Adonis Index Transformation Walkthrough 101 The Beginners Guide to Maximizing Your Results with the Adonis Index System
Copyright Notice: This document is copyright 2012 Adonis Lifestyle LLC. All Rights Reserved. Adonis Index, Adonis Index Workout and all derivatives are trademarks of Adonis Lifestyle LLC. Your rights to this manual: • You do not own this manual. You have been granted a personal license to have unlimited copies hosted on your personal readers, computers, and other rendering agents. This license may be revoked at any time due to copyright infringement, slander, or at the discretion of the copyright holders. Revocation of your license means you must remove all traces of this manual from your personal effects within 10 days of notice. • You may freely distribute this manual via email, social media, and/or blogs and personal websites as long as the document remains intact. You may not sell individually, however you are permitted to include this manual as a bonus to your customers, so long as the value of the product being sold is worth more than $49.95. You may not reverse engineer this manual under any circumstances. • You may reference this manual in your work, however blatant plagiarism or theft of core concepts without reference are subject to legal ramifications. Basically, give credit where credit is due (you’ll notice we have a list of references that we ourselves have used to compile this resource as an example of how to reference) • By reading this manual, you agree to not hold the authors or copyright holders liable for any injury sustained while acting in accordance to the recommendations in this book. Not that we’re worried, but you know how it is.
Welcome to the Adonis Index Transformation Walkthrough 101. This guide ensures you’ll get the best results as fast as possible. My name is Vaclav Gregor and on behalf of the Adonis Lifestyle Team, I would like to welcome you to this 101 Course and congratulate you on taking this necessary step that will get you closer to building an ideal body. Before, I get started, let me say upfront that English is NOT my native language. And although this has been edited, there still may be a few hiccups... so I apologize for any errors or snafus in advance. (if you find some, let me know in the community if you have access, or just send in a support ticket to Louise and I’ll get it... blue tab on the left of all of our sites) This should make sense. After all, our company serves and employs people from all over the world, from almost every country you can think of. In other words, if I can understand this, I’m quite sure you can too, no matter where you’re from ;) On the following pages, we’ll explain all the basic information there is to know about the Adonis Index (AI) and our philosophies. AI is a an ever-evolving and growing educational platform, so if you’re new to all this, it may be hard to get a clear and organized picture of the information we provide. Therefore, we’ve decided to do this for you and put together this basic 101 course that has all the foundational information you’ll need to know. All the other surrounding ideas are built on this framework. This course is divided into 14 sections and we recommend you take it slow to avoid getting overwhelmed by all the information. We’ve provided you with a structure and have broken it down into 14 days worth of instruction. If you take just a small fraction of your time each day, in just 2 short weeks you will know more about fitness than the mass majority. After the 2 week period, there will be nothing stopping you from achieving your goals and... you’ll make far less mistakes than you would have otherwise. Listen, this crash course is extremely helpful if you plan on entering our next transformation contest and gives you a head start from other contestants that might not understand the importance of this package. However, it’s much more than a pre-contest package. You can review the material at any time of the year. Consider this package to be the education of the mind needed to to make a physical transformation. The contests we have are just another tool to help you do that, but the ultimate goal is always to help you make a transformation and come closer to your ideal proportions. Frankly, it’s up to you whether you take advantage of everything we offer... or not. We’ll talk more about contests in a bit...
Re-Education Is What We Do
If you’ve been trying to get in shape for a while or at least watching the news and wondering around the great lands of the Internet, chances are you have fallen victim to a lot of myths that get distributed by various fitness media and fitness “experts”. This is why we like to view our approach as re-education. Guiding you from wherever the fitness media had you to a place where you are on the right track, satisfied with your body, and understand the process of what it requires to get in shape. Many of our past contestants have admitted that they had to unlearn all the bad habits, let go of old beliefs and basically start with a blank slate. It seems that if you want to succeed in this area of your life... then this is what you have to do: let go of everything else you have ever learned.
Here’s are the core topics in this course broken down into 14 days:
Day 1: Introduction - Adonis Index Team, Approach, Metrics and Community ........................................5 Day 2: The Truth about Training and Muscle Growth ............................................................................14 Day 3: Learning Workout Structures (...and which one to follow) ..........................................................15 Day 4: Weight Loss, Cardio, Interval Training and Health .....................................................................20 Day 5: Demystifying Diet, Nutrition and Calories...................................................................................22 Day 6: Supplement Guide .....................................................................................................................25 Day 7: Learning about the Social Benefits of Ideal Body ......................................................................27 Day 8: Lifestyle freedom and fitness flexibility .......................................................................................28 Day 9: Making Your Goals Happen .......................................................................................................30 Day 10: Get and Stay Motivated ...........................................................................................................32 Day 11: What’s Wrong with the Mainstream Advice? Discover the Myths.............................................33 Day 12: Get Clarity ................................................................................................................................35 Day 13: Take Action and Win a Transformation Contest .......................................................................36 Day 14: The Next Step ..........................................................................................................................38
At first it might seen there is just too much information and it may be overwhelming, but trust me, after going through this course you will have a clear sense of direction. It may take you several hours each day to go through the content, but remember it’s just for 2 weeks. After that, you’ll only spend time working out and read just a couple articles or listen to one or two podcasts a week. And with our approach you will spend almost zero time on preparing meals. So don’t be intimidated if it takes you some time each day at first. Again, we have a LOT of ground to cover. Ultimately, this will help you get an advantage over other guys in your gym who have no idea how the hell to get in shape, which means that at the end of 3-8 months, you’ll make an incredible transformation... ... and those other chumps will only be able to stare at you because they have absolutely no idea how you did that. Oh and this course will also give you an opportunity to place in one of our contests. Most of the past winners went through all of our podcasts and articles, so we know for sure it’s important, just this time we have organized it for you. You will see a lot of links in this ebook, don’t skip them, that’s where the good stuff is. Articles and podcasts that we link to from this ebook are free, the workouts, diet protocols and other systems we link to are premium. Anyway, let’s get started.
Day 1: Introduction - Adonis Index Team, Approach, Metrics and Community Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Our Team Before we get into the approach and talk various techniques, let us tell you who we are first.
John Barban
John’s formal education background is a degree in human biology and nutrition from the University of Guelph (Ontario Canada), and a Masters In Human Biology and nutrition also from U of Guelph. He also did further graduate research and taught exercise physiology at the University of Florida. He’s all the certificates you know, but considers them full of BS, so you won’t hear him ever mentioning them. John worked in the dietary and sports supplement industry researching and developing sports and weight loss supplements for the better part of the past 8 years and he still consults supplement companies on formula and product development. Some of the brands he was involved with and helped develop products for include MuscleTech, NxLabs, Slimquick, ADS, BlueStar Nutraceuticals and Empowered Nutrition Products. He spent 3 years as a varsity strength and conditioning coach (ice hockey) at the University of Guelph. John has trained with a world class power lifting team. He also keeps close ties with colleagues in the biomechanics field. This is how he stays up to date on the latest research in biomechanics and human movement science in general. He’s currently working on exercise programs and researching solutions to weight loss, muscle building and longevity.
Brad Pilon After 4 years at University Brad graduated with honors with a degree in Applied Human Nutrition. His first job was Research Analyst at a small supplement company. After 6 years he became a Research & Development Manager and the supplement company he worked for became number one in the world. He spent good chunk of his career traveling around the world and attending major scientific conferences as a sponsor. He met top executives from multi-national food ingredient supply companies and is one of those who saw the effect that supplements have on world’s economy. Having unlimited access into the scientific world of health and fitness and unprecedented access into the the professional Body Building, meeting Mr. Olympia champions, having dinner with Arnold Schwarzenegger or working out with 400 pound strong men gave him a perspective that a very few have. However, despite having this career he decided to leave it all behind and get back to University. Later he became known as the author of Eat Stop Eat, which was the result of his graduate research at University of Guelph. Currently he is focusing on helping you lose fat and build muscle while teaching you as simple approach as possible, his goal is to show you how to get and stay in shape without being constantly under stress and without being obsessive-compulsive with it.
Brad Howard Brad is co-founder and publisher of the Adonis Index. He studied Aerospace Engineering and did graduate work at North Carolina State University, so when he says that getting in shape is not rocket science, he really knows what he is saying. Brad is the behind scene guy making sure everything works as it should Currently Brad is responsible for spreading the knowledge of Adonis Lifestyle and also making sure you get the right system for yourself and achieve your results.
Vaclav Gregor Vaclav Gregor is a former hard-gainer, fitness writer and a senior member of the Adonis Lifestyle team. Vaclav specializes on helping young, busy men getting the body they want using the Adonis Index philosophies. Being skinny his whole life, Vaclav decided to change his physique and started training with Adonis Index systems in early 2010. Since then he managed to get into an amazing shape, completely transform his life, build his own fitness business and join the Adonis Lifestyle team. He is responsible for most of the Adonis Index articles and is part of the development team for the new workout plans and fitness systems. He is here to help you find your way through the overwhelming fitness information clutter and build a killer looking body you’ve always wanted. If you want to get in touch with him, just go over to the Adonis Index community and send him a message, he hangs out there a lot.
Allen Elliott Allen Elliott is a fitness model/writer, NPC Men’s Physique national competitor and official partner with the Adonis Lifestyle team. Leveraging the philosophies of Adonis Index, Allen provides guided solutions for people who sincerely strive to meet their fitness goals. Allen stumbled upon Adonis Index Systems and immediately began training in early 2010, since that time he has competed and placed with top honors in Men’s Physique Fitness Competitions, graced the runway in several prominent fashion shows, and has published work as a fitness model. Allen has also been featured in several AI interviews, helps with workout development and is a contributor at the Adonis Index blog. As you follow Allen on his Adonis Lifestyle journey, you will learn the steps needed to put your best foot forward. Whether it’s in front of the camera for a photo shoot or onstage in a live competition; rest assured the Adonis Index Systems will prepare you to “Look” your very best.
Build Your Ideal Shape The mistake most experts make when creating a workout program is they don’t focus on a specific shape and they usually let you work all your muscles equally. This leads to big, bulky, flat and unappealing physiques. Trying to get bigger and “bulking up” has two flaws. It just never ends. You can get bigger, a lot bigger than you are now, but at some point your genetics won’t allow you to grow anymore, what will you do then, just overeat like most guys and get fat, just for the sake of being “shirt on big?” Or will you take steroids to get really massive like pro bodybuilders? Why? What’s the real point? The body that is physically appealing to women and earns respect from men is the body that’s the most proportioned and has the most attractive shape, period. If you are still not getting the results you want, then try this. Try to build the best shape possible based on your height. Yes, height. You can never be as heavy and as big as a 6’4” bodybuilder if you are only 5’8”, that’s the truth. We all have to make the most out of what we have, you can’t cheat your genetics. Now, that’s not to say you can’t craft an awesome body, because you can. And trust me when I say that genetics are NEVER the limiting factor in this game. Being a champion level bodybuilder or sprinter? Effect Crafting your best body based on your ideal proportions? No effect. So, while you can’t be bigger or heavier than the guy who is taller than you, you can look better and EASILY have more proportioned body than he does. And, once you start focusing on the right body shape, something magical happens. When you get closer to your ideal shape, you will instantly see changes in the way people talk to you and treat you. (And yes, this does sound too good to be true, yet it happens all the time with our clients. I’ll point out interviews you can listen in on to verify this for yourself as we go along) Here is the thing, people judge you and they judge you within seconds of you entering the room, even before you open your mouth they have subconsciously created an image of how they are going to perceive you. What researchers know from studying human psychology is that people assign good characteristics and are more keen to talk to people who are attractive...
(this is known as the “Halo Effect”) The statement that looks doesn’t matter is a lie! They aren’t NECESSARY, however saying they don’t matter at all is a complete falsehood, and there are journals packed full of research to prove it. Look, we really make it our mission to help you build a body that can give you an incredible advantage when you talk to other people, so they will pay more attention to you. Socializing in a bar and networking at a business meeting will be easier for you when you build an ideal body with perfect AI score. Whether your goal is to have more confidence to approach women and get dates or just beat your competition and win the job interviews, we will help you build a killer body that will make this a piece of cake for you.
So what is the perfect AI score? Well... As it turns out, there is a a mathematical formula that determines what your best shaped and conditioned body will be. This is the proverbial 'sweet spot' for your overall muscle size and definition. There really is a size that is both too big, and too small, too lean and not lean enough. Hitting the sweet spot is when everything changes physically and socially. This mathematical formula is what we use to calculate your current and your ideal Adonis Index. One of the benefits of the Adonis Index approach is that once you get lean, you have a goal to work towards – your Ideal AI Ratio (1.618). Let’s to calculate yours right now. To calculate your ideal measurements, start with calculating your height-to-waist ratio, your ideal waist is approximately 44.7% of your height. From there you will calculate your ideal shoulder width by multiplying your waist by the ideal AI ratio 1-1.618 => waist measurement x 1.618. Example: If you are 72 inches tall, you will multiply this number by 0.447 to get your ideal waist…in this case the ideal waist for a 72 inch tall man = 32.18 inches. To find out your perfect shoulder measurements you multiply your ideal waist (32.8) x 1.618 => 52.07 inches. To calculate your current AI Score you take your current shoulder measurement and divide it by your waist size. Keeping with the same example 72 inch man and assuming he has a 32 in waist and 48 inch shoulder your current AI score would be calculated as follows: Current AI Score = 48 / 32 = 1.455
In this case you would be 0.1633 from your ideal (ideal AI score = 1.618). Aside from doing those calculations we also recommend you to take pictures. Take pictures on Day 1 so you have something to compare to, lots of guys make a mistake of not taking one and then they regret it later. It’s great feeling to look at your before and afters, so don’t be afraid to do it, nobody has to see the before picture if you don’t want to. (As an aside, the “magic” seems to start happening once you hit an AI of 1.5 and higher. It’s a weird threshold for sure. So even if you don’t want to take it ALL THE WAY, getting at least to 1.5 will do wonders for your life)
Join Our Community of Winners Our community is free of charge FOR OUR CLIENTS and once you buy any of our programs (it can be a workout program or just a 10 dollar ebook) you get access for life! “If it wasn’t for the community I would never win the transformation contest” is not uncommon thing to hear from our contestants. The Adonis Index community is a really strong core of guys that have been using this system from almost the beginning few years back and they know this stuff inside out. They will help you with any issue that arises, get you on the right track so you won’t allow your goals to be hijacked, which is so common in the fitness community and if you subscribe to their blog updates you will receive daily boost in motivation and inspiration from their amazing progress. Networking is the key to success, nobody did it alone, and if they say they did, they lie. If you talked to the most successful CEO’s and entrepreneurs you will find out that most are part of some kind of mastermind group and even if they think they are not they will still meet up on regular basis with other high profile businessman and discuss their visions and struggles. Does this come as a surprise? It shouldn’t. Success is a result of determination among other key traits, but the real power comes from networking and co-operation. Building a great looking body that you can be proud of is no different than building a high profit company (of course it’s a bit easier). Imagine you have a question, what will you do? Most support centers don’t work, most people don’t respond to their emails, which is why this community is so powerful! It’s like the support center, but the difference is that this one works! You won’t have to wait for some assistant to get back to you and risk a chance of having your email fall into spam or get unnoticed.
Membership in this community allows you to get quick answers to any question and most of the time, from several people, so you can get different perspectives and approaches for the same challenge. Also there are hundreds of past threads that will most likely hold answer to any of your first questions, so search away. You can make great friends and use this membership to network and find new life opportunities.
Wanna know what our clients are saying about the community? The Adonis Index Community helped me to stay motivated and focused on the road to the golden proportion. They supported me during the last contest in which i participated, giving me encouraging feedback. Everyday i check the forum in search of something interesting about the fitness world and every time i find new perspectives. I think that every member looks like an “avid explorer” in search of the true way to reach his ideal body. I respect and enjoy member’s open minds and i appreciate the peaceful atmosphere of this community. Gabriele Lazzari I Love this Community!!!!!! Everyone has been really helpful, informative, kind, and sincere> Not only is there a wealth of information here, there is a camaraderie that is really cool. While men are at all different levels, some in contest and not, I never get a sense of competitiveness, condescension, or ego. To me, it feels like just a bunch of guys who want to have the best bodies they can and are willing to support each other along the way. It’s way cool! Lou Martinez
Here’s more feedback on the community: http://products.adonisindex.com/is-adonis-index-community-helpful/
If you already have access... You can login here: http://community.adonisindex.com/ You can introduce yourself here: http://community.adonisindex.com/forums/2-Introductions (if not, you need to become a client) Once you introduce yourself start your own blog, start following other people’s blogs and if you want to know something, just ask. We are here to help you and you
have a great chance to not only interact with us, but also with the contest winners and discover their training and diet secret tips. Here’s an example of a community member blog with regular updates. It’s from one of our very first AI transformation contest winners and currently a community Ambassador (you can also hit the subscribe button to follow his updates if you find them useful and motivating, you can do this with everyone you wanna follow): http://community.adonisindex.com/blogs/1326-seeker And if you want to check out our profiles then here they are: http://community.adonisindex.com/members/1-Brad http://community.adonisindex.com/members/1321-JohnBarban http://community.adonisindex.com/members/488-VaclavGregor http://community.adonisindex.com/members/1322-BradPilon http://community.adonisindex.com/members/210-AllenElliottFIT
Links for Further Information: (Not necessary, but helpful; if you are short on time then you can check the community threads today and the optional articles and podcasts later, it’s up to you.)
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/6-pack-abs-myth/ http://www.adonisindex.com/leg-size-on-the-adonis-index-workout/ http://www.adonisindex.com/do-you-want-to-be-200-lbs/
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3322-Do-You-Want-To-Be-10BodyFat-With-Abs-or-6-BF-Good-or-Elite http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3364-A-little-skeptical http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1353-Needing-permission-to-belight http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/2765-Observations-about-AI-andclothing-tales-from-the-mens-clothing-shop
http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3449-What-are-your-thoughts-onthe-AI-Community-Is-It-Helpful (if the thread doesn’t show up click on the link again before reporting an issue)
Day 2: The Truth about Training and Muscle Growth Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Yesterday, you were introduced to the basics and the idea of building an ideal body that has specific, measurable metrics that we showed you how to calculate. Today, we will look into the plan - what you need to do to build the ideal body. This includes learning about working out, workout plans, training and muscle growth. Here are the articles and podcasts that will help you understand all this: http://www.adonisindex.com/are-you-training-or-just-working-out/ http://www.adonisindex.com/gaining-weight-vs-gaining-muscle/ http://www.adonisindex.com/what-causes-muscle-growth/ http://www.adonisindex.com/can-you-eat-your-way-to-bigger-muscles/ http://www.adonisindex.com/permission-lift-light/ http://johnbarban.com/mind-muscle-connection-for-full-muscle-development/
Links for Further Information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/are-you-overtraining-or-simply-underconditioned/ http://www.adonisindex.com/muscle-building/ http://www.adonisindex.com/what-is-muscle-growth/ http://www.adonisindex.com/protein-synthesis-and-muscle-growth/ http://www.adonisindex.com/what-does-building-muscle-mean/ http://www.adonisindex.com/how-big-can-your-muscles-grow/ http://www.adonisindex.com/try-opposite-of-bulking/ http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/permission-to-get-light-to-get-lean/
Day 3: Learning Workout Structures (...and which one to follow) This topic is related and kind of a follow-up to what we talked about yesterday.
Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
It’s Day 3 of your transformation journey and you should know all the basics about training, muscle growth and building an ideal body. While you could take a risk and design your own workout (maybe based on some fitness magazine) we don’t recommend it right now. Partly because many of our customers have tried it previously and always with little to no results, but even more importantly because we know that the information presented to you in those magazines cannot be trusted. Also, if you want to participate in our transformation contest, you have to follow through with one of our workouts. BTW those systems beat any other training structure you can find online or in magazines. And because we have several workout programs, it seem appropriate to explain which one would be perfect for you in case you would want to build your ideal body, make a transformation and win our transformation contest. There are several levels based around your training experience. If you are just starting out you won’t be able to handle the intensity of a workout that’s designed for guys who have been training consistently, so we have breaker it down for you into three level:
Level I. • Adonis Index Main Workout 3.1 (May be updated to 4.0 by the time you read it) • Adonis Index Rage • Muscle Building Foundation (AKA MBF) Level II. • Adonis Triple Stack (AKA ATS) • Adonis Index IXP (AKA IXP) • Adonis Index Specializations (AKA Boosters)
Level III. • Cluster Cycles (AKA Anabolic Again) • Adonis Index Gauntlet (AKA AIG)
If you are new to weight training you have to start at level I. For people who have been training consistently for 2-3 years or at least a year with us we recommend the Level II. If you are close to your genetic potential and have been training for AT LEAST 5 years then you can do the Cluster Cycles from Level III, but be warned this workout is for experience trainees only! And even if you consider yourself experienced, I’d go with the Level 1 modules first. Even the first level can be very challenging for experience trainees if they haven’t been taught the necessary intensity needed for real growth.
Let’s talk about the specific workout plans and not just the levels. If you are starting out with the basic level then you have two choices, either the main workout or MBF. MBF is a 5 day a week workout protocol that will look very similar to you if you’ve done a couple workouts from other people in the past. There are all the big compound lifts like squats, bench, military presses and deadlift. It’s designed to make you strong and build raw muscle mass. The Main Workout is completely different. It’s focused on building the ideal body shape and optimizing your AI score. It assumes you already have a decent level of muscle mass available for us to work with. There are four different modules: • AI 3.1 Cycle 1 Strength Endurance • AI 3.1 Cycle 2 Hypertrophy • AI 3.1 Cycle 3 Strength • AI 3.1 Cycle 4 Power ...and it’s unlike nothing you have ever tried. After a couple of weeks you will be asked to do the Rage workouts for two weeks. Those workout protocols work as overreaching training routines, they are designed to push you through the plateaus and help you keep building muscle and progressing towards the ideal body.
If you have time and can handle it you can also add the boosters on top of your workouts (only if you are following the main AI workout) and bring up your lagging and weak parts like abs, calves or chest or whatever it is for you specifically (we offer boosters for all muscle groups). Once you move on to the more advanced workouts, you will be following ATS and IXP. Again, these are very challenging workout programs and you will be shocked by the intensity. After accomplishing them you will be the guy that gets the looks, both inside and outside the gym. This is guaranteed. And then we have two more workouts. First is Anabolic Again (Compound Cluster Cycles), which is really only for the most advanced lifters, who have tried every workout possible, and have already experienced the big gains, know their way around gym and can’t seem to gain any more muscle. “Clusters” will get you “anabolic again”. The second workout is the Gauntlet. This is for people who have some training history, maybe already tried the IXP or ATS, but may not necessarily have the guts to take the challenge of Anabolic Again. It’s also for people who are preparing for a fitness photoshoot, some kind of event like a vacation or fitness content whether it’s live or online. http://products.adonisindex.com/product-catalog/workouts/
If you want a clear path that we suggest for the beginners, here’s the one that most of our community members recommend: • Weeks 1-12 – Muscle Building Foundation Program • Week 13 – Off (rest and recovery) • Weeks 14-17 – Adonis Index Workout Cycle 1 Strength Endurance • Weeks 18-21 – Adonis Index Workout Cycle 2 Hypertrophy • Weeks 22-23 – Adonis Index RAGE workout 1 Fibonacci Pyramids • Weeks 24-27 – Adonis Index Workout 3 Strength • Week 28 – Off (rest and recovery) • Weeks 29-32 – Adonis Index Workout 4 Power • Weeks 33-34 – Adonis Index RAGE workout 2 Progressive Supersets • Weeks 35-38 – Adonis Index Workout Cycle 1 Strength Endurance • Weeks 39-42 – Adonis Index Workout Cycle 2 Hypertrophy
• Weeks 43-44 – Adonis Index RAGE workout 3 Timed Sets • Week 45 – Off (rest and recovery) • Weeks 46-49 – Adonis Index Workout Cycle 3 Strength • Weeks 50-53 – Adonis Index Workout Cycle 4 Power • Weeks 54-55 – Adonis Index RAGE workout 4 – Conditioning Circuits
...After this you would follow up with the advanced workout plans.
Here’s a great podcast explaining workout structure in more detail: http://www.adonisindex.com/how-an-adonis-index-workout-is-designed/
Links for further information: Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/consistency-is-the-key-to-building-muscle-andstaying-lean/ http://johnbarban.com/why-do-you-workout/ http://johnbarban.com/is-weight-traning-a-pursuit-in-vanity/ http://johnbarban.com/sendentary-lifestyle-is-worse-than-you-think/ http://johnbarban.com/workout-consistency/
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1735-HOME-GYM-for-Adonis-Indexworkouts http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3226-Hour-many-hours-per-week http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/665-Natural-or-oRids http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3608-Direct-Forearm-Work-for-Size http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1094-setting-up-a-home-gym http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3356-Important-amp-EssentialModule-Questions
http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/348-Weights-then-cardio-myth http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/2568-High-rep-*-low-weight-vsLow-rep-*-heavy-weight! http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3474-How-important-is-strengthREALLY http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3173-Maximum-Muscle-MassPotential
Day 4: Weight Loss, Cardio, Interval Training and Health Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Most people completely misunderstand the reasons behind working out and dieting. 9 out of 10 people in the fitness industry have it completely wrong, they try to eat for muscle building and exercise for weight loss, while it should be done the other way around. Your muscles need protein as a building block, but it’s WAY LESS than the fitness media would have you think. You can throw in some protein shake if you want and eat more meat, but what will make the difference is how you approach your workouts and how hard are you training. As for the weight loss, well that happens as a result of creating a caloric deficit. This can be done with training, but since the amount of calories burned are very little (yes the machines overestimate greatly) and your daily energy and time is limited it makes sense to rather focus on muscle building in the gym and create the caloric deficit in the kitchen. Or as Brad Pilon says rather: avoiding the kitchen. Training and nutrition are two separate aspects of fitness that work together, you eat less to burn fat and you train more to build muscle and sculpt your body, simple right?
Here are a couple articles and podcasts about cardio, calories and health to help you understand this stuff: http://www.adonisindex.com/how-many-calories-do-you-need-to-lose-weight/ http://www.adonisindex.com/interval-training-vs-steady-state-cardio-for-fatloss-on-trial/ http://www.adonisindex.com/your-definition-of-healthy/ http://www.adonisindex.com/what-type-of-cardio-is-best-shocking-answer/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/how-to-lose-60lbs-in-12-weeks-interview-withrichard-lane/ http://www.adonisindex.com/fat-loss-journey/
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3595-Lower-calories-Abs http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1194-Visible-abs http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1531-For-former-fatties-(again)How-Low-Do-You-Need-To-Go-To-Have-Them-Abs-Show!
Day 5: Demystifying Diet, Nutrition and Calories Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
In this section you will find out how many calories you should eat. How much protein you should get. And what diet and lifestyle protocols we recommend and how they can work together for you.
What nutrition approach do you recommend? From research and experience, we know that WHAT you eat doesn’t matter that much for fat loss and muscle building goals. You need a balanced diet with variety, a diet that has all the basic nutrients. Once this need is met, you can eat what you like the most. And it doesn’t matter if you make your choices based on taste or how you feel after eating it. Obviously if you have some medical condition or allergy you need to adjust your diet and consult any diet and lifestyle changes with your physician, but if you don’t have any of those issues, then consider yourself lucky, because you are the one who decides what you can and cannot eat. Not stressing over food is an important factor that most fitness experts forget. And honestly avoiding something, let’s say chocolate will result in binging and overeating later on. There is only one rule to diet: the rule of energy. You see everything you take in either gets used as fuel or building block for muscle or stored as fat. Put simply, your body needs protein for building and repairing muscles, and it uses fat and carbs for energy. This is where the “need to know” information on macronutrients ends. There’s no real need for counting or optimizing your diet for macros, shocking huh? (Training for bodybuilding and fitness model shows is completely different, in these extreme times, we have to pay attention to a LOT more... a LOT. However, if you’re only interested in getting to your ideal metrics, this level of detail is not necessary and can even be counterproductive.) The unit we use to measure energy in food is called a calorie.
It doesn’t matter what the macronutrients in the food are, if you eat more calories during the day than your body needs, they will get stored as fat. Whether it’s a fruit or chocolate, excess calories get stored, that’s how our bodies work – this is basic human physiology 101. And sure, you’ll see a lot of misinformation online about why certain macros are better, in certain amounts... but almost all of this is based on misunderstood research and an unfamiliarity with research design and its flaws. Just keep that in mind. (in other words, reading PubMed abstracts doesn’t even come close to telling you the real story, and in fact, can mislead EVEN MORE) This is why you need to calculate your daily caloric needs (if you have access, you can use the RTD calculator here) and go from there. And what do you do once you know your daily needs? If you’re aiming for body fat maintenance and muscle building you simply eat around your caloric expenditure each day/week. If your desired goal is to lose weight, then you reduce your calories below what you burn each day and watch your waist go down. To help you do so we recommend these three diet and lifestyle protocols: 1.
Reverse Taper Diet (AKA RTD)
2.
Anything Goes Diet (AKA AGD)
3.
Eat Stop Eat (AKA ESE)
And if you want to learn how much protein you need to consume each day check out the book How Much Protein (AKA HMP). ESE will help you incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle and show you how you can lose and keep the weight off simply by skipping a couple meals. AGD will show you what to do on the days you don’t fast, so you don’t eat it back up. RTD is here to help you diet during your (Note: RTD is a part of the Adonis Index systems, so Immersion clients get it for free, ESE and AGD and HMP are not!) Now, you may be wondering why at any point we haven’t mentioned anything about eating for muscle growth, right? Well, that’s simply because you can’t eat your way up to bigger muscles (again, unless you’re under say, 25, which can be a whole different ballgame due to hormonal makeup) There I said it. Muscles are built in the gym, not in the kitchen!
So stop looking for some anabolic diet plans, instead get a good workout and hit the gym.
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/build-muscle-without-eating-meat/ http://www.adonisindex.com/achieve-single-digit-bodyfat/ http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/ideal-metabolism/ http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-science/what-is-scientificresearch/ http://johnbarban.com/let-food-be-thy-medicine-not-thy-drug/
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1718-Favorite-500cal-meals http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1551-Body-efficiency-and-lowcalorie-diet http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3910-One-meal-a-day http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1276-John-Barban-John-Berardi http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/4052-Bulking-and-gaining-fat http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1669-Debunking-Nutritional-Ideas http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/62-Why-is-it-hard-to-maintain-asix-pack-and-what-stops-you-from-losing-ALL-your-fat http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/338-Why-a-calories-isn-t-always-acalorie
Day 6: Supplement Guide Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Supplements are something we usually discuss in our premium Uncensored podcasts, but to give you the basics, it’s really super simple and easy. Our take on supplements is that you don’t need them per se. But if you can fit them into your budget, there are some nice options that can make the process of building muscle and burning fat somewhat easier. The #1 supplement that has really been shown to work, and has solid amount of data to prove it, for building muscle is creatine monohydrate. So consider taking 5-10 grams of Creatine monohydrate daily, because it’s cheap and it works well for most people. Timing doesn’t matter, you can take it with coffee, but personally I put it into my protein shake because I think it just ruins the taste of the coffee. Other supplements are to be taken at a risk of minor benefits for high costs. Any other supplement than creatine monohydrate might help you, but the choice whether to take it or not depends on your goal and budget. If you have 100+ bucks a month to spend on supplements and you want to make sure your body has everything it needs to function properly and have some kind of insurance, then you can add some vitamins, protein or BCAA’s and fish oil. But if you don’t have the money, creatine will be enough. Choosing a brand can be tricky and we can’t really tell you which companies are valid. Our guess is that the big companies will be more careful with what they put into their products, so it’s a good idea to stay away from the smaller once. The brand we trust and can 100% stand behind is Bluestar Nutraceuticals because John Barban is a product development consultant with this company and he knows the owner personally. Here’s a great podcast about creatine: http://www.adonisindex.com/muscle-building-supplements-creatine-is-king/
Links for further information:
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1338-Creatine-sticky-thread-fornewcomers http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1007-tribulus-and-othertestosterone-boosters http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1371-JB-s-formulated-fat-burner http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/579-Caffeine-it-really-works! http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1818-My-first-time-using-Creatine http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/4123-Creatine-Monohydrate-vsCreatine-Malate http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/3179-AI-Staple-Supplements http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/27-Most-asked-creatine-question http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/384-Creatine-Once-Again-How-doyou-take-it http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1201-BCAA-s http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1322-SO-UPSET-(and-also-why-Iprefer-JB-s-recommendations) http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/371-Protein-intake
Day 7: Learning about the Social Benefits of Ideal Body Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Most guys won’t admit this, but typically, your reasons for going to the gym are really about looking and feeling good, and not really to have a functional body or run faster. Now, that’s not saying that “looks based” training doesn’t translate to athletic performance, because it most certainly does. However, athletic training tends to give you the “look” of what you’re training for, which may or may not be the actual end look you’re looking for (see Goal Hijacking) And that’s okay, it’s actually to your benefit to be honest with yourself and truth to be told, there are many benefits of having a good looking body that resembles a Greek God. Some of them include having rock solid confidence, being and feeling desired (even lusted), respected and admired. All the feelings men strive to have, but very few ever get. Whether you like it or not, the look and shape of your body is critical to how people perceive and react to you. It's within your control to change it so you should make it work to your advantage instead of against you. Here are a couple articles and podcasts you should check out to learn more about this: http://www.adonisindex.com/how-to-build-muscle-and-social-dominance-atthe-same-time/ http://www.adonisindex.com/change-your-body-and-change-your-life/ http://www.adonisindex.com/changing-your-look-changes-your-game/ http://www.adonisindex.com/find-confidence/ http://www.adonisindex.com/3-dirty-lies-of-chasing-confidence/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.highgravitymale.com/what-do-women-really-want-christian-hudsoninterview/
Day 8: Lifestyle freedom and fitness flexibility Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
In this section you’ll learn how to build a perfect body, be consistent in the gym, create a caloric deficit for fat loss (if needed) and still have a great social life and keep your job. Most people make a mistake of thinking they just don’t have enough time to get in shape. This is not true and you are just making excuses or subconsciously convincing yourself to be so. Your brain can be tricky and sometimes can work against us. We have seen many times that if you want to get in shape badly enough, you will find the time. Guys with several jobs and kids still managed to train 4 or 5 times a week for about 80 minutes per training session. (one example was a man with quadruplets as well as being the voice of a major character in a major video game I KNOW you’ve heard of... just FYI) And we’ve even had guys with serious injuries that found a way to get off their butt and get in shape. There really is no excuse for not working out. On the other hand, you should never allow training and diet to overtake your life. It’s not your identity. You can be covert with your diet. No one has to know, you can go out and enjoy birthdays, weddings, Friday nights out or whatever social eating and drinking event you like to go each week. Of course we teach you how to do that and still lose weight (if that’s what you need) and/or gain incredible muscle, but right now it’s important to just understand that it’s possible and that this is how it should be - it’s not about suffering, you are supposed to enjoy the process!
Here are some great articles and podcasts around those ideas, check them out: http://www.adonisindex.com/genetic-potential-vs-lifestyle-potential/ http://www.adonisindex.com/the-answer-is-starring-you-right-in-the-face/ http://www.adonisindex.com/balance-the-key-to-success/ http://www.adonisindex.com/your-body-is-linked-to-your-identity-whether-youlike-it-or-not/ http://www.adonisindex.com/powerful-adonis-transformation/
http://www.adonisindex.com/stop-failing-at-diet-training/ http://www.adonisindex.com/take-your-workout-seriously-then-go-live-yourlife/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles:
http://johnbarban.com/punishing-yourself-with-the-gym/
Day 9: Making Your Goals Happen Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
With our workouts the goal is obviously to build an ideal body - with a shoulder to waist ratio of 1.618. But let’s talk about how to choose between focusing on muscle building and focusing on losing fat.
How to set up and prioritize your goals Even though what we say is true and proven to work, not every piece of advice will apply to you personally and you have to be the one who is going to decide if it will. Just like with the workouts, some advice is meant more for beginners, some for more advanced trainees. Another thing is what will determine what advice is applicable to you is whether your goal is fat loss, muscle building, or “recomp”. We regularly get questions about whether you should first “bulk up” or lose some fat and build muscle later. We are strongly against bulking and cutting, because we know it doesn’t work and only makes people fat (we talk more in depth about this myth in our premium uncensored podcasts). It also takes you out of your most anabolic window due to chronic inflammation. Yes, guys on ‘roids can do this. Natural trainers, not so much. What we recommend instead is losing fat first and focusing on building lean muscle after. This is simply because losing that belly will take significantly less time than building your muscles. And if you lose it, you will see what you got (specifically you will finally see your degree of muscular development…or lack thereof). On one hand you will see what your strongest muscle groups are, and on the other hand you’ll see what muscle groups need more work and refinement. Every inch of muscle you put on your body will be visible and will make a difference compared to when it was previously hidden under layers of fat.
On the other hand if you are already ripped and have some muscle, your approach will be different. You will want to work on recomposition, improve certain parts of your body and maybe only need to sharpen up a bit to get photoshoot ready. Get clear on where you are and where you want to get and prioritize your goals. This will help you filter the information that comes your way.
Here are some great articles and podcasts to help you understand this: http://www.adonisindex.com/youve-got-to-have-a-goal/ http://www.adonisindex.com/satisfaction-with-your-body-starts-with-the-rightgoals/ http://www.adonisindex.com/implied-goals-vs-your-goals/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/commitment-equals-results/ http://www.adonisindex.com/golden-eye/
Day 10: Get and Stay Motivated Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Keeping your eye on the prize and being motivated in the right direction takes daily thought and planning. Our community, podcasts, programs and systems are all designed to keep you heading in the right direction and shield you from the nonstop fitness media marketing nonsense. Information overload will eventually stop your progress dead in its tracks. If motivation is an issue here’s a great article on how to improve it: http://www.adonisindex.com/key-to-motivation/
If you want to get motivated and inspired from other people’s accomplishments check out the blog updates inside community where people talk about their daily challenges and accomplishment. You can also check out the before and after pictures with their interviews here: http://www.adonisindex.com/transformation-contest/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/finding-your-motivation-interview-with-andrewscott/ http://johnbarban.com/getting-in-shape-is-a-process-not-a-destination/ http://johnbarban.com/changing-your-body-will-you-do-it/
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/2970-Motivational-Videos http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/671-Ideal-Body http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/309-Been-reading-transformationtestimonials
Day 11: What’s Wrong with the Mainstream Advice? Discover the Myths Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Mainstream diet and fitness media and marketing fills your mind up with gimmicks and too-good-to-be-true scams. We teach the real truth to getting in shape. In fact, doing it the right way ends up being much faster than trying and failing with gimmicks and short cuts. Short cuts simply take too long. Do it right the first time and you'll reap the rewards for the rest of your life. One of the most common myths in this industry is the whole bulking and cutting approach, well while we talk about it in great detail in our premium uncensored podcasts, but here’s a summary of our take on it: Bulking and cutting as a way to gain muscle and then lose fat is the wrong way to build an impressive body. Perhaps it works for bodybuilder using massive doses of bulking steroids then using massive doses of drugs to cut the fat off…but it doesn't work for natural guys who want to do it the healthy way. You've got to be smarter with how you workout and diet if you're not using drugs. Most muscle magazines and bodybuilding advice comes from people who use steroids. They simply don't know how to build an impressive body any other way so their advice is totally useless to someone who is natural. And this is just one of the myths, we cover all of them in our systems.
To find out more about this, check this out: http://www.adonisindex.com/steroids-the-true-stars-of-bodybuilding-andfitness/ http://www.adonisindex.com/bodybuilding-vs-fitness/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/naturalistic-fallacy-and-how-to-find-experts/ http://www.adonisindex.com/red-pill-blue-pill-your-choice/ http://www.adonisindex.com/deconstructing-myths-lies-and-creative-analysis/
http://www.adonisindex.com/nutrition-guidelines-and-marketing-who-can-youtrust/ http://www.adonisindex.com/fitness-marketing-drugs-taking-responsbility-foryour-body/ http://www.adonisindex.com/diet-workout-health-what-defines-you/ http://johnbarban.com/steroids-are-for-villains-and-heros/ http://johnbarban.com/steroid-muscle-vs-natural-muscle/ http://johnbarban.com/diet-and-fitness-answers-vs-truth/
Community: http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/1065-Bigger-Faster-Stronger http://community.adonisindex.com/threads/2075-Entertainment-blog-fitnessamp-nutrition-B-S
Day 12: Get Clarity Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Don’t overcomplicate things. And avoid following multiple mentors. Pick just one and follow him or her. Otherwise you will get conflicting information and will suffer from analysis paralysis. To help you get a clear approach, here’s what we have learnt from our previous contest winners: http://www.adonisindex.com/contest-winners-lessons/ http://www.adonisindex.com/contest-winners-lessons-2/ You've got to decide how you want to get to your goals, pick one strategy and follow it through to the end. Don't mix and match programs or philosophies otherwise you'll never know if any of them work, or what works and what doesn't.
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/praxeology-its-what-we-do-that-counts/ http://www.adonisindex.com/are-you-focused-on-local-optimums/
Day 13: Take Action and Win a Transformation Contest Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
How to participate and win our AI contest Each year we hold a few transformation contests and anyone who follows the Adonis Index system can participate. Some basic info: • You have 12 weeks to prepare for the after pictures • If you want to win you have to make the biggest transformation, build the most proportioned physique and have the best shape of all the contestants regardless of your weight or height, the closer you are to your golden AI score the better your chance of winning • In order to participate you have to have some Adonis Index system and be serious about this • If you look really good and take great pictures we will also feature you on some of our programs
Why would you participate in the contest? Well, for starters you will have the best pictures of yourself for the rest of your life, you will get into amazing shape and get a chance to win 500 bucks. You can use the money you win to pay the photographer, buy new supplements or workouts or even a gym membership it’s up to you. If you want to participate, just watch our blog for upcoming announcements about new contests. For now you can check out the pictures and listen to the interview with previous winners here: http://www.adonisindex.com/transformation-contest/
Here are some tips to help you get the ball rolling: http://www.adonisindex.com/when-it-comes-to-changing-your-body-talk-ischeap/ http://www.adonisindex.com/taking-action-is-the-key/ http://www.adonisindex.com/what-is-vs-what-if-thinking-action-vs-inaction/
Links for further information:
Podcasts and Articles: http://www.adonisindex.com/how-to-take-adonis-transformation-after-pictures/ http://www.adonisindex.com/posing-tutorial-for-after-photos/ http://www.adonisindex.com/the-photo-shoot-ready-recipe-four-keyingredients-needed-to-prepare-your-contest-photo-submissions/ http://www.adonisindex.com/journey-to-cover-model-body/
Day 14: The Next Step Main Content and Mandatory Reading:
Here’s a checklist of things for you to do: 1.
Take pictures and measurements
2.
Read and listen to al the articles and podcasts listed in this ebook
3.
Get our main workout
4.
Start a profile inside the community and introduce yourself
5.
Get to the gym and start training
6.
Set up goals
7.
Make diet plan base on the ESE, AGD, RTD principles
8.
Ask questions inside the community
9.
Learn to take action and implement everything before learning the next level of knowledge
10.
Choose just one source of information to avoid getting conflicting advice
11.
Stay on course, work on your motivation, don’t fall for gimmicks and shortcuts
12.
Take creatine, but don’t put too much importance on supplements
13.
Don’t stress about training and diet, have fun with it and keep your social life
14.
Keep this to yourself, most people aren’t supportive and will try to talk you out of it (this includes your friends and family too)
If you haven’t implemented and started on those I encourage you to do so ASAP. If you are asking yourself what’s the next step then we got you covered.
Useful Links and where to find what you need:
Login into the community here: http://community.adonisindex.com If you are looking for the products you have bought go here: http://community.adonisindex.com/cockpit/member.php If you want to check out our instructional videos, go here: http://community.adonisindex.com/cockpit/downloads/instructional-videos/ To read the new blog posts go here: http://www.adonisindex.com/ To access the podcast and article archives go here: http://www.adonisindex.com/podcasts-archive/ To check out all the programs and systems we offer or recommend go here: http://products.adonisindex.com/ And if you haven’t checked the contest info and transformation and interviews of our contes winners go here: http://www.adonisindex.com/transformation-contest/
Take things to new level and get access to the cutting edge advice for life By now you know what Adonis Index is all about. We would like to take things to another level and offer you a special deal. For one investment you will get access for life to every system we have ever produced under Adonis Index umbrella and for every system we will design in the future. Most fitness guys have you pay monthly fee for their full membership access and once you stop paying you are out. Well, we don’t like that approach and we also want you to have the best advice possible so we would like to present you the Immersion Package. http://products.adonisindex.com/immersion/
What is Immersion? Most of our products are offered only at special occasions during the year. And a few can’t be bought separately at all. However, all of them are part a lifetime membership called “Immersion”. Immersion insures that you pay just once (you can break the payment into several investments of course if you want to), and get lifetime access to ALL of our products that have ever been published at Adonis Index or WILL BE PUBLISHED in the future. We don’t want you to have to buy new products over and over again if you don’t want to, just one payment you have it all for life, never ever having to buy another workout or diet program again. This also gives us more opportunity and accountability to create new amazing content for the immersion on the go without having to spend time on all that marketing stuff. It’s really a win-win -> more time for us to create programs and systems, more workouts and information for you for no further investment. But even the current content in the immersion package has hundreds of hours worth of advice and workout plans for more than two years!
You can check it out here: http://products.adonisindex.com/immersion
(if you don’t make the investment today, realize that we are adding new content every month, so the price for the Immersion will go up at some point again!)
Anyway, that’s it for now.
Good luck with your fitness goals and hit us on the forum if you have any further questions.
Yours truly,
Vaclav Gregor on the behalf of The Adonis Lifestyle Team