The Principles of Growth: How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat on the Warrior Diet

By Ori Hofmekler
Author of The Warrior Diet

"How can I keep gaining muscle mass while losing fat on the Warrior Diet?"

I am asked this question all the time now -- by people who have reached a plateau, with no further muscle gain and no other noticeable progress.

Through e-mails and private consultations, I realized that most of these people already suffer from severe dietary related problems such as fatigue, lethargy, sluggishness, fat gain, loss of libido, insomnia, irregularity and a decrease in muscle strength and endurance.

The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the principles of muscle growth and rejuvenation and the nature of body composition.

Let me start with the reasons why people reach a plateau, or to say it another way, why people hit the wall.

People hit the wall when their body adaptation to physical stress through rejuvenation (growth and repair) is impaired.

Growth, proliferation and protein synthesis is being regulated by many factors such as glands, hormones, enzymes, hormonal receptors, cell membrane pH, mineral composition, osmotic pressure, outer-cellular plasma nucleotides, cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP, mitochondrial energy yield and sheer stress.

To put it simply - growth is more complicated than just shoving in protein and pumping iron.

The principle of inducing growth is based on strong stimulation that signals rejuvenation (tissue repair) and proliferation (increase in tissue mass). The growth stimulation activates an anabolic process through receptors in the cellular membrane. This stimulation requires carriers such as hormones, steroids, growth factors and nucleotides can't be fully potentiated without the activation of cellular membrane receptors.

If the cell membrane receptors are insensitive (such as in the case of de-synthesized insulin, adrenal or IGF1 receptors) then growth will be impaired. There is much more to it but for the purpose of understanding the principles of growth, let me just say for now that cell membrane receptor activation is critical.

Growth activation depends on the body's ability to re-synthesize or recuperate its receptors. Recuperation and growth go hand in hand. The point that I'm trying to make here is that your body needs time to recuperate in order to resume growth.

The process of recuperation includes daily detoxification, the redesigning of daily nutrition and diet composition and most importantly the alleviation of stress on your liver to help regulate protein synthesis and fat burning.

The Warrior Diet gives you just that.

Sometimes it's good to take a step back in order to move two steps forward. Those who are concerned about losing fat and some muscle mass do not realize that at that preliminary stage, they have already improved their body composition (this means the improvement of the ratio of muscle to fat). In order to get out of a plateau and resume growth, one has to go through a preliminary stage of detox that often results in a temporary weight loss.

The Myth of Protein

Many people reach a plateau in spite of consuming monstrous amounts of protein, mostly from commercial protein powders. Those who consume 300 - 400g of protein per day don't realize that this is one of the reasons why they have stagnated.

Too much processed protein creates a protein imbalance that leads to -- guess what -- amino acid deficiency!

Moreover, in order to get rid of the extra aminos, the body converts them into energy or fat while taxing the liver with toxic byproducts of protein breakdown.

Low Carb Products

Most low carb products have ingredients that can seriously inhibit fat burning or glycolysis (the conversion of sugar into energy). Glycerin, ethanol and sorbitol are common ingredients in most low carb protein products. These chemicals can have a devastating effect on your liver's ability to regulate fat and sugar metabolism.

The subject of growth is intriguing and deserves much more attention. Nevertheless, in order to simplify things let me offer you twelve basic tips to help maximize your muscle growth while burning fat:

• DETOX! Undereating during the day by ingesting live whole vegetables, fruits and their juices will help accelerate detoxification.
  
  
• Take 2 to 3 weeks off from eating processed foods and eat whole foods instead.
  
  
• You may be overtrained. Take a break and see if that helps.
  
  
• Stay away from low carb protein products that contain glycerin.
  
  
• Minimize alcohol consumption.
  
  
• Carbs are not the bad guy! Chronic carb restriction can slow your thyroid and impair growth.
  
  
• Keep the good fat coming. EFA from flax and primrose oils and phospho-lipids from soy lecithin are essential for cellular membranes and play a critical role in the regulation of hormonal and cellular functions.
  
  
• Rotate among full days of undereating and full days of overeating. Undereating will potentiate the body to turn on the anabolic switch. Overeating will activate the final stimuli.
  
  
• Protect your mitochondrial DNA with antioxidants (most importantly glutathione precursors, SOD precursors and lipoic acid).
  
  
• Protect your bottom line with multivitamin and mineral supplementation.
  
  
• Avoid chronic sodium restriction. Sodium is necessary for growth.
  
  
• Take it easy with creatine to avoid impairment of the body's own ability to produce creatine.

These are a few basic tips that will hopefully help you break out of stagnation. Let me note here that following the above recommendations will naturally accelerate metabolic efficiency that will result in fat loss.

Note: Mitochondrial high-energy yield in the form of ATP is critical for growth and overall rejuvenation. Thus, protecting your mitochondrial DNA will keep your energy level high while slowing the aging process and keep you growing.

Fat Loss Basics

by Anthony Ellis
The Skinny Guy's Muscle and Weight Gain Site

Believe it or not, losing a little or a lot of fat involves pretty much the same concept - consistent dieting coupled with cardiovascular exercise and weight training. This is how the professionals do it, and it works.

Many of you may be hesitant to start a weight training program, but the benefits far outweigh any reservation you may have. Weight training enhances your fat loss by increasing your muscle mass and more muscle means more calories burned (faster metabolism). It also it gives your skin a more tone, tight appearance, lowers your blood pressure, strengthens your bones, improves your agility, increases your flexibility, strengthens your immune system and gives you more energy and a brighter outlook on life.

If you have a high level of body fat, or you have never been able to successfully lose fat, you should consider trying a program that not only focuses on dieting, but also includes adequate cardiovascular activity and weight training.

If you are already very muscular, and you just want lose a little body fat, then a fat loss program that includes regular cardiovascular activity and weight training is perfect for you. The best way to get ripped and maintain as much muscle as you can is to diet slowly. The truth is, when you are on a low calorie diet, your body prefers to use muscle tissue for fuel rather than excess body fat. So, the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are losing fat and not muscle.

Ideally, you should aim to lose no more than 1lb - 1.5 lbs per week that's it. If you are obese, then you should try to lose no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. Any more than that and you are sacrificing muscle.

Women do tend to lose fat at a slower rate than men, but don't let this discourage you. Women simply store fat more efficiently than men because it is needed during and after pregnancy. As your body fat levels drop, you will notice that the fat loss comes off in reverse of how it was put on. So, the most recent fat gains will come off first, while the old fat that has been there for a while will take the longest to lose.

The most difficult fat to lose usually centers around the waist, belly and lower back areas for men, and the upper thigh and buttocks, area for women. The fat in these areas are the most difficult to totally get rid of. These areas are comprised of mostly brown adipose tissue (fat). This type of fat is difficult to lose because the low blood flow in these areas hinder the fat mobilization. So, if the fat can't be moved into the bloodstream to be used as fuel, those love handles will never go away.

That's why thermogenic agents like ephedrine and blood thinning supplements like aspirin help to improve fat loss - they increase circulation into these hard to reach areas and mobilize the stubborn fat.

Remember that you cannot spot reduce! What I mean by this is that you can't pick and choose the areas that you would like to lose the fat and do exercises that work those areas expecting the fat to just magically disappear in those areas. Your body does not work that way. The only way to decrease the amount of fat in certain key areas is by lowering your total body fat levels. As you lose fat, it will come off all over your body, not just in specific areas.

If you follow a complete diet and weight training program for at least 12 weeks, you will begin to see dramatic changes occurring with your body, and I'm not just talking about the obvious physical changes, I'm also talking about the psychological and physiological changes. You can expect lower body fat (of course), increased muscle mass, increased metabolism, increased sense of well-being, more energy, lower bad cholesterol level, increased good cholesterol level, decreased risk of heart disease, deeper more restful sleep and most important, increased self-confidence.

To be successful, your fat loss program should include the following:

• A calorie restrictive diet, which requires you to eat no less than 10x and no more than 15x your LEAN bodyweight in calories.
  
  
• Regular cardiovascular activity for at least 30-45 minutes 3-4 times per week. Some recommend a moderate pace while other recommend a vigorous pace -- it doesn't really matter as long as you are exercising.
  
  
• Weight training.
  
  
• Supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Vitamin C, L-glutamine, and a good multi vitamin are the bare essentials.
  
  
• Adequate dietary fat, including high amounts of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-6 and Omega-3).

Finally, make sure that the program you decide on is compatible with your lifestyle and schedule. You can have the greatest program in the world, but if you cannot implement it then it is worthless. There are thousands of fat loss diets and workouts that will work, but the hard part is finding one that works for you and the specifics of your diet and schedule restraints.

A WORD ON CONSISTENCY

Ok, so you want the secret to fat loss? Well, here it is: CONSISTENCY. You can have the best diet, the best training schedule, join the best gym that has the best equipment, but without consistency it's all worthless.

Over the past two years, I've talked to hundreds of people who have successfully transformed their physique. Though most of them trained in totally different ways, there was one common denominator that appeared throughout each success story: Day in and day out, they followed their pre-determined plan, consistently without fail. There are many paths to your goal but you will never reach it unless you consistently put one foot in front of the other. You must find the determination and drive within yourself to see this through. If not now, then when?

In the grand scheme of your life, can you afford a slight inconvenience to create a fantastic physique -- or will you continue to be an "Average Joe" for 80 more years! Which sounds more inconvenient to you?

I can see it's easy to make excuses, after all, I used to do the same thing. Don't get caught up in this. The truth is, the hardest part any training routine is getting started. You've got to break your old habits and make new paths for yourself. If I can do this, anyone can. The only thing that separates me from most other people, is the fact that once I decide on a goal, I will not stop until I reach it. It's that simple.

Gaining muscle or losing fat, like anything in life, is a simple matter of staying focused and being consistent. Fortunately, it's never too late to get started, and you will thank yourself a few months down the road. Remember that saying, "Do what you've always done, and you will get what you've always gotten". Now, read it again.

Question

Q: I am slightly overweight female who has a good amount of cellulite on my upper legs and rear. Is it possible to get rid of this?

A: For women, lower body fat and cellulite are very common problems. Unfortunately, it is an area in which the fat stored there has very little circulation. In other words, the lack of blood vessel activity in those areas make it very difficult for the body to move that fat into the bloodstream where it can be used as fuel by the body. The only non-surgical way to remove the cellulite is to simply go on a long-term fat loss program. To begin to see a reduction in these areas, you will have to get your body fat levels down to around 16-18%.

Also, a good way to remove cellulite and stretch marks is regular massage on butt and thighs.

Men have a similar common fat storage area around their stomach and waist.

How to Gain Weight and Bulk Up

by Anthony Ellis
The Skinny Guy's Muscle and Weight Gain Site

If you are thin and want to get bigger and gain weight, here's some "how to gain weight" information that I think you may be able to use.

There are several reasons why most people fail in their programs and don't gain weight:

1. Improper diet.
   Most people are not eating enough protein and eating too many simple carbs and not eating a weight gain diet.
   
   
2. They are not stressing their muscles during each workout.
   You don't have to kill yourself, but you must subject your body to out-of-the-ordinary stress each workout to grow muscle and to gain weight.
   
   
3. They lack consistency.
   They do not stay focused throughout the entire 12-week period. If they don't see results immediately, they get discouraged and quit. You have got to stick with your plan to gain weight. No program will work for you if you are not consistent.

To gain weight and bulk up, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes, and work as hard as necessary and you have to be consistent. Your body responds to consistency. Sometimes it may get to the point of obsession, but it has to be that way for you to reach your goal.

Here's some basic how to gain weight information and things you should be doing to help you bulk up:

• To gain weight you must eat more calories than your body burns off, so EAT MORE! The most important thing that I cannot over stress is that you need to eat to gain weight. You need to eat like you've never eaten before. (but not junk food like donuts and chips or candy). In other words, you need a weight gain diet.
  
  
• Start eating six meals per day (space them out to about once every three hours). This is a weight gain diet used by those who know what they're doing.
  
  
• Increase your protein intake and reduce your simple carbohydrate intake. Without protein your body cannot build new muscle.
  
  
• Keep your workouts under one hour. Short and intense!
  
  
• Concentrate on free weight exercises that work the large muscle groups. The best weight training exercises for building mass are the simple ones. For mass, stick with compound free weight exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows, pull ups and bar dips.
  
  
• Use heavy weights and low reps, rest 3 minutes between each set.
  
  
• Do only 2-3 exercises per body part.
  
  
• Split your workout. Since you have a very high metabolism like me, you need to train with more intensity, but less frequently.
  
  Day 1: Chest, shoulders and triceps
  Day 2: Rest
  Day 3: Back, and Bicep
  Day 4: Rest
  Day 5: Legs and abs
  Day 6: Rest
  Day 7: Rest
  
  
• Increase you water intake. A good formula for this is to multiply your bodyweight by .66 to get the required number of ounces per day.
  
  
• Use nutritional supplements. If you can't afford too many products, just stick with the basics; like whey protein. If you can't afford whey protein the next best thing is egg whites.

Stepping up to the Next Level

By Tom Venuto
www.burnthefat.com

If you've been training for at least three months and now you're ready to kick it into high gear and start learning more about training and nutrition so you can get better and faster results, then this article is for you.

If you're currently not working out at all and you'd like to know the best way to get started, refer back to part one in this series: Fat loss for Beginners - 8 tips to get started.

If you've been training for years and consider yourself "advanced," then the third installment in this series will be for you. But don't skip this one - you might learn something new you missed along the way.

THE SECRET TO INCREASED FAT LOSS IS...

Ok, so you just got started on a program of walking or light cardio and some basic lifting, maybe some dumbbell work - nothing fancy. You feel better, you've lost a few pounds, you have more energy and you're confident that you're getting healthier.

But you want more.

You want the results to come faster. You want to look in the mirror and really SEE the difference. You want other people to see the difference too.

You want more than "a little tone." Maybe you want a nice hard chiseled six-pack with a small waist, or maybe streamlined, muscular thighs. Arms like Madonna perhaps? Shoulders like Carl "Apollo Creed" Weathers? A Brad Pitt "Fight Club" body maybe? Nothing too crazy - not a miss fitness Olympia body or the massive bulk of a Mr. Universe- but definitely better than average.

Well, if you're prepared to STEP UP to the next level and pay the price necessary to reach the next rung on the ladder, here's how you do it:

The answer is very, very simple. As you leave the novice stage behind, it's time to start WORKING HARDER. That's it.

Were you expecting something more esoteric? Some secret Bulgarian periodization program and thermogenic - anabolic supplement stack? Sorry, but the secret is that there is no secret. A great body all boils down to outright effort and hard work.

Not counting the genetic freaks who seem to have been born with muscles and zero fat, there's one thing that all people with great bodies have in common: they all work HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD, HARD!

If you want to ascend beyond the lowly beginner level you simply have to push yourself harder. And that means DIS-COMFORT. When you're pushing yourself out of the comfort zone, it hurts. Frankly, sometimes it sucks! But outside the comfort zone is where you grow. Staying inside the comfort zone will only maintain you at best but usually it sends you plummeting into a downward spiral.

Most people retreat into the confines of their comfort zone the second the effort gets difficult. The comfort zone is a very dangerous place because if you slide back into the comfort zone even once, then it starts becoming a habit.

First, it's stopping just a few minutes short on your cardio or coasting on level 5 when you could be doing level 7. You stop at 8 reps, when you had 11 in you. Then you start blowing off workouts completely. Pretty soon, you're sliding back in other areas of your life; you slide back from making those sales calls; you slide back from spending quality time with your family, you slide back from saving money and watching your finances. You become.... A BACKSLIDER!

You can either be a backslider or you can be an ACHIEVER but you can't be both and you can't "hang out" in between - it's one or the other. Although you might think you're safe just "maintaining" in the comfort zone, unbeknownst to you, you are always in motion in either a forward or a backward direction. There's no such thing as standing still; ask any physicist - everything in the universe is always in motion...vibrating... growing or dying.

The ACHIEVER is the person who is aware that to "stand still inside the comfort zone" is akin to dying, so he or she is ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD. The only way to move forward is with hard work and effort in the direction of a specific goal.

AVOID THE TEMPTATION TO SPEND (WASTE) YOUR MONEY ON GIMMICKS...AND LEARN TO RECOGNIZE A GIMMICK WHEN YOU SEE ONE

Once you begin getting a taste of what real hard training is like, it often becomes tempting to succumb to the error of looking for the "easy way." An electrode on your abs, a "fat-melting" cream, a pill, a drink mix, a drug - anything and everything except sweat and hard work. But shortcuts will always fail you in the long run.

You are setting yourself up for so much trouble if you give in to the lure of the quick fix. You see, it's all about the Law of Sowing and Reaping. This great law of life states that your rewards will come back to you in direct proportion to what you put in. Everything has its price and that price must be paid in advance.

If you were a farmer, how ridiculous would it be for you to skip the planting of the seeds in the spring and then go out in the fields looking for a harvest in the fall? How ridiculous would it be to stand in front of a wood burning stove and say, Ok stove, give me some heat and then I'll put in some wood?

But isn't it the same thing when you take a pill or attach some electrodes to your stomach, or smear some cream on your thighs and expect to lose the flab without exercise or eating right?

Even if you've made the decision to avoid gimmicks, in today's marketplace, how do you know what's a gimmick and what's legit? After all, these marketing people are smart - they know how to play on your emotions and make gimmicks sound scientific. Don't feel bad; judging by the e-mails I get every day, most other people don't know the difference either. Nearly all of these e-mails include this sentence:

Does "IT" work?

Here's how to tell if "IT" is a gimmick or not: If it makes getting in phenomenal shape sound easy and effortless, then it's a gimmick. If it addresses the symptom but not the cause - it's a gimmick. If your gut feeling says it sounds too good to be true - it's a gimmick. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... it's a duck!

Do yourself a favor and stop looking for a quick ride to the top. The elevator to success is out of order - you're going to have to take the stairs.

HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR RATE OF FAT LOSS IN THE NEXT 7 DAYS

How would you like to learn a way to DOUBLE YOUR FAT LOSS in the next seven days? I know, I know - sounds like a gimmick, right? Well, it's not! It's really quite simple. To burn more fat you have to burn more calories. Most beginners start off with three days a week of cardio training. This amount of cardio is sufficient for many people, especially beginners, because when your body isn’t accustomed to exercise, then any increase in activity above no activity will always produce results.

However, more often than not, the results begin to slow down a bit within a few months of training (“hitting the plateau”). Then they scratch their heads and wonder why it's not working anymore.

This is why: Because three days a week is a great starting point for beginners, but it’s often insufficient for intermediates to keep the ball rolling, or for those seeking maximum fat loss in the least amount of time (such as bodybuilders in the pre-contest period). If you want twice as much fat loss and you want it twice as fast, double your cardio – if only for a very short period of time to reach a peak condition.

Suppose you burn 400 calories per workout for three workouts per week. That's a total of 1200 calories per week burned. If you increased that to six days per week at 400 calories per workout, you would burn 2400 calories per week. YOU JUST DOUBLED YOUR FAT LOSS! That was a real no-brainer, wasn't it?

HOW TO TRIPLE YOUR RATE OF FAT LOSS IN THE NEXT 7 DAYS

While we're on the subject of burning more calories, what would happen if, in addition to increasing your cardio frequency from three to six days per week, you increased the intensity so you’re burning 600 calories per workout? With six workouts at 600 calories per workout you're up to 3600 calories per week.

HOLY ABDOMINALS BATMAN, YOU JUST TRIPLED YOUR FAT LOSS!

Yes it's that simple and the solution was right there in front of you all along.

If you’re thinking that I forgot to factor in the post exercise calorie burn that comes from brief, intense cardio workouts, consider this: Studies on Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), also known as the post-workout elevation in metabolism, or “afterburn effect,” have shown that EPOC INCREASES with both the intensity and duration of the exercise session. Not only that, but if you do cardio daily, you’re getting this post-exercise metabolic boost every day of the week, not just every other day. Why wouldn’t you want your metabolism revved up to the max every day?

By the way, this kind of frequent, intense cardio is how I reach 3 - 4% body fat for competitions: Six days per week of HARD cardio, 30-45 minutes per session. For maintenance, I pull back to 3 days per week for only 20 minutes.

ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SOMETHING TO MOTIVATE AND INSPIRE YOU

After the initial novelty of starting a workout program wears off, one problem nearly everyone runs into is lack of motivation. I can personally confirm this just by the membership attrition (drop out) statistics in my health club. 50% of all people who join a health club quit in the first three months. Here's how you can prevent becoming a statistic:

Always be on the lookout for something to motivate and inspire you - anything! Go see a movie, watch a video, read a book or article. Hire a coach or personal trainer. Get a training partner. Think about your goals and write them out repeatedly. Pick a role model of someone you want to look like. Attend a competition. Enter a competition. Hang out with people who motivate you. Ditch the people who don't support you (I'm not kidding - get out of unsupportive relationships like you’d get out of a burning house!) The list of motivational methods is endless.

Some people insist that “motivation” doesn’t last. I always tell them they’re right! Motivation doesn’t last – but neither does bathing and you do that every day anyway, don’t you?

Every day you must ask yourself "What can I listen to, do, find, or watch to get inspired today." Then follow through.

I recently watched a movie called Without Limits, which is the story of Steven Prefontaine, the runner. Even though I'm a bodybuilder and not a runner, that movie got me so motivated I ran to the gym a blasted out a leg workout like never before, smashing through several PR's (personal records).

I also have the videos of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics narrated by Bud Greenspan. If watching Michael Johnson win his races and accept his gold medals doesn't motivate you, then nothing will.

For the bodybuilders, here's an old motivational stand-by. Watch (or re-watch) Pumping Iron.

One of the absolute best ways to get motivated is to spend time in serious thought about what you want to accomplish and then write it down, which leads us to the next subject...

SET NEW (AND BIGGER) GOALS

If you ever feel unmotivated and you want to get over it, just take a look at your goal list. What? You don't carry a frequently updated, written goal list around with you? Well, I guess we know why you're not motivated don't we?

Goal setting is not an event - it is an ongoing process. When you move up the ladder to intermediate status, the modest goals of a beginner are a thing of the past. "I am

walking for 20 minutes three days every week" is a great beginning, but now it's time to move out of the minor leagues.

Goals are the fuel in the fire of motivation. Goals get you out of bed early and into the gym in the morning. Goals keep you on the treadmill for forty-five minutes when you feel like stopping at thirty. In a set of ten reps, goals are what make you push for that eleventh and twelfth rep.

Goals are so much more powerful than you can imagine. Read any book on the subconscious mind, such as "Psycho Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz or "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind" by Dr. Joseph Murphy and you'll begin to understand why goals are so important. If you don't have goals...and if you don't have a new set of them every few months, then you're not ready to move up to the next level.

And one last thing - a goal is not a goal if it's not in writing - its only a wish (as in wishy-washy)

MOVE UP TO A SPLIT ROUTINE

A full body routine performed three days per week is probably the best way for a beginner to start weight training. However, this routine gets old fast. Within months or even weeks, you will outgrow it and you'll need to add exercises.

The problem is, the more exercises you add, the longer your workouts will become. If your workouts are too long, you reach a point of diminishing returns and over-training. The solution is a split routine.

A split routine means that instead of doing all your exercises in one session, you "SPLIT" your body in half and train one half on DAY ONE and the second half on DAY TWO.

Adding more exercises allows you to:

• Work each muscle more thoroughly and more deeply into the fibers
• Work the entire muscle group; for example, front deltoid, side deltoid AND rear deltoid
• Concentrate on each muscle more instead of spreading your attention out
• Apply more energy and effort to each body part instead of holding back and conserving energy for the last few muscles

Here's a sample 2 day split:

• Day one: Chest, shoulders, triceps, Abdominals
• Day two: Thighs, Back, Biceps, calves,

And here's how it would fit into the week if you're training three days per week:

• Mon: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, Abs (cardio optional)
• Tues: Off (just cardio)
• Wed: Thighs, Back, Biceps, calves (cardio optional)
• Thu: Off (just cardio)
• Fri: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, Abs (cardio optional)
• Sat: Off (just cardio)
• Sun: Off: Total rest day

Repeat cycle beginning with day two workout

I don't have space to write out a complete program with every exercise, but the next section will give you a few ideas.

Here's one important tip when you’re designing your own split routines:

CHANGE YOUR EXERCISES, SET & REP SCHEMES, TEMPO AND REST INTERVALS FREQUENTLY! This will help alleviate boredom and prevent your muscles from "adapting" to the routine (Changing acute training variables every 4 to 12 weeks is called the "muscle confusion" principle.)

JOIN A HEALTH CLUB OR INVEST IN SOME NEW EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR HOME GYM

Does your workout still consist of walking around the block, and/or doing the Billy blanks Tae Bo video or the Richard Simmons Sweating to the Oldies video in your living room in front of the TV?

If so, then don't worry, I'm not going to make fun of you - actually I want to congratulate you for doing more than 95% of the lazy world population - you got started! However, if you're reading this, you've expressed interest in moving up to the next level, so it's time to put those 2nd grade workouts back on the shelf and move up to something with a little more "punch" (pardon the pun).

First, I'm going to repeat my advice from part one of this series: Join a health club! Since you'll be adding new exercises, a good health club will put an almost infinite number of exercise choices at your fingertips. Many people are scared to join a gym “until they get in shape." Now that’s really putting the cart before the horse isn’t it? If you're in this category, let me put you at ease:

You'd be amazed how supportive the environment is in a good health club. I've been in the health club industry for 15 years and I've never heard a member or employee of any club I've worked in make fun of a beginner or someone out of shape. (Personally, I NEVER make fun of the beginners or intermediates. I prefer to make fun of the blunders made by the "big-ego, know it all experts," but "gym blunders" will have to be the subject of another article.)

I've seen people who were very overweight in our club and the attitude of the staff and members is usually one of, "Good for you! Is there any way I can help?" If fact, you're more likely to get a derogatory comment from someone on the street than you are in a health club. You owe it to yourself to put yourself in a positive, supportive, caring environment and there's no better place than a health club.

It also helps to realize that everyone has to start somewhere, and everyone was "out of shape" when they started. We're all in the same boat in the early learning stages.

If you choose not to join a club, that's fine, but you'd be well advised to invest in a few additional pieces of equipment beyond the bare basics.

Let's assume you own a bench and a set of dumbbells. The next additions to your home gym should be a barbell set, a set of squat racks and a cable-pulley apparatus with a high and a low pulley. By owning these pieces equipment, you've just opened up a whole new world of exercise options for yourself such as:

Barbell squats, barbell lunges, barbell rows, barbell bench press, barbell shoulder press, barbell curls, barbell tricep extensions, wide grip lat pulldowns, close grip lat pulldowns, low cable rows, triceps pushdowns and cable curls.

By the way, why so much talk about weights? Isn't fat loss mostly nutrition and cardio? Yep, that's true. However, I'm emphasizing weight training here because it plays a bigger role in fat loss than most people realize. If you're busy aerobicizing and dieting without hitting the weights, you're much more likely to lose muscle along with the fat. And when the muscle goes, your metabolism begins to go down the tubes too.

READ, STUDY AND LEARN

I know you're just a budding "intermediate" now, but would you like to know how to rapidly blast through the intermediate stage, into the advanced stage and then ultimately go even beyond the advanced stage and become an expert? If so, here's how:

Read one hour a day, five days a week, about training, nutrition, and personal achievement. In three years you will be an expert.

Suppose you only read 30 minutes a day, but you do it every day as a discipline. That's one book per week, 52 books per year, 520 books in ten years. Think about the level of knowledge you'll achieve.

I personally read two or three hours a day, I have 1800 books in my library and several hundred audio and video programs. I’ll miss an hour of sleep before I’ll miss an hour of reading. People always ask me how I learned so much about bodybuilding and nutrition. Now you know.

Here are some good places to start:

Get a good book about motivation and psychology. Here's one of the best: Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy:

Also, get a good cassette/CD program about motivation so you can listen in your car and while you do your cardio. What? You listen to music? Thought so. Most beginners do. Highly effective people and achievers always double up and do two things at once whenever possible. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Learn while you get lean! Here's a suggestion: No matter how cheesy the infomercials seem, Anthony Robbins really does put out some good stuff. Check out Personal Power or Get the Edge.

Get a good book about nutrition for fat loss. Check out my 340-page manual, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle available at www.burnthefat.com)

Finally, get a good book about weight training. I recommend Ian King's Get Buffed and anything by Charles Poliquin.

Next week, the conclusion to the Fat Loss Success Series: From Beginner to Advanced. I'm going to reveal a few of my competition-level training and nutrition secrets that I usually only share with my coaching program protégés that pay me $995, so stay tuned.

This article originally appeared in Tom Venuto's Bodybuilding and Fitness Secrets E-mail newsletter. If you enjoyed this article and would like to receive others like it, you can subscribe FREE by clicking here: www.burnthefat.com

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, gym owner, freelance writer, success coach and author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has written over 150 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. His inspiring and informative bodybuilding, fitness and weight loss articles are featured regularly on literally dozens of websites worldwide.

Learn the Truth About Diets, Weight Loss Programs and Fat Burning Supplements

To get the FACTS on exactly how, what & when to eat and how to train to achieve maximum fat loss, without losing muscle or slowing down your metabolism... AND to discover the shocking truth about the diet, weight loss and supplement industries, Check out Tom’s e-book online here: www.burnthefat.com

World's #1 Bench Presser, Scot Mendelson Tells You How to Bench Press

by Adaptagenix DC Staff

It's difficult to imagine a 314 lb. man with a six-pack.

Then again, it's difficult to imagine any human being bench pressing over 800 lbs.

Scot Mendelson is an NYU graduate and the world's top bench presser, with 5 world records and a 782.6 lb. bench press in competition. He has bench pressed 830 lbs. in training, more than most professional athletes can squat and deadlift combined.

Although Scot can squat 1,000 lbs., he emphasizes: "I'm a bench press specialist."

For aspiring bench press specialists and every athlete interested in developing upper-body power, Scot offers 5 tenets he has used to become one of the strongest men in history:

1) Put your back into it
Big chests do not make big bench presses. Proper technique makes the primary movers the back (latissimus dorsi), triceps, and rear deltoids. On a standard 15-17" bench, pull your shoulder blades together so the shoulders rest on, and not off, the bench's surface. This shortens the distance from the chest to full extension and eliminates your arms' weakest range of movement.

2) Lift with your legs
Put your body into a near-full arch when performing a maximal-lift bench press: support your body on the toes or balls of your feet by putting your feet underneath your body and arching your back. Squeeze the bench between your thighs to stabilize your body and use leg drive to initiate the lift from the bottom.

3) Train for triples
Dedicate one work-out per week to the bench press, performing 5-8 sets of 3 reps with 5-7 minutes between sets. Use 60% of your 1-repetition maximum (1RM), adding 5-10% per workout.

4) Emphasize tricep, rear deltoid, and brachialis development
Following the above 5-8 sets of bench press, perform one exercise for rear deltoids, one exercise for triceps, and one exercise for the brachialis. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions with 2-4 minutes between sets.

Rear deltoids-
Using a seated pec deck machine (used for crossing the arms in front of the body), reverse the motion by facing the opposite direction and moving your arms backwards.

Triceps-
Choose either A) tricep extensions or B) board presses (place a 4x4 board on the chest and perform bench presses within this partial range of movement).

Brachialis-
The brachialis is a muscle on the outside of the bicep that supports arm movement at the elbow. Perform hammer curls (bicep curls where the thumb is kept pointing to the ceiling and the palm is not turned upward) to address this bodypart.

5) For safety, do not use a "false-grip", where the thumb is placed under, rather than around, the bar:

"Once I was bench pressing with a false-grip and I got 584 lbs. to lock-out. The spotters thought I had it, so they took their hands away. The bar slipped, and 584 lbs. bounced off of my chest twice. I couldn't breathe properly for 2 months, but I had no broken bones-not even a bruise." Moral of the story: Hold the bar at shoulder-width with your thumb wrapped around the bar-safety is a precursor to efficacy… and results.

Train systematically, train intelligently, and follow the guidelines of the world's #1 bench presser to actualize your true genetic strength potential.

Body Building and Fat Loss Programs

By Tom Venuto
www.burnthefat.com

One of the most common questions I am asked is, “What’s the difference between your ‘Burn The Fat’ program and the ‘Body For Life’ (BFL) program? – they sound similar”

All fat loss programs that are bodybuilding-inspired will have similarities; so if you’re looking for “100% new,” “breakthrough,” “revolutionary,” or “original” information, then you won’t find it in Burn the Fat, or anywhere else. Ask any world-class coach: Fundamentals are fundamentals – they form the foundation of every legitimate program and they will never change.

What Burn The Fat does differently - and superbly well - is to address the 2 major drawbacks of BFL, which are the same problems of most other mainstream diet programs including The Zone, The Atkins Diet, The Ketogenic Diet, the High carb Diet and many others. These drawbacks are:

• lack of individualization, and
• way too much push for supplements and other products that are completely unnecessary.

First, BFL and all these other diets have their positive points (and BFL has more positive points than most). The problem is that none of them are 100% applicable to all people all the time. Genetics and metabolic individuality explain why some people thrive on high carbs, while others get fat on high carbs. It explains why some people do extremely well on Atkin’s and Ketogenic diets, while others only lose muscle and feel lousy on these programs.

Burn The Fat is the first program to take the best of all the programs, compile the information into one exhaustively detailed resource, and throw away the junk and the hype - leaving a solid backbone of universal principles which apply to everyone. Then, instead of prescribing one generic program for everyone, this “baseline” program has room to be personalized – which is an absolute necessity for long-term success.

You should question any program that prescribes the same diet and exercise routine for everyone. There are 6.2 billion people on our planet today and no two bodies and metabolisms are exactly the same. Don't you know someone who eats anything they want, yet they have six pack abs and never gain an ounce of fat? And don't you know someone who is the opposite – If they eat one cheat meal, it goes straight to their waistline or thighs? It’s true! The need for customization is undeniable. Doesn’t that make complete sense?

Burn The Fat is incredibly flexible. Once you have your fundamentals mastered (it’s entirely possible you already do if you’re well-read and you’ve been working out for a long time), the question remains; do you know how to “tweak” and fine tune your diet and training to fit your body type? If not, you could be like the fly trying to get outside by flying straight through a glass windowpane. It’s going to die trying right there on the windowsill. With equal or even less effort, the fly could simply change direction and zoom right outside through the open door ten feet away. That’s exactly what happens if you’re eating wrong for your body type and then you switch to the right way for you.

You won’t find one single nutrition program in Burn The Fat – you will find THREE different nutrition programs, starting with the basic fundamentals (which you have to master first). Then you simply adjust your nutrition based on the information you’ll learn in chapter 5 on body types and nutritional individuality (yes, there’s a whole chapter on this subject where you can learn the real reason why some people can eat whatever they want and stay skinny).

And what about training? How could one workout work for everyone? Do you give the same weight training program to a competitive bodybuilder that you do to a complete novice? It’s ridiculous to even consider. Burn the fat has not one, but FOUR training programs. And within each of these four training programs are TWO schedules, one more conservative for time-scrunched people, and one more aggressive for people who really want to go for it (that’s eight routines all together).

Ditto for cardio: How can you recommend one cardio program for everyone? I teach you how to systematically manipulate cardio frequency, duration, intensity, timing and type to accommodate your goals and get the results you want. One cardio workout just doesn’t cut it for everyone. Even if you use a scientifically proven technique like high intensity interval training, how long do you think you could do this before your body adapts to it? The need for variation and individualization is completely obvious.

Okay, second drawback… let’s face it. Who can deny the fact that although BFL has a lot of solid information, it’s also an advertisement for a supplement company? No one can deny that, because it’s true. The author of BFL, Bill Phillips, while he has now sold the company and “retired” to Hawaii, was the founder and CEO of EAS supplement company and publisher of Muscle Media 2000 Magazine (which was also a promotional tool for nutritional supplements, as are almost all bodybuilding and fitness magazines).

I’m not singling out BFL specifically – this is the case with almost every diet program, isn’t it? You buy the book/program and then you’re told that you have to buy all this other stuff to make the program work; pills, bars, powders, drinks, etc, etc. Is all this stuff really necessary? I say most certainly not!

That doesn’t mean I am “anti-supplements.” It’s more correct to say that I am “pro-whole foods” (although I am certainly against unproven, rip off supplements). I believe in proven supplements for “insurance” purposes, such as a daily multi vitamin and essential fatty acids, (2) for convenience purposes (meal replacements and protein powder), and (3) on rare occasion, a legitimate natural product emerges which really does enhance performance (such as creatine). I’ve used these products myself and recommend them to my clients on occasion.

Let me say that I have nothing against even the most aggressive promotion of legitimate products and services as long as they help enhance the lives of other people. The world does not beat a path to your door just because you've discovered a better mousetrap. You have to toot your horn and let everyone know about the solution you have to their problem or no one will ever benefit from it.

What irks me is NOT the selling of supplements and weight loss products, it's the selling of unproven, bogus products to make a profit, and also the dishonest way legitimate products are often misrepresented and marketed.

Supplements are NOT required to lose fat – they’re not even a major factor!

A GREAT BODY DOESN’T COME IN A PILL!

What’s unique about Burn The Fat is that it’s NOT a promotional vehicle for product sales. It’s an information resource and a complete fat loss program that really is for life - not for just 12 weeks. I know people who have spent $3000 to $5000 per year on supplements - and I’m not kidding – that’s not an exaggeration! Think about that for a minute! What’s really ironic is that many of these people – even after spending all that money, haven’t gotten any results!

Look, I think Body For Life is a very solid program. It’s got nutrition, weight training, cardio and motivational aspects all rolled into one, which is a winning combination in my book. I also think Bill Phillips has done a commendable thing by getting weight training and bodybuilding style nutrition out to the general public. Phillips is a great motivator too. I read Muscle Media magazine for years and enjoyed many of his editorials. If I didn’t have my own Program, Body For Life is one of the programs I would recommend (with the previous warnings about supplements and personalization).

If you’re a B.F.L.B (“Body for Life Burnout”) and you want to take it to the next level with a program that that’s more individualized and customized to your personal needs, (and you don’t want to miss your car payment because you bought so many supplements), then check out the Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle website at www.burnthefat.com.

People tell me all the time how "refreshing" it is to finally see an unbiased opinion on the subject and what a "breath of fresh air" it is to hear honest information on fat loss from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't sell supplements! Even if you’ve read BFL, all the magazines and a dozen other bodybuilding-based nutrition books, you’ll still benefit from this rare, fresh, new, and honest perspective.

About The Author
Tom Venuto is a bodybuilder, gym owner, freelance writer, success coach and author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has written over 150 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. Tom's inspiring and informative articles on bodybuilding, weight loss and motivation are featured regularly on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Burn The Fat e-book, click here: www.burnthefat.com.

The Truth About How Much Exercise You Really Need

By Tom Venuto
www.burnthefat.com

What ever happened to, “Get some exercise every day because it’s good for you?” You hardly ever hear that anymore.

Instead, we now hear about “Revolutionary, breakthroughs” that allow you to train once a week and presto! – overnight muscle and instant abs! We also hear advice and instruction such as:

“Don’t do too much cardio, or you’ll lose your muscle and get weaker.”

“Watch out for catabolism, and beware of cortisol!”

“Be careful not to overtrain…

“Train don’t strain…

“Long workouts are out… short workouts are in”

“Train less to gain more…”

“Your muscles don’t grow while you’re training, they grow while you’re resting”

This is all well and good and there’s some true and sensible advice in there, and don’t get me wrong – any amount of exercise is better than no exercise, however….

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO EXERCISING EVERY DAY BECAUSE IT’S A POSITIVE HABIT THAT’S GOOD FOR YOU?

Do you remember when fitness professionals used to recommend daily exercise? Have you noticed the “Achieve more by doing less” theme getting worse these days? (and being taken to ridiculous extremes?)

Have you noticed that a tiny core of fitness professionals still promote daily exercise, but their voices are seldom heard today amidst the marketing cries of 21st century Madison Avenue and slick big city publishers?

People DO judge a book by its cover and publishers know that. Typical magazine articles and books in the health and fitness section today have titles that sound like this:

* Massive Muscles in Minutes
* Instant Abs! How to sculpt six pack abs in 3 minutes a day
* A few minutes in the morning
* The busy executive’s two-minute workout
* The revolutionary program to Lose Fat and get in shape 5 minutes at a time
* The “Indulge” Program: Enjoy delicious dishes while losing all the weight you want, without exercise!
* The power of one: How to transform your body and your life with one workout a week
* The 30 minute fitness revolution: How to Achieve your perfect body in just 30 minutes a week
* The 11 minute total body workout

All these pitches appeal to your lazy side. Inside, the authors coddle you like a helpless infant, saying, “Poor baby, It’s not your fault, we understand…we know you don’t have any time...no one does…Don’t worry, it’s okay, OF COURSE you don’t have to workout for hours and hours – who ever gave you THAT idea?? Awwwww… there now...Working out too much is bad for you anyways... breaks down muscle, suppresses your immune system, causes oxidative damage and releases cortisol…. Follow our easy 5 minute program and you’ll be just fine…”

Do you think it’s a coincidence that obesity is at an all time high, rising in lockstep with these lackadaisical attitudes?

Even with all these “new” exercise programs, training routines, scientific “breakthroughs,” diets, books, websites, and of course, all the “cutting edge” supplements, AMERICANS ARE FATTER AND UNHEALTHIER THAN EVER BEFORE IN HISTORY!!!!

And if you’re not from the U.S., don’t laugh at us, because your country is probably not far behind!

I’m not implicating laziness as the sole reason for obesity. That would be over-simplifying a complex problem with multiple causes. However, laziness and aversion to exercise are certainly major contributing factors.

Human beings are capable of reaching breathtaking heights, but they also have a lazy side hard-wired into their natures. We need a push to overcome inertia. We need motivation. We need to be inspired to look up and reach for the stars, instead of settling for a little clod of dirt.

And now, the very diet and fitness industries that are supposed to be helping and motivating are actually making it worse by making silly promises in the name of getting the sale and appealing to our inherent slothfulness.

BUT WAIT! It goes even deeper! Could it be possible that even the world's most respected health, fitness and medical organizations are reducing their recommendations so as not to discourage the public from even trying? Lyle McDonald, Diet guru and Author of the Ketogenic Diet thinks so. In Lyle's forum, he wrote:

"From a public policy standpoint, there's that huge tradeoff: Get a small improvement in health (and presumably decrease health-costs) by getting folks to do something, or risk a much larger dropout rate by telling them to work harder. They keep scaling back their recommendations and they still can't get the majority of people to do it. Something is going to be better than nothing, I suppose."

Just how far has this down-sizing of exercise trend gone? All the way to zero in some cases: Some “experts” tell you that you don’t need ANY exercise at all…

Just take this youth-restoring hormone therapy, a once per week injection, rub on some crème, take a handful of pills, get a nip here and a tuck there, have some fat suctioned, drink a few specially formulated shakes three times a day, eat these special foods, staple the stomach, stick on a patch, and there you have it: A perfect body without almost no expenditure of energy!

Many people who have been struggling with weight loss want to believe these claims so desperately, they take the bait every time, even when it sounds too good to be true and defies common sense.

Remember that classic courtroom scene in the movie “A Few Good Men” when Jack Nicholson says,

“You want the truth? … YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!”

Well, if you can’t handle it, then stop reading now because here is the truth that almost no one else wants to tell you:

Your body is BEGGING for DAILY exercise!

The human body-mind is the most remarkable creation in the universe and it was designed and engineered to be used often and vigorously. The mind and body atrophy and weaken if not used frequently.

Your body isn’t going to fall apart by getting your heart pumping every day– YOUR BODY WILL THANK YOU FOR IT!!!!!

In some cases, using material things wears them out faster. Your car only has a certain number of miles on it, right?

Your body is the opposite: It wears out when it’s NOT used.

Have we forgotten all the incredible benefits of REGULAR exercise – both strength training and aerobic training - to keep us young, vibrant and healthy?

Have we forgotten that exercise can feel good and give you a natural high that’s better than drugs or alcohol?

Have we become so vain and ignorant that all we want is to look good on the outside for a short while and do it with the least amount of effort, using the path of least resistance?

Do you realize that you grow against resistance – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?

Why not have a helicopter fly you up to the summit and drop you off? You’d get the same view as those blokes who risked life and limb lugging 60-pound rucksacks up the steep mountain side for days, wouldn’t you?

Why do CHAMPIONS climb?

The answer is: There’s no personal growth without the journey. Reaching the top without the climb leaves you unfulfilled. The journey is the greatest reward, not the destination. Champions understand this. The other 95% of the world hasn’t figured it out yet, so they remain stuck in self imposed bogs of quiet desperation.

Do you really want to go to the store and just buy the trophy without the competition? How would you feel seeing it on your mantelpiece? It would make great conversation at a party, right? Your friends and family would be so proud of your “bought” trophy… (or would they?)

If you would stop for a minute and think about the great rewards of training and understand that the training IS the trophy, then the entire attitude of exercise avoidance would disappear, obesity and disease would plummet, you would be working out and loving it, and your health, your body, your attitude, your energy and your outlook on life would shift so dramatically, your friends and family would hardly recognize you. They would be inspired by you too, so the “exercise fever” would spread.

So HOW MUCH exercise do you REALLY need? What are we talking about here?

I’m not talking about training two hours a day like Jack Lalanne has for the last ¾ of a century, or doing hours of high intensity weight training like a competitive bodybuilder, or an hour and a half of cardio a day like an endurance athlete, unless that’s called for to reach a certain goal, or unless that’s what you enjoy.

I’m not talking about lifting weights every day. You need recovery time from intense forms of training.

I’m not talking about never taking an entire week off for rest and renewal.

And I’m not talking about never taking any days off.

What I AM talking about is doing some form of moderate exercise – enough to break a sweat, get you breathing heavy and bring your heart rate up - almost every day of the week, most of the year.

It could be the popular six day program alternating weights and cardio every other day with Sundays off. It could be two days a week of lifting weights, two days of aerobics classes and two days of hiking or mountain biking (six days total with one rest day). If it’s fat loss you want, then cardio every day with a few days of strength training works like magic.

It could be virtually anything! Choose what you love to do - just do something every day, include both strength training and aerobic training each week and do it on a regular schedule at the same time each day.

Ultimately, the amount of exercise you REALLY need is the amount it takes to give you the results you want.

However, there are some very compelling reasons to exercise every day…

Why every day? Because that makes it a HABIT.

Anything you do repeatedly (especially daily) will eventually become a habit, and your habits, positive or negative, will control your results and ultimately, shape your destiny.

Habits can be harnessed to your advantage, propelling you downstream towards your desired destination, or they can become your worst enemy, forcing you to paddle fruitlessly upstream against their powerful currents.

Ninety-nine percent of the things you do each day are done on “automatic pilot” – without consciously thinking, deciding, choosing or exerting willpower. That is the power of habit and exercise is one of the most positive habits you will ever develop.

Why else is daily exercise a good idea? Because you develop METABOLIC MOMENTUM.

Your metabolism is like a spinning top. You twist the top and it starts spinning at maximum velocity, but not long after your fingers leave contact with the top, it’s already slowing down.

Eventually, the revolutions decrease and the top starts to wobble. You have to spin it again before it loses all its momentum and topples over. By spinning it more frequently, the average rpm’s stay higher and the top never slows to a wobble.

Your metabolism is the same way. Exercise “spins” your metabolic rate. Many factors affect metabolism, but nothing else cranks up and maintains your metabolic speed like frequent exercise of sufficient intensity.

In Dr. Michael Colgan’s book, “The New Nutrition”, Dr. Colgan writes,

“At The Colgan Institute, we have found that for fat loss, five days a week for 30 minutes is much superior to three days weekly at 70 minutes even though the total weekly time of the three day people is an hour longer. In order to keep the metabolic rate churning, frequent exercise is the key.”

Amen Michael.

In “The Metabolism System For Weight Loss” Exercise Physiologist Greg Landry writes:

“You won’t find many people telling you to exercise daily. In fact, most “diet” programs or weight loss books you read will not emphasize exercise and that’s simply because so many people have a negative reaction to exercise. You have to start thinking differently about it. Exercise can be fun. The key is finding something you can enjoy doing on a daily basis. Many people think an hour of exercise every day is more than their body can handle, but keep in mind that our bodies were made for and are capable of many hours of physical activity a day. DAILY exercise is absolutely critical to losing weight! DAILY exercise is also very effective at changing a sluggish metabolism into a super-charged metabolism!"

Bravo Greg.

Yes, I hear the grumbles and groans from the peanut gallery… “You mean 3 days a week isn’t enough?” But how am I supposed to find time to exercise every day? That’s impossible because I have kids, a job and a life, you know!

Impossible???

Here’s a novel idea: Get your butt out of bed 30 minutes earlier!

Are you really concerned about quality time with your family? If so, then you OWE IT TO THEM to take the time to take care of yourself so you’ll be around long enough to enjoy their company.

We live in a society with more demands on our time than ever before. But if you don’t make time for exercise now, you’ll lose time to sickness and immobility later.

Psychologists tell us that most people will almost never take action to PREVENT a problem, only take action to GET RID OF a problem after it has already occurred. So true isn’t it? Unfortunately for many, that may be too late.

Your body is remarkably forgiving, but there’s only so much abuse it can take. Abuse includes negative actions like smoking, drinking, drug use and eating refined junk food. But sometimes that abuse comes in the simple form of neglect – it’s what you don’t do that hurts you the most.

Can you exercise too much? Certainly. Is there a point where you become overtained? Of course. Is there a point of diminishing returns? Sure is. Can training become an unhealthy obsession? Absolutely. Do you need to take time off for recovery and renewal? Most definitely! Should you maximize your workout efficiency to get the most benefit in the least time? A resounding YES!

However, if I were you, I’d be far more concerned about getting too little activity than getting too much.

So, my friend, if you want to go on believing in the hype you read in the magazines and best selling books these days about minimalist training, once per week workouts, (or less), or the diet that doesn’t require ANY exercise, just eat these special food combinations, take these supplements or cut out all the carbs and get the body of your dreams, that’s your choice… it’s your body, your health and your life…let your results be your guide.

But when you’re unhappy with your results, and when you stand in front of the mirror scratching your head trying to figure out why you don’t look and feel the way you want to look and feel… and when you start to feel the downward pull of gravity and body parts are sagging…. and when the aches and pains strike, and the doctor’s visits become more frequent…

…AND, when you see that there are others the same age as you, in the same circumstances as you, with the same number of hours in the day that you have, who have remained lean, healthy, and muscular…

…THEN GET OFF YOUR GLUTEUS MAXIMUS AND GET SOME EXERCISE EVERY SINGLE DAY! YOUR BODY WANTS IT, NEEDS IT AND IS LITERALLY BEGGING FOR IT!

About The Author

Tom Venuto is a bodybuilder, gym owner, freelance writer, success coach and author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has written over 150 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. Tom's inspiring and informative articles on bodybuilding, weight loss and motivation are featured regularly on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Burn The Fat e-book, click here: www.burnthefat.com.