Category: TRAINING stuff

Leg training for guys with really bad knees

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January 16, 2019

Simply one of the most challenging problems for the over 40 and especially over 50 guy is, how to train legs effectively when knee problems/pain is derailing leg training constantly.

Click here to watch video “LEG TRAINING SECRETS FOR PAINFULL KNEES”

Off course you must work with your doctor and specialist and if surgery is the only way out then, well that must be done. But unfortunately, there are always risks and chances are that even after surgery the knee would still be far from perfect. This is what is happening to nearly all the guys who has gone this route. The surgery might have helped but it did not provide a solution to the problem.

Same here, I had my knee surgery a while back and ever since then I still struggle, sometimes badly, with my one knee.

But how is it that I got such decent leg development then? Ok I am not massive and NEVER will be, but my legs got good size and great shape and are actually increasing in size, albeit slowly. Actually, I am very proud of my wheels!

In this document/video I am going to let you in on my secret approach on how to grow and shape the legs while struggling with weak or painful knees.

My approach is unconventional for the most part but it makes sense from a science point of view and I am proof that it makes a positive difference.

My leg training approach.

First you need to take the necessary precautions to ensure the knee joint is stabilized enough. There are various ways to do it. I’ve tried them all and they are definitely NOT all equal.

The options are:

STRAPS wrapped around the knee to support the joint. These are long straps that one can actually wrap very tightly to keep everything in place, but it is quite a bit of effort since you must wrap them before each set and unwrap them after each set because they easily cut off the blood-flow due to the tight wrapping. Try and keeping it on will result in a lot of leg pain because of problematic blood-flow.
Flexible KNEE GUARD. This I have tried and can honestly say that if you got any significant knee issues…this is far from sufficient. It simply does not provide the correct support to stabilize the knee.
KNEE SUPPORT BRACE with metal hinges on both sides. This might not look sexy and it might even be a bit uncomfortable, but this is the only knee support that keep the knee stabilized and aligned while training legs. The metal hinges on both sides is the key.

I still got a new one in original packaging so here is a photo: brace

However, it is something that don’t last long. I find every 2 months I have to buy a new one. There are definitely superior products out there but off course also at “superior” prices. I spoke to a girl the other day that had a great (sexy) looking and strong brace on. She orders it from the USA and every part can be replaced. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the brand…sorry! She mentioned it is about $500 US. But I reckon it should last you for a looong time plus the fact that it looks sexy, well that counts a lot!

Either way the one I got currently is cheap, $30 US and does the job well.

When the knee is fully stabilized then you will find that you will be able to do significantly better leg training than without the stabilization. The knee joint of older people has too much “looseness” and thus applying any significant pressure on it can very easily harm it or result in serious pain.

So, the first step is to, every-time you train, to put on a KNEE SUPPORT BRACE WITH DUAL HINGES, even though you do not train legs that day. This keeps the knee stabilized and aligned and prevents damage. Remember when you do standing bicep curls, for example, you plant yourself with your feet and lift fairly heavy weights and without realising it, the slightest wrong move with the legs can be disasterous for a problem knee.

Forget about looking sexy. Leave that to the youngsters. Just keep the brace on while training, after that take it off. Although I must admit, I found that when we recently visited Thailand I had to do so much walking (!) that I had to wear the brace otherwise I would have had severe knee issues.

But this brace is just part of the solution. The problem is that because of your problem knees and pain you have unknowingly weakened the tendons and muscles supporting the knee because you could not train legs effectively. So even with the brace on, there is NO WAY that you can now all of a sudden do heavy squats, etc…!

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Here is my rehab training I followed (with the knee brace with hinges) to allow the supporting knee muscles and tendons to strengthen. It is a slow process because one must follow the golden path of doing enough to strengthen the muscles and tendons but not too much to place undue strain on the knee. Off course it might not be exactly the same for everyone. Rather steer clear from moving at faster pace (with increasing weights), but rather be wiser to move even slower if you experience any kind of knee discomfort or pain. You are not allowed to do a dedicated upper leg training day until such time that this program has reached week 21. Calve training can resume as normal. But be aware even calve training when done too heavy and without a hinged knee brace can place undue strain on the knees. So even here you need to take care and always train with a hinged knee brace and slowly work up the weights. Every rep must be slow and controlled.

This program is just about squats which builds up the supporting knee muscles and tendons effectively. Feet shoulder width apart and knees pushed outward. Never move lower than a 90-degree angle between the upper and lower leg (this prevent strain on lower back). Squats have the ability to strengthening the supporting knee muscles and tendons but also have the ability to destroy a knee when done too heavy or wrong!

Having problem knees mean you will never again be able to do serious heavy squats. This routine is as far as you can go. The key of this routine lies in the frequent squat training. It only works because legs muscles are of a different muscle fibre type than upper body muscles which mean they actually do respond good to frequent training.

The upper legs training regime for problem knees:

Week 1-4: Before training, 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) without any weights – just bodyweight.
Week 5-8: 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 5kg training bag on your shoulders.
Week 9-12: 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 10kg training bag on your shoulders.
Week 13-14: 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 15kg training bag on your shoulders.
Week 15-16: 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 20kg training bag on your shoulders.
Week 16-18: 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 30kg training bag on your shoulders.
Week 19-20: 5 days a week 2 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 40kg training bag on your shoulders.
From week 21 onwards: 5 days a week 3 sets of squats (20 reps each set) with a 40kg training bag on your shoulders. Do always before training as part of warmup routine.

You will be surprised how this regular warm up squats can add to upper leg growth. A case in point is the track cyclists. They have massive upper legs and they train for hours every day 7 days of the week!

If squats, even in the above fashion, is completely out due to knee pain, then a very good alternative is cycling. If you have a good knee doctor then cycling is usually the first post op knee training he will suggest. Use a stationary gym bike and then according to above program gradually (!) increase training intensity over a 21 week period to strengthen the knee supporting muscles with cycling. Don’t forget to wear the knee brace.

Here is a sample clip of such squat training with weight bag and hinged knee brace:

DON’T do any other squats even on leg training days. You will never be able to do serious squats if you have problem knees. But believe me these 5 day a week moderate squats with a 40kg bag on your shoulders is going to result in good growth of the upper leg muscle, over time (!) – don’t be over eager.

But from week 21 you now have clearance to start with other non-squat leg training so now you can actually have a dedicated leg day: Legs press, machine leg curls, hack squats-be careful, preferably not lunges. Take it slow when you start from week 21 with a dedicated leg training day, very slow and build up the weights. Initially increase weights only every 4 weeks. Later-on one you can add small changes every 2 weeks. DO NOT PUSH LIMITS! Accept that you will never have massive legs but this way you can have decent well shaped legs.

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The above will help greatly to strengthen all supporting muscles required by the knee. You will find that you will start to have significantly less knee pain as you progress with above training. But do not for one moment be fooled. You got problem knees and you need to take very good care of them if you want to grow your legs. ONE wrong move and you are back to square one! Although I must admit my knee is significantly better because of this training process.

So, there you have it. This is what I do. My legs has responded well and my knees are drastically better. I’ve been to knee surgeons, sports doctors, physio therapists and biokineticists trying to find solutions, and this one has by far produced the best results.

And off course if you are interested in my training system for the older guy – you can signup here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

Happy training everyone!

Gert Louw

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Over 40 vs over 50 ease of transformation

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November 28, 2018

Many of you know about my transformation between ages 40 to 52.

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It was Initially a slow process because I had serious health issues after an attack at 40 after which it look like I might be facing serious liver and kidney issues for the rest of my life. But as I preach in all my videos, I truly believe that starting such a journey have the ability to completely reverse or change around many serious health problems or at the very least help you coping better with it. Every year my health was better and every year the body looked better. Transformation is never an overnight process even if you are perfectly healthy and especially the first time around one need to give it some time. But after many years of crazy hard work and determination at age 50-52 I truly reach a level I was quite proud off, especially shape wise. I had great aesthetic form and few over 50 guys could match my shape and aesthetics.

Click here to watch video “OVER 40 vs OVER 50 body transformation”

But alas this was not to hold…as if it was not bad enough that I had a ongoing fight for liver health since age 40, as it turned out, I drank dirty water somewhere during Jan2017 while on holiday and contracted a very serious infection which particularly attack the liver. One that brought me very, very close to the brink of death. For the whole 2017, apart from being hospitalized for a lengthy period, my doctor had me on zero physical activity for a 12-month period. Now if I say zero, I mean I was not even allowed to walk more than a few steps, but I was so weak I could hardly walk anyways. I ended up in hospital more than once during 2017 because my body could just not handle any strain and any kind of exertion resulted in my liver crashing. So yes, I saw all my hard work melted away before my eyes. I tried to eat clean for a while but alas, seeing all your hard gains disappearing was taking its toll on my frame of mind. So, with no training (like in NO training) and eating wrong, things quickly went south in a bad way!

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Note on above pic: was meant as a funny pic where I pushed out my tummy – however, it still gives you a good idea of just how bad things really got.

I ended up in a worse body shape condition than when I started at age 40. I truly wondered by myself if I will ever be able to regain my fit body. I got all the knowledge in the world…but is it actually possible for me? I was now nearly 54 and the starting point was BAD plus the setbacks in my health did NOT help.

So, at the start of 2018, the doctor at long last cleared me for training. This after a total of 12 months of zero activity. Obviously I had to start slow and right at the bottom, basically following my STARTING FROM SCRATH SYSTEM. For the whole year I had fairly major tendon issues simply because of the complete inactivity of 2017. But month after month I’ve been tightening the grip on my training, strengthening my tendons, joints and muscles and well surprisingly the body responded much better than I feared. After 3 months on my STARTING FROM SCRATCH SYSTEM I was ready to get serious and change over to the ADVANCED SYSTEM II. (This is the life transformation system I designed for the older guy over the past 14 years through all my trials and tribulations.) The ADVANCED SYSTEM II helped me a lot because it gives me a step by step attack on every level to help the body respond optimally for muscle growth and fat loss, especially important now being 54.

Right now just past 54 and a total of 10 months busy with my new journey (once again), I can positively say that even past 50 it is much easier than you think to recover your bodyshape and muscles. Obviously the fact that I’ve been there before makes it much easier for me on various levels but the bottom line is this prove it IS possible. And NO anabolic steroids for me…I cannot use the stuff with my problematic liver since age 40 and now even more so! So this is done with God’s grace, hard work, following the right approach and system and determination but I must admit my peptide and supplement stack is sharp!

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I had my latest liver tests 1 week ago and it looked very, very good! So, now I am moving to the next level. I’ve recovered nearly all lost size and I am happy with my shape. For next 3-4 months the focus will be on bringing down the body fat levels to bring out more shape and detail. I can see my 6-pack but I want to grate cheese on it! 46817728_2130717693634431_7470715502491336704_o

Now the important question: “Was it as easy as my previous after-40 transformation?” Lol…nope…sadly, not close. The big upside is it actually took much less time which is crazy considering that I am much older now (I attribute that to the fact that I got my act fully together this time around with the ADVANCED SYSTEM II which does make a big difference in the shorter timespan), but the BIG (!) downside is that there is much more pains and aches and I believe this will just get worse as I age…but life is pain and we can NEVER escape that. So, accepting the pain, living with it and training wisely I believe an effective training regime is still possible even past 80! So, keep following this channel/site for the next 40 years and let’s see if my prediction comes to life! Hopefully I will be a famous 80 y/o aesthetic bodybuilder! That is now to say if the old liver allows me…lol. But I am steaming ahead with my focus and trust in my rock, Jesus Christ!

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Well guys, so whatever your excuse, it is not valid.

Just MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Twice of you have too and over 50 if you have too!

Wish you all happy training

Gert Louw

Tags: Bodybuilding, faith, family, fit, fitness, healthy, inspiration, life, lifestyle, middle-age, old age, over 50, over-40, over40, over50, transform, transformation

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Over 40 and no joint & tendons pain? YES it is possible!

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 2 Comments

September 6, 2018

The last word for the over 40 on joint and tendon problems.com/watch?

Click here to watch video “DEATH BLOW to joint and tendon problems”

The number one reason why guys over 40 fail in their goals for shaping the body is simply because of excessive joint and tendons problems or pain. It becomes so bad that well, we either severely tone down our training or we stop all together. And there goes our dreams…

So, I’ve been faced with this dilemma as well…but man, I am NOT taking this lying down. I am a fighter that had to face death square in the eyes twice already. But I refuse to give up or go lie down and feel sorry for myself. I got up, faced life squarely in the eyes and then use my brain and wisdom to do research till my fingers were numb from typing. Through the wonder of internet I can trace the latest results-producing scientific research. Many of which is still in the final stages of approval with the FDA, which means it cannot yet be prescribed to you by your doctor. But the wonder is that most of these “grey” cutting edge products are easily available out there and not classified in the category of steroids which means it is fully legal at this stage.

But why would anyone want to put something into their body that is not yet FDA approved? Let me put it to you like this. Taking risks brings rewards. When no risks are taken then no rewards are to be had. You have to decide on the data at your disposal…are you prepared to take the risk to reach your goal or not and is it an acceptable risk? For me it is an easy answer with acceptable risks because I am NOT stopping my training. Although there are many products I believe ARE too dangerous, the one’s in this discussion are life changing for the over 40 guy and will allow him to reach his training goals and keeping his body, joints and tendons in optimal health. So for me…it is a go! If you have any concerns…best to always talk to your doctor.

Gert Loue HEROES

Ok, now that that is behind us let’s move on to the wonder approach.

Attack Tier ONE

Ever heard of dry needling? It is a fairly new development that has only truly gained ground in the last 5 years or so. Sure it can be very painful, but it produce incredible fast results that can transform you tendons, tennis or golfers elbow problems plus allow you to lift drastically heavier due to muscles functioning better.

Let me explain…As we keep training harder and more intense, the muscles naturally start getting spasms and knots. These knots when left untreated over periods can develop in a “stringy” type knot which is so tight, that the fibres literally push out the blood of the muscle. This means you cannot use that part of the muscle for contraction anymore. The more and more you get these type of knots (and believe me we all get it as time progress) the effected muscle become more and more painful and less operational. Because the muscle is not functioning correctly it will now exert too much tension on the tendon or joint and as a result you will start to develop tendonitis or joint problems and tennis/golfers elbow. Left untreated these stringy knots will completely derail your training and eventually render the muscle out of action. Old school solution was applying extreme pressure on such muscles via specific massage methods, but these proved to be rather unsuccessful. Luckily science have evolved and a MUCH more effective solution has surfaced. It is called dry needling. A process of literally sticking in needles of 3-5cm length into the muscle affected multiple times to stimulate bloodflow again by irritating or “damaging” the muscle slightly. It is all about the bloodflow, when that is restored the muscle relax and heal itself naturally and quickly. This means that a partially operational muscle can be restored to full operation rather quickly. And a fully operational muscle means NO PAIN and no pressure on tendons and joints. Magic hey! …and the best is it WORKS. I’ve been for multiple sessions and can personally vouch for this. Dry needling is done by a Physiotherapist, but I recommend get one who works regulary with athletes.

For the active athlete a visit to the Physiotherapist should be minimum every 3 months even if you feel healthy.

However this goes hand in hand with specific stretches which must be performed on problematic target muscles EVERY DAY! Ask your Physio about these stretches.

Attack Tier TWO

Now that we have covered the physical side of things we move on to other magic things we can do to prevent or limit any muscle, tendon or joint problems.

That “magic” pill is a peptide. More precise it is BPC 157 (Pentadecapeptide (PL 14736))

BPC-157 stands for Body Protection Compound, which reflects its healing process benefits that are getting so much attention. The “157” is a nod to the fact that the compound is a peptide chain built of 15 amino acids.

Read this scientific review paper on BPC-157

While amino acids are natural, the particular sequence of BPC 157 is not, which is why you’ll often hear it referred to as a synthetic supplement. Don’t let this scare you off though as the benefits of this compound are potentially incredible. Why “potentially”? Well test results on rats were incredibly impressive to say the least, but to date no human studies have been completed. So we are still waiting for the final verdict. But simply on the basis of the overwhelming positive rats testing results this is a compound worth considering, at least until we are told differently. Feedback from users (me included) is that this compound hold GREAT promise.

Although it is available as an oral it is highly recommended that one go the injection route (similar to insulin type injections) which result in far greater absorption.

Among many other things BPC 157 will repair torn muscle, tendons and joints and also act as anti-inflammatory.

But although BPC 157 is the nuclear bomb, the basis still needs to be covered. This means you must take

Omega 3 and 6,
Glucosamine Sulphate
MSM

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Now obviously you want to know more about this BPC 157, so here goes:

BPC 157 was first discovered in the gastric juices inside the human stomach that promote the breakdown of food, liquids, and supplements. In particular, one protein was isolated from these stomach acids in its unique 15-amino acid chain. Available as both an oral and an injection-based supplement (similar to insulin injections), BPC 157 via injection is far more popular and effective.

No prescription is required and it is completely legal. Not a single side effect was reported in any of the studies. It is easy available online from various suppliers. You will not find it through your doctor or local pharmacy. If you from South Africa just email me and I can give you the local supplier online details (gertlouwljc@hotmail.com)

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Recommended BCP 157 dosages:

100-pound person: 75 micrograms (μg)
150 lb. person: 110 μg
200 lb. person: 145 μg
250 lb. person: 180 μg
300 lb. person: 215 μg

There are reports of users supplementing with up to 700 μg per day, split between two or three doses.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PBC 157

1. Repairs The Brain

BPC-157 can help induce healing of the brain and nerves after atraumatic brain injury.
BPC-157 repairs the brain after a hemorrhagic stroke and can reduce swelling.
BPC-157 can protect the brain against hypoglycemic seizures (induced by insulin overdose).

2. Protects Against Drug-Induced Damage

BPC-157 can protect the gut, the brain, and liver against damage induced from from NSAIDs.
BPC-157 can prevent aspirin-prolonged bleeding and thrombocytopenia as well as may prevent and rescue adjuvant arthritis.
It can protect the gut from ulceration from chemotherapy drugs.
Cuprizone-induced demyelination is an accepted way to study multiple sclerosis in animal models.
BPC-157 can counteract the demylenation of cuprizone.

3. Restores The Serotogenic Transport System

BPC-157 works on the serotogenic system.

BPC-157 significantly reduces the rate of serotonin synthesis in the:

Dorsal thalamus
Hippocampus
Hypothalamus
Lateral geniculate body

BPC-157 increases serotonin synthesis in the nigrostriatal regions:

Accumbens nucleus
Lateral caudate
Substantia nigra
Superior olive

BPC-157 may improve depression and anxiety by its action on serotonin, similar to that of antidepressant drugs (such as imipramine or nialamide).

For example, in chronically stress rats BPC-157 could improve their mobility.

It can also protect the brain against serotonin toxicity as seen in serotonin syndrome via inhibition of 5-HT2A receptor binding.

4. Protects Dopaminergic System

BPC-157 also works on the dopaminergic system (increasing release of dopamine in nigrostriatal regions).
It can protect dopamine neurons from toxin-induced damage in models of Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
It may also protect against dopamine depletion (from stimulant use).
For example, BPC157 can reduce repetitive OCD symptoms from amphetamine usage.
It can also prevent haloperidol-induced supersensitivity from amphetamine usage.

5. Enhances The GABAergic System

BPC-157 acts in favor of natural homeostasis of the GABA receptors as well as enhancing the GABAergic transmission.
It can help with anxiety by enhancing GABA neurotransmission.
It can also help with withdrawals and tolerance from GABA-based drugs, such as diazepam, making them more effective.
It also antagonizes alcohols effects, including acute and chronic intoxication.

6. Reverses Opioid Tolerance

BPC-157 inhibits action on the opioid system.
For example, it can counteract the effects of naloxone and thiopental-induced anaesthesia.
BPC 157 may also act as an effective paracetamol antidote even against advanced damaging processes induced by extreme overdoses.

7. Protects The Heart

BPC-157 can protect the vascular system.
It protects cells against toxin induced damage.
It can protect blood vessels from oxidative stress.
It normalizes both high and low blood pressure.
It also promotes formation of new blood via angiogenesis and vasculogenesis.
BPC 157 is can also counteract a prolonged QT interval (time between Q and T) from antipsychotic use.
It can prevent death from high potassium levels (hyperkalemia), and magnesium overdose (hypermagnesemia).
BPC 157 successfully prevents and counteracts bupivacaine cardiotoxicity.
It can also help with arrhythmias from electrolyte imbalances.

8. Accelerates Body Repair

BPC-157 can accelerate healing of wounds.

It improves the rate of healing of:

Burns
Eye (corneal injuries)
Fistulas (colon, vagina)
Intestinal anastomosis
Ligaments
Liver (from chronic alcohol intake or tylenol/acetaminophen)
MuscleR
Nerve Damage
Scar Tissue
Spinal Cord Injury
Tendons
Ulcers (Diabetic Ulcers, esophageal)

One way it does this is by its ability to increase activity of the growth hormone receptor.

It can also increase collagen synthesis.

BPC-157 has also shown to improve walking post-injury.

9. Helps With Allergies And Viruses

BPC-157 may help allergies by preventing anaphylactoid (unrelated to IgE responses) reactions.

BPC-157 has viral activity on:

Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
Dengue types 1-4
Feline leukemia virus
Hepatitis A
Herpes
Influenza A and ARBO
LCM virus
Tick borne encephalitis
West Nile fever

10. May Help Irritable Bowel Disease

Similar to cholestryamine, BPC-157 may help with esophageal reflux.
One way it does this is by rescuing sphincter dysfunction.
In rats, higher doses can help with swelling in the gut.
By repairing ulcers, BPC-157 can help with ulcerative colitis.

11. Helps With Ocular Dysfunction

By modulating nitric oxide and cholinergic mechanisms, BPC 157 can counteract atropine-induced mydriasis and L-arginine-induced miosis of the pupil.

12. May Help Oral Cavity

BPC-157’s anti-inflammatory effects may be a useful alternative for periodontitis.

13. May Help With Urinary Incontinence

BPC-157 may help reduce stress-induced urinary incontinence.

Click here for proof of some of the scientific studies done with BPC 157.

Darn! Now, is this all possible? It just sounds waaaay to good to be true? Only time will tell, but above is facts that came from rats studies. Pure science. Whether all or just some of above hold true for humans, no one knows at this stage, but I for one, is a believer simply by the results I am already getting after just a short period of using BPC 157.

But as I’ve put it many times…there are NO magic pill out there. Sure this might help greatly and might be close to a magic pill, we as older individuals need to apply wisdom to our training methods to always lesson joint and tendon problems.

With all this info now at your disposal, age becomes just another number. You can feel young, energetic and muscles, joints and tendons are now being able to fullfill their intended function without holding you back with pain and injury. Wow man, what a bonus!

Those that wanna join my coaching system for the over 40 guy – you can signup via this link: www.gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

So everyone…MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

tendon article gert

Tags: Bodybuilding, experiment, fit, fitness, glucosamine, heal, healing, Health, Injury, inspiration, joint, lifestyle, magic, middle-age, msm, muscle, omega 3, over-40, pain, painfull, pbc 157, science, tear, Tendon, tendonitus

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How often must I train to grow?

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 2 Comments

June 26, 2018

Optimal training frequency for over 40 guys?

What is the best training frequency for growth? This is a question I get asked a lot. So let’s look at this.

I am in this discussion only going to look at the male 40 and over and what training frequency works best for him.

A further assumption is that we talk here about males, who’s primary goal is about adding shape and muscle to their body. Thus we are NOT talking about the marathon runner doing just cardio! We are talking about a guy over 40 who hits the gym to do resistance training.

Last assumption is that we are not alking about a guy who has never trained in his life. Because for such a guy the first 3 months is a complete different approach to the guy who is already fully into his training regime.

So now that we have defined the target audience let’s move forward.

PROBLEMATIC training frequencies:

Anything less than 3 days a week training will put you into severe risk for injury territory. The amount of days is just too little to adequately keep the muscles, tendons and joints flexible and strong enough for intense training. You chances for hurting yourself badly is very, very high. 1 or 2 days training a week does NOT prepare the body sufficient for intense training full stop. If that is the only amount of days that you can train, well then I say no intense resistance training but only bodyweight exercises…and even that can result in a damaged tendon.

Optimal MAINTENANCE training frequency:

Many guys go through a difficult work related period where time is limited and then they just want to be able to maintain size and definition. That can be done with good success of training 3 days a week but not (!) 3 days in a row and the 4 days off. The 3 days must be spaced with one open day inbetween each training day. The stimulation this apply to the body is good enough for maintaining but not for growth. It is also outside the danger territory as discussed above.

Optimal training frequency for MUSCLE GROWTH:

Now we are talking business. Remember you are over 40, so thinking you can train 6 or 7 times a day as some of these youngsters do (who are most of the time in steroids anyways!) is definitely NOT going to work. Training anything more than 5 days will have dire consequences for your muscle building efforts. It will leave waaay to little time for the older body to recover and built muscle effectively and can litterrally result in smaller muscles. I’ve seen it happen over and over.

An over 40 guy cannot train more than 5 days a week if he is not using steroids – full stop.

So the max amount of training for a 40 to 55 y/o is 5 days a week.

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For guys over 55 yrs I suggest not more than 4 days a week, simply because with the amount of testosterone and HGH in the body (which is a step lower than that of a 40-55 y/o) he need more recovery time and more time for the muscles to grow before it is punished again in the gym.

The important part is to remember, muscles do NOT grow in gym. You simply send a signal to them that they must grow because they are not coping with the workload. The growth happen while you rest and sleep and NOT training. But that only happens when the body is fed correctly.

So there you have it…I am 53 right now and for me the optimal training frequency is 5 days a week. My actual routine is mostly just 4 days but now and then I would throw in the 5^th day. There is just no way my body will be able to cope with 6 or 7 days!

If you want my customized ADVANCED SYSTEM II that covers this and provide a complete blueprint for your over 40 body transformation, have a look here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

So everyone – happy training

Cheers

Gert Louw

cutout1esmall

Tags: advanced system ii, Bodybuilding, fit, fitness, growing, growth, inspiration, middle-age, muscle, over 50, over-40, training

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Over 40: Joint-pain solutions

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 2 Comments

February 27, 2018

Over 40 training and joint pain – what to do?

Click here to watch video “Over 40 Ultimate guide for dealing with join pains”

This is very familiar territory for every over 40 guy. We nearly all struggle with joint and tendon pains.

Some of us accept defeat and enter potbelly territory. Well if are you like me, then we refuse to accept even the word “defeat”. It is not in our vocabulary.

But we cannot ignore the aches and pains. So how do we deal with it?

First, the fact is, it IS good, very good, for the over 40 body to be involved in resistance training. That has been proven beyond any doubt by many science studies.

We must just find a way of dealing with the “problem” and not too simply, give up! Dealing with it involves wisdom and quite a few things that we need to do to effectively relief the pain.

Before we start discussing what must be done, remember – NEVER train through pain. You will make whatever the problem is MUCH worse. As you get older you will have to regularly change your exercises and even your whole workout approach and regimen to periodically side-step pains and aches in tendons, joints and back. This is a given. BUT…never, ever, stop training because of pain…adapt and change. Always keep training with what you can do, even if it means a total different temporary training approach.

Joint pain (and tendon pain) is not just simply a result of training heavy. MANY factors play a role.

Let’s go through the list of the things you need to do to relief/avoid tendon/joint pain:

TRAINING

You must have a cutting (lighter weights, higher reps per set) and building (lower reps with higher weights) phase in place to allow regular “rest” periods for the tendons/joints. Phase lengths should be roughly 3 months each.
Consider training lighter for a 6-month to a year period if you struggle with a serious tendon/joint issue.
Very important – never bend your hand upward or downward when lifting, but keep it all times in a straight line with the for-arm. Bending the hand during heavy lifting places undue strain on the elbow via strained tendons. Keeping the hand straight keep all tendons at equal strain.
Bench pressing should be performed with the overhand position with bar resting on the thumb area (bottom) of the palm so that there is no pressure on the wrist. (The place where the bar lies on the hand must be in a straight line with the whole arm to ensure that no strain is on wrist.)
Use special straps to relief strain on the wrist. I will show example in the video. A simple strap fastened around the wrist with a rubber palm grip which can be wrapped around heavy weights. This allows for near zero strain on the wrist joint. This is especially helpful with pull ups, shrugs and nearly all back and upper body exercises.

LIFESTYLE

Yip you guessed it…NO SMOKING! Smoking makes the whole body functioning less optimally. It affects nearly everything in the body from the brain to the skin to the lungs to pains and aches that get much worse because of the smoking.
The same goes for drinking. Light drinking (4 glasses wine per week) is max. But even for some this proves to be too much and result in joint pain. In quite a few cases people had to completely stop drinking alcohol in an attempt to get rid of the joint pains.
Too little sleeping. Your body needs time to heal and repair. Too little sleeping rob it of this time. A good (6-8hrs) night rest will go a long way to help the body function optimally.

EATING

Our eating habits have a much bigger role to play in joint pain than you might think.

Ensure that you drink enough filtered water per day (3L-6L). This helps washing out the toxins from the body. More toxins = more joint pain.
Enough good oils. Apart from the fact that good oils (omega 3 & 6: peanut butter, olive oil, avocado, coconut) are critical for a healthy functioning hormonal system, it is also very important to help ease joint pain. Cutting out all good oils/fat from your diet will aggravate joint pain and result in low testosterone levels.
You must ensure the body is in an alkaline environment with a PH of roughly 7. The more acidic the body gets, the more joint pain will be experienced, full stop. There are enough serious science studies to back this up. There are also many other advantages when you keep the body in an alkaline state. It has been proven to lessen your risk for cancer and supports a stronger immune system amongst others. On the next page there is a list of ALKALINE and ACIDIC foods to help you adjusting your diet. (A good starting point – lemon juice every morning and evening and cutting out wine and fizzy drinks. MANY people have gotten rid of their joints pains by simply changing their diet to a more alkaline one.)

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SUPPLEMENTS (natural)

CQ10 (Co-Enzyme Q10). This has been proven by various science studies to be a potent long term pain combatant. However, as with most natural approaches, this only starts working after more than 1 month of continuous usage. [I take 300mg in morning and 300mg at night.]
Even more potent than CQ10, MSM (METHYLSULPHONYLMETHANE) has helped many people changing their lives. It is not a wonder pill but with long term use can significantly ease joint pain. Effective results only achieved after about 3-4 months of continuous use. [I take 400mg morning and 400mg evening]
The 3^rd one, eish…this took me some time to support it’s use – CANNABIS oil. I am old school and anything drug-related, even for medical reasons is pretty much “no-go” territory for me. This one took some serious mind changing for me. Eventually I just could not ignore study after study that supported various benefits of CANNABIS OIL. The oil, which contains a higher ratio CBD to THD, is rather harmless when compared to the psychotropic effects of smoking cannabis. It is the THD that result in all this bad effects and the oil has a CBD/THD blend of about 85/15 in most cases which make it mostly harmless. Even here in South Africa the studies are nearly concluded and it looks like we are mere months away from Cannabis Oil being available over the counter for medical purposes. Apart from lowering blood pressure, combating nausea, helping with sleep and fighting cancer, it is actually a potent pain relief substance. After about 3 weeks use the body reach a saturation point and then the real pain relieving properties kicks in. If you can get past the mind barrier of taking something that is closely drug related then this could have a drastic positive pain relief impact. And believe me it is not so easy getting past this “mind barrier” for us older folks…but it can be done…I took the plunge. The end result for me – less pain and drastic better sleeping at night. Also drastically lower blood pressure. [I take 1 drop morning, 1 drop afternoon and 5 drops before bed]. Cannabis oil (CBD/THD) has some very interesting medical applications. Some of the claims the cannabis groupies make is not backed up at all by science but some actually are, especially with the latest studies. I think this warrant a future article to give some more insight into this new emerging product (emerging…well at least in the medical mainstream community that is!).

MEDICATION

This is a territory you want to avoid. Yes, you can take anti-inflammatory meds, but this is hard on kidneys/liver/stomach and definitely NOT a long term solution.

The last resort and sometimes a necessary route is arthritis medication. There are various types depending on the severity and type of arthritis. A well know anabolic steroid, Deca-Durabolin, is known for its anti-arthritis / joint pain properties. But only your health care provider can do the necessary blood test to determine the problem and plan of action.

However most of the time if you take the points above about training, lifestyle, diet and supplementation seriously enough then you can have pain free over 40+ workouts.

Interested in my customized transformation system for the over 40 guy? Have a look here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

Happy training everybody!

Cheers

Gert Louw

Tags: acidic, alcohol, alkaline, back, Bodybuilding, cannabis, CQ10, deca, drinking, durabolin, fit, fitness, food, Gert, gertfitness, Health, inspiration, joint, lifestyle, louw, middle-age, msm, muscle, oil, omega, over 50, over 60, over-40, pain, ph, smoking, Tendon

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How to return to gym after LONG lay-off

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 8 Comments

February 14, 2018

How to (re) start your body transformation after a long lay-off.

This article is for those that has been off gym for 6 months or longer due to a severe injury or health issues and who need to resume training. How do you know if your body is fit/healthy enough to return to gym?

Click here to play video “STARTING A TRANSFORMATION AFTER A LONG LAY-OFF”

Before one can officially resume training one must first establish if the body is in a state to deal with the training resumption. In other words, is it healed enough to have the required stamina to start? If not, believe me you can do serious, serious harm.

So how do you determine if the body is ready or not?

First let’s look at the reason for your off-time from training

First you need to analyse your situation. Was it medical or non-medical?

Non-medical: If it was due to a loss of a loved/divorce or something similar? Then you were right to take off from gym. Some things in life is so important and life altering that one need time to absorb and process everything. Me, I like doing that while I am lifting, but all of us have our own way in dealing with life issues.

If it was due to work pressure/other pressures in life, well then not good! This means it is going to happen again and again until you have made a change. Stress is NOT good for building up your body. The stress hormone cortisol is a powerful catabolic hormone that makes effective muscle growth very difficult. You need to find ways of dealing with stress effectively. Sometimes the change is simply changing your attitude towards stress/busy schedules and learn to love the buzz of the fast-moving pace. We have amazing power in ourselves to decide how we react and respond to our surroundings and situations. What has to change is that fact that gym time needs to be of a higher priority in such a busy schedule. Gym must be nonnegotiable. If this means you have to do it early mornings or late at night so be it. You need to learn to allocate and hour and a half space for yourself during the day and that is your gymtime. This must be of the same priority of eating & sleeping, it must be non-negotiable. It is not optional it is a given. Let this sink in…it is NOT optional! So the fact that you sometimes do not feel like gyming…that carries NO WEIGHT. It is like sleeping & eating, you go there no matter what and you simply JUST DO IT.

If it is medical related (sickness, organ problems, etc…) well then it is a different situation. You have little control over it. But somewhere along the line you need to resume again. Most doctors could not care less in telling you to stop gyming. I found this out the hard way. After my first near death hospital visit last year I had no clear instructions regarding when and with how much I could start training. After just a few very light gym sessions (which I struggled through greatly because of no stamina) I ended up again in hospital. Simply because my body which was not healed enough for me to apply any pressure to it. Luckily I ended up with a specialist that really know what he is doing and he then insisted that I need to be completely sedentary until certain important requirements was met with my health. The key factor here is to be very mindful of your body. You must never train through pain or apply intensity when the body has extreme weakness. If the body is right for training you will not suffer from extreme weakness and easy exhaustion. This is a sure sign the body need more time to recover.

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Now the next step

For all of the above scenario’s, you will apply the same approach.

That approach is two-fold:

First determine if your body is at all fit/healthy enough to resume training
Secondly when above criteria met, then generally one is cleared to start slowly training again according to a specific system. Critical in all these to get your doctor’s clearance.

So let’s look at how to determine if your body is at all fit/healthy enough to resume training

Week one – brisk walking. This is to test your stamina levels and if you are ready to return to gym.

Day 1: 5 min brisk walking.
Day 2: 10 min brisk walking.
Day 3: 20 min brisk walking,
Day 4: 30 min brisk walking.
Day 5: 40 min brisk walking.

If you can do the above fairly easily without having serious stamina/exhaustion problems, your body is for all practical purposes healthy and fit enough to return to gym with a specific introduction system. However, if you struggle in any means to manage above, keep your brisk walking time per day at 15-20 min and repeat for week 2.

To test if your body is ready you must pass the test of being able to do brisk walking for 40 min without too much exhaustion/stamina problem. ONLY then should you return to gym with the system explained beneath.

Slowly start training

The program you should follow to introduce gym to the body is a slow and gradual process. Joints, tendons and muscles are weak and need to follow a gradual approach to strengthen otherwise it easily can result in a serious injury.

Here is the “STARTING FROM SCRATCH” gym program for the next 3-months: https://gertlouw.com/2014/06/02/how-do-i-start-a-body-transformation-from-scratch/

And if you want to watch the video, click here “STARTING FROM SCRATCH”

After the above is completed, then you are ready to move onto serious training ground…this is where you can start with the ADVANCED SYSTEM II to start shaping and building the body into your dream body (again): https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

We have one life and it is much more fragile than you might think. Apply wisdom and the body will respond in kind. Apply ignorance and you could even die. Change inside and out and become a man with integrity like a rock and a body to match!

Wish you all happy training!

Gert Louw

Tags: bodybuilder, Bodybuilding, faith, food, Gert, gertfirness, gym, Health, inspiration, life, lifestyle, louw, middle-age, muscle, muscles, resume training, sickness, training, walking, work

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What does a year of NO TRAINING do to a muscle physique?

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 20 Comments

February 9, 2018

Hi guys and girls,

By now most of you know 2017 was a bummer year in my fitness quest. Nearly a month in total in hospital and striken by doctor from gym for just under twelve months…even brisk walking was not permitted.

But alas as off 1st Jan 2018 I am cleared by the doctor to enter the gym again! MAN I was SO glad.

So now, just over a month after I returned to gym, I am reflecting on how far my body has regressed and how far I have already progressed after the 1st month of training.

I’ve done this short documentary type video showing you my shape at 52, then the lowest point off my shape after 12 months of complete training absence and lastly my current shape 1 month after I returned to gym.

To watch the video, click here “12-months no training effect on a muscled body”

I am very positive after the progress of the 1st month, that reaching a level close to my best at age 52 should take not much more than 4 months at most.

The important thing now is to control my eagerness to raise the weight size to quickly. This can very easily result in tendon issues which is NOT what I am looking for now. So absolute wisdom needs to apply.

So who is joining me on this quest?

Wish you all happy training!

Gert

Tags: 6-pack, aesthetic, Bodybuilding, fit, fitness, Gert, louw, muscles, over 50, over-40, physique, sick, training

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Extreme training dedication? how to get it.

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 4 Comments

September 4, 2017

Click here to watch video “Extreme training DEDICATION? How to get it!”

In this article I want to take you through the process of how to acquire an extreme dedication to your training and body transformation goals.

As you know MANY set out on this journey, nearly on a yearly basis. But close to 99% fail.

The simple reason for this failure is dedication to training. The smallest stumbling block and the grand hope of transforming the body to superhero looks, fail dead in its tracks.

Now I know what I am talking about. Before the age 40 I had more-than-I-can-count failures in my body transformation goals. For this simple reason – lack of dedication. After 40 I got my act together and things really start changing. How and why did I got my act together? Well that will become evident later on.

For now, let’s discuss the process on how to get this EXTREME DEDICATION to training.

There are two parts.

PART I – Stop with the shallow and superficial aims and reasons to transform the body!

When you decide to transform your body, what are your reasons? Too look sexy, to look nice or better, to attract more girls? Well sorry, but I am gonna burst your bubble here. That will NEVER hold. Superficial reasons carry no weight and with the first obstacle in the road, your dreams is going to come tumbling down.

Now everything change when these reasons are not superficial anymore. The more weight a reason carry the better your chance of pushing through! This must not be about the outside of the body but about the whole you! Change from the inside out. Become a better man, a better father, a better husband and a better friend. Start caring, start having compassion for others, start helping others. A natural outflow of this process to become the best YOU will be to change the outside of the body for the better. You will want to be fit, healthy and muscled because you want to be the best you on all levels. Simply put – the more weight your reason for change carry, the better your chances of success.

PART II – Training time is NOT optional!

Let me put it to you like this. Why do you get up and go to your job everyday? Because it is not optional but a requirement. If you are sick you get a doctor’s certificate. But as soon as this certificate expires you have to get back to work. No matter whether you want to or not. This is just the way it works. Now this exact same rules that hold for your job holds for your training time. It is NOT optional. The only time you miss gym is when you are sick with a doctor’s certificate. If that certificate is expired and you get back to work well, then you get back to gym. There is no but’s or why not’s…the training rules is equal to your job rules.

WANT A HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM FULLY CUSTOMIZED? The program I am following for the past 6 years (age 46 to 52), available now fully customised on all levels. Every little secret, every hard-earned practical fact, every scientific study that actually support the (very) few supplements between all the thousand ridiculous advertisement claims have been filtered en incorporated into one system that MAKES A DIFFERENCE click here:

https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

I’ve been through this. AT age 40, training was not optional anymore for me. My life depended on it due to serious medical issues. There was no choices. I simply had to train 4-5 days a week. Then success came and it dawn on me why it was different this time. It was because I apply the same dedication level that one apply to your job to my training and diet regime. No “optional” anymore, no excuses. This is the mindset that must happen. Only when part I and part II become part of your aims and mindset, will there be success. Otherwise chances are very high for failure.

Let this sink in. It comes from someone who has failed many times and then one-day it all changed. Learn from this and make the dreams that dance in your head reality!

Happy training!

Gert Louw

Tags: Bodybuilding, cardio, dedication, diet, fit, fitness, healh, healthy, Injury, Job, lifestyle, nutrition, persistance, ripped, shredded, transform, transformation, work

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Best FREE body transformation system available for all ages

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April 22, 2017

Here is my latest video I just finished. It discuss the best FREE body transformation system out there available. Those of you that dreamed of that new body…well, now is your chance! MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

This video will take you step by step through the 4 major detailed aspects that must be in place:

Structure of attack
Diet & Lifestyle (for printout versions of diet: https://gertlouw.com/2014/08/16/cutting-diet-challenges/ )
Training system
Bodybuilding & health supplements required

Click here to watch the video “THE BEST FREE BODY TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM AVAILABLE”

If you want my more advanced system, fully customised for your body, situation and goals, click here: gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets

Happy training! Cheers…
Gert Louw

Tags: 6-pack, body, Bodybuilding, fit, fitness, free, jock, jocks, muscle, muscles, over40, over50, ripped, shredded, swole, transform, transformation

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A Guide to MUSCLES for teenage boys

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March 27, 2017

Click here to view video “A guide to muscles for a teenage boy”

Had quite a few requests to do an article for youngsters who want to build muscle.

Few things are so healthy looking than a young guy with a good aesthetic looking physique!

So as a young guy…what must you do to grow and what must you avoid? (under 16 do preferably just body resistance exercises not weights.)

I am going to give you a quick and easy guide.

The easiest way is to look at what to avoid since this will tell you by implication what to do. Things to avoid is things that will limit muscle growth and even results in smaller muscles! Many guys into their 30’s and even 40’s never learn these basic muscle building errors and they can never understand why they do not put on size. LEARN! By cutting this out of your gym/lifestyle will ensure you create an optimal environment for growth and fat loss from a young age.

15 THINGS TO AVOID by a youngster (over 16) who want to grow muscles:

Overtraining – you cannot train more than 6 days a week. Remember each of these sessions is going to be intense and very hard on the body. The body need at least 1 preferably 2 days a week to recover and build.
Too long training sessions. Muscles do NOT grow in gym. They actually getting torn down and hurt and literally become smaller. In gym is only where you STIMULATE the muscle for growth. Healing and repair must first occur before growth sets in. Never train a muscle still sore from previous workout. Growth occurs outside while your rest and recover. So do not spend more than 60 minutes in gym!
Junk food! What you eat is what you will be. Outside the gym your muscles need the right food to grow…junk food is NOT it!
Too little food. The muscles cannot (!) grow if the body thinks it is in a famine environment…then your body will use the muscles for energy and go catabolic (equals smaller muscles) and only as a last resort use the fat storage. You must eat enough food to grow and to lose fat!
Too little sleep! The most important ingredient to help muscles grow is getting in enough sleep. You cannot expect muscles to grow with just 2-3 hours sleep a night. At least 6-8 hours of solid sleep.
Bad Form – bad form or technique will not stimulate growth and will open the door for serious injury. NEVER throw a weight! Slow controlled movements.
Showing off in gym. The sooner you get the ego under control the sooner you will start growing. NEVER show off. Lift the weight that you can manage in a controlled fashion. You WILL hurt yourself showing off and you will make your name an ass!
Listen to everything everyone says in gym and taking it for the gospel! Be carefull what you believe and to whom you listen. Verify the facts before following someone’s suggestion or trying something new. VERIFY! VERIFY! VERIFY!
Training with the wrong partner. Having a training partner not focused will seriously hamper your success. The training partner you choose must add to your success not take away!
Exercise technique/breathing. Learn to breathe correctly. Positive and negative moves of an exercise must be equal speed. Try and squeeze the muscle when reaching the top of the move.
Good bodies are NEVER created through exercise machines. They are created by free weights. Why? Well very simple: free weights uses and activates all the stabilization muscles which are crucial for a balanced looking aesthetic physique. Machines bypass all these stabilization muscles and result in an unbalanced muscle development…full stop!
Do not trust on supplements to be the answer. VERY FEW supplements actually work. Consider only the following: Creatine, Whey protein, BCAA’s, L-glutamine and maybe a caffeine pill while training. The rest is just money down and empty pit!
Anabolics is not a good idea, especially for a youngster. You got more than enough testosterone and HGH in your veins. USE IT! Using anabolics WILL result in smaller balls and it WILL result in impotence and no desire for sex…just for starters. You really, REALLY need to know what you are doing venturing this road and if you MUST do it, only after you had your kids!
Alcohol! Want a rippling 6-pack? Well this is NOT going to happen with regular consumption of alcohol. Keep it to one day a week and NOT more than 500ml of wine or the equivalent. Alcohol in males create a fat layer around the internal organs and result in a bloated looking tummy which is very difficult to get away. No good body is ever build on regular alcohol consumption no matter what the Hollywood perception is!
Training too light. If you do not stimulate the muscle for growth, no growth will occur. Stimulation only happen when the muscle is challenged. One sure way to do this is to train regularly to absolute muscle failure! The muscle must have at the very least a slight ache the next day…that is a sign that you have done a good job!

I have a blueprint system developed for young guys to create the environment for growth and make optimal use of the high testosterone and HGH levels…have a look here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

Wish you all happy training!

Gert Louw

Tags: aesthetic, anabolics, bodybuilder, Bodybuilding, fat-loss, growth, inspiration, jock, jocks, muscle, muscles, mutrition, steroids, supplements, swole, teeanger, teen, young, youngsters

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Confusing bodybuilding terms for newbies!

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 2 Comments

March 17, 2017

Click here to watch video “Confusing bodybuilding terms for novices”

Quite a few of my followers have requested that I must clarify some of the basic training terms I refer too in my videos. I can fully understand their confusion. Some of them has never seen the inside of the gym. After watching some of my videos they are so inspired and then want to embark on this new adventure but alas everything is soooo confusing! It is similar when a nuclear physicist is trying to explain cold fusion in the most basic terms, but you still have no clue as to what he/she is talking about because you do not grasp the meaning of the most basic terms.

So although many of you will find this boring, let me lay the ground work and give some clarification for those newbies to the basic training terms I refer to in my videos.

Ok, let start at the big term: “training program”. This refers to the training aspect and does not include nutrition or supplements. It refers to everything where muscles are involved while you exercise.

By the way, I support a 4 or 5 day workout schedule.

Workout is the specific routine you will be following on a specific day.

There are total body workouts, which refers to a workout where all muscles groups are trained/exercised during a single session.

Then there are more goal orientated split routine workouts where one only focusses on 2-3 muscle groups per training session/day – this is the kind of training I support.

You will hear I talk a lot about sets and reps.

Reps are the time it takes to lift a weight to the maximum position and dropping it back to the original starting position. This will be a single rep. If you lift and drop the weight 8 times, that will be 8 reps performed.

Sets are slightly more complicated. This is a method of grouping the reps together for a specific goal. For example if one wants to build muscle you will typically group the reps in sets of 8 (and reach muscle failure on the last rep). When you want to lose body fat one typically group the reps together with more reps, about 15 in a set (and just stop short of complete muscle failure).

Muscle failure is the point where one cannot perform another rep with the weight, meaning the muscle is literally failing.

Between sets one typically rest long enough to allow the muscles to recover enough to be able to do the next set effectively. This is usually 2-3 min but when one really training very heavy this might be slightly longer.

A muscle group refers to a single muscle like biceps for example. For effectivity one strings 2-3 logical muscle groups together in a training session. (For example: Pecs, Biceps and abs)

Warm ups is the process by which one perform light exercises before the training session to get the blood flowing and make sure the target muscles are sufficiently warmed up before you start training intensely.

Stretching is the process after each set which you use to lightly stretch the muscle which was just trained.

You will hear I will also refer to training concepts and things like supersets.

Training concepts is any activity that you add to your training session to perform your normal reps and sets in a different fashion to stimulate the muscle for growth.

The way the body works is that anything that become repetitive over time stop stimulating the muscles for a response. The muscles learn to handle that type of training/attack without further increasing in shape or size.

So training need always be fresh and changing to allow for effective muscle stimulation.

A training concept I regularly refer to is supersets. That is where you string two different muscle group’s sets together without resting in between. You only do this for 2 sets at a time. It is good tool to help burn more body fat and stimulate muscles for growth.

Dumbbells refers to the weights showing on the screen now.

This is how a EZ barbell look.

EZ bar

Then one also get barbells with straight bars.

barbell

This is a flat bench.

This is an incline bench.

This is a seated bench.

This is an exercise ball.

When I talk about technique, I refer to the specific way and form in which one performs an exercise or lift a weight.

I also regularly refer to Cutting Phase and Building Phase. Cutting phase is the process by which one train and diet with the focus on preserving muscles mass while losing body fat. Building Phase is the process and diet which focus on building muscles with adding a little more body fat to allow the body to build muscles effectively.

Lastly, you will hear I refer to health supplements and bodybuilding supplements.

Health supplements is anything (like a multi vit) you take to ensure optimal health. Bodybuilding supplements is something one takes in a specific way and timeframe to assist the body with certain aspects of the bodybuilding process (could be fat loss, muscle building, tissue repair, etc…)

Hope this give some better understanding for those newbie’s that want to start the great adventure.

WANT SOMETHING MORE ADVANCED & FULLY CUSTOMIZED? The program I am following for the past 6 years (age 46 to 52), available now fully customised on all levels, just for you. Every little secret, every hard-earned practical fact, every scientific study that actually support the (very) few supplements between all the thousand ridiculous advertisement claims have been filtered en incorporated into one system that MAKES A DIFFERENCE click here:

https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

Wish you all happy training!
Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

Tags: ball, barbell, bench, bodybuiding, building, cutting, dumbbell, exercise, ez, failure, flat, Gert, gertfitness, group, Health, incline, louw, multi-vit, muscle, phase, rep, reps, routine, seated, set, sets, split, stretching, supersets, supplements, technique

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Transforming your body STEP-BY-STEP

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 7 Comments

May 26, 2016

In all my coaching systems and many articles on my site, I regularly refer to the process of transforming into a wow physique by “climbing a ladder step by step”.

Here I want to explain as to WHAT exactly I mean by that.

Now, many people think they are starting to climb the ladder and start transforming, and they actually start doing rather great, but then stuff starts happening…things like: getting sick regularly, tendon/joint injury or other serious injury or they lose hope because they just cannot put on muscle no matter how hard they train and some just cannot lose fat no matter how hard they diet.

This is when the train stops and they get off the ladder.

Not because it was not possible but because they LACK knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE in terms off:

You CANNOT lose fat if the calories are too low…then your body enters famine mode and you WILL lose all your hard earned muscle first before it uses the fat – no matter how HARD you train! There is a sweet spot with calories where the body use fat for energy and keep muscles safe. You need to find it. (In my SYSTEMS I and II this is covered).
You CANNOT build muscle if: caloric intake too low, body fat too low or you do too much cardio!
You WILL get sick regularly if you continue pounding your body week after week, month after month, in the wrong fashion and you do not use certain basic health supporting supplements.
You WILL run into serious tendon and joint issues if you do not alternate every 3 months between BUILDING and CUTTING phases to allow healing and strengthening.

All of these are covered in detail in my COACHING SYSTEMS (https://gertlouw.com/contact-me), but the bottom line which brings all these together are a continuous alternating between a 3 month CUTTING PHASE and a 3 monthly BUILDING phase.

Each Phase has its own specific training methodology and specific type diet.

The two phases are vastly different and by continuously alternating between them, you allow your body every 3 months to go through a process off:

Loosing max fat while protecting muscles in Cutting Phase.
Building max muscle at slightly higher body fat levels in the Building Phase.
Allowing your body to be fed correctly for your exact goal and training methodology for each phase.
Allowing tendons and joints to strengthen and recover regularly in Cutting Phase.
Allowing the body a balanced and healthy approach preventing sickness and injury by not overtraining and stressing the body and immune system.

These 2 phases hold the KEY to climbing the ladder. One step on the ladder = 1 BP (Building phase) + 1 CP (Cutting Phase). After each step you will be able to see a significant difference in shape and size. THIS is how you climb up the ladder.

Look at the following graph showing the BODY FAT variation during the phases

This is what your body fat will do when sticking to my SYSTEM I or II training that incorporates these principles (BP = Building Phase, CP = Cutting Phase):

Every BP1 + CP1 covers a 6 month period. At the end of each of the cutting phases your body fat is lower and lower till typically after a 3 year period you reach crazy levels like 5% body fat.

Let’s look what your muscle size will do when alternating between the phases:

At the end of each of the cutting phases your body weight is higher than after the previous cutting phase. That COUPLED with the fact that the body fat is lower after each Cutting Phase compared to the previous cutting phase makes a HUGE difference on how the body looks and the amount of lean mass you are carrying.

THIS (!) is how you climb the ladder…not after one cutting phase or one building phase but after various of these phases. Stopping with the process simply mean you stop climbing the ladder.

Simply put – After each Building Phase your muscle weight is higher at lower body fat levels, and during the Cutting Phase you show your results, keeping that muscles safe and dropping the body fat on each Cutting Phase lower and lower than in the previous Cutting Phases until after a few years you look back and say…”WOW!”

Wish you all happy training!

Cheers – Gert Louw

Tags: 6-pack, aesthetic, Biceps, bodybuilder, Bodybuilding, diet, fit, fitness, flexing, Gert, gertfitness, Health, Injury, louw, muscle, over 50, over-40, Physical exercise, ripped, shredded, supplements, Tendon, training, transform, transformation, Weight loss, Weight training

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Sickness, injuries and gym off-time

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 8 Comments

May 5, 2016

This is where a LOT of dedicated people get derailed completely! They get sick or injured and well, that is where their road to transforming the body stops…dead in it’s tracks. Until that point they are so motivated and charged up and then that happens…and the de-motivation is just too much. They just never get it off the ground again afterwards.

Right now, I am down from gym with kidney infection and this will keep me out of gym for close to 7 days. But after the 7 days off, I’ll be back doing one week light work and then all back to normal.

Not ONE of us are spared sickness or injuries. Now, injuries we can manage better especially with applying more wisdom as we get older (warming-up, stretching and simply avoiding high risk exercises for injury). But sickness is difficult to prevent. Sure we can apply the basics (anti-oxidants, multi-vit, CQ10 and ALA) and wash our hands regularly with anti-bacterial soap/spray, but even with that, chances are we will still get flu in the winter and still get the odd infection.

It is not a matter of preventing sickness and injuries but a matter of accepting that they form part of the training/body transformation environment as a given. You WILL get sick and you WILL get injured. But that must never (!) derail your efforts. Accept that it will push you back one to two weeks. Do not allow yourself to get negative about it, it is PART of the whole process and those with a winning mindset accepts that!

Now, what is even more important is that after a week of sickness, be careful to go in full force back to gym. Your body is still weak and in a process of recovery. Your immune system not nearly back to normal. Pushing yourself to the limits the first week back can and most probably will result in a recurrence of the sickness even to a worse degree putting you out gym for 3 weeks or more. That first week back after being sick make sure you do not do more than 50% your normal capacity. Go through all the motions and exercises but keep the exertion levels low.

Then the 2^nd week back in training you will find you feel yourself again. That is where you start pushing the limits again.

A KEY ingredient of the winning mindset is to force yourself to stick 100% to your diet while sick or injured. Doing this will go great lengths to keep the motivation levels high! This is NOT the time to binge or eat what you want. This is the CRITICAL time to feed the body correctly. Sometimes I experienced when going back after a week sick I actually am in better shape than before, simply because of the control I had with my diet and my body that actually had a well deserved break!

Now, my timing for my kidney infection is real bad because 21^st May I got a photoshoot coming up. But that is where all your hard work you have put in over the previous months and years will show the dividends…

Wish you all good health and injury free training!

Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

Tags: aesthetic, ala, Antioxidant, bodybuilder, Bodybuilding, CQ10, diet, flex, flexing, flu, Gert, gertfitness, gym, Health, Injury, kidney, multi-vit, off-time, sickness, training, transform, transformation, winning mindset, workout

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Training for size with weak wrists

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March 7, 2016

Although even some young bodybuilders struggle with weak wrists it is most frequently the domain of the over 40 lifter.

The wrist simply do not have the power and ability to support the weight being lifted anymore. This could become a huge problem for a person in quest for size, because the key ingredient for growth is through intense, heavy weight lifting regularly to the point of failure.

I am one such person that struggles with weak wrists. I simply cannot hold the size weight required to stimulate enough growth. But I am definitely not going to call it game over…I made plans. And it is MUCH easier than most people think.

The following video is rather crucial to watch to fully understand exactly what and how I am doing it.

Click here to view video “Training for size with weak wrists”

Let me try to explain:

You must get a wrist supporting rubber grabbing “glove”, like the one showed in the video.
To make sure that the part that folds over the wrist is secure and do not come loose while engaged in heavy lifting, duck tape must be used as per instruction in the video. (Tape it on both wrists securing the part that folds over.)
With every (!) weight you lift (dumbbells & barbels, pullups, seated rows for back and especially shrugs) the rubber part of the glove must be wrapped around the weight where your hand would go and then your hand must go over the rubber part in the reverse position (see video for exact method).
This would alleviate the pressure on the wrist easily by up to 80%.
When performing bench presses use the overhand position with the thumb in the same direction as all the other fingers. Let the weight of the bar rests on the lower part of just the palm of your hand so that no pressure is applied on the wrist. Do not clasp the thumb the other way around the bar. This put undue pressure on the wrist.

The above sounds simple, but I guarantee you that it will enhance your ability GREATLY to lift serious weights again without hurting the wrists and put you straight back into growth territory.

This is the way I’ve been lifting for the last 5 years and now at close to 52 I am in the best shape of my life.

Hope this help guys…be wise and GROW!

Those interested in the online transformation coaching I provide – check here: https://gertlouw.com/contact-me/

Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

Tags: bad, barbell, bodybuilder, Bodybuilding, duck, dumbbell, elbow, fit, fitness, Gert, gertfitness, glove, Injury, louw, over 50, over-40, pullups, rubber, secrets, tape, Tendon, tips, training aid, tricks, WEAK, weights, wrist, wrists

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Visual study to determine the impact of cardio on a muscled physique

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 4 Comments

March 1, 2016

Men aiming at maximum muscle size usually steer clear from any form of cardio. The bottom line is that all cardio, even moderate cardio, WILL decrease muscle size and make it more difficult to add muscle. It is the normal reaction the body has to cardio. It can be most clearly seen in marathon runners who have these thin sinewy physiques with almost no muscle size.

Body fat should be managed by a very focussed diet and NEVER via cardio. Cardio primarily “eats” into muscle and actually help surprisingly little to bring the fat levels down. It is much easier for the body to use the muscles for energy during cardio than to tap into fat storage and thus why cardio nearly always has the opposite effect.

Now, for one who refuse to give up his resistance training and has no other choice but to drop muscle weight due to health reasons (such as kidney problems), cardio presents a great and healthy opportunity to simply add it to the training regimen. The response the body will have when cardio is added, even by sticking to the same diet and resistance training, is to decrease muscle size.

WANT A HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM FULLY CUSTOMIZED? The program I am following for the past 6 years (age 46 to 52), available now fully customised on all levels. Every little secret, every hard-earned practical fact, every scientific study that actually support the (very) few supplements between all the thousand ridiculous advertisement claims have been filtered en incorporated into one system that MAKES A DIFFERENCE click here:

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The general thought process out there is, that if you want to lose fat you must do cardio. It is unfortunately far from the truth. If you want to lose MUSCLE (!) you do cardio.

This video goes a long way as to give some proof about the matter although, admittedly, this is not an actual scientific experiment.

All factors like diet, resistance training frequency and intensity remained the same throughout the study with the only real added change being cardio that was added 5 days per week.
Supplements and all other forms of health support stayed exactly the same during the process.
The project spanned over a 6 month period.
Before the 6 months only resistance training (4 days a week) with no cardio.
During the 6 months significant cardio was added 5 days a week (speed swimming – 20 to 30 laps).

Click here to watch video “Visual study to determine body changes when cardio added to resistance training.”

The following very noticeable results after the 6 months:

Bodyweight down by 7kg’s (mostly muscle with a smaller fat component as well).
Body shape has become more pronounced and defined.
Visible body fat decrease on upper body and lower body for a more shredded look.

Continuing with the cardio indefinitely will further decrease muscle size but at the same time enhances shape and shredded look thus providing a healthy fit looking body.

But alas, those in search of size should never follow this route!

Another interesting article on this subject: http://massgainsource.com/get-best-cardio-workout/

Wish you all happy training.

Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

Tags: Bodybuilding, cardio, diet, experiment, fat, Gert, gertfitness, intense, loss, louw, low bodyfat, moderate, proof, resistance, results, ripped, shredded, study, swim, swimming, training, visual

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Which to do first? Cutting or Building Phase?

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 3 Comments

February 2, 2016

What to do first? Cut or building phase?

This is probably the most frequent question I get ask.” I want to start with my body transformation now, but which phase must I do first?”

Cutting and Building phases play a very important role in allowing the body to cope with the strain of training. Every 3 months during the Cutting Phase the weights are lighter with higher reps per set, allowing the tendons and joints a rest and time to recover and strengthen for the next attack with the Building Phase. It also has many other positive effects on health and the body in general.

Click here to view video “Cutting or Building Phase first?”

Just to clarify the terms:

Cutting Phase

The phase by which you drop body fat while attempting to hang on to the muscle size.
Lighter training (more reps per set), generally not to the point of failure.
Fewer calories consumed.
Usually 3 months in length.
Can go as low as 4-5% body fat where competing athletes push the limits to 2-3% body fat levels for very short durations.

Building Phase

The phase by which you slightly increase body fat to enable you to build bigger muscles.
Train to muscle failure at low reps on EACH set to ignite growth.
Slightly higher calories consumed (approximately 10% more than cutting phase – ALWAYS stick to 40/30/30 split – protein/carbs/fat).
Usually 3 months in length.
Should not go lower than 8% body fat otherwise you will struggle to add decent muscle size.

The answer is not a simple one and some factors needs to be considered. I think it will be best explained by going through a couple of scenarios.

Training status: beginner to moderate / Body fat levels: Above 10% / Goal: Shredded, muscled body.

ANSWER: Considering your goal of a shredded physique and the fact that you are not an advanced athlete and body fat levels are above 10% it is a clear sign that you should start with the Cutting Phase. In fact I would say that if your body fat levels are over 15% or 20% you should strongly consider an extended Cutting Phase until such time that it drops below a 10% level before you start alternating between the Phases.

Training Status: beginner to moderate / Body fat levels: 8% – 10% / Goal: Shredded, muscled body

ANSWER: For this scenario the freedom of choice is yours. Depending on how much you want that shredded look, I would suggest you decide. If it is all important, then start off with a 3 month Cutting Phase and then alternate with a 3 month Building Phase and repeat. If it is not all out important then nothing stops you from starting with the Building Phase in this scenario. The fact that you are a beginner to moderate athlete however would suggest the Cutting Phase could be a better option to start with since you might still not have all the techniques of the exercises fully under control and heavy intense training might put you in risk of injury.

Training Status: advanced / Body fat levels: between 8% – 10% / Goal: Shredded, muscled body

ANSWER: The exact same as above scenario with the difference that this is an advanced athlete. Due to this fact he/she will have strengthened tendons and joints and exercise technique should already been well under control. These facts lend to the suggest that such an athlete might rather want to start with the Building Phase (although he/she have complete freedom to decide).

Training Status: advanced / Body fat levels: below 8% / Goal: Shredded, muscled body

ANSWER: In this scenario the athlete is already in shredded territory (below 8% body fat). Unless it is a hardcore athlete that want to go down to like 5% body fat levels, the better choice here would be to do a Building Phase.

Training Status: advanced / Body fat levels: above 10% / Goal: muscled body

ANSWER: In this scenario the aim is just to get a muscled body (call it a Rugby player look). Body fat levels are not such a great concern to this person plus he is a rather advanced athlete that knows his technique. There is no reason why such a person should start with the Cutting Phase. He can start off with the Building Phase and from there onwards alternate every 3 months between Cutting and Building Phases.

I hope this clears up the confusion. (BODY Transformation SYSTEMS worked out just for you: https://gertlouw.com/contact-me/)

Keep training hard and GROW!

Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

Tags: "Cape Town", "muscle failure", Afrikaans, Alternate, Body fat, boerseun, building, cutting, gertfitness, Phases, shredded, Why

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After training – LOW or HIGH-GI carbs to ignite growth and fat-loss?

Filed under: DIET stuff, TRAINING stuff — Leave a comment

November 17, 2015

Click here to view video “After training – LOW or HIGH GI carbs?”

How to spike your insulin naturally to ignite growth and shed fat…this will tell you how.

The whole idea of immediate after training nutrition is three-fold:

To flood your system with muscle-building amino acids.
To create environment for repair, healing and recovery.
To get your insulin levels spiked to ignite growth and speed up fat-loss.

Let’s look at each point individually.

FLOODING THE SYSTEM WITH MUSCLE BUILDING AMINO ACIDS.

After training your body needs protein (amino acids) to feed the muscles and help with the growth/healing process. The key here is NO FAT. If you take in even the least amount of fat it will slow down the process of replenishing the body to such a degree that the feeding after training becomes near worthless. After training your body requires amino acids that are quickly absorbed. The best way to achieve this is to take a couple scoops of whey protein in water (not milk = fat!). The whey protein got all the required amino acids and will give the body with all the protein it requires to grow/heal. Make sure the brand you are using have no carbs added and that it is only pure whey protein.

CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR REPAIR, HEALING and RECOVERY.

It has been proven in various scientific studies that supplementing with L-Glutamine during and immediately after training adds significantly in providing the environment for recovery. Simply put, you will recover faster when you supplement with L-Glutamine.

TO GET THE INSULIN LEVELS SPIKED.

Insulin is the MOST powerful anabolic hormone in the body. Nothing comes close to it, not even testosterone or HGH. When insulin levels are spiked in the right way, the result is increased muscle growth and increased fat loss. Now how do one get insulin levels spiked after training? Well, Whey protein will already add to this effect but a compounded effect will happen when you consume the RIGHT type of carbs. Low-GI carbs cannot spike the insulin for any type of significant effect. That is the job of High-GI carbs. But don’t think chocolate here! ZERO fat must be in the carb. Plus it is highly advisable to use a natural, healthy high-GI carb with added fibre like a banana or apple to do the job. Vitargo is also a good choice.

This type of spiking is only effective immediately after training. Do not try it outside this window of training.

Summary

So after immediately training you need to consume the following:

L-Glutamine – 5g
Whey protein powder – about 40g
High-GI carb – Banana/apple or Vitargo

It is believed that this is an absolute key aspect of obtaining a “wow” physique and can be seriously beneficial in helping gaining muscle and shredding fat.

Wish you happy training!

Cheers…

Gert Louw

Tags: aesthetic, after, amino acids, anabolic, apple, banana, Bodybuilding, diet, Gert, gertfitness, HGH, high gi, insulin, L-glutamine, log gi, louw, muscle, nutrition, protein, spike, testosterone, training, vitargo, whey, www.gertlouw.com

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How to use cardio to give your body a killer shape!

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 2 Comments

November 10, 2015

Click here to watch video “How to use cardio to obtain a killer physique!”

You’ve seen this many times, the thin, sinewy marathon runner and the muscled bodybuilder.

On the one end of the scale you have the marathon runner who does zero resistance training and 100% cardio training. On the other end of the scale you have the muscled bodybuilder who does 100% resistance training and zero cardio training.

Cardio, all forms of cardio, is one of the best ways to manipulate your muscle size and provide incredible aesthetic shape to the body.

If you wish to have maximum muscles well, do not do any cardio, only resistance training and if you wish a thin, sinewy physique then do just cardio and no resistance training.

But the key to a great physique is by manipulating these factors wisely.

One thing you need to understand and that is that a physique without decent muscle size will be shapeless, with clothes on and off. A physique (men and women) that produce a “wow” effect MUST have a decent amount of muscles on its frame. THAT is what will give the aesthetic shape. If you just start doing intense cardio but never build up your muscle size of your body via resistance training, you will never have a great looking body!

Now, obviously, if your dream is a classic muscled bodybuilder physique, then simply ignore cardio and concentrate ONLY on resistance training. But most of us want a fit looking, aesthetically shaped physique that looks “wow” with and without clothes.

The road to such a “wow” physique start by applying the following basic principles:

Start by doing 40-50min resistance training for 4-5 days per week.(see the following link for programs and diet: http://gertlouw.com/contact-me/) It must be resistance training to failure to ignite growth and a focused diet to support the growth and training regime. Do not do cardio until such point that you have reached the desired muscle size level. Note: Do free weights instead of machines – machines bypass most support muscles and target specific muscles, thus why most people who stick to machines never really achieved a truly aesthetic shape but muscles always seems to be not balanced. Free weights = aesthetic body shape!
When you have reached the desired muscle size, then start introducing 20 min cardio on top of your resistance training regime, 5-6 times per week for one month. Monitor the effect closely.
By month two if your physique still appear to muscled instead of fit looking aesthetic shape, cut your resistance training sessions by roughly a third in total sets done and increase the cardio to 40 min durations for 5-6 days per week. With this amount of cardio the body WILL respond and by making size slightly smaller and give a more fit looking appearance resulting overall in a more aesthetic pleasing looking physique.
Cardio can eventually be increased to an 60 min duration but preferably not more. Never drop the resistance training completely or the muscles will start disappearing. Keep resistance training (to failure) at a min of 30 for 4-5 times per week.

Note on cardio. Not all cardio are the same. If you want the best possible looking aesthetic physique then your cardio needs to be something like swimming. Jogging, Cycling and other forms of “leg” cardio will produce results but not in the class that swimming does. Swimming coupled with resistance training is well-known to create the best looking physiques.

SO fire away and make your dream body a reality!

Happy training

Gert Louw

Tags: aerobics, aesthetic, cardio, chad, cycling, fit, fitness, free weights, jogging, le closs, resistance training, swim, swimming, treadmill, Weight training

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Why weight training make a woman sexy…

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 6 Comments

September 9, 2015

99.99% of women will tell you “I don’t want to build muscles, just lose fat and tone”.

Now guys, keep on reading, this is going to come back to you!

When I even mention the words “weight training” to women they freak! They immediately conjure up the images that the media has brainwashed us to think of how women look that do weight training.

If a woman does serious weight training naturally (without anabolic steroids) then the female hormone, estrogen, can and will never give her the appearance of a male in terms of muscle shape and size. This will ONLY happen when she starts using testosterone (anabolic steroids) that provides her with an abundance of the male hormone and thus starts changing the shape and appearance of her body and muscles.

Those women who understand this have risen to incredible heights with fantastic feminine body shapes.

A woman must do the same exercises that a man performs to get her body to look great. That exercises is NOT cardio. It is intense weight training, covering systematically all muscle groups stimulating muscle growth.

Those interested in the program I’ve been following: available now fully customised (for women also) on all levels, just for you. Every little secret, every hard-earned practical fact, every scientific study that actually support the (very) few supplements between all the thousand ridiculous advertisement claims have been filtered en incorporated into one system that MAKES A DIFFERENCE click here:

https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

When growth occurs in both men and women, THAT is when the body starts taking on incredible shape. Muscles are what gives the body shape NOT low body fat! You can have incredible low body fat and you will look terrible, especially naked. Muscles are the key in BOTH men and women to give that killer shape.

The female hormone (estrogen) will only allow a muscle growth within the confines of this hormone, which means more subtle, feminine shaped muscles.

The male hormone is a potent muscle-building hormone and will allow muscle to grow within the confines of this hormone which means bigger size and more manly shaped muscles.

Now regarding the guys, NONE of the top bodybuilder of today are natural. They can only achieve such great size by using anabolics and other substances.

The male hormone will limit growth for men to an athletic and aesthetic body with serious weight training. ONLY by using anabolic steroids and the likes can you grow pass this natural limit.

A = SHAPELESS BODY DUE TO VERY LOW MUSCLE MASS.

B = THE MAXIMUM MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT THAT CAN BE REACHED FOR FEMALES AND MALES NATURALLY (WITHOUT ANABOLIC STEROIDS).

C = THE LEVELS REACHED WHEN MALES AND FEMALES USE ANABOLIC STEROIDS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.

This clearly indicates the incredible effect, natural muscle development has on both the male and female body.

This is NOT called toning! This is called serious and intense resistance weight training. There is no other way for both men and women. To stimulate and build the muscles to achieve an awesome and incredible shaped physique.

So guys back to you! If any guy tells me he does not want to build muscles because he doesn’t want to look muscled, with respect, you have no idea what you are talking about. Muscles give shape to the body and muscle development in a natural environment only results in an incredible aesthetic physique.

If you tell me you want a shapeless body, then well, I understand but will still question your sanity!

So guys and girls…the point I am trying to get across is “DO NOT BE AFRAID TO DO SERIOUS RESISTANCE WEIGHT TRAINING – THAT IS THE ROAD TO AN AWESOME LOOKING PHYSIQUE AND THOSE THAT REALIZE THIS ARE IDOLIZED WHILE THE REST ARE JUST TREADING ALONG NEVER REACHING ANY SUCCESS.”

Click here to view video “Supplements that WORK”

Wish you all happy training

Cheers

Gert Louw

Tags: 6-pack, abs, aesthetic, anabolic, bodybuilder, Bodybuilding, cut, estrogen, female, Gert, gertfitness, Hormone, how to, hunk, louw, male, muscle, muscles, physique, ripped, shirtless, shredded, steroids, swole, testosterone, training, transform, weight, wrestle

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A killer 6-pack in 90 days!

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 10 Comments

August 12, 2015

Click here to view video “Program for washboard abs in 90 days”

How many times have you heard similar slogans and the only requirement was this or that supplement that will do the trick, or a simple exercise that is supposed to produce magic results.

In this article I will tell you how to get that coveted 6-pack in 90 days BUT one thing you need to understand, there is NO magic pill that will ever produce a 6-pack (not even anabolics can do it alone!) and there is no single exercise that on its’ own can give you a 6-pack.

You will see that I said, “90 days”. There is a very good reason why. 90 Days is a period in which the body can actually make a visible difference in muscle-building and fat loss with the necessary skill applied.

To get that coveted 6-pack you need to do two major things:

Build the ab-muscles to increase in size (enlarge the peaks and valleys).
Decrease the fat layer covering the abs while feeding the muscles for growth.

So let’s get down to business…

How do you build the muscle of the 6-pack in a 90 day period?

The abs (and calves) are of a different muscle fibre type that get stimulated for growth with more frequent training than the other muscles groups and also at a higher rep range per set.
For just about all the other muscles you will perform (for muscle growth) about 8 reps per set. For abs we are talking closer to 25 reps per set.
Other muscles will generally be trained once a week intensely. Abs can and for the purpose of this discussion must be trained up to 3 times a week intensely, typically Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Forget about fancy moves, stick to proven fundamental exercises that build muscles. One word here – CRUNCHES! There is NO other ab exercise that stimulates the 6-pack growth like the crunch. Various forms of crunches exist, ie: exercise ball crunches, legs in air crunches, crunch bench, etc…

About CRUNCHES

The purpose of a crunch is to contract the muscles of the abs really intensely. When performing any type of crunch, you need to lift the shoulders and upper body just slightly and crunch with the abs. You need to focus the abs so hard at the crunch that you feel pain. If the abs do not start paining after a couple of reps you are NOT doing the crunch correctly. Very few exercises deliver the intense pain the crunch delivers and 99% of people do it wrong because they don’t like the pain. A saying from one of my favorite movies is: “Life is pain princess. Anyone tells you differently, well they are lying.” So suck it up and do it. If you really want that 6-pack you will learn to LOVE that pain!

Here follows your plan of attack for growing the ab muscles:

The above is all different versions of the crunch. The crunch focuses on the ab area but not the obliques.

To get the obliques to stand out it is usually just a matter of putting in a slight twist with the crunch, alternating between the two sides.

A dedicated oblique exercise is the following – RUSSIAN TWIST:

This can be done with a medicine ball or holding a weight. However when this move is performed your technique must be perfect or you can hurt your back. Keep the abs contracted and stop the move with your abs and core and not the back or other muscles.

The last ab exercise of note that works the ab to the core and WILL make the abs ache for at least two days is LEG THROWS, yep, good old-fashioned leg throws. Your training partner must throw the legs straight down with force and to either side without you knowing where he is going to throw it.You are not allowed to touch the ground. (If you don’t have training partner, try and find someone to help you with this, I consider it an important aspect of developing impressive abs.)

These are the three types of ab exercises to stimulate growth.

Your training must be as follows – Monday, Wednesday and Friday you must do an ab session consisting of:

4 sets of 25 reps of CRUNCHES (any form of crunch)
4 sets of 50 reps LEG THROWS.
3 sets of 25 reps RUSSIAN TWIST with weight.
3 sets of 25 reps of CRUNCHES (different variation)

You doing this consistently for a 90-day period and you WILL stimulate the abs for growth. But now come the even bigger part of the trick!

No matter how good you train and stimulate the abs for growth, if you do not feed the body now correctly NO GROWTH WILL OCCUR!

The Diet is critical for 2 reasons

To feed the muscles to grow (after they were stimulated for growth by the exercises).
To cut down the fat layer on the tummy. If the fat layer on the tummy is more than 12%, no matter how good those abs are, they will be covered by an invisible cloak!

Now, how do you cover the above two points? Well, I can refer you to a serious diet structure specialized for this kind of deliverable, but instead I am going to make it easy for you.

Stick to these basic simple diet rules and you WILL see results:

You must eat 7 small meals per day – evenly spread out from point of waking to point of going to bed.
Each meal must contain clean protein, low GI (Glycemic Index) carb and some veggies – generally fist size portions.
You must drink a BCAA and L-Glutamine shake during training to prevent muscles going catabolic.
You must drink a WHEY shake and L-glutamine with banana after training – immediately (replace one meal)
You must get at least 3 tablespoons of salt free, sugar-free peanut butter in per day – this is critical to keep your hormone levels healthy!
You must drink 4L (1.05 gallon) of water per day.
Alcohol only once a week and not more than 500ml of wine (2/3 of a bottle). No carbs at meal when drinking alcohol.

As easy as that! 90 days later and that 6-pack will be rather impressive!

Regarding genetics – I’ve never met a person that was unable to increase muscle size by following growth principles (including right diet, etc…). The abs are like any muscle, when sufficiently stimulated they will grow if fed correctly!

Last point…

Although the above plan will deliver 6-pack results, that body is going to look all the more impressive with not just a 6-pack but broad strong shoulders, deep chest, muscled biceps, strong legs and a v-back. Make this an opportunity not just to get that 6-pack in 90 days but an impressive body from head to toe!

Interested in my online coaching? Here are the systems available: ONLINE COACHING

Wish you all happy training! Cheers

Gert Louw

www.gertlouw.com

Tags: 6-pack, 8-pack, ab, abs, aesthetic, crunch, crunches, diet, diet rules, fat-loss, Gert, gertfitness, leg throws, louw, magic, muscle, russian twist, washboard, www.gertlouw.com

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Categories in blog

Category: TRAINING stuff

My leg training approach.

The upper legs training regime for problem knees:

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Well guys, so whatever your excuse, it is not valid.

Just MAKE IT HAPPEN.

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Attack Tier ONE

Attack Tier TWO

That “magic” pill is a peptide. More precise it is BPC 157 (Pentadecapeptide (PL 14736))

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PBC 157

1. Repairs The Brain

2. Protects Against Drug-Induced Damage

3. Restores The Serotogenic Transport System

4. Protects Dopaminergic System

5. Enhances The GABAergic System

6. Reverses Opioid Tolerance

7. Protects The Heart

8. Accelerates Body Repair

9. Helps With Allergies And Viruses

10. May Help Irritable Bowel Disease

11. Helps With Ocular Dysfunction

12. May Help Oral Cavity

13. May Help With Urinary Incontinence

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PROBLEMATIC training frequencies:

Optimal MAINTENANCE training frequency:

Optimal training frequency for MUSCLE GROWTH:

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TRAINING

LIFESTYLE

EATING

SUPPLEMENTS (natural)

MEDICATION

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First let’s look at the reason for your off-time from training

Now the next step

So let’s look at how to determine if your body is at all fit/healthy enough to resume training

Slowly start training

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PART I – Stop with the shallow and superficial aims and reasons to transform the body!

PART II – Training time is NOT optional!

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FLOODING THE SYSTEM WITH MUSCLE BUILDING AMINO ACIDS.

CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR REPAIR, HEALING and RECOVERY.

TO GET THE INSULIN LEVELS SPIKED.

Summary

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How do you build the muscle of the 6-pack in a 90 day period?