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!”
You’ve seen this many times, the thin, sinewy marathon runner and the muscled bodybuilder.
On the one end of the scale you have the marathon runner who does zero resistance training and 100% cardio training. On the other end of the scale you have the muscled bodybuilder who does 100% resistance training and zero cardio training.
Cardio, all forms of cardio, is one of the best ways to manipulate your muscle size and provide incredible aesthetic shape to the body.
If you wish to have maximum muscles well, do not do any cardio, only resistance training and if you wish a thin, sinewy physique then do just cardio and no resistance training.
But the key to a great physique is by manipulating these factors wisely.
One thing you need to understand and that is that a physique without decent muscle size will be shapeless, with clothes on and off. A physique (men and women) that produce a “wow” effect MUST have a decent amount of muscles on its frame. THAT is what will give the aesthetic shape. If you just start doing intense cardio but never build up your muscle size of your body via resistance training, you will never have a great looking body!
Now, obviously, if your dream is a classic muscled bodybuilder physique, then simply ignore cardio and concentrate ONLY on resistance training. But most of us want a fit looking, aesthetically shaped physique that looks “wow” with and without clothes.
The road to such a “wow” physique start by applying the following basic principles:
Start by doing 40-50min resistance training for 4-5 days per week.(see the following link for programs and diet: https://gertlouw.com/contact-me/) It must be resistance training to failure to ignite growth and a focused diet to support the growth and training regime. Do not do cardio until such point that you have reached the desired muscle size level. Note: Do free weights instead of machines – machines bypass most support muscles and target specific muscles, thus why most people who stick to machines never really achieved a truly aesthetic shape but muscles always seems to be not balanced. Free weights = aesthetic body shape!
When you have reached the desired muscle size, then start introducing 20 min cardio on top of your resistance training regime, 5-6 times per week for one month. Monitor the effect closely.
By month two if your physique still appear to muscled instead of fit looking aesthetic shape, cut your resistance training sessions by roughly a third in total sets done and increase the cardio to 40 min durations for 5-6 days per week. With this amount of cardio the body WILL respond and by making size slightly smaller and give a more fit looking appearance resulting overall in a more aesthetic pleasing looking physique.
Cardio can eventually be increased to an 60 min duration but preferably not more. Never drop the resistance training completely or the muscles will start disappearing. Keep resistance training (to failure) at a min of 30 for 4-5 times per week.
Note on cardio. Not all cardio are the same. If you want the best possible looking aesthetic physique then your cardio needs to be something like swimming. Jogging, Cycling and other forms of “leg” cardio will produce results but not in the class that swimming does. Swimming coupled with resistance training is well-known to create the best looking physiques.
Joint pain is probably the most common injury a bodybuilder struggle with. And the bad part is, as you pass the 40 y/o mark the challenges increases drastically to walk the narrow pain-free road with your joints.
In this article I will explain how to train to avoid /minimizing joint pain and then also give some options as a last resort for effective treatment considerations.
When we speak about joint pain then we generally refer to any of the following:
The good news is that all three can be nearly fully avoided, even for us older folks. (I am not taking into account genetic predisposition to arthritis or similar conditions)
A very effective avoidance principle
Few of us employ the basic training principles required for avoidance. It is so simple but our aim and eagerness to grow is the main culprit here.
The human body CANNOT take increasing punishment month after month for an extended period.
IT WILL BREAK! And the first to go is your tendons, joints and immune system.
Younger guys can get away with it to a certain degree but as you age your body has less testosterone and growth hormone available and the healing and repair slows down = breaking easier.
The avoidance principle is as follows: A Three month Building Phase must be applied and followed by a three-month Cutting Phase in a very specific way and repeated.
During the Building phase you will punish your body severely and consume higher calories. This is where growth occurs. You will increase the weight sizes (sets of 8 reps) with a maximum of 10% every 14 days. NOT MORE THAN 10%! Even if you feel you have to power, DON’T! Your tendons and joints need time to strengthen in a structured gradual approach. Bypassing this step-up gradual approach and you WILL run into joint and tendons problems. This I guarantee you.
The Building phase will be continued for a 3 month period.
At the end of the 3 months you will enter the Cutting Phase. This Cutting phase’s purpose is to allow for tendon and joint healing and to cut the body fat down for a shredded look with fewer calories consumed daily compared to the Building phase. You will cut the weight sizes lifted on ALL exercises by 30% and increase the reps per set to be 15-20 for all exercises (from the 8 reps per set on the Building phase). You do NOT train to failure in the Cutting phase. Your body needs time to repair and strengthen the tendons and joints after the hammering of the Building phase. This is a CRITICAL approach for joint health and the moment you bypass this alternating Building/Cutting phase approach you WILL run into problems.
The Cutting phase is NOT a phase for growing muscles but simply to maintain them while allowing the body time (3-months) to heal and strengthen tendons and joints.
Three months is considered the safest and best approach for the length of the phases. If you lengthen the time of the Building phase, the risk for joint/tendon injury will skyrocket.
I again emphasize: Do NOT underestimate the importance this approach is playing for joint health. It is also a method employed by most successful bodybuilders.
Just a short note on TENDONITIS
Tendonitis is inflammation/damage of tendons and can sometimes be dealt with an over the counter medication like aspirin or ibuprofen (ask your health care worker).
Tendonitis can be fairly easily avoided/managed by applying the following basic principles:
Warm up thoroughly, gradually building the intensity level of your workout. Cool down after the session.
Train for a new sport before you start it. Start building strength and flexibility in the muscles you will use a few weeks or months in advance.
Learn the proper method/technique and use the proper equipment for any exercise or activity.
Work out regularly, not just once a week (4 to 5 days a week)
SLOWLY increase weight sizes (not more than 10% every 14 days)
Short note on Bursitis (Tennis/Golfers Elbow)
One of the primary reasons for tennis/golfers elbow is bad form/technique. The critical aspect that must be avoided is bending the wrist up or down when handling any weight. The wrist and hand must be 100% in a straight line with the forearm. The bending of the wrist inwards and outwards places severe stress on the elbow and it’s workings and is usually a primary cause for Bursitis.
Tips on how to deal with joint paint after exercise
Ice: The most straightforward solution is to apply ice to the affected joint. Immediately after an intense workout, put ice on your muscles and joints to prevent inflammation and speed up the healing process. However, ice will not solve everybody’s joint troubles.
Eat more raw vegetables: The vitamins and minerals in raw vegetables contain a number of helpful things that ease your joint pain. Designed specifically to fight the effects of muscle oxidation, natural vegetables are often your best option.
Avoiding painful exercises: Some workouts are more painful than others. Depending on your body’s shape, size, and flexibility, certain workouts could negatively affect your joints. If you haven’t been noticing significant gains from a specific workout, but have experienced joint pain, then you might want to cut that workout from your routine.
Supplements which treat joint pain If bodybuilding is one of the most important things in your life, then you may want to consider taking a supplement to help ease your joint pain.
Omega 3 & 6 is a rather important supplement when dealing with joint pain. 3 tablets morning and 3 tablets evening usually sufficient. Also make sure you get enough good fat in – Peanut Butter, Avocado, extra virgin olive oil, etc…
Super Cissus has been show to help control joint pain. It is no wonder supplement but might help some to relief pain.
There is a natural substance found in high concentrations in our joint structures known as Glucosamine. Numerous double-blind studies have shown that Glucosamine produces better results in the treatment of joint pain than traditional drug therapy. The main function of glucosamine is to stimulate the manufacture of substances necessary for joint repair. Glucosamine is a well-tolerated, natural treatment. There have been no reported adverse reactions. In rare instances, some gastric discomfort was reported but was easily relieved by taking the supplement with food.
Other supplements worth trying: MSM and Chondroitin.
Deca Durabulin (an anabolic steroid) is available as a prescription from doctors for treating severe joint pain. It has great success (as many bodybuilders in the past can testify too) and is also a great lean muscle builder. So if you think you fall in this category – speak to your doctor and get the added benefit of muscle growth minus the pain.
Word of Warning
Any supplement (creatine for example) or anabolic steroid that enhances your power levels drastically with immediate effect will put you at severe high risk for joint problems. You might have the power now but your joints and tendons are not strengthened to deal with the power. Many, many anabolic steroid users run into this injury territory.
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.
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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.
You might notice many guys (and girls) doing their sets religiously, train hard, eat right and rest well but it just seem that they not really getting anywhere. Yes they get bigger but it is not really a good-looking big but just …bigger.
Then you see these guys (not many of them) looking really good…muscles in proportion, well-formed and they just got this “wow factor” when you look at them. But you don’t understand because they simply do not train harder or lift heavier weights than you…what is going on here!?
The jealous bunch will scream “steroids!” of course…but there is another much less sinister reason.
OK, granted, some of them might actually be juicing but I am gonna stick my neck out here and say me don’t think so.
What they do is they train right, but what is right?.
Let me explain…
It don’t help just lifting heavy and training hard week after week. You need to get a “mindmuscle” connection for each rep of each exercise that you do.
You need to focus in your brain on the primary muscle you going to use for contraction and then do a slow controlled rep with perfect form. When you reached the max position you need to squeeze the target muscle for a second or two before you lower the weight AT THE SAME SLOW (!) SPEED that you used to lift or push the weight.
The negative move of the exercise must be at the exact same controlled slow speed and perfect form that the positive move of the exercise.
NEVER throw the weight around in a quick fashion.
Look less in the mirror and focus more on getting this “mind muscle” connection and absolute slow perfect form for positive and negative aspects of the rep.
Each and every exercise should be performed this way.
You will find that you will gradually increase this “mind muscle” connection until you eventually have very specific control over the target muscle for a specific exercise.
Range of motion
Do NOT cheat on the range of motion of an exercise…you need the full range of motion to targets ALL AREAS of the muscle.
Cheating on the range of motion means you will not be targeting the complete muscle and thus not develop an aesthetic pleasing look. (ie: only your middle part of the muscle will develop well and not the sides or front/back)
Strengthening the “mind muscle” connection
Doing 20 minutes of posing in a mirror after training helps to further strengthen this “mind muscle” control.
The better this control the better your technique and focus on the muscle exercised and the result will be a full and balanced development of the muscle.
Look at those guys that have this wow factor. Look at how they train. You will see that their positive and negative speed and form is with absolute control and full range of motion.
Sure genetics always play a role.
But no matter how bad your genetics, training in the correct way will develop that muscle in a balanced way and you WILL LOOK GOOD!
The period before training and for the first two hours after training is critical to stimulate, protect and feed the muscles for ideal growth.
Now, I can already hear many women (and guys) crying out and say but I am only walking, jogging, cycling or doing cardio, I don’t need to eat for growth!
My answer is (and I mean this in the nicest possible way): you are only fooling yourself!
No matter what sport or exercise you do, be it jogging or be it weight lifting, one of your main goals is to look better. How do you think that is going to happen…just by loosing fat?
I am going to disappoint you here and say that the chances are very good if you only lose the fat and not grow and tighten up the muscles you might even look worse after you have lost the fat than before.
If you want to look better in the mirror that flabby small muscles need to grow and tighten up. Toning means growing no matter who tells you otherwise.
Those muscles underneath that fat has been unused for a loooong time and any muscle not being used get smaller and smaller every year and lose form. That “small” muscle is NOT going to look good when the round fat layer is gone. For many people the fat layer actually give an aesthetically pleasing roundness to the body that make it look much better with the fat than without it.
So, anyone telling me that they only want to lose fat not built muscles, I just smile because they do not know what they are talking about.
Not matter what exercise you do, you need to build up the muscles and feed them correctly to respond best. You want to train as little as possible and feed the muscles perfectly to respond the best they can.
Feeding the muscles and body for exercise is nearly exactly the same irrespect if you’re a bodybuilder or jogger.
I do admit, for those pushing the limits there will be slight changes to accommodate their specific sport requirements. But for 90% of us average people there will be almost no difference.
I have done my personal research for the past 8 years and had many trials and errors and devised my pre and post workout eating requirement to be very effective. This same basic structure can be used by men and women alike, especially initially. As time progress and you educate yourself, you can make small alterations to suite you better. BUT ALWAYS small steps, one change at a time and VERIFY that it works before you move on the next change.
Pre workout shake: containing caffeine. You can also take caffeine pills. I am using Shotgun by VPX. But there are MANY other brands and all contain roughly the same basic pre workout muscle feeding mix.
The BCAA’s is the most critical part of the pre workout feeding. It is a specific group of Amino Acids that protects the muscles from being broken down while training for energy. The last thing you want to do while training is loosing the muscle. Protect it!
The pre-workout shake gives you and energy boost and also a muscle volumizing effect. Many cardio only trainers may prefer to skip the pre-workout shake but for cross-trainers, swimmers, gymnasts or anyone doing any form of resistance training, this becomes increasingly important to give you energy to do your routine.
During training water is of critical important. Carry your water bottle with you throughout and sip often. I easily drink up to 2L during a 50 minute training session and do not visit the toilet once because I sweat it all out.
IMMEDIATELY after training:
This is a critical time to feed the muscles as soon as possible.
Your muscle requires two things urgently: quick absorption fat-less protein and quick energy.
The ONLY protein you should consider is whey (preferably whey isolate). It is clean and is absorbed very quickly by your system to feed the muscles. (Some people use also BCAA’s 8g after training instead of the whey protein although you will find most people use the whey.)
No protein contain fat, no matter how small will suffice. No casein type protein will suffice because the get absorbed too slow by your body. I use one scoop of 50g in 500ml of water. For those who do cardio only, I would suggest not more than 25g in 500ml water. I do intense weight training.
The best quick energy source is something like a banana (or maybe apple – but apple bloat me). A banana’s energy is released very quickly to replenish your muscle energy to normal levels.
The whey protein and banana covers nearly everything your body needs for directly after training.
I prefer to also use a combination of strong vitamins and anti-oxidants after training. (I use: alpha lipoic acid, Saw Palmetto, Potent Multi-Vitamin, Co-Enzyme Q10, Potent slow release vit C and Ecklonia Cava Extract.)
During training your body is put under strain and your muscles underwent exercise induced damage which needs to be repaired. vitamins and anti-oxidants create the environment for your body to effectively repair these “damaged” muscles, tendons, etc…
I’ve done it for years and had great success by following this routine of pre and post workout feeding.
Another important point: You should consume another small meal within the next 2 hours after training containing whey protein and small fruit/veggies. These 2 hours is golden growth period for your muscles and is probably the most important two hours of the day for growth.
This is especially important for people who take part in resistance training type of sports. It is of less important for cardio orientated sports.
Point of Note: Recent research are pointing to the possibility that taking anti-oxidants before or after training might actually slow down the fat burning environment resulting from training. This is all due to IL-6 which increase in the post exercise window where it enhances insulin action and fat burning. Taking the anti-oxindants (especially Vit C and E) stop the releasing of IL-6 and thus slowing down the post exercise fat-loss environment.
My take on IL-6 and anti-oxidants? Well I am not in a position to dispute research but I am not yet convinced and will wait for further developments before I drop my post exercise antioxidants. I’ve used potent post exercise antioxidants for years and had great results in health and fat-loss. The other side of the coin is that if I did not took my post exercise anti-oxidants I might have even greater fat-loss success. Choose for yourself but watch this space, I will definitely report more on this in future again, meanwhile I will continue using my anti-oxidants after training…it just seem to make sense.
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