#DoctorsWhoLift – Meet Dr. Karl Nadolsky

Every year, a few weeks after the show, we start the interview blogs back up. Our goal is to introduce you to some of our competitors and find out more about what brought them into the industry. This week, please join us in welcoming Dr. Karl Nadolsky to the site!

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Name: Karl Nadolsky
Competition Class: middle weight
Where do you train?

On the weekends I currently train at Gold’s of Alexandria, during the week I either train at the gym on base at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center or our apartment gym.
Weight On Season: 169 (This was my first show in 10 years so hard to give a consistent pattern)
Weight Off Season: 172 (my general baseline over the past 10 years)What got you started in health and fitness?

I was interested in sports, specifically wrestling and football, at an early age and weight lifting to go along with those for performance. I did have a desire for the benefits of the aesthetic results from the beginning too, but that came along with training for athletics. My parents bought me “Hulk Hogan’s Workout Set” when I was about 6 and started using the “Universal” machine at our high school where my dad was the wrestling coach and a football coach when I was about 8. My dad was also a biology teacher so I developed an interest in human biology, which in combination with athletics, turned into an interest in exercise and nutrition science ultimately leading me to medical school and now endocrinology and obesity medicine.What prompted you to want to step on stage?

As I noted previously, I always enjoyed the aesthetics which accompanied my training in youth and was entertained by guys in WWF along with cartoons (I know there are some psychosocial issues regarding body dysmorphic disorder) which served as, what I thought at the time, good role models. My physique in adolescence and through college was consistent with a “bodybuilding” type body but I was unable to actually try it out until I was done wrestling at Michigan State and prior to medical school.Have you competed before the recent MM NPC VA Classic? If so, where and when?

The summer before medical school, after my college wrestling career was over, I was able to compete in my first competition. It was a natural drug-tested competition up in Michigan and I did pretty well, especially for having no background in the nuances of posing. During medical school and throughout residency and fellowship training I was unable to compete again for ten years until just recently. It was actually the influence of my wife who recently decided to try competing in figure competitions and after her first succesful natural show a few months back, we decided to compete together in the Max Muscle NPC show.Are you going to compete again? Have you already decided on a show or shows?

I think now that I’ve had a taste of the competition again, I will try to fit one or two shows into my schedule over the next year.What’s your favorite body part to train? Least favorite?

Well I suppose my favorite is legs due to the overall health benefits though specifically my calves are a focus, albeit a frustrating unsuccessful focus. I don’t think I have a least favorite.

I don’t listen to headphones, so whatever is playing at the gym is reasonable but preferably high energy.Favorite cheat meal?
Mint-chip ice-cream!

Do you have a strong support network for your training and nutrition planning?

As a physician and a “Doc Who Lifts,” my whole goal in life is to help patients with optimizing lifestyle in addition to treating their medical ailments to improve their health and longevity so I think my support network is very encompassing.What do you do for a living? How does your training and nutrition work around that?

I am physician, board certified in internal medicine, obesity medicine, and currently training in endocrinology. Due to work constraints, mostly secondary to time commitment, my training tends to be very brief bouts of high-intensity resistance training with short rest periods and some interval aerobic training. I try to workout 5-6 days weekly, often 30min each with longer sessions on the weekends. The key is that I have been consistent for ever and maintain my physique. I focus on quality dietary components emphasizing foods with solid evidence to support their overall cardiometabolic health including veggies/legumes, lean meats, fat from nuts/fish/olives/avocado/cocoa/coconut, and high fiber grains like oatmeal along with some protein supplementation or meal-replacements (My brother and I actually formulated our own Leaner Living MRP).How can people find you?

Facebook: Dr. Karl Nadolsky and/or Leaner Living

#DocsWhoLift