Interview: Adam Norman talks ectomuscle and the Fighter V-pack

In researching new companies and products for a possible “stops” on Furby’s World Tour of Supplements, I came across ectomuscle, a company based in England. I exchanged some emails with founder and Managing Director Adam Norman and decided to start with an interview prior to my review of the Fighter V-Pack.

Norman brings to the MMA industry a background equally strong in combat sports and business acumen. Having trained in karate at a young age and later in Muay Thai under Kru Matt Walton (now owner of Spiked Athlete Management), Norman is also an avid fan of weight training.

His business experiences comes from having held management and executive positions with global companies such as Fujitsu and HP. “Ectomuscle is an amalgamation of my business knowledge and my passion for sports,” said Norman.

I initially came across ectomuscle on Twitter, and when I checked out their website, the Fighter V-Pack caught my eye simply because the idea is a great one. For most people in MMA and similar industries, supplements are a huge part of training. In addition to the hundreds of choices consumers face when trying to decide between various protein powders and liquids, the choices between different supplements and vitamins in pill form can be staggering at best.

The Fighter V-Pack offers a mix of various supplements and vitamins, conveniently packaged together in a 30-day supply.

Brian Furby: Where does the name ectomuscle come from?

Adam Norman: Firstly, thanks for interviewing us, Brian. As for the name, we invented it. There were several weeks of white boarding and post-it notes everywhere with various names and ectomuscle stuck.

What gave you the idea for the Fighter V-packs?

Personal frustration as someone who trains. There is so much mis-information out there that even if you spend hours researching how you should be training to reach a certain goal and what supplements can help, which actually work and what is just hype.

I wanted to make nutrition simple for people like me. I already had a pretty good concept of what I was trying to create but then I met up with Lee Waite, a top strength and conditioning coach. We sat over a coffee that ended up lasting several hours talking about the industry and the concept and Lee brought in some excellent ideas.

The V-Packs™ are a 30 day solution in a single sexy pack containing:

• Multivitamin x30
• Vitamin D3 x30
• Lipoic Acid x60
• L’carnitine x60
• ZMA x90
• Omega 3 x450
• How and when to take chart

What makes a V-Pack different? How is it more beneficial than individuals going out and just purchasing all the different supplements and putting them together themselves?

The V-Packs™ solve several problems.

Firstly the 6 supplements in the pack have been thoroughly researched over a number of years by many different associations, medical teams and trainers. There is no debate that they work or deliver the benefits.

Most people through modern diets are deficient in each of these supplements, even if you eat a clean diet and train well a deficit in just one of these can prevent reaching your full potential of lean muscle mass, fat loss, recovery or performance.

The second is convenience. Having to purchase 6 different tubs/bottles each with varying quantities that run out at different times or may not be the high quality required is a pain. It’s a complete solution in a box! We have made life more simple.

Thirdly, cost value. If brought separately these supplements at this level of quality would cost you substantially more from all retailers that we have identified. We recently did a comparison with the market leading Myprotein and we were even cheaper than them by over £30. (approximately $48) If you are dedicated to training and supplements all year round like a lot of people are that is over £360 (approximately $570) per year we are saving our customer on just the V-Packs™. We purposely reduced the price and sacrificed some profit to make the pack affordable to all, not just professionals with sponsors.

Lastly, if customers support a company like ectomuscle then the sports nutrition industry will evolve for the better. Once customer purchase from us we are reinvesting any profits into the next cost saving product that they can use to increase performance.

All that and the packs look rather original and cool in your cupboard or on the move.

You have an interest in MMA – tell me, how could a V-Pack be useful to, specifically, MMA fighters?

What’s interesting is we actually set out to create a total solution for MMA athletes; the product benefits support 4 key areas.

Muscle and strength
Recovery
Mental performance
Energy and endurance

MMA athletes are pretty much the pinnacle of athleticism; not many sports require such a combination of skill and intense training. Nutrition is a vital part of any athlete’s routine and MMA being as physically demanding as it is, the V-Packs™ support this, with benefits covering every desired attribute.

Full details can be found on our site at www.ectomuscle.co.uk. I won’t list all the benefits here as it would be a huge article in its own right.

Because of the V-Packs providing these benefits they are actually beneficial to any athlete or gym enthusiast looking to support hard training and a balanced diet to gain lean muscle, lose fat, improve recovery, improve concentration during training, increase energy levels.

What has your own experience with the V-Pack been like?

Pretty phenomenal. The V-Pack™ combined with a tough 5 day training plan with weights, interval sprints/row and eating very clean, organic/grass fed diet I went from 85ish KG to 82KG losing quite a lot of bodyfat (I am down to 15% from 27%), am sleeping much better, stable energy levels all day, lifting personal best in 8 weeks of using the packs ingredients, plus it is so much easier.

Its just so easy and convenient with everything I have to take neatly laid out for me with instructions in a cool looking package that I can travel with (which I have to quite a lot)

What other products can we expect from ectomuscle?

We have a whole range of packs we would like to develop which I am really excited about. All of our new protein range, BCAA and more should be out around January too. I can’t say too much on the addition packs just yet but if customers have any ideas and products they want to see created then just email us.

We are the kind of company where customers can actually speak with owner if they want to.

Supplement companies are not quite as prevalent in the MMA world as clothing companies, but there are still a lot to choose from – why should customers choose ectomuscle?

It is simple really. Most companies have been happy to sit there with a generic protein or ‘anabolic’ labeled supplement and grow rich off mis-informed customers. It’s 2013 and customers are smart, they deserve better and we aim to change the industry for the consumers’ benefit.

When was the last revolutionary product worked on by a huge name with large profits? It has taken a young growing company like us to provide something new that actually delivers a solution for customers in convenience, cost and knowledge.

Peoples time is precious and they want simplicity and quality, we deliver that.

Do you ship outside of the UK?

I am currently looking at our growth strategy, which includes going into Europe and the United States at the moment. If a customer gets in touch from outside of the UK I will personally see if we can get our products to them even if it means a temporary solution. So if they want the product drop us an email through our website at www.ectomuscle.co.uk.

It is kind of cool that with the UK MMA scene getting bigger and bigger that the Fighter V-packs were created here and not in the states though.

What can we expect from ectomuscle in 2013?

New products, new innovations that save customers time and money, collaborations with some other exciting companies, growth, lots of fun, events and reinvestment into UK sports.

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For more information, check out the ectomuscle website, like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @ectomuscle

Stay tuned to ProMMANow.com for my upcoming review of the ectomuscle Fighter V-pack.