Body Transformation: Jimmy Oller Body Transformation

Jimmy Oller's Story

On February 1st, 2006, I had been in the Army for ten years. I had served in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. I was a Staff Sergeant promotable and a Ranger Instructor. I was progressing quickly in my career as a soldier.

I had gotten off work early that day and decided to run across town on my Harley to run a few errands. My wife wanted to jump on with me since her day of schooling was finished as well. It was a beautiful day to ride. Everything felt nice on a nice Georgia February evening. Little did I know that our lives were going to change for the worse.

A motorist had pulled out from the right hand side of the road without looking and hit us. My wife was hurled into oncoming traffic and I continued more forward while my body flipped and turned several times. When I hit I heard the sound of screeching tires that were trying to stop from hitting my wife. When I looked up it was hard to get my composure because I was disoriented. I finally saw my wife through the blood that was in my eyes and my smashed eye protection from my head and face sliding across the concrete. There was a car just inches from her that had stopped just in time.

I kept my eyes on my wife and was trying to stand up. My right leg was in a locked position with my knee against my chest. I could barely breathe; at the time I didn’t know I had several broken ribs. I saw my wife with her legs in a weird looking fashion tucked under her. Her eyes and mouth were open and she was looking and reaching for the sky with one hand. It was up for a second then collapsed. Her eyes and mouth remained open. I thought she had died right there on the road.

I immediately started screaming her name as loud as a person could. I tried with everything in me to get to her. I was using my elbows, hands and fingernails but couldn’t move fast enough. A motorist had gotten out of his car and grabbed me and prevented me from moving. He told me that someone would see to her and I should remain in place for the police. I knew he was right but refused and fought back and continued to scream. Then others was assisting him as I continued to fight. It seemed no one was checking on her.

I saw another soldier in uniform. I called for him then grabbed him telling him who I was and asked him to check on my wife. I told him to evaluate her and tell me her status and not just reassure me like we are taught, I wanted the truth!

I continued to call her name while waiting for the soldier to return. When he finally came back he told me that she is responsive and is cussing because of her pains. I smiled and thanked him. I gave the soldier my wallet and had him call my commander. I turned over and let the pain consume me that I had fought back somehow until I knew that my wife was fine. My knee was hit so hard that the top of my femur was busted out of the hip socket destroying the hip socket itself. A doctor told me the only pain that compared to what I felt was someone being burned alive.

Two ambulances pulled up on the scene to take us to the hospital. Once in the ER, I was x-rayed and told that my running days and Military career was over. I went through a 90 minute surgery to put my hip back into a position with hopes that the bone would grow back around the femur to hold it in place. If it hadn’t I would need a full hip replacement.

My wife suffered from a broken back, hand, scapula, and femur. She was in surgery for 9 hours. She now has rods in her back and femur.

After a few months had went by our lives started to get to be what was changed to a new normal. We have three children. Their ages at the time were 8, 9, and 10. They handled it very well and actually were a big help with our recovery. Our parents had to step in and take care of all of us for the first month. Once my wife was able to walk they went home.

I was in a wheelchair for three months before I could get around permanently on crutches and a cane. My weight started to rise fast. In the military a soldier expends a large amount of calories every day due to all the training and task one is given. I was still consuming a pretty good amount of calories but wasn’t expending them anymore. The pain killers and medication also helped destroy my metabolism.

By the time I was able to finally stand on a scale I had put on 45 lbs over several months. I didn’t look like a soldier at all anymore. My unit was very understanding of what had happened and helped me in every way they could. My chain of command was awesome! I was eventually boarded out because I could not run, road march, or jump out of planes anymore. I had gone from Hero to a big fat Zero!

It was hard to get a job once I was out of the Army. My experience as an Airborne Infantry Ranger didn’t qualify me for anything on the outside except maybe a police officer but I couldn’t pass their physical exam by any means now. I convinced a friend to get me hired on at Home Depot. I was there for a year. It was very demanding for my condition but I fought through it. I needed it to feel normal and needed. My wife was the new bread winner and I wanted to earn my keep as well. I would have to stand up my entire shift. I use to have to hide to sit down so no one would see me at my weakest. One thing I noticed was arthritis hurts young people too and it’s very painful. I also noticed my hip was getting stronger but it didn’t seem like much. The depression and weight gain continued to grow together.

Eventually I got a call from a defense contractor that I applied for on Ft. Benning, GA. They hired me on the spot. It gave me that spark of motivation I needed to feel more substantial. I was training soldiers again but in a different setting and manor. It felt great to be around soldiers and comrades once again. Now I started to worry about my image more and more. I would hear soldiers talk about my weight when they thought I wasn’t listening. My buddies would jokingly make fun of me. There was no harm intended but it hit a soft spot deep inside.

I continued to hang on to what I once was and use to be. I was getting tired of saying “I use to do this” or “I could do that.” I was the youngest guy on my job and I was in the worst shape. I wanted to put a stop to the misery I was feeling. I wanted change so bad my eyes would water up every time the issue came in my head, and that was often.

I’ve heard of people defying the odds and recovering from injuries that seemed worse than mine. I had to see if I had that same fortitude as these guys did and that I once did when I would face obstacles like combat and Ranger school.

I started with a New Year’s resolution and didn’t want to let anyone know about in case it failed.

Jimmy's Transformation

I started eating three square meals a day to add some structure and tried to eat what I thought was clean food (salads, chicken sandwiches, potatoes, and pasta). I did this instead of pizza, chips, ice cream, and French fries which I ate at least a few times a week without moderation.

I started to walk around the block and ride a stationary bike the best I could. The traumatic arthritis in my right hip prevented me from moving fast so I had to take it easy. When I walked it hurt but I continued on. I was very discouraged because of how I felt carrying all the weight and the blisters and skin irritations I would get from my fat rubbing against it-self but I kept on. I had to see if I could do it.

I actually started to lose some weight. When I notice the scale started going down from the numbers I was so use to seeing it gave me more aspiration to continue on. I started to set goals to myself, again not letting anyone know. The first was 240. I set this goal and after about 5 weeks I got there. No one even noticed or complimented me...but I was happy! It’s a number I haven’t seen in a while. I refrained from having any junk food until the second month of dieting. Then I set with my family and had pizza and a movie, the next day it was back to the grind. Week after week I was noticing more and more weight was starting to come off.

Once I hit 225 lbs it came to a halt. I had hit a wall and for weeks I remained the same weight. I started to search online for answers. I came across articles from Muscle and Strength and various websites, I had struck gold! I would stay up at night scanning through article after article reading about how muscle increases metabolism, how to eat, different types of exercises to do, and how to gain muscle. I was interested in one thing which was losing weight. I found all the answers I needed.

From there I started eating six meals a day and monitoring caloric intake and started messing around with weights. The weight just started to melt off me like butter. I found the right science to do the job. All I had to do was stay the course and that’s what I did. After several months had gone by I looked like a brand new person. There were lots of instances where friends didn’t recognize me anymore. People started to ask why I was losing all this weight, what was my plan when I reach my goal. I jokingly said enter a bodybuilding competition one day and my friends took me serious. They didn’t laugh or anything, it appeared as if they thought I could do it. So I looked one up and put it on the calendar. I got more determined than I ever have.

The weight had not only peeled off, it left me looking like the people I would only see in magazines. I couldn’t believe how I looked; I didn’t think I had this type of body under all that fat. I entered my first competition and placed 4th out of five guys. It might not of sounded good but I was extremely happy. To me it was like a dream come true.

I was then bitten by the bodybuilding bug and love the wonderful feelings and benefits it gives me. I wanted more! I continued to follow the advice of the articles. I then ran into a phenomenal personal trainer and IFBB professional Roland Huff. He started training me and I placed first in my next competition and almost went pro in one night in an all natural competition SNBF.

I am now getting ready to start pre-contest for Octobers Bodybe1 classic here in Columbus, GA. I feel like I am living someone else’s life. I wake up happy everyday now and love my new found hobby. I felt like I finally got rid of the Zero feeling. I lost my career in the military and have permanent injuries but bodybuilding has resurrected me in a completely different form. I have a completely different mindset and body to go with it. I have my Wife, family, friends, and trainer to thank for supporting me through my transformation.

My pre-contest training now is similar to the one below with the exception of the diet. I now can do a zigzag diet plan since my trainer knows where my metabolism stands.

Supplement And Diet Plan

I use mainly Optimum Nutrition products.

• Opti-men multivitamin - once a day.
• L-carnitine - I take 3000 mg 30 minutes before cardio.
• BCAAs - I take it when I wake up, after I work out, and before bedtime.
• Glutamine – 5g when I wake up, after I work out, and before bedtime.
• Whey Protein - Usually after my workout I will have 2 scoops that is considered part of meal 3. Other than that I will use this when I can't squeeze my original protein in on time.
• Casein - 2 scoops mixed with less than normal water to make it like a pudding, I eat this right before bedtime as meal 6.
• Vitamin C - once a day.
• Vitamin B 50 - once a day.

What was your diet plan during your transformation?

• Wake - Cardio 45min walk.
• Meal 1 - Egg whites 13.3 oz, oatmeal 82 g.
• Meal 2 - Chicken in can, egg whites 7.4 oz, oatmeal 82 g.
• Meal 3 - Protein 2 scoops.
• Post Workout - 1 cup brown rice, chicken breast 8 oz.
• Meal 4 - Broccoli 85g, 1 can green beans, brown rice 1/2 cup, flank steak 8 oz.
• Meal 5 - Broccoli 143g.
• Meal 6 - Protein 2 scoops casein.

Training Plan

When trying to diet down I would normally superset all my workouts. For instance on chest I would pick two exercises from chest at a time and superset resting only 30 seconds between each superset. I would do 3 days and off one the repeat. I did this all the way up to contest time. After contest I resume a one muscle group per day regime.

• Day 1 - Quads, Hamstrings & Calves
• Day 2 - Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
• Day 3 - Back, Biceps & Traps
• Abs - Every other day, crunches, ball crunches and leg lifts. 3 sets x 30 reps each.

Advice For Others

There is a lot of talk whether or not calorie counting is good. I believe it gives you your baseline to go by, and whatever you want to change on the scale or the mirror can be easily taken care of by manipulating calories.