In my searches around the internet I’ve found two sites I can positively recommend for any of you interested in changing your body through diet and exercise.

Here they are:

http://projectswole.com

http://www.nowloss.com/

The first is a resource for bodybuilders, crammed with useful information about workouts and diet. The second has the admirable intent of helping you ‘To Lose Weight Fast & Look Good Naked in 90 days…’ Can’t say fairer than that, really.

(Be honest, now – it’s what we all want.)

I love the take-no-prisoners workout advice of projectswole.com, which occasionally casts a somewhat jaundiced eye on people who resort to low level, easy-option exercises instead of hardcore compound movements. (That would be me.) This tough-love approach will pay better dividends in the long run, but some of you may find it scary. Put your fears aside, read the detailed workout instructions, watch the hand-picked YouTube videos and start lifting weights.To quote a famous thinker* of our time, ‘cowboy up,’ and get with the programme. It’ll make a man of you. Or more of a woman.

On nowloss.com, Adrian Bryant hands you an immensely detailed 8-step plan that does just what it says in the header. There are, by my count, 9 handy tools listed and linked to on the right hand sidebar, like a Muscle Gain Calculator, a and 498 Free Diet Meal Plans. You’ve got to love this site. All the help you need, from an enthusiastic educator whose extensive YouTube videos show you all kinds of exercise moves that can help you get in good shape.

That’s two sites worth a look. Don’t just take my word for it, get down there now.

*Bruce Willis in ‘Die Hard’. Yippy kiyay.

by Hannah Sutter

published by Infinite Ideas Limited 2010

ISBN: 978-1-906821-37-1

I have always maintained that a lot of what passes for scientific research in the topic of our diet is questionable at best, and often downright misleading.

Over time, scientists come to wildly differing conclusions about the food we eat, and the harm it might be doing. We read the latest research, take the latest advice on board, then queasily note that the people who did the research were funded by major corporations whose products – who would have thought it? – are now, suddenly, considered ‘safe’.

Then the government sticks its oar in, and, nanny-like, tells us all what we should be eating and doing every day to keep in shape.

(You can always tell when there are too many politicians. They pop up everywhere, determined to have their say in matters that a reasonable man might have considered were none of their damned business.)

Which might not be a bad thing but for this: they have got it all very badly wrong.

The government has been pushing low fat, high carb diets for a long time now. We’re chided daily, by TV and newspaper ads, to make sure we eat our ‘five a day’ and lay off the fat, get off the couch once in a while and play football with the kids.

The result? An epidemic of obesity. Diabetes case numbers rising astronomically.

‘From 1997 to 2003 there was a 74% rise in new cases of diabetes. And by 2005, more than 4% of the population was classed as having diabetes – nearly double the rate of 10 years earlier. The bulk of cases are type 2 diabetes -which is linked to being overweight or obese – the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports. ‘

BBC news report

If you read no other book on diet, read this one. It might just save your life.

Written by Hannah Sutter – who, being a lawyer by training, is free from the taint of any association with the diet industry – it takes a refreshingly beady eyed look at the government’s claims and failings on the subject of our diet. It calls into question every tenet of the current orthodoxy, and points out the lack of scientific proof behind them. It was, and continues to be, unnerving to me to discover just how much of the knowledge about food I’d casually absorbed over the years turns out to be nonsense. I’ve accidentally arrived at a personal diet and a workout regime that serves me well and keeps me healthy, but neither are ones the government would recommend.

Read this book. I don’t often endorse anything so wholeheartedly as this, but it’s worth it. If you’re overweight or obese, read this book. If you have diabetes, read this book. Then get very, very angry indeed. And write to your MP.

The book’s website is worth a look, too – point your browser here.

A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient by humans. Thirteen vitamins are presently universally recognized.

Vitamins have various biochemical functions. Some have hormone-like functions as regulators of mineral metabolism, like vitamin D, or regulate cell and tissue growth and differentiation like vitamin A. Others are antioxidants, like vitamins E and C. The B complex vitamins help enzymes act as catalysts in metabolism

These nutrients make your body function at its best.

They build strong bones, improve cognitive function, mood, and memory, and help your immune system keep you well.

Should you be taking a supplement to make sure you’re getting all the vitamins your body needs? Well…it’s a tricky question.

The answer depends on a number of factors. Do you eat a healthy, varied diet? Do you smoke, or drink alcohol daily? Are you stressed, overworked, pregnant? Are you a woman who takes an oral contraceptive? If you’re doing anything that might have a long term effect on your health, a low dose multivitamin might not be a bad idea. Avoid taking single supplements, as it’s easy to overdose with these.

There was a trend in the 70s for taking huge doses of vitamins to supplement your diet, but this can lead to vitamin poisoning.

Also known as hypervitaminosis or vitamin overdose, this is when an excessive vitamin intake leads to toxic symptoms.

Too much of a good thing can have bad consequences. Like people who drink lots of carrot juice, rich in beta carotene, only to have the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet turn orange. The carrot-juice syndrome is harmless and reversible, but overdosing on some other vitamins and minerals can have serious side effects.

Generally, toxic levels of vitamins are achieved through high supplement intake and not from dietary sources. Excess vitamin side effects usually disappear when supplement intake is reduced or stopped.

Death from vitamin poisoning is rare.

In the United States, 62 562 people overdosed on vitamins in 2004, leading to 53 life- threatening outcomes and 2 deaths. Compare this to the 19 250 people who died of poisoning of all kinds in the U.S. in the same year. There are typically more deaths from people eating laundry
products than from vitamin poisoning.

Verdict? Take a multivitamin, eat a varied and balanced diet, and you’re covered.

If you exercise regularly, you might find that your own personal soundtrack is an asset with any workout routine. When choosing headphones, think about where you’ll be listening – indoors or outside.

Indoor exercise needs in-ear or closed headphones, which shut out noise and distraction. If you’re running outdoors, you need open headphones which allow you to hear traffic and other potential hazards. Ears are our early warning system. We rely on them for situational awareness. iPods don’t look cool when you’ve suddenly become a hood ornament on an articulated lorry because you couldn’t hear it coming up behind you.

Either way, your headphones need to be rugged, be sweat-proof, and have flexible cords for easy stow-away. When you buy headphones for exercise, go for durability, fit, and comfort.

Sennheiser PMX 80 Sport Mini Backband In-Ear Headphones (PMX80)

Optimised for MP3, iPod, iPhone, CD players and portable gaming systems, they weigh just 16 grammes. The rugged backband style allows a secure fit, and they will rinse clean after use under running water. Powerful, balanced sound reproduction with superb detail is accompanied by a reflective stripe for extra visibility and safety when running or exercising outdoors. This kit comes in a stunning sports grey and orange design, with a 2-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Klipsch-Image-S4

Klipsch is better known as a speaker maker than a manufacturer of headphones, but the Klipsch Image S4 earbud models are the best in-ear headphone option available at the price. These units offer stunningly clean sound and great comfort.

Shure-SE310

Shure’s SE310 earbuds are firmly established as one of the best in-ear headphones available. The company’s in-ear monitors are built with the same technology which professional musicians have been using on stage for years. As such, they sound incredible and block out a surprising amount of noise. Available in black or white.

One of the best headphones for running is the clip-on Koss KSC75. They offer excellent sound for the price and a lifetime guarantee ensures they can be replaced for free at any time, for any failure. For a more secure fit, behind the neck headphones work very well for running. The Sony MDR-G75LW is stunning to look at and sounds good. The retractable cord lets you adjust the cable length. The slightly more expensive but better sounding Sennheiser PMX100 has both a neckband and ear clips for an extremely secure fit.

So what do you listen to when you’re working out? I go with Father Ted on this one. If you’re feeling down, put on the theme from ‘Shaft’ and try to stay miserable. Can’t be done.

You can spend your life watching what you eat.

You can go without food you would perhaps have preferred to eat, skipping meals or going for the ‘healthy’ option. Taking small portions, cutting out fat and most stuff that tastes good; all proven methods that work if you’re trying to maintain your weight and keep from getting fat.

But it’s a miserable way to live.

And you’re storing up health problems for your old age.

Osteoporosis. Exhaustion. Malnutrition. The consequences of not eating enough include decreased bone mass, immune dysfunction, anaemia, reduced cognitive function and poor wound healing. It’s also associated with loss of muscle mass, which can affect respiratory function and increase susceptibility to chest infection. Cardiac function can be reduced, and immune function impaired.

Along with the physical consequences come the psychological effects; depression, anxiety, irritability, apathy, poor sleep pattern and difficulty concentrating. Adequate nutrition is vital for
effective brain functioning, and optimal nutrition promotes both functional health status and mental well-being.

This site is all about healthy weight loss – but not everyone should be trying to lose weight. Even if they’re overweight.

My best advice? Eat regularly, and work out twice a week.

Have a professional fitness instructor work out a weight training regime for you. Work on building your muscle mass, and you’ll never have to diet again. Plus the knock on health benefits are great; everything is easier when you’re strong and healthy. And if you’re heading into old age, it’s even more important to make sure you’re going there fully prepared – that means making sure you’ve packed on enough muscle to deal with everyday life.

We all start to lose muscle mass as we age, through a process known as sarcopenia.

This is is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength associated with ageing. The word comes from the Greek, and roughly translates as ‘poverty of flesh’. We start to lose muscle mass at the rate of 0.5% – 1% per year after the age of 25, and this brings problems in its wake. Falls become more likely because our legs can’t hold us up. Everyday tasks around the house can lead to accidents or sprains and strains because we lose the strength necessary to cope with unexpected demands on our muscles and joints. Making sure you stay strong by doing resistance exercise to maintain muscle mass can help with this. Even among the very old, regular exercise can increase muscle mass and to some extent reverse the trend. Lack of exercise, on the other hand, is thought to be a significant risk factor.

Due to decreased physical activity and increased longevity, sarcopenia is emerging as a major health concern. Sarcopenia can progress to the extent that the sufferer may lose the ability to live independently. It’s a predictor of disability in population-based studies, linked to poor balance and slow gait speed, which can lead to falls and fractures. Sarcopenia can be thought of as a muscular analogue of osteoporosis, the loss of bone, which is also caused by inactivity and counteracted by exercise. The combination of osteoporosis and sarcopenia causes the frailty often seen in the elderly.

What can you do? Eat right and work out. It’s that easy. No one knows exactly what lies in wait, but it only makes sense to lessen the odds against us by taking what steps we can to ensure our continued health and fitness. Eating well and working out are two of the easiest steps you can take for the sake of your future health.

‘The number of Britons undergoing drastic stomach surgery to treat obesity will have to soar in the coming years because it will be the only way that many people are able to maintain the weight loss necessary for a healthy life, scientists have said.

…”Once you start losing weight by decreasing calorie intake, your body interprets this as starvation and goes into emergency status, fighting to lay down fat deposits where possible,” explained Rachel Batterham of University College London. “Therefore you are fighting against your body when losing weight.”
Dr Batterham added: “Surgery is currently the only effective treatment for obesity … It not only helps people lose weight by physically decreasing the amount they can eat, but also alters their hormone profile, meaning they feel less hungry and therefore find it much easier to maintain weight loss.” ‘

- Steve Connor, Science Editor, The Independent, Tuesday, 9 September 2008

Do you find that terrifying? I do. It’s part of a trend towards the complete medicalization of the human condition, where no area of human life is left untouched by medical interference. To promote surgery as ‘the only effective treatment for obesity’ is to totally ignore the alternatives for healthy weight loss: a good diet combined with an exercise program.

Weight loss surgery – also known as bariatric surgery – is performed on dangerously obese people to help them lose weight. It’s usually recommended for people with a body mass index of 40 or over, or for those with a BMI of 35 if serious medical conditions, like diabetes, are also present.

Weight loss is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach. How is this done? By implanting a medical device, or by removal of a portion of the stomach, or by resecting and re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch. Sounds drastic? It is. If this surgery is recommended to anyone, it’s because the risks inherent in their current lifestyle outweigh the very real risks of major surgery and its aftermath.

Studies show the surgery results in significant long-term loss of weight, recovery from diabetes, and reduction in cardiovascular risk factors and mortality.

Candidates for surgery should discuss the risks and benefits of the options available with a doctor. Surgery is only recommended if diet, exercise and medicines haven’t worked. If you have any effective alternative means at your disposal, weight loss surgery should only be used as a last resort, and then only if your weight problem is such that your health is at immediate risk.

Gastric bypass surgery is often performed and usually safe, but in order to give informed consent, the patient must know about possible side-effects and complications. These include post-operation bruising, plus pain and swelling around the healing wounds. The patient may be sick after eating. Too much sugary food can cause an unpleasant sensation which could make them sick or faint, or cause diarrhoea. They should drink lots of fluids until the feelings pass, and cut down on the sugar they eat. Their restricted diet may cause a shortage of nutrients which requires them to take multivitamin tablets.

Infection is possible, especially with the problem of bowel leakage, though antibiotics are usually given during surgery to prevent it. Further surgery might be needed to repair the bowel leakage which sometimes happens at the point where the intestine is re-joined to the stomach pouch. Damage may occur to other abdominal organs, and they too may need further surgical repair. The possible complications of any operation include an unexpected reaction to the anaesthetic, excessive bleeding, or a blood clot, usually in a leg vein. There is a risk of developing gallstones if the patient loses weight quickly. These may require surgical removal, and the surgeon may advise the patient to have the gallbladder removed. There’s a chance the patient may not lose weight, or may even put weight back on after bypass surgery. It’s not a solution to undertake lightly. When there are safer ways to lose weight, drastic surgery is not the first option you should be looking at. The best defence is to never let yourself get into the state where weight loss surgery is being contemplated as an option at all.

Last word? If you’re seriously overweight and contemplating weight loss surgery to cure your problem, consider this quote:

‘A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington found that 1 in 50 people die within one month of having gastric bypass surgery, and that figure jumps nearly fivefold if the surgeon is inexperienced. ‘

- Tatiana Morales, CBS news.

Can you be hypnotised into losing weight?

That’s what I tried to find out when I began researching this article.

Hypnosis is a trance state characterized by suggestibility, in which the subject can be persuaded to act in ways they never would if fully conscious. It’s not sleep. It’s often compared to daydreaming, or the informal trance state we all experience when engrossed in a book or a film. In a sense, we all hypnotize ourselves every day.

One school of thought on hypnosis is that it’s a way to access a person’s subconscious mind directly. Which is why – and this is pertinent to us and to our topic – it’s such a powerful tool for change in our lives. Your subconscious handles all the things you do automatically. You don’t have to think about breathing, because your subconscious mind takes care of it. Once you’ve learned how to drive, you don’t have to think through every little thing you do while driving – because your subconscious handles it.

It also processes the physical information your body receives, filtering out what doesn’t matter, while bringing your attention to whatever needs to be dealt with.

Your subconscious, in fact, is the mastermind behind the scenes.

It runs more of your life than you’d probably feel comfortable knowing about, and dictates most of what you do.

When you enter the deep relaxation and focused attention of the hypnotic state, they subdue your conscious mind so that it takes a less active role in your thinking process. You’re still aware of everything around you, but your waking self takes a back seat. It’s as if being hypnotized opens an access panel in your head, letting you and the hypnotist tinker with your subconscious. You don’t need a hypnotist to get hypnotized. Knowing the relaxation and focusing techniques, most of us can enter a hypnotic state ourselves and make our own suggestions to our unconscious minds. Which has an obvious connection to what this website is all about – healthy weight loss through eating well and working out.

It’s a recognised problem that the whole business of weight loss and dieting somehow persuades people who need to lose weight to adopt two very strong beliefs. First, they come to believe that they are going to have to make themselves do precisely what they don’t want to do – eat unappetizing food and do exhausting and boring exercise routines. Second, they come to believe that losing weight and getting fit is really difficult to do and even harder to maintain.

WHICH IS REALLY NOT THE CASE.

Sorry for shouting, but I have to get that point across. Over the years I’ve come to learn that getting in good shape is really easy, once you know how. When you make the necessary changes, the process is automatic. The real battle is in fixing the beliefs in your head that make you think otherwise. And that’s where self- hypnosis can come in very useful indeed.

Easy to say; but is it really so easy to do?

I have to admit that I fixed a personal problem with self-hypnosis, so I can tell you yes, hypnosis does work. My problem, however, wasn’t weight-related. It was dentist-related.

I used to dread dental treatment.

It wasn’t a full blown phobia, or something that would see me cowering under the furniture, but it made me uncomfortable and cost me some nights’ sleep before routine dental check ups. So I decided to do something about it. I’d always had an interest in psychology and how the mind works, so I’d read about hypnotic inductions. Knowing how to to use them to reach a really relaxed state, all I had to do was add a short statement I could repeat while I visualised a calm and pain-free outcome for my dental appointment.

Did it work? I turned up for my next appointment, sat in the chair, and immediately relaxed into a calm and happy state that lasted all the way through the examination and the treatment that came after it. Scraping, probing, drilling: no problem at all. I was calm and relaxed throughout. No pain, very little discomfort, and a complete absence of stress. It worked perfectly. And that’s been the case ever since, over years of regular check ups. I sit in the dentist’s chair and immediately I’m happy and calm. All from that one self-administered treatment. Because hypnosis works. Hypnosis is a useful and powerful tool for change in your life. And it’s a tool that any one of us can use for ourselves.

So how do you put yourself in a suggestible state? Is it dangerous?

Well, with a little practice, getting relaxed enough to change your mental programming is easy. Don’t confuse the process with the sometimes creepy, sometimes sleazy image that stage hypnotism has for most of us. We’ve all seen shows where audience members who should perhaps know better are made to act like idiots on stage by a Machiavellian stage hypnotist. In the past there have been cases of people in the audience being inadvertently hypnotized, of subjects leaving theatres still subject to post-hypnotic suggestions, of sudden and unexpected reactions including depression, panic attacks, or even psychotic breaks.

The risks are mostly related to the practices of unscrupulous or incompetent practitioners. If you have no history of mental health problems or epilepsy, you’re probably safe to explore the therapeutic benefits of the light trance states achievable through self hypnosis. Kindly note this is the unproven opinion of a layman, and not a medical professional. Your health is your responsibility, and it is your duty to ascertain for yourself the truth of that statement. In other words, don’t sue me. I have zero assets.

Here’s a method I use.

Lie down in a warm room where you can be assured of peace and quiet and privacy for a half hour or more.

Relax. Starting with your scalp, focus your attention on each body part and as you name each part, working your way down your body, feel it become warm and heavy and relaxed. If your mind wanders, just gently bring it back to the task in hand. Keep your attention on your body and feel it relax until you’re quite calm.

When you’re ready, count backwards in your head from a hundred. Take your time. There’s no rush. Tell yourself that you’re counting your way down a flight of steps, and visualize yourself doing it as you count down to zero. Pause along the way to remind yourself that with each step down you become more and more relaxed. Remind yourself that if you have to – in case of any unforeseen emergency, say – you can wake up immediately without harm.

When you reach zero, look around. Imagine yourself in a pleasant place; perhaps a garden, or woodland in Spring. You’re in charge; you choose your own pleasant place. Take the time to enjoy it. When you’re ready, repeat the programming instructions to yourself that you prepared earlier. These can be anything you like, but I suggest you keep them simple, achievable, and not too ambitious at first.

You might tell yourself, ‘When I wake, I will no longer crave sugary foods. I won’t dislike them, but I will have no real interest in them, preferring healthier choices.’

That would be a workable instruction for your subconscious mind to take on board. On the other hand, ‘I will lose twenty pounds of unwanted body fat over the next week,’ would be a bad instruction, mainly because it’s not really achievable.

When you’ve repeated your instructions to your relaxed self, and you feel ready, start counting back up from one to one hundred, and visualize yourself climbing back up the stairs. Pause occasionally on the way, to remind yourself to become fully conscious, feeling warm and happy and relaxed, on the count of one hundred. Don’t worry about getting stuck, or not waking up. The worst that can happen is that you might fall asleep, have a nice nap, and wake up a little later than you expected. Is that so bad?

Over the next few days, keep an eye on the way you behave and feel. Did your new programming have any effect? Did it change the way you behaved or felt? Do you feel better for having tried it?

If you have any negative reaction to this, stop doing it.

If, on the other hand, you think you might be on to something, take it slow. There’s no rush.

Take note that self-hypnosis should never be practiced while driving, operating machinery or doing anything that needs your full attention. Always make your programming instructions clear and specific, and write them down before you begin your hypnosis.

Writing down what you want to achieve or change really helps you to get things straight in your mind. Your goals, whatever they are, can suddenly look more realistic, specific and focused. Keep them short and achievable. Keep them simple, too; stick to just one or two goals in a session.

You could make your own self-hypnosis tapes from your programming instructions, by writing down your affirmations and recording them. That way you could concentrate on reaching the trance state without having to recall all the instructions you want to pass on to your subconscious.

There. Now you have another tool at your disposal. And it works.

Will it help you lose excess weight? Well, you never know until you’ve tried. If you’d like even more information, take a look at The Unexplainable Store, which sells products – CDs and MP3 downloads – that cover the whole topic area. If you’d like hypnosis help with weight loss, take a look at this sales page on their site to see if they have what you want. These are affiliate links.

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

(No, you’re not on the wrong website. This is an article by Tom Venuto of ‘Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle’ fame, and it fits nicely into what this website is all about.)

www.BurnTheFat.com

The secret to getting super lean

– I’m talking about being RIPPED, not just “average body fat” – is all about mastering the art of “peaking.” Most people do not have a clue about what it takes to reach the type of low body fat levels that reveal ripped six-pack abs, muscle striations, vascularity and extreme muscular definition, so they go about it completely the wrong way.

Here’s a case in point: One of my newsletter subscribers recently sent me this question:

Tom, on your www.burnthefat.com website, you wrote:
‘Who better to model than bodybuilders and fitness competitors? No athletes in the world get as lean as quickly as bodybuilders and fitness competitors. The transformations they undergo in 12 weeks prior to competition would boggle your mind! Only ultra-endurance athletes come close in terms of low body fat levels, but endurance athletes like triathaletes and marathoners often get lean at the expense of chewing up all their muscle. Some of them are nothing but skin and bone.
‘There seems to be a contradiction, unless I’m missing something. Why do bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to go through a 12 week ‘transformation’ prior to every event instead of staying ‘lean and mean’ all the time? If they practice the secrets exposed in your book, they should be staying in shape all the time instead of having to work at losing fat prior to every competitive event, correct?’

There is a logical explanation for why bodybuilders and other physique athletes (fitness and figure competitors), don’t remain completely ripped all year round, and it’s the very reason they are able to get so ripped on the day of a contest…

You can’t hold a peak forever or it’s not a “peak”, right? What is the definition of a peak? It’s a high point surrounded by two lower points isn’t it?

Therefore, any shape you can stay in all year round is NOT your “peak” condition.

The intelligent approach to nutrition and training (which almost all bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors use), is to train and diet in a seasonal or cyclical fashion and build up to a peak, then ease off to a maintenance or growth phase.

I am NOT talking about bulking up and getting fat and out of shape every year, then dieting it all off every year. What I’m talking about is going from good shape to great (peak) shape, then easing back off to good shape…. but never getting “out of shape.” Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Here’s an example: I have no intentions whatsoever of walking around 365 days a year at 4% body fat like I appear in the photo on my website. Off-season, when I’m not competing, my body fat is usually between 8 – 10%. Mind you, that’s very lean and still single digit body fat.

I don’t stray too far from competition shape, but I don’t maintain contest shape all the time. It takes me 12-14 weeks or so to gradually drop from 9.5% to 3.5%-4.0% body fat to “peak” for competition with NO loss of lean body mass…using the same techniques I reveal in my e-book.

It would be almost impossible to maintain 4% body fat, and even if I could, why would I want to? For the few weeks prior to competition I’m so depleted, ripped, and even “drawn” in the face, that complete strangers walk up and offer to feed me.

Okay, so I’m just kidding about that, but let’s just say being “being ripped to shreds” isn’t a desirable condition to maintain because it takes such a monumental effort to stay there. It’s probably not even healthy to try forcing yourself to hold extreme low body fat. Unless you’re a natural “ectomorph” (skinny, fast metabolism body type), your body will fight you. Not only that, anabolic hormones may drop and sometimes your immune system is affected as well. It’s just not “normal” to walk around all the time with literally no subcutaneous body fat.

Instead of attempting to hold the peak, I cycle back into a less demanding off-season program and avoid creeping beyond 9.9% body fat. Some years I’ve stayed leaner – like 6-7%, (which takes effort), especially when I knew I would be photographed, but I don’t let my body fat go over 10%.

This practice isn’t just restricted to bodybuilders. Athletes in all sports use periodization to build themselves up to their best shape for competition. Is a pro football player in the same condition in March-April as he is in August-September? Not a chance. Many show up fat and out of shape (relatively speaking) for training camp, others just need fine tuning, but none are in peak form… that’s why they have training camp!!!

There’s another reason you wouldn’t want to maintain a “ripped to shreds” physique all year round – you’d have to be dieting (calorie restricted) all the time. And this is one of the reasons that 95% of people can’t lose weight and keep it off –they are CHRONIC dieters… always on some type of diet. Know anyone like that?

You can’t stay on restricted low calories indefinitely. Sooner or later your metabolism slows down and you plateau as your body adapts to the chronically lowered food intake. But if you diet for fat loss and push incredibly hard for 3 months, then ease off for a while and eat a little more (healthy food, not “pigging out”), your metabolic rate is re-stimulated. In a few weeks or months, you can return to another fat loss phase and reach an even lower body fat level, until you finally reach the point that’s your happy maintenance level for life – a level that is healthy and realistic – as well as visually appealing.

Bodybuilders have discovered a methodology for losing fat that’s so effective, it puts them in complete control of their body composition. They’ve mastered this area of their lives and will never have to worry about it again. If they ever “slip” and fall off the wagon like all humans do at times … no problem! They know how to get back into shape fast.

Bodybuilders have the tools and knowledge to hold a low body fat all year round (such as 9% for men, or about 15% for women), and then at a whim, to reach a temporary “peak” of extremely low body fat for the purpose of competition. Maybe most important of all, they have the power and control to slowly ease back from peak shape into maintenance, and not balloon up and yo-yo like most conventional dieters!

What if you had the power to stay lean all year round, and then get super lean when summer rolled around, or when you took your vacation to the Caribbean, or when your wedding date was coming up? Wouldn’t you like to be in control of your body like that? Isn’t that the same thing that bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors do, only on a more practical, real-world level?

So even if you have no competitive aspirations whatsoever, don’t you agree that there’s something of value everyone could learn from physique athletes? Don’t model yourself after the huge crowd of losers who gobble diet pills, buy exercise gimmicks and suffer through starvation diets like automatons, only to gain back everything they lost! Instead, learn from the leanest athletes on Earth – natural bodybuilders and fitness competitors…

These physique athletes get as ripped as they want to be, exactly when they want to, simply by manipulating their diets in a cyclical fashion between pre-contest “cutting” programs and off season “maintenance” or “muscle growth” programs. Even if you have no desire to ever compete, try this seasonal “peaking” approach yourself and you’ll see that it can work as well for you as it does for elite bodybuilders.

If you’re interested in learning even more secrets of bodybuilders and fitness models, visit the Burn The Fat website at: www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT) and a certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS). Tom is the author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using the secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn body fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com. To learn more about Tom’s Fat Loss Support Community, visit: www.burnthefatinnercircle.com

I found these great exercises while I was sneaking around the back of the internet, and thought I’d share them with you.

There’s some YouTube video of the exercises being performed and I’ve put that at the bottom of the page.

The five tibetan rites are kind of self-explanatory. Basically they look like an abbreviated yoga series that stretches all the major muscle groups and provides some body weight resistance exercise. If you do each one a few times every morning, they’ll provide a good start to the day and get things moving. Whether or not they make you immortal remains to be seen. (I mean, how would you ever know?) Anyway, I’m for anything that gets the kinks out and doesn’t look too strenuous. Give them a whirl. Can’t hurt.

To read more about these exercises, point your browser here for the full story. To see them being done, check out the YouTube videos at the bottom of the page.

I’ve been doing them every morning so far this week. Gets the knots out while I’m watching the Frasier rerun and stumbling into full wakefulness. If you’d like to buy the book by Peter Kelder, click on the Amazon link. Yes, I do make a commission if you do. (Hosting don’t pay itself, ya know.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

The most important part of my weight control programme is – weight training.

‘Why?’ I hear you cry. ‘Why do you hate us so much? Why would you make us lift heavy things and get all breathless and such, with the aches, and the pain?’ To which I can only reply, chill.

It’s not that hard.

And the benefits are amazing. Your body responds really quickly to resistance exercise. You stress your muscles by putting them under unusual strain, and they respond by growing. The end result? Everything gets better. You look better, your appetite improves, your fat melts away, your life gets easier. How much more do you want?

How do you start? By going to your local gym and asking the guy behind the desk to work out a programme for you. Make sure he knows you’ve never done this before and you want to start off easy.

He won’t let you down, not unless he’s a complete idiot. Remember, what he’s after is regular customers who keep coming back. He’s not about to make fun of you or give you poor service, because his livelihood depends on your patronage. If he does either of these things, you take your business elsewhere.

Your programme should concentrate on compound exercises that work the whole body, using many muscle groups at the same time. These work best for all over conditioning, and provide an increase in metabolic rate that burns off calories long after you’ve stopped exercising.

These exercises include the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, bent over rows, and the shoulder press. If your routine includes all these, you’re working your whole body. Don’t try to spot reduce your problem fat areas; it doesn’t work that way. If you’ve got a bit of a belly, there’s no point dodging a whole body workout just to concentrate on crunches and sit-ups. When you work all your body, all your muscles burn calories. You’ll shrink your belly quicker with the whole body workout.

How do you start? Carefully. Ask for help, particularly with correct form and choosing how much weight to lift. If at any time you think there’s too much weight for you to handle, let the instructor know. He’s not looking to get sued.

Here’s what you do…