By: Peter Pham
It’s time get to know a little bit more about two of our awesome writers here on MachineMuscle.com: the Dynamic Duo Chris and Eric Martinez!
Peter: Could you give us a little background info on who you guys are?
DDT: First and foremost, we would like to thank Machine Muscle.com for giving us the opportunity to show the world who we are through this interview. We are Chris and Eric Martinez, identical twins with Eric being one minute older. We are full Hispanic and born and raised in Santa Rosa, California. We are training and nutrition consultants as well as health-fitness entrepreneurs. We are owners of our business “Dynamic Duo Training”, which we launched in November of 2010. We graduated from Sonoma State University with a degree in business communications and have been self educating ourselves with training and nutrition the past 6 years. We have learned so much through trial and error, self experimentation, working with coaches/mentors, and always being a student. In 2006, we were featured in Muscle and Fitness magazine. In May 2011 we won the Jennifer Nicole Lee Fitness Model Factory West Coast Casting call. In July 2011, we were guests on The Jennifer Nicole Lee Show. So far all of these accomplishments have been great and have really made us more focused to achieve bigger and better accomplishments.
Peter: Have you both been pretty active in this all or did one of you guys start and then get dragged into it by your bro later?
DDT: Little bro always follows big bro (by one minute). All joking aside, for the past 6 years we have both been fully engaged in learning as much as we can about training and nutrition along with tying that into our niche and with real world practice. We both have this hunger inside of us to be the best at what we do and to always keep learning and keeping an open mind. We want to experience going through the trenches without anything being given to us for free. We are no strangers to hard work and overcoming adversity while maintaining our mental toughness for the journey we have ahead of us.
Peter: What got you started or inspired to get into the Athletic Lifestyle?
DDT: We have always been involved in sports at a young age. We used to play soccer for 8 years and Basketball all the way up to senior year of high school. But it wasn’t until the death of our father our senior year of high school that really turned the tables. His autopsy report showed a small diagnosis of heart disease and this really made us want to live nothing but a dynamic lifestyle and to help others do the same. With our father’s loss, we also needed something to alleviate our anger, so weight training was a very good therapeutic outlet for us. This is where our drive and intensity comes from when we train day in and day out! We’ve also always been fascinated with the way an individual can make body compositional changes and the science behind training and nutrition.
Peter: What keeps you motivated through it all?
DDT: Our passion, hunger, and desire keeps us motivated day in and day out. Starting with us wanting to be masters of our craft and practice what we preach. Not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Being prime examples for our business along with the opportunity to voice our opinions in the health and fitness industry and change as much lives as we possibly can.
Also, both of us being clients of Layne Norton, we feel like our motivation has sky rocketed through the roof since working with him and what better to learn from one of the best in the industry. We want to be “Game-Changers,” meaning we want to really make a dent in the health and fitness industry with our niche and help others live healthier lifestyles. We have to stay passionately focused on our mission and purpose and never be satisfied with just being good. We want to be the best that we can be!
Peter: Many people probably think that being twins, you guys are really similar in everything. What makes each of you unique from your twin? Aside from the ink that is.
DDT: That’s funny you ask this question, we get this all the time. Easiest way to tell us apart is our hair and facial hair. Eric has longer hair, and is usually very clean cut and groomed lol. Chris has shorter hair and has a beard thing going on. If we both are wearing hats the same day than good luck on telling us apart, a lot of people can’t tell us apart, we find that funny. Eric is the more outgoing and down to earth twin, while Chris is a bit more reserved and takes a little more time to loosen up. Chris is always very persistent about getting things done and really keeps Eric focused and is always pushing to do more. When it comes to lifting, Chris can Deadlift and squat more than Eric, but Eric has always had him on Bench. Overall, we are very similar and at times when one of us is thinking of something, one of us will blurt it out and it will be exactly what the other was thinking. Being a twin is very fun and we wouldn’t trade it for anything, at the end of the day we always come to an agreement and compliment one and other very well through our current journey. We make a great team!
Peter: Current goals, such as a show or competition you planning to compete in or new physique achievement?
DDT: Currently, we are just in off-season mode and what we like to call “Train Loco” style! We are looking to compete in 2013 sometime. It would be great to have two identical twins competing, it is not something you see too often lol. We still have a lot of work to do and a lot of areas we want to improve on and we have never had a full 1-2 year off-season, so we’re very excited to see what kind of gains we can make during 2012.
Peter: Are there any times in your training where you guys do completely different programs from the other?
DDT: This is a great question because people always think we do the same routines. Since our genetics and body types are damn near the same, we have the advantage of experimenting with different routines and giving each other feedback on them. For example, Eric earlier in the year tried a Russian style routine called Sheiko, while Chris focused on more of a conjugate style routine and we both made great gains, so we basically switch routines after we have gone through them and if they work on one of us, then we will give it a go or modify it to our strengths, weaknesses, goals, etc. The fun thing about doing the same routine is we can both kind of compete against one another when it comes to pushing certain weight or a “PR”.
Peter: What are your current training programs like?
DDT: Chris is currently on an advanced hypertrophy routine because he came off of more of a powerlifting style routine so he wanted to get the manifestation from the powerlifting routine to the hypertrophy phase for pure muscle growth. I’m currently on a wave loading undulating periodization program. For those that don’t know much about wave loading, it’s basically a powerlifting scheme where it primes the neuromuscular system for heavy loads and helps prevent plateaus. We are firm believers when elite athletes or bodybuilders go through a power lifting phase (say 12 weeks) and they don’t see any hypertrophic results they get depressed, but they end up lifting 100 more lbs than before. The real manifestation begins when they then go into a hypertrophy phase and that’s when they start seeing muscle growth. That’s why it’s so important to combine both power lifting and hypertrophy training.
Peter: How about your diet? Any eating tips or quick recipes you want to share?
DDT: We are huge advocates of counting macronutrients and hitting our overall fiber intake day in and day out! Counting your protein, carbs, and fats gives you total control of changing your physique. Also, with fiber, it’s often overlooked and a lot of people don’t realize that it has a thermogenic response, helps with assimilating nutrients, and keeps your satiety levels elevated. The biggest tips we can give people when it comes to dieting is have patience, stay mentally tough, be consistent, and never let it take over your entire life. For healthy recipes see our YouTube channel & recipe section on our blog site.
Peter: You probably saw this one coming, but I’m going to ask anyways. What’s your supplement regiment? What recommendations do you have for new people?
DDT: The staples of our supplement regiment are whey protein, creatine monohydrate, BCAA’s, beta alinine, multivitamin, and fish oil. The best recommendations we could give a beginner are to stick to a nutrient dense diet and master that first. They will get great gains just from wholesome foods and later they could add the frosting to the cake which in this case would be supplements. Also, when taking supplements do not get into that mindset that just because you are using supplements means you do not have to continue working as hard as before. It’s quite opposite because you really have to have your nutrition and training in check or else the supps are just going to be a huge waste of money and If anything, using supplements should make you want to push that extra 1 % to achieve optimal results.
Peter: If you could go back to your starting point, what kind of advice would you give yourself?
DDT: Man oh man if we could go back in time! Lol. There are a lot of mistakes that we made with training and nutrition. The best piece of advice we would give ourselves would be to have patience, be consistent, stick to a nutrient dense diet, avoid so called “gurus,” and educate ourselves at an even earlier age.
But, in all honesty we are glad that we made a ton of mistakes because we wouldn’t have the knowledge that we have today without those mistakes. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way in order to evolve and grow. Not once did we ever give up. If something didn’t work, we looked at it as a minor setback and not failure and always went back to the drawing board. We always said to ourselves, “If you dream big, play big and take action”. When we were younger we didn’t capitalize as much as we should have on particular opportunities that were given to us. Life is journey, you really have to recognize your windows of opportunity and make the most of them. You have to have the mental toughness to take risks and not worry about failing.
Peter: Cut and Bulk Cycles or Maintain All year round?
DDT: Definitely cut and bulk cycles throughout the year. Being all natural, it is very difficult to gain muscle if you maintain or are constantly cutting. If you bulk properly for approx 8-9 months you can gain some decent muscle while keeping fat in check and this will make your 3-4 month cutting phase that much smoother. By bulking properly we mean having realistic expectations, adding small amounts of calories each week and figuring out what macros you need to tweak, as opposed to thinking that you will gain 30-50 pounds of pure muscle and can eat whatever the hell you want all the time and gaining a ton of excess fat. It just doesn’t work like that.
Peter: You are probably asked for a lot of advice. What’s the most common question you are asked?
DDT: We are always getting asked advice whether it’s in English or Spanish, but we love helping people out! The most common question we get from a guy is how do I build muscle and from woman how do I lose weight and get toned? We explain to the individual that it is not as easy as just saying do these workouts and eat these types of foods. There are so many other variables that come into play, so it really depends on the individual’s: body type, body part weaknesses, goals, activity levels, psychological and sociological factors, cultural influences, metabolic/hormonal variances, etc.
These are all variables that we take into account with forming our clients programs and it has paid huge dividends in their results. Another common question some of our clients will ask is “why am I not seeing any results? It’s been a month and I am not progressing?” At times this question can become a bit frustrating. People are very inpatient and want to see results over night. The best piece of advice we can give to those thinking this question is to just be patient, continue to bust your ass, and enjoy the process. We promise once you achieve your desired outcome, the gratification you will get from it will be that much sweeter.
Peter: It’s time to grub and you don’t think about if it fits into your diet or training, what do you grab first?
DDT: Thought you would never ask! 
We are huge suckers for pizza, sushi, a good burrito and a fat-juicy hamburger. For the sweet tooth, we love brownies, pies, pop tarts and pan dulce (Mexican bread)! We also want to point out that although we are huge advocates on counting macronutrients and eating nutrient dense foods, we feel that nobody should have to suffer while dieting and psychologically it is good for one to have their favorite foods and sweets as long as they fit it into their macro’s. We have a great article on dieting and suffering here.
Peter: What are your philosophies for the gym and for life?
DDT: We are firm believers that you need to have mental toughness in life and we use this carry over affect into our training. It’s really easy to be a push over, give up, and be passive in life, but we feel that if you have mental toughness, then you can apply it to all aspects of life (relationships, obstacles, work, gym, etc). But you can’t teach or buy mental toughness. This comes through hard work and perseverance.
This comes through punishing work and with that, perseverance can be taught. We also have a slogan “no excuses, only solutions.” There is just too many excuses being made in life and not enough solutions being created. This is something we try and teach our clients as well. We are also huge advocates on challenging our own routines. What that means exactly is the best of the best are always looking to improve. You cannot get complacent. The best of the best want to challenge the status quo and find better, more efficient ways to get even better results. This goes for all aspects in our life, being a well-rounded person will take you a long way, and when it’s all said and done we can look back and say to ourselves we made a difference in this world with our hard work and dedication. We would also like to say thanks to our family, all of our fans and supporters out there, it truly means a lot to us and we will continue to work hard for all of you. Peace & god bless!
Contact and Follow Chris and Eric below!
Dynamic Duo Training blog site