How To ReComp your Body The Right Way!!!

Losing fat and building Muscle, isn’t that the goal of almost any one of us that steps foot into the gym. Sure we may have other goals, but lets not bullshit we want to look better!!! We want to have more muscle, less fat and overall look more appealing to the human eye.

So many of us have this goal, yet so few achieve it. Well my friends that come down simply to your approach. See you are not approaching the goal correctly in the first place. Thinking that you first need to gain muscle, then you will start “Cutting” is a crock of shit!!! You can do both at the same time, but it all comes down to approach and the factors that you are putting into the equation.

The first step in this equation is nutrition. How are you eating to accommodate this goal. As you have probably read in previous articles of mine in the past I am a huge advocate of the carb cycle approach and how that can get your body moving in either direction. So in the case of someone looking to lean out but keep muscle moving up we would want a carb cycle with a higher protein content to accommodate the added intensity of resistance training to stimulate an environment needed for growth. I would ideally structure lower fat/higher card days around lagging body parts so we can utilize the positive insulin effect of the carbs. Again we want to keep protein stable and a little higher than normal so that as our body starts to lean out, we are able to keep and even build muscle. The type of carb cycle does not matter so much, as long as there are constant changes throughout the week to keep the body guessing. To keep it in a state of insulin sensitivity so that you are positively using all the macro nutrients that come through food.

So now that we see how nutrition plays a role in this lets next talk about training and simply INTENSITY!!! You see way too many people nowadays are half-assing their training. Sitting on their phone, having conversations, not training with intent. And they wonder why they can’t grow. Its because you are training like a PUSSY!!!! You simply are not putting in the work. You are not giving your body a reason the respond and grow.

Now there truly is not a right and wrong way to train. HIIT, Low volume, High Volume, power building, etc , they all work if the intensity is there. But you need to put forth effort with this!! You need to push the sets, keep your heart rate up, bring your body to a state of work!!! We need to create the environment in which our bodies need to get stronger. And that comes from the effort that you are putting forth in the gym and in life!!!!

BEYOND JUST BODYBUILDING!!!!!!

Insulin Sensitivity. Why it’s the most important aspect of fat loss and muscle building!

So you want to get leaner, more toned, gain muscle and look good without clothes?! Good me too!!! You’ve followed every diet out there, you’ve tried every guru’s training program, took every supplement on the market and even tried going to the gym 7 days a week in hopes maybe, just maybe that’s the secret!! Well I’m here to tell you ITS NOT!!!!! The secret lies inside your bodies internal system, Insulin, that’s the secret!!!

So every time you eat your blood sugar rises, insulin is secreted by the pancreas to subsequently bring blood sugar back down to normal levels. The sugar, fats, and proteins in your blood are moved either to muscle cells or stored as fat. Now over time, just like any substance, your body becomes desensitized to insulins effects, aka insulin no longer works as effectively to lower blood sugar and transports nutrients available to fat cells since it’s easier for your body!! See your body wants to do the least amount of work possible!!!

No matter how much you diet after this point, no matter how much you work out, body composition will not change do to the fact insulin isn’t working!! So the key here is resensitizing your body to insulins effects, much the same way you would go off caffeine for a bit because it stops working, we have to reset our body in this sense too! If you don’t you will continue to spin your wheels, which many people do, until they quit then try the same shit again and again, quitting over and over!!! It’s time to get uncomfortable to allow our body to start seeing REAL progress.

Let’s take a different approach, that’s guaranteed to work!!! I will create a different post later on to describe what this process would look like in terms of traditional eating to get your body pushing forward and one that is sustainable for the long haul!!

INTENSITY OVER EVERYTHING

Carb Cycling 101

So we are back with another blog topic on nutrition and how to maximize your physique and energy levels!!! Last post we went over insulin sensitivity and how it directly affects body composition!! We will now dive into the number 1 most effective way to “diet” gosh I hate that term. But yes, the most effective way to eat to maximize insulin sensitivity and your subsequent results in the gym!!!!

Carb cycling, that’s the real secret nutrition hack that will start getting progress rolling in the right direction!!! Essentially we are looking to mix up the amounts of carbs we take in on a regular basis!! Sometimes daily, sometimes every few days!! Again this is super individual to YOU!!!! Now, here are the 2 keys!! On days of higher carbs, fat needs to be low! Again that carb day is needed to reset the metabolism!! The lower carb days we need to increase the fat in order to keep the body burning FAT!!! Go figure eat fat to keep the burning burning fat!!!

Now as the body gets leaner and leaner we must continue to up carbs to keep the body’s insulin resistance low!!!! Aka your body remain sensitive to insulin and can use carbs to increase one’s metabolism (the most important aspect to losing fat). Ever notice the ones who eat the most are generally the leanest??? And those eating 1 time a day are continue to get fatter??? Yea that’s why!! Metabolism and insulin sensitivity!! Over and out!!

INTENSITY OVER EVERYTHING

Why YOU should be doing cardio!!!

Cardio, everyones favorite thing to debate as it realtes to all aspects of your muscle building, fat loss and overall fitness journey. The question that usually comes into play is should you be doing cardio if your bulking, or otherwise in a state of gain? I mean we want to conserve as much unneeded energy to assist in the weight gain process right? Well my friends this could not be further from the thruth. Below I am going to lay out my top 8 reasons that you should be doing cardio no matter your goal.

1. Keeps metablism in check. One of the many benefits of cardio is the subsequent metabolism boosts that come along with it. Cardio helps keep your body burning food at a higher level and allows nutrients to be transported through the body more efficiently.

2. Maintains heart health. This one is pretty self expanitory, but cardio has been well established as a healthy means to a good heart. And your heart is the most important muscle in your body so you definitly should take care of it.

3. Improves brain health. Another great benefit of cardio is its ability to improve overall brain function. This is caused by the increase transport of oxygen through the body and especially the brain. All of these things lead to am improvement in brain function.

4. Happier Mood. Along with the improvement in brain function is an improvement in overall mood. This is due to the increased realase of the feel good chemicals, dopamine and serotonin, that accpompany a bout of cardio.

5. Direct fat loss. Ok so here is another benefit that many of you are seeking, and that is a loss of bodyfat. This is due to cardios ability to directly use fat as an energy source, thus taping into unused fat stores. This is why doing cardio following a bout of weight training, when your body is already in a depleated state, is one of the best ways to help get your body leaner.

6. Strenght gains. Another great benefit of regular cardiovascular training is its ability to indirectly improve ones level of strenght. Because of the increased nutrient transport that accompanies cardio, these is an increase uptake in ones ability to use those nutrients. Now if we can greated use nutrients in our body, we now how more energy to fuel our weight training sessions. And as we know more energy leads to an increase in strength and performance.

7. Improved ability to build muscle. Again this is going to come down to a secondary function as opposed to a primary function. With the increase in nutrient transport and the subsequent energy boost comes better gym performance. And with this greater increase in gym performance is an increase in muscle building ability as well. Think about it, energy goes up, your able to push harder in the gym. If your able to push harder and get more out of your sessions wouldn’t it make sense that your muscle building potential would go up as well? If your able to get a few extra reps for an exercise, recover a bit faster or go up in weight just a tad more, that could definitly be the progressive overload needed ot get progress moving in the right direction.

8. Faster overall gym recovery. So this brings me to my final big benefit of cardio and that is an overall improvement in gym recovery, not only from session to session, but every during sets. Your body is now able to transport oxygen faster and more efficiently, which we know can lead to and improvement in your ability to recover. Think about it, if your body can transport proteins and other nutrients to damaged muscle cells, it would make sense you are now able to recover a tad faster. Alos, an improvement in carb transport during a training session most certainly will incrase your ability to handle overall more volume in a single session. And that will most certainly lead to progress.

So as you can see there are numerous benefits to cardio, not just for your overall gym performance but your overall health as well. So next time you are thinking on skipping your cardio remember these 8 reason you should be doing regular cardiovasuclar training as part of your overall routine.

Finding your why in the gym and in life!!!!

Finding YOUR why, thats the million dollar question that one must answer to truly have purpose and intent with the things your trying to achieve. Without it progress will be subpar and focus can often lack.

When I first started bodybuilding nearly a decade ago I asked myself a simple question, why is getting big and strong important to me. The answer that I came up with was this. I wanted to look in the mirror and be proud of what was looking back. To feel confident and proud of what I was building and the progress that I was making.

Now this extends beyond the gym walls. This should seep into every aspect of your life and be the foundation that your life is built. One thing I like to do daily is write out each morning what I am trying to achieve that day so that I have a clear path for the next 24 hours. What are things I am trying to achieve today, what aspects of my life am I trying to improve. That was I have a clear vision as to what I am working towards on a certain day.

Too often we rely on external factors to influence our day to day actions. We rely on a doctor telling us we need to improve our health to get us to change, or attempt to change becasue again we dont have a clear why. We rely on a family member asking us if we have gained weight to get us to start exercising and eating better, and chances are you will fall off and be back to square one, becase again we don’t have a set WHY!!!!!

So one thing I encourage you to do is sit down and think about WHY are you starting? Why is this goal important to you? Why are you going to stick to this goal? And be as specific and personal as possible. Becasue once you do that you will be able to transform, not only your physique, but ultimatly your life!!! Time to go BEYOND JUST BODYBUILDING!!!!!

Leg Training 101

Leg day, hands down everyone’s favorite day of the week. I am going to give you a little insite into how to get the most out of your leg days to maximize progress. The first aspect that I am going to talk about here is volume.

Now I do not care if your natty, not notty or whatever, the same principles apply. Leg training takes volume and a good amount of it. We want to overload the muscle and create a good amount of blood flow. Remember we use our legs daily so it will take a good amount of stimulus to really get the legs to respond.

Now your probably thinking what exercises should you do? Well that depends on what’s lacking and needs to be brought up. But as a good rule of thumb, we should have an extension exercise, a curl exercise, a squating movement and a press movement. There are many different variations of these so it would be a good idea to mix them up every once and a while.

As for reps, one thing that I like to do is keep the reps 12-20 on the extension and curls, but focus/build up to one top set on the press and squat exercise!!!! Now this is a set you are pushing to complete failure. You are going to war here and you should be gased. Now if you want to add some fillers feel free but the bread and butter is executed.

1. Leg Extensions 5 sets 20 reps down to 12 increasing each set

2. Seated leg curl 5 sets 20 reps down to 12 increasing each set

3. Leg Press 1 top set of 10-15!!!! Complete failure

4. Hack Squat 1 top set of 10-15!!!! Complete failure

5. Lunges 3 sets of 30 per leg (best to find a long alleyway or walkway and use that strech)

DONE!!!!!!! Now its not a bad idea to throw a little bit of cardio into the mix here. Say 20 minutes on the stairmaster!! Overall your legs should be fried here if done right. Rinse and repaet next week either using the same exercises or slightly different.