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
Now this is probably what everyone wants to hear – lol! BUT, the truth is, there are methods to cheat and still get to the top!
Life is not meant to be without a dessert once on a while…and I am talking Baked Chocolate Fondant with oozing real sweet chocolate out if it’s center with ice cream (real ! ice cream) liberally used. The same goes for the odd glass of wine/whiskey or beer or whatever blows your skirt up, even a chocolate!
A certain balance needs to be applied to stay sane with anything in life. I’ve just done a 3 weeks severe cutting diet, sticking 100% to it…and, it’s was hell! The more you are going to disallow yourself a treat once in a while, the bigger the chance that your diet will fail completely in the end. You would just say…”I had enough”. And you know what? I have big compassion for that…so let’s have a look here how (!) you can cheat regularly without crashing your diet and keep yourself sane and focused to stick 98% to your diet.
Sundays to Fridays – sorry that (!) is where you stick 100% to your diet.
Get yourself some sugarless, carb less, fat free sweets. Do some searching and buy those that have as little calories as possible…like below 10! Then during the Sunday to Friday period…pop a few (3-4) of those during the day when you feel the urge to treat yourself a bit. Apart from that – nothing else.
The key is always to eat all your regular meals and drink all your water (2L-4L)…THAT is what keeps you full and keep the urges to eat wrong away.
Obviously, if you are at your target body fat then some different rules apply. Then you are allowed 2 -3 cheats evenly spaced out during the week. But for this documents purpose, let’s assume we are dealing with all those that are still far from the target body fat levels.
Your cheat should be left for a weekend day…when you are less stressed, more relaxed and doing something you like. This cheat will go to great lengths to make you not feeling deprived of some great things and food in life. Even if you don’t feel like a cheat, maybe it is a good idea…simply to help you stay balanced and not feeling deprived later on in the week.
Now, “HOW?” should you cheat?
There can only be one cheat and that cheat can only be once per day per week on just 1 day of the week!
First you eat the diet as normal for that day as specified.
Let’s look at the next cheat scenario’s:
1. Ice Cream cheat / Soft drink / dessert cheat / potato crisps – once anytime during day. Then for 2 of your meals for the day cut out carbs completely. One small meals carbs and one larger meals carbs.
2. Chocolate cheat 150g – anytime during day. The same as above: For 2 of your meals for the day cut out carbs completely. One small meals carbs and one larger meals carbs.
3. Alcohol cheat (500ml equivalent wine) – anytime during day. Usually late afternoon or evening you will use this cheat. So for the evening meal cut out carbs completely and ONLY clean fatless meat and salad…no sauces, no carbs, nothing else! And definitely no dessert. If you want dessert, then no wine! One or the other… [Note: be very careful with alcohol. It is the key reason why men, especially older men, struggle to loose fat around the tummy and have a bloated look to the tummy. Best is to cut alcohol COMPLETELY out and have other types of cheats.]
Remember that with any of the above cheats it will set you back 24 to 48 hours before your body reverted to the level before you cheated and only then will it be able to start losing fat again. So even though you have cheated it is STILL very much possible to loose fat for the week, but only within above rules.
I strongly believe that the only winning approach is a balanced approach. That keeps you focused and you feel like “life” is not deprived of you. Part of this balance is to cheat on a weekly basis with your diet by applying above wisdom!
Wish you all happy dieting and a great training week!
Gert Louw
This is the first time that my past 10 years life story and motivation for my transformation has been put to video, thanks to two people who crossed my path (Adriaan Fourie and Gary King)
It is not something I talk easily about because of all the emotions involved. I see this step of making the video as part of the emotional healing process.
The purpose of this video is meant to inspire and give hope to those that feel they are in a hopeless situation.
Life is beautiful and precious and we can never throw in the towel. There is so much beauty in this life but we have to get up and find it. We don’t have to search far but we must take that first steps.
Whatever you might be facing today, there IS HOPE!
I get ask by many guys how they should start out on this road of transforming their body.
They know what their end-goal is looking like, but the process just sounds and look very overwhelming, especially if you’ve never been into bodybuilding before.
So with this article let me help you to get it off the ground.
I am assuming you are starting from ground zero…very unfit coach potato with little to no weight training experience.
Sure if you got the money, you can get yourself a personal trainer who will then guide you through the process – however, choose well, not all personal trainers are equal. In the very least, if his body does not look like your end goal body, stay away! You do not want someone with theoretical knowledge, u want someone who has the knowledge AND reached success!
But alas, most of us are not so fortunate to be able to afford a personal trainer.
The good news is that in the early steps (first couple of months) a personal trainer is really not a critical part. (and then after these first few months all you really need is a dedicated training partner with the same goals and dedication as you!)
The critical part is the fact that you have made the decision to change your life and to what degree you are ready to sacrifice your comfort levels to reach this success.
I don’t know you, but for this one time, tell yourself you’ve made this decision and gonna stick to it no matter what. Then be a MAN and show some dedication and perseverance!
OK, this is now week one, tomorrow is Monday and you want to START!
Consider this…
CORRECT DIETING DETERMINES 80% OF YOUR BODY TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS.
CORRECT AND INTENSE TRAINING (AND NOT OVERTRAINING) DETERMINES 17.5% OF YOUR BODY TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS.
CORRECT SUPPLEMENTATION DETERMINES 2.5% OF YOUR TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS.
So, for now, forget about supplements and only focus on the correct diet and training. Supplements you should only consider once you have the training and diet well under your control.
WANT SOMETHING MORE ADVANCED & FULLY CUSTOMIZED? The program I am following for the past 6 years, 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:
Train 4 days a week for first month: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Rest on the other days or do moderate cardio for not more than 20 minutes.
On these days train with weights (resistance exercises) for not longer than 30 minutes.
During each training session do the following:
One exercise for biceps
One exercise for triceps
One exercise for pecs/chest
One exercise for shoulders
One exercise for back
One exercise for upper legs
One exercise for calves
One exercise for stomach.
Each exercise must consist of two sets of 12 reps. No resting between reps. 1 min resting between sets.
Use a light weight allowing you to comfortably do the 12 reps.
Each 7 days increase the weights by about 10%…very important rule, this allows the body and tendons to adapt to the new exercise and weights.
MONTH 2
Train 4 days a week for the 2nd month: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Rest on the other days or do moderate cardio for not more than 20 minutes.
On each of these days train with weights for not longer than 40 minutes.
On each of the following day you must do:
MONDAYS
Three exercises for biceps
Three exercises for triceps
TUESDAYS
Three exercises for shoulders
Three exercises for trapezuims
THUSDAYS
Three exercises for pecs/chest
Three exercises for back
FRIDAY
Three exercises for upper legs
Two exercises for calves
Two exercises for stomach.
Each exercise must consist of two sets of 10 reps. No resting between reps. 1 min resting between sets.
Use a light weight allowing you to just-just complete the 10 reps.
Each 14 days increase the weights by about 10%…very important rule, this allows the body and tendons to adapt to the new exercise and weights.
Stay with the same program from month three, but in month three increase the weight size to allow you to achieve muscle failure on the 8th rep in each set. From here onwards do only 8 reps per set and you MUST not be able to do 1 more rep after the 8th rep due to muscle failure!
Regarding the execution of exercises and which exercises to choose:
Always do the compound exercises fist in a training session…this simply means it is an exercise that involved the most possible amount of muscles: bench press, shoulder press, squats, deadlift, barbell bicep curls. These are the core group exercises that sparks growth.
Look around in the gym, ask trainers and talk to those who got the muscles to show you on how to correctly execute an exercise – 99% of the guys would be very friendly showing you the ropes.
The DIET
This is a much simpler aspect and a basic plan can be laid down rather easily. Just remember….you will NOT grow if you do not eat for growth. You need to eat small balanced meals every 3-4 hours from waking up to the point of going to bed. The period just before and after training is also very important.
Diet
One thing I realized – I will not grow if I do not get my diet sorted correctly. Diet makes up easily 80% of muscle Building Phase success. I did not believe that in the past and paid hard penalties for wasted effort!
My diet is not a diet to lose weight without training. My diet will work great to lose unwanted weight but only with a dedicated and serious training routine.
This is just a sample. It can help you get started and may just be all you need to achieve success. However, each of us are different and body types and sizes vary…so if you have concerns, do more homework or best yet, see a sports doctor or dietician to design a muscle-building diet for you. However, I had GREAT success by following this basic diet structure.
Here an example of my typical dieting routine:
(note: 40g of whey protein shake can easily be exchanged with 6 eggs whites or 150g tuna in brine or 150g chicken fillet, etc…)
Meal 1:
For extra calcium and protein, I sometimes mixed my shake with fat-free milk. However, water is cheaper. I never drank concentrated shakes. I used at least 400ml of water/fat-free milk.
Meal 2:
Oats and muscle-building go perfect together as a morning meal. Oats release their energy slowly throughout the day, so I won’t feel drained or experience hunger pangs. Substitutions: none really, nothing comes close to oats. Sometimes I used cinnamon over my oats. Be careful of the calorie count and do not exceed the calorie count of the oats.
Meal 3:
The 50g at this meal was a solid food protein. I was weary of bananas. They are excellent directly after working out, but due to their quick releasing energy, I want to avoid them at any other time. Substitutions: 50g protein = 4 medium size egg whites / small piece of chicken fillet/fish or beef fillet.
By small is meant about half a fist size. Although the yellow of an egg is healthy, the amount of calories it has due to its fat content makes it unsuitable for muscle-building purposes. At most I took one yellow and mixed it in with the 4 whites. But as stated, it’s best without.
Meal 4:
This I took immediately before working out. Substitutions: None
Post Workout:
Note this is the ONLY time I ate a banana. My body requires immediate energy after workout and a banana is excellent in providing it. Substitutions: The whey and glutamine cannot be substituted. However, the banana can be replaced by 200ml fruit juice, any flavor. Apple works great. But, a banana stays the number one choice.
Meal 6:
Substitutions: None
Meal 7:
Small evening meal with no starches, only veggies/salad and protein (fillet, chicken or fish – 150g). No butter and limited salt with veggies/salad. I used a liberal (2 spoons) amounts of extra virgin olive oil with salad/veggies.
Meal 8:
Substitutions: Although the casein protein powder is preferred, I sometimes ate 250g fat-free cottage cheese.
General Diet Points:
I did not eat starches after 6 p.m. That means no rice, pasta, bread, rusks, potato, etc.
The protein portion in the evening was a solid food and is typically the size of my fist in volume.
All the protein portions were fat-free. I chose chicken fillet, beef fillet or fish.
I was careful to use sauces over protein. It adds a lot of unwanted calories. I rather use herbs and spices liberally and things like squeezed lemon juice, basic gravy sauce. I also tried to cook the chicken in orange juice for a tangy change.
I allowed myself a large salad portion. But we are only talking basic salad here, no fancy stuff. Only green leafs, tomato, cucumber, gherkin, seeds, very little nuts and some parmesan shavings allowed. I used 2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil over salad. For a something different, I also used balsamic vinegar to taste. It goes especially nice with the olive oil.
Cooked and raw veggies were allowed.
Butter and salt were a taboo for me. However, over veggies I used a tablespoon of butter for taste purposes.
Critical Diet Points I Adhered Too:
I tried staying away from diet carbonated drinks and too much coffee (only 2 cups daily with fat-free milk and no sugar). Both these items act as a mild diuretic and means I will have to drink even more water to replace the water lost as a result. Plus the sweeteners used in diet carbonated drinks are questionable!
I NEVER skipped a meal. This is the #1 enemy for Building Phase muscles.
I never ate more than the suggested amounts, otherwise I would gain fat.
I never ate less than the suggested amounts or I would struggle to build muscle.
I ate my meals even if I felt full!
My meals were spaced between 3-4 hours apart.
I used NO alcohol during the week and weekends only one glass of wine or one beer per day. Alcohol is a big enemy of dieting and building muscles. Cutting it out completely is the best option.
I do NOT smoke. I cannot be successful at building muscles and continue smoking, the two oppose each other.
Sweets and chocolate: Sorry, I had none of these.
Cheat meal? Once per week (only one meal). I never stuffed myself (important), but had a sit-down meal and ate whatever my taste buds felt like including my favorite dessert.
Why did I use two different proteins powders?
Whey isolate is a quick releasing protein powder and perfect to use when my body requires an immediate uptake of protein.
Casein protein is used when I need a slow uptake of protein, such as while I am sleeping.
I tried to use trusted local (South African) supplements when I can, simply because they are cheaper than the imported ones.
Why so many shakes?
Well, simply to make my life easier. I did not have the time to stand for hours at night preparing the next day meals. But know this, solid protein sources are always preferred to protein shakes if you can manage the time. But I was careful not to replace my existing solid meals with shakes. The human body was not designed to live on liquids alone.
Conclusion
Remember – Each one who has reached body transformation success holds some truth. Use these recipes but keep on educating yourself and starting to mould it to make it your own unique winning recipe that suites you best.
Never change more than one aspect at a time before verifying that it works and only then introduce another change.
It is a battle of the mind and wills…but we each has but ONE life to live…and we need to make it the BEST life we can!
Don’t wake up like me at 41 and start making a difference…if u are young, use that opportunity and never live with any regrets about wasted opportunities! But that being said, even if you are 60, you can still transform to kick many a lazy 25 y/o’s ass! Time is precious…never let it slip you by.
All footage shot during the 2nd week of Jan 2013.
My training is spot on and weight now at 87.5kg, 8% bf (bodyfat) and 1.75m tall. (For those that don’t know – I am 48 y/o.)
I am busy cutting right now to lower bf from 8 to 6%. This should take me 2 to 3 months…slow process to ensure I loose no muscle but only bf.
The following changes is applied to my normal training program:
Close to the same diet as before just make sure I cheat less often and decrease carbohydrates (complex and simple) intake slightly (about 15%).
Same training as before with exception of 15 reps per set and not 8 as in the growth phase of the program.
Decreasing all my training weights for all excercises by approximately 1/3 of the weight size.
Muscle failure at approximately the 15th rep in each set (instead of the 8th rep as in the building phase).
Minimal rest inbetween sets…sweat baby sweat! (If too exhausted = 1 min stretching)
Introduce more supersets and more burnout sets (to maximize energy expenditure).
Will post update photos soon on lower body fat levels.
Wish you all a blessed 2013!
ScoobyMuscle (Gert)
Here is a motivational video I did a few months ago:
WORLD WIDE WEB BICEP FLEX-OFF 2012
Anyone want to enter for the 2013 vid? Email me at scoobymuscle@hotmail.co.za
My boy of 6 (Janu) has nagged me to get him gloves and a boxing bag. I bought him a small bag and some mitts and after watching him I decided this looks like fun.
I have 15 years of Karate (black belt) and some Judo experience and know how to through a punch, so I got me a decent medium boxing bag and gloves (12 ounces because wife said she might also want to hit the bag now and then).
After I had my first session…just me the bag and shirt off…I must say I LOVE IT!
There is a lot to be said for releasing energy and frustration and really hitting something silly – lol!
I felt really good afterwards and worked up a good sweat.
Obviously we are talking great upper body workout and good cardio benefits. Also a good fat destroyer.
The only negative thing is that the older one get, the longer rest/recovery periods is required in between boxing sessions. Tendons and all related things needs recovering. This is where the young guys have the edge.
So slowly I will be teaching my boy some tricks. He already can through a good punch.
Wife…I will not teach her too much…no guy wants a wife that can punch too good!
The photo above was taken last week. Training is rock solid right now.
This is probably one the most important decisions you will face in your training.
For me, I train 90% without a partner.
This is the NOT argument:
More flexibility about the times you train.
Not to have put up with a training partners mood swings.
Not risking having chosen the wrong partner with different goals than you!
Not hurting yourself because pushing yourself too hard to show off!
But the fact is….it can do wonders for your training to get a focused training partner.
Right now I’ve hooked up with a 19 y/o training partner. Slightly smaller in-built than me but due to his age he can put in one hell of an effort. Sure I got more skill and better technique but he forces me to try new things and simply to push it harder.
One of the core principles to stimulate muscle grow is to continuously try new exercises or new methods to prevent stagnation. This is one of the key aspects of having a training partner even just for short periods of time.
I can give a guarantee (if God spares my health) that I am gonna encounter a very good lean mass growth spurt with my training partner and in two months I reckon I will see significant progress – I will post progress pics!
So those thinking about it…I say get a training partner even just for a month or two.
BUT THERE ARE RISKS….choose wisely.
He must have the same goals in mind as u.
He must be on time!
He must be focused.
He must not lag too far behind you. You are not a personal trainer!
He must have the same moral standards as you….laugh all u want, but I cannot train with a guy oogling at every girl and swearing continuously while talking and bragging about getting laid, etc…
Age? I don’t think it matters much. I am 48 and I train with a 19 y/o. And he PUSHES me to new levels.
Just take care not to talk too much during your routine. Focus on the training and help each other to get perfect form and technique. Together try out new exercises and methods of training but don’t deviate tooo much from your program. Small steps at a time.
Here is a pic of my son Janu – he gave new dimension to the words “unconditional love” for me…
I made a deal with him: As soon as he beats me 3 times in a row with armpress he gets my Subaru Sti…I am gyming very hard as a result and every night he shows me his 6-pack and biceps!
After 2008 my bodybuilding took a dive due to my only son who was born and time was at a premium.
When he reached 4 y/o I started training seriously again at the end of 2010. This time around I knew what I was doing so within 18 months I achieved more than I did in my earlier 4 year transformation.
For the past year and a half my training and health has been excellent and no injuries (I thank God). So I am busy breaking new barriers.
My updated TRANSFORMATION VIDEO: Transformation journey of a 48 y/o
Will keep posting with updates.
I know there are many guys out there with better built than me, but few of my age (48) or older can challenge me so I considered myself very blessed!
Here is a few recent pics to show my current form.
Wish you all MUCH success.
ScoobyMuscle (Gert)
My training is going GREAT…Here is a few pics at age 51:
Biceps must be the main defining muscle of the male physique and they most certainly are also the favorite muscle group for me to train.
The guys in the following videos are not professionals. A few is very well-known but the rest are all just plain hard-working workout warriors. So my videos is simply to give them some recognition.
Yes, there are many other great guys out there but not all want to partake in the shootout and not all have good quality pics/vids available. So, after I did a LOT (!!!!) of searching, this is what I considered the top choice for each year respectively.
I would invite any one to please suggest potentials for the each years BICEP vid – 2013 is currently due. Keep your eyes and ears open and please email me at ScoobyMuscle@hotmail.co.za with any leads.
