Neither your age, nor your health should ever (!) stand in your way.
Now, most of you know by now that 12 years ago I nearly died and doctors did not give me any good news. But with faith I moved forward and apply healthy living on all levels and also did some house cleaning and moving closer to God ( I am a follower of Jesus Christ).
Obviously it was a long and hard road and the body took long to respond to this healthy living but the wheel did turn and it is keeping on turning as a result.
Now, I am not naïve in thinking everyone with serious health issues can and will turn around like I did, but what I do believe is that with faith in God and by living very healthy, one CAN make a huge difference. Obviously you need your doctor’s approval to embark on such a journey.
But, let me share with you the core of my healthy living
My training program is as follows:
Mondays – Chest, Biceps and abs
Tuesdays – Shoulders, Traps and calves
Wednesdays – rest
Thursdays – Back, triceps and abs
Fridays – Legs, upper pecs and calves
Saturdays & Sundays – rest
My supplement regime
Health supplements:
ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid)
CQ10 (Co Enzyme Q10)
Omega 3+6
Strong Multi Vitamin
Slow release Vit C
Muscle building supplements:
Whey protein powder
L-Glutamine
BCAA
How do I structure my training?
I do a 3-months Cutting phase with a very specific cutting phase diet and training with lighter weights at a higher rep range followed by 1 week rest and then a 3-month building phase with a very specific building phase diet and training with heavier weights to absolute muscle failure at lower reps (about 8 reps per set) followed by 1 week rest and the repeat.
This allow me to build muscle but also to recover the strained tendons and joints.
About my diets
I make use of one of the top fitness nutritionists in the field (BERNADETTE BEYER) to work out my diets for each phase according to my bodytype and goals. This is the crucial part of your success and without a very focussed diet there will be no success.
My blog contains a LOT of info for free that can help you through all these processes.
But for those interested, I also offer my exact training/supplem and diet system via the ADVANCED SYSTEM II (option E). The same nutritionist I use will also work out your diet solution and I myself attend to working out your training and supplement attack based. If you want to signup, just choose option E via the following link: https://gertlouw.com/contact-me
Now this is probably what everyone wants to hear – lol! BUT, the truth is, there are methods to cheat and still get to the top!
Life is not meant to be without a dessert once on a while…and I am talking Baked Chocolate Fondant with oozing real sweet chocolate out if it’s center with ice cream (real ! ice cream) liberally used. The same goes for the odd glass of wine/whiskey or beer or whatever blows your skirt up, even a chocolate!
A certain balance needs to be applied to stay sane with anything in life. I’ve just done a 3 weeks severe cutting diet, sticking 100% to it…and, it’s was hell! The more you are going to disallow yourself a treat once in a while, the bigger the chance that your diet will fail completely in the end. You would just say…”I had enough”. And you know what? I have big compassion for that…so let’s have a look here how (!) you can cheat regularly without crashing your diet and keep yourself sane and focused to stick 98% to your diet.
Sundays to Fridays – sorry that (!) is where you stick 100% to your diet.
Get yourself some sugarless, carb less, fat free sweets. Do some searching and buy those that have as little calories as possible…like below 10! Then during the Sunday to Friday period…pop a few (3-4) of those during the day when you feel the urge to treat yourself a bit. Apart from that – nothing else.
The key is always to eat all your regular meals and drink all your water (2L-4L)…THAT is what keeps you full and keep the urges to eat wrong away.
Obviously, if you are at your target body fat then some different rules apply. Then you are allowed 2 -3 cheats evenly spaced out during the week. But for this documents purpose, let’s assume we are dealing with all those that are still far from the target body fat levels.
Your cheat should be left for a weekend day…when you are less stressed, more relaxed and doing something you like. This cheat will go to great lengths to make you not feeling deprived of some great things and food in life. Even if you don’t feel like a cheat, maybe it is a good idea…simply to help you stay balanced and not feeling deprived later on in the week.
Now, “HOW?” should you cheat?
There can only be one cheat and that cheat can only be once per day per week on just 1 day of the week!
First you eat the diet as normal for that day as specified.
Let’s look at the next cheat scenario’s:
1. Ice Cream cheat / Soft drink / dessert cheat / potato crisps – once anytime during day. Then for 2 of your meals for the day cut out carbs completely. One small meals carbs and one larger meals carbs.
2. Chocolate cheat 150g – anytime during day. The same as above: For 2 of your meals for the day cut out carbs completely. One small meals carbs and one larger meals carbs.
3. Alcohol cheat (500ml equivalent wine) – anytime during day. Usually late afternoon or evening you will use this cheat. So for the evening meal cut out carbs completely and ONLY clean fatless meat and salad…no sauces, no carbs, nothing else! And definitely no dessert. If you want dessert, then no wine! One or the other… [Note: be very careful with alcohol. It is the key reason why men, especially older men, struggle to loose fat around the tummy and have a bloated look to the tummy. Best is to cut alcohol COMPLETELY out and have other types of cheats.]
Remember that with any of the above cheats it will set you back 24 to 48 hours before your body reverted to the level before you cheated and only then will it be able to start losing fat again. So even though you have cheated it is STILL very much possible to loose fat for the week, but only within above rules.
I strongly believe that the only winning approach is a balanced approach. That keeps you focused and you feel like “life” is not deprived of you. Part of this balance is to cheat on a weekly basis with your diet by applying above wisdom!
Wish you all happy dieting and a great training week!
Gert Louw
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!”
Although even some young bodybuilders struggle with weak wrists it is most frequently the domain of the over 40 lifter.
The wrist simply do not have the power and ability to support the weight being lifted anymore. This could become a huge problem for a person in quest for size, because the key ingredient for growth is through intense, heavy weight lifting regularly to the point of failure.
I am one such person that struggles with weak wrists. I simply cannot hold the size weight required to stimulate enough growth. But I am definitely not going to call it game over…I made plans. And it is MUCH easier than most people think.
The following video is rather crucial to watch to fully understand exactly what and how I am doing it.
You must get a wrist supporting rubber grabbing “glove”, like the one showed in the video.
To make sure that the part that folds over the wrist is secure and do not come loose while engaged in heavy lifting, duck tape must be used as per instruction in the video. (Tape it on both wrists securing the part that folds over.)
With every (!) weight you lift (dumbbells & barbels, pullups, seated rows for back and especially shrugs) the rubber part of the glove must be wrapped around the weight where your hand would go and then your hand must go over the rubber part in the reverse position (see video for exact method).
This would alleviate the pressure on the wrist easily by up to 80%.
When performing bench presses use the overhand position with the thumb in the same direction as all the other fingers. Let the weight of the bar rests on the lower part of just the palm of your hand so that no pressure is applied on the wrist. Do not clasp the thumb the other way around the bar. This put undue pressure on the wrist.
The above sounds simple, but I guarantee you that it will enhance your ability GREATLY to lift serious weights again without hurting the wrists and put you straight back into growth territory.
This is the way I’ve been lifting for the last 5 years and now at close to 52 I am in the best shape of my life.
Hope this help guys…be wise and GROW!
Those interested in the online transformation coaching I provide – check here: https://gertlouw.com/contact-me/
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.
This is my 12-point plan for obtaining a muscular body after the age of 40:
Point 1
Sitting on the coach with a beer in one hand, fat tummy, watching tv and generally look bad, what you don’t realize is that what you are doing is slowly dying and killing yourself. You need to look life in the eye again, you need to choose life, get up and LIVE again. You need to change yourself from the inside. Appreciate the small things in life, start caring for people in need, make right with God, start liking the person you see inside and out and respect yourself. Such life altering choices make one want to get up and LIVE and go to gym to re-invent your body. Such choices make the whole process so much easier and WORTHWHILE…
Point 2
Diet determines 80% of your bodybuilding success. You REALLY need to get to grip with this. If you are not ready to follow proper muscle growth diet guidelines your body will not respond even to the best training and best supplements regimes. Your results will be very mediocre at best. This is what separate the hero’s from the average…the diet!
You must align the diet for YOUR body. No two bodies re-act the same to the exact same diet. Every 14 days you need to monitor how your body reacted the past 14 day to the diet to determine if you lost muscle weight (bad), fat (good) or both (bad) and then adjust the diet accordingly in a specific fashion. It is not as difficult as it sounds, here is a link to the exact process you need to follow: https://gertlouw.com/2015/06/01/forcing-fat-loss-and-keeping-muscles-safe/
Training determines 15% of your bodybuilding success. Next to diet this is 2nd most important. You must train at least 4 times a week and not more than 5. At age above 40 the body need more time to recover and grow, I find 4 the best balance (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Frid). Less than 4 is not advisable. It is too infrequent training and put you in danger of injury and is not conducive to muscle growth. Keep sessions never longer than 90 mins preferably 50 min.
Point5
Training MUST be split as follows due the body being older than 40:
3 months building phase (6-8 reps per set, EACH set to complete muscle failure)
1 week rest
3 month cutting phase (12 – 20 reps per set , 30% lighter weights, never to failure)
1 week rest
repeat
If you are COMPLETELY new to training and lifting here is a video specifically for the novice to help him getting accustomed to lifting:
The above training regimen allows for a serious 3 month growth spurge but place serious strain on tendons and joints which then need to recover and strengthen during the cutting phase.
You cannot start training to failure from day one – you need at least a 3-month period of gradual weekly weight and intensity increases to reach the starting point of muscle failure for the next 3 month with the building phase program. Your body need 3 months to adapt from no training to serious training. If u were 20 jump in but we are much more fragile past the age of 40 and need to be wise in our approach.
You MUST also adjust your diet for the appropriate phase:
Should you find that you have mastered the beginner stage of lifting and techniques, here is my building phase training program to illicit maximum muscle growth:
During the building (growth) phase you MUST train to absolute muscle failure on each set. This is a key principle for growth. Failure means total and utter failure – mentally and physically you must not be able to lift that weight one more set. If you train with sufficient failure intensity you WILL grow! Those that do not push the limits will stay mediocre – full stop.
Point 7
Supplements makes out about 3% of your success factor in bodybuilding. If your diet is focused and training is spot on, you got most of your bases covered. However, where supplements can play a significant role is during training to protect muscles from being used as energy source and divert energy requirements to fat stored. This can be done by taking a BCAA drink with L-Glutamine during training (caffeine can be added when focus is required during training). After training L-Glutamine again with Whey protein and an apple or banana – this will spike the insulin which is crucial for max muscle growth. The next meal (within 90min after training) also plays a significant role for muscle growth.
A potent multi vitamin is a must – taken once a day after meal to support the body in this strenuous training environment.
Other highly suggested supplements for the over 40:
Co Enzyme Q10
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Omega 3 + 6
Point 8
Gym time priority needs to be very high on your list. The only things above it must be family time, church and work. Nothing else must come in the way of gym time. Early morning, late evening, whatever it takes. It can also be of great help to get a training partner with the same focus as you. It keeps you responsible to rock up at gym and can help tremendously when you are not fully motivated.
Point 9
Start a facebook page or fitness blog and post regular updates about your new achievements. Astound the world and at the same time it is an awesome tool to keep you motivated and focused. Share your success with the world – this will be a great tool to measure and monitor your progress…but ALWAYS stay humble no matter how awesome you start to look.
Point 10
Alcohol and smoking MUST stop. You cannot built a healthy body by smoking and drinking. 500ml wine per week is the maximum and if u drink wine cut out your carbs completely during that meal (only protein and salad). The only way to obtain a serious 6-pack is by correct diet and cutting out alcohol and smoking.
You must get your natural testosterone levels tested every 2 years when above the age of 40. If you need replacement therapy do NOT say no. Testosterone is a critical hormone for the man to prevent depression, low energy levels and supports healthy muscle size, fat loss and good health (heart).
Point 12
DO NOT HAVE AVERAGE STANDARDS.
Choose a role model…the BEST role model out there that has the shape and size you want to achieve (or even surpass). Burn this image into your mind.
Before and during every training session call up this image and visualize the muscle you are training and the shape and size you want. With each contraction visualize how you want that muscle to look. Visualization is a powerful tool to focus the brain and keep you motivated. Many, many bodybuilders believe that it is much more than that, and that the constant visualization and mind muscle connection have a direct impact on growth and shape of the muscle. Either way, it is a great tool to keep you focussed on your goals.
I NEVER accepted average and since age 40 I am visualizing with each training session my goal for shape and size of the muscle exercised. It focusses me, motivates me and every year my shape is better and more aesthetic.
Don’t be average – don’t reach for the sky, reach for the stars!
My complete transformation system is available as SYSTEM I and ADVANCED SYSTEM II for those interested: Click HERE to find out more…
Follow these guidelines and you WILL reach success. But only YOU can make it happen and you have to take that first step and start climbing the ladder.
I get ask by many guys how they should start out on this road of transforming their body.
They know what their end-goal is looking like, but the process just sounds and look very overwhelming, especially if you’ve never been into bodybuilding before.
So with this article let me help you to get it off the ground.
I am assuming you are starting from ground zero…very unfit coach potato with little to no weight training experience.
Sure if you got the money, you can get yourself a personal trainer who will then guide you through the process – however, choose well, not all personal trainers are equal. In the very least, if his body does not look like your end goal body, stay away! You do not want someone with theoretical knowledge, u want someone who has the knowledge AND reached success!
But alas, most of us are not so fortunate to be able to afford a personal trainer.
The good news is that in the early steps (first couple of months) a personal trainer is really not a critical part. (and then after these first few months all you really need is a dedicated training partner with the same goals and dedication as you!)
The critical part is the fact that you have made the decision to change your life and to what degree you are ready to sacrifice your comfort levels to reach this success.
I don’t know you, but for this one time, tell yourself you’ve made this decision and gonna stick to it no matter what. Then be a MAN and show some dedication and perseverance!
OK, this is now week one, tomorrow is Monday and you want to START!
Consider this…
CORRECT DIETING DETERMINES 80% OF YOUR BODY TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS.
CORRECT AND INTENSE TRAINING (AND NOT OVERTRAINING) DETERMINES 17.5% OF YOUR BODY TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS.
CORRECT SUPPLEMENTATION DETERMINES 2.5% OF YOUR TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS.
So, for now, forget about supplements and only focus on the correct diet and training. Supplements you should only consider once you have the training and diet well under your control.
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Train 4 days a week for first month: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Rest on the other days or do moderate cardio for not more than 20 minutes.
On these days train with weights (resistance exercises) for not longer than 30 minutes.
During each training session do the following:
One exercise for biceps
One exercise for triceps
One exercise for pecs/chest
One exercise for shoulders
One exercise for back
One exercise for upper legs
One exercise for calves
One exercise for stomach.
Each exercise must consist of two sets of 12 reps. No resting between reps. 1 min resting between sets.
Use a light weight allowing you to comfortably do the 12 reps.
Each 7 days increase the weights by about 10%…very important rule, this allows the body and tendons to adapt to the new exercise and weights.
MONTH 2
Train 4 days a week for the 2nd month: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Rest on the other days or do moderate cardio for not more than 20 minutes.
On each of these days train with weights for not longer than 40 minutes.
On each of the following day you must do:
MONDAYS
Three exercises for biceps
Three exercises for triceps
TUESDAYS
Three exercises for shoulders
Three exercises for trapezuims
THUSDAYS
Three exercises for pecs/chest
Three exercises for back
FRIDAY
Three exercises for upper legs
Two exercises for calves
Two exercises for stomach.
Each exercise must consist of two sets of 10 reps. No resting between reps. 1 min resting between sets.
Use a light weight allowing you to just-just complete the 10 reps.
Each 14 days increase the weights by about 10%…very important rule, this allows the body and tendons to adapt to the new exercise and weights.
Stay with the same program from month three, but in month three increase the weight size to allow you to achieve muscle failure on the 8th rep in each set. From here onwards do only 8 reps per set and you MUST not be able to do 1 more rep after the 8th rep due to muscle failure!
Regarding the execution of exercises and which exercises to choose:
Always do the compound exercises fist in a training session…this simply means it is an exercise that involved the most possible amount of muscles: bench press, shoulder press, squats, deadlift, barbell bicep curls. These are the core group exercises that sparks growth.
Look around in the gym, ask trainers and talk to those who got the muscles to show you on how to correctly execute an exercise – 99% of the guys would be very friendly showing you the ropes.
The DIET
This is a much simpler aspect and a basic plan can be laid down rather easily. Just remember….you will NOT grow if you do not eat for growth. You need to eat small balanced meals every 3-4 hours from waking up to the point of going to bed. The period just before and after training is also very important.
Diet
One thing I realized – I will not grow if I do not get my diet sorted correctly. Diet makes up easily 80% of muscle Building Phase success. I did not believe that in the past and paid hard penalties for wasted effort!
My diet is not a diet to lose weight without training. My diet will work great to lose unwanted weight but only with a dedicated and serious training routine.
This is just a sample. It can help you get started and may just be all you need to achieve success. However, each of us are different and body types and sizes vary…so if you have concerns, do more homework or best yet, see a sports doctor or dietician to design a muscle-building diet for you. However, I had GREAT success by following this basic diet structure.
Here an example of my typical dieting routine:
(note: 40g of whey protein shake can easily be exchanged with 6 eggs whites or 150g tuna in brine or 150g chicken fillet, etc…)
Meal 1:
For extra calcium and protein, I sometimes mixed my shake with fat-free milk. However, water is cheaper. I never drank concentrated shakes. I used at least 400ml of water/fat-free milk.
Meal 2:
Oats and muscle-building go perfect together as a morning meal. Oats release their energy slowly throughout the day, so I won’t feel drained or experience hunger pangs. Substitutions: none really, nothing comes close to oats. Sometimes I used cinnamon over my oats. Be careful of the calorie count and do not exceed the calorie count of the oats.
Meal 3:
The 50g at this meal was a solid food protein. I was weary of bananas. They are excellent directly after working out, but due to their quick releasing energy, I want to avoid them at any other time. Substitutions: 50g protein = 4 medium size egg whites / small piece of chicken fillet/fish or beef fillet.
By small is meant about half a fist size. Although the yellow of an egg is healthy, the amount of calories it has due to its fat content makes it unsuitable for muscle-building purposes. At most I took one yellow and mixed it in with the 4 whites. But as stated, it’s best without.
Meal 4:
This I took immediately before working out. Substitutions: None
Post Workout:
Note this is the ONLY time I ate a banana. My body requires immediate energy after workout and a banana is excellent in providing it. Substitutions: The whey and glutamine cannot be substituted. However, the banana can be replaced by 200ml fruit juice, any flavor. Apple works great. But, a banana stays the number one choice.
Meal 6:
Substitutions: None
Meal 7:
Small evening meal with no starches, only veggies/salad and protein (fillet, chicken or fish – 150g). No butter and limited salt with veggies/salad. I used a liberal (2 spoons) amounts of extra virgin olive oil with salad/veggies.
Meal 8:
Substitutions: Although the casein protein powder is preferred, I sometimes ate 250g fat-free cottage cheese.
General Diet Points:
I did not eat starches after 6 p.m. That means no rice, pasta, bread, rusks, potato, etc.
The protein portion in the evening was a solid food and is typically the size of my fist in volume.
All the protein portions were fat-free. I chose chicken fillet, beef fillet or fish.
I was careful to use sauces over protein. It adds a lot of unwanted calories. I rather use herbs and spices liberally and things like squeezed lemon juice, basic gravy sauce. I also tried to cook the chicken in orange juice for a tangy change.
I allowed myself a large salad portion. But we are only talking basic salad here, no fancy stuff. Only green leafs, tomato, cucumber, gherkin, seeds, very little nuts and some parmesan shavings allowed. I used 2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil over salad. For a something different, I also used balsamic vinegar to taste. It goes especially nice with the olive oil.
Cooked and raw veggies were allowed.
Butter and salt were a taboo for me. However, over veggies I used a tablespoon of butter for taste purposes.
Critical Diet Points I Adhered Too:
I tried staying away from diet carbonated drinks and too much coffee (only 2 cups daily with fat-free milk and no sugar). Both these items act as a mild diuretic and means I will have to drink even more water to replace the water lost as a result. Plus the sweeteners used in diet carbonated drinks are questionable!
I NEVER skipped a meal. This is the #1 enemy for Building Phase muscles.
I never ate more than the suggested amounts, otherwise I would gain fat.
I never ate less than the suggested amounts or I would struggle to build muscle.
I ate my meals even if I felt full!
My meals were spaced between 3-4 hours apart.
I used NO alcohol during the week and weekends only one glass of wine or one beer per day. Alcohol is a big enemy of dieting and building muscles. Cutting it out completely is the best option.
I do NOT smoke. I cannot be successful at building muscles and continue smoking, the two oppose each other.
Sweets and chocolate: Sorry, I had none of these.
Cheat meal? Once per week (only one meal). I never stuffed myself (important), but had a sit-down meal and ate whatever my taste buds felt like including my favorite dessert.
Why did I use two different proteins powders?
Whey isolate is a quick releasing protein powder and perfect to use when my body requires an immediate uptake of protein.
Casein protein is used when I need a slow uptake of protein, such as while I am sleeping.
I tried to use trusted local (South African) supplements when I can, simply because they are cheaper than the imported ones.
Why so many shakes?
Well, simply to make my life easier. I did not have the time to stand for hours at night preparing the next day meals. But know this, solid protein sources are always preferred to protein shakes if you can manage the time. But I was careful not to replace my existing solid meals with shakes. The human body was not designed to live on liquids alone.
Conclusion
Remember – Each one who has reached body transformation success holds some truth. Use these recipes but keep on educating yourself and starting to mould it to make it your own unique winning recipe that suites you best.
Never change more than one aspect at a time before verifying that it works and only then introduce another change.
It is a battle of the mind and wills…but we each has but ONE life to live…and we need to make it the BEST life we can!
Don’t wake up like me at 41 and start making a difference…if u are young, use that opportunity and never live with any regrets about wasted opportunities! But that being said, even if you are 60, you can still transform to kick many a lazy 25 y/o’s ass! Time is precious…never let it slip you by.
Every now and then I like to compare my current size and development to the photo when I started…this was now nearly 9 years ago!
This month I am also 49 and I promised myself I will be in the best ever shape when I reach 50.
My training is very hardcore right now. I have a focused training partner which helps a lot! (thanx Mark!)
Busy with my 3 months cutting regime with supersets and more emphasis on higher reps with slightly lighter weights.
My diet is very clean and bf is dropping visibly every week.
Soon I will post some decent progress photos.
So here is my latest comparison photo
I actually train twice a day now. Midday with my training partner and afternoon with my son. He is only 7 now and I am starting to show him the ropes of basic training, sets, targeted muscles, etc… He WANTS a 6-pack badly and his daddy is his hero with all the muscles…but the other day in the locker room he told me “Dad look! That guys is stronger than you!” I was not impressed and try to convince him otherwise….eish! just have to train harder!!
(PS: The guy had a huge back but my arms was bigger than his…honest. lol!)
Anyway, happy training from a cold and stormy Cape Town
Gert Louw
PHOTO TAKEN 9 SEPT 2013 – going on 50 now…eish!
Photo – 9 Sept 2013: Struggle to increase leg size due to a knee problem…
15 Sept I hurt my head bad while playing handyman…
Photo – 16 September after gym session
My Last photo of my cutting phase. Now I take a 10 day break with wife and kid and then I start on a building phase for 3 months with my training partner (HEAVY weights and 6-8 reps per set with not more )than 12-14 sets per workout). Looking forward to eating a bit more…
The next photo taken 12 Oct 2013 – 2 months after my 49th birthday:
