo.

To make a long story short: Kirk attained every predetermined goal at every bus stop along the way. He fully and completely actualized every aspect of his crazed kid-like dream. In 1994 he reduced into the 242-pound class, set world-record-level numbers, and won national and world championships. His 914-pound national-level squat and 909-pound world-championship squat announced that the experiment had worked.

After succeeding in getting ripped and setting world records, he headed back the other direction. He took his time. He didn’t go buck wild coming off his world championship win in the 242-pound class. He slowly and methodically added back muscle. He reemerged six months later as a ripped 275-pounder. He shocked the world. He succeeded in morphing himself into a superfreak. The training was relatively easy, for him; the real battle was with his knife, fork, and spoon.

The 1990 Superheavyweight Move

Karwoski captured his first senior men’s national championship in 1990 as a superheavyweight lifter. I have told the story before, and it needs retelling to establish context. When Kirk and I arrived at the USPF national powerlifting championships, we learned that multi-time national champion Mike Hall, the defending superheavyweight champion, was injured and unable to compete. Kirk was fired up to face the ferocious Calvin Smith in the 275-pound class.

It occurred to me that Karwoski or Calvin would have a much easier time defeating the other superheavyweight lifters than facing each other. We were not afraid of Calvin in the least; however, both lifters were very even in their lifts, and it promised to be a seesaw battle with one man winning a spot on the world championship team and the other sitting home wondering what went wrong. I thought Kirk might bristle at the idea, you know, “I’m not afraid of Calvin! I’ll crush him!” — the usual predictable macho response to a challenger.

Instead, Kirk being Kirk, completely unpredictable, warmed to the idea. I posed the scenario. He mulled it over and said, “Let’s hit the buffet!” Over the next 48 hours he gained 13 pounds, lifted weighing 283, squatted over 900 pounds officially for the first time, won the USPF national championships and earned a trip to his first world championships.

Midway through his preparation for the world championships, Kirk got a phone call from Calvin: he, Calvin, was having a hell of a time trying to keep his bodyweight down. Would Kirk be open to switching classes? Calvin would lift as Team USA’s superheavyweight and Kirk would lift as a 275er. Kirk enthusiastically agreed. This was the start of his international exposure. As a soft, slightly pudgy 275-pounder, Kirk took second, losing to the defending world champion by 2.5 kilos. I cursed myself for not making the trip: my presence certainly would have been good for 2.5 kilos.

The 242-Pound Idea

Speed ahead to 1994 and Kirk Karwoski is the three-time world champion in the 275-pound class. During his preparation for the 1994 national championships, he had a hard time pushing his bodyweight upward. He was stuck weighing 260 pounds. He needed to weigh a full 275 pounds to be at his Kirk best. There were some transitional events happening in his life and while he was strong as hell, stress was killing his appetite. I suggested we blow some people’s minds: why not lift at 242, ripped and shredded?

Kirk Karwoski during the 1994 diet phase, when the idea was to become a ripped 242-pound world-record threat.

Kirk, being Kirk, loved the idea. We needed expert nutritional advice and Kirk had just the man that could provide the diet he needed. Kirk, and I, knew a monster bodybuilder from Rhode Island named Anthony D’Arezzo. Kirk had unique nutritional requirements.

Bodybuilding is divorced from performance: the competitive bodybuilder diets down and is weak as a fawn on contest day. Karwoski needed to diet down and be strong as a Brahma bull on game day, the national championships. It is one thing to get ripped and be weak; it is quite another to get ripped and set world records and win world championships.

Anthony’s Power Eating Solution

Kirk met Anthony at a seminar he gave for a group of hardcore Rhode Island powerlifters. This crew was formidable and fearsome. They loved the bombastic Karwoski, and he loved them. Amongst this group of elite strength athletes was a national-level bodybuilder, Tony D’Arezzo, that competed successfully in bench press competitions. Anthony and Kirk hit it off immediately and began telephone correspondence.

Kirk explained the dilemma: he would be at cross-purposes, needing to grow stronger while losing body fat.

D’Arezzo pondered the problem and arrived at what I labeled the Power Eating solution. As a competitive bodybuilder on the national level, Anthony routinely attained extreme contest condition. He walked around in everyday life weighing about 280 while carrying a relatively lean body-fat level for a man of that size. His goal was to whittle Kirk down to roughly the 10% body-fat level using a precise process, slowly and methodically shaving off body fat, and without formal cardio in that first phase.

One thing working in Kirk’s favor: his eating habits were so out-of-bounds that cutting back the sheer volume of “food” he was stuffing down his gullet was the first order of business. Kirk’s idea of “dieting” was cutting back from eating four 7-Eleven Big Bites, with extra melted cheese sauce, to only two Big Bites. Reducing his food volume and cleaning up the content made a tremendous difference. This was a man that routinely ate four Whoppers at a sitting or could devour a KFC 20-piece bucket by himself.

Kirk weighing around 270. That’s me photographing Kirk with a fast Nikon 35mm lens.

Cleaning Up Kirk’s Food Without Making Him Weak

Anthony got Kirk to “switch out” really bad calories for potent cleaner calories. There were certain foods that Kirk loved that were perfectly acceptable; Anthony identified these beneficial foods Kirk enjoyed and had him heavy-up on their consumption. This heavy eating of “the good stuff” satiated Kirk’s appetite for empty calories, insulin-spiking calories and chemically polluted artificial foods.

Kirk was, and is, quite handy in the kitchen. He and Anthony devised certain food combinations that Kirk could assemble in mass quantities ahead of time: chicken, ground beef, rice, certain vegetables. Kirk had a good feel for doneness and a deft, consistent hand with seasoning. He poured his protein-rice-vegetable concoctions into a thermos he carried to work. When he did binge, he binged by half.

Weekly Accountability and the Slow Climb Back to 275

Anthony coaxed Kirk through the process. They talked weekly. Anthony was Kirk’s nutritional coach; he held him accountable. Nutrition, adjusted weekly, coordinated with ascending poundage, conflated with descending body fat. That was phase one.

In phase two, Anthony periodized Kirk’s upward-ascending bodyweight. Each successive training week, Kirk would be slightly larger, slightly stronger, the slow, unfolding process peaking him when he needed it most.

Kirk had the greatest lifting cycle of his entire career in 1995, that critical year he got ripped and then pushed his bodyweight upward, from 242 to 275.

Anthony D’Arezzo, Bodybuilder and Bench Presser

I met Anthony while working as the training editor for Muscle & Fitness magazine. The magazine business was yet to be destroyed by the internet. Anthony was my height, 5-foot-10, with heavy bones, freaky wide shoulders, great arms and a good back. He was strong as hell in all his upper-body movements. Despite some sort of catastrophic leg injury in his athletic past, he had constructed excellent legs.

In a future article or podcast, we will get Kirk to reveal the specific foods, meals, dishes, timing, and food volume he used to accomplish his near-impossible accomplishment.

Sadly, Anthony D’Arezzo died in 2006 at the NPC Masters National Bodybuilding Championship in Pittsburgh. He was 44 years old. He died with his boots on.

Safety Note for Elite Dieting, Bodyweight Changes, and Contest Prep

This article preserves Marty Gallagher’s RAW first-person account of Anthony D’Arezzo helping Kirk Karwoski solve an elite powerlifting dietary dilemma. It is not individualized medical, nutrition, contest-prep, bodybuilding, rehabilitation, or programming advice.

Rapid bodyweight changes, extreme fat loss, aggressive calorie restriction, high-volume food manipulation, no-cardio dieting, contest preparation, water manipulation, diuretic use, and heavy powerlifting training are not automatically appropriate for every person.

People with cardiovascular disease, blood-pressure concerns, kidney disease, diabetes, eating-disorder history, medication concerns, gastrointestinal issues, or significant medical conditions should seek qualified guidance before major diet, bodyweight, or training changes.

Do not self-prescribe diuretics or water manipulation. Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance can be dangerous. Stop or seek qualified guidance for chest pain, dizziness, faintness, confusion, unusual shortness of breath, rapid unexplained weight change, severe cramps, disordered eating patterns, severe gastrointestinal distress, uncontrolled bar path, repeated technical collapse, or any symptom that feels different from normal training effort.

Equipment Notes for Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, and Conditioning

Anthony’s dietary solution was not an equipment solution. Kirk still had to squat, bench press, deadlift, recover, eat correctly, and stay accountable. Equipment simply gave him the tools to keep the strength signal high while body fat came down.

For the powerlifting side of the template, lifters and facilities can compare Olympic weightlifting bars, dumbbells, and a power bar such as the IRON COMPANY Iron Cowboy Powerlifting Bar. For bodybuilding-style assistance work, compare plate-loaded leverage gym equipment, selectorized gym equipment, and dumbbells such as IRON COMPANY urethane hex dumbbells.

For conditioning, recovery-day work or general fitness outside the heavy barbell lifts, facilities can compare exercise bikes and treadmills. Specific options such as the Assault Air Bike Classic and Spirit Fitness CT800 commercial treadmill may fit certain training rooms when the product, user, floor, room and intended use align.

The equipment does not create the transformation. Accountability, food discipline, intelligent training, recovery, and the willingness to do what is necessary create the transformation.

RAW with Marty Gallagher, J.P. Brice, and Jim Steel Podcast.

About the Author: Marty Gallagher

As an athlete Marty Gallagher is a national and world champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was a world champion team coach in 1991 and coached Black's Gym to five national team titles. He's also coached some of the strongest men on the planet including Kirk Karwoski when he completed his world record 1,003 lb. squat. Today he teaches the US Secret Service and Tier 1 Spec Ops on how to maximize their strength in minimal time. As a writer since 1978 he’s written for Powerlifting USA, Milo, Flex Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Prime Fitness, Washington Post, Dragon Door and now IRON COMPANY. He’s also the author of multiple books including Purposeful Primitive, Strong Medicine, Ed Coan’s book Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method and numerous others. Read the Marty Gallagher biography here.