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FITNESS TIPS FOR 7/9/2003
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WEIGHT LOSS SECRETS FOR INTERMEDIATES - STEPPING UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL
by Tom Venuto
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.
THE SECRET TO EXTREME 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 Linda Hamilton 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 back into the confines of their comfort zone the minute
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. 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...
pulsating... 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.
The 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?
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. Usually they
see some results initially because their bodies aren't accustomed to
exercise and any increase in activity above no activity will always produce
some results.
More often than not, the results begin to slow down a bit within a few
months of training. Then they scratch their heads and wonder why it's not
working anymore.
This is why: Because three days a week is for beginners, and you're no
longer a beginner. If you want twice as much fat loss and you want it
twice as fast, double your cardio.
Suppose you burn 400 calories per workout for three workouts per week.
That's a total of 1200 calories per week burned. If you doubled that to
six days per week at 400 calories per workout, you would burn 2400 c
alories. YOU JUST DOUBLED YOUR FAT LOSS EVERY WEEK! 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 from three to six days per
week, you increased the intensity so that you are 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.
By the way, this kind of frequent cardio is how I reach 3 - 4% body fat
for competitions: MINIMIUM six days per week of HARD cardio, 45
minutes per session.
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 fast!) 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, 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 30 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. 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 2 DAY 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 begin
to reach a point of diminishing returns, and ultimately, the
excessive duration has a negative effect. 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:
1) Work each muscle more thoroughly and more deeply into the
fibers
2) Work the entire muscle group; for example, front deltoid, side
deltoid AND rear deltoid
3) Concentrate on each muscle more instead of spreading your
attention out
4) 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 four
ays per week and hitting each muscle twice per week
Mon: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, Abs
Tues: Thighs, Back, Biceps, calves
Wed: Off (or just cardio)
Thu: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, Abs
Fri: Thighs, Back, Biceps, calves
Sat: Off (or just cardio)
Sun: Off: Total rest day
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 FREQUENTLY! This will help
alleviate boredom and prevent your muscles from "adapting" to the
routine (Changing routines 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 14 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 like 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 beginning and intermediate learning
stages.
If you choose not to join a club, that's fine too, 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 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 1700 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.
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, gym
owner, freelance writer and author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The
Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best
Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. 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
