Tag Archive: gert louw


Motivation to continue on your path.

Filed under: INSPIRATIONAL stuff — 6 Comments
April 19, 2018

Hi guys and girls from a very cold Cape Town. We just missed day zero here in Cape Town and nearly ran out of water so we are so glad the rainy season is upon us. We pray for a good one!

Ok, back to the topic…

Click here to play video “MOTIVATION FOR GYM”

Many times we feel demotivated because our efforts seems like a drop of water in the ocean. We feel we will never get there and the progress we make is so small that it makes no difference. This is when many, many people give up on their hopes and dreams.

Let me put it to you like this. Your efforts may just “feel” like a drop of water in the ocean, but the truth is the ocean are made up of many, many drops. All your hard work, sweat and pushing through with the diet is like many drops together and counting this up over a period of a year, two or three makes for a LOT of drops that start to form an ocean.

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Success is NEVER a short term thing, it is a long-term lifestyle that brings dividends to those pushing through. It is not a mater of feeling like training or dieting, you HAVE to train and diet. It is like working, you HAVE to work you don’t have a choice. The same goes for training and dieting, you HAVE to just do it. You miss work only when you have a sick note, same applies to training and diet.

Off course there will be stumbling blocks, sometimes major one’s. Last year (2017) I could not train for the whole year due to severe health issues. But when that stumbling block is out of the path, then we pick up the pieces and get back to gym and eating correctly. Stumbling blocks are a given and part of life. We cannot truly avoid them and we have to make them part of the game. The key is just to always resume after each severe stumbling block. And few stumbling blocks is bigger than the one I faced in 2017 (banned  by doctor for 12 months from gym due to severe bad health from drinking dirty water – nearly, nearly died!). But we must get up and continue. So I am back at gym and slowly building up the body again with the winning recipe. Off course it will take some time…after 40 any setback takes up to 2-3 times as long to get back to the level one had before the setback. And the older one get, the longer this recovery time takes. BUT, the fact is, we CAN get back to that level and might even surpass it and that is the goalpost and reality for those that keep getting up and push through.

For those of you interested in my ADVANCED COACHING SYSTEM II specifically developed for the over 40 individual, have a look here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

Gert RED shirt.jpg

So to all of you that do not feel like training or sticking to that diet because it looks like your efforts are worthless, let’s pick up the pieces and just MAKE IT HAPPEN because all those efforts together start forming an ocean for those that keeps pushing through! You WILL reach success with this mindset.

Wish you all a blessed week of training.

Gert Louw

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FREE Cutting & Building diets for a ripped muscled physique

Filed under: DIET stuff — Leave a comment
September 8, 2017

Click here to watch video “FREE Cutting & Building diets”

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:

  1. NEVER exceed your daily calories.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. before-and-after-dec2016Every little secret, every hard-earned practical fact, every scientific study that actually support the (very) few supplements between all the thousand ridiculous advertisement claims have been filtered en incorporated into one system that MAKES A DIFFERENCE click here: 

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

 

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

cd 1cd 2cd 3

THE BUILDING DIET

bd 1bd 2bd 3

Now you got all the diet tools to go and get shredded and add muscle.

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Gert Louw

gert b&A 12May2016

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Firing up your metabolism

Filed under: DIET stuff — 2 Comments
September 1, 2017

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’.

 

Click here to watch video “FIRING UP YOUR METABOLISM”

 

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. before-and-after-dec2016Every little secret, every hard-earned practical fact, every scientific study that actually support the (very) few supplements between all the thousand ridiculous advertisement claims have been filtered en incorporated into one system that MAKES A DIFFERENCE click here: 

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

 

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!
Cheers…
Gert Louw

Gert METABOLISM

reference

  • http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-ways-to-boost-metabolism#section1
  • 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>.
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Incredible LIFE inspiration at age 52

Filed under: INSPIRATIONAL stuff — 4 Comments
September 3, 2016

Hi guys and girls, Gert Louw from Cape Town.

Every year just after my birthday it is sort of a tradition for me to do a flexing and inspirational video.

This year it was my 52nd birthday.

So here is the video just after my birthday:

Click here to view video “Life INSPIRATION at age 52”

 

With this video I want to inspire a little.

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

Gert Louw face2

 

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, everyone…happy training!

Cheers

Gert Louw

Gert Louw REACH FOR THE STARS small

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Major “ESPN” scam supplements

Filed under: SUPPLEMENT stuff — 11 Comments
August 30, 2016

Hi everyone, just want to give you a heads up about one of the latest major scam supplement products out there. It is marketed under ESPN (which is NOT the real ESPN) and in the advertisement, fake stories are made up to support ridiculous claims of it’s worth.

 

These two scam products are: HYPERTONE FORCE and HYPERTONE EXCEL.

Neither the gold medalist, Wayde van Niekerk or me (Gert Louw), both mentioned as “proof” in the article, has ever touched this product. Both our photos stolen and fake stories written.

Please stay clear, this is a well known trick to get hooks into your credit card for monthly deductions and you’re going to get a worthless product.

Never (!) believe marketing articles with fantastical claims over the internet. 99% of them are scams to get access to your credit cards.

Here is a link to another in-depth article on Supplement Critique about these 2 scam products: http://www.supplementcritique.com/hyper-tone-force-and-hyper-tone-excel-review-7-big-reasons-this-is-a-scam/

Here the actual scam advert:

HtmlToImage

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Cheat and still win with your diet

Filed under: DIET stuff — 2 Comments
June 8, 2016

Cheat and still win with your diet!

Click here to view video “CHEAT & STILL WIN WITH YOUR DIET“

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.

Gert Louw LEGS CB

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

www.gertlouw.com

Gert Louw green small

 

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5 BIGGEST bodybuilding mistakes

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 3 Comments
June 4, 2015

Click here to view video “The 5 BIGGEST bodybuilding mistakes”

My road to bodybuilding started after the age of 40. It took me nearly 6 years being older and wiser to learn from my mistakes. Now at over 50 I am in the best shape of my life. But very often I wish I had the knowledge I had now when I was in my 20’s.

For those who are prepared to listen to the people who have walked the path and put a lid on their ego’s, this info can be extremely valuable and can mean a serious reduction in time to reach a great body.

So here follows my list of the 5 biggest mistakes people (and me) made when you start out with bodybuilding:

Insufficient training intensity

The pro’s in any sport reach such a high limit because they do not just push their body to failure but they use their mind to force their body literally past it’s abilities.

If you think you are training to failure it is time to review. Use your focus and mind to force you further into the unknown to the very brink of your bodies and minds abilities. This is where serious growth occurs.

 Working through pain

If you think it is the “manly” thing to work through pain – WRONG! Especially in bodybuilding when pain is experienced it spells danger and you MUST listen to it and attend to solving or alleviating the problem. Tendon and joints issues do NOT disappear – it gets worse and can derail your efforts for months! The quicker you give attention to it the quicker it is solved and the quicker you grow.

 Bad technique or form

Many guys starting out think form is not that important and that you must just be able to lift or push the weight and all is good. This asks for injury but even worse than that you will find that you will struggle to isolate muscles and as such never achieve an aesthetic look. When you do an exercise focus to ONLY use the muscle exercised – keep your elbows / shoulders, etc, stable and prevent them from swinging to help lift weights. You MUST get a mind muscle connection and visualize just that muscle working with every rep.

 Not weighing food / counting calories

Your diet not in place you WILL fail. If you ever want to reach incredible shredded muscle heights you MUST weigh your food and count calories.

 Average standards

Do you for one moment think that any of the professional bodybuilders had mediocre standards driving them. You MUST reach for the stars and apply the highest standards possible. Arnold, Lou Ferrigno and Ryan Terry amongst others do not have magic genes. They did not accept average standards and simply MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I am over 50 now and my shape is better than most 20 y/o top bodybuilders. Simply because I refuse to employ average standards.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

 

Wish you Happy Training

Gert Louw

gertx3

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MASSIVE bodybuilding supplement syndicate SCAM EXPOSED

Filed under: SUPPLEMENT stuff — 6 Comments
April 14, 2015

Click here to watch video “Supplement syndicate exposed”

A massive bodybuilding supplement syndicate scam exposed.

This syndicate operates with more than 30 products which are all prominently marketed internationally exclusively via the web.

All the marketing is done by the same front end company who uses the same recipe over and over – stolen before and after photos are used as “proof” and they are accompanied by fake testimonials to “support” the stolen photos. All these products are close to worthless since ingredients are unverified and proof of its effectives can only be obtained through theft and lies.

But these companies have but one aim and that is NOT to sell their product. The product is just a means by which they get their hooks into your credit card. Clients are lured by fantastical claims like 14 day or 1 month complete body transformations and “Free Trials”. But the moment a client is signed-up, these scammers have complete access to the client’s credit card.

The “FREE TRIAL” is all of a sudden a recurring monthly deduction from the client’s credit card – indefinitely! Anyone trying to enquire is just told that there was fine print that the client should have read. There is no way the client can cancel or get out of this “contract”. The only way to stop the “agreement” is for the client to cancel his/her credit card and to re-apply at the bank for a new one.

Thousands upon thousands of people have been caught in this syndicate credit card theft scam.

Here is a growing list of products that now forms part of this syndicate:    

  1. ALPHA FUEL X
  2. ANABOL X1
  3. AMINO PRIME
  4. APEX T
  5. APEX IP
  6. BIO MUSCLE XR
  7. CRAZYBULK WINSITROL
  8. ELITE TEST 360
  9. HGH XL
  10. LIFEFORCE ENERGY
  11. LIFEFORCE T-2000
  12. NITRO FOCUS N03
  13. NITRIC MAX MUSCLE
  14. NIWALI TESTO BOOST
  15. NUTRAGENTEX
  16. NUTRA TESTERONE
  17. POWER NO2 MAX
  18. PROMAX PUMP
  19. SUPER TEST-O-BOOST
  20. T-ADVANCE
  21. TESTO XL
  22. TESTERONE XL
  23. T-REX MUSCLE
  24. TESTO XTRM
  25. TRIG X2
  26. ULTRAMAX BOOSTER
  27. XFORCE NO2
  28. XTREME NO
  29. XENGTH X1
  30. 1285 MUSCLE

Another product which operates on stolen photos and fake testimonials (but does not form part of above syndicate) is: Nutrex’s Lipo-6 Black Ultra Concentrate

 

The following photo (of me) is probably the most scammed photo ever used. It is stolen and used by the listed companies/products.

In my fake “testimonial” I’ve had now about 30 different names!

b4_after_2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay informed and KEEP your money!

Any lawyer interested to take on these companies I have all the proof available. Contact me and let’s put a stop to these scammers.

Gert Louw

 

50th birthday studio COVER

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8 Ways for the bodybuilder to increase the veiny look

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 2 Comments
March 17, 2015

Click here to play video “8 Ways for the bodybuilder to increase the veiny look”

 

Vascularity is a critical factor in bodybuilding especially for those who compete.

The judges eyes will always wander to the person onstage with the higher degree of visible vascularity.

So whether you like it or not, it is a factor to strive for when you enter the bodybuilding arena.

 

About the role genetics play:

It is perfectly possible for a person who rarely see veins, to then have worm-like veins bulging a regular basis, if they are diligent with their diet/supplementation and training. By genetics playing a role, this refers to how naturally thick/thin your skin is and that can be hugely manipulated.

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

 

There are 8 ways to increase the vascular look:

  1. Low body fat increases the vascular look dramatically. The lower the body fat the more pronounced the veins will be, it is as simple as that. Anything below 7% and you enter crazy territory. The 3 and 4%’s have roadmaps of veins crossing their body.
  2. Vascularity will increase as you age. You will see that the older bodybuilders have far superior vascularity, simply because the skin becomes thinner as we age.
  3. Creatine acts as a vasodilator and increase blood flow to the muscles. Consuming it in foods rather than supplementing is always best. But keep in mind that creating will only be available in a cooked steak while it is hot. The moment it is cold almost no creatine is available. The water retention that creatine is causing is inside the muscle cells and not under the skin. This actually makes the muscles look fuller and increase the vascularity.
  4. Adding electrolytes to the water you drink can help increase the vascularity.
  5. Water Retention is a big culprit in hiding your veins. The solution to this can be obtained 2 ways. Drastically increases your water intake (min 4L per day). This will “flush-out” the water retention and your body will start acting like a fountain releasing all water it takes in without holding water back under the skin. Alternatively you can use diuretics. However this can harm your kidneys and is not considered the best approach. Also note the following: Drink enough water throughout the day. Dehydration decreases your vascularity by filling the skin with water. Aim for at least 1/2-oz. of water per pound of bodyweight each day.
  6. Increase your body temperature. When the temperature of the body is raised the veins will be more pronounced as blood is pushed to the surface of the skin. This can be done by adding (heat raising) foods like capsicum to your diet. Cayenne Pepper also a great choice. Some bodybuilders even use a hair dryer to heat the skin before going onto stage – it can bring out the veins bigtime.
  7. Tip Two: Boost Your Nitric Oxide Levels. Spinach has a high amount of nitrates in it in fact spinach is able to increase nitric oxide levels by a whopping two hundred percent. Overall if you want to be more vascular you must boost your oxide levels in with two options only. These two options are taking steroids or eating food rich in nitrates that will give you the amazing blood flow that will give your veins that popping out appearance.
  8. Lee Labrada is a big supporter of increasing vascularity via cardio. His view:

“First of all, cardio increases blood flow and blood velocity throughout the body. As you heart hits a rapid rate and blood pressure increases, it helps to increase capillarization, or the dilation and proliferation of capillaries. Cardio promotes the dilation of arteries, veins and capillaries throughout the body, while improving the health of the heart and lungs.

 

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The second manner in which cardio improves vascularity is by reducing water retention. Unwanted fluid can be held in interstitial and subcutaneous spaces throughout the body and can mar the look of the physique. Nothing is worse than “holding water,” i.e., having a thin film of subcutaneous water pooled right underneath your skin. Cardio moves your blood and body fluids around including unwanted water so your kidneys can excrete it, and your sweat glands can sweat it out. That gives you the appearance of thinner, tighter skin.

Finally, the third way in which cardio improves vascularity is by burning fat including subcutaneous fat that can hide muscularity and vascularity.

Remember however that cardio will not help you unless you have the right training and diet plan.”

 

This is my tips for getting the vascular look.

Keep growing! Cheers

www.gertlouw.com

GERTFITNESS5b

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My 50th birthday muscle photoshoot

Filed under: INSPIRATIONAL stuff — 20 Comments
November 13, 2014

So 10 years after I started transforming my body I finally hit the big 50!

Click here to watch my “50th BEACH muscle shoot”

 

Click here to watch my “50th birthday STUDIO muscle shoot”

 

Many guys trade-in wife for a younger bombshell but alas I love wife too much to do that!

Second option was to buy myself a red Ferrari but I have asked, no pleaded, many times on my youtube videos for a sugar mommy to sponsor me, again to no avail (not yet anyway).

So the only “gift” I could give myself was a muscled body and a photo shoot to go with that.

So here is the proof of my venture and shoot.

Keep on training!

Gert Louw

Too God be the glory…

 

HOUSE ON LOCATION PHOTOS

IMG_2348_Web_small IMG_2359_Web_852 IMG_2370_V2_Web_852

STUDIO PHOTOS

IMG_2553_Web_852 IMG_2584_Web_1920www.gertlouw.com IMG_2640_Web_852 IMG_2655_Web_852

BEACH PHOTOS

www.gertlouw.com www.gertlouw.com www.gertlouw.com www.gertlouw.com www.gertlouw.com www.gertlouw.com www.gertlouw.com

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Monster arm (biceps/triceps) training – cutting phase

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 3 Comments
February 6, 2014

As the years progressed, I have evolved my training regimen from my original transformation program (http://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-program/) to be more focused and more goal oriented in nature.

In this video I discussed the routine I am currently applying for bicep and tricep growth when I am on my 3-month cutting phase.

Cutting phase implies the process of bringing bodyfat down to enhance the muscled ripped look while keeping muscle size or even slightly increasing it.

In short, the arm routine for the cutting phase involves performing two huge super sets: Super Set One and Super Set Two.

SUPER SET ONE

  • Super Set One consists of a bicep exercise (20 reps) + tricep exercise (20 reps) +bicep exercise (20 reps) performed back to back with no resting in between.
  • When you completed above set for Super Set One, rest for 3 minutes and repeat Super Set One for a total of three times.
  • SLOW (!) and very CONTROLLED (!) movements during every rep.
  • Visualize the target muscle during each rep in your head and get a very focused “mind muscle” connection. Feel only the target muscle work to perform the movement.
  • During all triceps and bicep exercises, keep the elbows as stationary as possible to make sure that only the bicep do the lifting. The more you move the elbows the more involved the shoulders (and to lesser extend pecs and back) become to lift the weight.
  • Use full range of motion for exercises, meaning widest possible angle to make sure that the whole bicep/tricep muscle gets a workout.
  • You MUST (!) fail with each exercise on the 20th (last) rep of each set. [very important – key principle for growth]

When finished with 3 x Super Set One, stretch for 5 minutes to relax muscles (perform various stretching exercises involving the biceps, triceps and shoulders).

This not only help the muscle recover better but also enhances blood flow plus it helps keeping the veins more elastic and prevent hardening of arteries to and extent. It is also believed to be an important factor in obtaining aesthetic looking muscles.

SUPER SET TWO (the same as above with the following differences)

  • Perform 3 different exercises (biceps + triceps +biceps) than those you did in Super Set One.
  • When finished with 3 x Super Set TWO, stretch for 5 minutes to relax muscles (perform various stretching exercises involving the biceps, triceps and shoulders).

End of your routine with 15-20 minutes of moderate cardio.

Be wary of too much cardio. Cardio is a muscle size killer. You cannot expect to have  big muscle size and do a lot of cardio. The two goes against each other.

If you have body fat you want to get rid of you should do that via fine tuning your diet and not through excessive cardio.

Supplements?

Before training (stick to basics don’t waste your money on fancy stuff!):

  • 45 minutes before training 8 tablets BCAA’s (prevent a catabolic state during training)
  • 45 minutes before training 5g L-Glutamine

After training:

  • Immediately after training eat 1 apple or banana.
  • Immediately after the apple/banana drink a serving fast absorption whey protein.
  • 1-2 hours after training eat a small fat-free meal containing a decent protein serving.

 

Any questions, please feel free to contact me.

 

Gert Louw

gertlouwljc@hotmail.com

gert louw

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How to train legs for growth with weak or bad knees

Filed under: TRAINING stuff — 3 Comments
January 3, 2014

How to grow legs when you struggle with your knees?

Sounds impossible, but it can be done.

Your will never have freakish size legs but you can add very good size by following these basic principles.

Note – I am proof of this, my knees are genetically “bad” (many in my family had knee replacement surgery) and I cannot take much weight before they start aching severely, but I have managed to add decent size to my legs. They are not nearly as big as I want them to be but they are one of my best assets and pain-free.

OK, let’s get down to business…how must you train those legs?

1. Focus on your calves. You can train them very hard and very intense without any knee related pain. The bigger the calves are the bigger the legs look. Be wise…grow what you can grow. And don’t worry…your calves will never look oversize…calves is a difficult muscle to grow at best!

2.When doing any upper leg workout, wrap your problem knee/s very (!) tightly with an elastic wrap. I found that this allow you to lift safely up to 40% more weight. But I have to unwrap them after each set to allow blood flow again. Yes, it is a bit tedious, but nothing good comes without effort.

images

3. Your main mass building exercise for the upper legs should be the leg press machine. It places far less strain on the knees and you should be able to press a fair amount when the knees are wrapped tightly. Slow, very controlled movements and place the legs up high and wide. Do not jerk, that is knee injury territory. I always start my leg session of with this exercise and sometimes even finish it off again with it.

52531165.FitnessFirst8

4. The normal squat is a killer for the knees. But I still do it pain-free. First of all, those knees must be wrapped very tightly. Secondly go light, very light. I only do 20kg plates on each side. Thirdly do high reps…I do between 30-35 reps per set. It is gonna drain you (I nearly puked the other day) but with that light weight your knees can cope. If not, go even lighter and increase the reps even more per set. Slow controlled movements. NO JERKING! (For those that want to read up a bit more on squat technique: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-the-squat )

what-all-squaters-need-to-know-article-4

5. A GREAT leg shaper is lunges, especially when you put some weight on your shoulders. But the normal lunge is also a knee killer. Four rules must be followed here to make it pain-free. One – wrap those knees tightly. Two – Do NOT let the lower and upper leg angle be smaller than 90 degrees, maybe even a bit bigger. This is one of the main reason why lunges kills knees. Three – do not step out straight to the front, but step out at a 45 degree angle with each lunge.  Four – do not step out and back again at the same place, but step forward each time. Staying in the same stationary position for lunges is not knee friendly.

DB-45-Degree-Lunge-2

This is my bit to help those with bad knees adding some size. It can be done…. Be wise, do controlled and slow movements and make sure your technique is perfect.

Here is my latest (2 weeks ago) comparison photo from the day I started bodybuilding to my current shape…nearly 9 years ago. In 7 months I am 50 and want to be even in better shape!

gert b&A 1Jan2014

Wish you all a blessed 2014 and may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

Gert Louw

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