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In Part I of this series I talked about how to take the appropriate photos to ensure a complete and objective physique assessment.  In Part II the main focus was on evaluating those photos and determining whether you should be proceeding with a fat loss or muscle gain focus.

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Today I am going to highlight in the simplest form possible what I would do with a client to bring up their lagging body parts in either a fat loss scenario (waist more than 2 inches above the ideal discussed in part II) or in a scenario where muscle gain is the priority (waist less than two inches above ideal).

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Fat Loss Programming

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Nutrition

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While my complete thoughts on fat loss are far beyond the scope of this article, I feel that the best way to create fat loss is to create a calorie deficit of 500-1000 calories per day primarily achieved with diet.  How you do this is up to you.  You can eat multiple meals per day or you can fast for a couple days per week, but this is the single most important element of body fat reduction and you MUST have a net calorie deficit over time to get lean.

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And just to be clear research has demonstrated that exercise is a very poor method for creating long term weight loss when combined with an already effective diet.  You CAN create a calorie deficit with exercise, but diet is numero uno.

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Training

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It has also been demonstrated in research that resistance exercise spares muscle while in a calorie deficit.   For this reason, this is where I feel exercise is most important when trying to lose fat.  With my clients I use diet to create a calorie deficit and exercise to spare muscle mass.

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I do use some cardiovasular exercise because of its preferential effects on visceral fat (the fat around your organs) thus reducing the waistline, but I don’t care whether you use intervals or steady state because I’m not convinced that one is vastly superior to the other at this point. 

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Truth be told, I haven’t seen that working to bring up lagging muscle groups while dieting is nearly as effective of doing it while in a calorie surplus, but I still figure it is worth some effort.  However, it is most important to remember that reducing your waist measurement is going to have the greatest effect at improving your physique at this point so this is really the primary concern.

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 The main goal for me with resistance training while in a calorie deficit, is to make sure every muscle group is hit at least once per week as some research has shown the muscle groups not trained during a calorie deficit are prone to atrophy (i.e., shrinking like a penis in a cold pool).

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Note: Don’t ask me for the reference here.  I forget it.  Sorry.

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The simple keys here are to create a moderate calorie deficit (eat less) and hit each muscle group with a minimum of 30 total repetitions per week to ensure maintenance of muscle mass. 

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Adding in a few more total repetitions (up to 60 per week) for the lagging muscle groups may offer some further improvement in appearance, but the big focus here is reducing the waist to shoulder ratio. 

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Generally I recommend no more than 3 workouts per week when dieting as I feel that recovery is not as good as when in a caloric surplus.  The main purpose of exercise is muscle maintenance at this point and the time off from the gym would probably be better spent in the kitchen.

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Muscle Growth Programming

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If you’re a little confused to see that I’m advocating muscle growth despite what I said in the first article about a limit to muscular size I totally understand.  However, remember that I didn’t say that muscle mass stops.  Advanced trainees can still build muscle, but what I am advocating is that we must accept that it will be much slower and that we should put our efforts at further development where they are most needed instead of distributing them randomly about the body with no concern for aesthetic balance.

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In short, train what is weak.  Maintain what is not.

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Nutrition

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In terms of nutrition for muscle growth and development, I feel that a small calorie surplus is needed.  Since keeping the waist measure in check is a goal, the “just eat everything and get hyooge” mentality does not apply at this stage.  I feel that a more moderate calorie surplus of 200-300 calories per day is sufficient.

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Remember that an advanced trainee probably won’t gain more than 5-6 pounds of muscle per year (if that) so if you are gaining weight faster than that and you’re not coming off of a layoff it is probably fat.  Check your waist at least every two weeks and if it has exceeded the previously discussed two inch window above your ideal you need to moderately reduce your calories until it is back where it should be.

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Training

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In terms of training, I feel that a calorie surplus allows for better training and recovery so as many as 4-5 workouts per week are possible.  I also tend to believe the notion that there are three mechanisms for muscle hypertrophy based on the most current research.  They are load, fatigue, and damage.

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Load is the result of handling weights that are greater than 65% of your one rep max.   As an advanced trainee, I tend to focus more towards 85% or greater.

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Metabolic fatigue is a result of repetitive stimulus at a lower load (as high as 25 reps per set).  This can stimulate sarcoplasmic (“non-functional”) hypertrophy to a greater extent, but it works just fine for adding size where we need it.

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Damage is the result of obtaining enough total volume from the number of sets and repetitions done to achieve  both the load and metabolic fatigue stimuli above.

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With my clients I try to aim for 30-60 total repetitions for the two most lagging muscle group two times per week including elements of each mechanism of muscle growth.  Every other muscle group gets the minimum 30-60 repetitions once per week to maintain the current size.  If one muscle is disproportionately large, it can even get less volume than this.

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Generally speaking, the upper and lower body split below has worked well for most natural trainees I’ve worked with to allow adequate recovery and repeated exposure for lagging muscle groups.

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Monday:  Upper Body

Tuesday: Lower Body

Wednesday:  Off

Thursday:  Upper Body

Friday:  Lower Body

Saturday:  Off

Sunday:  Off

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Bring it All Together

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All in all, the physique assessment strategy is pretty simple.  You need to snap some photos, evaluate your physique, summarize your results, measure your waist, prioritize your goals, and then create a plan of action.  Whether you use my methods for creating the desired result or not is irrelevant as there are certainly many paths to the same place.  I think that the real secret is to know where you’re going.

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What do you think?

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Okay…I wasn’t going to do a post today, but I’ve got a couple random things I wanted to get out so I’ll knock them out and let you get on with your weekend.

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1.  On Wednesday my esteemed colleague Dr. John Berardi posted something on his site that I though you could all appreciate.  Here are his 10 Things Elite Coaches Do.

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Of all of his suggestions, one really resonated with me:

“early in my career I made a fundamental mistake. I focused only on physiology books without paying much attention to an absolutely critical area of coaching: change psychology.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and you can check out Johns top 6 books on this topic in his post.  I know I will.

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2.  I originally posted the link above on my Facebook and if you aren’t on there then you might’ve missed it if I didn’t remember to post it here too.  Which got me thinking…If you’re not on my Facebook just think of all the great stuff you’re missing.

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The World’s Best Core Exercise
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Some Crazy Parkour

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And, of course, The Jersey Shore Workout
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If you don’t want to miss out on all this very important content Facebook me up HERE.  Oh…I’m on Twitter too.  You can find me HERE.

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Have a great weekend!  Next week I’ll be running a multi-part series on physique assessment.  Should be fun.

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Recently a reader of this blog asked me to comment about those in the industry that are known primarily as internet marketers.  While most in the strength training and fitness industries talk about these people with disdain, I’m not sure I totally feel the same in all cases. 

I suppose the biggest issue that some people have with the internet guru who doesn’t work with someone in person is that they can’t possibly know anything about how things work in the real world.  To this I say bullshit.  My good friend Erik Ledin works primarily with bodybuilders and fitness competitors online and many of them are very successful.  Maybe you don’t want to be doing rehab online, but I’m not about to discredit anyone who is doing something or selling something that works regardless of whether or not they’re currently in contact with people.

Guys like John Berardi, Alan Aragon, and Lyle McDonald all come to mind when talking about making money online and I have no doubts that they’re all putting out good content.  As long as the content is good and it works for those who purchase it, I could care less who you’re working with.  There are a LOT of shitty trainers who actually work with people so I’m not sure how this suddenly became the criteria we use to determine whose products are worth buying and whose aren’t.

 
It seems to me that with many trainers and coaches if you’re making a lot of money online you’ve sold out and you’re not given the respect you might otherwise deserve.  To some trainers it appears that there is some sort of nobility to working endless hours until you’re burnt out and making minimal dollars until you reach the top.  To me, if you’ve created a fat loss product and it works (and it isn’t full of typos and plagiarism – you know who you people are) you deserve every cent you make whether you’re working with a single person or not.

On the other hand, the people that piss me off are those with huge lists who become affiliates of everyone on the planet who has a product launch and endorse them without any concern about whether or not the new product is a giant pile of dog turd.  These people, even if they have good products themselves, go on my blacklist because I have no respect for anyone who sells junk strictly for the sake of money.

 
Good products for money = Respect.  Bad products for money = Blacklist.

 
And for the record, none of this is meant to discredit any of the guys killing it in the trenches and still putting out great products.  You know who you are and these are always the top products on my list.

 
What are your thoughts on internet marketing and fitness products?

This week I’ve shared with you two blog posts in which Dr John Berardi talks about losing body weight (and body fat).

The first one talks about how important incentives are for changing your body.  And it goes on to incentivize you with a whopping $10,000.

Could The Chance To Win $10,000 Help You Get In Shape?

The second one shows you how to coerce yourself into sticking to the plan, even when the motivation wanes.

Enter “the best kept secret in weight loss.”

Finally, today, I have one last post to share.

In this one, Dr Berardi talks about something called “accidental success.”

For most people fitness is a struggle.  Others, however, seem to sail through life; they’re lean, fit, and strong, and they seem to do it effortlessly.   Almost…by accident.

No, it’s not genetics.  It’s something else.  Something you too can use to get into the best shape of your life.

Learn the secret to accidental fitness

The other day I posted a link to a video of Dr John Berardi talking about his two latest programs – Lean Eating For Men and Lean Eating For Women.

Far and away, the most frequent questions had to do with his $20,000 prize – $10,000 to the top female winner and $10,000 to the top male winner.

To check out the blog post announcing this amazing prize click HERE.

Now, today, I want to share with you a post covering the flip side of the 10K prize.  In other words, if the prize is the carrot, today’s video talks about the stick.

You see, Dr. Berardi’s a coaching expert.  In fact, he’s probably the most successful nutrition coach in the health and fitness business.

And after speaking with him, I realized that there’s something powerful to this idea.

You see, the biggest transformations – body transformations or otherwise – are accomplished when people have big incentives.

And I’d say 10 thousand bucks qualifies as a big incentive all right.

But big inspiring goals also need some potential punishment.  Or, some risk.

And in today’s video, Dr Berardi shows you how to coerce yourself into sticking to the plan, even when the motivation wanes.

Enter “the best kept secret in weight loss” HERE.

So, if you’re REALLY interested in changing your body and you’d like a little extra incentive for doing so, this is definitely a program you need to check out.

Again, this message is time sensitive.  From what I hear there are A LOT of people clamoring to get in on the program.

So check out these posts below.  I know you won’t be disappointed.

Could The Chance To Win $10,000 Help You Get In Shape?

The Best Kept Secret In Weight Loss