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.
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.
I am sitting with all this video footage of me flexing muscles and showing body development from the day I start at age 40 to my current age 53. With this video I decided to preserve it in single video format like a documentary style showing each years progress and in some case even going a bit backwards.
Yes, even me sometimes had to take a step backwards. Life is difficult and it might be one of many factors you have to deal with (health, sickness, injury, death in family, financial crisis, family matters. Believe me I know about obstacles and struggles…facing a BIG obstacle now – see video.) BUT…the key is and always will be to continue with persistence on the road of transforming the body. Obstacles there will be, ALWAYS, but it is the winners that work around them and sometimes have to pick up the pieces and persist and push through. Off course it is not easy. Not even close! Life never is… But I for one will fight this good fight and play the game with whatever hand of cards I been dealt with to the absolute BEST of my abilities…so what about you?
Anyway, year by year there was a steady progress. It took 6 years to get to my biggest size (40-46). It was not my most aesthetic look however. Some muscles was over developed and bulky compared to the rest. Sure it looked imposing and many would have been happy with it, but my aim was to have a balanced aesthetic muscled look. So from 46-53 my focus was on slightly smaller size but more aesthetic which is MUCH more difficult.
It did not always felt great to drop the size of certain muscle groups…I LOVE (!) big arms. But alas I had a goal in mind and that was driving me. And when I look in the mirror the smaller arms seemed even better looking than those monster size arms because of the better shape they had. Now in my book, THAT is what it is all about. Size might be the goal for some but size on it’s own will never create a stunning sculpture/body. I am not a artistic person, lol…so this is just about as far as my artistic aspiration will ever go.
This goal I obtained between ages 50 to just after 52. The system I am following (ADVANCED SYSTEM II) helped me on this journey to shape and mold the body.
One thing you must be aware off…great bodies takes time. There is no such thing as a 8 week or 6 week program. All these shortcuts and adverts…all is lies. You cannot build a great body in a matter of months, not even with steroids! (Most of the time good bodies are messed up when steroids are introduced…so be very careful.) Great bodies are build in matter of years, sometimes many years.
As discussed in previous videos the Cutting and Building phases/diets are done in a 3 month cycle. Three months Cutting diet followed by 3 months Building diet. This is called a cycle. Then after each cycle repeat the cycle again, and again and so on.
The purpose of the Cutting diet is to drop body fat while keeping muscles safe. Typical targets in a 3 month Cutting diet period is to drop the body fat with roughly 6% – 8%.
The purpose of the Building diet is to increase both the body fat and muscle size. Reason for the body fat increase is simply to stimulate better muscle growth. Muscle growth happens most effectively in a caloric surplus environment. The aim with the Building diet is to add roughly 4% – 5% body fat to help muscle growth.
Both diets stick to a small frequent meal system. For the simple reason that a frequent meal system keeps the digestive track activated continuously and thus results in a significant higher metabolic rate for the body which equals better fat loss. It is MUCH better for fat loss to take 5-7 small meals instead of 1-2 huge meals. It results in better fat loss plus you never feel bloated or uncomfortable from big servings plus you crave food much less.
The same following rules apply to both diets:
NEVER exceed your daily calories.
You MUST perform EVERY 14 DAYS a body monitoring with fat calipers, weighing scale and tape measurements to determine how your body responded to the previous 14 days daily calories.
Never increase or decrease your diets calories with more than 10% in a 14 day period.
The body monitoring process is the CRITICAL part of the diet. If you do not do this thoroughly your diet will NEVER be correctly aligned for your body. You must remember that no 2 people’s metabolic rates are exactly the same. There are a magnitude of factors determine each of us metabolic rates. So if you do not align the diet for YOUR metabolic rate…the diet WILL FAIL!
Now the next step is to interpret the results from the 14 day body monitoring intelligently.
For the CUTTING DIET you do it as follows:
RESULT: lost muscle, ANALYSIS: very bad, ACTION REQUIRED: increase daily calories across the board with 10%
RESULT: lost muscle & fat, ANALYSIS: very bad, ACTION REQUIRED: increase daily calories across the board with 10%
RESULT: lost fat but muscle stayed the same, ANALYSIS: good, ACTION REQUIRED: this is where you want to be during your cutting diet. No change, but redo monitoring every 14 days to ensure you stay in this sweet spot.
RESULT: gain fat & muscle, ANALYSIS: very bad, ACTION REQUIRED: decrease daily calories across the board with 10%.
For the BUILDING DIET you do it as follows:
RESULT: lost muscle, ANALYSIS: very bad, ACTION REQUIRED: increase daily calories across the board with 10%
RESULT: lost muscle & fat, ANALYSIS: very bad, ACTION REQUIRED: increase daily calories across the board with 10%
RESULT: lost fat but muscle stayed the same, ANALYSIS: bad, ACTION REQUIRED: increase daily calories across the board with 10%
RESULT: gain fat & muscle, ANALYSIS: good, ACTION REQUIRED: this is where you want to be in the building diet. But be careful that you do not add too much fat so do the body monitoring every 14 days to ensure you do not pick up too much fat.
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:
Right now on to the actual diets. Both have a complete breakdown with detailed caloric values and protein/carb/fat content. This enable you to exchange food easily to spice up the diet. But be warned! Do NOT exceed the calories when exchanging food and ensure you stick to the protein/carb/fat ratios.
You will see there are 3 days provided for each diet. The Monday and Tuesday you must shuffle between all the weekdays except for Saturday. The Saturday menu plan must ONLY be followed for Saturday. It is meant to be a more relaxed menu plan that will enable you to socialize a bit. You can also squeeze two meals in one or even 3 into one ONLY on Saturday. Again…do NOT exceed calories.
THE CUTTING DIET
THE BUILDING DIET
Now you got all the diet tools to go and get shredded and add muscle.
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:
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!
Most of us know that the key to controlling fat-loss lies in our bodies metabolic rate.
Now as already proven by science there are quite a few things we can do to manipulate the metabolic rate of our bodies. And by applying all these WILL have a massive impact on our fat-loss journeys to obtain ripped physiques’.
But one thing stands apart from all these. There is one thing we can do that head and shoulders stands above the rest to elevate your metabolic tempo of the body.
Before I name this golden trick, let me take you back a bit.
When we eat a meal our digestive system is activated for 2-3 hours to process the food. This has been scientifically proven to be a very high energy requirement process. So for 2-3 hours after eating a meal (small or big) the body will have a significant raised metabolic rate.
For those that eat 1 large meal a day, it means their metabolic rate is raised for a max 3 hours per day
Those eating 2 biggish meals a day has raised metabolic rates of maximum 6 hours per day.
However those that divide the same amount of food into 5-7 small meals a day will have a raised metabolic rate for about 15 hours and longer per day spanning well into sleeping time. They will eat the same amount of food but just in much smaller meal portions and they will have a significant raised metabolic rate for the major part of a 24 hour cycle. This will have a dramatic impact on fat-loss efforts.
Sure this will result in insulin spiking much more frequently…but insulin spiking is not at all that bad. Insulin is the most potent muscle-building hormone in the body by far and this eating habit will result in a huge advantage to increase muscle size when combined with resistance training.
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:
But what about the fat gaining aspects of regular insulin spiking? Well, the benefits of a raised metabolic rate by consuming small frequent meals by far offset the negative aspects of spiking insulin multiple times during the day and on top of this the muscle-building benefits of the insulin spiking further add significant benefits to body shape, muscle size and achieving fat-loss.
The bottom line is – when in search for a great looking body, a small frequent meal system can have a drastic positive impact.
But this is not all you can do to fire up the metabolism…look at the following tricks that can further be applied in an effort to raise the bodies metabolic tempo:
TEN Easy Ways to Boost Your Metabolism (Backed by Science)
Metabolism is the term for all the chemical reactions in your body.
These chemical reactions keep your body alive and functioning.
However, the word metabolism is often used interchangeably with metabolic rate, or the amount of calories you burn.
The higher it is, the more calories you burn and the easier it is to lose weight and keep it off.
Having a high metabolism can also give you energy and make you feel better.
Here are 10 easy ways to increase your metabolism.
1. Eat Plenty of Protein at Every Meal
Eating food can increase your metabolism for a few hours.
This is called the thermic effect of food (TEF). It’s caused by the extra calories required to digest, absorb and process the nutrients in your meal.
Protein causes the largest rise in TEF. It increases your metabolic rate by 15–30%, compared to 5–10% for carbs and 0–3% for fats.
Eating protein has also been shown to help you feel more full and prevent you from overeating.
One small study found that people were likely to eat around 441 fewer calories per day when protein made up 30% of their diet.
Eating more protein can also reduce the drop in metabolism often associated with losing fat. This is because it helps prevent you from losing muscle, a common side effect of dieting.
BOTTOM LINE:Eating more protein can boost your metabolism so that you burn more calories. It can also help you eat less.
2. Drink More Cold Water
People who drink water instead of sugary drinks are more successful at losing weight and keeping it off.
This is because sugary drinks contain calories, so replacing them with water automatically reduces your calorie intake.
However, drinking water may also speed up your metabolism temporarily.
Studies have shown that drinking 17 oz (0.5 liters) of water increases resting metabolism by 10–30% for about an hour.
This calorie-burning effect may be even greater if you drink cold water, as your body uses energy to heat it up to body temperature.
Water can also help fill you up. Studies show that drinking water a half an hour before you eat can help you eat less.
One study of overweight adults found that those who drank half a liter of water before their meals lost 44% more weight than those who didn’t.
BOTTOM LINE:Water can help you lose weight and keep it off. It increases your metabolism and helps fill you up before meals.
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3. Do a High-Intensity Workout
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves quick and very intense bursts of activity.
It can help you burn more fat by increasing your metabolic rate, even after your workout has finished.
This effect is believed to be greater for HIIT than for other types of exercise. What’s more, HIIT has also been shown to help you burn fat.
One study in overweight young men found that 12 weeks of high-intensity exercise reduced fat mass by 4.4 lbs (2 kg) and belly fat by 17%.
BOTTOM LINE:Mixing up your exercise routine, and adding in a few high-intensity workouts, can boost your metabolism and help you burn fat.
4. Lift Heavy Things
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, and building muscle can help increase your metabolism.
This means you will burn more calories each day, even at rest.
Lifting weights will also help you retain muscle and combat the drop in metabolism that can occur during weight loss.
In one study, 48 overweight women were placed on a diet of 800 calories per day, along with either no exercise, aerobic exercise or resistance training.
After the diet, the women who did the resistance training maintained their muscle mass, metabolism and strength. The others lost weight, but also lost muscle mass and experienced a decrease in metabolism.
BOTTOM LINE:Lifting weights is important for building and retaining muscle. Higher amounts of muscle will result in a higher metabolism.
5. Stand up More
Sitting too much is bad for your health.
Some health commentators have even dubbed it “the new smoking.” This is partly because long periods of sitting burn fewer calories and can lead to weight gain.
In fact, compared with sitting, an afternoon of standing up at work can burn an extra 174 calories. If you have a desk job, try standing up for short periods to break up the length of time you spend sitting down. You can also invest in a standing desk.
BOTTOM LINE:Sitting for a long time burns few calories and is bad for your health. Try to stand up regularly or invest in a standing desk.
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6. Drink Green Tea or Oolong Tea
Green tea and oolong tea have been shown to increase metabolism by 4–5%.
These teas help convert some of the fat stored in your body into free fatty acids, which may increase fat burning by 10–17%.
As they are low in calories, drinking these teas may be good for both weight loss and weight maintenance.
It’s thought their metabolism-boosting properties may help prevent the dreaded weight loss plateau that occurs due to a decrease in metabolism.
However, some studies find that these teas do not affect metabolism. Therefore, their effect may be small or only apply to some people.
BOTTOM LINE:Drinking green tea or oolong tea can increase your metabolism. These teas may also help you lose weight and keep it off.
7. Eat Spicy Foods
Peppers contain capsaicin, a substance that can boost your metabolism.
However, many people can’t tolerate these spices at the doses required to have a significant effect.
One study of capsaicin, at acceptable doses, predicted that eating peppers would burn around 10 additional calories per meal. Over 6.5 years, this could account for 1 lb (0.5 kg) of weight loss for an average-weight male.
Alone, the effects of adding spices to your food may be quite small. However, it may be slightly useful when combined with other metabolism-boosting strategies.
BOTTOM LINE:Eating spicy food could be beneficial for boosting your metabolism and help you maintain a healthy weight.
8. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Lack of sleep is linked to a major increase in the risk of obesity.
This may partly be caused by the negative effects of sleep deprivation on metabolism.
Lack of sleep has also been linked with increased blood sugar levels and insulin resistance, which are both linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
It’s also been shown to boost the hunger hormone ghrelin, and decrease the fullness hormone.
This could explain why many people who are sleep deprived feel hungry and struggle to lose weight.
BOTTOM LINE:Lack of sleep can decrease the amount of calories you burn, change the way you process sugar and disrupt your appetite-regulating hormones.
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9. Drink Coffee
Studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee can boost metabolism by 3–11%. Like green tea, it also promotes fat burning.
However, this seems to affect lean people more. In one study, coffee increased fat burning by 29% for lean women, but only 10% for obese women.
Coffee’s effects on metabolism and fat burning may also contribute to successful weight loss and maintenance.
BOTTOM LINE:Drinking coffee can significantly increase your metabolism and help you lose weight.
10. Replace Cooking Fats with Coconut Oil
Unlike other saturated fats, coconut oil contains a lot of medium-chain fats.
Medium-chain fats can increase your metabolism more than the long-chain fats found in foods like.
In one study, researchers found that medium-chain fats increased metabolism by 12%, compared to long-chain fats, which raised it by just 4%.
Due to the unique fatty acid profile of coconut oil, replacing some of your other cooking fats with it may have modest benefits for weight loss.
BOTTOM LINE:Replacing other cooking fats with coconut oil may help boost your metabolism slightly.
Take Home Message
Making small lifestyle changes and incorporating these tips into your routine can increase your metabolism.
Having a higher metabolism can help you lose weight and keep it off, while giving you more energy.
Other ways to manipulate metabolism
“I have a fast metabolism; I can eat and eat and stay skinny.” Most of us have heard someone say this, and a majority of us have responded with annoyance and envy. But what is metabolism, and can we make ours run a bit faster? Taylor Newhouse, a registered dietitian with the Texas A&M School of Public Health, helps break down what you should know about your metabolism.
What is metabolism?
Your metabolism isn’t just what keeps your bragging friend lean, it’s the constant process that your body is using to keep everything functioning. Your metabolism is always running, even when you’re sleeping.
“Your metabolism is kind of the engine that keeps your body going,” Newhouse said. “It’s the drive that allows your body to utilize the food and nutrients you put into it.”
Some people do have faster metabolism than others, and that is the work of genetics and someone’s lifestyle. Although there’s nothing you can do about your genetics, there are ways to impact the lifestyle side and give your metabolism a boost to keep it running in high gear.
How can you improve your metabolism?
Because the metabolism’s base rate is set by genetics, there’s no quick way to rev it up; it cannot be changed without making some long-term lifestyle changes.
“We can manipulate our metabolism to a degree,” Newhouse said. “It’s like a campfire: just like we need to give a fire tinder and pieces of wood in order to keep it from slowing down and burning out, we need to fuel our metabolism as well.”
If you’re looking to boost your metabolism, then there are a few changes you can make throughout the day. Working out, hydrating and eating right can help with your overall health, but there are also specific habits you can foster in order to give it a boost.
“Eating your leafy vegetables and working out can definitely help your metabolism,” Newhouse said. “Muscle burns more energy than fat, so lifting weights or anything else that builds muscle — along with eating correctly — can play a large role in how our body processes nutrients.”
Apart from getting in more muscle-building workouts and eating better, another important habit to kick your metabolism into gear is not ignoring the most important meal of the day: breakfast.
“People tend to overlook how important breakfast is,” Newhouse said. “We go all night without food, and our body can approach a fasting state, an episode where our body will withhold calories, if we wait too long to eat after waking up.”
What can slow your metabolism?
If it’s possible to speed up your metabolism, then it’s equally possible — and far easier — to slow it down. There are many habits that are easy to fall into that can make your metabolism run at a slower pace. One of these happens in the late hours of night, and involves what you’re not doing: getting enough shut-eye.
Sleep deprivation is one of the biggest epidemics in American society, with more than one-third of adults getting less than the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Sleep is not only crucial for your metabolism, but skimping on sleep can also lead to long-term conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
“Sleep is one of the biggest factors that people seem to forget about,” Newhouse said. “Even if someone eats well and exercises, if they don’t get adequate sleep, then their metabolism won’t run as efficiently.”
Although snacks often have a bad reputation for being unhealthy, they are very important to keep you fueled and nourish your body throughout the day. Snacks should have some protein, fiber and carbohydrates and should not have too much salt or sodium.
“Eating snacks won’t slow down your metabolism if you’re eating the right foods,” Newhouse said. “Healthy snacks — such as nuts, fruit or vegetables — have the nutrients to slow the rate of digestion, keep you feeling fuller longer and keep your body working to process the nutrients.”
Stress can also indirectly lead to problems with your metabolism. People with high amounts of cortisol, a stress hormone, tend to be overweight, and being overweight can slow your metabolism. Lowering your cortisol levels can start a chain-reaction that can help your metabolism run more efficiently.
What does your metabolism do over time?
Believe it or not, metabolism — just like the rest of our body — goes through the aging process. As your metabolism slows, your continuous diet and exercise choices become more important.
While the cause for this is unclear, women entering menopause will experience a slower metabolism and can find it more difficult to stay at a healthy weight, which makes diet and exercise vital to healthy aging.
“Nothing changes overnight,” Newhouse said. “It’s a matter of making the small choices that can add up to try and negate the effects that are naturally slowing down your metabolism.”
If you’re worried about how your metabolism is affecting your lifestyle, contact your health care provider or sit down with a registered dietician to set up a plan for a healthier daily life.
So everyone, fire-up that metabolism and train hard!
Texas A&M University. “Metabolism: What is it and can it be controlled?.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 October 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161019154842.htm>.
To all my friends, followers and subscribers…DUDE TALK is a video series where I chat about guy stuff and anything and everything, interacting with my website, Facebook and YouTube friends and followers. So if there is anything (fitness or otherwise) that you want me to chat about, just leave a comment and I will cover it in an upcoming video. If you want your name and photo included in the video (as reference to who posted the topic) just add your pic in the comment or email to me (gertlouwljc@hotmail.com) and you will featured in the video.
When one reaches over 40 and especially over 50 then there are two major concerns that becomes reality for many, constant daily pain and for some the dreaded cancer!
All is not lost. Well for some it is…when one continue on an unhealthy living path (smoking, drinking, and no exercise) well, then the future unfortunately looks a bit bleak.
But just the other day I met a 92 y/o guy, fit, very mobile, with it! So certain things can be done to limit your risks and enhance your quality life.
However even if you do that, constant pain in joints/muscles seems to be part of any person over 40’s life. And so does the possibility of getting cancer.
We use to think it is just by the “throw of a dice” luck that we do not get cancer. But alas, there might just be a way out! Yes you hear right there just might be a very (!) powerful tool in your arsenal that limits your risk for cancer DRASTICALLY.
The same goes for the constant pain. There are 2 weapons in your arsenal to fight this rather effectively.
But first, let’s lay the basic groundwork.
Alpha Lipoic Acid & Potent Multi Vitamin
Two health supplements that form the basis of good health is a good/potent multi vitamin and ALPHA LIPOIC ACID. The best two choices for a potent multi vitamin is OPTIMEN or ANIMAL PAK.
Take the multi vit as directed on the container (must be after meal).
Why the multi vit – well simple you need to ensure that all the basis are covered concerning vitamins and minerals. Just short of one of these can have real bad consequences. This is very important for the older individual. You CANNOT rely on your food to get everything in.
Alpha Lipoic Acid must be taken at 200mg after morning meal and after evening meal.
Why Alpha Lipoic Acid?
Based on evidence from animal and human studies, lipoic acid offers the following essential health benefits:
Reduces oxidative stress in the body via powerful antioxidant activity
Improves several components of the metabolic syndrome—a combination of risk factors that increases one’s risk for diabetes
Reduces blood pressure
Reduces insulin resistance
Improves the lipid profile
Reduces weight
Increases insulin sensitivity
Improves diabetic neuropathy
Protects against cataract formation
Improves visual function in glaucoma
Helps prevents retinal cell death when combined with vitamin E in retinitis pigmentosa
Reduces brain damage after a stroke
Prevents bone loss, possibly through an anti-inflammatory effect
Removes toxic metals from the body
Reduces frequency and intensity of migraines
Improves skin texture
Now on to powerful pain relievers (although Alpha Lipoic Acid also play a role to relief pain).
MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane)
The first one is MSM. Now you might have heard about it. But the truth is, IT DOES WORK. But, not immediately. It is not like popping a pain-pill. It is more like reprogramming your body first before it takes effect.
Some of the most common uses for MSM include treating:
Three uses that MSM has gained the most notoriety for include: acting like an anti-atherosclerotic (preventing the hardening/thickening of arteries), chemo-preventative compound and natural anti-inflammatory. MSM seems to help the body’s natural free radical-scavenging, which means it lowers oxidative stress as the many ailments that come along with it. It’s an effective anti-inflammatory because it blocks the release of pro-inflammatory mediators and down regulates certain harmful signals sent from the immune system that can affect the entire body.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, based on the most reputable studies conducted so far on MSM — such as a 2006 pilot study that analysed the effects of 6,000 milligrams of MSM taken daily by patients with osteoarthritis — it effectively helps improve symptoms of pain and physical function without any major side effects.
That being said, MSM is capable of causing mild side effects for some people, including indigestion, upset stomach or diarrhoea. It’s also not suitable for people taking blood-thinner medications. If you’re pregnant, you’ll want to speak with a doctor before taking it regularly.
Lastly, MSM does NOT start working immediately. It takes up to 3 months for it to start working effectively. For some up to 6 months. So although there is a considerable lead time…it really is worth investing in the long term in using MSM because it IS a powerful pain suppressant with many other health benefits.
Co Enzyme Q10
Now an even more interesting product, Co Enzyme Q10. [Suggested: 150mg after morning and evening meal]
I have written about this wonder supplement in the past and I consider it the “mother of all supplements”. None comes close to it in effectiveness and health boosting ability. And to top it off, it is a significant pain suppressant. To such an extent that many doctors are now at long last starting to subscribe CQ10 to their migraine patients.
Coenzyme Q10 is a mitochondrial energizer that has shown remarkable effects against common heart ailments and neurological disorders. In just the past year, scientists have uncovered specific mechanisms indicating that CoQ10 may have a role in fighting certain cancers. Most surprising, however, are new studies that show how CoQ10 guards against a wide array of common age-related disorders. In this article, we summarize recent discoveries that significantly broaden the clinical utility of CoQ10.
Guarding the Brain After Cardiac Arrest
People who survive cardiac arrest often suffer irreversible brain damage as a result of the disruption of oxygen to the brain. European researchers recently investigated whether combining CoQ10 with mild hypothermia—a technique proven to reduce neuronal damage and increase survival—might enhance the effects of that treatment.
Forty-nine patients who had suffered cardiac arrest and then received cardiopulmonary resuscitation were randomly selected to receive hypothermia (reduction of body temperature) treatment plus CoQ10 or hypothermia plus placebo. The hypothermia treatment involved the patients being placed on a body-surface-cooling mattress.
The patients were then administered either liquid CoQ10 (250 mg followed by 150 mg three times daily for five days) or a placebo through a nasogastric tube. The remarkable findings showed that three-month survival in the CoQ10 group was 68%, compared to only 29% in the placebo group. Coenzyme Q10 thus helped reduce the death rate from cardiac arrest by an astounding 57%. The researchers also found that 36% of patients in the CoQ10 group had a good neurological outcome at three months, versus only 20% in the placebo group.
Preventing the Onset of Migraine
Migraine headaches are a debilitating, all-too-common affliction. Because mitochondrial dysfunction may play a role in migraines by limiting oxygen metabolism, researchers recently explored the use of CoQ10 in preventing these headaches. Published in the February 2005 issue of Neurology, the research describes a placebo-controlled trial of 42 patients in Switzerland.
Patients who had suffered migraines for a year or more, with two to eight attacks per month, were randomly assigned to receive either 100 mg of CoQ10 or placebo, three times daily. At the end of the three-month trial, the CoQ10-treated group had lower attack frequency and fewer headache days and days with nausea than did the placebo group. The mean number of monthly migraine attacks dropped from 4.4 to 3.2 in the CoQ10 group, compared to a negligible decrease from 4.4 to 4.3 in the placebo group.
In this study, supplemental CoQ10 reduced migraine frequency by 27%.
Slowing Early Macular Degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss in people over 60. With the deterioration of the macula (a tiny cluster of highly specialized cells in the retina) central vision progressively begins to blur. As the disease worsens, central vision loss may increase until it becomes impossible to perform tasks that require detailed vision, such as driving and reading.
In recent years, researchers have focused on how oxidative damage affects age-related macular degeneration. The eye, one of the body’s most metabolically active organs, not only generates an enormous amount of free radicals through normal function, but also incurs additional oxidative damage from ultraviolet radiation and air pollution. In recent trials, the use of antioxidants has been shown to counter age-related macular degeneration. For example, in an 11-center, double-blind clinical trial conducted by the National Eye Institute (a division of the National Institutes of Health), a combination of antioxidants plus zinc slowed macular degeneration progression in people with intermediate or advanced disease by about 25%.
Hungarian scientists are now exploring a metabolic rather than an antioxidant approach to managing macular degeneration. Citing findings that mitochondrial dysfunction might also play a role in the development of the disease, the researchers designed a clinical trial to evaluate intervention in early age-related macular degeneration with a combination of compounds—including CoQ10—that have demonstrated the ability to improve mitochondrial metabolism. The researchers reported results of their double-blind, placebo-controlled trial last year in the journal Opthalmologica. More than 100 patients with early age-related macular degeneration were randomly assigned to receive either two capsules per day containing 200 mg of acetyl-L-carnitine, 780 mg of omega-3 fatty acids, and 20 mg of CoQ10, or capsules containing an equal quantity of soy oil.
At the end of the 12-month treatment period, the researchers found statistically significant improvement in the treatment group as measured by all four parameters of visual function studied. In addition, only one of the 48 patients (2%) in the treatment group showed clinically significant worsening in visual field mean defect (blind spots in the visual field), the primary study endpoint, compared to 9 of 53 patients (17%) in the placebo group. The decrease in drusen—tiny yellow retinal deposits associated with macular degeneration—of the treated eyes was also statistically significant compared to placebo when either the most-affected eyes or the less-affected eyes were considered. In the less-affected eyes, the drusen-covered area decreased by 23% in the treated group, but increased by 13% in the placebo group. These findings suggest that intervention with an appropriate combination of nutrients that affect mitochondrial lipid metabolism may stabilize and even improve visual functions in early age-related macular degeneration.
New Applications in Fighting Cancer
Research on CoQ10 and cancer has focused on two lines of inquiry: CoQ10’s ability to improve immune response and its ability to decrease the cardiotoxicity caused by a common class of anti-cancer chemotherapeutic agents.
Patients with cancer often exhibit low levels of CoQ10,6,7 and researchers have shown that CoQ10 can increase immune response in humans.
Based on these findings, Danish researchers investigated CoQ10’s effects alone and in combination with other nutrients as an adjunctive therapy for breast cancer.
In one case report, the researchers describe three breast cancer patients with metastasized cancer. The women underwent conventional cancer treatment and supplemented with a daily dose of 390 mg of CoQ10. All three women demonstrated tumor regression and decreased incidence of metastasis.
In another study, the same research team investigated 32 high-risk breast cancer patients whose malignancy had spread to the lymph nodes. In addition to conventional therapeutic interventions, this group of patients received a daily combination of nutrients (vitamin C: 2850 mg; vitamin E: 2500 IU; beta-carotene: 32.5 IU; selenium: 387 mcg; and secondary vitamins and minerals), essential fatty acids (1.2 grams of gamma linolenic acid and 3.5 grams of omega-3 fatty acids), and 90 mg of CoQ10. At the end of the 18-month trial, six patients showed apparent partial remission, none of the patients showed signs of additional metastases, and their quality of life improved. None of the patients died during the study period, though four deaths were expected based on the patients’ disease stage. In one of the six patients with partial remission, the dose of CoQ10 in the nutritional protocol was increased to 390 mg. After two months, that patient’s tumor had disappeared completely, as confirmed by a mammogram.
While chemotherapy drugs can be highly effective, their use can also be limited by toxic side effects. This has been noted in the case of anthracyclines, a class of drugs widely used in cancer chemotherapy. These drugs have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of leukemia, lymphomas, and solid malignancies, and are often used to treat breast cancer, with higher doses yielding greater clinical responses. These higher doses of anthracyclines, however, can produce toxic effects on heart tissue, possibly leading to cardiomyopathy and heart failure that are not responsive to conventional pharmacological interventions. In fact, anthracyclines selectively damage mitochondria in the heart, but not in other organs. Since coenzyme Q10 supports both heart tissue and mitochondria, researchers conducted human trials to determine whether CoQ10 might prevent cardiotoxicity during the administration of anthracyclines.
Two recent review articles addressed CoQ10’s potential as an adjunctive therapy during chemotherapy with anthracyclines. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers summarized five reviewed studies in which CoQ10 was given along with anthracyclines. They report that in three of the studies that measured heart rhythm, patients who received CoQ10 showed favorable changes suggesting that CoQ10 might have a stabilizing effect on the heart. They also note that supplementation did not interfere with anthracycline treatment, and that no adverse effects were reported in any of the trials. The authors concluded that although coenzyme Q10 demonstrates potential for reducing cardiotoxicity, larger and more rigorous investigations are needed.
Slowing Neurodegenerative Disease Progression
Many investigators have conducted preclinical studies examining how oxidative stress and impaired mitochondrial function may contribute to neuronal cell death, a characteristic of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases. For example, a recent journal article in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology reported on the effects of the herbicide paraquat on neuronal cell death in the laboratory. The researchers found that this toxic chemical damaged mitochondria and increased free radical production, eventually resulting in the death of neuronal cells. Pretreatment of the cell cultures with CoQ10, however, inhibited both mitochondrial dysfunction and free radical generation. The researchers postulated that coenzyme Q10 may prove useful in preventing and treating neurodegenerative conditions related to environmental toxins.
While published research on the use of CoQ10 in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease has been limited to preclinical studies, investigations of CoQ10 and Parkinson’s disease have moved into clinical trials, including randomized controlled studies. This work has been led by Clifford Shults, MD, professor of neurosciences at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine. In Parkinson’s disease, brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine progressively die. Research in animals has shown that CoQ10 can protect the substantia nigra, the area of the brain where these cells reside. Studies by Dr. Shults and others have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction and diminished mitochondrial CoQ10 levels frequently occur in Parkinson’s sufferers.
With funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders (a division of the National Institutes of Health), Dr. Shults and his colleagues undertook the first double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trial of CoQ10 in patients with early untreated Parkinson’s disease. In this phase II, dose-finding study, 80 patients were randomly assigned to receive one of three different CoQ10 doses (300 mg/day, 600 mg/day, or 1200 mg/day) with vitamin E, or a placebo containing vitamin E alone. The patients were followed for 16 months or until the participants required levodopa, a standard drug treatment for managing disease symptoms.
The results, reported in the Archives of Neurology, showed that patients who received the largest dose of CoQ10 (1200 mg/day) had 44% less decline in mental function, movement, and ability to carry out activities of daily living than those who received the placebo.19 Patients who received CoQ10 doses of 300 mg/day and 600 mg/day also showed some slowing in decline compared to the placebo group, but not as much as those who took the highest dose. The authors concluded that CoQ10 was safe and well tolerated at doses up to 1200 mg/day.
A clinical trial has also been undertaken in patients with Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative genetic disorder. This trial, conducted by the Huntington Study Group, randomly assigned 347 patients with Huntington’s disease to receive CoQ10 at 600 mg/day, remacemide hydrochloride at 600 mg/day, a combination of both, or placebo. Over the 30-month trial, the CoQ10 treated patients showed a 13% decrease in overall functional decline and beneficial trends in some secondary measures. However, the difference between the CoQ10 group and the other groups did not reach statistical significance.
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METFORMIN
Now on to the last miracle supplement. Metformin [suggested 500mg daily]
This is actually not a supplement but a prescribed medicine for diabetics. However it seems to do much more than just treating diabetics and all of it is good, very good news!
Let me give you the rundown…
[From the US National cancer institute]
“In 1957, the first results from a clinical trial of the diabetes drug metformin in patients were published. Yet, it would take nearly 40 years for the drug to be approved in the United States as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.
Now researchers want to know whether this decades-old drug may have additional uses in another disease—cancer. Based on findings from a number of large epidemiologic studies and extensive laboratory research, metformin is being tested in clinical trials not only as a treatment for cancer, but as a way to prevent it in people at increased risk, including cancer survivors who have a higher risk of a second primary cancer.
Some of the early-phase prevention trials of metformin are enrolling participants who are at increased risk for cancer and who are obese, have elevated glucose or insulin levels, or have other conditions that put them at risk for diabetes.
“With the obesity epidemic, these studies are applicable to a substantial portion of the U.S. population and, increasingly, of the world population,” said Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, PhD, MPH, of NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention.
Expanding the Data Pool
Much of the human data on metformin and cancer has come from epidemiologic studies of people with diabetes. In many, though not all, of these studies, people with diabetes who were assigned to take metformin had a lower incidence of cancer than those taking other diabetes drugs.
Completed in 2002, the original DPP enrolled more than 3,200 people at increased risk of developing diabetes and randomly assigned them to one of three groups: one group received metformin, one took part in an intensive diet and physical activity program, and one received a placebo. Participants in the metformin arm had a substantially lower risk of developing diabetes than the general population; participants in the exercise and diet regimen fared even better.
With NCI’s involvement, the program’s extension, called the DPP Outcomes Study, will allow investigators to document cancer incidence and death among study participants. Those observations should provide some of the strongest data available to date on metformin’s anticancer effects in people without diabetes, explained Dr. Heckman-Stoddard. The first data on cancer outcomes in study participants, which will be based on 15 years of follow-up, should be available in 2014.
“Once we have that data, there are a host of other questions we can ask,” she said. For example, Dr. Heckman-Stoddard and her colleagues plan to study metformin’s impact on certain blood biomarkers that studies have suggested are associated with cancer risk. They will also study the drug’s mechanism of action—that is, how metformin may work to prevent changes in cells that can lead to cancer.
For Prevention, Small Biomarker-Driven Trials
The smaller prevention trials being conducted are very different from the DPP Outcomes Study. These trials are not designed to determine whether metformin prevents cancer. Prevention trials must generally have a large number of participants and span many years to show whether a drug or some other intervention reduces the risk of cancer.
Instead, these short, 3- to 6-month trials are investigating whether the drug has an effect on specific proteins and/or signaling pathways that have been implicated in cancer development and that laboratory studies have shown are affected by metformin.
At the University of California, Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, for example, Jason Zell, DO, MPH, is leading an early-phase clinical trial that is testing metformin’s effect on the mTOR signaling pathway in obese people who have previously had precancerous growths removed from their colons.
Numerous studies have implicated the mTOR pathway as an integral hub in cancer development and progression, and laboratory studies have consistently shown that metformin can blunt mTOR signaling.
“The key point of the trial is to get at the mechanisms of action … to see if metformin is behaving in the expected manner” based on the lab findings, Dr. Zell explained.
Numerous early-stage clinical trials are currently under way to investigate metformin’s potential to prevent an array of cancers, including colorectal, prostate, endometrial, and breast cancer.
Dr. Zell and his colleagues chose to study obese patients “because of the interesting side-effect profile of metformin, which can include weight loss,” meaning it may not be suitable for underweight, nondiabetic individuals, he continued.
If this first trial shows that metformin is having the expected effects on mTOR signaling, the next trial would be similar but would measure a clinical outcome, such as whether metformin decreases the number of colorectal polyps that return.
A phase II trial at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center is testing metformin’s effects on a host of biomarkers in postmenopausal breast cancer survivors who are obese.
Funded by NCI’s Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC) program, the trial, called Reach for HealthExit Disclaimer, will involve treatment with metformin alone and in combination with an exercise program. The study will examine the effect of 6 months of metformin treatment, with or without exercise, on a host of biomarkers associated with cancer risk. The change in biomarker measurements before and after treatment will be compiled into a score that predicts the risk of dying from breast cancer.
This is all part of the trial’s novel “biomarker bridge” design, the lead investigator, Ruth Patterson, PhD, explained. The biomarkers and the risk score are being derived from an analysis of tissue samples collected as part of an NCI-supported phase III trial called the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) study. This study found that a diet low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables did not reduce the risk of cancer returning in survivors of early-stage breast cancer compared with survivors who maintained their normal diet. Researchers have continued to follow the health of WHEL participants to document their health outcomes, including death from breast cancer.
“The WHEL trial is over, and we have a freezer full of blood samples, and we know participants’ breast cancer recurrences, mortality, and other outcomes,” Dr. Patterson said. “So we’re hooking together a short-term trial with a long-term cohort study by means of blood biomarkers.”
The Dose Is the Question
Most of the cancer clinical trials of metformin use the same doses typically used to treat diabetes. That makes sense, because all of the epidemiologic data suggesting a cancer benefit came from studies that used those doses, said Michael Pollak, MD, of McGill University in Montreal, who has extensively studied metformin and its anticancer potential.
“We already know that those doses are safe, so why not study them?” Dr. Pollak continued. “But then you have to realize that virtually all of the lab studies [of metformin] have been done using drug concentrations that are as much as 100-fold higher than those found in the serum of diabetic patients. So the lab studies do not directly justify the clinical trials that are using conventional antidiabetic doses.”
With the obesity epidemic, these studies are applicable to a substantial portion of the U.S. population and, increasingly, of the world population.
—Dr. Brandy Heckman-Stoddard
Although laboratory studies suggest that larger doses of metformin “deserve study” for cancer treatment, Dr. Pollak noted that “for cancer prevention, we can only consider the hypothesis that the antidiabetic dose, or even lower doses, will be clinically useful.”
Dr. Zell agreed. “In the realm of cancer prevention, where side effects are less acceptable than they are in the realm of cancer treatment, the conventional dose for treating diabetes or something close to it may be the limit.
“I don’t imagine that prevention researchers will be looking to use [significantly larger] doses of metformin,” he continued. “In a healthy population, even a low risk of side effects could be extraordinary when applied to a larger population…. That’s why trials like ours are important. At the end of this 12-week intervention, we’ll have a good idea of whether the standard dose of metformin can affect cancer signaling pathways.”
Early Days
It’s still far too early to tell whether there is any future for metformin as a means of preventing or treating cancer, several researchers said.
Despite the very strong epidemiological evidence, there’s a chance that, even if metformin has some ability to prevent cancer, its efficacy may be limited to just several cancer types, Dr. Pollak noted. For example, metformin is not absorbed very well by the body and is absorbed differently by different tissues, he explained, which could limit how effective it might be against particular cancers.
Although the drug in its current form has certain limitations, some investigators are working on developing more potent derivatives of metformin. At the 2012 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, for example, Italian and U.S. researchers reported that several metformin derivatives they had developed potently blocked the growth of breast cancer cells in the laboratory, including cell lines of triple-negative breast cancer, and caused the cells to die.
To be used for cancer prevention, any metformin derivative would have to be safe, with few side effects, Dr. Heckman-Stoddard stressed. As for the original metformin formulation, she added, current trials should help to map the way forward for its use in prevention.
“It’s important that we identify the right populations in which this is most likely to be an effective agent,” said Dr. Heckman-Stoddard. “We need to look at the evidence from all of these early-phase trials as a whole,” she continued, including examining the population groups exhibiting the strongest suggestions of efficacy “so we can design efficient phase III trials.”
Examples of Clinical Trials Testing Metformin for Cancer Prevention
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Metformin has been proven to be very safe even for non-diabetics. But since it is a prescription drug you will have to twist your doctor’s finger to get a prescription. Ask him to look at the anti-cancer and weight-loss properties of Metformin…this might change his mind.
So here you have it – 5 powerfull tools in your arsenal for good health, anti pain and anti cancer. As the Vulcan say “Life long and prosper!”
I get many guys asking me about “intermittent fasting” and “carb cycling” and similar “tricks” in the search to drop body fat.
Let’s look at this objectively.
I am not going to shoot any of these methods down, I think there are enough counter-proof that at least for some it is working.
However the people contacting me is never advanced athletes but Joe average who plays around with bodybuilding and want to get a quick road to loosing fat.
This is where the problem comes in.
The advanced athletes employing these diet tricks are already at very low body fat and are preparing for a show or event. In their toolbox which they use constantly, are their fat-callipers, tape measure and weighing scale and caloric counter. They approach this very scientifically and got the whole process down to a tee. They hardly ever make a mistake. But even then some do make a mistake and the consequences are close to disastrous. The truth is that with these tricks they are walking a thin line and it is very easy to make a mistake. You really need to know what you are doing and monitor the body extremely closely. You need to be very scientific about it to the extreme!
But Joe average is not a guy who will put in the time and effort these guys do with these tricks. He will not daily pull out the fat calipers, the tape measurement and scale and double-check calories etc. He just wants a simple to follow solution that will allow him to shed fat. And this is NEVER a simple solution. This is a hardcore solution. And nearly 99% of Joe average who have tried these hardcore solutions have badly burned their fingers. By burned fingers I mean training derailed, getting sick (due to immune system dropping as a result of too much required from the body) or losing all the hard-earned muscle in the process.
The risks simply outweight the benefits for Joe average …by far.
It is not worth it.
For Joe average and most advanced athletes it makes sense to follow a proven sensible approach.
Such a sensible approach is to monitor the body every 14 days with fat calipers and a weighing scale. Then to interpret the results with wisdom and make the necessary caloric adjustments to reach your goal.
In the cutting phase you want to lose fat and keep muscles safe (not necessarily build muscle but definitely not losing muscle!).
In the building phase the goal is adding a little body fat (2%-4%) and built muscle. Whenever you have to adjust calories, never do it with more than 10% in 14 day period up or down. The body need time to adjust and by adjusting calories with more than 10% will throw the body’s normal responses off for up to 1 month which makes the 14 day monitoring very difficult to interpret correctly.
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Now I hope this let’s you think twice about venturing these risky paths. If you want to use me as an example…I have never done these diet tricks, simply because they are too risky! I am not about to sacrifice my hard-worked by slipping up once.
Those of you that know me a bit better, will know that the hand of cards I have been dealt with in the last 12 years is, well, not (!) a good hand.
Twice now I had very close calls with death and been fighting the good battle non-stop the past 12 years. Lots of pain, kidney problems, liver problems and many other serious health issues with very dark clouds hanging over me.
But you know what, through it all, I’ve put my poker face on and played that hand of cards to the best of my ability! I have grown immensely as a person. Suffering and pain and dark clouds hanging over your future is the BEST opportunity to become the YOU, you never was. Does not matter what your prognosis…you will not exhale that last breath until God decide it is time. Make this an opportunity to look into that mirror and say “I like what I see, I like the heart of the person looking back at me!”. Apart from personal growth it also allowed me to grow in my walk of faith with God. Let this be your moment with God Almighty…believe me nothing brings more peace and hope.
No-one is going to live forever, tomorrow might be your last day, you might be run over, no one knows. So stand tall and stand proud, whatever dark cloud is hanging over you is irrelevant…play that hand of cards with your best poker face and win!
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:
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/
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.
Then one also get barbells with straight bars.
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.
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Quite a few guys asked me what was the biggest impact on my life after I achieved this muscled physique and healthy living success.
Some things changed, like suddenly more people are friendly with you, people have more respect when talking to you and yes, sure…looks like wife loves me more!
But the biggest problem that came with the whole deal revolves around sex, lust and temptation. I had many, many(!) guys, girls, and couples (married and otherwise) that offered me in no uncertain terms…sex. Yes, you heard right, even married couples. And some of these people are incredibly attractive!
Now, I am no-one special. I am certain that any muscle guy or fitness girl, having a high internet visibility, have this problem to contend with. The people making the offers don’t care about what you stand for. That is irrelevant to them.
I’ve been offered gifts, large sums of money and even people that wanted to travel from another continent just to have sex…
Now, believe me I am no “Amish” when it comes to sex. I LOVE sex even some kinky stuff! BUT I have a family…a loving, 100% loyal, wife and a son looking up to me as the leader of the family showing him how a man and a father must live. When I am 80 y/o, I still want to too be able to lovingly look into my wife’s eyes and give her a passionate kiss without having to feel guilty about cheating her and living a life devoid of integrity.
Sure the world reckons what others don’t know won’t hurt or harm them and thus they just do whatever pleases them. Me, on the other hand is not using the world as my moral compass but my moral compass is Jesus Christ. Every evening I have to face God and He gives me my moral guidance.
For me ignoring my rules guiding my integrity is a path of self-destruction. I lose all love for myself and literally start to hate myself. This path always leads to severe depressive states and can easily result in suicide. Believe me I know what I am talking about, I’ve been there. Long ago this was my life and it was a worthless life. After nearly dying at 40 my appreciation and love for life changed me.
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It is not about what the other person do not know…it is about what I know! Not having self-respect is a sickness of our time…and the resultant symptom is free sex around every corner leading a life devoid of integrity.
Am I immune, to these temptations? Certainly not. EVEN Adam and Eve stumbled with forbidden fruit.
If I ever have one prayer request for my fellow Christians, this will be it. Pray that I will be strengthened to keep leading a life of integrity.
Sometimes this can become so bad that I wondered if it was at all worth it. But then I will get this email from someone I have never met and do not know…about how my life and testimonies literally saved him from a path of destruction and how he turn his/her life around…all because of me. And you know what? This makes it a 1000 times worth over. There is no more incredible feeling when someone tells you, because of you, what you stand for and what you said, because of your life and integrity…I was saved!
in a few days there is a day we call christmas. many are trying to ban even the word “christmas”. political correctness are to try and just refer to it as happy season. the name “christ” offends governments, leaders and many other .
this name refers to a man who walked this earth, healing the sick, showing and telling people how to live blameless lives, telling people about the love of god and teaching them selfless love for everyone around them.
but this man was hated because of this and crucified. today the world hates him for the very same reasons. i for one follow this man in all his teachings. he is my mentor, my leader, my role model and my savior.
i will not bow to political correctness but bow only before him – jesus christ.
Neither your age, nor your health should ever (!) stand in your way.
Now, most of you know by now that 12 years ago I nearly died and doctors did not give me any good news. But with faith I moved forward and apply healthy living on all levels and also did some house cleaning and moving closer to God ( I am a follower of Jesus Christ).
Obviously it was a long and hard road and the body took long to respond to this healthy living but the wheel did turn and it is keeping on turning as a result.
Now, I am not naïve in thinking everyone with serious health issues can and will turn around like I did, but what I do believe is that with faith in God and by living very healthy, one CAN make a huge difference. Obviously you need your doctor’s approval to embark on such a journey.
But, let me share with you the core of my healthy living
My training program is as follows:
Mondays – Chest, Biceps and abs
Tuesdays – Shoulders, Traps and calves
Wednesdays – rest
Thursdays – Back, triceps and abs
Fridays – Legs, upper pecs and calves
Saturdays & Sundays – rest
My supplement regime
Health supplements:
ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid)
CQ10 (Co Enzyme Q10)
Omega 3+6
Strong Multi Vitamin
Slow release Vit C
Muscle building supplements:
Whey protein powder
L-Glutamine
BCAA
How do I structure my training?
I do a 3-months Cutting phase with a very specific cutting phase diet and training with lighter weights at a higher rep range followed by 1 week rest and then a 3-month building phase with a very specific building phase diet and training with heavier weights to absolute muscle failure at lower reps (about 8 reps per set) followed by 1 week rest and the repeat.
This allow me to build muscle but also to recover the strained tendons and joints.
About my diets
I make use of one of the top fitness nutritionists in the field (BERNADETTE BEYER) to work out my diets for each phase according to my bodytype and goals. This is the crucial part of your success and without a very focussed diet there will be no success.
My blog contains a LOT of info for free that can help you through all these processes.
But for those interested, I also offer my exact training/supplem and diet system via the ADVANCED SYSTEM II (option E). The same nutritionist I use will also work out your diet solution and I myself attend to working out your training and supplement attack based. If you want to signup, just choose option E via the following link: https://gertlouw.com/contact-me
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: 
