Table of Contents Introduction
6
IS THIS NECESSARY?
6
WHY DO YOU SAY "NEW" MUSCLE?
7
WHERE ARE ALL THE SCIENTIFIC SOURCES IN YOUR MANUAL?
8
WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THIS MANUAL
9
The Work Outs
10
INTRODUCTION
10
HOW MUSCLES GROW
10
HOW TO ABSOLUTELY EXHAUST A MUSCLE
11
THE PLAN I FOLLOWED
13
WEEKS 1-8:
13
HOW THE WORKOUTS WORK
14
DO I NEED TO FOLLOW YOUR EXACT EXERCISE SELECTION?
15 I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PERFORM SOME OF THE EXERCISES YOU LISTED! 15
Diet
16
INTRODUCTION
16
HOW TO EAT
16
SUPPLEMENTS
17
WHAT FOODS TO EAT
18
HOW MUCH TO EAT
19
ONE CARB MEAL EVERY FOUR OR FIVE DAYS
23
NOTES
23
Rest
26
HOW MUCH SLEEP DO I NEED?
26
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL
27
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ALL...
27
Mentally Preparing Yourself
28
AN EXPERIMENT FOR YOU
28
PICTURE YOURSELF LIFTING THE WEIGHTS
29
WHAT THIS DOES
29
Cardio and Keeping Fat Gain To A Minimum
31
WALK TO LOSE WEIGHT
31
HOW TO WALK TO LOSE WEIGHT
32
YOU'LL FEEL THE DIFFERENCE
33
Warm-ups
34
Miscellaneous Ideas
35
WORKOUT PARTNER
35
DON'T FORGET TO REST AFTERWARD
35
What To Do Afterward
37
Your Diet After The 8 Weeks
40
AFTER THE 8 WEEKS
41
AND THEN MAINTAIN YOUR DIET
43
Exercise After The 8 Weeks CARDIO
44 45
Overview of the Plan
46
Conclusion
47
Exercise Glossary
48
BACK WIDTH
48
BACK THICKNESS
48
BICEPS
48
CALVES
48
CHEST
49
FOREARMS
49
HAMSTRINGS
49
SHOULDERS
49
TRICEPS
49
QUADS
49
Disclaimer This guide is for entertainment purposes only. No claim or opinion in this guide is intended to be, nor should be construed to be, medical advice. Please consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet or exercise program. The author of the ebook and LivingLikeJamesBond.com make no representations about the suitability of the information contained in this guide for any purpose. The entire risk arising out of the use of its contents remains with the recipient. In no event shall the author of this book and or LivingLikeJamesBond.com be liable for any direct, consequential, incidental, special, punitive or other damages whatsoever. By reading and following the principles in this guide, you acknowledge that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
Introduction In August of 2008, I decided I needed some change in my life. I quit my job, sold my stuff, and left to travel the world and accomplish big, focused goals in my life. The first stop in my travels was Panama. My goal: work my ass off and pile more muscle on my body than I had ever done before. This way, I could travel for months afterward without having to worry about bodybuilding goals. I knew it could be done. I had spent months before my trip researching the best methods to build muscle quickly and efficiently. And after eight weeks, I can proudly say I accomplished my goal.
IS THIS NECESSARY? My philosophy on bodybuilding has changed drastically because of my experiments in Panama. I firmly believe that, for the majority of people, two focused, all-out eight week sessions of bodybuilding is all we need each year. The famous Steve Reeves -- who had one of the most proportioned, impressive physiques of all time -- remarked that, during his career as a muscled Hollywood actor, he would only work out heavily roughly three months out of the year. The rest of the year, he simply did light
work to maintain his frame. He was also a big fan of what he called "power walking" to stay in shape. When you truly put your mind to it, it's amazing what you can accomplish with your physique in only eight weeks. I was able to put a little more than 10 pounds of new muscle on my frame, and have had no trouble maintaining it in the months after.
WHY DO YOU SAY "NEW" MUSCLE? There are a lot of books and guides out on the market that advertise putting on 20 or 30 or more pounds of muscle in only eight weeks. What these marketers don't tell you is that these gains -- if at all true -- are from something called "muscle memory." Muscle memory, simply put, is the term used for muscle that you once had, that your body doesn't struggle to put back on after a long period of inactivity. I'm sure you've heard about bodybuilders that didn't work out for years, lost their muscle, and suddenly had a huge comeback in just a short period of time (think Arnold in the late Terminator movies). They were able to put all this muscle back on because of muscle memory. In fact, some of the most "shocking" posts on online Bodybuilding Forums are the ones by guys who say they didn't work out for a long time, got out of shape, and suddenly piled 20 pounds of muscle back on in a month. Again: muscle memory in action.
That's not to say that lots of hard work and dedication isn't involved in putting that muscle back on. But, these guys are simply getting back into shape, and aren't building new muscle. The latter is much, much harder, as you may already know.
WHERE ARE ALL THE SCIENTIFIC SOURCES IN YOUR MANUAL? The majority of lifters rely too much on "scientific findings," and not enough on real world results and experience. I value completely what science gives us, and it has definitely helped the bodybuilding scene. But what I find is that too many lifters follow what is touted as the "latest scientific study" on muscle building, don't gain much or any muscle, and don't understand what went wrong. Building muscle doesn't have to be a science. It boils down to simply hard work and smart eating. Science has provided us the basis for what constitutes "hard work" and "smart eating." Now it's our job to experiment and found out what works best. My experience has shown me what works and what doesn't. I'm now sharing my experience with you. For that reason, I don't cite any scientific studies in this manual. I'd rather tout what actually worked for me, and not what an out-of-shape scientist found in lab experiments.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THIS MANUAL This is not made to be an all-inclusive bodybuilding guide. This is simply what I did to pile on lots of muscle in an eight week time span. Consider it a glorified case study. Use it as a guideline for your own plan. I will present lots of ideas in this book that you've likely never heard before; or heard before and never paid attention to; or maybe heard in one form or another, but now understand. I can guarantee there is information in here that you won't find anywhere else. I've been lifting weights for several years and always had very slow progress. The tips I lay out in this manual are what helped me actually put on real muscle in a short amount of time, for the first time in my life.
The Work Outs INTRODUCTION Most people overcomplicate their workouts. In fact, most trainers overcomplicate their workouts. The simple fact of the matter is this: the harder you work in the shorter amount of time, the better results you'll get. Again, all your results come down to hard work. Not much else. If you exert yourself, and push yourself to the limit, you'll grow a lot. What I'm getting at is that a 1-minute set of upright rows done for 12 grueling, screaming reps could end up giving you more value than 20 or 30 minutes of various back exercises done at the moderate tempo most people opt for. But what if you took the level of intensity from your exhausting 12rep set, and then applied it to 20 or 30 minutes worth of exercise? You'll grow more than you've ever grown in your life.
HOW MUSCLES GROW Most people already know how muscles grow. However, here's a very quick, non-scientific breakdown for you.
Every time you use your muscles, they develop little micro-tears. Eventually, those micro-tears heal themselves. When your muscles rebuild, with proper nutrition, they'll actually grow bigger, to be able to handle bigger loads in the future. The more you load your muscles -- with weight and tension -- the more you'll "damage" your muscles, and the bigger they'll re-grow.
HOW TO ABSOLUTELY EXHAUST A MUSCLE There are really three stages in a lift that you can take advantage of to exhaust a muscle group. Most people focus only on one. The first stage -- and most common -- is concentric motion, or a concentric lift. "Concentric" simply means shortening a muscle on the lift, or in other words, the "lifting up" portion of the exercise. When you do a bicep curl, the portion where you raise the barbell up is the concentric portion. The second stage -- and most forgotten -- is eccentric motion, or an eccentric lift. This is the "negative" portion of a lift. When you lower the barbell back down in your bicep curl, that is the eccentric portion of a lift. Most people simply drop the weight back down, using momentum from gravity, and completely ignore the muscle's function. This is a huge mistake. The third stage is static holds. This is where you hold a weight in place while contracting your muscles. It's most effective in the middle
range of an exercise -- the midpoint between a full concentric contraction, and a full eccentric detraction. These three stages were listed in order. When doing any lift, you will first exhaust the concentric portion; then after a few reps, will exhaust the eccentric portion; and then the static portion will become completely exhausted. In other words, once you're unable to do any more concentric lifts, you'll still be able to do eccentric lifts; and once you're unable to do any more eccentric lifts, you'll still be able to do static holds. Most people only take a half-hearted attempt at exhausting their muscles through the concentric portion of a lift. Think about how much more of a work-out you can get in -- and in less time -- if you were to exhaust all three stages listed above. You likely already know how to exhaust your muscles through concentric lifts. I highly recommend doing the concentric portion of a lift as fast as possible -- this seems to provide the most "bang for the buck" than lifting slowly. To exhaust the eccentric portion, simply lower the weight back down as slowly as possible. I'm talking spending at least 5 seconds lowering the weight back down to its starting position. Once you can't do any more concentric lifts, cheat a little bit to get the weight to its "peak" contraction. Then do some eccentric detractions -slow, slow, slow -- until you can't do any more.
Once that's done, simply hold the weight in place for as many seconds as you can. This should all be done in a row with no rest in-between. You will have a sore, tired muscle after this. THE PLAN I FOLLOWED I wanted to pile on as much muscle as possible all over my body, so I followed a fairly evenly-split full body workout. WEEKS 1-8: Weeks 1,3,5,7: Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Neck press (widegrip bench press)
Front squat
Wide grip dips
Military press
Deadlift
Side laterals
Close grip bench
Gironda Perfect Curl
Skull crushers
Pull-ups
Barbell wrist curl
Lat pull-down (front)
Barbell rowing
Calves (any exercise) Chest-supported incline shrug
Weeks 2,4,6,8: Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Incline curl
Incline neck press
Preacher curl
Reverse barbell curl
Arnold press
Zottman curls
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Leg press
Rope pull-down
Back squat
Leg curls
Lat pull-down (back)
Deadlifts
Calves (any exercise) T-bar row
Calves (any exercise)
HOW THE WORKOUTS WORK Every exercise, aside from maybe a small warm-up set or two if I needed it, was done for only one long set. My goal was to absolutely exhaust a specific muscle group in the shortest amount of time possible. Using the techniques described above (concentric, eccentric, static), I would perform first a set of reps between 8 and 12, using enough weight that by the end, I was absolutely unable to do any more reps. Once the first 8 or 12 reps were done, I took about 15 seconds to fill my body with oxygen. This was done by almost hyperventilating -bending over and breathing extremely deeply. This is a very important step, and will make you much stronger for the next portion. Then I performed between 4 and 6 more reps -- basically until failure again. If I could only get out 3 reps, that was fine as well. I just went again until I could get no more reps out. Then I followed the same 15second breathing technique.
Finally, I got out as many reps as I could. This was typically around 3, but sometimes I could push myself to more. And that's it for each exercise. Each exercise should last about 3 or 4 minutes total. Between exercises, I rested for upwards of 3 or more minutes -- until I was ready to tackle and destroy the next body part.
DO I NEED TO FOLLOW YOUR EXACT EXERCISE SELECTION? No, not at all. I highly recommend the workout I did because it's very effective, brief, and will slaughter your muscles. But if you've got a better exercise selection, go ahead and follow it. Simply use the guidelines I give out above to maximize your reps and sets and you'll see amazing results.
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PERFORM SOME OF THE EXERCISES YOU LISTED! Every exercise I've recommended is possible to find quickly and easily through a Google search, which will provide better instructions than I can. See the Exercise Glossary at the end of this manuel for quick and easy links.
Diet INTRODUCTION The late, great "Iron Guru" Vince Gironda used to always say that bodybuilding is 85% nutrition. I agree completely. You can work yourself to the bone in the gym, but without the right nutrition, your body simply will not recover correctly. But you could also eat lots of great, anabolic foods and only half-ass your workouts and still get some results. Of course, the ideal is to have killer workouts combined with great nutrition. With these two, you'll have unbelievable results.
HOW TO EAT The absolute most anabolic, hormone-filled environment you can create in your body is with a combination of fats and proteins. I am not against eating carbs. It's simply been proven that testosterone and other growth-inducing hormones are created ideally with a combination of lots of fat and protein. Adding carbohydrates into the mix is entirely unnecessary, and will likely only make you pack on a couple extra pounds of fat. (As a side note: when my program was over, I actually ate almost exclusively only carbs for about four weeks. I actually lost weight and
retained all my muscle. I am not anti-carb, but for this experiment and for putting on pure muscle, fats and proteins provided the best results.) I did not count calories. This may seem counter-intuitive to many people, but it's not necessary at all -- in fact, it would likely make the process of piling on muscle much, much slower, as I labored over every calorie in every gram of food. What I aimed for, instead, was a rough amount of protein in grams, and got the rest of my fats naturally through the foods I ate to reach that protein goal. I aimed for roughly 1.5x my body-weight (in pounds) in protein in the first week, and then naturally added more protein-rich foods into my diet as the weeks went on. (This started me off at 250 grams of protein a day, with a body-weight of 165 pounds.) Thus the only time I really “calculated” my protein intake was in the first week -- the rest of the weeks simply built off of that initial calculation.
SUPPLEMENTS I did not touch a single supplement in this experiment. I am a firm believer that the most anabolic, nutritious, beneficial foods are whole foods. This experiment only reaffirmed that belief for me. Egg whites will do almost nothing for your body -- you need to eat the whole egg. Drinking a protein shake with olive oil added to it will not compare to the anabolic benefit you get from the fat and protein from a slab of beef. Supplements are absolutely unnecessary if you get enough nutrition from whole foods.
The only supplement I recommend while on this diet is fish oil. However, I don't consider this a "supplement" but rather an additional food source. You should aim for between 15 and 20 grams of fish oil a day. I recommend using a liquid source, but I only had capsules available to me. (For those of you who are shocked by my "high" recommendation -- only 5 or 6 grams of fish oil a day, tops, will give your body little to no benefit. If you were told to eat protein from eggs to help your muscles grow fast, would you think just eating 1 egg a day would satisfy the recommendation?)
WHAT FOODS TO EAT My primary two foods were very simple, and also very inexpensive. Eggs. Beef. "Secondary" items -- used in conjunction with the eggs and beef -were heavy cream, yogurt, ground flax seeds, and lots of vegetables. Eggs are like natural steroids for your body. (You're literally eating little chicken fetuses. How can it get much better than that?) Beef is also the most anabolic of all meat sources. If you've got other favorite foods, feel free to stick them into your diet, as long as they don't add too many calories. Keep them to a minimum.
HOW MUCH TO EAT I ate a lot. If most people saw how I was eating, they'd expect me to have a heart attack by the first night. (The truth is, I never had any health issues and remained completely healthy throughout. My cholesterol levels have been tested as very low.) If you really want to grow in a short period of time, I suggest eating how I was eating. Here's what my daily diet looked: Week 1: Meal 1: Six eggs Three tablespoons heavy cream 1 banana cut up into eggs Two tablespoons flax seeds Post-workout: Same as meal 1, but with unsweetened cocoa added and made in shake form in a blender, and an orange on the side. Meal 2: One pound lean beef Broccoli and spinach Meal 3: Same as meal 2.
Meal 4: Four eggs Two tablespoons heavy cream Two tablespoons flax seeds Three fish oil capsules with each meal. Weeks 2 and 3: Meal 1: Eight eggs Four tablespoons heavy cream 1 banana cut up into eggs Three tablespoons flax seeds Post-workout: Same as meal 1, but with unsweetened cocoa added and made in shake form in a blender, and an orange on the side. Meal 2: One pound lean beef Broccoli and spinach Meal 3: Same as meal 2. Meal 4: Six eggs Three tablespoons heavy cream Three tablespoons flax seeds
Four fish oil capsules with each meal. Weeks 4, 5, and 6: Meal 1: Ten eggs Four tablespoons heavy cream 1 banana cut up into eggs Four tablespoons flax seeds Post-workout: Same as meal 1, but with unsweetened cocoa added and made in shake form in a blender, and an orange on the side. Meal 2: One pound lean beef Broccoli and spinach Meal 3: Same as meal 2. Meal 4: Same as meal 2. Meal 5: Six eggs Three tablespoons heavy cream Three tablespoons flax seeds Four fish oil capsules with each meal.
Weeks 7 and 8: Meal 1: Twelve eggs Six tablespoons heavy cream 1 banana cut up into eggs Four tablespoons flax seeds Post-workout: Same as meal 1, but with unsweetened cocoa added and made in shake form in a blender, and an orange on the side. Meal 2: One pound lean beef Broccoli and spinach Meal 3: Same as meal 2. Meal 4: Same as meal 2. Meal 5: Twelve eggs Four tablespoons heavy cream Four tablespoons flax seeds Four fish oil capsules with each meal.
ONE CARB MEAL EVERY FOUR OR FIVE DAYS Every four or five days, immediately after a grueling workout, I went out and had one carb-heavy meal. Some days it was a whole pizza (but preferably something healthier than Pizza Hut or Dominoes); other days it was rice, vegetables, and chicken; other days still it was a sandwich with lots of fruit. This will not only refill glycogen stores in your muscle, but it'll give you an amazing pump in the gym. I can't quite explain it, but I feel it also kept my body "surprised" -- after so much protein and fat, one carb-heavy meal seemed to make my body very happy. Most importantly, this is a form of release. I would have one small pastry with my meal as well. Knowing that you'll be able to "relax" for just one meal every four or five days is quite a treat. I ate the carb meal along with the rest of the day's meals. It was an added source of calories, not a replacement for anything.
NOTES Yes, I was eating 36 eggs a day in the final two weeks. Was it too much? Possibly, but it was only two weeks and I was experimenting. Did I get results from eating this much? Definitely. By the final week, I was struggling to get down all my food. In fact, I couldn't wait to go back to a fairly "normal" diet and calorie level. But it all paid off.
A lot of people look at this diet and gasp. Isn't that too much food? Aren't you going to die of cholesterol? Why would you do that? To them, I respond: I put on about 10 pounds of muscle in 8 weeks. I had my cholesterol tested recently and my scores are above average in the healthy range. As long as I continue to work out -- even lightly -I can maintain all this muscle. I would much rather bust my butt for 8 weeks, working out hard as hell and eating like a pig, than have to suffer for years on end to get the results I got. Most people are severely misinformed when it comes to the right kind of nutrition to pack on muscle. If a diet like that mentioned above scares you out of your mind (and it shouldn't -- keep in mind you'll be doing it for only 8 weeks tops) but you've never had luck with any other diets to pack on muscle, then good luck making any kind of change. Eating lots of carbs (breads, rices, legumes, etc) and getting most of my protein from protein powder helped me pack on some muscle in the past. As long as you eat enough food and work out, you'll put on muscle no matter what you stuff in your body. Of course, it took a few years to put on that little bit of muscle, and I had a lot of fat to get rid of afterward as well. With my 8 week experiment in Panama, I only spent 8 weeks to put on 10 pounds of muscle, and although I had some fat when it was all done, it took me about one month to drop a lot of it. Now I don't have to do much to maintain my muscle mass, and I can eat a regular diet. Yes, I eat out at restaurants with friends. Yes, I eat
carbs, although I do try to limit them. As long as you focus for eight hard weeks, then you won't have to worry about being a social hermit because of your muscle gain diet.
Rest I don't care if you have a difficult, hectic job, or if you've got a ton of responsibilities and what I'm about to ask of you is difficult to pull off. If you want to gain lots of muscle in a short period of time, you need to rest, and rest a lot.
HOW MUCH SLEEP DO I NEED? I never got less than 8 hours of sleep a night. I had the liberty of waking up whatever time I wanted -- something you may not have -but I always let my body sleep as naturally as it could, without an alarm clock. What my body chose to do, every single night, was sleep exactly 8 hours. Different people have different needs, but the average that I've found is right around exactly 8 hours of sleep. This is the amount of time your body needs to repair from the actions of the day before. The most important thing that happens in your sleep, though, is that your body repairs the damage you've inflicted on your muscles. If you don't sleep enough, then your body can't do its job, and you'll have lots of issues recovering properly. This will make all your subsequent workouts very difficult. The cycle continues, on and on, and long story short: you won't get the results you want without enough sleep.
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL I also highly recommend daily naps. I took one every single day while doing the 8 week experiment. I generally opted to nap 20 or 30 minutes after a workout. My naps lasted anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour. Again, I just let my body dictate how much time it needed. When I woke up, I woke up. The "Iron Guru" Vince Gironda called these "muscle naps," because they are a huge help to recovery after a workout.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ALL... I know that you have at least 20 minutes to nap every day. Cut out some of the time you spend on Facebook or other time wasters and use it to nap. And if you struggle to get 8 hours of sleep at night, find out why. What's taking up your time? What's distracting you? If it's simply that you can't sleep 8 hours continuously, consider investing in an eye mask and ear plugs. Block out the outside world while you're asleep, and you'll be able to get 8 hours without any problems.
Mentally Preparing Yourself I'm about to go over with you the absolute most-neglected aspect of a successful bodybuilding plan. Arnold Schwarzenegger attributed most of his results to this. Frank Zane was absolutely nuts about it and attributed most of his success to this, as well. It's the mind-muscle connection. This isn't some kind of hippy bullshit idea, either. I've realized now that I wouldn't have performed my workouts very efficiently had I not mentally prepared myself for them first.
AN EXPERIMENT FOR YOU If you still don't believe me that the mind-muscle connection, and mentally preparing yourself for every workout, is of absolute critical importance, I want you to try an experiment for me. First, work out one day as you normally would. Just pack up your stuff, head to the gym, and then head back home. Then, on your next work out, follow the tips in this chapter. See how your workout feels, and how much stronger, relaxed, and prepared you feel.
I simply cannot have a good work out anymore until I've followed the instructions in this chapter.
PICTURE YOURSELF LIFTING THE WEIGHTS Hopefully you're keeping a log of every work out you do, along with every weight and how many reps you could pull out with that weight. What you need to do before every workout is take about 10 or 15 minutes and find a comfortable, quiet place where you can lay down, close your eyes, and imagine yourself lifting the weights. I did this on my bed before I headed to the gym every day. Picture yourself loading all the weight onto the bar. Then you get under the weight, and you start to lift. You strain, you push, you're hurting -- but you're lifting the weight perfectly and successfully. Keep picturing yourself doing this with every exercise you have planned for the day. Make the visual very clear in your head. If you're doing bicep curls, make the amount of weight you're lifting absolutely clear, and PUSH through each rep. The most important part of this is that, in your head, you're completing every rep.
WHAT THIS DOES The mind is a lot more powerful than most people give it credit for. Although you're only imagining your workouts, your mind sends out signals that make your body feel like it actually did the lifts.
Once you hit the gym, you'll be prepared to slaughter every lift because your body thinks it's already done a few warm-up sets. (Of course, you'll still need to warm up properly before the work out so you don't pull any muscles.) Honestly, this whole concept is very difficult to explain. It's something you just need to try out and experience. Once you do it, I absolutely guarantee you'll never be able to work out efficiently without it. I attribute the majority of my results in the gym during this 8 week experiment to my mental preparation beforehand.
Cardio and Keeping Fat Gain To A Minimum Cardio is maybe the most controversial subject in the bodybuilding community when it comes to gaining muscle. Half the community says cardio is a no-no when gaining muscle, because it inhibits the maximum amount of muscle you can gain. Performing cardio, they suggest, uses your muscles as energy, thus eating away at the muscle you've gained. The other half of the community says that if you want to keep fat gain at bay, you've got to perform cardio in some form. I'm in agreement with the second group, but I only performed one very specific type of cardio in my 8 week experiment, and continue to use almost exclusively this form of cardio to this day.
WALK TO LOSE WEIGHT Walking is the absolute best way to lose weight. Most of us are programmed to think that running is the ultimate weight loss tool, and this is true -- as long as you are OK with losing lots of muscle as well. Of course, I don't recommend a light walk outside for ten minutes to lose weight. You're still going to have to work.
HOW TO WALK TO LOSE WEIGHT I used two different methods of walking to lose weight, and like I said, still use these methods to this day. In the mornings, I went for a 20 to 30 minute fasted walk. My walks were performed outside, but if you have access to a treadmill, that's even better since it can provide a more consistent challenge. After my workouts, I aimed to walk for five to ten minutes at a brisk pace. In each of your walks, match the following requirements: • •
•
•
You need to walk uphill as much as you can. If on a treadmill, set the incline to 8 to 10 percent. If on a treadmill, DO NOT EVER TOUCH THE HANDLE BARS. This takes your midsection out of the walk altogether and gets rid of just about any positive effects that walking has on losing weight. Walk with your back completely straight and your chest sticking out a bit. This should result in your abs being almost slightly stretched. This will work your whole body more than walking with poor posture. (Trust me -- you will feel it much more afterward if walking like this.) Aim to walk heavy and fast enough that you're sweating and lightly panting when it's over. You shouldn't be gasping for air like you would be after a run.
YOU'LL FEEL THE DIFFERENCE At first, you'll feel like you're not working yourself hard enough. That's how I felt after years of running. However, my results speak for themselves -- I haven't struggled with fat gain for some time now simply because I've picked up the habit of walking for fat loss. A bonus is that walking is also very meditative and relaxing, which will help your workouts and stress levels. And, if done properly (with back straight and chest sticking out on a high incline), this may well be the only ab workout you ever need.
Warm-ups Warming up for each workout is very easy. I went on an incline walk for about eight minutes, which helped me build up a nice sweat and loosen my muscles. I then used a tennis ball to quickly massage "trouble" areas for me, like my shoulders, so that they were completely loose and flexible. A good guide for this is available here. I then performed eccentric stretches -- swinging my arms and legs to loosen them up. After one or two very light-weight warm up sets for each exercise, I was ready to lift at my maximum weight. Of course, I was also prepared due to my mental exercises beforehand, as covered in this manual. These are absolutely crucial in the warm-up process, and will prepare you for an amazing workout.
Miscellaneous Ideas Here are some of the odds and ends that I couldn't fit in anywhere else.
WORKOUT PARTNER Following the plan I've laid out here is most effective when you have a workout partner. You need someone who is just as driven as you, if not more-so. It's easier to work yourself to the bone in the gym if someone is there, watching your every move, and screaming at you when it seems like you're mentally giving up. What I ended up doing with my workout partner was work out in two separate cycles. He would head off to the gym, warm up, I'd meet him there and push him through his workout (each workout only lasted 30 minutes tops), then he'd have something to eat while I warmed up and he'd push me through my workout. Considering that most people spend an hour or more in the gym for every session, this worked out just fine for us.
DON'T FORGET TO REST AFTERWARD If you work yourself hard enough in the gym for these 8 weeks, you will be desperate to be done and have a week of rest when it's all over. Once the eight weeks are up, you need to take a week off.
Make sure you get some exercise in your week off -- walking, light calisthenics, something -- but overall, you've earned this week, so enjoy it.
What To Do Afterward After the eight weeks were up, I'll tell you exactly what I did: Almost nothing. I was exhausted. When you physically work yourself as hard as possible in the gym for eight weeks, cramming your body full of tons of food, you end up absolutely spent. If you aren't mentally drained, then you didn't work yourself hard enough, and your results will be jeopardized a bit. The first week after this experiment, I rested and enjoyed myself. I went for the occasional walk to maintain some form of exercise, but my body was telling me it needed to rest, so I let it. The truth is, your body grows the most in the weeks after heavy workout programs. This ended up being absolutely true for me with this program. When you end a session having trouble thinking straight and unable to lift more weight, that means that your body is ready to overcompensate and build muscle in a week of rest. Super-coach Charles Poliquin once said, "[Bodybuilders] should train until they're literally depressed, then back off. In other words, if you're not making progress in the gym, smash yourself into the ground for two weeks — purposefully overtrain until you're mentally depressed and your body is about to shutdown — then take five days off. When you come back into the gym, you'll hit new personal bests."
My diet in this week off was still heavy in proteins and fats, focusing on mostly beef and eggs, but I also threw in more "standard" meals. This means I went out to restaurants a little more, and even, yes, ate some more carbs. (But don't go overboard with them just yet -- your body needs time to adjust.) I tried to keep my calories high so that my body had energy to rebuild my muscles, but the calories were a little lower than the previous weeks. Once this week of rest was over, I started back up into a very light workout routine. All you need to do is maintain at this point -- don't start working out trying to pack on muscle again. Assuming you worked yourself hard enough in the eight weeks, you've already packed on enough. A "light" workout means that you're simply working each muscle group for three sets of around 8 reps or so, and not pushing yourself to any kind of extreme with each set. I recommend full-body workouts three times a week -- something light. For example, a routine one day could look like: Back squats - 3x8 Bicep curls - 3x8 Wide-grip dips - 3x8 Pull-downs - 3x8 Pitcher raises - 3x8 Don't overload yourself on each set, and try to rest for only 30 to 45 seconds between each set. And a routine the next day could look like: Straight leg deadlift - 3x8
Neck press - 3x8 Rope tricep extensions - 3x8 Pull-ups - 3x8 Pitcher raises - 3x8 Again, don't overload yourself on each set, and try to rest for only 30 to 45 seconds between each set. I followed this workout routine while slowly tapering down the amount of calories I ate and the types of foods I ate. I still prefer to eat largely fats and proteins, but your body will reward you greatly if you constantly surprise it. While I know you've heard this before in terms of exercise routines (constantly change the routine to surprise and shock your body into new growth), I've discovered it's also true for your diet as well. In the weeks following the 8 week experiment, I had transitioned to a largely carbohydrate diet -- and I lost all my extra body-fat in about one month doing so.
Your Diet After The 8 Weeks Like I alluded to before, your body will reward you greatly if you constantly surprise it. If you eat only fats and proteins for months on end, your body eventually adjusts to that diet, and doesn't have the same musclegaining effects it had originally. The same applies to really any diet you follow. If you have unbelievable results in the first few weeks of any diet, you'll soon find the results wearing off, until finally, there are no new results to speak of. I'm pretty sure almost everyone has experienced this before. This is especially true for protein. Most people looking to gain muscle just cram hundreds of grams of protein down their throats day in, day out for years on end, and they wonder why they struggle to gain muscle. Simply put, your body adjusts to eating hundreds of grams of protein. The only way to get new growth out of your diet is to eat even more protein every single day. Eventually, you reach a point where it's simply impossible and unhealthy to do so. The solution is to cycle different dieting types. Keep your body guessing, and you'll be primed for constant muscle growth.
AFTER THE 8 WEEKS Like I said before, I feel that, for a short 8 week burst of muscle growth, a diet high in protein and fat (with almost no carbohydrates) is ideal. It creates a super anabolic environment inside your body. After the 8 weeks were up, though, I spent about a month eating primarily carbohydrates, with some protein and fats. I ate three big meals a day instead of seven or eight small ones, and ate lots of fruits between meals. My goal was to lose any extra body fat I put on during the eight weeks. I ate the following diet to do so. Now when I say my diet became carbohydrate-heavy, I don't mean I ate pizza and bread all the time. I instead had plates of rice and vegetables; lots of fruits; and high-fiber whole grains, like oats. I also still ate protein and fat, but from different sources; I had chicken and olive oil in my rice plates, for example. I still ate healthy, but just switched my food sources. I didn't count calories, but since I was only eating three big meals a day (with low-calorie fruits inbetween) I knew that I was getting far less calories than I was during the 8 week experiment. Your goal should be to slowly taper off the amount of calories you're eating, week by week, while still losing weight. Again, I don't recommend counting calories -- it becomes anal and precise, and can actually hurt your results by thinking too much -but if you want an estimate, I'd say eventually you want to be at around 12x or 13x your body-weight in calories by the final week.
Your diet should be roughly 60% carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 20% fat. These are only rough guesses because, again, I feel it will only hurt your progress by counting calories and grams. However, if you just aim to have three big, filling meals throughout the day, you'll hit your calorie goal no problem without having to resort to counting every morsel you put in your mouth. An example of my daily diet: Morning: Bowl of oats with cinnamon Orange Banana Shake made with fruits and veggies and two or three raw eggs and yogurt Small piece of cheese, or small piece of meat for protein Afternoon: Soup Boiled plantain Rice Beans Small piece of meat Night: Huge plate of rice, lentils, and shredded chicken In-between each meal: Oranges, apples -- whatever fruits I could get my hands on
AND THEN MAINTAIN YOUR DIET Once you're at the goal weight/body fat you want, then just eat a balanced, healthy diet indefinitely. This means lots of fruits, vegetables, proteins, fats, and carbs. If your body is more carb-intolerant, like mine, aim to eat your carbs only in the morning and immediately after workouts. Also try to make them only healthy carbs. (How do you know if your body is more carb-intolerant? Simply put, if you feel bloated and gross after eating lots of carbs, your body doesn't like them very much. Any food that makes your body react poorly is one that you should generally avoid.) If your body is able to handle carbs better than most, then eat more carbs -- simple as that. There are many diet choices you can follow indefinitely after this plan, and it is out of the scope of this manual to recommend only one. Find a balanced diet that works for you and your body, and stick with it.
Exercise After The 8 Weeks I've already given you an idea of an exercise plan after the eight weeks are up. Really, all you want to do is maintain your muscle. This is especially true because the diet afterward is focused on losing weight -- there simply aren't enough calories in this diet to support a "muscle gain" plan. In another chapter I gave you an idea of an exercise plan, but here it is again: To be performed three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Alternate "day 1" and "day 2" so that you perform "day 1" two times the first week and "day 2" two times the following week. Day 1: Back squats - 3x8 Bicep curls - 3x8 Wide-grip dips - 3x8 Pull-downs - 3x8 Pitcher raises - 3x8 Don't overload yourself on each set, and try to rest for only 30 to 45 seconds between each set.
Day 2: Straight leg deadlift - 3x8 Neck press - 3x8 Rope tricep extensions - 3x8 Pull-ups - 3x8 Pitcher raises - 3x8 Again, don't overload yourself on each set, and try to rest for only 30 to 45 seconds between each set.
CARDIO The most important exercise, in my mind, is the cardio you perform after the 8 weeks. Continue to take brisk, heavy walks every single day. Do one walk in the morning, and one walk in the afternoon (possibly after your workout). While the gym workouts will help you maintain your muscle, it's properly-performed walks two times a day that will really help you lose any excess fat. Again, make sure your back is straight, your chest is sticking out, and you're walking at a high incline. Walking is really the only cardio you will ever need, if performed as I describe it in this book.
Overview of the Plan Here is a general overview of the whole plan I've laid out. This is meant to kind of tie everything together, since the amount of information I've given may be a little overwhelming. You are going to work out hard and eat a lot of food (eggs and meat, very little carbs) for eight weeks. In fact, your diet is going to be only made up of lots of meat and lots of eggs, and no supplements. Your workouts are going to be designed to be brief and intense. You'll go for incline walks every day for cardio. Before every workout, you'll relax and perform the workout in your head. This is absolutely crucial for your success. By the end of the eight weeks, you should be absolutely exhausted both physically and mentally, with both your workouts and your diet. This is a good sign -- your body is ready to overcompensate and pile on muscle. When the eight weeks are up, you need to transition to a completely different diet to surprise your body. This means less protein and less fat, and lots more carbs. Your exercise should be relatively light at this point. It'll take about a month to lose any extra accumulated fat, but after that month, you can put yourself on "cruise" mode -- meaning, maintain your muscle and enjoy what your hard work for eight weeks brought you. Relax on your workouts and diet, and enjoy life.
Conclusion I've had several months pass me by since the conclusion of the “Panamanian Hypertrophy Experiment.” The results? I've had periods of more than a month, where I was continuously traveling, when I had no way of getting into a gym, and could only do the occasional push-ups or walks. My body held onto all my muscle. When I was back in the gym, I was lifting the same weights as before. This is the entire idea behind this experiment. I used to spend an hour or more in the gym, four or five days a week, every week of the year. I had a little bit of muscle to show for it. But now I know that I can bust my balls in the gym for eight weeks, get amazing results, and be able to relax for a couple months. I plan on going through about two eight week cycles a year until I'm completely happy with my body. I recommend giving something like this a shot. If you've had trouble putting on the muscle you want, and you're sick of spending so much time in the gym, following a plan similar to mine could be exactly what you want. I'm closer to the body I've always wanted, and I've got time to live more. As cheesy as that may sound, it's the truth.
Exercise Glossary The majority of these links go to the excellent resource http://exrx.net which has videos. BACK WIDTH Pull-ups - Pull up to your chest not chin. Lat pull-down (front) Lat pull-down (back) When working on back width (lats) try as much as possible to ‘feel’ your lats working. If you can’t feel them while you’re doing these exercises, slow down and take off weight until you do. BACK THICKNESS T-bar row Chest-supported incline shrug - Scroll almost to the bottom where it has the description. Barbell rowing BICEPS Bicep curls Incline curl Gironda Perfect Curl - Funny video but it gets its point across. Preacher curl - I try to keep my elbows inside of my hands. It seems to work my biceps more. CALVES Calves (any exercise) - If you have trouble building your calves try holding each rep at the top (extended), and at the bottom (stretched) for 5-10 seconds.
CHEST Wide-grip dips Neck press (wide-grip bench press) Incline neck press FOREARMS Barbell wrist curl Reverse barbell curl Zottman curls HAMSTRINGS Leg curls Deadlift Straight leg deadlift SHOULDERS Side laterals Military press Arnold press Pitcher raises - towards the bottom you’ll see pinky-up pitcher raises. TRICEPS Close grip bench - you don’t have to do it on the Smith Machine. Skull crushers Rope tricep extensions Rope pull-down QUADS Back squats - If you’re a beginner I highly recommend getting assistance for squatting. There’s a definite learning curve and you could get your self injured. Front squat Leg press
