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3500 Calories To Lose A Pound: Is This Formula All Wrong?

Title: 3500 Calories To Lose A Pound – Is This Formula All Wrong?
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.com
Word count: 1256 words

3500 Calories To Lose A Pound – Is This Formula All Wrong? By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com

Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast…

Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea.

Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, “3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?” His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.

Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program:

Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit

  • 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).
  • But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.
  • The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit
  • Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.
  • Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate aggressive low calorie diets better than already lean people)
  • Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.
  • whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss
  • The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.
  • If you lose lean body mass, then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.
  • If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.
  • But if you create a 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter’s Dunce cap)
  • If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you may need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person
  • Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight
  • Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the “plateau”). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can’t hack aggressive calorie reductions for long)
  • Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat versus lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)

So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?

Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least that works “on paper” anyway).

Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:

15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit

20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit

25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit

31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)

50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)

(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch& Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)

Usually, we would suggest starting with a conservative deficit of around 15-20% below maintenance. Based on this research, however, we see that there can be a big difference between lean and overweight people in how many calories they can or should cut.

If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative, and you can probably use a more aggressive deficit safely without as much worry about muscle loss or metabolic slowdown.

If you are extremely lean, like a bodybuilder trying to get ready for competition, you would want to be very cautious about using aggressive calorie deficits. You’d be better off keeping the deficit conservative and starting your diet/cutting phase earlier to allow for a slow, but safe rate of fat loss, with maximum retention of muscle tissue.

The bottom line is that it’s not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition that vary from person to person, the ideal amount of calories to cut “depends”…

Note: The Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program not only has an entire chapter dedicated to helping you calculate your exact calorie needs, it was designed very specifically to keep a fairly conservative approach to caloric deficits and to maximize the amount of lean tissue you retain and minimize the amount of metabolic adaptation that occurs when you’re dieting. The approach may be more conservative, and the fat loss may be slower, but it has a better long term track record… You can either lose weight fast, sacrifice muscle and gain the fat back like 95% of people do, or lose fat slow and keep it off forever like the 5% of the people who know the secrets. The choice is yours. For more information, visit: http://www.burnthefat.com

References:

Forbes GB. Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise. Ann NY Acad Sci. 904: 359-365. 2000

Hall, KD., What is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss? Int J Obesity. 2007 Epub ahead of print.

McArdle WD. Exercise physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human performance. 4td ed. Williams & Wilkins. 1996.

Wishnofsky M. Caloric equivalents of gained or lost weight. Am J Clin Nutr. 6: 542-546.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialistTom Venuto 8

(CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the

author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches

you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using

methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness

models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase

your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com

Killer Abs! Old School Style

Title: Killer Abs! Old School Style

By  Line: Tom Venuto

Website: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Word Count: 3818

I have a confession to make. This might shock you. Are you ready? Don’t hate me. Okay, here it is:

I don’t train my abs very much. Once a week for about 15 – 20 minutes. That’s it. Seriously – no kidding. I work my abs like any other small body part, maybe even less.

Now, you’re probably wondering, how can I possibly get “Killer Abs” with only one ab workout a week?

Well, if you already own my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) fat burning system, or even if you’ve simply followed my articles and newsletters closely for a while, you already know the answer…

LESSON #1 – Get rid of the fat or you’ll never see your abs, no matter how often you train, no matter how many reps you do or no matter what exercises you do

LISTEN TO ME: AB TRAINING DOES NOT BURN FAT OFF YOUR STOMACH!

This is probably the biggest misconception that people have about exercise today and I don’t think the general public is EVER going to get it. The myth that ab training burns fat off your abs is so pervasive that I suspect it will never die and simply continue to be passed down from generation to generation.

The truth is, getting six-pack “killer” abs has almost nothing to do with training. It has everything to do with low body fat.

Ironically, I believe the abdominal muscles are quite easy to develop; much, much easier than building an 18 inch muscular arm, a 315 pound bench, a 400 pound squat, or a wide, V-shaped back, for example.

Some people might argue that I was just blessed with good genetics in the ab department, which may be true, but based on my experience with others who have less favorable genetics, I still believe that developing the abdominal muscles is easy. The hardest part is getting your body fat low enough for your abs to show.

Most people grossly over train their abs. Training your abs daily or even every other day for hundreds or thousands of reps is totally unnecessary and a complete waste of time. Even  before competitions I only train abs twice a week!

AB EXERCISES DON’T BURN FAT!!!

You lose fat with nutrition and cardio. If you want to see your abs, tighten up your diet and do more cardio! The bottom line is, if your abs are covered with a layer of fat, you won’t be able to see them, no matter how much ab exercise you do! If you need help with a fat loss nutrition plan, check out my BFFM fat burning system

LESSON #2 – The same old basic ab exercises that have been around for years, STILL work – and that means CRUNCHES!

“Core training” and “functional training” are the “IN” things today. Devices and modalities such a stability balls, medicine balls, core balls, ab wheels, kettlebells, functional exercises, and so on, are all valuable tools, but they also represent what is trendy and fashionable in fitness training today.

“Core” and “functional training” come largely from the sports world, and if you’re a competitive athlete, martial artist, golfer, tennis player, or you play any sport recreationally, this type of training is worth looking into.

Very recently, a well-known ab training “guru” wrote in one of his books that “Crunches are worthless.” Funny how things change. It wasn’t so long ago that powerlifter and exercise physiologist Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield wrote, and I quote, “Crunches are the Cadillac of abdominal exercises.” (I would have said, “Mercedes of adbominal exercises” but oh well, that’s Fred).

So what’s the deal? Should you crunch or should you ditch this “old” exercise in favor of all the “new stuff?”

The truth is, there’s a happy medium! Crunches are not “worthless,” they’re simply over-used. You can and should incorporate a wide variety of crunch variations into your program, but also be sure to include some “functional” work which will help develop your core musculature and allow you to strengthen and develop your abs through every plane of motion.

However, for pure “cosmetic” ab development, there’s nothing new under the sun. The “old school” methods are as valid as ever. And that starts with crunching exercises. Why? Because a primary function of the abs is to flex the spine and shorten the distance between the sternum and pelvis – which is exactly what crunching exercises do.

Despite all the new and trendy ab workouts and equipment being promoted these days, the good old crunch is the oldie but goodie I always come back to time and time again. I’ve used crunches and their many variations in almost all my training routines for years.

The best Crunch variations (upper abs) 1. Feet on floor reach through crunch 2. Feet on floor, hands crossed over chest crunch 3. Feet on floor hands behind head crunch 4. Feet on bench hands behind head crunch 5. Feet in air hands behind head crunch 6. Feet in air, hands behind head, pull in knees, touch elbows 7. Weight on chest crunch 8. Weight behind head crunch (caution – can strain neck) 9. Weight held at arms length above chest crunch 10. Stability ball crunch, bodyweight 11. Stability ball crunch, with resistance 12. Weighted supine crunch machine 13. Bicycle crunch 14. Twisting elbow to knee crunch

LESSON #3 – Crunch with cables too.

Bodyweight crunches performed off the floor are good. Cable crunches might be even better. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve seen more than one out of fifty people perform the exercise properly.

Cable crunches can be performed seated, standing or kneeling. My favorite for bodybuilders and the “six pack abs look” is kneeling cable crunch. Performed properly, this is an AB-solutely KILLER exercise!

KNEELING CABLE CRUNCH

Most people perform the cable crunch like they were bowing. They bend only at the hips brining the elbows straight down to the floor, while the entire spinal column stays in a straight line. This does not cause the abs to contract dynamically through their full range of motion, it only gives you an isometric contraction of the abs, while bringing the hip flexors strongly into play.

Proper form on the kneeling cable crunch is a curling motion, almost like a carpet being rolled up. Another way I like teach this exercise is to have a trainee visualize that a log is in front of them about a foot off the floor, and ask them to imagine they are wrapping their torso around the log, rounding the back over and curling the spine in a circular range of motion, curling the elbows over and around the log and back in towards the knees.

Also, some people perform this facing away from the weight stack, which is one acceptable variation. I prefer facing towards the weight stack and holding a rope with my hands pressed against my forehead or top of my head

Master the proper form on this exercise and you’ll see your abs start coming into focus at an alarming rate.

LESSON #4 – After you’ve developed a substantial level of ab strength, learn how to do this advanced killer ab exercise: Hanging leg raises from the chin up bar

If there’s any “secret weapon” in my ab training arsenal– the one exercise I’ve ALWAYS turned to when I wanted major results is the hanging leg raise, and its “younger brother,” the hanging knee up. These can be performed hanging by your hands from a chin up bar, although it’s much easier with “ab slings” because grip strength is no longer the limiting factor.

I remember many years ago when Bill Phillips once made fun of this exercise in his magazine. He showed a picture of his Brother Shawn swinging precariously from the ab slings in a mocking fashion. I’m not sure why he blasted this movement, and Shawn certainly has a six-pack rack with the best of them. But personally, I think the hanging leg raise and knee up are two of the best ab exercises in existence.

I think the problem is that this exercise is so difficult that most people can’t do them properly. Usually the first time you attempt a hanging leg raise from the chin up bar (with no back support behind you), you swing uncontrollably from front to back. So most people try these once or twice and then give up. Like anything else, practice makes perfect. Hanging leg raises are a very advanced and very difficult movement. Don’t expect to do them like a pro on your first try – and don’t even try them if you’re a beginner.

If you’re a beginner, the best way to develop the strength necessary to do these properly is to start on the support leg raise (also known as the “Captain’s Chair”). That’s the piece of equipment found in almost every gym that has the pad for your forearms and elbows to support your body weight and a back support behind you. Start with support knee ups, then progress into support leg raises with the legs nearly straight. It’s important to use a full range of motion on this exercise and get your knees high up in front of the chest because the lower portion of the range of motion is largely initiated by the hip flexors.

Once you’ve mastered the support leg raise, then you can move on to the hanging knee up and ultimately to the hanging straight leg raise. When you master the hanging leg raise, there’s an even higher level: You can begin to superset from the hanging leg raise (until fatigue) into the hanging knee up. Once you’ve reached the point where you can perform three supersets of 15 to 25 reps of hanging leg raises to hanging knee ups with STRICT form, I guarantee you will have amazing abdominal development (provided of course, that your body fat is low enough).

SIX PACK ABS! LESSON #5 – Yes, you can train your lower abs

One of the biggest controversies in ab training is the question of whether you can “isolate” your upper and lower abs. There are experts who swear you can, and experts who swear you can’t. If someone wants to get technical and split hairs, then it’s true – you CAN’T isolate lower and upper abs. The word “isolation” is somewhat of a misnomer because muscles work in conjunction with other muscles at all times.

For example, a bench press is often called a “compound” exercise because the pecs are heavily assisted by the triceps and deltoids, while a dumbbell flye is usually referred to as an “isolation exercise” because it “isolates” the pecs more. However, the pectorals do not and cannot work in complete isolation from the triceps and deltoids; there is simply a smaller degree of involvement from the assisting muscles in the flye exercise. Therefore, the flye is an “isolation” exercise, relatively speaking, but not literally speaking.

The same is true of the abs. You can’t completely isolate the lower from the upper abs or the abs from the obliques, but you CAN put greater emphasis on the lower or upper abs depending on the exercise you select.

The abdominals are a unique muscle. They are not a single long muscle belly like the biceps, which has continuous fibers running the entire length from origin to insertion. The ab muscles have a tendinous band in between each section. This is what gives the abs their segmented, “six pack” appearance.

Each segment of the abs flexes a portion of the lumbar spine and or pelvis. The lower abs are the part responsible for the flexion of the lower lumbar vertebrae and backward rotation of the pelvis. The upper abs are responsible for the flexion of the upper part of the lumbar spine.

The practical application of this information is simple: Exercises that draw the lower body towards the upper body, such as reverse crunches, hip lifts, and leg raises, emphasize the lower abs. Exercises that draw the upper body towards the lower body, such as crunches, emphasize the upper abs (but neither completely isolates one or the other).

One last tip: Because most lower ab exercises require more coordination and stability (they’re harder), do your lower abs first most of the time (especially if you’re using hanging straight leg raises – doing them last is extremely difficult).

The best lower ab exercises 1. Support knee ups 2. Support leg raise 3. Hanging knee up 4. Hanging leg raise 5. Reverse crunch 6. Incline reverse crunch 7. Stability ball reverse crunch 8. Reverse crunch with medicine ball behind or between knees 9. Hip lift (“toes to sky”) 10. Bent knee leg raise/hip lift combo 11. Incline hip lift

LESSON #6 – Avoid weighted side bends, which thicken the waist. Instead, opt for body weight elbow to knee twisting crunches, twisting hanging knee ups and side crunches to develop your obliques

Which would you rather have: (A) a tiny waist that narrows down from broad shoulders and V-tapered back or (B) A muscular, but thick, wide and blocky waist.

Yeah – I picked “A” too. So do most other people. However, not a day goes by in the gym when I don’t see people doing side bends with heavy dumbbells. I could NEVER understand why people would ever want to do these. I suppose, once again, people mistakenly think they’re burning fat with this exercise.

The way to develop a beautiful and symmetrical physique is to create an illusion: Broad shoulders and a V-shaped torso must flow down into a tiny waist. You want to increase the size of your lats and deltoids (yes that includes you ladies too), while decreasing the size of your waist. Anything that makes your waist bigger will destroy your shape. Weighted side bends can make your waist thicker and wider by developing the muscles on the sides of the waist known as the obliques.

There’s a big difference between sports training and bodybuilding (or “cosmetic”) training. Unless you’re an athlete with a need for a strong, thick trunk musculature, I’d suggest avoiding weighted side bends and all other weighted oblique exercises completely.

Instead, simply do twisting elbow to knee crunches, twisting hanging knee ups, and side crunches only with your body weight. These exercises tend to hit the diagonal fibers of the obliques a little higher up on the waist, not the portion of the obliques on the lower, lateral area of the waist.

LESSON #7 – Sit ups and leg raises are mediocre exercises that can aggravate low  back pain

I’ve found that all varieties of sit-ups aggravate my lower back. Fifteen years ago I sustained a rupture of my fourth lumbar disc (L4) so severe that a neurosurgeon told me that I could forget about bodybuilding, I should never lift more than 40 pounds and I would eventually have to get surgery.

Despite the surgeon’s grim prognosis, I rehabilitated my own back, but to this day, I still have a sensitive lumbar area. Doing the wrong abdominal exercises always brings back the pain almost instantly. I look at this as a positive thing because it has taught me a lot about what’s really happening during certain ab exercises. It has also prompted me to modify my routine to avoid certain troublesome exercises that pull on the lumbar spine more than develop the abs.

Most people think sit-ups are primarily an ab exercise. They’re not. Sit-ups work the abs, but largely in an isometric fashion. Sit ups are an “integrated” exercise that work the abs and hip flexors, but the hip flexors do most of the work (especially the way most people perform them – quickly, with the feet anchored, and with extra weight).

The psoas muscle, which is the primary hip flexor involved in the sit-up, originates on the lower lumbar vertebrae and inserts on the lesser trochanter of the femur (the top of your thighbone). Because the psoas is so heavily involved in the sit up and because the psoas is attached to your lumbar spine, sit ups cause a tremendous amount of “pull” to occur on your lower back.

Visualize an imaginary hand reaching through your stomach, grabbing a hold of your spine, and pulling on it as if the hand were trying to yank your spine right out the front of your stomach. That’s essentially what’s happening when you do sit ups or roman chair sit-ups. Ditto for supine full range straight leg raises.

You might say, “But I feel it working – I feel the burn!” Yes, but your abs aren’t contracting dynamically through their full range of motion, they’re contracting isometrically – and that causes the burn. It’s similar to when you hold a dumbbell out at arms length in front of you for as long as you can. Before long your shoulder is burning like crazy to the point where you cant even hold the dumbbell any longer. You get great burn from this, but that’s not how you’d train your shoulders is it?

Sit-ups have made somewhat of a comeback lately, as the sports training and core training gurus claim that the hip flexors should be integrated into your ab routines. Well, unless you’re an athlete with a specific need for strong hip flexors, you have no history of lower back injury, and you already have a strong lower back and strong abdominals, forget about using sit-ups as your primary exercise. They’re a mediocre exercise at best, and for some people with injuries (even “old” injuries like I have), sit ups are contraindicated completely.

Now… I know what you’re thinking… You know someone who does a zillion sit ups a day, they have great abs and have never had a back injury. Well, first of all, if the individual has strong abs and lower back and no pre-existing injuries, sit ups done with good form won’t necessarily cause an injury. Second, as I said earlier, developing the abdominal muscles is not difficult. To a certain degree, you can develop the ab muscles from almost any ab exercise – even nothing but sit-ups or isometric contractions from indirect ab work.

When I was back in my “human guinea pig” days, I once went over a year without doing any ab exercises whatsoever. After I dieted down to about the mid single digits in body fat, there were my abs, looking almost as good (easily 80%) as they did the year before when I was training them twice a week. Knowing this, I’m often tempted not to train abs at all, except that I know strong abs are important for stability and injury prevention, not to mention that I want my abs looking 100% their best, not 80% or 90%.

Just because someone has great abs doesn’t mean they’re using the best routine. Part of it may be genetics, but mostly it just means they have low body fat! Let me drive this point home AGAIN – Having “killer six-pack abs” has less to do with training than with low body fat. Everyone – including you – has a six pack! Most people just can’t see theirs yet.

LESSON #8 – When you reach the advanced level, begin using supersets, tri-sets and giant sets (circuit training) in your ab workouts.

One of the fastest ways I know of to develop the abs is to use supersets, tri sets, giant sets or circuit-style ab training, where you perform two or more exercises in a row without stopping. Coincidentally, this is also a great way to get your workouts finished faster. This is advanced form of training and you’ll need time to build up the strength and endurance necessary to use these techniques.

A SUPERSET is where you perform two exercises in a row without stopping. For example, you might do a reverse crunch for 15-25 reps, then without any rest whatsoever, go directly into a regular crunch for 15-25 reps, for a grand total of 30 – 50 reps non stop. That’s one superset. You would then take your usual rest interval and repeat for the desired number of sets.

TRI-SETS are the same as supersets, except you perform three exercises in a row without stopping. For example, you might do the reverse crunch, hip lift, and regular crunch all in a row with no rest between exercises. (ouch!)

GIANT SETS are when you perform four or more exercises in a row without stopping. Some people call this circuit training, although performing “circuit training” for a single body part is generally referred to more often as “giant setting.”

PART II: My Favorite “old-school” killer ab Routines

The best way to finish up an ab article is with some routines, don’t you agree? All of the following routines are actual programs that I have used and/or are currently using now. I have tested them and they’re all KILLER!

Basic straights sets routine 1. Reverse crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps 2. Floor crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps 3. Elbow to knee twisting crunch (or side crunch) 3 sets X 15-25 reps

Advanced straight sets routine 1. Incline reverse crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps 2. Kneeling cable crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps 3. Hanging twisting knee up 3 sets X 15-25 reps

Heavy-light routine Select three ab exercises, all using resistance, for example: 1. Kneeling cable crunch 2. Weighted stability ball crunch 3. Supine Ab crunch machine

Perform three sets of each exercise. Every other workout, change repetition range as follows:

Workout A: (light) 15-25 reps, tempo 1011 Workout B (heavy) 8-12 reps, tempo 2022

Tempo (seconds) 2 eccentric 0 pause in stretch pos 2 concentric 2 pause in contracted position

Superset routine 1. Hanging knee up 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps superset to: 2. Kneeling cable crunch 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps

3. Reverse Crunch 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps superset to: 4. Crunch with feet on bench 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps

 

Tri-set routine 1. Hanging Leg raise 3 sets X 15-25 reps no rest, go directly to: 2. Hanging Knee Up 3 sets X 15-25 reps no rest, go directly to: 3. Weighted supine crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps rest 60 seconds, repeat for a total of three tri-sets

The Ultimate Killer Ab Routine (giant set) 1. Hanging straight leg raise 15-25 reps 2. Hanging knee ups 15-25 reps or as many as possible 3. Hip lift 15-25 reps 4. Reverse crunches 15-25 reps 5. Weighted supine crunch 15-25 reps 6. Bodyweight crunches 15-25 reps

Each sequence of six exercises is one giant set. Rest 60 – 90 seconds after you finish exercise #6, then repeat for a total of three circuits. (if you can get through three circuits of this routine with strict form, including hitting 25 strict leg raises and 25 knee strict knee ups, you are in elite company) Good luck!

Conclusion These eight principles and the sample routines are just the tip of the iceberg in my ab training arsenal but it’s all I have time for in this article. However, this should be more than enough ammo for you to begin an all out assault on your abs.

If you employ these techniques in conjunction with a supportive fat loss nutrition and cardio program such as Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM), your abs will come in so fast it will almost scare you!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, Fat Loss Coach Author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle www.BurnTheFat.com Founder and CEO of the Burn the Fat Inner Circle www.BurnTheFat.com/InnerCircle

The Low Carb Diet Cheat Sheet Accelerate Your Fat Loss With 1 Simple Food Tweak

Title: The Low Carb Diet Cheat Sheet Accelerate Your Fat Loss With 1 Simple Food Tweak

By  Line: Tom Venuto

Website: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Word Count: 2000

carbs - evil or just optional

I like reducing carbs for maximizing fat loss.

That’s why I’m always surprised when I get an email or see a comment from someone who thinks I’m against low carb diets or that low carbing doesn’t work or that low carb is just a fad.Not true. In fact, I’ve used a special variation of the reduced carb diet for years to prepare for bodybuilding contests or when I want to get my body fat extremely low (the “ripped abs” look).

The best fat loss diet of all?

I’ll even go as far as saying that, although there are many diets that can work, restricting carb calories is probably the most effective approach of them all… if it’s done intelligently.

Why do some people think I’m anti-low carb? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve spoken out against the old school low carb thinking, where some devotees still believe carbs are inherently fattening, “bad” (even “evil”) foods and that carbs and insulin drive fat gain, independent of excess calories.

Maybe it’s because they’ve seen my muscle-building (aka “bulking”) meal plans, which have  large amounts of carbs – usually at least half my total calories from carbs.

Or maybe it’s because they see my fat loss meal plans and they notice I still eat 150 to 200 grams of carbs per day (the woman’s equivalent might be 120-130 grams). Some low carbers wouldn’t dream of eating that many carbs even on the long-term maintenance phase.

What IS “low carb?” How Low is Low?

Now that I’ve made it clear that I’m NOT against low carbing, a good question is, what IS a low carb diet? There are so many different types of reduced carb diets out there, the definition of low carb has gotten pretty fuzzy.

For example, I’ve seen diet reviews that call the Zone diet “low carb” even though it prescribes 40% of the calories from carbs. I’ve heard many people refer to paleo as low carb, when the carbs, according to Loren Cordain, could run anywhere from 22% to 40% (Cordain refers to this as “moderate” carb).

On the other end, some people don’t think anything is “low carb” unless it’s under 100 grams a day or even a full-blown ketogenic diet.

So the first thing I want to do is clarify the TYPE of reduced carb diet I use:

I use the bodybuilding low carb, high protein diet. If your goal is less fat and more muscle, you can use it too, so keep reading – even if you’re not a bodybuilder – because this melts fat like a blowtorch on butter.

Bodybuilding nutrition, which I’ve been teaching to my readers of all ages and backgrounds for years in BurnTheFat Feed The Muscle, has phases that you shift in and out of based on your goal at the moment:

Phase I is “baseline nutrition” for maintenance, muscle gain and long-term lifestyle (lots of carbs). Phase II is for maximized fat loss (moderate carbs), and Phase III is the contest diet (low carbs) – the strictest and lowest carb of the three.

The fat loss phases (Phase I or Phase II) have the following characteristics:

1. The diet is low to medium carb; it is not zero carb, very low carb or ketogenic.
2. The diet does not prescribe one amount of carbs for everyone – it acknowledges individual body types and allows a customized approach.
3. Carb amounts are the most you can get away with (and still lose fat), not the least you can tolerate.
4. The diet usually uses “carb cycling”, a method of non-linear dieting .
5. The diet is high in protein.

I fully acknowledge that some people succeed on ketogenic diets, which are extremely low in carbs and higher in fat (with less protein). A handful of people may even thrive on them and get better health outcomes (contrary to conventional wisdom).

However, after experimenting with keto diets years ago, I found they didn’t suit me or support my intensive weight training. I found the near-complete removal of carbs distasteful and difficult to live with – physically AND mentally. I prefer the cyclical low or medium carb bodybuilding diet and after I discovered how to do it, I never turned back.

For active, metabolically healthy people who want BODY COMPOSITION and PHYSIQUE DEVELOPMENT, the bodybuilder’s way is the best way.

The bodybuilder’s way supports intense training and is designed for improving body composition, not just losing weight. When you talk about low carb diet weight loss, you really have to discuss the type of weight, since water and glycogen weight can make up so much of the early poundage lost and lean tissue loss may be a concern.

Remember, there’s weight loss, and then there’s a HOT, HARD BODY! – big difference!

Phase I: Baseline nutrition

In my fat loss system, BurnTheFat, Feed The Muscle, there are three phases, from basic to advanced. The first phase is the baseline nutrition plan. This is designed to be very balanced and maintainable. Carbs are usually not restricted, but they are carefully chosen healthy and nutrient-dense carbs.

There are 3 parts to a fat-burning or muscle-building meal in Phase I: 
1. Lean protein
2. Fibrous carb
3. Starchy carb

Here’s an example of a typical lunch or dinner using this baseline (Phase I) template:
1. Baked tilapia (lean protein)
2. Broccoli (fibrous carb)
3. Brown rice (starchy carb)

Here’s an example of a typical breakfast – Phase I:
1. 1 whole egg, 5 egg whites scrambled (lean protein)
2. Omelet veggies – mushrooms, bell peppers, tomato, etc (fibrous carb)
3. Oatmeal (starchy carb)
* a fruit could easily be substituted for the veggies – example, berries or an apple

Phase II: Maximized Fat Loss

When your goal shifts from muscle gain or maintenance into fat loss, what you need to focus on first is CALORIES, NOT CARBS. Even if this is just semantics or a technicality (because carbs have calories), please let this point sink in or you will end up like those (well-meaning, but wrong) low carb zealots who think “carbs are bad” and calories don’t matter.

To lose fat, you need a calorie deficit, so that means you have to reduce calories below maintenance level. What I’m asking you to think about, is where do you pull out the calories?  You could cut calories across the board – just eat less of everything in the Phase I meal plan – and yes, that absolutely will work.

But the ideal way to create your calorie deficit is to drop down the starchy carbs.

Why? Because keeping protein high on a hypocaloric fat loss diet is important for retaining lean body mass, protein controls appetite, starches are calorie dense, starches are easy to overeat, extreme carb restriction may have negative hormonal consequences, you need to keep the fiber up, and you also need healthy fats for reasons too numerous to list.

So the no-brainer place to create a calorie deficit is by cutting back on starchy carbs and grains. If you were taking in a lot of refined grains or sugars, they are actually the first to go, but I’m assuming you’re not eating a ton of sugar and refined carbs to begin with – we don’t do that even on phase I baseline plan.

Lunch or dinner example – Phase II: 
1. Baked tilapia (lean protein)
2. Broccoli (fibrous carb)
3. Brown rice (starchy carb) – Reduced portion

Breakfast example – Phase II: 
1. 1 whole egg, 5 egg whites scrambled (lean protein)
2. Omelet veggies – mushrooms, peppers, tomato, etc (fibrous carb)
3. Oatmeal (starchy carb) – Reduced portion
* a fruit could easily be substituted for the veggies – example, berries

Phase III: The “Contest Diet”

As a diet progresses, fat loss typically slows down as your body adapts in various ways to the weight loss and calorie restriction. Almost everyone can relate to how the last bit of fat can seem like the most stubborn or difficult to lose.

To get past this plateau, and reach your peak condition or final goal, you can take another calorie reduction. Again, you want to leave those vital lean proteins and fibrous carbs alone, so you reduce the starchy carbs even more.

For some people, almost all the starchy carbs are removed. For others, especially those who are large and training very hard, they remain, but in small quantities and only after training sessions (and also most commonly, for breakfast to get a good start on the day).

Lunch or dinner example – Phase III: :
1. Salmon (lean protein with healthy fat)
2. Broccoli (fibrous carb)
* no starchy carb except in post-workout meal and or breakfast

Breakfast example – Phase III:
1. 1 whole egg, 5 egg whites scrambled (lean protein)
2. Omelet veggies – mushrooms, peppers, tomato, etc (fibrous carb)
* no starchy carb except in post-workout meal and or breakfast

And there you have it! The contest diet is mostly lean proteins, fibrous carbs (green veggies, salad veggies and other non-starchy vegetables). Healthy fats are always included somewhere in the daily meal plan – or provided by supplements – and if the calories get too low (in the absence of concentrated carbs), the percentage of fats can be increased further.

Did you catch the 1 simple food tweak?

At this point, most people have a million  questions about specifics: what foods to eat or how many grams of each macro or what time to eat or when do do the carb cycling and so on, some of which are relevant or even important. But this is where we end today’s lesson because the purpose of this article has been to simplify and make one major point.  More details would only serve to complicate.

Bottom line: Don’t look at those starchy carbs as bad, dirty, forbidden or… “evil!” Instead, let’s call them “optional.” Better still, let’s call them a “variable” – an “X factor.”  You eat more of them during maintenance or muscle gain programs. As your goal shifts to fat loss and as your fat loss phase progresses, speeding up fat loss or getting past sticking points is a simple matter of adjusting your calories by tweaking the X factor.

You’re basically manipulating 1 thing: starchy carbs. Everything else stays mostly the same!  Keep your lean protein high and eat a lot of fibrous carbs and green veggies (think “LEAN AND GREEN!”)  Be sure to keep some healthy fats in the plan too.

Keep it Simple!

I am a “structure and details” guy and I DO make my meal plans by the numbers on spreadsheets.  But this low carb technique is so simple, so easy, if you did NOTHING but drop some starchy carbs (and of course sugar) – and if all else remained equal, you would start losing more fat – without counting anything.

That’s the short and sweet “cheat sheet” summary, but if you want ALL the details of the “cyclical low carb diet”, then review chapter 12 inBurnTheFat, Feed The Muscleif you already have it.
OR, if you are new to our community and you want to see the complete system for yourself (now in the completely updated 2nd edition), visit the home page here (it’s an e-book, so it’s an instant download) ====>  Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Fat-Burning System.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, Fat Loss Coach, Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle,
www.BurnTheFat.com!

PS. We’ve seen people transform their bodies in as little as 49 days with Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Busy father of four James used it to cut his body fat below 5% and get ripped abs! Shannon melted her belly fat and added lean muscle even though she struggled with hypothyroidism and major fat gain after her second child was born.

burn the fat challenge


Success Story! MEN CLICK HERE to discover how to burn belly fat and transform your body from fat to muscle in 49 days or less with secrets from the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models!
womens fat loss diet presentation! WOMEN CLICK HERE to learn the simple tricks to shedding fat from your most stubborn areas – in 49 days – without ever going hungry, and with the right amount of carbs for YOUR body type

Tom Venuto’s Holiday Fitness Challenge to You

Title: Tom Venuto’s Holiday Fitness Challenge to You

By line: By Tom Venuto

URL: www.BurnTheFat.com

Word count: 2066 words

Tom Venuto’s Holiday Fitness Challenge to You
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com

Every year as Thanksgiving gets closer, you’ve probably seen the depressing reports: “Most people gain between 5 and 10 pounds of body fat in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”  I’m not sure if this worries you or not, but a lot of people are terrified about getting fatter in the next two months. They anticipate the workouts falling by the wayside and the holiday food calling out to them irresistibly, defeating even the strongest willpower. There’s good news and bad news about this.

Good news: According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the average amount gained is much more modest – just over a pound.

Bad news: A study by the National Institutes of Health found that this seasonal weight gain – even just a pound – is the kind of weight gain  that most people don’t lose when the holidays are over; it simply adds to the “weight creep” that “sneaks up” on you as you get older.

People often wonder how it’s possible to wake up one morning at age 40 or 45 and  “suddenly” they’re 30 pounds fatter  – or more – than they were in college. Mystery solved.

Of course, some people really do pack it on over the holidays, but whether its a pound or ten pounds, did you ever ask yourself why does holiday weight gain happen at all?

In previous years, I’ve asked my readers and here are some common answers I was given:

Holiday Excuse Survey Says…

“I’m too busy over the holidays to work out as often as usual.”

“I’m more stressed over the holidays, and the food is there, so I eat more.”

“I have at least three parties to attend and then there’s Christmas and New Year’s, so it’s impossible to stay on a diet”

“No one can tell me not to enjoy myself over the holidays so I’m just going to eat whatever I want.”

These answers all have a few things in common:

“Either/Or” Thinking and “Reverse Goal Setting” Exposed

First, they assume that you can EITHER get in better shape OR enjoy yourself, but not both. Stated in reverse: You can either deprive yourself of holiday enjoyments or gain weight, but it has to be one or the other. The truth is, “either/or thinking” is neurotic thinking and a great killer of fitness programs.

Second, these are all excuses or rationalizations. “I’m too busy” for example, is always an excuse, because I have never known someone who was too busy to make time for his her highest life priorities. We all have the same amount of time – 24 hours a day – the real problem is, most people don’t make exercise and healthy eating a priority.  And remember, words mean little. Actions reveal a person’s true priorities.

Third, none of these are the real reasons most people gain weight over the holidays to begin with. The real reason is because an intention was never set for the opposite: To get in better shape over the holidays.

Most people set a “goal” to get in worse shape over the holidays. It’s not consciously set, of course, as few people would intentionally set out to get fatter. They simply do it by default. In their minds, they accept that it must be just about impossible to stay in shape with everything going on over the holiday season, so why bother?

Rationing Lies For Holiday Failure

Once the decision has been made, then the rationalizing continues:

“Why should I deprive myself?” “Family is more important” “Worrying about diet and exercise during the holidays is neurotic” “I don’t care if I gain a few pounds, I’m going to enjoy myself anyway” “It’s only these two or three weeks that I let myself go wild” “I’ll start the first week in January and lose the weight then.”

As a result of this “negative goal-setting,” they expect to work out less, eat more and gain a few pounds, and they don’t seem to even consider alternatives.

But what would happen if you…

SET A GOAL TO GET IN BETTER shape over the holidays?

What would happen if you decided that it was not an all or nothing proposition and that you could enjoy the holidays and all it has to offer and get in better shape at the same time?

And what if you decided that your health and your body were the highest priorities in your life, because you realized that can’t enjoy anything else in life, including family or holidays, if you don’t have your health?

Here’s what would happen: You’d get in better shape!

I’m not all that different from you just because I’m a bodybuilder and fitness professional. I have many of the same problems, concerns and struggles as you do. Although today I always get in better shape between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, that’s a result of a conscious choice, a close examination of my old belief systems and a lot of action. For me, it all started about eight years ago.

For most of my adult life, I wasn’t much of a traveler and I didn’t enjoy flying or staying in hotels. For one thing, I had so many business commitments in the East Coast health club business, that I seldom left town for long, as I had to “tend to the stores.” But I also had a belief that if I traveled, my workouts and nutrition would suffer. After all, “it would be hard to stick with my usual bodybuilding diet, and I wouldn’t have access to my usual gyms”, I told myself. For these reasons, I never did much travel..

Then I was forced to take some trips for business reasons. Predictably enough, my nutrition and workouts suffered while I was spending time in airplanes and in hotels. With my experience having confirmed my beliefs, I re-affirmed to myself, “See, travelling is nothing but a pain. You just can’t stay on a diet and training program when you’re out of town.”

After several more trips, I noticed that something very negative happened: I surrendered. I had resigned myself to “not bother” while I was on the road. I let my expectations create my reality.

But I didn’t let it go on for long. As soon as I became aware of what was happening, I decided that I wouldn’t tolerate it, so I challenged myself and my previous limiting beliefs. I asked myself, “Why the heck not? Why let myself backslide? Why even settle for maintaining? Why not challenge myself to improve while I’m traveling?” The answer was: There was no good reason, there were only excuses.

From that day forward, I set a challenge for myself…

To come back from every trip or vacation in better shape than when I left.

Of course there were exceptions, as when I went on a vacation for total R & R. But I never let travel get in my way again. I prepared food that I would eat on the planes so airline food was never an excuse… I usually chose hotels that had kitchens, so I could cook my own food. I went food shopping immediately after check-in. I wrote my training schedule and scouted gyms in advance… And I actually found myself training harder than usual.

No matter where I was training – it could even be some “dungeon” of a gym in the middle of nowhere – it didn’t matter because my mind was focused on improving and looking better when I came home than when I left. I had a goal to motivate me!

What do you think happened? It’s not hard to guess: I always came home in better shape than when I left.

Since then, my “travel challenge” has become somewhat of a ritual in my life. When I’m away from my “home-base” it becomes a “fitness road trip.” I search the Internet or yellow pages or ask locals to help me find the most hard-core gym nearby wherever I will be staying (Gold’s Gym works for me!) When I get there, I train every bit as hard as if I had a competition just weeks away. I look forward to it now. In fact, this is what led me to my “holiday fitness challenge” idea.

Like many people, I travel over the holidays, so I’m automatically in “travel challenge” mode at thanksgiving, Christmastime and New Year’s. But with the additional temptations and busyness that the holidays bring on top of the usual travel stresses, I saw fit to declare a new challenge: “The Holiday Challenge.” The difference was that for my “holiday challenge,” I pledged to not only to return home in better shape than when I left, but to enjoy the holidays to the fullest at the same time.

can you eat this

People who think I deprive myself to look the way I do would be shocked: I eat like a KING over the holidays including Pumpkin (or apple) Pie at Thanksgiving and OF COURSE my mom’s famous red and green Jell-O Christmas cake. Then on New Year’s I’m usually toasting champagne and having a blast with friends or family….

The difference is, I don’t eat like that very often.

Every other meal stays right on schedule and I work out hard and consistently over the holidays; I don’t let everything fall apart just because ‘tis the season.’

The idea that you can EITHER enjoy the holidays OR stay in shape – but not both – is wrong, it’s damaging and it’s  limiting.

Life is not an either or proposition; it’s a matter of balance.

Success does not mean going to extremes. Success can be a simple matter of re-examining your beliefs, rearranging your priorities, setting goals, changing the questions you ask yourself and re-evaluating your expectations.

Your expectations will become your reality. What are you expecting? Are you expecting success? Are you expecting to be in better shape after holiday parties, celebrations, banquets, dinners, and desserts? If not, then why not? What’s preventing you from enjoying all of the above and still getting in better shape? Do you have a limiting belief which dictates that it’s one or the other? Could it be that you never set a goal, intention or expectation to do it? Could it be that you’re rationalizing or making excuses? If so, then I challenge you to change it this year.

As of this writing, there are less than two months until the end of the year. Why not see how much you can improve your physique over the holidays, without depriving yourself of any holiday enjoyments or festivities? Just step up your expectations. Step up your standards. Step up your nutrition. Step up your training. Step up your action. Step up and accept the “Burn The Fat holiday fitness challengeand see what happens!

That’s right… The First Annual Burn The Fat Holiday Fitness challenge contest is open from Wednesday November 18th to Wednesday November 25th.

Over the course of a “50-Day Burn” which spans all three major holidays – Thanksgiving (US), Christmas and New Year’s – you’ll have the motivation, the accountability and structured program to end the year strong, start the new year on the foot and possibly get in the best shape of your life.

Even better, you’ll be able to eat delicious Holiday Food and enjoy yourself to the fullest at the same time because this is a lifestyle program which allows your favorite foods in moderation and balance.

And the best part of all: I’m sending the winners of the contest to Hawaii islands to show off their new bodies on the beach in 2013!

Taking the Burn The Fat Challenge is simple. You can enter the contest two ways:

(1) Purchase the Burn The Fat e-book from www.BurnTheFat.com! or

(2) Join the Burn The Fat Inner Circle fitness support community (“contest central”) at http://www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com.

You’ll be automatically enrolled with either purchase.

Train hard and expect success!

-Tom Venuto, Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Founder/CEO, Burn The Fat Inner Circle

About the author:
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness

writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The

Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without

drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best

bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of

stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting:

www.BurnTheFat.com

P90X – P90X2 Hybrid. Per me un risultato eccellente.

Titolo:  P90X – P90X2 Hybrid. Per me un risultato eccellente.

Autore:Piero Maina

Conteggio Parole: 1006

Ciao a tutti. Oggi voglio parlarvi del piano di allenamento che ho utilizzato per il raggiungimento del mio risultato nella gara estiva di 98 giorni di trasformazione del fisico/perdita di grasso “Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2012” . Si tratta del P90XP90X2 Hybrid. Non so se sapete che esistono diversi tipi di P90X  Hybrid, (Ibrido) e forse il più famoso fra questi è quello che lo vede alternato ad insanity che è decisamente un programma orientato più verso il cardio training. In questo articolo invece come già detto, vi parlerò dell’unione del classico P90X e del relativamente nuovo (ha un anno) P90X2. Quindi ho utilizzato parte degli esercizi presenti nel P90X e parte del P90X2 per un risultato a mio avviso straordinario, grazie ad una confusione muscolare ancora maggiore che ha stimolato la tonicità dei miei muscoli, sia sotto il punto di vista della definizione muscolare che a livello di forza e mobilità. Naturalmente il tutto ha avuto successo grazie al regime alimentare da me seguito che come sempre rimane quello di  Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle e senza il quale, anche se mi fossi allenato il doppio, a livello visivo non avrebbe dato questi risultati. Pur avendo i muscoli, questi sarebbero rimasti al coperto sotto una più o meno spessa coltre di di grasso. Allora andiamo a vedere da vicino in cosa consiste questo programma ibrido che utilizza in sinergia i due famosi programmi di Tony Horton.

Si tratta sempre di un programma di 90 giorni e naturalmente contenendo esercizi di due programmi diversi, bisognerà disporre dei DVD dei due programmi da utilizzare alternativamente.

Primo Mese:

Prima/Seconda Settimana

1. P90X – Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

2. P90X – Plyometrics

3. P90X – Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

4. Yoga X

5. P90X –  Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X

6. Kenpo X

7. Riposo o X Stretch

Terza/Quarta Settimana

1. P90X – Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps + Ab Ripper X

2. P90X – Plyometrics

3. P90X –  Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

4. Yoga X

5. P90X – Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X

6. Kenpo X

7. Riposo o X Stretch

Secondo Mese :

Quinta/Sesta Settimana

1. P90X2 – Chest + Back + Balance + X2 Ab Ripper

2. P90X2 – Plyocide

3. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

4. X2 Shoulders + Arms + X2 Ab Ripper

5. X2 Yoga

6. P90X2 – Base + Back + X2 Ab Ripper

7. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

Settima/Ottava Settimana

1. P90X2 – V Sculpt + X2 Ab Ripper

2. P90X2 Plyocide

3. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

4. P90X2 – X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris + X2 Ab Ripper

5. X2 Yoga

6. P90X2 Base + Back + X2 Ab Ripper

7. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

Terzo Mese :

Nona Settimana

1. P90X – Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

2. P90X – Plyometrics

3. P90X – Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

4. Yoga X

5. P90X – Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X

6. Kenpo X

7. Riposo o  X Stretch

Decima Settimana

1. P90X2 – Chest + Back + Balance + X2 Ab Ripper

2. P90X2 – Plyocide

3. Riposo o X2 Recovery + Mobility

4. X2 Shoulders + Arms + X2 Ab Ripper

5. X2 Yoga

6. P90X2 – Base + Back + X2 Ab Ripper

7. Riposo or X2 Recovery + Mobility

Undicesima Settimana

1. P90X – Chest, Shoulders  & Triceps + Ab Ripper X

2. P90X – Plyometrics

3. P90X Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

4. Yoga X

5. P90X – Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X

6. Kenpo X

7. Riposo o  X Stretch

Dodicesima Settimana

1. P90X2 –  V Sculpt + X2 Ab Ripper

2. P90X2 – Plyocide

3. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

4. P90X2 – X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris + X2 Ab Ripper

5. X2 Yoga

6. P90X2 – Base + Back + X2 Ab Ripper

7. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

Settimana di Recupero

Come sapete il P90X prevede una settimana di recupero ogni tre di esercizio mentre il P90X2 non prevede necessariamente la settimana di recupero dopo la terza settimana di allenamento e la durata delle serie può salire anche a sei settimane. In generale consiglio di inserirla ugualmente ogni 3/5 settimane con le seguenti modalità:

P90X – Revovery week

1. Yoga X

2. Core Synergistics

3. Kenpo X

4. X Stretch

5. Core Synergistics

6. Yoga X

7. Riposo o X Stretch

P90X2 – Recovery Week

1. X2 Recovery + Mobility

2. X2 Yoga

3. X2 Recovery + Mobility

4. X2 Yoga

5. X2 Recovery + Mobility

6. X2 Yoga

7. Riposo o  X2 Recovery + Mobility

Nota: Potete alternare le settimane di recupero in maniera discrezionale e a piacimento, così come ad esempio io per lo yoga ho sempre utilizzato il programma del P90X2 e mai quello del P90X. Cercate solo di rispettare i giorni di allenamento principale per gli esercizi di forza, addominali e Plyo.

Al momento in cui scrivo sto utilizzando ancora questa versione ibrida del P90X e i risultati continuano a confermarsi all’altezza delle aspettative. Sul piano dell’alimentazione sto seguendo un periodo di manipolazione dei carboidrati con tecnica zig-zag 3:3. Il che vuol dire che mangerò circa il 15% di calorie in più di quelle che consumo assumendo maggiori quantità di carboidrati “A” per tre giorni, lasciando praticamente invariate le proteine e i grassi. Per quantificare, diciamo circa 6 gr. di carboidrati per kg. di peso. E mangerò un 20% -30% in meno di calorie totali rispetto a quelle consumate diminuendo i carboidrati drasticamente, ma non totalmente ed aumentando le proteine di conseguenza e un poco i grassi. Per quantificare diciamo circa 2 gr. di carboidrati “A” per kg di peso e continuando ad allenarmi. In questa maniera dovremmo assistere ad un aumento della massa magra/muscolo e contestualmente dovremmo riuscire a non aumentare a livello di grasso/massa grassa. Vedrete solo la difficoltà, nei giorni in cui assumerete meno carboidrati , ad allenarvi e anche a livello di lucidità mentale e tono dell’umore. Di converso nei giorni in cui farete “il pieno” sarà come andare ad una festa.

Un ultima cosa va detta a riguardo dell’alimentazione per quanto riguarda la manipolazione dei carboidrati e della tecnica zig-zag. Personalmente sono in una condizione di massa grassa ad una cifra e per l’esattezza mi trovavo al di sotto del 5% due mesi fa ed ora sono intorno al 7%. Pertanto questo metodo ha la sua valenza. Se invece vi trovate in una condizione ancora lontana dalla definizione muscolare o per meglio intenderci siete ancora al di sopra del 10%-14%  o  anche più di massa grassa, vi converrà prima ricercare un regime alimentare finalizzato alla sola perdita del grasso e quindi con programmi alimentari sostanzialmente diversi da quanto ho evidenziato qui sopra.

Buon allenamento!

© Copyright Piero Maina – Tutti i diritti riservati

Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2012….La Mia Esperienza.

Titolo:  Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2012….La Mia Esperienza.

Autore:Piero Maina

Conteggio Parole: 2884

Ed eccoci qui, per il terzo anno consecutivo ho concluso la “Burn The Fat Summer Challenge” la sfida di trasformazione corporea della durata di 14 settimane o 98 giorni che vede premiate le persone che ottengono la migliore trasformazione corporea nel suddetto periodo di tempo. Quindi, a meno che non si tratti di una categoria specifica, il vincitore assoluto, non sarà necessariamente quello che avrà perso più peso o il più magro o il più muscoloso, ma quello che oggettivamente avrà cambiato la sua forma fisica in meglio, perdendo la quantità maggiore di grasso, conservando o addirittura aumentando la massa muscolare/massa magra, senza aiuto di steroidi/anabolizzanti, solamente attraverso l’alimentazione e l’esercizio fisico.

BTF Certificate of Achievement
Certificato del premio vinto come
“Most Ripped Man Over 50”
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Quest’anno il mio impegno è stato massimo e alla fine sono stato premiato come la muscolatura più definita fra gli uomini concorrenti oltre i 50 anni di età (Most Ripped Man Over 50. Cliccate qui per la mia intervista sul sito Burn The fat in Inglese ),  e questo comunque non in valore assoluto, ma sempre come conseguenza della migliore trasformazione corporea. Il risultato va confrontato con le condizioni iniziali, infatti un altro concorrente potrebbe anche essere più definito del sottoscritto, ma bisogna confrontare la condizione di partenza e le eventuali limitazioni fisiche a cui uno potrebbe essere soggetto. Se prendiamo il vincitore assoluto, oggi quarantunenne, che è stato premiato con un viaggio di 7 giorni alle isole Hawaii per due persone all-inclusive (lo stesso per la prima assoluta delle donne), la sua condizione iniziale era quella di un semi obeso, che in soli 98 giorni si è trasformato in un fisico asciutto e massiccio. Vorrei spiegare che il soggetto in questione quando aveva 18/20 anni giocava a football americano e faceva gli squat con 150 kg. sulle spalle e quindi i muscoli li aveva già costruiti allora. Quando vedete le trasformazioni (compresa la mia), non è che i muscoli che vedete sono il frutto di un allenamento della durata di 98 giorni, ma almeno nel mio caso, il risultato di una vita di allenamento (anche se negli ultimi 18 anni i pesi per i miei problemi di salute, non li ho più potuti utilizzare qui l’articolo che spiega il perchè). Certamente durante i 98 giorni di durata della sfida/gara, i muscoli sono stati allenati al massimo e complice anche l’alimentazione hanno ripreso vigore o sono anche aumentati. Ricordate che senza aiuti “chimici” ottenere masse enormi partendo da un fisico da “scartatore di caramelle” in 98 giorni diciamo che è impossibile. Ci sono poi individui geneticamente superdotati o i principianti della palestra che allenandosi e alimentandosi correttamente otterranno risultati molto superiori alla media, ma mai da tisico a culturista. Tornando al nostro vincitore assoluto, dopo i trascorsi da sportivo in gioventù e dopo 20 anni di matrimonio, tre figli e la vita sedentaria da poliziotto e un’alimentazione non proprio ottimale, ha visto lievitare il suo peso e la sua circonferenza a livello della vita. A suo dire era il re dei ciambelloni e dolciumi vari. Fino a quando ha preso la decisione concreta nella sua mente di cambiare, mettendo in pratica gli insegnamenti presenti nel libro/programma “BurnTheFat Feed The Muscle”  e utilizzando la Summer Challenge come motivazione per riuscire, il risultato si è realizzato e ha potuto regalarsi e regalare a sua moglie, il viaggio di nozze che 20 anni prima si erano negati per problemi economici. Certamente con circa 3.000 iscritti e tutte persone motivate, che hanno comperato il libro e che quindi conoscono le istruzioni per riuscire, non è semplice primeggiare e poi le situazioni di partenza sono profondamente diverse e anche per i giudici è come comparare mele con pere, viste le differenze fisiche e di età. Va detto che ogni anno di questi quasi 3.000 partecipanti, che all’inizio sono tutti desiderosi di primeggiare e scrivono affermazioni piuttosto presuntuose ed audaci nei propri giornali all’interno del forum di gara , solamente trecento persone circa  riescono a portare al termine la sfida  e gli altri perdono il treno o come dicono gli americani “They fall off the wagon”. Dei circa trecento, direi che un centinaio hanno postato le loro statistiche, foto iniziali e finali e hanno sempre aggiornato il loro giornale, ma a mio parere le differenze fra le foto iniziali e quelle finali, non recano sostanziali cambiamenti. Quindi direi che alla fine sono solo 150 i veri finalisti, quelli che sono visibilmente cambiati, e sono solo il 5% dei partecipanti. Ci vuole molta volontà e disciplina per avere successo, oltre ad una organizzazione maniacale per riuscire a mangiare i 5/6 pasti giornalieri  in tutte le situazioni che la vita quotidiana ci presenterà e che siano oltretutto composti da cibi giusti, nelle giuste quantità e con i macronutrienti correttamente bilanciati.  Non è che uno può mangiare ciò che vuole, certo come ho già detto sopra, ci sono eccezioni per somatotipi mesomorfi, ma mediamente e anche per loro, per raggiungere il miglior risultato è necessario mangiare al meglio. Non si può ottenere il massimo se non si va oltre il massimo. Il primo premio è il viaggio, poi esistono premi di categoria, ma non sono paragonabili al viaggio. Si va dall’iPod all’ iPad al kindle al libro firmato da Tom Venuto e i premi a disposizione non sono molti, ma vorrei far capire che già l’aver terminato la sfida è il premio più grosso. Se uno riesce nell’intento impegnandosi al massimo si ritroverà nella miglior forma fisica della sua vita e questa oltre ad essere una grande soddisfazione è realmente il premio più importante che lo/la consacrerà come vincente o come dicono gli americani come un/una “achiever”.

Come ho già spiegato nell’ articolo Burn The Fat….La mia esperienza , sono arrivato alla mia attuale forma fisica grazie agli insegnamenti contenuti nel libro scritto da Tom Venuto (BurnTheFat Feed The Muscle ) e nonostante gli infortuni e il non potermi allenare come avrei voluto per 18 anni, posso tranquillamente affermare che è oggi che ho raggiunto il mio stato di forma migliore, oggi che ho 51 anni e il viaggio è appena cominciato. Conto di migliorare ancora e per questo ringrazio, invece di provare amarezza e frustrazione per non averne goduto prima o per essere incappato nell’infortunio della trombosi alla vena succlavia/ascellare, oltre ad altri vari incidenti più o meno gravi che hanno accompagnato la mia esistenza e questo modello di pensiero è sicuramente un valido alleato per il raggiungimento degli obiettivi che ci siamo prefissati in generale nella vita.

Quest’anno la sfida è stata vinta grazie ad una profonda motivazione, disciplina, responsabilità, impegno, dedizione e desiderio di riuscire, focalizzando solamente l’obiettivo. Il risultato ottenuto è una sinergia di quattro elementi: La mente che ha preso una decisione, l’alimentazione che dovrà essere “pulita”, l’allenamento contro resistenza/pesi e l’allenamento cardio per bruciare più calorie e quindi perdere maggior quantità di grasso. Tutti questi quattro elementi sono necessari per la riuscita e uno non è meno importante dell’altro, ma presi singolarmente non hanno la stessa valenza esponenziale rispetto a quando vengono utilizzati in sinergia. La somma dei quattro non darà come risultato quattro, ma dieci, cento, mille.  C’è anche il quinto elemento: il supporto psicologico. Sia che provenga da un preparatore che da un amico o nel caso specifico dal Burn the fat inner circle, l’avere un gruppo di persone che ti sostenga motivandoti e consigliandoti nei momenti di crisi o quando si raggiunge la soglia del “plateau” è forse l’elemento determinante per la riuscita e il raggiungimento dell’obiettivo. Alzarsi tutte le mattine molto presto per effettuare l’allenamento cardio (corsa,bici,nuoto,etc.) o l’allenamento contro resistenza/pesi richiede una profonda motivazione. Anche gli infortuni mi hanno fatto compagnia nuovamente, non come l’anno scorso che avevo avuto una brutta distorsione alla caviglia oltre alla rottura di due costole e avevo continuato ad allenarmi nonostante i dolori. Inoltre pur vivendo in albergo a Milano e facendo la spola con Roma e mangiando sempre al ristorante o in macchina ero arrivato al 5,89% di massa grassa con un ottimo stato di forma, pur non facendo parte dei 10 finalisti uomini. Anche due anni fa mi sono infortunato, con la frattura da stress alla tibia destra (per fortuna l’ho avuta nell’ultima settimana di gara, ma mi ha accompagnato per i sei mesi successivi impedendomi qualsiasi attività che impegnasse le gambe, ma il resto del corpo è stato allenato regolarmente). Quest’anno il Neuroma di Morton nel piede destro si è risvegliato e mi ha impedito di correre come avrei voluto, nonostante ciò ho continuato lo stesso le sedute di allenamento con posture non proprio corrette e oltre al piede avevo (ed ho ancora), una brutta epicondilite al gomito destro che non mi faceva alzare nemmeno una bottiglia senza provare dolore. Quando proprio era diventato impossibile allenarsi, ho dovuto ricorrere alle infiltrazioni di cortisone. Oltre ai problemi fisici c’era il problema logistico, visto che sono rimasto lontano da casa con la famiglia per un lungo periodo e organizzarsi per mangiare 6 volte al giorno e soprattutto non cedere alle tentazioni, quando al villaggio turistico al buffet c’era ogni ben di Dio e in più con la famiglia che non mi supportava nelle mie scelte, è stata una sfida nella sfida.

Ognuno di noi ha situazioni differenti, di metabolismo, risposte ormonali, genetica, costituzione,volontà, stili di vita, situazioni lavorative, economiche, etc. Ognuno di noi da valori ed importanza diverse a ciascuna di queste problematiche e le affronta in maniera diversa. Va detto inoltre che non esiste nè un piano alimentare che vada bene per tutti, nè una soluzione univoca, ma alla base c’è una decisione, una scelta di un individuo che decide raggiungere un obiettivo, uno scopo che a seconda di quanto quell’obiettivo sarà importante nella sua mente, sarà raggiunto. Può anche darsi che l’obiettivo finale sia troppo ambizioso e non possa essere raggiunto nelle 14 settimane a disposizione, l’importante e che noi cominciamo a muoverci verso tale obiettivo e nel tempo a nostra disposizione facendo del nostro meglio. Alla fine del periodo in questione, sia che lo avremo raggiunto, sia che non saremo riusciti, rinnoveremo il nostro nuovo obiettivo con uno più ambizioso o posticiperemo il vecchio finché non sarà stato raggiunto. Ma non saremo delusi per il mancato raggiungimento assumendo la cosa come un fallimento. Non esistono fallimenti, ma solo risultati. Guardando i nostri risultati senza perdere di vista i nostri obiettivi, saremo in grado di portare le dovute correzioni per proseguire il “viaggio”, ma non rinunceremo scoraggiati perchè abbiamo fallito. Questa è la differenza fra chi riesce e chi rinuncia. E non fatevi fuorviare dai comuni “perdenti” che troverete sul vostro cammino che faranno di tutto per farvi diventare “realisti” e vi diranno che non serve a nulla se per raggiungere il vostro obiettivo dovrete forse impiegare 10 anni o più e magari sarete già vecchi. Qui dovrei divagare parlandovi di come viene vissuto il tempo, soprattutto da parte mia, ma entrerei in discorsi di metafisica troppo complicati e andremmo fuori tema. Vi invito comunque a cercare di visualizzare dove vorreste essere, (in questo caso a livello di forma fisica, ma il discorso vale veramente per tutto il resto nella vita) e proviate a muovervi verso quel risultato, accettando tutti i passaggi, anche molto difficili che incontrerete, fino a che sarete arrivati a destinazione.

Chiudo inserendo le foto iniziali e finali della Summer Challenge 2012. Metto quelle laterali e di schiena che sono state pubblicate sul sito http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com  e poi ho fatto un collage con le foto di schiena delle tre Summer Challenge dal 2010 al 2012 così che possiate notare le differenze nei tre anni in esame.

Foto pubblicata sul sito Burn The Fat.com
Trasformazione ottenuta in 98 giorni
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Per chi parla Inglese,queste le parole che Tom Venuto ha scritto sul suo profilo facebook riguardanti il mio premio/risultato:
More Amazing Body Transformations! This year, the Burn the Fat Challenge had more competition for the “most ripped” title and “most transformed over 50” than ever, so, we created a new award… Introducing, Piero Maina of Italy – The “Most Ripped Man Over 50! Click LIKE if you think is incredible for age 51 (or any age!)… like something Michelangelo carved out! 🙂

E ancora aggiungo, sempre in Inglese le motivazioni per la nomination al mio premio, che è stato istituito dopo la nomina dei 10 finalisti uomini, (dove ancora una volta non ero presente) e del vincitore per la miglior trasformazione uomini over 50. Il vincitore di quella categoria a cui anche io aspiravo è stato un uomo di 56 anni con diversi problemi di salute che da uno stato di obesità molto marcata ha trasformato drasticamente il suo fisico (non è minimamente definito come me, ma ha perso un’enorme quantità di grasso e ha eliminato un addome da donna incinta decadente quasi completamente in 98 giorni e meritava quindi e giustamente il premio). Qui sotto le parole dell’annuncio di Tom Venuto sul forum di Burn The Fat Inner circle:

RE: 2012 SUMMER CHALLENGE AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT THREADPosted Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at 11:51 PM
SPECIAL AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT

This was our 6th season of the burn the fat challengeDuring the judging process, in many of our contests of the past, and especially in this one, we noticed one or more faces / names (bodies) popping up more than once during the voting for potential nominees or finalists. Sometimes a person pops up MULTIPLE TIMES, with multiple nominations.That’s exactly what happened here, during the judging for the 2012 summer challenge, for one man.When the first round of individual contest finalist nominations came in, (narrowing the entire field down to potential finalists or standouts, his name was there. When the second round came in (narrowing down to smaller list of potential top 10), his name was there again.Then, when the most ripped competition came around, his name was in the nominations again. That was the third time we saw him. (he was ripped!)And, when the most transformed over 50 round nominations came in, guess who’s name showed up yet again?  Yep same guy, He just turned 51.So why haven’t we seen him in the list before? Well, the top 10 were not only extremely close and difficult to judge in general, it was filled with men of different body shapes and totally different starting and ending points. The judges narrowed it down by personal improvement from start to finish and it was no easy task comparing the amount of improvement from a man of one body type and starting point to a man of another. Many of the men in the 11th, 12th, 13th, etc spots were all phenomenal. It was just a close contest.The most ripped award. That was an amazing turnout of potential nomiinees, but we had an amazing overall champion there who won that award unanimously. But, the guys in 2nd 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc were also PHENOMENAL.Same thing for most transformed over 50 category.  picking a winner was tough and there were MANY nominations for that category. We dont think we’ve ever seen so many fantastic over 50 burners.So after the “regular” awards were given, we simply couldnt stop thinking about some of these men who were so close to the top. But one in particular was so close in every category, we simply KNEW we had to give him some serious kudos. We have done it before in many of our contests, and we are pleased to announce that we are doing it again. We have created a new special category, just for this challenge because of a unique achievement.
THE MOST RIPPED MAN OVER 50
And the recipient of this award is Piero Maina!
Piero, your achievements display improvements across multiple categories – in fact, we could probably say your results also embody a “most inspirational” element because of what you’ve had to work through and overcome to achieve this.
You deserve the recognition and the prizes that come with a special category award. Congratulations!

Devo aggiungere due righe per chi eventualmente dopo avere visto le immagini possa pensare che i risultati raggiunti siano stati ottenuti con l’aiuto di sostanze anabolizzanti, come anche qualche mio amico scherzosamente, ma non troppo , ha detto. Faccio presente che se realmente avessi usato steroidi, le mie masse muscolari sarebbero aumentate notevolmente e questo non è successo. E’ nei miei piani di aumentare di massa magra/muscolo di almeno 6/8 kg. ma perchè questo accada, utilizzando metodi naturali devo allenarmi e mangiare in un certo modo e sarà necessaria una certa quantità di tempo più o meno lunga. Va da se che per aumentare di massa io debba mangiare di più di quello che consumo, ma è ovvio che possa aumentare anche di grasso, cosa che molti bodybuilder fanno nel periodo lontano dalle gare per poi “tirarsi” nelle 12/14 settimane pre gara cercando di mantenere quanto più possibile il muscolo “guadagnato” durante la fase di “bulk”…esistono poi differenti metodi di carico/scarico dei carboidrati,ma questa è un’altra storia. Quindi tornando a me l’effetto della riduzione drastica del grasso e degli allenamenti di forza e cardio fanno sembrare le cose come non sono.

Comparazione Back view Summer Challenge 2010-2011-2012
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Spero che attraverso questo articolo le persone che credono di voler/dover apportare dei cambiamenti sia a livello fisico che in generale nella propria vita, trovino una valida motivazione sapendo che realmente gli unici limiti sono molto spesso solo ed esclusivamente nella propria mente. Fate un piccolo passo in avanti e “volate”.

© Copyright Piero Maina – Tutti i diritti riservati

Bodybuilding Nutrition:The World’s Most Balanced Diet Program?

Title: Bodybuilding Nutrition:The World’s Most Balanced Diet Program?

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Word count: 2037 words

If I said that bodybuilding nutrition is the world’s most balanced and flexible way of eating, some people might think I was crazy.

I mean, aren’t bodybuilders notorious for eating totally bland foods, following highly restrictive diets and even sacrificing all their social life (never eat at restaurants, etc)?

Unfortunately, a lot of people believe those myths due to decades of stereotyping and more recently due to misinformation being spread on the internet.

Actually, with the possible exception of the final phases of the pre-contest bodybuilding diet (where a lot of discipline really is required – just like any competitive sport), nothing could be further from the truth!

Why should you care? Especially if you’re not a bodybuilder? Simple – the body building lifestyle, in my opinion and experience, is the most effective way of building muscle and burning fat on planet Earth. Want more muscle and less fat? If so, then this is for YOU.

I contend that bodybuilding nutrition has not only been unjustly criticized and misunderstood, but that INDEED bodybuilding nutrition it is the most balanced, flexible, healthy and fun way to eat. It has been for me.

First, Let’s Re-define Body Building!

Most people have a preconceived notion of what bodybuilding is. They envision some beefcake, like the dude in that recent Geico commercial (pretty damn funny actually, but comedy aside for a moment, it does portray the stereotypical bodybuilder).

When I say “body building” I’m NOT talking about looking like that guy. (Well, unless that’s what YOU want). That’s only competitive bodybuilding at the top of the pro level – a tiny corner of the “Body – Building” Universe.

Do you want to build your body? Build strength? Build muscle? Build HEALTH? If so, YOU ARE A BODY-BUILDER!

Who doesn’t think building your body is a GOOD thing? So please, broaden your definition and allow your mind to open!

The truth about bodybuilding nutrition
When I started eating and training like a body builder decades ago, all we had was men’s bodybuilding and women’s bodybuilding.

Today, we have men’s bodybuilding, physique and fitness model. The women have even more options: bodybuilding, physique, fitness, figure, fitness model and bikini divisions.
Today, it’s no longer just “bodybuilding” – the competitive bodybuilding universe has spread to a whole group of new “physique sports” and each one has different levels of muscularity to match the judging criteria.
This is fantastic, because now the public appeal is much wider.
Millions of men and women would love to have the “Men’s Fitness” or “Figure Athlete” look rather than the much bulkier competitive bodybuilder look. But in all these physique contests, though they differ in size, you still see the leanest, most muscular bodies in the world.

How do all these bodybuilders and fitness models get so lean? How do they get such chiseled bodies?

What they have in common is that the vast majority of these physique athletes eat the same way – traditional bodybuilding nutrition.
Unfortunately, the greatest misconceptions and stereotypes of all are about how body-builders eat and what that means to how you live your lifestyle…

More than ever before – because of the way misinformation (and personal idealology) is spread on the internet – bodybuilding nutrition has been portrayed as some kind of jail sentence.
There are online gurus (and hordes of their “sheeple” followers) who make it sound like we bodybuilders are somehow “locked up” by our disciplined lifestyle and we need to be “liberated.”

I’m telling you, this is not only total nonsense, the exact opposite is true. I’m the most free and liberated eater I know. Everything I do is by choice, and I have NO hang-ups about food whatsoever.

And when it comes to contest dieting (which IS a different animal), since when did discipline stop being a virtue? When did leaving no stone unturned stop being what EVERY competitive athlete MUST do to win?
I believe that bodybuilding nutrition is the most balanced and flexible of all the diet programs. I could write for pages about this, but looking at what we eat alone makes the case as clear as crystal.

Allowed foods vs. forbidden foods

In the current issue of Alan Aragon’s excellent monthly research review, Alan writes:
“Complete food avoidance – regardless of the food – often does more harm than good. People tend to place a taboo mystique upon foods that they are not on the “allowed” list. It’s as if people become young children again, and do what it takes to pry open or climb up to the cookie jar of forbidden goodies instead of learning how to moderate their intake.”
Right there, Alan has nailed the biggest problem in the diet industry today. Almost every diet program – and especially the fear-based advertising campaigns they rely on – are based on naming dietary scapegoats and banishing them from your life…. completely… forbidden.. as in “The 5 foods to NEVER eat” and so on.
Guess what? We don’t do that in bodybuilding nutrition – people just erroneously believe we do.
On the year round muscle-building and maintenance phase, I eat from every food group on a regular basis and – let me say it again – NOTHING IS FORBIDDEN on a bodybuilding nutrition program, such as Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. It’s a simple matter, as Alan wrote, of learning how – and how much – to moderate your intake.
Compare it and see for yourself:

Cave man Diet? Let’s suppose you go on one of those popular “stone age” or “hunter-gatherer” diets. You want some milk or yogurt or cheese? No sir. Not allowed! Our cave man ancestors didn’t drink milk, they say, so YOU certainly can’t have any!

Low carb diets? What if you want some oatmeal for breakfast? Nope, can’t have it. How about some rice – a staple food of the longest living Asian cultures in the world? Nope, can’t have it! A banana? surely you can have THAT? … NOPE! BANNED!

Low glycemic index (GI) diets? What if you want a nice baked white potato with that chicken and vegetable? NO SIR! FORBIDDEN!

I could go on and on through a dozen more diet programs, but by now you should see what’s going on here. Traditional diet programs are all about taking things away from you – stealing your freedom… demonizing entire food groups. In bodybuilding nutrition, ALL the food groups are represented.

Naturally of course, there are health and medical reasons why people need to eliminate certain foods. If you’re allergic or intolerant to a food, I’m not suggesting you eat those foods “in moderation.” I often tell my readers that it’s the dose that makes the poison. However, if something is toxic to me, I reckon that the best dose of that food is zero.

I’m with you on that. But health and medical conditions are not what I’m talking about here. I’m not a doctor. I’m talking about transforming your physique, not treating medical problems.

Why bodybuilding nutrition is more balanced than any of the popular “diet” programs

In bodybuilding nutrition, what’s missing? Tell me, what food groups are you NOT allowed to eat?

With bodybuilding nutrition we get to (and love to) eat cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese and of course milk – one of the best high quality protein sources on Earth.

On the bodybuidling diet, we enjoy chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, egg whites, whole eggs and of course our red meat. And if it suits your value system, you can certainly choose grass fed beef, sustainable seafood only and even organic. You can even pass on the meat completely if you want – It’s YOUR choice.

Fruit? Absolutely! sure, some low carbing competitors are known to remove fruit temporarily – but fruit is absolutely a part of the lifestyle.

Starchy carbs and natural whole grains? YESSS! Even on the pre-contest diet, I still take high carb “re-feed” days (and man is that bread and pasta good!) What if you dont want grains or you dont want dairy, etc etc? NO PROBLEM! Don’t eat them! The flexiblity works both ways. On a bodybuilding nutrition program, you don’t have to eat anything you dont want, and you CAN eat just about any real food you do want!

Now, OF COURSE we don’t recommend drinking soda or eating candy bars, but come on – that’s not even real food – that’s, like Michael Pollan once said, “edible food like substances.” Processed foods and refined junk food shouldn’t even have to enter the conversation. We’re talking about REAL FOOD here.

But even with “junk food” you have leeway.

At least a couple times a week, I go out to really nice restaurants and eat any damn thing I please. Wine? Check! Bread? check! Dessert? Not often, but if I want it, SURE! Or, maybe I just go around the corner and grab a couple of big slices of cheesy pizza!

How is THAT possible? Easy. There’s a “compliance rule” built into a good bodybuilding nutrition program.

For example, If I have a list of “staple” foods that I eat every day, I stick to that about 90% of the time and then the other 10%, I eat whatever the heck I want. Absolutely NOTHING forbidden. Anything goes. AND – it’s easier for us because we train so hard. Couch potatoes can’t get away with it so much.

Welcome to bodybuilding nutrition – It’s actually not a diet at all – it’s a lifestyle!

I remember reading Joe Weider’s editorials in Muscle and Fitness magazine when I was just a teenager, and he always said it – “bodybuilding is a lifestyle.” He was right. Because now, 30 years later, I’m still living it. How about you? Have you kept up your eating style for as long? Will you? Or will whatever diet you’re on now end up being the latest passing fad and you’ll look back with embarrassment and regret?

What about that “contest prep” eating plan I mentioned before? Yes, I admit – that IS a “diet.” It’s a stricter version of the eating plan, but keep in mind, that is a not only for a tiny corner of the body-building universe, it’s also for a short period of time before the contest season.

Usually, pre contest diets DO involve cutting carbs and other restrictions. But guess what? When you understand the bodybuilding contest diet, you can not only lose weight or reach a normal or ideal body fat level – if you choose to, you can go all the way and get ripped – lean enough to see six pack abs. Any diet can take weight off. Not every diet can get you ripped while keeping all the lean body mass.

Body building nutrition is simple and it’s POWERFUL for this very reason – YOU pick the level of restriction required, depending on how intense your goal is… whether that’s a casual cut for the beach, or a shot at a national physique title. Either way, this style of eating gives you MORE flexibility and MORE choice, not less.

This bodybuilding nutrition system is exactly what I have been using myself and teaching to others for the past 3 decades

I didn’t invent this type of eating program, so I can’t take all the credit. Champion bodybuilders were using these methods long before I was. I learned it from MY mentors, and simply fine-tuned it for my own body type. Now I’m here to pass it on to you.

My part was to put the bodybuilding nutrition system on paper into what has now become the best selling fat loss ebook of it’s kind on the internet for the last 10 years: www.BurnTheFat.com!(BFFM)

To learn more about BFFM, visit the home page here:

www.BurnTheFat.com!

In the upcoming articles / newsletters, this series continues, as I teach you about the carb intolerant body type and how to tweak your carbs (starchy carbs / grains) for maximum fat loss (I’ll teach you the basics of the “contest diet.”)

I’ll cover how to make bodybuilding nutrition recipes taste zesty and delicious. Then finally, I will introduce you to my brand new meal planning software, which has been in beta all summer and is almost ready to be unleashed. Until then…

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, author of: www.BurnTheFat.com!

The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!”

Title: The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!”

By line: By Tom Venuto

URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Word count: 1492 words

The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!” By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com!

I recently got an email from a reader who was told by a fairly prominent doctor/authorthat aerobics and running will “kill you” (that was more or less the gist of it). As a result, you should avoid aerobics like the plague, says this MD. Since I’ve tolerated enough “steady state cardio is dead” and “aerobics doesn’t work” nonsense over the last few years, despite the success stories I keep churning out that clearly show otherwise, (not to mention my own bodybuilding success, which includes regular cardio), I thought I should not only answer my reader, but also make this topic into an article for anyone else who may have doubts.

Here’s the “killer cardio” question and my response:


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BURN THE FAT READER EMAIL:
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Tom, your articles are great. Here’s the problem. More runners die from sudden heart attack and stroke than any other form of exercise on the planet.
It’s because nothing is more foreign to human beings than getting their heart rate up and keeping it there for long periods of time.
Recent studies have shown that while there are benefits to aerobics, (like weight loss), in the long term, statistics show a direct increase in heart disease.
Part of the reason for this is that in an effort to adapt to the unnatural demands being put on the body, to economize, the heart and lungs actually shrink.
Just look at the long list of joint, bone, and muscle injuries that come along with running (it’s right there in the magazines).
As I know you know, a serious weight lifter, if he’s paying attention to form, should almost never suffer injury from weight training. The same is true for the following:
Instead of unnatural, self-abusive aerobics, the best way to actually increase heart and lung capacity and size is to go beyond aerobics. In short, spurts of intense exercise, such as wind-sprints, you move past your ability to produce ATP with oxygen as fast as you are using it, causing your muscles to become ATP depleted.
That’s the point at which your anaerobic energy system kicks in. This is also known as crossing your aerobic threshold.
Burst training, sprints, whatever you want to call it, it shouldn’t be done in addition to aerobics, it should be done in place of aerobics.
Incidentally, I am not saying that one shouldn’t walk, jog, bicycle, swim, etc, just be reasonable.
I had a heart condition that has been totally alleviated. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of each week, I go through a 45 minute weight training session, followed by a 20 minutes of the interval program.
Check it out, I think this sort of thing would be a great addition to your already good program.
-Jeff

————————————————- RESPONSE: ————————————————

While I agree with much of what you said about the benefits of intense “burst” exercise, I find the anti-running and anti-aerobics arguments promoted by these “experts” to be horribly inflexible, dogmatic and, unlike what you suggested, totally UNreasonable.

Based on the science, I also find the argument that traditional cardio or aerobics is “unhealthy” to be wholly unconvincing. That doctor isn’t giving the full picture.

I subscribe to many sports medicine and exercise science journals and I’ve certainly seen research papers looking at sudden death in elite runners, etc. But most of them were case studies and epidemiology. Believe me, there’s another side to the story.

Marathon running is a highly publicized sport, and the media loves bad news, so the oxymoron of a runner dying of a heart attack makes a great story, which means greater visibility for what is actually a very rare occurrence.

It’s also easy to cherry pick case studies on just about anything to start up a big scare.

This comes from the American Journal of Cardiology:

“The overall prevalence of sudden cardiac death during the marathon was only 0.002%, strikingly lower than for several other variables of risk for premature death calculated for the general U.S. population.”

Although highly trained athletes such as marathon runners may harbor underlying and potentially lethal cardiovascular disease, the risk for sudden cardiac death associated with such intense physical effort was exceedingly small.”

I also find comparing serious endurance athletes pushing their physical limits to regular cardio for general fitness training to be an inappropriate comparison.

What does a rare cardiac event during a 26 mile run have to do with you doing 30 or 45 minutes of jogging or me doing 40 minutes of moderate work on the stairmaster to get cut for a bodybuilding contest?

Even sillier are the people who keep using the late marathon runner and running author Jim Fixx as an example of anything but a guy who had a genetic predisposition for heart disease (gun was loaded). Rumor has it he was a long time smoker, too.

I know some bodybuilders and weight lifters who died of heart attacks in the gym. Should we argue against against weight lifting too? Should we just play it safe and stay on the couch? Freak incidents happen and heredity is a factor.

Please note, I’m saying all this as a strength/physique athlete (bodybuilder), who understands full well that excessive aerobics is counterproductive to my goals and that weight training is priority #1.

But in the right amounts, balanced with proper recovery (as you said, “reasonable”) regular cardio can be instrumental in helping me lower my body fat and it can benefit you in many other ways, physically and mentally.

There are MANY ways to do cardio and all of them have their place at certain times for certain people.

What you’re talking about with sprints or burst training is also known as High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT for short.

HIIT can be a great way to get cardiovascular conditioning and burn a lot of calories in a very time efficient manner.

Furthermore, a paper just published recently in the ACSM’s Exercise and Sport Sciences Review (July 2009) discussed the research suggesting that intense aerobic interval training provides greater benefits for the heart than low or moderate intensity exercise.

The benefits discussed included:

  • Increased maximal oxygen uptake
  • Improved heart muscle contractile function
  • Improved heart muscle calcium handling
  • reduced cardiac dysfunction in metabolic syndrome
  • Reversed pathological cardiac hypertrophy
  • Increased physiological hypertrophy of the heart muscle
  • Overall improved quality of life and length of life by avoiding fatal heart attacks.

This is NOT an argument AGAINST regular cardio, it is evidence in favor of intense cardio.

I like HIIT and intense types of cardio! I don’t need to add it to my program because it’s already a part of it.

My first book about fat loss, BurnTheFat Feed The Muscle was first published in 2002 and I recommended HIIT way back then – as well as regular cardio, not one or the other. I Still do!

There were also people promoting HIIT long before me. It’s not any revolutionary idea – people just keep putting new names and spins on it for marketing purposes.

The problem is, to argue in favor of HIIT should not be construed as arguing against conventional cardio or aerobics.

Many of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models used slow, steady state cardio exclusively prior to competitions and they got ripped right down to the six pack abs. They didn’t die of a heart attack and they didn’t lose muscle either.

In fact, many bodybuilders opt for low intensity cardio specifically for muscle retention when they get to the tail end of contest prep where body fat stores are getting low and food intake is low. Adding more high intensity training on top of all the weight training is often catabolic in that caloric deficit situation.

Listen, HIIT and other types of intense cardio are great. It’s time efficient, making it ideal for the busy person, and its very effective for both fat loss and cardiovascular conditioning. It’s also more engaging, as many people find longer, slower sessions of cardio boring.

If you have a history of heart disease and you smoke like a chimney and at the same time you decide you want to take up marathon running, ok, I’ll concede to some caution.

But, “Aerobics is going to kill you!”??????

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Perfect marketing hook for a cultish “HIIT is the only way” type of program… little more.

Bottom line: sure, do your HIIT, do your sprints, do your Tabatas….

OR…

Do your regular steady state aerobics or running too…

Or, do a little bit of everything like I do!

Be sure weight training is your foremost training priority and then do whatever type of cardio you enjoy and whatever type gets you the best results.

If you like to run, then RUN, and tell the “experts” who say otherwise to BUZZ OFF and take their sensationalistic journalism and marketing with them!

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle at www.BurnTheFat.com!

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com!

How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time

Title: How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Word count: 2222 words

I’ll never forget the very first time I got ripped, how I did it and how it felt. I’ve never told this entire story before or widely published my early photos either. Winning first place and seeing my abs the first time was sweet redemption. But before that, it was a story of desperation…

I started lifting weights for bodybuilding when I was 14 years old, but I never had ripped abs until I was 20. I endured six years of frustration and embarrassment. Being a teenager is hard enough, but imagine how I felt being a self-proclaimed bodybuilder, with no abs or muscle definition to show for it. Imagine what it was like in swimming class or when we played basketball in gym class and I prayed to be called out for “shirts” and not ‘”skins” because I didn’t want any one seeing my “man-boobs” and ab flab jiggling all over the court.

Oh, I had muscle. I started gaining muscle from the moment I picked up a barbell. I got strong too. I was benching 315 at age 18. But even after four years of successful strength training, I still hadn’t figured out this getting ripped thing. Muscle isn’t very attractive if it’s covered up with a layer of fat. That’s where the phrase “bulky” really comes from – fat on top of muscle. It can look worse than just fat.

I read every book. I read every magazine. I tried every exercise. I took every supplement in vogue back in the 80’s (remember bee pollen, octacosanol, lipotropics and dessicated liver?) I tried not eating for entire days at a time. I went on a rope skipping kick. I did hundreds of crunches and ab exercises. I rode the Lifecycle. I wore rubber waist belts.

The results were mediocre at best. When I made progress, I couldn’t maintain it. One step forward, one step back. Even when I got a little leaner, it wasn’t all the way. Still no ripped abs. When I played football and they beat the crap out of us at training camp, I lost weight, but STILL didn’t get all the way down to those elusive six pack abs. In fact, it was almost like I got “skinny fat.” My arms and legs lost some muscle but the small roll of ab fat was still there.

 

Why was it so hard? What was I doing wrong? It was driving me crazy!

My condition got worse in college because I mixed with a party crowd. With boozing came eating, and the “bulk” accumulated even more. At that point, the partying and social life were more important to me than my body. I was still lifting weights, but wasn’t living a fitness lifestyle.

Mid way through college I changed my major from business management to exercise science, having made up my mind to pursue a career in fitness. That’s when I started to feel something wasn’t right. The best word for it is “incongruence.” That’s when what you say you want to be and what you really are don’t match. Being a fitness professional means you have to walk the talk and be a role model to others. Anything else is hypocrisy. I knew I had to shape up or forget fitness as a career.

But after four years, I STILL didn’t know how to get ripped! Nothing I learned in exercise physiology class helped. All the theory was interesting, but when theory hit the real world, things didn’t always work out like they did on paper. My professors didn’t know either. Heck, most of them weren’t even in shape! Two of them were overweight, including my nutrition professor.

However, out of my college experience did come the seeds of the solution and my first breakthrough.

In one of my physical education classes, we were required to do some running and we were instructed to keep track of our performance and resting heart rates. Somehow, even though I was a strength athlete, I got hooked on running. After the initial discomfort of hauling around a not so cardio-fit 205 pound body, I started to get a lot of satisfaction out of watching my resting heart rate drop from the 70’s into the 50’s and seeing my running times get better and better. And then it happened: I started getting leaner than I ever had before.

The results motivated me to no end, and I kept after it even more. My runs would be 5 or 6 days a week and I’d go for between 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I had a circular route of about 6 miles and I would run it for time, almost always pushing for a personal record. When I finished, I was spent, drenched in sweat and sometimes just crashing when I got home. And I kept getting even leaner.

That’s when I started to figure it out. If you’re expecting me to say that running is the secret, no, that’s NOT it per se. I was thinking bigger picture. In fact, I noticed that my legs had lost some muscle size, so I knew that over-doing the runs would be counter productive, ultimately, and I don’t run that much anymore these days. But that’s how I did it the first time and I had never experienced fat loss like that before. The fat was falling off and I had barely changed my diet.

My “aha moment” was when I realized the pivotal piece in the puzzle was calories. It wasn’t the type of exercise, it wasn’t the specific foods and it wasn’t supplements. Today I realize that it’s the calorie deficit that matters the most, not whether you eat less or burn more per se, but in my case creating a large deficit by burning the calories was the absolute key for me.

These runs were burning an enormous number of calories. Everything I had done before wasn’t burning enough to make a noticeable difference in a short period of time. 10-15 minutes of rope skipping wasn’t enough. 45 minutes of slow-go bike riding wasn’t burning enough. Hundreds of crunches weren’t enough. I put 1+1+1 together and realized it was intensity X duration X frequency = highest the total calorie burn for the week. How much simpler could it be? It wasn’t magic. It was MATH!

It was consistency too. This was the first time in SIX YEARS I stuck with it. Body fat comes off by the grams every day – literally. Kilos and pounds of body weight may come off quickly, but they come back just as fast. Body fat comes off slowly and if you have no patience or you jump to one program to the next without following through with the one you started, you’re doomed. In six years, I had “tried everything”… except consistency and patience.

Then the stakes went up. I had finally gotten lean, but there was another level beyond lean… RIPPED! My buddies at the gym noticed me getting leaner and then they popped the question: Why don’t you compete? My training partner Steve had already competed 3 years earlier and won the Teenage Mr. America competition. Since then, I had been all talk and no walk. “Yeah, I’m going to compete one of these days too… I’m going to be the next Mr. America.” Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. The only title I had won was “Mr. Procastinator.” Then finally, Steve and my other friends challenged me almost in an ultimatum type of way. Well, the truth is, I set myself up for it with my big mouth and they called me out, so I would have been the laughing stock of our gym if I didn’t follow through.

The first time you do a real cut – all the way down to contest-ready – is the hardest. Not as much physically as psychologically, simply because you’ve never done it before. Doing something you’ve done before is no big deal. Doing something you’ve never done before causes uncertainty and fear, sometimes even terror! I was plagued with self-doubt the entire time, never sure if I was ever going to get there. It seemed like it was taking forever. But failure was not an option. Not only did I have an entire gym full of friends rooting me on, I had great training partner who was natural Mr. Teenage America! The pressure was on. I had to do it. There was no way out. No excuses.

Some other day, I’ll tell you all the details of the emotional roller coaster ride that was my first contest diet, but let it suffice to say, at that point, I still didn’t know what I was doing. It was only later that I went into “human guinea pig” mode with nutritional experiments and finally pinned down the eating side of the equation to a science (and gained 20 lbs of stage-weight muscle as a result).

In the late 1980’s, the standard bodybuilding diet was high carb, low fat. For that first competition, I was on 60% carbs – including pancakes, boxed cereal, whole grain bread, and pasta – so I guess you can toss out the idea that it’s impossible to get ripped on high carbs – although high carb is NOT the contest diet I use today. But it didn’t matter, because I had already learned the critical piece in the fat loss puzzle – the calorie balance equation. Understanding that one aspect of physiology was enough to get me ripped. It only got better later.

In the end, I took 2nd place at my very first competition, the Natural Lehigh Valley, and one month later, I won first place at the Natural New Jersey. Seven months later, the overall Natural Pennsylvania.

Looking back, was all the effort worth it? Well, my good friend Adam Waters, who is an accountability coach, teaches his students about using “redemption” as a motivator. Remember the Charles Atlas ad where the skinny kid got sand kicked in his face and then came back big and buffed and beat up the bully? That’s redemption. Or the dateless high school nerd who comes back to the 10 year class reunion driving a Mercedes with the prom queen on his arm? That’s redemption.

After all the doubt, heartache and frustration I went through for six years, I not only had my trophies, my abs were on the front page of the sports section in our small Pennsylvania town newspaper. The following year, I was on the poster for a bodybuilding competition… as the previous year’s champion. THAT’S REDEMPTION. You tell me if it was worth it.

There are 7 lessons from my story that I want to share with you because even if you have a different personal history than I do, these 7 lessons are the keys to achieving any previously elusive fitness goal for the first time and I think they apply to everyone.

1. Set the big goal and go for it. If your goal doesn’t excite you and scare you at the same time, your goal is too small. If you don’t feel fear or uncertainty, you’re inside your comfort zone. Puny goals aren’t motivating. Sometimes it takes a competition or a big challenge of some kind to get your blood boiling.

2. Align your values with your goals. I understood my values and made a decision to be congruent with who I really was and who I wanted to be. When you know your values, get your priorities straight and align your goals with your values, then doing what it takes is easy.

3. Do the math. Stop looking for magic. A lean body does not come from any particular type of exercise or foods per se, it’s the calories burned vs calories consumed that determines fat loss or fat gain. You might do better by decreasing the calories consumed, whereas I depended more on increasing the calories burned, but either way, it’s still a math equation. Deny it at your own risk.

4. Get social support. Support and encouragement from your friends can help get you through anything. Real time accountability to a training partner or trainer can make all the difference.

5. Be consistent. Nothing will ever work if you don’t work at it every day. Sporadic efforts don’t just produce sporadic results, sometimes they produce zero results.

6. Persist through difficulty and self doubt. If you think it’s going to be smooth sailing all the way with no ups and downs, you’re fooling yourself.. For every sunny day, there’s going to be a storm. If you can’t weather the storms, you’ll never reach new shores.

7. Redeem yourself. Non-achievers sit on the couch and wallow in past failures. Winners use past failures as motivational rocket fuel. It always feels good to achieve a goal, but nothing feels as good as achieving a goal with redemption.

Postscript: My journey continued. Since that initial first place trophy, I have competed as a natural for life bodybuilder 26 more times, including 7 first place awards and 7 runner up awards. And yes, I finally nailed down the nutrition side of things too. You can read more about that and the fat loss program that developed as a result at www.BurnTheFat.com!

 


 

Tom Venuto Newspaper Photo

Train hard and expect success always,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS Fat Loss Coach www.BurnTheFat.com!

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Health And Fitness Is Not A 12-Week Program

Title: Health And Fitness Is Not A 12 Week Program

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

Word count: 2230 words

Not long ago, one of the members of my health club poked her head in my office for some advice. Linda was a 46 year old mother of two, and she had been a member for over a year. She had been working out sporadically, with (not surprisingly), sporadic results. On that particular day, she seemed to have enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye that I hadn’t seen before.

“I want to enter a before and after fitness contest called the “12 week body transformation challenge.” I could win money and prizes and even get my picture in a magazine.”

“I want to lose THIS”, she continued, as she grabbed the body fat on her stomach. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Linda was not “obese,” she just had the typical “moderate roll” of abdominal body fat and a little bit of thigh/hip fat that many forty-something females struggle with.

“I think it’s a great idea,” I reassured her. “Competitions are great for motivation. When you have a deadline and you dangle a “carrot” like that prize money in front of you, it can keep you focused and more motivated than ever.”

Linda was eager and rarin’ to go. “Will you help me? I have this enrollment kit and I need my body fat measured.”

“No problem,” I said as I pulled out my Skyndex fat caliper, which is used to measure body fat percentage with a “pinch an inch” test.

When I finished, I read the results to her from the caliper display: “Twenty-seven percent. Room for improvement, but not bad; it’s about average for your age group.”

She wasn’t overjoyed at being ‘average’. “Yeah, but it’s not good either. Look at THIS,” she complained as again she grabbed a handful of stomach fat. “I want to get my body fat down to 19%, I heard that was a good body fat level.”

I agreed that 19% was a great goal, but told her it would take a lot of work because average fat loss is usually about a half a percent a week, or six percent in twelve weeks. Her goal, to lose eight percent in twelve weeks was ambitious.

She smiled and insisted, “I’m a hard worker. I can do it”

Indeed she was and indeed she did. She was a machine! Not only did she never miss a day in the gym, she trained HARD. Whenever I left my office and took a stroll through the gym, she was up there pumping away with everything she had. She told me her diet was the strictest it had ever been in her life and she didn’t cheat at all. I believed her, and it started to show, quickly.

Each week she popped into my office to have her body fat measured again, and each week it went down, down, down. Consistently she lost three quarters of a percent per week – well above the average rate of fat loss – and on two separate occasions, I recall her losing a full one percent body fat in just seven days.

Someone conservative might have said she was overtraining, but when we weighed her and calculated her lean body mass, we saw that she hadn’t lost ANY muscle – only fat. Her results were simply exceptional!

She was ecstatic, and needless to say, her success bred more success and she kept after it like a hungry tiger for the full twelve weeks.

On week twelve, day seven, she showed up in my office for her final weigh-in and body fat measurement. She was wearing a pair of formerly tight blue jeans and they were FALLING OFF her!

“Look, look, look,” she repeated giddily as she tugged at her waistband, which was now several inches too large.

As I took her body fat, I have to say, I was impressed. She hadn’t just lost a little fat, she was “RIPPED!”

During week twelve she dropped from 18% to 17% body fat, for a grand total of 10% body fat lost in three months. She surpassed her goal of 19% by two percent. I was now even more impressed, because not many people lose that much body fat in three months.

You should have seen her! She started jumping up and down for joy like she was on a pogo stick! She was beaming… grinning from ear to ear! She practically knocked me over as she jumped up and gave me a hug – “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Don’t thank me,” I said, “You did it, I just measured your body fat.”

She thanked me again anyway and then said she had to go have her “after” pictures taken.

Then something very, very strange happened. She stopped coming to the gym. Her “disappearance” was so abrupt, I was worried and I called her. She never picked up, so I just left messages.

No return phone call.

It was about four months later when I finally saw Linda again. The giddy smile was gone, replaced with a sullen face, a droopy posture and a big sigh when I said hello and asked where she’d been.

“I stopped working out after the contest… and I didn’t even win.”

“You looked like a winner to me, no matter what place you came in” I insisted, “but why did you stop, you were doing so well!”

“I don’t know, I blew my diet and then just completely lost my motivation. Now look at me, my weight is right back where I started and I don’t even want to know my body fat.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you back in here again. Write down some new goals for yourself and remember to think long term too. Twelve week goals are important, but fitness isn’t 12 week program you know, it’s a lifestyle – you have to do it every day, for the rest of your life.”

She nodded her head and finished her workout, still with a defeated look on her face. Unfortunately, she never again come anywhere near the condition she achieved for that competition, and for the rest of the time she was a member at our club, she slipped right back into the sporadic on and off workout pattern.

Linda was not an isolated case. I’ve seen the same thing happen with countless men and women of all ages and fitness levels from beginners to competitive bodybuilders. In fact, it happens to millions of people who “go on” diets, lose a lot of weight, then quickly “go off” the diet and gain the weight right back.

What causes people to burn so brightly with enthusiasm and motivation and then burn out just as quickly? Why do so many people succeed brilliantly in the short term but fail 95 out of 100 times in the long term? Why do so many people reach their fitness goals but struggle to maintain them?

The answer is simple: Health and fitness is for life, not for “12 weeks.”

You can avoid the on and off, yo-yo cycle of fitness ups and downs. You can get in great shape and stay in great shape. You can even get in shape and keep getting in better and better shape year after year, but it’s going to take a very different philosophy than most people subscribe to. The seven tips below will guide you.

These guidelines are quite contrary to the quick fix philosophies prevailing in the weight loss and fitness world today. Applying them will take patience, discipline and dedication and they will put you in the minority. Just remember, the only thing worse than getting no results is getting great results and losing them.

1) Don’t “go on” diets. When you “go on” a diet, the underlying assumption is that at some point you have to “go off” it. This isn’t just semantics, it’s one of the primary reasons most diets fail. By definition, a “diet” is a temporary and often drastic change in your eating behaviors and/or a severe restriction of calories or food, which is ultimately, not maintainable. If you reach your goal, the diet is officially “over” and then you “go off” (returning to the way you used to eat). Health and fitness is not temporary; it’s not a “diet.” It’s something you do every day of your life. Unless you approach nutrition from a “habits” and “lifestyle” perspective, you’re doomed from the start.

2) Eat the same healthy foods consistently, all year round. Permanent fat loss is best achieved by eating mostly the same types of foods all year round. Naturally, you should include a wide variety of healthy foods so you get the full spectrum of nutrients you need, but there should be consistency, month in, month out. When you want to lose body fat, there’s no dramatic change necessary – you don’t need to eat totally different foods – it’s a simple matter of eating less of those same healthy foods and exercising more.

3) Have a plan for easing into maintenance. Let’s face it – sometimes a nutrition program needs to be more strict than usual. For example, peaking for a bodybuilding, figure, fitness or transformation challenge contest requires an extremely strict regimen that’s different than the rest of the year. As a rule, the stricter your nutrition program, the more you must plan ahead and the more time you must allow for a slow, disciplined transition into maintenance. Failure to plan for a gradual transition will almost always result in a huge binge and a very rapid, hard fall “off the wagon.”

4) Focus on changing daily behaviors and habits one or two at a time. Rather than making huge, multiple changes all at once, focus on changing one or two habits/behaviors at a time. Most psychologists agree that it takes about 21 days of consistent effort to replace an old bad habit with a new positive one. As you master each habit, and it becomes as ingrained into your daily life as brushing your teeth, then you simply move on to the next one. That would be at least 17 new habits per year. Can you imagine the impact that would have on your health and your life? This approach requires patience, but the results are a lot more permanent than if you try to change everything in one fell swoop. This is also the least intimidating way for a beginner to start making some health-improving changes to their lifestyle.

5) Make goal setting a lifelong habit. Goal setting is not a one-time event, it’s a process that never ends. For example, if you have a 12 week goal to lose 6% bodyfat, what are you going to do after you achieve it? Lose even more fat? Gain muscle? What’s next? On week 13, day 1, if you have no direction and no long term goal to keep you going, you’ll have nothing to keep you from slipping back into old patterns. Every time you achieve a short term goal (daily, weekly and 12 week goals), you must set another one. Having short term goals means that you are literally setting goals continuously and never stopping.

6) Allow a reasonable time frame to reach your goal. It’s important to set deadlines for your fitness and weight loss goals. It’s also important to set big, ambitious goals, but you must allow a reasonable time frame for achieving them. Time pressure is often the motivating force that helps people get in the best shape of their lives. But when the deadline is unrealistic for a particular goal (like 30 pounds in 30 days), then crash dieting or other extreme measures are often taken to get there before the bell. The more rapidly you lose weight, the more likely you are to lose muscle and the faster the weight will come right back on afterwards. Start sooner. Don’t wait until mid-May to think about looking good for summer.

7) Extend your time perspective. Successful people in every field always share one common character trait: Long term time perspective. Some of the most successful Japanese technology and manufacturing companies have 100 year and even 250-year business plans. If you want to be successful in maintaining high levels of fitness, you must set long term goals: One year, Ten years, Even fifty years! You also must consider what the long term consequences might be as a result of using any “radical” diet, training method or ergogenic aid. The people who had it but lost it are usually the ones who failed to think long term or acknowledge future consequences. It’s easy for a 21 year old to live only for today, and it may even seem ridiculous to set 25 year goals, but consider this: I’ve never met a 40 or 60 year old who didn’t care about his or her health and appearance, but I have met 40 or 60 year olds who regretted not caring 25 years ago.

Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is a fat loss program which acknowledges the simple truth that going “on diets,” entering “Fitness challenges” or competing in “Transformation contests” without having long term goals and a lifestyle attitude, is a recipe for failure. Don’t let yourself be part of the latest fitness dropout statistics: visit the Burn The Fat website for more details on how to change your lifestyle… and keep the change! www.BurnTheFat.com!

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com!