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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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
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.
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
In all my coaching systems and many articles on my site, I regularly refer to the process of transforming into a wow physique by “climbing a ladder step by step”.
Here I want to explain as to WHAT exactly I mean by that.
Now, many people think they are starting to climb the ladder and start transforming, and they actually start doing rather great, but then stuff starts happening…things like: getting sick regularly, tendon/joint injury or other serious injury or they lose hope because they just cannot put on muscle no matter how hard they train and some just cannot lose fat no matter how hard they diet.
This is when the train stops and they get off the ladder.
Not because it was not possible but because they LACK knowledge.
KNOWLEDGE in terms off:
You CANNOT lose fat if the calories are too low…then your body enters famine mode and you WILL lose all your hard earned muscle first before it uses the fat – no matter how HARD you train! There is a sweet spot with calories where the body use fat for energy and keep muscles safe. You need to find it. (In my SYSTEMS I and II this is covered).
You CANNOT build muscle if: caloric intake too low, body fat too low or you do too much cardio!
You WILL get sick regularly if you continue pounding your body week after week, month after month, in the wrong fashion and you do not use certain basic health supporting supplements.
You WILL run into serious tendon and joint issues if you do not alternate every 3 months between BUILDING and CUTTING phases to allow healing and strengthening.
All of these are covered in detail in my COACHING SYSTEMS (https://gertlouw.com/contact-me), but the bottom line which brings all these together are a continuous alternating between a 3 month CUTTING PHASE and a 3 monthly BUILDING phase.
Each Phase has its own specific training methodology and specific type diet.
The two phases are vastly different and by continuously alternating between them, you allow your body every 3 months to go through a process off:
Loosing max fat while protecting muscles in Cutting Phase.
Building max muscle at slightly higher body fat levels in the Building Phase.
Allowing your body to be fed correctly for your exact goal and training methodology for each phase.
Allowing tendons and joints to strengthen and recover regularly in Cutting Phase.
Allowing the body a balanced and healthy approach preventing sickness and injury by not overtraining and stressing the body and immune system.
These 2 phases hold the KEY to climbing the ladder. One step on the ladder = 1 BP (Building phase) + 1 CP (Cutting Phase). After each step you will be able to see a significant difference in shape and size. THIS is how you climb up the ladder.
Look at the following graph showing the BODY FAT variation during the phases
This is what your body fat will do when sticking to my SYSTEM I or II training that incorporates these principles (BP = Building Phase, CP = Cutting Phase):
Every BP1 + CP1 covers a 6 month period. At the end of each of the cutting phases your body fat is lower and lower till typically after a 3 year period you reach crazy levels like 5% body fat.
Let’s look what your muscle size will do when alternating between the phases:
At the end of each of the cutting phases your body weight is higher than after the previous cutting phase. That COUPLED with the fact that the body fat is lower after each Cutting Phase compared to the previous cutting phase makes a HUGE difference on how the body looks and the amount of lean mass you are carrying.
THIS (!) is how you climb the ladder…not after one cutting phase or one building phase but after various of these phases. Stopping with the process simply mean you stop climbing the ladder.
Simply put – After each Building Phase your muscle weight is higher at lower body fat levels, and during the Cutting Phase you show your results, keeping that muscles safe and dropping the body fat on each Cutting Phase lower and lower than in the previous Cutting Phases until after a few years you look back and say…”WOW!”
This is where a LOT of dedicated people get derailed completely! They get sick or injured and well, that is where their road to transforming the body stops…dead in it’s tracks. Until that point they are so motivated and charged up and then that happens…and the de-motivation is just too much. They just never get it off the ground again afterwards.
Right now, I am down from gym with kidney infection and this will keep me out of gym for close to 7 days. But after the 7 days off, I’ll be back doing one week light work and then all back to normal.
Not ONE of us are spared sickness or injuries. Now, injuries we can manage better especially with applying more wisdom as we get older (warming-up, stretching and simply avoiding high risk exercises for injury). But sickness is difficult to prevent. Sure we can apply the basics (anti-oxidants, multi-vit, CQ10 and ALA) and wash our hands regularly with anti-bacterial soap/spray, but even with that, chances are we will still get flu in the winter and still get the odd infection.
It is not a matter of preventing sickness and injuries but a matter of accepting that they form part of the training/body transformation environment as a given. You WILL get sick and you WILL get injured. But that must never (!) derail your efforts. Accept that it will push you back one to two weeks. Do not allow yourself to get negative about it, it is PART of the whole process and those with a winning mindset accepts that!
Now, what is even more important is that after a week of sickness, be careful to go in full force back to gym. Your body is still weak and in a process of recovery. Your immune system not nearly back to normal. Pushing yourself to the limits the first week back can and most probably will result in a recurrence of the sickness even to a worse degree putting you out gym for 3 weeks or more. That first week back after being sick make sure you do not do more than 50% your normal capacity. Go through all the motions and exercises but keep the exertion levels low.
Then the 2nd week back in training you will find you feel yourself again. That is where you start pushing the limits again.
A KEY ingredient of the winning mindset is to force yourself to stick 100% to your diet while sick or injured. Doing this will go great lengths to keep the motivation levels high! This is NOT the time to binge or eat what you want. This is the CRITICAL time to feed the body correctly. Sometimes I experienced when going back after a week sick I actually am in better shape than before, simply because of the control I had with my diet and my body that actually had a well deserved break!
Now, my timing for my kidney infection is real bad because 21st May I got a photoshoot coming up. But that is where all your hard work you have put in over the previous months and years will show the dividends…
Wish you all good health and injury free training!
I believe in a holistic approach, addressing your complete person and being..inside and out. Achieving such balance and resultant happiness WILL have a dramatic effect on your will and dedication to work out and achieve that dream body…believe me I have walked that road.
So in the next piece I am getting deep again…but it is so important that you really read and think about each point and to apply in your life where it fall short:
We all want to live a life of fulfillment, happiness and a life with some meaning. We all want to be able to say one day on our deathbed…”I have no regrets, I lived all my dreams…”
Sure having a great muscled body is one of those dreams…but that is just a single one in a sea of hopes and dreams we each have within us. A life of fulfillment is dreams lived, not a single dream but ALL our dreams…
How do we get too that point where we truly have no regrets about wasted dreams ?
Apply these rules of wisdom to your daily life and you will be surprised by just how great and awesome life really is:
This is YOUR life – Realize that. No one must ever control you. Each decision you make, will affect the now and the future.
Do what you love OFTEN – search yourself and know what you love doing. I am not talking about sex here! I am talking about things that make you happy…be that skydiving, surfing, hiking trails, sightseeing, birdwatching, etc…
If you don’t like something CHANGE IT – Do not live with regrets. You don’t like being fat…get rid of it. You don’t like being unfit…get fit. You want a muscled body…get one. You want love…give love!
If you don’t have enough time STOP WATCHING TV – cut out the things that drain your time and add nothing to your life and happiness. First to go must be TV!
Stop looking for the love of your life – When you start doing the things you love, you will meet people that share the same passion as you…THAT is where you will meet the love of your life!
Stop over analyzing – Things happen and we cannot do anything about it. The world is a broken place. Stop trying to find reasons. If you have to make right what was wrong, do so…but don’t waste your time and energy in the past.
All emotions are beautiful – cry is beautiful because it cleans the soul, pain is beautiful because it teaches us life, love is beautiful because it feeds the soul and give meaning to life.
Appreciate every bite of food – Food is a blessing, a privilege and never to be taken for granted. The majority of people in the world are hungry right now while you are putting the food in your mouth.
Open you arms, heart and mind to new things – the world is diverse and a beautiful place. Don’t close yourself off from this immense beauty defined by its diversity. EMBRACE IT!
Travel often and don’t fear getting lost – The world has been given to us as a gift. Travel as much as you can. Never be afraid of getting lost…being lost helps us find ourselves again.
Seize opportunities – Keep your eyes and ears open. Each of us is blessed with opportunities meant just for us. It is a gift…but we have to grab it!
Life is about people we meet – make friends everywhere you can! We cannot live alone, we need people around us to make us feel alive and inject happiness in our life’s. Even that drunk person pushing his life belongings in a trolley…you will be amazed at the stories and lost passions he can share with you, and your passion might just give him new hope.
Life is short – very (!) short indeed. NEVER EVER be on your deathbed and have regrets about things you have not done. Live life and do everything you dream about!
Live your passion – whatever your passion is, LIVE IT with all your energy.
But most important of all – SEEK GOD ALWAYS…
Now go out everybody and LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!
Nearly all of us have this dream to be the best we can be. Too have a great, ripped, muscled physique that impresses and exudes health, wealth and happiness. We seemed to have been programmed with this urge and I believe that to be true…we are created in the image of God.
But back to reality, life is difficult. Work, school, studying, marriage, family, kids, meetings and a rat race trying to stay ahead and on top.
I have a blueprint transformation system developed to create the environment for growth and fat loss…have a look here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/
We easily make decisions at the beginning of a new year or after being inspired by someone to reach for that dream body we so much want.
And sure, that is the first and most important step each of us have to take on the road to success BUT, and this is a very big BUT, 99% of those taking this first step have not acquired and mastered the mindset that needs to be in place to push through to reach goal and beyond.
Let’s look at important aspects of this mindset that must be in place before the journey starts:
IT WILL HURT
Do not think for one moment reaching a dream body is without pain. LIFE IS PAIN! You will never ever be in a situation where you will not experience some form of physical or emotional/other pain. Being alive, means that you WILL experience pain. The whole idea is to minimize, control and use this pain to your advantage. To reach your dream physique you will be working out intensely. This will cause muscle pain and resultant muscle growth. Learn to LOVE this pain…this is a signal that you are stimulating your body for growth. There might be injury on your path. This is part of any sport environment. Learn to work around it and do NOT let it derail your efforts. For example: When you have a knee injury, nothing stops you from concentrating on the upper body workouts until it is healed. Even with back injuries under guidance you can still workout safely.
IT WILL TAKE TIME
The Hollywood and Western Culture has programmed us to want immediate results and satisfaction. Get that out of your mind very quickly. That is the single biggest reason why people do not push through. We want it and we want it now and if it does not happen within a month or two then why bother. I got one thing to tell you – “NOTHING, BUT NOTHING IN LIFE THAT IS REALLY WORTH IT COMES EASY.” Accept that. A dream body is not designed in months , not even in years for some. It took me 11 years to get to the best shape of my life. Month after month there are small differences and they add up to significant differences on yearly basis and wow differences every few years. You cannot get to the top of a ladder without climbing the steps…only by going up step by step do you get to the top. Sure there are shortcuts people try to take but nothing this side of anabolic steroids can and ever will produce magic results (even with anabolics it takes time and a very focused approach and is NOT an overnight process!). Do NOT believe marketing advertising of supplements. 99% of what is printed and claimed is complete and utter lies.
IT WILL REQUIRE DEDICATION
There is no easy way to say this…You will need to be at gym 4-5 days a week, you will need to motivate yourself for intense workouts (and learn to love it!), you will need to make extreme effort with your diet preparing the food the day before, you will need to have 100% dedication to your supplement regime. This is what it will take.
YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE
Right now you are probably hanging out with your mates every evening. In future you will have to cut social time to the bare minimum. Your time and focus will now be in a new environment. You need to brace yourself for a total lifestyle change – friends, socializing, eating habits, time spend and more.
Having family requirements make it more challenging but not impossible. In fact your life partner and kids will see the changes and your dedication and that will instill in them even greater respect for you. You will lead now by example and what you are showing them is the best possible example a father can show to his children…that if you want something badly in life, you have to put in the effort and dedication to get there, you will show them everything worth something in life comes with great effort and dedication.
Many people also ask me how I bring my faith in Jesus and my fitness lifestyle together. They see a good looking shredded, muscled guy and struggle to bring faith and this lifestyle in the same environment. I find it very easy and actually find that my dedication to the fitness lifestyle brings me closer to God because it teaches me dedication and discipline. For me Jesus Christ is in the center of everything I do. I never cut Him out of anything and I am not shy to give Him the credit for what I’ve reached. Even before I sometimes do a heavy set…I will quickly close my eyes for strength from my Lord. I don’t care what people say or think around me…I am not doing this for them…I am doing this for me.
THERE WILL BE TEMPTATION
Be under no misconception…there will be many reasons for giving up. This is the exact reason why so few reach success. You will be hungry, you will miss out on drink dates with friends, you might even have to change friends, your body will ache and pain and there will be days that you feel drained and without focus. Those are the days that you just have to PUSH THROUGH and JUST DO IT. Just get yourself to gym and just do what you need to do. Steer clear from foods that tempt you. Do NOT keep those foods in your house. Temptation is what will separate the men from the boys.
Never use work-pressure or deadlines as an excuse. You HAVE to find your solutions around that. If it means early morning or late evening training, so be it. NEVER use the excuse “but I cannot stick to the meals because I do not have time at work to eat.” It takes you 2 min to pour water in a shaker, put in the protein powder and shake and drink it…2 minutes, nothing more!
This especially is one of the key areas where I found my faith helps me a lot to stay focused.
The above is just some of the key areas for the right mindset, but I believe these are the most important.
Master them and you WILL reach success.
Success is within each of us but so is failure as well.
You have been given the ability to reach to the stars and be everything God ever meant you to be…DO NOT LET THIS WONDERFULL GIFT PASS YOU BY.
Walking by faith – Everyone knows by now there are a deeper side to me and a life altering back story.
But I have never really told my story about my walk in faith.
I am opening my heart here and I know there are risks…because the world is not always a good place to lay your heart bare. But this is the time to do it…my walk in faith has brought me to this point where I feel compelled to share.
So those that want to know about a story of pain, hope, miracles and LIFE, read on.
As many of you know, 11 years ago (at age 40) I was lying on my “deathbed” in hospital. At one point no blood pressure and heartbeat and ready to die. A brutal attack and mutilation left me with a broken soul and the will to live has left me, my heart was filled with darkness and pain which I could not carry anymore.
Me 2 months after hospital:
Then the unexpected happened. While I was lying in my hospital bed, weak and not expecting anything but death, I heard a voice, God’s voice. The voice was clear…”Gert, I am offering you life…I have a plan for you. You must choose…”
I cannot put in words that moment…I experienced an incredible beauty, softness, kindness, pureness, holiness, love and I saw LIFE…and in that moment my life changed. I was heartbroken, I was weak and I spend a lot of time in conversation with God over the next few days lying in my bed. I was soooo close to choosing death…but this unexpected experience showed me LIFE and I made my choice.
Sure, before this I knew about God and I knew the Bible. But this changed my world. Suddenly God was not just in a book anymore but He was more real to me than this world around me. And for just that brief moment I felt the touch of God…and I was utterly overwhelmed and unprepared.
Two weeks in hospital and I was strong enough to leave. Prognosis not good…some doctors gave me a couple of years. But it was not in their hands, I chose life and God was in control.
I was a changed man…but, the pain and darkness in my heart of what happened was not over. The weakness I have, is that I put a lid on things and push it deep down, trying to bury it…never really dealing with it.
My walk in faith deepened over the next years.
Now at 51 I am a living miracle of God. The body is still broken. Kidneys functioning at 50%, struggling with my liver, and that is just the tip of the iceberg with my serious health problems. But that is insignificant for God…look at me…with my severe health issues and being expected to be long dead by now, God has turned this around to the extend that I am looking the healthiest and fittest I ever did in my life. For Him, NOTHING is impossible. He is in control, not the doctors, not me, not medical science.
Me, today…4 months away from 52:
Now this all sound incredible and it is, but my world was about to be rocked again. God knew that the pain and darkness that I am trying to bury needs to be addressed. Every now and then an event triggers the lid from coming off slightly and the pain and darkness boils over. And recently the Holy Spirit kicked off that lid for good. All that pain and darkness surfaced and there was no way I could put back the lid on again. The Holy Spirit do not mess around…that lid was gone!
I struggled to breath, it felt like my heart was tearing in two…I pleaded with the Holy Spirit to please ask God to come and take my life…I could not bear the pain, it was overwhelming. My power to push it down was gone.
But let me give you a glimpse into how incredible God works.
The Holy Spirit literally forced me to walk into a church I do not know the next day, and walk up to the first friendly face I see and tell him I need someone to pray with me, now (!) and intercede on my behalf before God. Now anyone that knows me, will realize this is the worst thing anybody can ask me to do. I am a total introvert, sitting always quietly in the corner doing my own thing and NEVER EVER just walk up to people I don’t know, let alone in an environment total foreign to me. This was going against everything I am.
But instead of doing this, I wanted to die, because this darkness and pain was so intense and overwhelming that again I was at this crossroad point in my life where I had to choose between life and death. I had a young son who I adore and a beautiful loving wife and if it was not for them chances was I was going to choose the easy road out. I was breaking down in tears continuously…and I am NOT an emotional person!
So I DID IT! I just did it in total obedience. I went to the church the Holy Spirit indicated to me, my wife and son by my side. I walked up to the first friendly face I saw and I told him what the Holy Spirit instructed me to do. He smiled and said I must go and sit, someone will come to me. A few moments later a guy, my age, walked up to me and touch my shoulder and smile. We went to a quiet corner outside and I told him my story, laying my heart bare, told him of my pain and the way the Holy Spirit is working with me now. We bend down and started praying, he laid me before God…during this moment the Holy Spirit told me that because of my obedience, He will now plea my case before God and lay my pain of the darkest corners of my heart before God. I could hear it, I could literally hear the murmurings, not words, but I could hear everything. I felt the touch of God as I did in my hospital bed and broke down in tears by grace I do not deserve. God once again began the 2nd miracle in my life, healing my pain in my heart.
The following week was extremely emotional for me as the Holy Spirit carried me through this process of cutting the pain in my heart out, piece by piece.
I thought my walk was close with God previously, but had no idea how intense it was about to become.
This God I bow down too, has become more real than anything else in this world. I am totally unprepared for how amazing and incredible His love, His holiness, His power and His kindness is.
So many people I talk to over the internet ask me “Why do God, if He is a good God, allow this pain and suffering in this world to continue?”
The world is a broken place. We have made our choices to abandon God and with it comes pain and suffering. God is the ultimate gentleman…He NEVER force His will on anyone. Bad things happen to even good people everyday…and you know what, it strengthens you to become a stronger person reaching greater heights. Look what happened to me…through it God strengthened me to reach heights I thought never possible in my life and I am touching many lives out there and helping people. I am a hard nut to crack and God knows it. He had plans for me…but left to my own devices that plan would never come into play. He allowed things to happened to me and come over my path. Bad things…like Job, but like God is, He turned everything around into blessings beyond believe. I still had to make the choices myself…but God gentlemanly lead me in the direction…
God wants so much the best for us, but when we abandon Him we are left alone in this broken world. The heart of God is such that He allowed that, which was most precious to Him, to be put through pain and mutilation and to die on a cross for us, just so that me and you would have direct access to God and the Holy Spirit.
My sins in this broken world prevents me from having a direct link with God, because before God nothing that has any sin or darkness can stand and live, nothing. God is pure and holy. Only through the sacrifice of Jesus, who was blameless, could He die in my place and through that allow me to talk to God and be saved. It had to be someone blameless, he had to had no sin because that is the only way He could die for ours.
God could have sent armies of angels to rescue Jesus, but this shows God’s heart…unmeasurable kindness and compassion. He did not have to do this for us…He is the Almighty God, rescuing us just by grace…which we do not deserve.
Now, many devoted believers don’t like it when they hear of someone like me who had such incredible experiences with God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ (I had Christ holding His hand on my shoulder at one of my toughest moments in prayer and more…)
Why me, what makes me special?
Remember Maria?…remember that between all the disciples of Jesus, SHE was the one that quietly bent down with her tears falling on Jesus feet and rubbed very expensive oil/perfume over His feet, no words, just an act of utter compassion. His disciples were not impressed about the logic that such expensive perfume was wasted. But she had a relationship with God on another level, why?…because of the AMOUNT of grace she required to be saved. Be happy and joyful if you required little grace to follow God, then you are blessed indeed. People like me (and Maria) carried so much pain and darkness in our hearts that the grace we require, is massive. This amount of grace changes you on every level and your relationship with God, is extremely intense.
Last week on one of the biggest radio stations in Cape Town, they aired this young woman who had a vision where Jesus Christ appeared to her and told her: “Go and tell the world, I have finished preparing all your places in heaven. I am coming to fetch you. The time is up.”
The Holy Spirit confirmed this in my heart…
Now, I know God said, no one knows the date and time, but I am making sure me and my family is ready…I cannot wait to join my Lord and Saviour!
I pray this article means something to you…it comes from deep within my soul.
The truth needs to be told…be aware of any Niwali products, let me give you insight:
They illegally used my transformation pic with a fake story to promote their product: niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime.
So first of all the Niwali TestoBoost product definately does NOT work because they had to lie to get testimonials and secondly, any Niwali products is now highly questionable and as such I will be very wary of ALL their products.
This was the link to the original web add (When I checked on 7th nov 2013 they’ve taken it down due to fact that I created too much heat for them): modern-man-mag.com/musclestack3.html
The transformation pic right at the bottom is me and the whole story is a fake…I’ve never use their products.
Plus they state that I did above transformation in 4 weeks! The truth is I did it in 4 years with hardcore training before they’ve even developed their product!
If you want to know how I did my transformation WITHOUT Niwali (!) then here is the link:
What these people further do, is they use the same products and brand it under different names and labels to keep the ball rolling when one product has been tainted by bad press and caught out.
They are reeling in MILLIONS of dollars from unsuspecting clients with a product that does not work and by stealing “proof” photos and make up fake stories…
Please people be very wary of products before you buy them…don’t look at pics but speak to someone u know had success…only then will you get the truth!
I’ve seen that these guys starting to use the exact same marketing material now to promote new testosterone and Growth hormone boosters. It is safe to assume that all info and picture/stories in these new adds is also all fake. The adverts layout and wording and pictures is exactly the same. They steal left, right and centre photos from guys (and girls) over the internet and use it to blatantly promote their products.
If you really HAVE to try a testosterone booster, ONLY try one from a well know, long established fitness supplements brand. NEVER try one from a new or unknown company.
In any case the real effects of these testosterone boosters is so small that it is close to unnoticable. It is a LOT of money for very little real world effects.
ALL of the advertising marketing hype is lies…ALL of it. The sooner you realize that the better for your pocket.
Stay clear from the testosterone and hgh boosters and stick to the basics supplements, ZMA, CREATINE, WHEY, GLUTAMINE and BCAA’s- u don’t want to hear it, but these supps with a clean diet (6 – 7 small meals a day) and a solid training regime which allows enough rest is THE BEST solution for the quickest results without steroids…and by quick I mean 6 months plus and for older guys 2 years plus…yes, that is how long it takes for a real transformation.
If your really WANT to transform in a short time, well…then you will have to consider anabolic steroids…because the truth is NOTHING but steroids will get you there in 3 months. And the real laughing matter is, the marketing hype surrounding the testosterone booster products claims a total transformation in 4 weeks…really utter lies!
The wheel seems to be turning… With my article in my blog exposing the Niwali scam products I created enough heat that forced Niwali to discontinue it’s marketing/advertising of the TestoBoost product (the product is still available on their website but it seems most internet marketing has been stopped). Their management team even contacted me and asked me if we cannot come to some sort of arrangement so that I take down my article on my blog and that we can sort out the misunderstanding.
EISH!!! So they mean, by stealing my pics, making up fake stories filled with lies (and let everyone believe I say it) and doing a major international marketing campaign with that constitutes a “misunderstanding”…. Scary world we live in.
My blog article is hurting them because it is just below their main website in google rankings.
ScamAdvisor.com who rates internet websites for their trustworthiness gave http://www.niwali.com a ZERO PERCENT rating! Read the comments on http://www.scamadvisor.com regarding Niwali, it is shocking. You WILL lose money if you give your credit card details to them. You cannot say you have not been warned: shady site, shady products, scamming people’s money, stealing people s photos with fake stories to promote fake products, zero percent trustworthiness rating, the list goes on and on…
Any attorney out there that want to make some money? Please contact me!
Gert Louw
Here is the original niWali article
(with STOLEN photos, FAKE stories and just PURE LIES!):
SPECIAL REPORT:Lean Muscle in a Bottle? Get 6 Pack Abs in Just 1 Month With These 2 Muscle Supplements That Celebrities Use.
This report was created by Men’s Health to expose the truth behind a very weird diet
Staff reporter Bryan Stevens investigates a weird muscle solution that is quickly gaining popularity around the world. Read his shocking findings to building incredible muscle mass in less than 1 month.
(Men’s Health) – For the past few months our readers have been going crazy over two new free products that are helping men lose fat and get ripped in less than a month. Even celebrities like Daniel Craig and Gerard Butler have lost a ton of body fat and added an insane amount of muscle using these two products.
These products are clinically proven to flush out the toxins in your body, melt away body fat and pack on tons of muscle. It’s a deadly combo for getting insanely ripped. In this article, we’ll tell you exactly why these products work and why they warrant a special report.
We know that putting on muscle often feels like an impossible challenge. At Men’s Health, we’ve evaluated numerous fad muscle programs and it seems like everything is expensive and nothing really works. The reason why most programs fail is because they impose unrealistic restrictions on your daily life. Some tell you to eat tons of protein while others emphasize the importance of carbohydrates. In either case, you have to make drastic changes to your regular diet. In this special report, we take an in-depth look at a new and promising trend that we think is easy to use and yields real results.
The product we’re talking about is Hyper Fuel 9 X. You may have seen this supplement in the news or on TV as the completely safe and powerful “secret” used by celebrities and body builders around the world. Today, we are leaking their secret and teaching you how to get muscular celebrity bodies for free. In this special report, you’ll learn about these two promising new products, niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime.
Gerard Butler uses muscle supplements like niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime to lose fat fast, while gaining extreme muscle.
niWali Testo Boost’s high anti-oxidant content and powerful strength gaining properties make it a muscle-building machine. If you’re feeling skeptical right now, you’re not alone. When we first learned about this fat-burning/muscle-building combo our fad radar went off right away.
Despite our doubts about niWali Testo Boost, the countless success stories reported worldwide made us take a second look at this trend. What particularly interested us was the fact that these people saw results without having to significantly change their lifestyles or eating habits. Combine niWali Testo Boost with Amino Prime and you’ve created an automatic muscle building machine.
Jack Evans from London reported that he lost fat and gained 14 lbs of muscle in just 5 weeks using only the niWali Testo Boost and combo muscle diet.
On his blog he wrote,
“I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I didn’t have to change my diet or my daily routine at all. I just took two pills a day and the fat melted off like butter and I literally got shredded. I now have muscles that I didn’t even know existed. I even have a 6-pack now, which is the best part. The girls love it”
At Men’s Health, we decided to try the niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime diet for ourselves. For the test, I wanted to be the guinea pig because I was training to be in a fitness competition and needed to slim down and gain many pounds of muscle. To try out the niWali Testo Boost and NO2 Maximus I decided to get a free trial of niWali Testo Boost. Although there are many muscle supplement offers available, I chose this site because they are one of the most credible and trustworthy suppliers on the market. While most niWali Testo Boost products use lower concentrations of the strength gaining extract, this supplier has one of the concentrated and purest products on the market. Everyone at Men’s Health agreed that this product would give me the best results for my test.
niWali Testo Boost & Amino Prime have been featured in ESPN magazine highlighting olympic athletes performance and muscle gains.
The free trial bottle of niWali Testo Boost was delivered in a few days from ordering and with surprisingly inexpensive shipping. Hyper Fuel 9 X is one of the most concentrated and purest muscle building products on the market. It was our shared opinion that this would give me the most accurate results for my test.
niWali Testo Boost has been clinically proven to:
(This is the first step in the process. This one is the hemo-dilator that builds lean muscle. It’s completely legal, safe, and has none of the bad steroid-like side effects.)
Enhance athletic performance and strength
Pump more blood into muscles by expanding veins and capillaries
Deliver nutrients to muscles at a faster rate, which quickly builds lean, solid mass
Give muscles more definition and size
Have positive sexual side effects (I’m not even kidding. my favorite muscle seems bigger too. Probably from the expanded blood vessels)
Although we were pretty skeptical, we wanted to find out for ourselves if the supplements could do everything it claimed. Most of the success stories we heard about combined niWali Testo Boost with an additional amino acid supplement to achieve maximum muscle goals. The idea is that the Amino Prime will help you lose most of the weight and gain energy while the amino acid supplement will take off the hard to lose fat and allow your body to burn calories more efficiently. After further research, we chose to test Amino Prime as our secondary supplement.
Amino Prime has been clinically proven to:
(This is the anabolic performance enzyme. Now this is the key! Taking niWali Testo Boost in the morning and Amino Prime later on really sped up my shred.)
Uptake 10x more protein
Fights free radical damage to muscles
Eliminate stomach fat
Increase sexual performance
Burn calories even at rest
Get rid of bloated “puffy” look
Boost nitric oxide levels
Accellerate Muscle Revovery
Help give muscles shape and definition
Both niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime arrived within 4 days of having placed my order online for the free trials and were inexpensive to ship.
To test out the product, I took one niWali Testo Boost pill every morning and one Amino Prime pill every evening for 4 weeks.
These Were My Results – 15 lbs of Muscle In Just 1 MonthWeek One:After 1 week on the new routine, I was surprised by how fast and dramatic the effects were. My energy level was up and I wasn’t as hungry as I usually was. This is a welcomed side effect of niWali Testo Boost and its power to curb appetite. I honestly felt fantastic and best of all, I didn’t have to change anything about my daily routine.On Day 7, I got on the scale (this new digital scale that measures fat and muscle composition) and couldn’t believe my eyes–I had gained 2.5 lbs in muscle mass. But still I wasn’t completely convinced. They say that in the beginning of some muscle programs, you lose a lot of water weight and gain a lot of muscle. I wanted to see if I would still gain this much muscle in the upcoming weeks. But it sure was looking up! I now weighed under 155 pounds for the first time in years!Week Two:After 2 weeks of using both supplements I had more energy and was sleeping more soundly than ever. I wasn’t waking up in the middle of the night or tossing and turning because my body was able to relax (a result of the supplements’ detoxifying properties, I think). I also managed to lose another 7 pounds of fat, putting me at an unbelievable 150 lbs in just 2 weeks. I could also feel a 6-pack coming through, which my girlfriend loved. Hell yeah!At this point I started to put more faith in these muscle products as more than just a gimmick.Week Three:After 3 weeks, all my doubts and skepticisms had vanished! I had gained 12.5 lbs of pure muscle and had lost 8 pounds of fat. All the fat on the sides of my stomach were completely gone. My stomach was so defined I finally had a 6-pack! These products are just amazing. I lost a ton of fat and the muscle gains are UNREAL.I still had a lot of energy as well. Usually around the third week of other diets you tend to run out of steam. But with niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime my energy levels didn’t dip. Instead, they remained steady throughout the day! I even noticed that my stomach was digesting food better, no bloating or embarrassing gas after I ate.Week Four:After the fourth week, I was completely shocked by my final results. I gained an unbelievable 16 lbs of muscle mass since starting the niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime routine! Everyone at Men’s Health wants to try the diet now. In week 4 I lost 7 more lbs of fat on top of the 16 lbs of muscle I had gained. I was ready and confident for the fitness competition. I am definitely going to continue taking Hyper Fuel 9 X because it produces consistent, amazing results and has so many other muscle building compounds which help with muscle memory and maintaining mass.
I couldn’t be any happier with the results.
I gained 16 lbs of muscle in 4 weeks . No Special Diet, No Intense Exercise.
I gained 16 lbs of muscle in 4 weeks. No Special Diet, No Intense Exercise.
In conclusion, if you want to lose fat and gain muscle mass but are doubtful about the effects of this routine, you need to try it for yourself. From my own experiment for Men’s Health, we can tell you that the results are real. We at Men’s Health had our own doubts initially, but we were quickly turned into believers. After conducting our own studies, we are also pleased to see that people are really finding success with this diet. You can reach your weight loss goals with the niWali Testo Boost and Amino Prime combo diet,
Every time I visit my gym there is this guy I always greet. He is always smiling and always on time for his training. Everytime I see him I feel something in me wanting to reach out to him. He is just this bag of bones. Month after month this little muscle he has is withering away even further. He tries his best to train hard, but in vain…I don’t know for sure, but I have a strong feeling he is fighting against HIV infection. My heart goes out to this guy and many times he has been in my prayers.
I am not blessed with my mouth, it is the most difficult thing for me to talk to a stranger. My blessings are in writing and researching subjects objectively. I just so hope that this article somehow lands on his computer or the very least someone else’s where it can make a difference…
HIV infection is all around us, we just don’t know about it. No-one wants to talk about it. Those that have it can even talk less about it…in fear. It is a lonely and heavy burden for any person to carry and a painful one.
Many people in the past used to point a finger…”they deserve it!”, but remember how Christ treated the woman who has just been caught with adultery and where brought in front of Him? For the one finger you point to someone, 10 will point back to you. Let those without sin cast the first stone…
Seeing that guy at my gym day after day and me failing to have the ability to go and chat to him to help him, I decided I need to write an article for HIV+ people who don’t know where to turn too.
I did a lot of personal research, spoke to many doctors who specialize in HIV treatment and have also spoken to some people who are positive. What I say here can make a big difference for the HIV sufferer.
But before I start with the article, let’s get one thing straight. No matter who tells you what, or who makes what claim, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE to taking HIV medication.
You don’t have time to experiment with your life…the line has been drawn. NOTHING can substitute your HIV medication. So the assumption I make with this article is that you will be on HIV medication and you are taking it EXACTELY as prescribed. Yes the medication has sometimes some serious side effects. You must work through those side-effects together with your doctor. Do NOT stop the medication unless your doctor instructs you to. On this note: You MUST make sure you get a very skilled HIV treatment doctor. Talk around, call universities medical departments, search on internet, but make sure your doctor is VERY skilled. Your life will depend on it.
Later on in the article I will cover one particular side effect – Lipodystrophy and will briefly touch on others.
My main aim with this article will be to show the HIV positive person how to lead a quality life…one even waaay better than before.
The article will be divided in the following 2 sections:
I am aware of death now…
How to increase the gap as wide as possible between awesome living and death.
I am aware of death now…
Suddenly death is a close reality for you. Time cannot be wasted anymore. Every moment must be spent rejoicing in life.
You cannot live irresponsible anymore. You received a wakeup call.
My friend, 10 years ago I had my own unique wakeup call and nearly died – fighting against severe kidney and liver damage. I used that opportunity to change EVERYTHING in my life.
time is precious,
my wife is precious,
my child is precious,
my family is precious,
every day is precious,
I will NOT waste it anymore.
I changed my eating habits, I started training intensely and I changed the person who I am on the inside. Seeing my reflection in that mirror, I can truly say I like what I see, outside and inside.
I settled my bill with God and has walked a long road with Him since. This is YOUR opportunity.
Do you realize not many people get such a great opportunity…a wake up call?
You have been blessed my friend – you just don’t know it yet, you can change what need to be changed and you can become the best you can be on ALL levels. Grab this opportunity with everything you have and you WILL live a life truly worth living.
This is THE most important point you must accept. You have received a great blessing. How you are going to use this blessing will decide what person you will become.
You CAN have an awesome live, a life where you’ve made right with God, a life where you look the best you looked ever, a life where you start seeing the people in need and start making a difference, a life truly WORTH living!
Surround yourself with people who only adds to your goal post. Cut those out that break you down and pull you in the wrong direction…just make sure your aim is in the right direction.
Don’t surround you with people who make you just feel good. Life is not about feeling good, it is about a life WORTH living.
Listen to music that built you up, read books that feed your soul, care for your neighbour…
So you might be married and want kids oneday? Nothing is stopping you. Many married couples have conceived naturally under the guidance of a doctor. Under hiv medication your viral load becomes undetectable and with a high CD4 the risk is VERY LOW when penetration is done once at time of ovulation. (Risk less than 1 in 10 000 for woman to become infected…that is very low).
As with ALL things in life…the choice is yours. If you are reading this article then you are already busy making that choice…
How to increase the gap as wide as possible between awesome living & death.
After making the choice of will in point one I will move on to more practical points for obtaining an awesome life for the HIV positive person.
Secondly, the bottom line is, the more muscle mass you carry as a hiv+ person, the better your chances of survival.
Let me explain: Due to a compromised immune system hiv+ people can get more frequent and sometimes very severe bacteria infections. This can happen anywhere, anytime. You can go white water rafting and get thrown over in the water and take just one mouthful of water and you can potentially become very (very!) sick ending up in hospital for 2 weeks due to bacteria infection.
Obviously the higher your CD4 count the less your risk.
Everytime such a sever bacterial infection occurs, you will lose anywhere from 2- 10 kgs in muscle weight. Since the muscles carry the primary energy source for you immune system (Glutamine), it is critical that a HIV+ person has very healthy muscle mass and the more he has the better his long-term changes of survival.
When a HIV+ person lose too much muscle weight, his body cannot provide Glutamine to feed the immune system. Sadly this is one of the MAIN reasons of death for HIV+ people.
It is thus not for “looks” but CRITICAL that every hiv+ guy start doing bodybuilding.
In my research I ran across quite a few highly skilled hiv doctors who unashamedly support any safe means for the hiv+ person to increase muscle size to above average levels even with the help of anabolic steroids where necessary…but more on that later.
Don’t listen to the average house doctor telling you there is no need for a hiv+ person to have more than average muscle size. With much respect, he does NOT know what he is talking about. It is basic common sense that, the more muscle mass a hiv+ person carries the better his/her long-term survival ability – full stop!
Doing regular exercise will further enhance the immune system.
Some research have shown that severe excise might actually hamper the immune system.
But you should enter in the bodybuilding arena in a step by step fashion. Slowly increase intensity and duration. It helps the body get accustomed to the exercise and builds up endurance and stamina. Feeding the body for growth and supplement with all the listed supplements will keep the body and immune system healthy (+ taking your HIV medication). In such a scenario there is no reason why you cannot do fairly strenuous workouts for muscle growth.
Those interested in the program I’ve developed specifically for hiv+ individuals – It is 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. And the whole system designed to support GREAT HEALTH. click here: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/
Hiv+ bodybuilders might find it slightly more difficult to build muscle than hiv- people…but the differences is very slight. Obviously the stronger the immune system the lesser the impact.
Go for it and built those muscles!
Having a strong good-looking body will further help you feel positive and good about yourself.
Excercise is well-known for releasing all the feel good hormones…you need it!
Excercise is also a great way to release stress. Having the constant reminder of being hiv+ will be taking its toll, working out will help you to mentally cope better.
Here is a video that can help you getting a decent training program on the road:
Lastly, some HIV sufferers might already lost so much size that they are afraid to go to gym’s to train because they are afraid that people might stare. My friend, there will ALWAYS be people who hate (for whatever reasons). This is YOUR life, take charge, ignore those starers and DO something about your situation. I have never seen anyone being nasty to this “bag of bones” guy at my gym I referred to earlier in my article. In fact I see a lot of people going up to him and chat to him and they are all caring people.
b) Eating to survive.
The general thought is that the hiv+ person need a higher calorie diet because of the strain the infection puts on the body and resulting energy required to fight it.
Though this might be true for the hiv+ person who have a highly compromised immune system (below 300 CD4 count) it is not really applicable to the hiv+ person with a strong immune system and undetectable viral load. For such people they can pretty much stick to the eating guidelines I’ve already laid down in my previous articles:
The key is to feed your body every 3-4 hours with a small balanced meal containing a clean protein source. See above articles for eating regimen details.
C) Supplements for healthy immune system
A supplement which must be avoided at all costs for the hiv+ individual is echinacea. Echinacea “feeds” the hiv virus and will result in a massive increase in your viral load.
L-Glutamine:
A critical supplement for the HIV+ person. Suggested dosages: 4 x 5g spread out during day.
Glutamine feeds the immune system. Without Gutamine our immune system cannot function.
Since Glutamine is primarily stored in the muscles, one can easily see why it is critical for the HIV+ person to have a healthy muscle mass…in fact, the more the better.
This extract from www.thebody.com gives the best accounts of glutamine
“Normally, nutrition provides enough antioxidants to combat “oxidative stress” and neutralize the “free radicals.” But under continuous siege by HIV, the need for anti-oxidants begins to grow beyond what a regular diet can provide. Wasting is one result — muscle tissue is rich in glutamine. The body starts breaking down muscle to fight the “oxidative stress.” Another result is a higher viral load, because HIV thrives in an environment rich in free radicals. Some nutritionists have begun to call glutamine a “conditionally essential” nutrient.
A recent study of about 100 PWAS, mostly men with less than 200 T-cells, done by Drs. Leonore and Leonard Herzenberg at Stanford University, found that glutathione levels are directly linked to survival. 85% of those who started the study with high glutathione levels survived the three-year-long study while only 18% with low levels did. It isn’t known whether low glutathione levels cause or quicken disease progression or if they are a symptom of some other process — however supplementation to increase glutathione levels in cells is increasingly popular. Glutathione is also crucial for liver health.
Some recent studies have suggested that taking glutathione itself can raise the glutathione levels in immune cells.
A recent study in the Lancet, for example, reported that glutamine supplementation significantly decreased the incidence of pneumonia, and other life-threatening infections like bacteremia and septicemia, for patients with multiple traumas and who were being fed intravenously. In the study, only 17% of patients on glutamine got pneumonia, compared to 45% of the participants who were not on glutamine. 7% on glutamine contracted bacteremia, while 42% of the non-glutamine group did. Finally, 3% (one person!) of those in the glutamine group experienced sepsis, compared to 26% of the non-glutamine group.
The effect of glutamine on the gut is pretty well documented because supplementation has been found useful not only for people with HIV, but with other conditions that require intravenous feeding like severe bums and intestinal surgery.
Studies of people with other conditions have found that glutamine supplementation speeds recoveryand can even restore firm, healthy stools to people who have only inches (of a former 21 feet!) of intestine remaining.
Most people think the intestine is just an organ needed for the elimination of waste, but in fact, it is a crucial part of the immune system. Like people with HIV, cancer patients on chemotherapy often suffer severe diarrhea. Charles Smigelski, RD, a nutritionist and researcher at Harvard University, reports seeing a cancer chemo patient who had disabling diarrhea for six months. Within a week on glutamine, his bowel movements were normal.
Smigelski is high on glutamine and other antioxidant supplements for people with HIV. He has about I 00 HIV patients in his practice that are supplementing with glutamine and says, “Most people report that they feel better on every level. It improves their energy, it reduces diarrhea, and it’s hugely useful in wasting and dealing with oxidative stress. A ton of people swear by it.”
Smigelski believes that such supplementation may be able to prevent or reduce lipodystrophy (“Crix belly”), thought to be a side effect of protease inhibitors. His patients find it useful for diarrhea caused by protease inhibitors as well. “A very common experience is that someone will have protease related diarrhea. Immodium will stop the explosive diarrhea that often comes before people can get to the bathroom, but it won’t firm the stools or reduce frequency. Glutamine, which I use in combination with probiotics (natural gut bacteria like acidophilus, lactobacillus, etc.), firms the stools. It really improves quality of life.”
Body builders also tout glutamine because it is anabolic (builds muscles). A poster presented by Dr. Shabert at this year’s International Conference on AIDS in Geneva reports that patients with wasting given 40 grams a day of glutamine (along with NAC, vitamins C and E, selenium and beta-carotene) gained an average of 1.7 kilograms (3.75 lbs) in lean body mass in 12 weeks. Patients in the control group were given glycine (another amino acid protein) and a multivitamin and they did not gain similarly.”
POTENT Multi – Vitamin:
Your body is under much more pressure due to the HIV infection. A “normal” multi vitamin for hiv- individuals will not do. You need a daily POTENT one. The only one’s really sufficient I know off is: Animal Pak Multi Vitamin and OPTI-MEN Multi Vitamin (Take one dosage daily with meals). There may be more but make sure they contain significant more RDA dosages than the average multi vitamin. Must be taken with food for good absorption.
Vitamin C:
Vitamin C is one of the cornerstone supplements for the HIV+ individual. It ‘s benefits in fighting of infections is well documented. Take a slow release version not less than 2000mg per day. 1G after morning meal and 1g after evening meal. Must be taken with food for good absorption.
Alpha Lipoic Acid:
Recommend dosage: 200 mg. lipoic acid capsule three times per day
The following extract from www.hepatitiscfree.com gives a good overview of the importance of ALA.
“Alpha-lipoic acid is an antioxidant used in Europe to restore liver health. It confers protective benefits against oxidative processes involved in degenerative diseases. It is more potent than vitamins C, E, and Co-Q10, and according to Dr. Ester Packer, professor of molecular biology at UC Berkley, alpha-lipoic acid may be the most important antioxidant ever discovered:
Vitamins C, E and glutathione work together to deactivate and prevent free radicals from causing uncontrolled damage in the body. But at this stage we run into a limiting factor regarding availability of glutathione, which is an important free-radical deactivator offering protection against cataract formation, as well as immune enhancement, liver protection, cancer protection, and heavy-metal detoxification.When taken orally like Vitamins C and E, glutathione is broken down in the stomach before it reaches the bloodstream. What does end up being absorbed can raise serum levels, but the effect inside of the cells is minimal.Alpha-lipoic acid is the missing link. Not only is ALA a powerful antioxidant in its own right, but it also regenerates glutathione, giving cells a double dose of antioxidant protection. In addition, it is easily absorbed when taken orally, and once inside cells it is quickly converted to its most potent form, dihydrolipoic acid, which is an even more potent free-radical neutralizer than ALA. Because both alpha-lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid are antioxidants, their combined actions give them greater antioxidant potency than any other natural antioxidant now known.Scientists have also found that lipoic acid can inhibit replication of HIV-1 and other viruses through its ability to bind directly to DNA. (47)
Dr. Packer and Chandan K. Sen, a researcher from Finland, have described how alpha-lipoic acid regulates aspects of the immune system, and in particular, immune cells called T-lymphocytes. These two researchers, along with other scientists, have reported how alpha-lipoic acid may help people with HIV:
ALA inhibits growth of HIV more effectively than NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) ….alpha-lipoic acid completely inhibited activation of a gene in the AIDS virus that allows it to reproduce. “
d) Anabolic steroids and Human Growth hormone.
If ever, for any group of people the use of anabolic steroids and HGH is recommended, then it is for HIV+ people.
Some medical doctors do not really support this notion, but talk to any highly skilled hiv physician and he/she is much more open to the idea. Simply because due to the nature of the disease having excess muscle mass will have a great positive effect on your long-term survival. Remember our earlier discussion about Glutamine and bacterial infection?Thus, although some doctors might still not support the idea, I will stick my neck out here and blatantly claim that the correct use of anabolic steroids can have a great positive effect for the hiv+ person. I refer to my article “To Steroid or Not” https://gertlouw.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/to-steroid-or-not/
Remember this guy I saw training at my gym who is just a bag of bones…? Anabolic Steroids could be a LIFESAVING tool for him!
Some of the “safer” anabolic steroid cycles for HIV sufferers are as follows:
(you MUST do resistance training – weight training when HIV positive):
“Safe” cycle ONE:
Once a week injections in bum (upper right corner of bum) for 12 weeks of 200mg testosterone enanthate + 2 x 100mg Primobolan Depot.
After 12 weeks you might consider a short course of Nolvadex for 21 days to restore your natural testosterone production.
“Safe” cycle TWO:
Alternatively for those afraid of the self injecting and also a slightly cheaper solution: 4 x 20mg tablets (spread out over day) daily for 8 weeks of Anavar. (not longer, Anavar is Alpha 17 steroid and longer cycles can influence liver values).
With Anavar only, no post cycle treatment with Nolvadex or Clomid is required.
You MUST check your liver and kidney values before starting (check you blood pressure regularly and also for safety get your cholesterol checked) and you should do above with the approval of your HIV doctor. If your HIV doctor is against the use of anabolic steroids, you should get a new doctor. You cannot put your life in the hands of a HIV doctor whose eyes are closed to non-mainstream HIV therapies, he need to be open-minded and truly understand the challenges and problems the HIV sufferer is facing…I’ve already made my point earlier about why and how important anabolics and muscle growth is for the HIV sufferer.
Hiv medication side Effects
A common side effect when hiv+ people start medication is nausea/vomiting/diarrhea. This can go on for months before the body get used to the medication. During this time the person can lose a rather severe amount of muscle mass (something that must be avoided at all cost). It is very difficult to prevent it. However a certain anabolic steroid, Primobolan Depot (one of the safest steroids available), has been known to protect muscle wasting when the body experience a very low-calorie intake. Taking this anabolic during the side effect period might just help you losing a lot of your precious muscle mass.
HGH or human growth hormone is mostly use in cases where a hiv+ individual develop a hiv medication side effect, lipodystrophy. Usually when hiv+ people develop this side effect they have to stop or alter their medication. HGH might help get the lipodystrophy fat layer down slightly but in most cases it has only but a mild effect to get the condition under control.
Alternatively, I also offer life and fitness coaching online for hiv+ individuals. I have dealt with MANY hiv+ individuals and have helped many to cope mentally and to just have someone trusted to talked too. I provide a total confidential environment with unlimited support (via email) through my hiv+ coaching to help you, not just coping with hiv, but to live an awesome life you never dreamed possible…
I can also provide fitness coaching/supps/diet specifically for the hiv+ individual. Please use the form below to contact me (It is confidential and will not be post on my site – I will receive it as private email in my inbox):
Should you just wish me to pray for you…let me know.
There is a lot to be said for being inactive. It has some very good plus points. No-one can dispute that it feels good to regularly crash out in front of the tv…sitting for hours and watch your favorite shows.
At the same time you can also have your favorite tasty snacks on hand, and when you go out you can eat whatever tasty meal you want.
Your can drink your alcohol, smoke your ziggie and just chill.
When you feel like a chocolate, well you just eat it…that’s what life is about…or is it?
One cannot dispute that for the inactive person there IS certain pleasures.
But with this article I am hoping to allow inactive people to count the cost of that pleasures, to draw up a checklist of sorts and see where you stand with pros and cons.
The following is a bit stereotyping – I do NOT meant to offend but am trying to make you think about your current lack of inactivity. Draw up your own list and look very well at it.
Inactive Person Workout warrior
Chill on coach eating crisps watching tv. Struggles to find time to watch tv.
Party with friends and social drinking. No drinking and few parties.
Like smoking cigarettes. No smoking.
Enjoy regular chocolate binges. One bite of chocolate per week.
Have tasty rich food and meals. Fatless food & lots of veggies.
Feel exhausted and get tired easily. Have energy to spare.
Regular sinus problems and colds. Little problems with sinus and colds.
Struggle to get a decent erection. Wife smiles.
Low sex drive, too much of an effort. Healthy sex drive – love it.
Is that at all possible? Let me put it this way…not by sitting on the coach with the bag of crisps in your hand it’s not!
Most of you are aware that I am preaching a complete lifestyle change but with this article I am going to focus on how you can get your metabolism fired up to function at its peak level.
I think it is common knowledge that the higher you’re resting metabolism is the quicker you are going get rid of that unwanted fat layer.
Before we get to the nitty-gritty of the how, let’s quickly delve into why a lot of people are sitting with these slow metabolisms. I’ve already touched on some reasons in some of my earlier articles.
Granted, for some people it might actually be genetic, but for the most (and I claim easily 95%) they have enough control over the metabolic rate to make a very big difference weight wise.
The slow metabolism origins
The first main reason
In my article DIET IS FOR LOSERS I already discussed how people are training their body in a complete negative way by following short-term diets. Each diet train the body to drop the resting metabolic rate since it senses it might be in a famine period. After the diet target weight is reached and you revert back to your normal eating habits, your body is adding on as much fat as possible to prepare for the next approaching “famine” period and it then lowers the resting metabolic rate every time you hit a new diet…for good!
Therefore DIETS is one of the main reasons the resting metabolic rate is slowing down year after year.
One should never follow a diet (or short-term solution) but make a long-term lifestyle change if you want a healthy metabolic rate.
The second main reason
In conjunction with above problem, the same people will tend to become more and more inactive due to various reasons:
Our western lifestyle is that of coach potatoes in front of tv.
Being more overweight year after year make it even more difficult to become active.
Time and work may sometimes be limiting factors.
How are you going to get this slow resting metabolic rate fired up for peak performance?
If you are not ready to make a complete lifestyle change, skip this article…but be aware there is absolutely NO quick fix available anywhere in our little spot of the universe. The closest you will get to a quick and last fix (not to get a healthy metabolic rate but get rid of the fat layer) is the operation that restrict your amount of food uptake by your body…serious stuff…..we were designed a certain way, alter with that design and you ask for serious problems. That being said, there are success stories out there of people who did the operation…
So a lifestyle change is a basic need to start the process of correcting your resting metabolic rate.
Part of a lifestyle change is eating a small balanced meal every 3-4 hours (from waking up to going to bed). Why? Well, the body was designed that way. The 3 meals a day plan most people follow is far from what the body need to act optimally. It allows your blood sugar levels to drop too low and also does not give the food in the correct way for your body to grow/lose fat and function optimally.
After you’ve ate a meal, even small, your resting metabolic rate will be much higher than normal for the next 3 hours. That is due to all the functions your body is performing to get the food from your stomach to your blood to feed the body. Your digestive system uses a lot of energy to do it’s job. Whether it is a small or big meal does not matter so much. Therefore the more frequent you can keep this system active the more energy you will burn and the higher your metabolic rate. But please, this is not a ticket to hit the fridge on the hour! You must stick religiously to the 3-4 hour rule and the meals must be small and balanced and ONLY what your body need. No more, no less.
But that alone is not going to solve the problem. There is much damage done and that damage need to be undone.
For years on end your body has been trained to slow down you’re resting metabolic rate and no matter what you do now that metabolism will need time to adapt. There is no quick way out. The more the damage the longer it will take. Let me put it to you like this, the more diets you’ve tried in the past the longer it is going to take to get your metabolism to function optimally.
No two people will react the same, but a general guideline is it can take between 6 to 8 months for worse case scenarios metabolic rates to start functioning optimally again. But don’t fear, on average it take 2 – 3 months to sort out the metabolism for most people.
Put the scale away!
Another point I want to raise at this stage is weighing yourself too often.
Put that scale away. You are aware of the damage that has been done to your metabolism and that will take some time to repair. Implement your lifestyle change and religiously stick to it.
I suggest that you never weight yourself more than once a month – at the same time every month.
Think about it…
It allow yourself to slip up once or twice, it gives enough breathing space for woman to avoid problems about periods etc. Your scale is not going to tell you the true story of what is busy happening in your body for the first couple of months. You need to re-program your body and while that new program is being written you do NOT want the scale to show you week after week a negative picture that will demotivate you within the first month.
You’ve made that lifestyle change (with all that goes along with it) – stick to it and once a month you can check yourself. Even measurements must only be done not more than once a month.
NEVER let the scale or measurements rule your lifestyle change. That is one of the quickest ways to fail and fall back. With the lifestyle change you eat right, train right, supplement right and do all in the right combinations and frequentcy…your body WILL respond.
A very important factor that determines the resting metabolic rate will be the amount of lean mass your body carries. The more lean mass the higher you’re resting metabolic rate.
Now I already hear (once agin) many women (and men) crying out, “we don’t wanna built any muscle just tone a bit”. Well, “toning” IS BUILDINGMUSCLE! An inactive person losing all the unwanted fat would need to built at least 15 – 30% muscle to reach his/her target for a “toning” look/appearance. There is NOT something like toning, toning IS building muscle. So adding 15-30% muscle will have a dramatic effect on your resting metabolic rate and will give you that “toning” look.
This is also why I always recommend to overweight guys, to first focus on building decent muscle, then the process of losing the fat will be MUCH easier. In fact, without you even trying, you will loose fat because you’ve change your lifestyle.
Body builders generally have this aspect very good under control and that is also one of the reasons they are so successful in cutting to low body fat levels.
Now let’s return to get a shortlist of what you need to do to supercharge your metabolism:
Lifestyle change (eating + training + supplements + vitamins + spirituality). In some of my earlier posts I dealt in detail with what lifestyle chances involves.
Eating every 3-4 hours [keep metabolic rate fired up for up to 3 hours after eating]
Training 4-5 days a week [resting metabolic rate raised for up to 24 hours after training]
Grow muscle as much as you can but 15-30% minimum fore real change = toning. [more muscle = higher resting metabolic rate].
The above WILL kick start your metabolism into overdrive. It again is the combination of ALL the above and not any single item that makes the difference. You need to cover ALL THE ANGLES if you want to get your metabolism fired up and restored to function optimally.
As you can see, you cannot get away from some key changes in your life if you want to get rid of fat, look good and have a great body. These factors will always remain constant because it brings us back to how we were designed and suppose to live. Not as chips eating coach potatoes but as active people eating right and small meals every 3-4 hours.
Yes there are other supplements out there can can have a positive effect on your resting metabolism for a couple of hours (caffeine pills, green tea extract, etc…) but this should be ignored at first. Focus purerly on getting to grips with all aspects of your lifestyle change. Once you have that fully under control (I reckon it will take you at least 3 months) then by all means investigate other avenues of boosting your resting metabolic rate. But remember: NOTHING is a substitute other than above to fire up your metabolism in the correct way. Do not try to take any shortcuts!
Fire up that metabolism guys and girls and make 2013 the year that you become the best you can be…for good!
Severe muscle pain from the tip of your finger to the tip of your big-toe…struggling to do just about anything and have to live with constant pain 24 hours a day year in year out…this is the people suffering from Fibromyalgia (plus fatigue, stiffness, sleep disturbances, headaches and mood disorders, such as depression or anxiety).
It is so common that I felt it necessary to give some insight into how sufferers can make life bearable.
Up to 1 in 50 people struggle with the condition of Fibromyalgia and it is the 2nd most common ailment affecting the musculoskeletal system after osteoarthritis.
Between 80%-90% of sufferers are women.
Most men only get it due to a traumatic episode or the likes.
Due to how common Fibromyalgia is, I thought it warrants attention in my fitness blog.
Medical science struggles to explain the real origin of why people have Fibromyalgia and as such also struggle to treat it effectively. It is however a clear defined condition that can very easily be determined by specific pain pressure points of the muscle system.
Some have it worse than others…some to the degree that they truly cannot get out of bed.
Effective medication is scarce and doctors struggle to find tools to treat the pain. Yes, you can drink an anti-inflamatory but for how long before the liver or your stomach lining is damaged…not a good solution. Some doctors even reverted to anti-depression drugs which has shown to have a safe long-term pain relief effect. But I don’t know about you…anti-depressents alter brain chemistry and I for one would use that as an absolute last resort and those I know said it had little to no effect.
There just is not an effective long-term pain reliever for Fibromyalgia sufferers.
Some sufferers even went as far as starting to use Marijuana/Dagga. They claim it helps making the pain manageable. Well, I for one must be close to my deathbed before I will start using street drugs or the likes to treat pain.
But sometimes it is easy for us non-sufferers to talk. The pain for the sufferers is very real.
Other routes treating Fibromyalgia
However, there are alternatives to deal with Fibromyalgia and it slots in nicely with making a lifestyle change.
The following “treatment” is safe and can relief more pain then all the conventional and unconventional treatments for Fibromyalgia.
Granted, due to the medical science struggling to determine the exact cause Fibromyalgia can possibly be a diverse type of illness that is not necessarily the same for every person and thus a “standard” treament might not have the same effect for everyone.
However, the following treatment regimen has been followed by some Fibromylagia sufferers with good to great results (although no specific scientific research has been done to verify the success level of these strategies). Either way, great success has been reached by following it and it may just make a huge difference in the sufferers life. Note, it is rather the combination of the “total attack”, than any specific aspect of the following that makes the difference for the sufferer:
Start a dedicated, 4-5 day a week intense training program.
Start using Co-Enzyme Q10, Ecklonia Cava Extract and Omega 3.
Follow a lifestyle change in your eating program (+ lots of water and potent multi vitamin).
Training for Fibromyalgia.
Yes it will be painful. To get past the first two weeks or so you might consider anti-inflamatories.
But training will be your most powerful tool in dealing with Fibromyalgia…any sufferer who train intensely will confirm this. Being very fit makes it MUCH easier to cope with the pain. The workouts also helps you cope mentally and emotionally much better with Fibromyalgia. Training also relieves all those feel good hormones that puts Fibromyalgia in the backseat.
The more intense the training the better. I would clearly suggest a good mix between resistance and cardio type training.
Co Enzyme Q10 for Fibromyalgia
Scientists in Sevilla, Spain (2010), demonstrated increased oxidative stress and reduced coenzyme Q10 levels in the cells of some fibromyalgia patients. But they also demonstrated that coenzyme Q10 does not prevent or cure fibromyalgia.
Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is synthesized by your cells using the same metabolic pathway that produces cholesterol. CoQ10 can also be obtained from foods, such as fish, organ meats and whole grains, or from supplements. CoQ10 serves two critical purposes in your body: it acts as a cofactor for the enzymes that produce high-energy molecules called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, in your mitochondria, and it functions as an antioxidant in your tissues. CoQ10’s ability to simultaneously do these two functions could prove beneficial for some people with fibromyalgia.
I personally know of quite a few Fibromyalgia sufferers who had good success with CQ10 at dosages varying between 200mg to 300mg per day spread out to 3 times a day after meals. They mentioned that within 48 hours after stopping the CQ10, the intense pain of the Fibromyalgia returned. Your local pharmacy should have various over the counter CQ10 available.
“In an eight-week, double-blind, placebo controlled study, Ecklonia Cava Extract demonstrated profound benefits in a group of established fibromyalgia patients. It reduced the time it took participants to fall asleep, and increased overall nighttime sleep. It improved soundness of sleep and boosted energy levels. Study participants also reported more good days per week, reduced pain, and an improvement in their general condition.”
For the Fibromyalgia sufferer, it is a must have supplement, a super antioxidant.
Suggested dosages 800mg after morning, midday and evening meal.
Together with CQ10 it provides a powerful weapon for the sufferer.
Omega 3 for Fibromyalgia
Omega-3 fatty acids inhibit inflammation and may reduce the amount of pain suffered in fibromyalgia. 2 x 2g after each meal 3 times a day. In combination with CQ10 & Ecklonia Cava it attacks the Fibromyalgia symptoms on various levels.
Lifestyle eating change for Fibromyalgia
A lifestyle eating change will not necessarily cure of relief pain, but due to its healthy eating habits it will make sure the body is feed correctly and as such give the body with a lot of tools needed to fight the condition. Part of this lifestyle eating plan is to get a potent daily multi vitamin as well as LOTS of water (2L-4L). The water is required to “flush” your system and help remove the bad stuff from your body. As you start loosing fat in your new lifestyle endeavour, the body will be faced with larger than normal amounts of “bad stuff” that was stored with the fat. Good daily water intake help to get this out of your system effectively.
The CQ10, Ecklonia Cava, Omega 3 and lifestyle eating change with intense training can potentially change the life of Fibromyalgia sufferers.
Anabolics and other banned substances for Fibromylgia
Ahhh, the sorted topic of anabolics, but the truth is some people with Fibromyalgia (especially men), have experimented with Anabolic Steroids and Human Growth Hormone (HGH) in treating Fibromyalgia and they swear by it, but some doctors are sceptical although I have spoken to a few that say they can see a possible link due to the fact that both anabolics and HGH primarily stimulates muscle growth, add a feel good factor and positive feeling with enhanced energy levels, etc…
What must be noted here is that nearly no scientific research has been done about Fibromyalgia and anabolics/HGH.
I have personally spoken to people who claim that a combination of anabolics and HGH makes the pain and other Fibromyalgia symptoms much more bearable and also give them a new lust for life.
It is an expensive route which might have some bad pitfalls for the user who do not know the substances and its side effects well. So it must be used with caution.
Although the lack of medical research and some scepticism from some medical doctors raise a question mark, it does sound not too far-fetched that these substances might have some positive effect in treating Fibromyalgia since both these substances have a direct impact and effect on the musculature structure of the body and energy levels. For those at the end of the road struggling to cope with the pain, it might just be a last option to try. But again…take care. I can suggest the safest route to you with these substances (there are many anabolics and many behaves differently and have different danger levels) but I would strongly suggest it being done under doctors supervision. Contact me if you need some help.
Some unconfirmed routes for fibromyalgia treatments are multiple “life bee stings” and medical marijuana.
I truly hope this article may help some Fibromyalgia suffers out there…and if you know of someone, please pass on the info. I know some of these sufferers and it is not something I wish on my enemy.
Flabby, fat, low energy and very, very unfit couch potatoes…yeah such is the over 40 years for many of us men. But when we hit 45 we start to crave the lost youth…or is it lost?
Many a guy try to recap his youth with a fast car…even disasterous extra marital affairs.
But when that has come and gone…it just leaves a sad unpleasant taste in the mouth.
Then they realize they are bald, grey, overweight and have a heart problem plus high blood pressure…not even to mention the cholesterol.
The pills add up and they are bigger in volume than your breakfast.
Life’s future seems dim…and what you once had in your youth seems to be completely out of your reach and faaaaar gone…
For many who have reached this point and have a serious heart problem…it might just be too late to recap what once was…but not impossible.
This blog-post is meant for those over 40’s…Wake up! Open you eyes…there is a way…a GREAT way out.
You might even feel better that you did in your youth because now you can apply some wisdom as well.
Yip those testosterone levels will be waaaaay lower than when you where 20…but they are still very far from zero and each milligram of testosterone flowing in your veins has got SERIOUS abilities to help you regain that youth.
You will not turn back the clock but you can start utilising each bit of testosterone to the fullest and let them do what they do…grow muscle, built up your body and in the process you will release even more testosterone. Those that have little will have less and those who have little but start to use it will get more…as simple as that. And on top of that, your body will start releasing higher levels of growth hormone when you reach a high activity level, meaning: feeling younger, better skin, more energy, lust for life and many other positive things…too many to mention.
As with so many things in life those that grab opportunity and DO something will have and those sitting back will have less…much less.
Yes, you CAN look better than you did when you was 20. I do and I am now 48 and every year I am looking even better than the previous one.
You have serious control over both those two miracle hormones: testosterone and growth hormone.
That is two key ingredients why you felt so good and look so good when you where young.
But it will not just come by itself…you will really have to MAKE it happen.
It will not happen by changing a single thing or starting to jog a little.
To get those hormones released and get them to do their job you will have to train hard and vigorously.
It will be painfull..initially. You can easily throw in the towel. Many does. How much do you want it? Think about it…I say…there is NO CHOICE! JUST DO IT! DO NOT TURN BACK!
Be wise how you do it. Slow gradual steps…climb the ladder step by step…leap and you will fall.
Full attack: Train right and train hard, eat correct for growth and recuperation, rest enough to allow recuperation and supplement with potent multi vitamins and lots of water.
Become what you never was….become the best you can ever be.
Be noticed…have a presence…and the best part…change inside.
Don’t just make it and outside change. Make you like the whole you, inside and out. That makes this new change soooooo much more worthwhile.
Care about the less privileged, care about your neighbour and start joining projects to help needy people.
You can have a new body, a new lust for life, look and feel the best you’ve ever did and have the cherry on the cake of having that awesome feeling that you helped someone today…that you’ve made a difference…
Those over 40’s have more time at their disposal…there should be no excuses.
The same hold true for those over 50.
It does not stop there…you can still look kick-ass and be over 70. The choice really is yours.
Here a video of a muscle photoshoot I did 2 months before my 52nd birthday
For those that want to know more, here is an article on testosterone release with training:
Testosterone Training
By Chris Thibaudeau
Okay, before you get the wrong impression, this article is not about training on the “juice”. It is an article on how to maximise the effects of your own serum testosterone and how to increase it naturaly. A Little Reminder
Testosterone is known as the male hormone, It is secreted by the testes and according to the most recent research it is so in a circadian (regular cycling) manner. Still according to these studies even if each individuals have slightly differant cycles it is the general rule that testosterone levels are at their highest in the morning. So training in the morning do have a slight advantage over working out later in the day.
As you probably already know testosterone is the muscle-building hormone. By synthesising proteins it rebuild the muscle fibers damaged by resistance training.
The amount of testosterone in your body is a limitating factor because you can’t build more muscle if your testosterone levels are not high enough, that’s why athletes who take synthetic testosterone (steroids) experience faster muscle growth, their limitating factor just disapeared.
But without plunging in the hell of performance enhancing drugs there is a way to increase your level of testosterone naturaly. Effect of Weight Training on Serum Testosterone
Again, research prove, in a consistant manner, that the level of serum testosterone is higher after a bout of demanding resistance training. That increase being affected by the amount of muscle mass stimulated, the training load and the level of intensity (again intensity reffering to a %age of your 1RM). Effect of the amount of muscle mass stimulated on serum testosterone
Findings all flood in the same direction as to say that the larger the amount of muscle mass is stimulated simultaneously, the more the testosterone level increase. You might have heard a trillion time that multi-joints exercises were better than isolation exercises to develop muscle mass and strength but without really knowing why.
Well this is one of the reasons: multi-joints exercise stimulate more testosterone production compared to single-joints movements. That’s why doing heavy sets of squat will build you all around, because it shut your natural levels of testosterone through the roof!
For that reason the bulk of your program should be constituted of the basic, multi-joints movements, if you want more testosterone that is!
Yet despite that we see countless people doing endless hours of biceps curl, leg extension and the likes. Literaly wasting their time when they could be training productively! Effect of the Training Load (volume) on Serum Testosterone
Most of the literature goes in the same way on this issue. Resistance exercise must be done at a sufficient volume to fully stimulate testosterone production. Too low a volume will not cause testosterone to be released a level near what higher volume do.
But that doesn’t mean that you should hammer countless sets of countless exercises. Because if studies shown that an higher volume do cause more testosterone to be released those levels quickly decrease after 45 to 60 minutes. So giving that evidence I have to disgress slitghly from my original plan to include: Effect of the Rest between Sets on Serum Testosterone
Since an higher volume lead to more testosterone but longer training time lead to less there must be a time factor somewhere that will enable us to conciliate the two. Of course it’s the time of rest between your sets.
To cut a long story short, many studies researched that variable, the most significant being by Kraemer et al.
This research consisted of two groups, one performing an hypertrophy workout made of sets of 10 RM with a minute of rest between each sets.
The other one was a strength training consisting of multiple sets of 5 RM with 3 minutes between each sets.
Both group shown significant increase in serum testosterone, the earlier showing a slightly higher increase.
That indicate that hypertrophy workout do increase testosterone level more than strength training. Also shorter rest periods seem to have the same effect.
If 1 minute seem to lead to bigger increase in testosterone level than 3 minutes I wouldn’t recommand going below 1 minute in hope to increase the testosterone level even more, because by doing so you would greatly impair your short-term recovery and would have to decrease your load. Effect of Intensity on Serum Testosterone
As I just said hypertrophy training seem to bring more serum testosterone increase. But one shouldn’t forget that the group performing sets of 5 RM with 3 minutes of rest also showed a significant increase. In fact for optimum testosterone increase the intensity should be kept between 5 and 10 RM with a rest time proportionate to these levels of intensity. Effect of Time Under Tension on Serum Testosterone
If the repetition range is a good way to determine the level of intensity it might not be the best way to determine the optimum time under tension. TUT also play a big role in testosterone stimulation since it directly influence the type of training followed, and since hypertrophy showed an higher increase in serum testosterone the time under tension should be aimed toward that type of training (to maximise testosterone production at least, maximum strength is another thing). The optimum time for hypertrophy has been found to be between 40 and 70 seconds. Thus 10 reps at a tempo of 101 might be in the correct rep range but the time under tension (20 seconds) is not high enough for maximum hypertrophy, in this case it would be geared more toward neural adaptation. Points to remember
1-You should stick with as many multi-joints exercises as you can.
2-You should use a training load high enough to fully stimulate testosterone production.
3-Keep your reps in the 5-10RM range,
4-Keep your rest between sets in the 3-1 minute(s) range according to your intensity level.
5-For maximum testosterone release keep your time under tension between 40 and 70 seconds.
6-Train early in the morning if you can. Not to worry if you can’t since this don’t have a huge effect.
7-Increase your post workout protein intake to take advantage of the testosterone spike. References
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The exercise-induced growth hormone response in athletes.
Human growth hormone (hGH) is secreted in a pulsatile fashion, generally following a circadian rhythm. A number of physiological stimuli can initiate hGH secretion, the most powerful, non-pharmacological of which are sleep and exercise. hGH has many varied roles throughout life, from growth itself, including the turnover of muscle, bone and collagen, to the regulation of selective aspects of metabolic function including increased fat metabolism and the maintenance of a healthier body composition in later life. The exercise-induced growth hormone response (EIGR) is well recognised and although the exact mechanisms remain elusive, a number of candidates have been implicated. These include neural input, direct stimulation by catecholamines, lactate and or nitric oxide, and changes in acid-base balance. Of these, the best candidates appear to be afferent stimulation, nitric oxide and lactate. Resistance training results in a significant EIGR. Evidence suggests that load and frequency are determining factors in the regulation of hGH secretion. Despite the significant EIGR induced by resistance training, much of the stimulus for protein synthesis has been attributed to insulin-like growth factor-1 with modest contributions from the hGH-GH receptor interaction on the cell membrane. The EIGR to endurance exercise is associated with the intensity, duration, frequency and mode of endurance exercise. A number of studies have suggested an intensity ‘threshold’ exists for EIGR. An exercise intensity above lactate threshold and for a minimum of 10 minutes appears to elicit the greatest stimulus to the secretion of hGH. Exercise training above the lactate threshold may amplify the pulsatile release of hGH at rest, increasing 24-hour hGH secretion. The impact of chronic exercise training on the EIGR remains equivocal. Recent evidence suggests that endurance training results in decreased resting hGH and a blunted EIGR, which may be linked to an increased tissue sensitivity to hGH. While the potential ergogenic effects of exogenous GH administration are attractive to some athletes, the abuse of GH has been associated with a number of pathologies. Identification of a training programme that will optimise the EIGR may present a viable alternative. Ageing is often associated with a progressive decrease in the volume and, especially, the intensity of exercise. A growing body of evidence suggests that higher intensity exercise is effective in eliciting beneficial health, well-being and training outcomes. In a great many cases, the impact of some of the deleterious effects of ageing could be reduced if exercise focused on promoting the EIGR. This review examines the current knowledge and proposed mechanisms for the EIGR, the physiological consequences of endurance, strength and power training on the EIGR and its potential effects in elderly populations, including the aged athlete.
