A girl I was talking to today was telling me about how she has been training.
Girl: "I heard good things about NROL (New Rules of Lifting) so I bought it and did the fat loss routines"
Me: "Is that right..?"
All I could think of was YOU’RE STILL FAT.
***note.. NROL is an excellent book***
This kind of person exists everywhere, I call them the perpetually fat. Moving from one “fat loss” program, to another “fat loss” program... Maybe losing a pound or two, but nothing that their weekly binge won’t add right back on.
Most people can lose about 1% of their bodyweight per week without losing any muscle.
Lets say we have two initially eager girls, Shelly and Kacie. Both currently at 160lbs and both want to lose 20lbs.
Shelly goes the route of most, not really counting calories or meal sizes. She gets on a fat-loss program. Each week the scale goes down, but not by much. She completes the 3 month long fat-loss program and has lost 5 lbs. Not too bad. She goes onto phase two of the fat-loss program and loses 4 lbs for a total of 9 lbs in 6 months. Next she goes through phase three where the workouts get really painful. She’s beginning to adapt though, and only loses 3 lbs during this phase. That’s a total of 12 lbs in 9 months.
She’s a little over halfway to her goal, and it took the better part of a year to do.
Kacie puts forth a total commitment. She starts the same fat-loss program, but watches her diet 100%. Sure, 1 in 100 meals may be a cheat meal, but that’s it. Her target goal is to lose 1.5 lbs per week (1% per week). Boom, after the first month she has lost 6 lbs. Feeling confident she continues the next 2 months of the first phase. Since she is losing weight she also drops her intake appropriately. After the 3 month program, she has lost 18lbs.
Kacie ends up at a lean 142lbs after 3 months. Shelly ends up at a flabbier 148lbs after 9 months.
Kacie sees the results and sticks with it. From this point on, she is gaining LBM, getting more in shape and loving her new found fitness. Shelly continues her program hopping looking for that magical key. When Kacie tells Shelly how she did it, Shelly still thinks her diet is perfect and that her difficulties are all to do with “genetics”.
The reason why Shelly doesn't succeed is simple: she could not be fully dedicated for three months. Three months is shit all folks, 0.02% of an average person’s life.
Do things the right way folks, not the easy way. It WILL pay off.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Why you suck at lifting.
If you have been training for 5 years and cant deadlift 2x bodyweight, or you still struggle with unweighted pullups/chinups, or squatting anything heavier then your bodyweight seems impossible....
You suck at lifting.
Now, I wont make fun, I should, but I wont.
I bet if you struggle with a 2x bw deadlift, you also struggle with keeping the fat off, sticking to a meal plan, gaining muscle, and improving. Ive come to the sad conclusion that people don't work as hard as they claim to. Not even close.
Now, you want to get better, I understand. Here is some tips.
1) Insanity.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." - Benjamin Franklin
You always do the same thing, you stay at the same rep ranges, you use the same weights everyday, you use the same exercises, you lift at the same time, you lift in the same order, you use the same training split, you use the same training theories for years, and hey guess what, you get the same (no) results!
With a simple change in any of the above mentioned points you can turn things around. If you have always trained in the 5-10 rep range, why not try heavy singles, or sets of 20? What do you got to lose? Nothing. If you always have consumed 3000cals a day, try 3500, see what happens. If you have always done HIT, do some volume training, if you have always done volume training, why not try EDT? You get the point. Change things up, often.
2) Intensity.
Once in a while you need to put near every bit of training advice you have ever heard out the window and just kill it in the gym. Once in a while, you should be on the verge of blacking out or puking. Taking your body to the absolute limits of strength, speed, power or size is not easy, if it was, everyone would have their goals. If you have never blacked out, broken blood vessels, collapsed or puked in a workout, you may not be giving 100% effort.
You see people with their fancy 'workout drinks'.. Thats all fine and good, but please, if you can stomach sipping on that crap in between sets of heavy deadlifts, you aren't going heavy enough.
After some workouts, you should feel dead. Your day shot. If you take your body to the limits, its not going to like it. Your shirt will be drenched with sweat, your face will be red, eyes bloodshot. You should look like you just got out of a battle, not a tanning salon.
3) Concentration.
In the gym you have to focus. Talking about how drunk you where last night should not be what you talk about between sets. In between sets, if you can breath, you can quickly oogle at a pretty girl (who wont find you attractive btw), or you can slip a few words of encouragement to your workout partner.. thats it. I don't care how much that club sucked or how many times you banged that girl, really, I don't, I'm concentrating on lifting.
4) Dedication.
If you skip workouts often, cheat meals often (missing a meal is a cheat too remember), your not dedicated enough for this. Thats fine, not everyone was meant to be a lifter. But if you aren't dedicated don't expect shit all for results, don't complain when you come to the sad realization that you are fat and your pants don't fit, don't tell me working out doesn't work for weight loss. No, YOU don't work for weight loss. Fat people are fine with me, as long as they don't complain about being fat, you did it to yourself, fatty.
Thats all I got. Go out and lift something heavy.
You suck at lifting.
Now, I wont make fun, I should, but I wont.
I bet if you struggle with a 2x bw deadlift, you also struggle with keeping the fat off, sticking to a meal plan, gaining muscle, and improving. Ive come to the sad conclusion that people don't work as hard as they claim to. Not even close.
Now, you want to get better, I understand. Here is some tips.
1) Insanity.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." - Benjamin Franklin
You always do the same thing, you stay at the same rep ranges, you use the same weights everyday, you use the same exercises, you lift at the same time, you lift in the same order, you use the same training split, you use the same training theories for years, and hey guess what, you get the same (no) results!
With a simple change in any of the above mentioned points you can turn things around. If you have always trained in the 5-10 rep range, why not try heavy singles, or sets of 20? What do you got to lose? Nothing. If you always have consumed 3000cals a day, try 3500, see what happens. If you have always done HIT, do some volume training, if you have always done volume training, why not try EDT? You get the point. Change things up, often.
2) Intensity.
Once in a while you need to put near every bit of training advice you have ever heard out the window and just kill it in the gym. Once in a while, you should be on the verge of blacking out or puking. Taking your body to the absolute limits of strength, speed, power or size is not easy, if it was, everyone would have their goals. If you have never blacked out, broken blood vessels, collapsed or puked in a workout, you may not be giving 100% effort.
You see people with their fancy 'workout drinks'.. Thats all fine and good, but please, if you can stomach sipping on that crap in between sets of heavy deadlifts, you aren't going heavy enough.
After some workouts, you should feel dead. Your day shot. If you take your body to the limits, its not going to like it. Your shirt will be drenched with sweat, your face will be red, eyes bloodshot. You should look like you just got out of a battle, not a tanning salon.
3) Concentration.
In the gym you have to focus. Talking about how drunk you where last night should not be what you talk about between sets. In between sets, if you can breath, you can quickly oogle at a pretty girl (who wont find you attractive btw), or you can slip a few words of encouragement to your workout partner.. thats it. I don't care how much that club sucked or how many times you banged that girl, really, I don't, I'm concentrating on lifting.
4) Dedication.
If you skip workouts often, cheat meals often (missing a meal is a cheat too remember), your not dedicated enough for this. Thats fine, not everyone was meant to be a lifter. But if you aren't dedicated don't expect shit all for results, don't complain when you come to the sad realization that you are fat and your pants don't fit, don't tell me working out doesn't work for weight loss. No, YOU don't work for weight loss. Fat people are fine with me, as long as they don't complain about being fat, you did it to yourself, fatty.
Thats all I got. Go out and lift something heavy.
Monday, April 2, 2007
The Special K diet.
Someone I know came to me asking my opinion on the 'Special K diet'.
I didn't have a clue what it was. What came next scared me..
"For breakfast and lunch you eat a bowl of special K with a cup of skim milk and have a regular dinner". This is around 200cals per meal. So up until 5-6 or whenever you eat dinner, all you have had to eat is 400cals.
No shit your going to loose weight during something like this. You would also have to be half retarded to try it. Low protein, no fat and a much of processed carbs. Even if you are a nice balanced meal for dinner, lets say, chicken breast, spinach salad with veggies in it covered in olive oil, and maybe some brown rice, you may still be under 1000cals for a day.
More the half of the weight you are going to loose will be muscle. More or less meaning, your going to look the exact same after dropping 5-10lbs on this diet. You will be a smaller version of yourself now.
Workout and eat correctly? Nah to hard. I got a diet for you people.
Breakfast: Lettuce and a cucumber.
Lunch: More lettuce and a diet coke.
Dinner: A dill pickle and some celery.
Pre-bed: 1 peanut (didn't you know about healthy fats??)
Holy crap, my plan has less then 3% of the calories of the Special K diet.. I'm writing a book.
I didn't have a clue what it was. What came next scared me..
"For breakfast and lunch you eat a bowl of special K with a cup of skim milk and have a regular dinner". This is around 200cals per meal. So up until 5-6 or whenever you eat dinner, all you have had to eat is 400cals.
No shit your going to loose weight during something like this. You would also have to be half retarded to try it. Low protein, no fat and a much of processed carbs. Even if you are a nice balanced meal for dinner, lets say, chicken breast, spinach salad with veggies in it covered in olive oil, and maybe some brown rice, you may still be under 1000cals for a day.
More the half of the weight you are going to loose will be muscle. More or less meaning, your going to look the exact same after dropping 5-10lbs on this diet. You will be a smaller version of yourself now.
Workout and eat correctly? Nah to hard. I got a diet for you people.
Breakfast: Lettuce and a cucumber.
Lunch: More lettuce and a diet coke.
Dinner: A dill pickle and some celery.
Pre-bed: 1 peanut (didn't you know about healthy fats??)
Holy crap, my plan has less then 3% of the calories of the Special K diet.. I'm writing a book.
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