Steffen Gumpert

This professional chef cleaned up his diet – while also training and supplementing properly – and discovered great results.

Written By Jim Stoppani, PhD

Updated September 28, 2023

Written by Steffen Gumpert

I was born in East Germany. I was always an athletic child. At the age of 9, I was chosen to train at a special school for talented kids. We trained five days a week and competed across the whole country. Our trainers trained the Olympic team, too. I was among the top 10 sprinters in my country, but my doctor said that I had to stop because my knee and ankle joints were messed up. So my dreams of Olympic competition were destroyed.

My second passion is food, so I decided to become a chef. But at the age of 35, I recognized that I was missing something in my life. I have a wonderful daughter, a wonderful girlfriend and worked as head chef of a restaurant, but something was missing. So I got a gym membership.

Three years ago, I was looking for information on training, nutrition and supplements on the Internet and found Jim Stoppani's Shortcut to Size program. I did all four workouts in two days! I was seeing results, but not the results I wanted. It was clear that I had to train more than two days a week. So I quit my job as head chef, where I was working up to 80 hours a week. I'm a “normal” chef now and work only up to 60 hours, so I still have time to train six days a week. Fitness has became my passion again; it was the missing part of my life.

I did Shortcut to Size, then Down and Up Mass, Jim's Giant Program, Daily Grind, Power Pyramid and Super Shredded 8. I had good results but I wasn’t satisfied; nutrition was the problem. When I started to use Dieting 101, changes came quick. And since I do intermittent fasting, my body fat dropped. I’m below 12 percent body fat and want to reach less than 10. This may sound crazy, but I love leg day! I started with 20kg squats (44 pounds) and now do 130kg (286 pounds); from 40 kg deadlifts (88 pounds) to 175 kg (385 pounds). My biceps grew from 34 cm (13 inches) to 41 cm (16 inches), my waist went from 100 cm (39 inches) to 87 cm (34 inches) and I dropped 12 percent body fat in two years.

I had the pleasure to meet Jim and Mike McErlane at the FIBO 2015 here in Germany and they gave me a free lifetime membership. With all the information on JimStoppani.com, I'm able to get the maximum results out of my workouts. I take the whole JYM supplement line and really benefit from it! And last but not least, I want to mention the JYM Army. Thanks to all of you – we are truly a JYM Family!

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