Traditional Bodybuilding Approach vs. Reverse Taper Dieting

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Traditional Bodybuilding Approach vs. Reverse Taper Dieting

Whether you Forward Taper or Reverse Taper to achieve your final look. Rest assured there's some hard work and effort involved.

Whether you Forward Taper or Reverse Taper to achieve your final look. Rest assured there’s some disciplinek and effort involved. Are you working SMARTER or HARDER?

Today’s podcast with John Barban and Brad Pilon compares the two dieting styles of traditional bodybuilding’s  “Forward Tapering” to the Adonis approach of “Reverse tapering.”  The key discussion points of the podcast were provided via a research paper studying natural bodybuilders preparing for an upcoming competition. Other items of interest that were measured caloric intake, exercise time, body fat levels, hormonal levels, etc.

The data from the research paper on the bodybuilders was fairly comparable to the data submitted by our prior Adonis Transformation Winners.

 

Traditional Bodybuilding Approach

“Forward Tapering”  is when you begin dieting at a HIGHER calorie level and continually DECREASE your calorie intake as you get leaner.

This is the traditional bodybuilding approach to preparing for competitions.  Most contest prep plans span between 12-20 weeks.  The goal is for the bodybuilder or competitor to “peak” or look their very best on the day of the show.  There are several tricks a person can perform to hit their “peak” or final look.  It normally begins with drastically cutting calories and increasing their cardio to resulting in depleted glycogen and fat levels.  More advanced preps might include sodium loading/depletion, water and/or carbohydrate cycling.

However most of these efforts are short-lived and hard to maintain because the effort it took to achieve that look is not easily sustained.  Unfortuately, if a competitor does not have a post-contest gameplan they are at risk of  the dreaded “post-contest rebound.”  Some have even ended up looking worse than before they started their prep.

 

Reverse Taper Dieting

“Reverse Tapering”  is the OPPOSITE,  you begin dieting at a LOWER calorie level and continually INCREASE your calorie intake as you get leaner.

 This Adonis Lifestyle approach is SIMPLE, but it’s not EASY.  It requires discipline upfront, when there is no deadline looming in front of you.  Your hard work is done in the begining and provides more room for you to make adjustments as you progress in your transformation.  The Reverse Taper  approach also focuses more on  calorie deficit through eating LESS food as opposed to eating MORE food and doing MORE exercise.

 

It’s Not a Competition, It’s a Lifestyle

Most people who would be opposed to this approach simply have to win the “mental” battle in their mind to believe that this process is more efficient and sustainable.  If they trust the process they can avoid the longer exercise periods needed to create a caloric deficit with the traditional bodybuilder approach. 

John and Brad truly deliver in this podcast, discussing the in’s and out’s of the “Fitness Competitor” lifestyle.  In conclusion, both of these approaches have proven results.  But the question you must ask yourself, are you working SMARTER or HARDER towards the pursuit of you fitness goals?

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Marrying the Numbers to Your Picture

In light of the recent AT11 Contest, I felt compelled to add the latest installment of  the  Golden Eye for the Adonis Guy series.

Today’s Topic: Marrying the Numbers to Your Picture

The AT11 contest entries  yet again challenged the beliefs of what was believed possible to achieve in a mere 12 weeks.  Nevertheless,  the contestants of AT11 provided some valuable feedback from their transformational journeys.   As you may recall from Monday’s post, contestants were judged in a total of five equally weighted categories:

1-  Final Adonis Golden Ratio (AGR) – 20%

2-  AGR  Transformation (Delta) Change -20%

3- Weight Loss (LBS) – 20%

4- Muscularity- 20%

5- Aesthetics/Photogenic Quality – 20%

Here is an example of charted numbers in each category:

TALE OF THE TAPE

Scoring Metric Applied in AT11 Contest

Scoring Metric Applied in AT11 Contest

The Scoring Metric above serves as a great benchmark tool for quantifying your overall transformation.  However, this is only part of the equation…

Although, you may be familiar with the phrase, “The Numbers Don’t Lie,” there is another quote that states, “Statistics are No Substitute for Judgment.”  In the AT11 Contest, the numbers told the truth for the majority of the contestants,  however as the last quote stated, mere facts alone were not a substitute for “Visual Assessment.”  How you present yourself on camera with both confidence and proper posing is critical to balancing the equation.

 

Marrying the Numbers to Your Picture

For the first time in tangible form we’ve now been able to identify both the “Science and  Art” of a transformational contest.  John Barban summed up our finding best by simply saying, “marry the numbers to your picture.”

Michael B. AT11 Results truly demonstrate how to marry the numbers to your physique!

Michael’s AT11 Results truly demonstrate how to marry the numbers to your picture!

In conclusion, your numbers are helpful metrics to keep you guided in a logical 12-week transformation process.  However, a “Visual Assessment” should marry to your numbers and help to root the emotions of how you actually look, with the logic of what your measurements are telling you.  Ways to improve upon your “Visual Assessment”  is to take progress pics and practice posing which in return build confidence.

Stay Tuned for Monday’s Post as we’ll be revealing  a “Special Awards” category to the AT11 Contest!

 

Yours in fitness,

Allen Elliott

 

Flex & Review: 2013 Mid-Year Interview with Allen Elliott, Adonis Lifestyle Ambassador

Today’s post is the latest installment of  the  Golden Eye for the Adonis Guy series. I had the opportunity to chat with John Barban and  during a recorded podcast session we discussed the “Lessons Learned” from my association with the fitness modeling industry.

As we approach the mid-year point of 2013, John and I  were able to discuss some of this year’s highlights as well as my future goals and plans.

Here a few photos that relate to the topics discussed in the podcast:

January 2013 Max Sports & Fitness  Magazine Cover Model

January 2013 Max Sports & Fitness Magazine Cover Model

March 2013 Fitness Tear Sheet - Max Muscle Featured Writer

March 2013 Fitness Tear Sheet – Max Muscle Featured Writer

 

LifeCast Model for Custom SuperMan Costume - MySuperHeroGuy.com

April 2013 LifeCast Model for Custom SuperMan Costume – MySuperHeroGuy.com

 

June 2013 Bodybuilding.com FIT USA Finalist

June 2013 Bodybuilding.com FIT USA Finalist

 

In today’s Podcast, you will also discover:

-How to avoid the “Competitor in the Lime-light” syndrome

-The benefits of treating your physique like a abusiness

-Staying the Course, the Power of Focus

-How to Become SuperMan, A LifeCasting Experience

-How to prioritize your time effectively

-How to market your physique to take advantage of “un-orthodox” fitness opportunities

-The In’s & Out’s of Fitness Competitions

-How to build your Fitness Model Resume

-How to display Confidence and receive support and inspiration when co-workers, friends, and family challenge your fitness Goals

-Lessons Learned from the fitness industry and “Passing the Fitness Torch”

-The art of handling rejection and realizing, “Who you are as a person, is actually independent of what you do”

 

In conclusion, I hope that you find today’s podcast encouraging, informational, and last but not least entertaining. Remember to enjoy the journey, “It’s not a Competition, It’s a Lifestyle.”

 

Your Brother in Iron,

Allen Elliott | Adonis Golden Ratio Ambassador

 

Allen’s Interview:

See below to listen to Allen’s podcast interview:

“The People’s Choice” & “An Ambassador’s Request”

I will kick-off this post by asking a series questions:

  • What is choice ?
  • What is consequence?
  • Is consequence the result of choice?

These are all important questions to ponder on, especially with the latter question being rhetorical in nature. Let’s return to them later.   I struggled greatly  with choosing a title for this post because I am presenting a three-fold message. It is one-part “announcement,” one-part “confirmation,” and one-part “request.”

To bring the newer members of the Adonis Golden Ratio community up to speed, this blog post is also the latest installment in the  Golden Eye for the Adonis Guy series.  In which several topics are discussed regarding my experiences, observations and “lessons learned” from fitness/fashion shows and my association with the fitness modeling industry.

The Golden insight  I’m privileged to  share with you comes from the results of applying the “Adonis Golden Ratio”  workouts & philosophy to my personal goals/endeavors.

 

“The Announcement”

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been chosen as a finalist to compete in the 2013 FIT USA Fitness model
competition.  Out of the 600+ contest entries, the top 10 male and  top 10 female competitors were selected to  compete in a “Live” competition on June 8th at the Century Link Arena in Boise, Idaho.   The opportunity to compete in a “National-Level” Competition such as this was a great honor to me as I was the only Military member for the male division.

Here’s a pic announcing my selection as a FIT USA Finalist:

 

Top 10 Finalist: 2013 Bodybuilding.com FIT USA Fitness Model Competition

ALLEN ELLIOTT | Top 10 Finalist: 2013 Bodybuilding.com FIT USA Fitness Model Competition

 

“The Confirmation”

Having trained exclusively with the Adonis Golden Ratio system for more than three years, I’m extremely confident that AGR can serve as a road map to achieve your fitness goals and so much more.

My confirmation in this belief originates back to the very origins of my  fitness journey.

Growing up I played sports with a particular interest in wrestling. I found wrestling to be challenging both physically and mentally. A unique requirement of the sport was that of weight management; in order to compete, I had to make weight before each match. This taught me valuable life-long lessons of both discipline and accountability. 

Discipline was needed to properly prepare for a match and I learned what it meant to be accountable because my coaches’ and teammates depended on me to make the weigh-in.

Now serving as a military officer, I subscribe to the Air Force Core Values which are: Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in all we do. I’m grateful for the lessons learned from wrestling and the military because I’ve been able to apply those same skill sets toward my fitness model endeavors.

The ability to view my “Physique as a Business” was first presented to me by  the AGR system.  Upon this discovery I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to compete in  Men’s Physique Fitness Competitions, graced the runway in several prominent fashion shows, and have published work as a fitness model.  This success adds further confirmation to the fact that, “The Sky is the Limit” when it comes to applying the AGR system.

Nevertheless, I’m very proud to serve as an Electrical Engineer in the Air Force and as an Ambassador to the AGR system, also known as The Golden Army.”

 

The Adonis Index is truly the GOLDEN Standard

AIG is the GOLDEN Standard for Commercial Fitness

“The Request”

At the beginning of the post I posed a series of questions:

  • What is choice ?
  • What is consequence?
  • Is consequence the result of choice?

I believe the answers to these questions can be answered by the quote below:

“We are free to choose our paths, but we can’t choose the consequences that come with them.” – Sean Covey

As ” The Golden Army” continues to grow by leaps and bounds I’d like to encourage the members, especially the newer one’s participating in the Adonis Transformation Contest (AT11)  to remember that consistency and effort are the little things that when done on a regular basis make for the greatest transformation in a relatively short amount of time.

But don’t just take my word for it!

I highly encourage you to listen, study, and  learn from other successful members of AGR Community.
Here are some great links to help get you started:

10 Most Useful Lessons from Our Successful Adonis Contest Winners: Part I

In conclusion, my final request is if  my “Adonis Lifestyle” story or posts have inspired you to pursue your own fitness goals,  I’d be delighted to have your vote for the People’s Choice Award of my upcoming competition 2013 FIT USA Fitness Model Competition.

To VOTE, simply visit:

Thanks in advance for your support!

 

Your Brother in Iron,

Allen Elliott | Adonis Golden Ratio Ambassador

Game On… Let The Content Flow

Week One Guide ==> Download Here

I’m gonna keep this one short… lots to do today… lol

Starting today, you can expect to see content everyday from now on out… here’s the schedule of events:

Mondays = Brad H’s Corner (Foundations)

Tuesdays = John Barban Speaks

Wednesdays = Weekly Podcast Release

Thursdays = Brad Pilon Drops Some Heat

Fridays = Marni’s Dating Corner

Saturday/Sunday = Bonus Content

Also, if you look to the right, you’ll find a “guide” to all of the content that’s gonna be available for the week, both here AND in the Adonis Lifestyle Membership area…

As we move along, I’ll flesh out this downloadable “magazine” into something with some auxillary substance… (starting next week).

Feel free to pass it among your friends.

Questions… comments… you know what to do.

Support