What do you get when a natural born entrepreneur has a passion for fitness? A guy with a jaw-dropping physique who’s a force to be reckoned with in the supplement industry. Magnum Nutraceuticals president Markus Kaulius started developing his body around the time he was developing his business sense, as a teenager in Vancouver. The results? Well, just look at him—and check out his extensive line of pharmaceutical-grade sports supplements.
What fuels his quest for the very best in training and supplementation? Here’s the way he tells it.
IM: Let’s start with your hometown and where you live now.
MK: I was a Richmond boy most of my life—it’s a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia.
IM: Now for your stats—age, height and ripped bodyweight?
MK: I’m 36 years old, 6’6” and 220 pounds.
When I was 13, I shot up to 6’4” and weighed a whopping 120. Needless to say, it is very hard for me to put on muscle.
IM: Do you have a sports background? If so, which ones?
MK: With my height, I was naturally drawn to basketball, but at 120 pounds, a light breeze would push me down. When I started putting on some muscle, it was so great to feel strong on my feet. And being 6’4”, I found it embarrassing not to be able to dunk! Squats fixed that in a hurry.
IM: How did you get into bodybuilding and weight training?
MK: With that height-to-weight ratio, I was picked on pretty hard in high school. I had no confidence and no direction. Something had to change. I started hitting the weights after a car accident showed me how frail I was. The endorphins took over my life pretty quickly! I gained confidence, focus and positivity—my outlook on life was forever changed.
IM: Who was your inspiration early in your career in the bodybuilding world, and who is your inspiration now?
MK: In the beginning, I was impressed with local guys who had a bit of muscle—it was something attainable. The huge dudes in magazines looked so fake and impossible to me. Having even a few pounds of muscle was all I hoped for.Today, I really look up to Mike O’Hearn. Mike is a lifetime natural athlete and shows us what the human body is capable of if you dedicate your life fully to self-improvement. Imagine the gains you can make if you planned every meal, worked out as hard as you could every time, didn’t drink alcohol, didn’t stay out late and all that. Mike is the only person I have met who has done this for decades, and his physique is incredible. After meeting Mike and learning what an awesome human he is, my respect and admiration of him amplified.
IM: As the president Magnum Nutraceuticals, you’ve accomplished a lot with the business side of the sport. Where do you get your work ethic?
MK: When my parents split, when I was seven, my mom, sisters and I moved to a small townhouse project. We were poor. I remember working almost full time at the Foot Locker at 14 years old, and when a full-time assistant manager spot opened, I really pushed the manger to give it to me. I am very thankful he didn’t! I learned a strong work ethic from a very young age, and I am pretty sure I will never take money for granted.
IM: You have to be very busy with your company, but you’re obviously still very serious about bodybuilding. How do you manage to squeeze in your workouts?
MK: Everyone is busy. It is a choice to make time for training no matter who you are or what is happening in your life. I love training. I love how I feel and the confidence and happiness that come with this lifestyle. I love seeing what supplements can do for the human body—driving me past any plateau that dares to challenge me. I am the Magnum guinea pig—I love trying our new formulas and seeing how hard the human body can be pushed on these pharmaceutical-grade ingredients. People would be amazed at how much extra time they would have in a day if they stopped going to the coffee shop—I have never had a cup of coffee—stopped going out at night to parties or clubs, stopped watching TV and stopped all the other negative things in their lives that eat up the time they could spend on training and improving themselves.
IM: How has your training evolved since you started?
MK: In the beginning, I feared big weights. I was always told that heavy weight equals injuries. I was the opposite of hardcore, or what you would call a beast!Now I am constantly keeping my muscles guessing. I train heavy some days and high reps other days. I mix up high and low intensity and make sure my muscles are full and exhausted with every workout.
IM: You have a great physique. How do you train? Please describe your training split and at least one day’s complete workout.
MK: First, thank you! I really enjoy my cutting phase more than any other. During my cut, I do five 60-minute cardio sessions and five 75-minute weight-training sessions per week. I implement supersets, drop-sets and jumps.
Here’s an example of an arm-day workout during my cut. The numbers listed refer to, in order, sets, reps and weight:
Cambered-bar curls 4 x 6 x 7
0Machine preacher curls 4 x 8 x 70, 50, 40, 30
Superset
Hammer curls 4 x 15 x 25
Dips 4 x 15
Skull crusher s4 x 6 x 90
Rope pulldowns 4 x 10 x 90, 80, 70, 60
Superset
Barbell curls 4 x 15 x 75
Pressdowns 4 x 15 x 120
Straight-bar wrist curls 4 X 40 45
Then I finish the day with a three-minute set of jumping jacks and side-to-side jumps—loud music, heart pumping, fat dropping.
IM: How do you change your work-outs for new stimulation?
MK: I probably do this to a fault. I make sure I am constantly doing different exercises, different weights and rep ranges, and different exercise orders. No two workouts are the same. I don’t know if this is best for my muscles, but it certainly keeps things interesting, and I enjoy it.
IM: What are some of your top tips or tricks for building muscle?
MK: Find some good supplements! People stay on their cheap supplements for years, even though they are getting no results. I don’t get that. When people try premium, pharmaceutical-grade Magnum supplements, they get results in days. Magnum offers guarantees on it, so there is no risk in trying. Also, find forms of exercise you enjoy. If you aren’t happy while you’re training, your body will flood with cortisol and gains will be very hard to come by. Try different exercises, different forms of cardio, different gyms even, and make sure you are enjoying your training.
IM: What is your diet like—low carb or higher carb? How many grams of protein?
MK: I am consistent with my diet. I eat clean. Food is fuel to me—it isn’t something I indulge in. My wife thinks I am crazy.Here’s a typical day of food and supplements:
Meal 1: Slow-cooked oats with blueberries; Magnum Quattro and Primer
Precardio: Magnum DNA, Serum, Tonic, Heat, Rocket Science and Big C
During cardio: In my bottle—Magnum Hi5, Opus and G
Meal 2: Chicken, yams and broccoli
Preworkout: Magnum DNA, Serum, Volume, Tonic, Heat, Rocket Science and Big C
During training: In my bottle— Magnum Hi5, Opus and G
Meal 3: Tuna, quinoa and asparagus; Magnum Mimic and Primer
Meal 4: Chicken, yams and broccoli
Meal 5: Steak, brown rice and broccoli; Magnum Mimic
Meal 6: 15 egg whites with 1 scoop Magnum Quattro
Meal 7: 2 scoops Magnum Quattro with 1 scoop Magnum Performance Greens
IM: You make a very wide variety of products. How did you come to start Magnum Nutraceuticals? What are some of the key products?
MK: I started Magnum in 2005, when I owned a few supplement stores. I was disappointed in the quality of products available and the lack of integrity I saw in the industry. Magnum was started with one focus: make the best supplements on earth regardless of cost. We focus on quality and integrity in all we do. Our top-selling SKU since day one is Magnum Thrust. It’s the best natural test booster and estrogen suppressant on the market. We also guarantee the deepest sleep of your life within seven nights on Thrust. People are also loving our new product, Magnum Hi5—the first pharmaceutical-grade amino acid formula that is not derived from human hair or bird feathers. We have three huge launches scheduled for 2015, one of which is Magnum Brain Damage®—this product is nuts! Readers can find out all about it at www.HardMagnum.com.
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