Archives for January 2012

The Only Downside Is the Need for New Clothes

January 9, 2012 by Allen Elliott

Herman Douglas placed 3rd in the Sixth Adonis Index Contest in the Open category.

Check out his photos:

Herman was one of the most muscular guys in the contest.

Herman was pretty surprised when he saw his back shot.

Herman has been working out since 9th grade, so he’s a pretty experienced lifter. While he has a lot of experience in the gym, he was never in a really exceptional shape. And because he was afraid of losing all the muscle he ate a lot of calories that in reality prevented him from losing any fat.

Herman is 5’9” and was always scared of being lighter than 200 pounds. Like he said, it is pretty ridiculous to think that somebody his height should weight that much.

If you are working out that sort of weight can look good in a shirt that perception drastically changes when you take it off.

For Herman it wasn’t until his wife took some pictures of him, especially of his back. Only then he realized how much fat really is on his body. Most guys never really care how they look from the back and focus on the mirror look only. When Herman saw that there is a lot of fat hiding from him or from what he can see in a mirror, he was really surprised. He thought he was in much better shape.

After a friend introduced him to the Adonis Index he started to wonder if this new approach would get him some results. It still took him some time to get over the fact that he needed to drop not just 10 pounds, but really somewhere around 30 pounds of fat to get in decent shape.

Stop Using Weight as a Fitness Indicator

A lot of guys think that they need to get to 200 pounds and while it’s impossible for the vast majority of guys to be that heavy while being lean, there is no need for that either.

If you think you need to get big and hit the 200 mark as soon as possible, you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

Ask yourself this: “Do I want to look good and enjoy all the benefits of having a killer looking body?”

If so then stop focusing on getting bigger and rather take a look at yourself and concentrate on a specific shape and proportions. Shape and proportion are what matters and what will determine whether you are in good shape or not, not how much you weigh.

There are several issues with using weight as an indicator whether you look good or not.

Weight itself tells you nothing. Weight is directly proportional to your height. A 6’4” NBA player will have genetic potential for building more muscle mass than an average 5’10 gym rat. So setting up a weight goal without considering other factors just points out on a lack of perspective.

Be different from other guys and don’t set your goal for weight gain, focus on the ideal shape and proportions instead.

When Herman first heard from his friend that he should be 30 pounds lighter, he wasn’t ready or in a state to hear such advice. The idea of being over 200 lbs was still in his head and he was afraid of letting it go.

He was happy with the weight and he looked good in clothes. He just didn’t want to admit to himself what was really going on. He, like many other guys was scared that what he believes may not be true and didn’t want to shatter his belief system.

It took him a while, but seeing his friend getting in shape, he decided to give this new idea a shot and at the end he is glad he did.

What Herman Did to Get in Shape

Once he got over the belief that he needed to be heavy, he could start eating less calories and actually lose weight.

At first he needed to lose a lot, so he was eating roughly 1000 calories per day, however this was getting tougher every week and he was forced to raise his caloric intake and he gradually went from 1000 to 1800 over the next couple of weeks. And this is something you can expect to happen, if you have a lot of fat to lose (let’s say 30 pounds) then at the beginning you will be able to eat very low, however as you progress and get leaner, you will have to start eating more and more and slightly optimize to maintenance once you get to a single digit body fat number.

This is of course all very personal, so you have to calculate your own caloric needs based on your BMR, physical activity, current weight and your goals.

For Herman once he lost most of the fat he had on his body, he found his “sweat spot” around 1800 calories. This allowed him to push hard in the gym, while still being able to lose some fat and satisfy his hunger.

Herman is 5’9” and did the Adonis Index workout and some additional cardio, so your number will be different, but the key is to calculate it and act according to it.

Herman did some cardio, but as he got leaner and leaner he had to cut back on it because it just wasn’t sustainable. And this is important, find what works long term and stick to it. Even though extra cardio worked at the beginning when he had a lot of fat to go, as he got closer to his ideal waist, it got tougher and then he was faced with a decision – eat more or cut cardio. He decided that there is no reason to do more work for the same results, so he stopped doing the cardio and focus mostly on his diet.

The result of all this?

Before he was wearing size 36 pants and his knees and back hurt. Now he is wearing 33 and even that feels too big. Plus he is no longer scared of having heart problems like his father. He is healthy and he feels healthy.

The best thing was that other people noticed this transformation and complimented Herman on his work.

This was all possible only because he overcame his belief of being big and heavy. It’s not worth trying to be heavy, it’s a waste of time, unless you are 6’4’’ you are not supposed to be over 200 pounds and there is no reason to spend good years of life being overfat.

Now when Herman gets in front of a mirror the only thing he can say is “wow, what a difference”.

When you wear clothes, they just cover it up. Clothes hide the fat from your eyes and will trick you into believing that it is okay to be that big.

Here are the two goals you can pursue, decide however you like:

a) You can be big

In clothes you look good, it’s obvious that you work out
You feel like a man, because everybody is addressing you as “the big guy”
You can wear extra large T-shirts and feel really dominant
You are covering up your belly fat and love handles
You won’t be confident taking your shirt off

b) You can be ripped

Other people can tell that you work out
Your arms will have incredible muscle definition
If you wear clothes that fit, you will really stand out in almost any group of people
You are very confident taking your shirt off
When you take off your shirt everybody will make a comment about how shredded you are
People will ask you for advice and will want to know what you did to get into such a shape
Girls will make excuses to touch you (I know how it sounds, but it is true, but you probably won’t believe it till you experience it yourself)

Take home message from Herman for guys who have been training for a while, but have been just carrying too much weight:

Mirror is different from reality, don’t rely on it, because it sends back a false reflection
It sucks being heavy
Give yourself permission to be light
The leaner you get the harder the fat loss will be. You will have to up your caloric intake a bit to sustain the diet.
If people are used to you as the big guy and you suddenly start to lose weight, they won’t be very happy about it and might tell you that you are skinny or that it is unhealthy. Don’t listen to them, they don’t understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. And most importantly they are subcutaneously making excuses for not getting in shape themselves.
If you decide to take professional photos, it will take you some time and trial and error until you learn all the proper posing, how to flex and hold the muscle, what lighting works the best, in what time of the day are your muscles most defined, expect it.
You won’t notice how the food you eat affects your look until you get lean, only then you will notice that certain food makes you more cut and other more bloated
Once you get in shape, you will face a new challenge – Learning how to dress properly to show your brand new body
The leaner you are the bigger you look. The fat mass and shirt has to come down for you to look bigger. While this sounds strange, it’s is true, it’s the muscle definition that creates the illusion that you are bigger.

Words & phases mentioned in the podcast:

Adonis Index Main Program 3.0 (The workout plan Herman used for the contest and that he refers to in the interview)

Listen to the interview here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Get Back to Basics to Get in Shape

January 4, 2012 by Allen Elliott

It’s the first week after New Years and the gyms will be overflowing with New Years resolutioners. The resolutions are usually some vague goal such as ‘lose some weight’ or ‘get in shape’ etc. These people are well intentioned no doubt, but one of the problems I see with this sort of action is a lack of a defined goal and a lack of a structured plan to get there.

Watch TV at the gym instead of at home with snacks...it's a basic change that can go a long way

This is the time of year that reminds me how confusing and complicated the diet and fitness media has made things. It’s becoming apparent that people think getting in shape must be significantly more complicated than it has to be.

In reality, there are just a few basic items that need to be taken care of to reach any diet and fitness goal. Unfortunately most people look right past these fundamental basics and instead, clutter their minds and lives with the minutiae and trivial things written in the pages of fitness magazines and blogs.

If you don’t have the basics under control none of the fancy techniques you read about will be of any value.

First and foremost you have to get back to basics, and get a base of effective principles and habits in place before you even think of messing around with fancy diet or advanced training techniques.

For example, do you even get an hour of movement in per day? If not, then that is your first order of business…forget about ‘functional training’ or a periodized workout routine, just get out of your house and get moving for a start.

After that you need to get calories in control, if you don’t know how many calories you consume on a daily basis then you must get this under control before you start reading about vegetarianism, or paleo this, and low carb that, and the latest diet fads. No matter what a marketing claim has told you…calories matter, and you have to get a handle on them if you’re serious about making a change in your body.

These are the most basic items that you must get a handle on if you want to change your body. If you’re struggling to make a change in your body and you don’t know where to start, then make your resolution to get back to basics and build effective habits for the new year.

In today’s podcast, we’ll discuss the basic principles that are essential for getting in shape, it’s simpler than you think.

John

For more information as well as how to get access to Adonis UNCENSORED, click the link below:

Adonis UNCENSORED Premium Podcast

Filed Under: Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S01 Tagged With: back to basics, new years resolutions

Commitment Equals Results, So Are You Committed Enough?

January 2, 2012 by Allen Elliott

Today’s interview is with Andrew Peters, who won the sixth Adonis Index Transformation Contest.

Check out his pictures:

Andrew is still getting over the fact that this is how he looks now. No kidding, when you undergo such an amazing transformation, it might take some time until you get used to that new look.

Andrew has a great muscle definition.

Want to win the next contest? This is how you take the photos.

Andrew is 24 and has spent the past few years playing rugby and lifting weights, however his training lacked structure, a goal, and a serious commitment. As a result he didn’t have the body he wanted.

He realized that in order to succeed he had to changes his approach. He wanted to get in shape, but didn’t wanted to look like some huge bodybuilder.

He was after more of a model body shape and it was also obvious that something had to change in his life.

He searched for a workout program that would meet this requirements and that search lead him to the Adonis Index. What might surprise you is that he wasn’t a believer at the beginning and it took him almost two years until he decided to try the contest and the workout…and in as little as three months he completely transformed his body. The only things he regrets is not trying this approach sooner and wasting two years of his life doing other workouts.

Before training with the Adonis Index he was trying to change, but his effort was misplaced.

This is probably the most common issue with muscle building. Guys don’t understand that it’s crucial to have a well-designed workout program, not the newest or the most expensive supplement. While certain supplements like Creatine might help, if you don’t have a good workout plan then nothing else really matters. But since supplements are easier to sell and people seem to want magic pills most of the marketing is focused on selling them…this leads to a belief that supplements are the building blocks of muscles.

Well, they’re not.

You should make it a priority to get a workout that:

Has purpose behind the training and targets some specific goal you want (ex.: building a V-shape dominant body with the perfect AI)
Is designed by someone who looks the way you want to look (assuming it’s not a performance based workout)
Focus on certain muscle groups more than others to build an overall shape and look
Have variety of exercises, reps and sets (if you’re doing the same thing week after week, you will get bored and won’t stick to it for very long, plus variety can help you hit the muscle from different angles)
Difficulty gradually advances (aka Progressive resistance)
Doesn’t requires you to buy expensive supplements or follow some insane high protein diets

The thing that won’t hurt you either is having a deadline. For Andrew there just wasn’t enough urgency, but when he decided to participate in the Adonis Index Contest, the training suddenly had a deadline and things got serious. Plus he was putting his money on the line now since he booked a session with a photographer three weeks in advance.

What Andrew Had to Change in His Lifestyle

You might guess that winning a fitness competition and transforming your body would require some supper-strict lifestyle without any social interactions and you would have to be focused on the diet and training only.

While it obviously requires more effort and focus to get in shape than to maintain your look, it’s still about finding a balance with your social life.

The only things that Andrew did was walking every day, cutting a few calories and training on the Adonis Index system a few times per week. He was already hanging out in the gym, so this wasn’t such a stretch.

Getting in shape is not that time dependent.

Cutting calories doesn’t require any extra time, quite the opposite, because it can free you from constantly preparing food, eating and washing the dishes. Just think for a while how much time you spend doing those things every day.

What about the workouts?

Well, even if the workout session took you 90 minutes and you trained let’s say 5 times a week then it would still only be an 8 hours commitment per WEEK.

A week has 168 hours, so 8 hours of focused training dedicated to improving your body and possibly your social life doesn’t sound that much, does it?

Most people spend at three times that many hours in front of a TV or playing video games, so if you are one of them you only need to cut out 1/3rd of that and you suddenly have the time needed to work out.

Just be honest with yourself.

Some people get up at 5 am just to squeeze in the workout session before their work.

Find that time, it’s worth the effort.

It Was Mostly a Mental Game

While any change requires physical effort, usually the hardest part is mental.

You might guess that somebody who is in shape is motivated 24/7, however like Andrew discovered, it couldn’t be further from the truth. There will be days when you will wake up in 6 AM feeling like crap, annoyed by the rain and cold and definitely not feeling like working out or doing something worthwhile.

This is something that you have to expect to happen and find a way to punch through it.

Sometimes you will look at yourself and won’t see any results. You will trick yourself into thinking that it’s pointless to continue dieting, because in your mind it’ll seem like nothing is improving in the mirror or because the scale is still the same. You will find a reason to quit. It’s those who stay on track and push through these moments that succeed.

Andrew had the same problem, he wanted to quit the diet, but he decided to adjust the amount of calories he ate everyday and kept on going. He knew this would work and that it was just a matter of time and consistency.

The result?

After 12 weeks he got ripped.

Take home message from Andrew:

You don’t just wake up totally motivated every single day, there are tough times too, but you’ll get there
If you’re having a hard time with really low calories , you may consider eating more closer to your BMR more often
It’s best to focus your workouts on building muscle and let your diet take care of fat loss
If you want to create an even bigger deficit then try some low intensity walking for few hours per week
Listen to podcasts to keep motivated during the contest
Don’t stress yourself about progress, it takes time. Just keep going and compare results after weeks or months of consistent work
You won’t get ripped after just one workout, remember it’s just one of the next eighty days so you need to keep going to see significant results
Three months are nothing compared to the years you were out of shape
Diet and workouts are not effortless, but the real challenge is the psychological side of the transformation
You have to build certain habits to reach your desired shape (ex: waking up at 5am and going to the gym first thing in the morning)
Limit you alcohol and fast food intake
Realize why you eat, usually it’s not because you are hungry
Get in shape first, because once you see what you are capable of in the mirror, it’s easier to improve other areas of your life
Find out your core reason behind your workout and diet, why do you want to get in shape? (ex: happiness, being confident and calm with yourself in social interactions etc.)
Write down your goals, you will make it more real when you physically write them down on a paper
Some people will not like you improving yourself, the problem is in them not in you. They are just rationalizing why they are not in shape and you are
There is no secret to getting in shape, just eat less and work out properly, if you keep doing that for few months, you will see amazing results
Book a session with a photographer or a friend who will volunteer to take your pictures in advanced to have a deadline
Make a commitment that you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goals
There is never going be the perfect time to get in shape so START NOW!
Participate in a fitness contest and challenge yourself