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'Kyle's Corner' - Burn The Fat Inner Circle
Fat Loss Tips, Tricks, And Tactics...
by Kyle Battis CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Here you will find the Blog of Inner Circle Site Manager Kyle Battis. Kyle will be posting excerpts from the 'inside,' fat burning tips, mindset motivation gems, and other bits of advice that will help you boost your fat loss results...
| Friday, Jul 18, 2008 |
| THE GREAT ABS MISTAKE "He Was Doing One Thousand Crunches And Sit Ups A Day... But Still NO Abs!!! |
| By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS |
| Friday, Jul 18, 2008 10:07 |
 By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com After 18 years in the fitness business, "How do I get great abs" is still BY FAR the most frequently asked question I receive out of the 30,000+ emails that come into my office every month. No doubt, it's because abs are the one body part that most people are the most frustrated with. Although their questions are often phrased differently and each person's situation seems unique, my answer to "how do I get great abs" is almost always the same and you're about to hear it... "1,000 Sit-Ups And Crunches A Day and Still No Abs!" One question I received recently REALLY got my attention because a young guy told me he was doing 1,000 crunches and sit ups a day and said he still couldn't see his abdominals. He wrote: "Tom: I have been working out for around a year now and I cannot get my lower abs into any type of shape. I'm starting to see my upper abs a little bit, which is great, but despite doing 900 various crunches, ab roller, and 100 sit-ups four days a week, along with my regular workout on the weights, I still have a tire around my waist. What else can I do?" What did I tell him? Well, I gave him the same answer I've given thousands of people over the years, which is the only true "Secret" to great abs... It takes training to increase strength, build endurance and DEVELOP the abdominals, but to SEE the definition in your abdominals - or any other muscle group for that matter - is almost entirely the result of low body fat levels. This may sound counter-intuitive, but if you can't see your abs, it's not an issue of "muscle development" at all. You simply have too much body fat covering up the ab muscles. The lower abdominal area also happens to be the one place that most people - especially men - store the body fat first. There's a Scientific Reason Why Your
Lower Ab Flab Is The Last Place To Go: Belly Fat - A Big Problem Most people don't have their fat distributed evenly throughout their bodies. Each of us inherits a genetically determined and hormonally-influenced pattern of fat storage just as we inherit our eye or hair color. In other words, the fat seems to "stick" to certain areas more than others. There's a scientific reason for this. Your fat cells are not just inert "storage tanks" for excess fuel. They are actually endocrine glands which send and receive signals from the rest of the body. You could say that your fat cells "talk to your body" and your body "talks to your fat cells." This occurs through a hormone and receptor system. For body fat loss to occur, you must first get the fat cell (adipocyte) to release the fat into the bloodstream. THEN, the free fatty acids must be delivered to the working muscles where they are burned for energy. For fat to be released, the hormone adrenaline (epinephrine) must be secreted and send a signal to your fat cells. Your fat cells receive this hormonal signal via adrenaline receptors called adrenoreceptors. Fat cells have Beta 1 (B1) and Alpha 2 (A2) receptors. B1 receptors are the good guys. They activate hormone sensitive lipase, the enzyme that breaks down the fat and allows it to be released into the bloodstream to be burned. A2 receptors are the bad guys. They block the fat-releasing enzymes in the fat cell and encourage body fat formation. How Body Fat Storage Patterns Affect You
And Keep Your Abs From Showing What's the point of all the physiology? Well, it turns out that in men, the lower abdominal region has a higher concentration of A2 receptors, so this gives us one possible explanation of why the lower abdominal region is often the first place the fat goes when you gain it, and the last place it comes off when you're losing it. (Incidentally, the fat in women's hips and thighs is also higher in A2 receptors). This situation is dictated by genetics and by the hormonal and enzymatic pathways we discussed. | NOTE FROM KYLE: "Tom and I just posted an 'AWESOME' two-part written interview with 'stubborn fat loss-expert' Lyle McDonald available in our Member's area. If you're an Inner Circle member you can click on the image to the right to read this killer interview! | Think of ab fat like the deep end of the swimming pool. No matter how much you protest, there is no way you can drain the deep end before the shallow end. However, don't let this discourage you. Lower ab fat WILL come off, it will simply be the last place to come off. First place on - Last place off. This helps to explain why abdominal exercises have little impact on body fat loss. It's a huge mistake to think that hundreds or thousands of reps of ab exercises will remove lower abdominal fat, except to the degree that it burns calories and contributes to the calorie deficit. What removes the fat - all over your body - is a calorie deficit and that comes from decreasing food intake, increasing activity, or a combination of both. What I suggested to this young man was cutting back the ab training, spending the time he was wasting on excess ab exercises for more intense, calorie-burning cardio and weight training for the rest of the body. I also suggested he do an accounting of his food intake, get his nutrition in order and decrease his calories slightly if necessary. As it turned out, his diet was a mess, and as nutrition experts like to say, "You can't out-train a lousy diet." It's a monumental error to think that 1,000 reps of ab work a day will make your abs finally "pop" when your diet is a disaster and that's leading to fat storage. It's not that ab exercises aren't important. But all the ab exercises in the world won't help as long as you still have body fat covering the muscles. You can't "spot reduce" with abdominal exercise and YOU CAN'T SEE YOUR ABS THROUGH A LAYER OF BODY FAT! My Championship-Winning Ab Workout Routine Personally, I only do about 15 minutes of ab work two times per week, with anywhere from two to four exercises for about 10-25 reps per exercise. Forget about thousands of reps of sit ups -- it's a waste of time. The reason my abs look the way they do is not from endless repetitions, but because I get my body fat down into the single digits with a highly specialized fat-burning diet program. Here's a recent ab routine that I've used (for bodybuilding/ ab-development purposes). I do this routine only twice a week and I change the exercises approximately every month so my body doesn't adapt. I prefer slightly higher rep range than other muscle groups, but as you can see, it is far from doing a thousand reps a day. A1. Hanging leg raises
3 sets, 15-20 reps Superset to: A2. Hanging knee ups (bent-knee leg raises)
3 sets, 15-20 reps
(no rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60 sec between supersets) B1. Weighted swiss ball crunches (or weighted cable crunches)
3 sets, 15-20 reps Superset to: B2. Incline Bench Reverse crunches
3 sets, 15-20 reps
(no rest between supersetted exercises B1 & B2, 60 sec between supersets) How To Use Cardio For MAXIMUM Fat-Burning Times have changed since the Aerobics revolution of the 1970's and 1980's. For years, aerobics was the darling of the fitness world. Then scientists began to acknowledge the benefits of weight training - for everyone, not just for bodybuilders. Recently, the pendulum has swung the other direction and we've actually started hearing fitness "experts" suggesting that cardio should be kept to a minimum or even avoided completely. That's the way things tend to go in the fitness world - they swing back and forth in trends, from one extreme to another. Lots of cardio or no cardio. I suggest you avoid trend-hopping and pay close attention to what actually works, by people who know what they are talking about (such as bodybuilders, who are the leanest muscular athletes in the world). Doing nothing but cardio is a mistake. But cutting our cardio completely is also a mistake. The truth lies in the middle. Maximum fat burning occurs when you combine cardio training and weight training together. Those who are genetically gifted with above average metabolisms will find that a slight drop in food intake and just a few days a week of cardio will usually do the trick. However, most people who are struggling with fat loss (sometimes referred to as "endomorph" body type) are simply NOT burning enough calories to get the results they want. The answer for them is more activity to burn more calories. For health and weight maintenance, I would suggest 3 short cardio workouts per week, about 20-30 minutes per session. But for maximum fat loss, I recommend 4-7 days per week of cardio or other physical activity for 30-45 minutes (based on results), at a moderate pace. You can mix up the type of cardio you do, or choose the type you enjoy the most - stationary cycling, stairclimbing, elliptical machines, aerobic classes and other continuous activities are all excellent fat burners (it doesn't have to be indoors or on a cardio machine). If time efficiency is a concern for you, you could do 2-3 of those cardio workouts as high intensity interval training and you'll achieve very good results even with briefer workouts. Even as little as 20-25 minutes per session can get great results IF your intensity level is high enough. Remember, seeing your abs is about low body fat. Low body fat is about burning calories and creating a calorie deficit. The calorie deficit is created by increasing the number of calories you burn and or decreasing the amount of calories you take in from food. Increasing intensity is one way to burn more calories in less time. NOTE: To reach the "ripped" 3.7% body fat level you see in my photos, I do cardio 7 days a week for 30-45 minutes per session, in addition to my 4 weight training workouts per week. 7 Nutrition Secrets For Great Abs That leads us to nutrition. Many people say that "abdominals are made in the kitchen, not in the gym," and there's a lot of truth to that. You can do thousands of reps of ab work every week, but if your nutrition is not in order, you can forget about getting a great set of 6-pack abs. - Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level. If you use a more aggressive calorie deficit of 25-30%, then do not keep calories too low for too long; increase calories to maintenance or maintenance +10-15% 1-2 days per week.
- Spread your calories into 5-6 smaller meals instead of 2-3 big ones. Be very conscious of portion size. If you eat too much of anything (even "healthy" food), you can say goodbye to your abs. Period.
- Eat a source of complete, high quality lean protein with each meal (egg whites, lean meat, fish, protein powder, etc)
- Choose natural, complex carbs such as vegetables, oatmeal, yams, potatoes, beans, brown rice and whole grains. Start with aprox. 50% of your calories from natural carbs and reduce carbs slightly (esp. late in the day) if you are not losing fat. Avoid refined, simple carbs that contain white flour or white sugar
- Keep total fats low and saturated fats low. Aim for 20% of your total calories from fat (and no more than 30%). A little bit of "good fat" like flax oil, fish fat, nuts & seeds, etc is better than a no fat diet. Essential fatty acids actually assist the fat burning process.
- Drink plenty of water - a gallon is a good ballpark to shoot for if you are physically active.
- 1000+ reps of daily ab work is an amazing feat of endurance, but that's not how you get visible, 6-pack abs! If you were to do 1,000 reps of ab exercises every day, you would have outstanding development in your abdominal muscles and you would definitely have great muscular endurance. Unfortunately, if your abs are covered up with a layer of fat, you will never see them even if you do 10,000 reps a day!
You Condition and Strengthen Your Abs With Specific Ab Exercises...
But The Secret To Seeing Your Abs Is Reducing Your Body Fat! I once saw a photo of a man who broke one of the Guiness World Records for sit ups. It was the most paradoxical thing, but this man did not have any abdominal muscle definition. He was not obese or overweight at all, mind you, but he had a small enough layer of body fat that the muscular defintion did not show through. I've never seen a better real life example which demonstrates the basic principle discussed in this article: You get great abs from reducing your body fat, and you reduce your body fat by creating a caloric deficit through nutrition and metabolism-stimulating and calorie-burning exercise. I've spent my entire career - through more than 18 years and 28 bodybuilding competitions - studying the science and practicing the art of body fat reduction. I speak from experience and I walk my talk as you can see from my pictures. If you'd like to learn for yourself, what I've learned about fat burning nutrition and getting your body fat level low enough so that you can finally see a "6 pack rack" of abs, then be sure to take a look at the Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle program. Thousands of men and women call this their "fat loss bible." For all the details, click here Train hard and expect success, Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com About the Author: Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle," which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com I hope that you enjoyed this awesome article by Tom. This is just the tip of the iceberg my friend and there are plenty of other great articles, calculators to help you design your fat loss plan, discussion forums to find answers, audio interviews to motivate you, success stories to inspire you, downloadable goodies to stock up on, and much more inside the member's area. If you're not a member yet, click on the link below to learn more about Inner Circle Membership and to see what you've been missing 
Train with purpose, 
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Kyle Battis, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn The Fat Inner Circle Site Manager
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| Wednesday, Jul 09, 2008 |
| 55 Burn The Fat "AH-HA's" Straight From The Mouths Of Burn The Fat Inner Circle Members |
| By Kyle Battis CSCS, NSCA-CPT |
| Wednesday, Jul 09, 2008 08:51 |
.jpg ) Hey there,
You know what an "AH-HA" moment is right?
It's one of those times where you come across something that causes a fundamental shift in how you see the world and perceive reality.
Recently I polled some of the members of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle about their Burn The Fat "AH-HA's"...
I asked them this: "Have you ever read a particular paragraph of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, came across an interesting idea in an article on the Inner Circle, picked out a piece of 'Venuto-Wisdom' in one of Tom's interviews, or came across any other 'nugget' that caused you to experience an "AH-HA" moment?
I certainly have had multiple "AH-HA's" from reading BFFM and being involved in the Inner Circle.
Here are a few of mine AND some of the top 'Ah-Ha's' from our Inner Circle members:
 The Goal Card, for example, has been an ultra-powerful AH-HA for me and I use it every single day. (To read an article Tom wrote about the power of the Goal Card Click Here.
Tom gave me a greater appreciation for the 5 Elements necessary to achieve killer results (the right mindset, resistance training, cardio, BFFM nutrition, and Social Support).
Tom also introduced me to Psycho Cybernetics which has provided me with SO MANY "AH-HA's" that have helped me change my life. By improving my Self Image I have experienced leaps and bounds in my physique development, in my business, and personal life.
I have been reminded of the fact that you can learn something from everyone over and over again. Throughout many of the times I have had the opportunity to interview Inner Circle members in our "Success Stories" section I have taken away multiple Gems and experienced multiple "AH-HA's"!!!! Thank you to YOU because I have learned so much from all of you.
I came across Tom's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle and downloaded it immediately. I read the entire book in pretty much one sitting (it became a very LATE night!). While a lot of the principles were familiar to me, I loved how Tom really broke down the whole calories in vs. calories out principle. I have religiously been logging in every morsel I take in on a diet journal since January.
The calorie principle keeps me on track to make sure that I do my diet journal logs DAILY. The nice thing is sure, when calories are too high, I need to taper back for the rest of the day. But sometimes, due to the craziness of the day, I realize I need to eat MORE -- and that's a nice bonus! (doesn't happen very often though!) Interestingly, because I do keep such accurate logs of my food, it really isn't a burden -- in fact it gives me more freedom because I know exactly if and when I can afford a "cheat meal" on a given day.
I also love the substantial amount of content Tom devotes to the MENTAL aspect of this. In 2003, I was following a book or a coach's plan. Sure I wanted to achieve a great transformation, but I don't believe I ever fully embraced the lifestyle mentally. I was still VERY MUCH looking forward to cheat meals or free days which I definitely overindulged in and that I know definitely hindered my progress. I think the reason my hormones became so out of whack towards the end is because I dieted down so drastically before our Hawaii trip. Had I embraced the mental aspect more fully, I would have been able to curb my free days and cheat meals so that the weight would have been lost more gradually in a more healthy manner.
I review my goals daily. Actually a few weeks after I bought BFFM, I decided to enter my very first figure competition for this September 2007. It was a difficult decision but it's something I've always wanted to do for the past few years and I've finally committed to do it. My husband is currently training for a marathon and I decided I wanted to do something spectacular for myself this year as well.
Once I decided to make this my 1 goal, everything else became so clear. With every workout, with every meal I have to ask myself, "Is this taking me closer to my goal or farther away?"
With the thought of competition as the first and foremost goal right now, it consumes my thoughts constantly. With every difficult rep, with every cardio session, I envision myself on stage as if at the competition -- with the physique of my dreams.
Sure there are times, especially right now as I am early in my competition prep that I look at the amazing photos of figure competitors on stage and wonder if I could EVER look that good. So I have to work twice as hard to push those negative thoughts away. Which leads me to:
The MENTAL workouts of this are harder than any session at the gym. But like with any training session, the more you do it, the easier it gets and the stronger you become.
Since I decided to compete, I hired a personal trainer -- the only competitive bodybuilder at my local YMCA who also happens to have a couple of titles himself. His workouts have definitely pushed me to new levels of strength that I never thought possible. With every single workout, I am stronger and I can lift heavier.  The 5th Element is definitely a significant part of this. My trainer has access to all of my diet logs so whenever I eat, it's like he's sitting right next to me. Whenever we meet for a training session I know I have to be well rested and well-fed because I need the energy to complete a successful workout.
Also, attitude is everything. My trainer compliments me because I don't complain during the workout -- unlike some of his other clients who are always "negotiating" with him the number of sets / reps / weight level. Although some of the weights he sets up for me look extremely daunting, he says "Do it" and I just do it. Sure he needs to help me or spot me at times but the feeling of overcoming and accomplishing what seemed like an impossible task is well&empowering.
I listened to Tom's recent interview today about how to get super-lean lots of things are covered in BFFM but the one statement from the interview that stuck out in my mind was that: We live in a reciprocal universe. You get what you put into it. And in only 3+ months, I'm already seeing that,
Since January, I've lost 20 lbs of fat and have gone from a size 10 to a loose size 6. I'm currently sitting at around 20% bodyfat (down from about 30%). I know I have a lot of work to do before September but I'm enjoying the journey and looking forward to what my body is capable of. With all of the knowledge I've gained so far and continue to gain as well as having a wonderful support system of my family, friends, and trainer, I KNOW I CAN DO THIS.
Originally I decided to get lean and get healthy and then ultimately compete on stage for ME. Now that I've been doing this lifestyle for over 3 mos now, I'm starting to inspire others&family, friends, strangers, staffers at the gym. This is an effect that I never really expected but I believe that through my example of hard work and good nutrition which of course yields the great results, others will follow suit and choose to live healthier.
P.S. Tonight I just took that same kickboxing class that I took in January. The last time I took it was that first time in January. Tonight, I ROCKED it! I couldn't believe how much energy and endurance I had as opposed to the first time! It's truly amazing what can happen in only 12 weeks.
The mind is the missing key for most. Honest truth ... I bought the book in '04, and skipped straight past the goal setting to read about nutrition and training. That was all I thought I needed from the book. I did not write goals and I just set out to follow the plan. Some short success followed but ultimate failure. When I revisited the book in 2006, the early chapters on goal setting really hit home with me. I set my first goals and a lot of early success followed. It is so critical.
Track Results Frequently. This came at the same time as moment 1. Seeing results on a spreadsheet or in pictures will always help motivate you to improve or worst case, help you to not fall too far off the wagon.
Bodytyping ... Accept it and get over it. I am an endomorph. No one in my family tree is lean (or ever has been). I can whine about my inherited genetic barriers or I can turn around and make them be my biggest blessings. The fact I have to overcome more than many may mean I have to do more cardio, be more careful with cheat meals and train on weights harder than others but it is the greatest thing that could have happened to me because it is forcing me to overcome. This was an incredibly powerful realization.
A quote from the book ... "People often underestimate the amount of effort it requires to develop a lean body.". Maybe the fourth time through the book this quote really struck a chord with me. After early successes that seemed to come easily, as you get leaner it gets more challenging I think. This quote reminds me to examine my food intake, change workout routines, change intensity, work harder, visualize more, drink plenty of water, etc.
The body loves nutrient rich food. Improving my diet has taken a lot of time and self examination. Due to my body type I realized maybe a tuna sandwich on wheat bread would not be as good for me as a tuna on a bed of greens and other vegetables. I have no history of ever being able to eat salads with any consistency. Now I absolutely crave them and eat them twice a day. This was an impossible thought to me a year ago and not something I strived for necessarily but I eat salads with protein and good fats and the effect on energy levels, immune system, mental health is nothing short of miracle.
Do not approach this as a diet. Make lifestyle changes at a pace that you are comfortable with. Different than anything I have tried to get lean in the past ... this has become a lifestyle. It really took time to get to this point but my body enjoys this so much that there is no missing processed foods. I go out and it is easy to eat right. The body is happy.
There are many more but I will stop here. I am leaner, stronger and happier at 37 yrs old than I have ever been in my life by far. I look forward to more ah-ha moments as I go forward.
A reaction from Tom about the AH-HA's Above...
Wow, you really know how to focus in on the important stuff.. Great example of making use of that good old 80-20 principle. (20% of the stuff will get you almost all of your results... the other stuff is useful, but is mostly minutia... focus on the fundamentals and important stuff first and you will always succeed...
I had "learned" motivational thinking in the past, but the context in which I originally learned it was very manipulative. The reason for teaching goal setting was always for me to produce results for others despite what it might cost me. And the so-called benefit I would receive was so closely identified to what they wanted produced, that it really wasn't any kind of a benefit. Needless to say motivational talk and thinking has a tendency to fill me with a great deal of trepidation.
So as you can imagine it was with bated breath that I read and listened to the goal setting and motivational information. There would be times where the words sounded too familiar and I wouldn't be too sure if I should continue reading/listening, then the next sentence would put everything in perspective and the information would become usable.
And the BIG Ah-Ha:
It's just for me, and all this information is solely for me to be used by me to be how I want me to be ~ or really, anyone who buys the book or participates in the Inner Circle
Also anyone I've ever come across who gives this kind of information charges an INSANE amount of money, especially the people with ulterior motives. So I had to ask myself, "What does Tom get out of all of this?"
I hope the answer to my question is an incredibly good living, since what he wants me to achieve is really all for me.
Maybe it seems like a simple thing, but at the same time it's extraordinarily magnanimous.
Last year I got Tom Venuto's book. Before that, I never knew a book like that existed. Anyway after reading the book i already knew about half of the information, but tom corrected the other half for me. I received the book really in a crisis time as I had 5 consecutive injuries and i spent already one year in reeducation physiotherapy and i was about to waste another year.....
I was an athlete, a basketball player, but I wasted nearly my half life in dieting. From 15 years old i was somehow successful in losing a lot weight but that never was enough, i was really going crazy and was also interested in how to increase power and athletics by studying plyometrics and different type of exercises that existed, but one thing that I've never mastered was NUTRITION.
That was a really important term for performance; In other words, Venuto's book was like a dream for me after my 5 years research and now I'm dominating and mastering nutrition like never before.
But the biggest AHA thing that ended with me was the "MIND" perspective... that bounced me and opened the door for me; it was like an enlightenment! TOM touched in deep with this whole thing which is the mind and the key for the universe that opened all my neurons - it was really FANTASTIC!
And if i remember, the last article that Venuto posted about mind was everything. If people know how to absorb it, they will just know the way to never name something with "Failure" ... and again Tom here rocks.
Boy oh boy! So many aha moments to choose from. Well here are some of my biggies... There is one phrase that Tom uses that has really stuck in my head, and that is "Succeed On Purpose"
So many people go after their dream body without setting out any type of plan to get there. It's not enough to know that you need to eat better, lift weights, and do cardio to lose weight.
You need to have a solid plan. When you lay out that plan to get you to your dream body you will get there. It's when you steer away from it that you get into trouble.
Don't just change your behaviors...change your thought behaviors as well.
In order to change your body, you do need to do physical training and eat well, but you in order to change your body you must also change your thoughts.
Stepping outside your comfort zone.
Nearly everyone has set up some sort of limitation for themselves simply by deciding what level of discomfort they are willing to put up with. Achieving your dream body takes a lot of work and discipline. Yet so many people come up with excuses to avoid a workout, or indulge in junk food, or neglect writing out their goals on a daily basis because of lack of time.
Even though they really want a lean and health body that provides them with loads of energy and opportunities, they are not willing to take one simple step outside of their comfort zone and endure a bit of pain (not physical) in order to achieve it.
...This is why the quick fix mentality is so strong.  If you haven't already listened to the 1st Burn The Fat Show, stop reading this post and go listen to it NOW!
This leads to my next aha and that is that all progress and growth occur against resistance. (Go read Wedge of Discouragement in the article section)
The majority of people will look at obstacles, setbacks, or so called 'failures' and decide that it's just not possible to achieve their dream body because they always seem to sabotage themselves.
Successful people on the other hand, look at these obstacles and setbacks as an OPPORTUNITY for growth and progress. If they fail, they fail forward!
Others don't even need to experience a setback in order to give up. If they don't see the results they were hoping for, even though it has only been a few short weeks, they pack in the bags.
This is always a shame because unknowingly to them, success could have been one week away, one day away, one workout away, or one meal away. Plus they neglect to look at all the small accomplishments along the way.
Then there is the "Amazing Nino Savona". 
This story really touched me and forced me to push myself even harder than ever. Hearing how he feeds off of people telling him what he can't do is really inspiring.
How many times has someone told you that your dreams and goals were unrealistic and you actually believed them. You allowed them to shoot down your dreams. If someone tells you that you can't do something, use it as fuel to achieve your goal.
When you have your passion and drive for achieving your dream and you add onto it the fact that someone told you that it's impossible and you want to prove them wrong...you can become 'unstoppable'.
Geez, I guess I could keep going, but I think I've given enough food for thought.
One last thing is that I have learned a tremendous amount from the non experts in this Inner Circle community. I have just as much to learn from each of you as I do from Tom and the others.
There have been many AH-HA moments but the one that changed my life was learning that Tom had a similar body type to my own. Let me explain...
I've been in fairly good shape from time to time in my life but I was never able to reach the super lean body fat levels -- 4 to 6%. I always gained fat very quickly as soon as I stopped doing whatever I was doing to stay lean.
Throughout my entire life, I was under the impression that there was no way I'd ever be able to reach those super lean levels and maintain them. Because of my somatotype (body type), which is endomorph/mesomorph, I felt I would always be doomed to carrying a layer of fat that hid any muscularity I developed.
After all, the bodybuilders in the magazines had 2 distinct advantages over me. Most had much superior genetics to mine and most used drugs to get that that super lean, muscular look. I felt I'd never be able to achieve a look like them due to having somewhat poor genetics and being unwilling to use drugs to get there.
Then I found Tom. I learned that he has a similar somatotype to my own and he was able to reach those super low body fat levels and he did it naturally. In addition, Tom kept his body fat percentage below 10% all the time.
THERE WAS HOPE! Could I actually reach those super low body fat levels? This was a huge AH-HA moment for me. I absorbed his eBook like a sponge absorbs water. For me, it was a quick read. I read it cover to cover in a day. I had seen most of the info in Tom's book before so most of the concepts weren't new to me. Most of it was scattered throughout other books I had read and in various places on the internet but NOWHERE could I find it all in one place. Not until BFFM.
I was on a high for weeks. I now had a role model that had reached the goals I've only previously dreamed of. My role model had written the outline for me to achieve these goals in BFFM. It was that day that my life changed forever. AH-HA!
The main AH-HA that would come to mind would be from the Get go in Tom's book. Let me back up a step and be brutally honest with you first. I am one of those people that doesn't get excited about much of anything. I have spent my life researching anything that I enjoyed and approaching whatever the task from an extremely analytical view. I made sure I wasn't blind sided with the unknown if that makes sense. 37 years later or actually 35 years later when I found BFFM, I read something in Chapter one that changed my very foundation in life. No diets, or training manuals, or School books ever discussed goals, affirmations or subconscious programming. I had never encountered this in anything I have done in my life. After digesting chapter one then reading Maltz's Book I felt like a kid in the candy store. For once in my life I was realizing things about myself that I could never quite figure out.
There is a black and white area that I lived by and now I have the gray for the entire package. When I was in my High school days , I was a huge Remote control Airplane Fan. I loved flying and building model gas powered airplanes. I was inundated (SP), with everything from the physics of flight, history, design, and concept. I collected engines and custom built many Model planes from Cubs, to Jets. I made sure whatever I did was to the best of my ability and always Better then the competition. I made darn sure that if there was a competition coming up I was going to win it whether it had to do with Model design or Flying special maneuvers. My competition in life was the Other person! Be the best at all costs, no matter what it takes.This all backfired on me as it has in other areas of my life. How so you ask? I ended up having no real competition that would challenge me and my drive in life. Back then I have to say *drive* because something was burning inside me to achieve things but I had no idea what this mechanism was and how it was firing. I ended up getting burned out of the hobby/sport because the High of winning and being all I could be was not good enough anymore. I had hit a brick wall and had no clue what to do to spice things up and make the sport interesting again.
I did this in so many areas of my life and what I would do is go cold turkey and switch over to a new Hobby/Skill/Sport and do my analytical manipulation all over again then achieve great things and toss it aside for the next new fangled thing to come along. I needed new highs, and new ways to define my potential in life. I have finally learned a BIG AH-HA after starting BFFM in regards to my competitive nature. I learned that its Not about the other guy. Life has Nothing to do with The other person! It has to do with setting goals to beat your very own personal bests. It has to do with competing against yourself and being better then you were the year, month, day, minute before. Its about having compassion for your fellow competition and enjoying not only your experiences and success but theirs as well. This was the edge I needed all my life and its totally redefined my entire outlook on everything I do. My vision is now measurable in the form of goals, affirmations and with subconscious programming. I have been working on these things with my 10 year old son and I can see a great difference in his relation with himself and those around him. This is the kind of core information I would love to see the educational system incorporate.
that's an awesome story and I can so relate with the part about not competing with others. I do that all the time and I THINK I should be able to complete with people half my age who are not overweight, never have been, and have trained to run or triathlon all their lives (and I've only done them for 3 years and I'm mid forties!). I don't know where this comes from and actually it's kept me from competing at all last year cause I just didn't want to awaken that competitive beast AND I was so discouraged about gaining a bunch of weight in the off season. I am so wanting to come to that AH HA as I re-read BFFM again after several years and really setting goals and following ALL of the instructions, not just the work outs.
So I guess I would say my AH HA so far is to SET GOALS!!! It's been my missing link this whole time and I've just gone around and around in a circle as a result. SET GOALS FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS these are my current take aways.
This quote hits home, "I don't know where this comes from and actually it's kept me from competing at all last year cause I just didn't want to awaken that competitive beast AND I was so discouraged about gaining a bunch of weight in the off season."
I know the feeling about waking the beast. The stress, and pounding that we put on ourselves in prep for a competitive situation is unreal. If I wasn't all with it, I would rather not show up at all then to show up and get knocked down a few notches. Whats funny about all this, is that we set all these boundaries and impositions in our heads of how we perceive things to be in our environment and in the minds of others. In doing so, we limit our growth potential and capabilities so much! How can we possibly know what others think or feel! Its all in our heads, and that's whats so great about moving all the focus from the people around us and putting it on yourself. Once you think about competition from this vantage then your whole experience will change with your event and you will come to enjoy those around you so much more!
Glad to read that others understand the struggle and have been there and how they have overcome. That's the beauty of the boards and real world wisdom! My brain is not always my friend!!
The most important AH-HA moment for me is a BFFM basic. Eating small frequent meals "is by far the most effective way to speed up your metabolism". I have to be honest, when I read that I thought BS...I "eat" those words now, and humbly admit my arrogance.
I have anorexia and brain washed myself for years around food and body issues. I wasn't skinny fat, I was skinny. It took two decades for my metabolism to just shut down, (lots of other damage prior to that) so to take a step of faith that my metabolism would work by eating small frequent meals was one of the most frightening things I've ever done.
To understand all that I had done to damage my body was a result of my thoughts, how I had formed the beliefs that could of (miraculously didn't) killed me and that I had the choice & ability to live differently from now on. So, when I continually say BFFM is the best and Tom ROCKS...well, now you know why.
There is a very strong mind body connection. So it IS all in your head!
That this is not easy. No pain, no gain was not just a cute saying. No way around it, work and dedication, no quick fixes.
My metabolism is probably not slow, just my couch potato or computer potato ways. That actually is the best news. I am not stuck here because of some physical deformity but from a extensive library of misinformation!
Hooray BFFM!
BFFM is the roadmap to weight loss for everyone no matter what their circumstances&&.. BFFM shows everyone can loose weight and that it works for everyone&&it's how you go about it. BFFM is not just one type of person, not just fit people, strong people, not just men, not just women. It works for everyone, once you follow it. The goal setting and explanations of what works and why, as well as the feedback loops are brilliant.
A bad weeks results are not failure but feedback&. This is huge for me, no more wondering why something didn't work&. Recording what you do enables you to identify what went well and why, what went bad and why&. I was a typical person before reading BFFM. I always thought I can't loose weight, I'm trying but it doesn't work (the chocolate, bad food and no exercise might have been a factor!!!). Now the self sabotage is visible and this means I can deal with it&.
The Inner Circle -- the support, advice and help from Inner Circle, the motivation from the Inner Circle is fantastic. Also Tom's interest in everyone in Inner Circle -- that he personally is involved and posts is very motivating.
BFFM has helped me understand where I am and why I am overweight. Weight loss wise I have am not a BFFM success in the normal sense of the word. I am about 7 lbs down from when I started in November but am much fitter and healthier. I have lost about 10% body fat and added this in muscle. Where BFFM has worked for me is that I know it can be done& Tom has explained it, give the scientific explanation. There is no reason for anyone not to loose weight. So, why haven't I lost weight? Well, here is where the gremlins start&. My problems are some unresolved issues in my past& I won't go into them but suffice to say as I started to work out my goals I found I had all these mental blocks in place. I didn't realize they were there or what a hold they had on me. I am currently fighting why way though them and believe me, its hard. However I know it will work and I will get there eventually...
My main "AH-HA" is similar to John B's where he said he realized Tom V is a similar body type to him and was able to get incredible lean, giving John the mentality that it is possible.
My "AH-HA" is very mental and has to do with the fact that although we say there are different somatotypes and everyone falls within this scale from endo to ecto with meso in the middle, to actually BELIEVE IT and know others are in the same shoes that are successful!!! What I mean is this...I would see and read how others were becoming successful (sometimes the right way, sometimes not) and think, "Well, that's their body, mine is TOTALLY different and will never respond the same way". The key was realizing our bodies are different, but not TOTALLY different. The majority of time I see this is when someone cuts their calories to a point that it's so low that their metabolism slows and they justify it by saying their body's genetics is worse than anything you've ever seen. That's just not true!!! It's easy to say that, but to believe it is the hard part. What cutting the calories too greatly leads to is a slower metabolism and hurting yourself. Then, after mentally convincing yourself that your body is so different, you continue to cut calories, hurting your body even more.
When I realized, I may have poor genetics but I can overcome this and my body will response how BFFM teaches, as long as I follow it properly, then mentally your body lets go a lot of that stress puts your body in a survival mode, which also may hurt your metabolism just as bad as the incredible cal deficit. I believe in BFFM Tom discusses muscle loss from cardio and says something like, "Actually, the stress caused from worrying if too much cardio is causing muscle to be burned is probably more harmful than the cardio itself" is along this same point.
To summarize, when I realized everyone's body is different, but we're all humans and the main principles will all be similar, with small adjustments due to genetics, that's when I knew any body fat percent is possible!
Actually, my greatest AH-HA came from reading the "Venutoisms" ... much of what is in BFFM is logic, instinct put into system and words, things I'd felt were right but hadn't found anyone to actually say; then there is the training and goal setting :) but the biggest AH-HA was that one Venutoism, nr 7 if I remember correctly. About getting away from negative people as fast as I would run from a burning house.
This may sound strange, or "not good", but thanks to that one little sentence, I got the guts to do what I should have done years before. I left my husband. Sounds terrible, but he is your typical negative person, in fact I've never met anyone so thoroughly negative and criticizing as he is. He would even take just one look at some unknown person on TV and state "he's a jerk" before the guy even opened his mouth ...
The worst of it was, that I began noticing myself acting more and more in the same way, a way that just wasn't the real me. I'm an optimist, an "everything is possible" person; not a "what's going to go wrong today" type at all. Yet there I was, sharing a house with someone who would look for 10 solutions to a potential problem (and having to find an 11th when and if that problem even occured anyway) ...
Thanks Tom, for that statement :) even though I'm certain it wasn't your intention to have anyone leave their spouses over your comments :D
The biggest "ah-ha" for me doesn't even have a close second competitor... Nothing great was ever achieved by being realistic! Most people get scared when setting goals and ask only for what they think they can get, not what they really WANT. This is a mistake because puny, "realistic" goals are NOT motivating. WANTS are motivating. -T.V.
Within a minute of reading that, I wrote down what I wanted rather than what I expected and have been driven by it ever since. Had I written down what I expected, the motivation would have lasted about 10 days (the average lifetime of the typical "New Years resolution.")
Here's the cool thing: my expectations have now changed. The fire lit by that one paragraph produced success and that success proves the goal will be reached. I expect it. All I have to do is be patient and wait. And, as long as I'm waiting, I might as well work my butt off to have something to do.
I find the titles chosen for the Progress Journals very interesting and often wonder if they reveal whether the person is working towards expectations rather than dreams. Titles like "Another try" suggest a focus on expectations and self-fulfilling, undesired outcomes. (I tried to make up that title so that it did not match any existing journal. I'm not trying to pick on anyone).
Dream it
Want it
Write it
Do it
There you have it!
55 'Burn The Fat AH-HA's'!
This is the type of discussions and powerful information Inner Circle Members have access to when they become a part of our community. If you're not a member yet, click on the link below to learn more about Inner Circle Membership
Train with purpose,
Kyle Battis, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn The Fat Inner Circle Site Manager
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| Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |
| Wu Long Tea (Oolong Tea): Does It Really Help You Lose Weight? |
| By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS |
| Wednesday, May 21, 2008 02:32 |
| You've probably seen the advertisements:
"Drink wu long tea and lose a jeans size every 7 days!"  "Burn 20 lbs of fat in 30 days with wu long tea!"
Maybe you even watched Oprah a few years ago when Dr. Perricone said that switching your coffee for green tea would help you take off the pounds.
You may have also read or watched countless news stories which say how healthy it is to drink green tea.
The odds are good that if you're interested in improving your health and losing fat, you probably either drink tea, take a green tea supplement or you've at least thought about it.
But what if I told you that most of the fat reducing claims for green tea were absolute, total BS, based on misinterpretation or deliberate misreporting of the research?
Unfortunately, it's true. If you've bought green tea based on the claim that it causes large reductions in body fat, then you have been scammed.
Here are the facts:
Green tea DOES stimulate your metabolism.
However, the research is very unclear about what kind of impact this small, short term increase in metabolism will have on your bodyweight in the long term.
In the most often quoted study (Dulloo, 1999), A swiss research team found that 270 mg of green tea extract 3X a day increased metabolic rate by the equivalent of about 79 calories on average and increased the oxidation of fat as the fuel source.
If you do the math, it appears that 79 kcal a day would add up to an extra pound of fat lost every 44 days. Not much, but you'll take it, right? Hypothetically, that would add up to an extra 8 pounds lost per year.
What advertisements quoting this study don't tell you is that this and other similar studies did not even measure long term change in body fat percentage or bodyweight. They only measured a 24- hour increase in energy expenditure.
One study which is used as marketing ammunition to claim that wu long tea burns 2.5 times more fat than green tea was based only on a 120-minute increase in energy expenditure! (reminds me of that Mark Twain quote: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.")
Numerous follow up studies have confirmed the short term increase in metabolism, but the studies are mixed on whether green tea improves weight reduction or maintenance in the long term.
The research IS compelling, but not conclusive.
As for ad claims that say you'll lose a lot of weight just from drinking green tea& absolute BS! Hopefully the Federal Trade Commission will catch up with these scammers sooner rather than later, as the marketing messages on the Internet are getting louder and bolder every day.
As for health benefits - green tea is certainly a champ. It's high in antioxidants and there are more than 2,000 research citations about potential health benefits of green tea (not to mention a 5,000 year history of use in China and the far east).
Even if you're a skeptic, green tea is hard not to like and it's hard to dispute that it's a good idea to add green tea to your nutrition program as one part of a well-balanced fitness lifestyle.
But when it comes to claims for large and rapid losses in bodyweight and bodyfat, (especially the wu long tea ads that are currently all over the internet), buyer beware.
The science we do have says that the thermogenic effect of green tea - while very real - is also very small.
Train hard and expect success always,
Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
 PS - Tom Venuto has recently released the definitive guide on Green Tean and fat loss. If you are a member of the Inner Circle you can download Tom Venuto's E-book entitled "The Truth About Green Tea and Weight Loss" by Clicking Here.
PPS - If you are not yet a member of the Inner Circle you can learn more about this e-book by Clicking Here.
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| Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 |
| Strength Training Program Design For Fat Loss - One Approach For 'Suzie Q Soccer Mom' and One Approach For 'Venuto-Esque Bodybuilder Guy' - Which Is Right? |
| By Kyle Battis CSCS, NSCA-CPT |
| Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 07:09 |
| Howdy, Here is the great exceprt from the "Physique Formula" interview that I mentioned in my audio message. After you read this excerpt be sure to listen to my 'Boiled Down Fat Loss Bullets' by hitting the play button at the audio button below the excerpt:
Jimmy Smith: Tom how do you structure your training differently from someone who's trying to bust through that 10% body fat plateau? Suppose you have someone stuck at 10% body fat and they can't seem to get through it, what do you do training-wise?
Tom Venuto: That's really going to depend on the person. It's very individual, because if you ask me, "Tom, what do you do personally in your own training, being that you're a competitive bodybuilder?" I might give you a completely different answer compared to what I would recommend for Suzy the soccer mom who's trying to break her fat loss plateau.  Jimmy Smith: Ok, alright, well let's compare both of them. Let's start with Suzy the soccer mom, then go to Tom the bodybuilder.
Tom Venuto: Ok, well Suzy the soccer mom, she's got three kids running around, plus a husband (sometimes that makes four kids!) Maybe she's a housewife and that alone keeps her hands full, or maybe it's a two income home and she's working full time, but either way she's busy, so time efficiency is going to be a big concern. You're going to have to create a plan that's time efficient but also gets her the results that she wants. Sometimes there is a compromise because on one hand you have the ideal program that would give great results and on the other you have the realistic program that will give good results, but there's no way she will follow the ideal program, so the good realistic program is the right choice. It doesn't have to be perfect because she's probably not trying to get shredded and she has no intention of doing a figure competition, but maybe she does want to put on a bikini.
So we have to take all of these things into consideration. What we're seeing with most of the weight training program trends right now in dealing with time efficiency issues is using a lot of super sets for one thing. If they're not doing super sets they're doing some kind of high density training, and by "high density," I just mean that they're putting a whole lot of work into a short period of time. They're not doing a traditional bodybuilding workout where they hit a set, a rest of two minutes, hang out, hit another set and so on. The workouts are fast in terms of the work to rest ratio and we may even use increasing density as a progression tool. I think a super set program is a great way to do that. Supersets are used a lot in bodybuilding -- I love em'. The difference in the time restricted situation is you might do fewer exercises, only compound exercises, not many isolation exercises. And you might do unrelated body part supersets like back supersetted with legs which is something bodybuilders usually wouldn't do. Your soccer mom could explore circuit training too if she wanted to, but I'll tell you, I really like the super sets because I think circuit training sometimes dilutes the strength training and muscle building benefits a bit too much.
The next thing you'll do for Suzy soccer mom is be sure to choose the highest bang for your buck exercises like squats, lunges, deadlifts, Romanian deads, presses, chins and rows. Maybe that's not what Suzy had in mind, but she's not going to get there if she stays on the inner thigh machine and in pink dumbbell "toning" classes and never gets under a barbell. Again, this is good advice for everybody, but especially for the time efficiency scenario. If you take a compound exercise, it's going to knock off more muscle groups in one fell swoop. You do a chin up, you can call that a back and bicep workout, right, and you're going to save time. These exercises are also going to give you a higher energy expenditure, so if you stay with an 8-10 rep range or so with enough resistance, you can build muscle, stimulate metabolism and burn fat at the same time. You might burn more calories lifting than you do in your cardio.
The way it's different with a body builder like myself is I'll stay with the split routines and hang on to some of my isolation exercises. There has actually been a lot of negative sentiment towards that type of bodybuilding training from the main stream training community today and they're not wrong, if that kind of training is used in the wrong context, but I have absolutely no objections to staying with body part specific training for the body builder because that's how bodybuilders get the best results for their goals.
The way I approach my training different: Obviously there are major fat loss benefits to all weight training programs, but I don't even look at my weight training as fat loss training, I look to nutrition and cardio for breaking fat loss plateaus and when I'm in the gym lifting weights, fat loss is the furthest thing from my mind. I'm training that muscle, like a sculptor slapping clay on a statue. I'm trying to slap on muscle in this place and that place to develop the right symmetry because bodybuilding is about physical appearance and aesthetics. Some trainers say form always follows function, and everything has to be functional, but I don't necessarily agree completely. What would the definition of function or functional training be for a bodybuilder anyway? To look like a bodybuilder, you train like a bodybuilder. Basically it's all a matter of picking the right program based on each person's goals and taking in some lifestyle and time efficiency considerations as well.
Jimmy Smith: Right. I think about how many people do not understand the context thing like you said and you are a hundred percent correct, bodybuilding at the contest level is about physique and it's about sculpting and I think that's where the notion of lift the weights to build the muscle, and do the cardio to burn fat comes from. Like everything else, when taken out of the context it came from, it gets misunderstood when it's generalized to the masses. You just gave a great little illustration of how fat loss training would differ and the similarities in it between you know, a housewife, or regular average Joe and a bodybuilder, that was a great example.
------------------ End Of Excerpt... ------------------
Here are my 'Boiled Down Bullets...'
Just hit the Play Button below to listen to my take-aways from this excerpt:
Train with purpose,
Kyle Battis, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn The Fat Inner Circle Site Manager
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| Friday, Apr 04, 2008 |
| High Density Training (HDT): A Legitimate, Scientifically-Proven Method For Gaining More Muscle In Less Time |
| By Tom Venuto |
| Friday, Apr 04, 2008 12:09 |
 Unless you're a beginner, you've probably already heard of "high intensity" training (HIT), but if you haven't heard of and used "high density" training (HDT), then be sure to read every word of this article because HDT is a science-based, real-world-proven principle that can legitimately help you gain more muscle or lose more fat in less time, while simultaneously allowing you to avoid joint pain and work out more safely without the injury risk that comes with training under very heavy weights
The word "Intensity" has been given many meanings in the context of weight training and bodybuilding. Some strength coaches say the only true definition of intensity is the total amount of weight you lift or the amount of weight you can lift relative to your one repetition maximum ("load" intensity).
Other bodybuilding experts claim that the optimum measure of intensity is the amount of perceived (subjective) momentary muscular effort you can exert during a set ("effort" intensity).
I have also seen intensity defined by strength training authors as the amount of muscle building hormones released as a result of a workout ("anabolic" intensity), or the amount of physical stress imposed on the body ("relative" intensity).
There is yet another definition of intensity which few people ever consider:
"The Density Factor"
If you performed four sets of squats with 185 pounds in a span of eight minutes during workout 1 and then you decreased your rest intervals so that you performed the same four sets at the same rep tempo with the same 185 pounds in six minutes during workout 2, then you would have successfully overloaded your muscles and increased the intensity of your workout even though you didn't even add weight to the bar. Instead of adding more weight to the bar over time, you performed more work in less time.
Here's a more technical way to quantify it: suppose it takes you 4 seconds to complete each rep and you perform 4 sets of 8 reps with 90 seconds rest between each set. If you add it up, that's 398 seconds of time to complete the workout (6.6 minutes), with 128 seconds of work time and 270 seconds of rest time (4.5 minutes). The ratio of work to total workout duration, also called the "density factor" therefore, is 128:398 or 32.1%
If your sets, reps and weight remained the same, but over a period of several weeks, you progressively cut your rest intervals in half, then the total time of the workout would be cut from 398 seconds (6.6 minutes) to 263 seconds (4.3 minutes) and your work to rest ratio would increase from 32.1% to 48.6%.
By increasing your work in a given period of time, or as in the example above, by performing the same amount of work in less time, either way, your body perceives this as an overload or increase in intensity. The results in terms of muscle size increases are similar to what you might have experienced had you increased the weight and kept the sets, reps, tempo and rest intervals the same.
This type of intensity is so important that it has been given its own name: It's called "density." Density is the amount of muscular work you can perform in a specified period of time, or a measure of the work to rest ratio in a specified period of time.
The benefits of high density training include more muscle, increased levels of anabolic hormones, less body fat and a faster metabolism. Even better, by reducing rest intervals, you shorten your workout, which means that high density training is a legitimate way to get more results in less time.
By the way, increasing resistance and increasing density are not necessarily mutually exclusive. If you can accomplish the difficult task of doing both in the same training "block" or "cycle," the results can be nothing short of astounding.
A Brief History of High Density Training (HDT)
I'm not sure who originally coined the term "density" as it relates to strength training, but certainly strength coach Charles Staley deserves a lot of credit for popularizing the term in recent years with the 2002 release of his book "Escalating Density Training" (EDT) and his 2005 follow up, "Muscle Logic."
Although mainstream use of the term "density" may be new, the principle is not. The first time I heard of high density training was in 1983 when I picked up a Joe Weider Muscle and Fitness magazine as a young teenage bodybuilder. Joe Weider, who was known for compiling bodybuilding training principles and adding his name to them as part of the "Weider System," was a proponent of the density principle for pre-competition training, but he called it something different: The "Weider Quality Training principle."
I never thought "quality training" was a good name for the technique because it was not accurately descriptive. If you look up density in Webster's dictionary, it will give the definition as, "The quantity per unit area, unit volume or unit length." If you add "unit of time" to Webster's definition, then "density" is truly the most accurate and descriptive way to name the technique.
In Weider's 1983 book, "The Weider System of Bodybuilding," Joe wrote, The Weider quality training principle is a vital tool in the arsenal of any serious bodybuilder during a precontest training cycle. Quality training consists of progressively reducing the average rest interval between sets from approximately 60-90 seconds during the off season, down to as little as 15-20 seconds at the end of the precontest cycle. This works hand in glove with a tight precontest diet to bring out the maximum degree of muscularity and muscle density in a bodybuilder's physique."
By the way, the benefits of the density technique go far beyond bodybuilding. In fact, for busy parents or executives, (which is about as far from competitive bodybuilding as you can get), various forms of density training may be the perfect solution staying fit on a tight schedule. More on that later&
My next exposure to the subject of high density training came from legendary bodybuilding trainer Vince Gironda. Just one year after being introduced to bodybuilding magazines by Joe Weider, I then stumbled onto Vince Gironda's training courses, some of which date back to the 1960's and 1970's and his 1984 book, "Unleashing the Wild Physique." Gironda, who passed away in 1997, was a famous north Hollywood trainer of bodybuilders and movie stars.He was a strong advocate of high density training in general, but specifically he became well known for his preference for a system he pioneered called 8 sets of 8, which involved minimum rest between sets, ultimately as little as 10-15 seconds.
Years later, the subject of high density training emerged again when Charles Staley released his "Escalating Density Training" EDT book. In his book, Charles gave an excellent summary of the density principle. He wrote,
"Other programs focus mainly on manipulating volume (usually by increasing it). EDT acknowledges the importance of both volume and intensity, but focuses primarily on a little appreciated, yet critically important facet of the training load called 'density.' Essentially, density is the work/rest ratio of your training. Your (muscles) will get bigger when you force them to do gradually more and more work in the same period of time."
How High density training works and 4 reasons you should use it
Okay, enough history and background. By now you're probably drooling at the prospect of finally discovering a legitimate method of gaining more muscle in less time and you want all the gory details! Patience, we'll get to that in just a moment. First, let me explain exactly how high density training works, how it will benefit you and when it's best to use it. Then in part two, I'll give you the goods and show you some different ways you can use the technique yourself.
Many things are debatable when it comes to strength training. In fact, I've never met any two trainers who agreed 100% on everything. However, one thing that is accepted universally by ALL trainers is that progressive overload is an absolute requirement in order to induce muscle growth -- it's the foundational principle of all effective strength training programs. If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. To get something different (more muscle), you have to force your body to perform in a way it has never done before through progressive overload.
The problem is, many people believe that the only way to apply progressive overload is to increase the amount of weight you use with each successive workout. That's known as progressive resistance, but progressive resistance is only one of many possible ways to achieve progressive overload. Progressive density is a method of progressive overload, which, while not aimed at replacing progressive resistance completely, has many unique benefits that cannot be duplicated with any other form of training.
1. HDT increases the time efficiency of your workouts
HDT allows you to complete a highly effective and result-producing workout in as little as 30-45 minutes. In fact, if you use split routines, you can zip through a couple of body parts in as little as 20 minutes -- or less - leaving time for cardio (if necessary) and still getting done with the entire workout -- strength + cardio - in 45 minutes or less.
Although bodybuilders at the competitive level usually strength train for 45-75 minutes per session (not counting cardio), for the busy parent, student or executive in this day and age, finding a legitimate method to get an effective workout in less time is a godsend. Trainers who specialize in workout efficiency and or workouts for executives and busy people usually use the density principle heavily in a variety of ways.
2. HDT allows you to work around injuries and sore joints or tissues
 A second reason to use HDT that most people never think of is that it can allow you to work around (and avoid) sore joints and injuries. If you're suffering from an acute injury, or any serious injury, naturally you should follow the advice of your physician and avoid stressing the injured area at all. However, if you've been training for a long time, you are no doubt familiar with those achy, painful joints and muscles that are not "major injuries", but are more like "annoyances" that often prevent you from training as heavily as you'd like.
Despite feeling the aches and minor pains, if you get a little too bold and slap on more weight than you should, that annoying "irritated" area often turns into a full blown injury that sets you back days or even weeks before you can train it at all. This is a frustrating and probably all too familiar scenario for an awful lot of people, especially as they get older.
The ultimate solution is of course, to seek a health and fitness professional to help you find the cause of your pain and correct the problem from its source, but if minor joint or muscle pain is preventing you from training heavy, then don't train heavy! Many people get themselves in great trouble because they labor under the belief that it's all or nothing and they "must" use weights as heavy as possible or their training is in vain. Many trainers and training systems that call for heavy loads all or most of the time are partly to blame. The alternative is to train with lighter (moderate) weights with stricter form and briefer rest intervals, aka, "density" training!
Overload and intensity are necessary to achieve muscular growth, but that overload/intensity does not have to come in the form of extremely heavy weights. Adding weight to the bar is arguably the most effective way to overload a muscle, but it is not the only way.
For example, if you are a 300 pound squatter, you probably believe that you must use 85% (255 lbs) or more for maximal strength gains, and 70% or more (210lbs) for maximal hypertrophy. That's a solid generalization, but not an absolute. Take 185 pounds and squat it for 8 sets of 8 reps with 30 seconds or less rest between each set and see how "heavy" that weight feels to you by the last few sets. Or, superset each set of squats with a set of stiff legged dead lifts or barbell rows. More importantly, continue with protocols like these for 6-8 weeks, adding weight with every workout while maintaining or even reducing your rest intervals between sets further to 15-20 seconds, and see what type of muscle growth and fat loss you experience. I assure you, you will be pleased - if you can get through it, that is - this is not an easy workout and it is not for beginners.
3. HDT may help burn more fat
A third reason to use high density training is to increase the effects of a fat loss program by burning more calories in a given time period, by maximizing post-workout calorie expenditure and by maximizing the hormonal response to training. This is particularly effective when you train the large muscle groups and compound movements. When you perform supersets between compound exercises or even when you shorten your rest intervals to 30 seconds or less between straight sets on compound exercises, you may be stunned to find out how cardiovascular the workout becomes. In fact, cardiovascular fatigue can often be the limiting factor in high density workouts while training legs and back, at least during the initial phases until your conditioning improves.
Your heart rate spikes, and recovers partially during the brief rest interval, but not fully, so your heart rate stays elevated the entire duration of the workout. You burn more calories in less time, your metabolism is stimulated more, and you unleash a flood of fat burning and muscle building hormones.
End of Excerpt
In the rest of Part I you will learn: - Exactly how HDT may help you burn more fat faster
- How HDT allows "Double Overload" to produce results beyond your wildest imagination
- The 2 Drawbacks of HDT and who it's not right for...
- The rewards of HDT and the price that has to be paid to play...
In Part II of this article you will learn: - The theory and science behind HDT as well as see HDT in action
- See examples of every HDT method: Progressive rest interval reduction, supersets, staggered sets, tri-sets, quad-sets, mini-circuits and circuits.
- Hear all about a classic HDT method - Gironda's 8 X 8 program. Applying what you learn could take your leanness and muscularity to the next level while actually reducing your time in the gym...
- A modern version of EDT - Coach Charles Staley's Escalating Density Training (EDT) and sample training programs to follow
- And much more about how you can use HDT to increase your fat loss results...
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If you are a current member of the Inner Circle you can read Part I by Clicking Here and Part II by Clicking Here. If you are not yet a member of the Inner Circle and want to have access to both parts of this article and the sample fat loss workouts included in it then you can check out the link below to see what the Inner Circle has to offer:
Train with purpose,
Kyle Battis, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn The Fat Inner Circle Site Manager
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| Friday, Mar 28, 2008 |
| 'Burn The Fat' Success Story - Brother And Sister Team Up To Support Each Other On Way To 98 Pounds Of Fat Loss... |
| By Kyle Battis CSCS, NSCA-CPT |
| Friday, Mar 28, 2008 08:42 |
 Tom Venuto was recently poking around the Inner Circle Photo Gallery and came across some before and after photos that caught his attention. These photos really stood out because there were two photos, one before and one after. Occasionally someone posts a series of photos in a sequence, but all of the photos are one person. These before and afters were a little different. There were four photos: two befores and two afters, because James and Terri decided to tackle this challenge as a brother and sister team. We thought that was great because we believe that social support can be very powerful and we have even more proof of that. Tom and I invite you to read about the shared Success of this brother and sister team and the amazing results they have achieved.
Kyle Battis: Hello, this is Kyle Battis, Site Manager of the "Burn The Fat Inner Circle" and we're back again today with another "Burn The Fat" Success Story, actually two Success Stories. The brother and sister team of James LeMoine and Terri Topraset. And we are really pleased to have James and Terri with us today, because they have a great story and some great tips to share with you today. James and Terri got our attention because we were looking at the Photo Gallery on the "Burn The Fat Inner Circle" recently and we saw their before and after photos. They really stood out because we see two photos, one before and one after. Occasionally someone posts a series of photos in a sequence, but all of the photos are one person. These before and afters were a little different. There were four photos: two befores and two afters, because James and Terri decided to tackle this challenge as a brother and sister team. We thought that was great because we believe that social support can be very powerful and we have even more proof of that. Your pictures speak for themselves, but James, why don't you get us started, by telling us about your results, the results that you got, that you've achieved so far? You know, pounds, body fat, measurements, strength, health, how you feel or anything else that you want to share?
James Lemoine: Well, at my heaviest, I weighed in at 277 pounds and had around 37% body fat. I'm now 198 pounds and in the neighborhood of 14% body fat. That's a drop of 79 pounds and about 23% body fat. I used to wear very tight pants, with a 44 inch waist. Now I'm comfortable with a 34-inch waist. I feel fantastic. My self-confidence has improved and I have all the energy I need to get through the day.
Kyle Battis: That's awesome James and congratulations. Please tell us about your achievements Terri. I know you're also a lot leaner today than you were eight months. So would you tell us about your results, please?
Terri Topraset: In May I started off at 149 pounds, and I now weight 124. I wasn't keeping the exact track of my waist measurement, but I know I've gone down at least 2 sizes and I've lost 3 inches off my thighs. I feel more confident because I'm stronger and healthier than I was before I started this program.
Kyle Battis: That's awesome, congratulations to both of you, and your results, and great teamwork on your part. Let's backtrack a minute, so you can tell us a little bit about yourselves. We'd like to get some perspective on what your lifestyle is like. Because some people might see your results and figure, "Oh, well, they must have unlimited time to work out, no stress, no kids running around; someone that makes all their food, etc., etc., and there's something that makes it easier for them or makes them different than everyone else." It's just a little conversation that might be going on in the back of some people's minds, when they hear about these Success Stories sometimes.
So please, just give us a short bio about where you're from; your age; if you have any other family; what you do and anything else personal that you want to share about yourself. So Terri, do you want to go first?
Terri Topraset: Sure. I'm a married 30-year-old mom with a very active 11-year-old son. I'm owner and operator of my own barber shop in Boise, Idaho and between running my business and taking care of my family, I've got a pretty busy schedule.
Kyle Battis: Okay. Cool. So you manage the shop, and I'm sure that comes with a lot of stress, and being an entrepreneur and all that fun stuff, so I'm sure it's not easy.
Terri Topraset: Yeah.
Kyle Battis: A lot of hours go into something like that I imagine?
Terri Topraset: It sure does!
Kyle Battis: Absolutely. Obviously you're still getting great results despite all of that. That's awesome. Yeah, that's a common complaint we hear from a lot of people, is, "I just don't have the time." "I'm a business owner." "I'm a busy mom," etcetera, etcetera. But you are all those things and you're still making it work right?
.JPG ) Terri Topraset: I am.
Kyle Battis: Okay, James. Your turn, my friend. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
James Lemoine: Well, I'm 31 years old and a single father with a 12-year-old son. In addition to raising a child on my own, I work as a software engineer and I'm a full-time student working on a business degree. Finding time to exercise and prepare my meals does put stress on my schedule but I found it necessary to make time for something that is so important to me.
Kyle Battis: That's awesome. So you're a single father, with a 12-year-old son and you've got a full-time job. As a software engineer, I'm guessing you spend a lot of time sitting in a front of a computer. Right?
James Lemoine: All day.
Kyle Battis: All day, okay. And that's a complaint we hear from people too. It's like, "I can't get in shape because I have a desk job. I'm bound to my desk all day long." But somehow with all the demands and you're getting a full-time degree on the side, and you're still able to live the "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle" Lifestyle and get in shape. That's just squashing a lot of the excuses right from the start. Congratulations to both of you guys. James, how did you find out about the "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle" program? Let's start there.
James Lemoine: Well, originally, I was scouring the Internet looking for a quick and easy fat loss solution. Reading reviews for various dietary supplements and other gimmicks, I came across a review for Tom Venuto's "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle." The review talked about Tom's philosophy and natural methods to lose weight and keep muscle without the use of supplements, but with hard work and proper nutrition. I forget the details but the article had me intrigued so I clicked on the link to go to the BFFM site. I hesitated purchasing the book at first because $40 seemed like a stretch for what I thought could be another gimmick, but I was desperate and took the chance, and as they say, the rest is history.
Kyle Battis: That's great. So you found Tom's E-book and you got through it. Did pull right through it? Did you just pick over it, over time? How did you jump into his program?
James Lemoine: < | |
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