Squats: The Best Exercise to Add Mass to Your Lower Body

Want to add a lot of mass to your legs, hips, and butt? Squats are the answer. Want to increase the weight on the scale? Squats will do that too. No doubt about it…squats will definitely add a lot of muscle to your body quickly. Although they do work a lot of muscle groups in the body besides legs, the majority of muscle added will be to the lower body. For someone who wants to add a bit of size to their legs, it is a great exercise choice.

The Lower Body Has a Large Potential for Muscle Gains

People who question my recommendation for limiting the use of squats, typically say something along these lines…"adding muscle is tough and takes hard work, people don't need to be worried that they will add too much muscle on accident". The problem is that the lower body does tend to grow at a faster rate than the upper body. Women in particular have this problem.

If Your Legs Are Bigger Than You Would Like?

If you want to lose muscle mass in your legs, then avoid all direct leg resistance training. For some reason, this is a controversial recommendation…but it makes perfect sense to me. Avoid all direct leg resistance training until your legs are as slim as you would like. At that point, reintroduce a limited amount of direct leg resistance training…but make sure that your legs don't increase in girth again. Here's my full-blown post on losing muscle on purpose.

If You Want to Tone the Lower Body Without Adding Size?

A few options:

• Perform cardio in an intense manner and see if that gets the job done.
• Train legs short of failure 1-2 times per week.
• Train legs once every other week (if you gain size easily in the lower body).

Deadlifts: A Better Option for Density, Less Potential for Mass

I fall under the category of gaining muscle too quickly in my thighs, hips and butt. Intense cardio keeps my quads and hamstrings toned, but doesn't hit the lower back as much as I would like. A great exercise to work the lower back and glutes, are partial deadlifts in a power rack. I simply do these once every other week, for 5 sets of 3-5 reps (well short of failure).

A Good Exercise That Targets the Glutes

As far as firming up and shaping the lower body, I believe that intense enough cardio will get the job done for a lot of people. For those who want to add in a bit more glute work, kettlebell or dumbbell swings are a great option. Roman demonstrates the proper variation of this exercise to target the glutes.

[Just like partial deadlifts...this still hits the legs to a certain extent, so cut back the frequency if it adds more size to your lower body than you would like.]

"Real Men Squat", "Squat or GO Home", & Other Nonsense

I haven't squatted in years, but I never thought squatting was particularly hard or taxing. I got up to 405 pounds for 5 sets of 6 reps…and it was somewhat tough…but not crazy intense or anything. Sure there are guys who squat over 600 pounds for reps, but it is all relative. There are some in fitness who act like squatting is such an accomplishment. It really isn't that big of a deal. Heck…I used to run hills in Junior High with my track team, and that was much more intense than my old squat workouts.

A Lot of People Will Want to Limit These Lifts

I don't like wearing pleated pants or relaxed fit jeans…so these lifts aren't congruent with my goals. I also found that too much leg mass made me feel sluggish. If you are a man or woman who wants large legs, then that is cool…I'm not trying to push my goals on anyone. One of my good online pals, Elliott Hulse, has legs the size of tree trunks…but it works for him. He is a competitive lifter and would have big legs even without lifting. He is just playing on his strengths, which completely makes sense.

Note: There are some men and women who can squat or deadlift on a regular basis without adding too much mass to their lower bodies. If you have those same genetics, then you can get away with doing those lifts on a regular basis. If you don't have those genetics then avoid those lifts…or at least use them less frequently. Makes sense, right?

Fasting, Dieting, and Testosterone
by Brad Pilon

Juice. Sauce. Crank.

When most people think testosterone, they think about the stuff that athletes inject. The truth is testosterone is an anabolic steroid, but it’s one that your body produces entirely on it’s own – no needles required.

The interesting thing about testosterone is that it’s not just a ‘muscle building hormone’. In both men and women, testosterone plays a key role in health and well-being as well as in the prevention of osteoporosis, and maintaining libido.

With testosterone being tied to muscle mass, health, bone density and libido, it’s pretty much a given that we should avoid doing things that drastically reduce our testosterone levels.

Unfortunately, one of the best ways to reduce our body fat levels can also negatively affect our testosterone levels. Long term calorie restriction CAN lower your testosterone levels, sometimes even as low as those found in eunuchs (a guy who’s been castrated…think about that for a moment).

This leads to a bit of a conundrum – Harsh dieting can lead to a reduction in testosterone levels, however, we know from examining large scale (over 1,000 subjects) longitudinal studies (following people for around 8 years) that gaining body fat is correlated with lower testosterone levels, as is just having high levels of high body. Even more confusing is that the very act of losing body fat is able to restore testosterone back to normal levels in overweight people who were low [i,ii].

From this research we can see that having extra body fat can reduce testosterone levels, lowering your body fat can increase your testosterone levels, but dieting can also decrease your testosterone levels. Like I said…Conundrum.

If we just left to story right here it would seem that there is almost no way of dieting or getting in shape without somehow messing up your testosterone levels. Lets take a closer look and see if there is a way to get lean without affecting testosterone in a negative way.

For starters this research shows us it seems that your diet must be fairly extreme in order to decrease your testosterone levels. There is consistent evidence that mild caloric restriction (about a 15% calorie restriction) does not lead to reductions in testosterone or free testosterone in otherwise healthy men [iii]. We can see that mild dieting doesn’t seem to have a negative affect on testosterone levels, but what about people who diet hard, while training hard at the same time?

We can find some very convincing answers to this question in military research. After 8 weeks of extreme multi-stressor environments (very-low-calorie diet, super high energy expenditure, high temperatures and extreme lack of sleep – military training) testosterone levels can drop to almost castration levels…not cool.

This military research shows pretty clearly that extreme dieting combined with hard training and lack of sleep can significantly alter your testosterone levels. Most of us aren’t training like we’re navy seals, however let’s be honest- the fanatical way some people approach their diet and exercise can become a little military-ish. And if hard dieting can in fact lower testosterone levels, then maybe we should start paying attention to how hard we workout when we’re also follow a strict diet. Or there might be another solution. In fact it may not be as simple as avoiding decreases in testosterone levels at all costs.

Case in point: Not only does a slight re-feed rapidly restore testosterone levels after long periods of hard-training and hard-dieting, but your testosterone levels may actually end up higher within 5 weeks after an 8 week period of stressful dieting and training.

These findings lead to another interesting conundrum – Extreme conditions can reduce testosterone, but also may cause a nice rebound afterwards. Could it be that short bouts of low testosterone from hard dieting and training are worth it for the big increase from the rebound afterwards?

Similar to what we find with Insulin and Leptin, dieting seems to be capable of increasing testosterone sensitivity. It wouldn’t be illogical to suggest that this may contribute to the increases in muscle mass and feelings of well being that people get after they finish dieting and training for a bodybuilding or fitness contest.

Luckily, there may be a way to get the same increases in sensitivity WITHOUT having to go through prolonged periods of chronically depressed testosterone levels.

While longer fasts (56 hours and beyond) will cause notable decreases in testosterone, Short-term fasting does not negatively affect testosterone levels, but do allow for short periods of caloric restriction [v,vi,vii,viii]. Fasting intermittently allows for an overall calorie deficit, while also allowing for periods of calorie maintenance.
 
Note from Rusty: Brad Pilon uses intermittent fasting to stay lean without lowering his testosterone levels.

This might just be the one way to burn fat and get the testosterone boosting advantage of short term calorie deficits, it’s the best of both worlds.

Brad Pilon is one of the world’s most recognized advocates of Intermittent Fasting – You can learn more about his approach to intermittent fasting in his newly revised book Eat Stop Eat.
 

i. Strain GW, Zumoff B, Miller LK, Rosner W, Levit C, Kalin M, Hershcopf RJ, Rosenfeld RS. Effect of massive weight loss on hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal function in obese men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1988 May;66(5):1019-23.

ii. Pritchard J, Després JP, Gagnon J, Tchernof A, Nadeau A, Tremblay A, Bouchard C. Plasma adrenal, gonadal, and conjugated steroids following long-term exercise-induced negative energy balance in identical twins. Metabolism. 1999 Sep;48(9):1120-7.

iii. Garrel DR, Todd KS, Pugeat MM, Calloway DH. Hormonal changes in normal men under marginally negative energy balance. Am J Clin Nutr 1984;39:930-936.

iv. Friedl KE, Moore RJ, Hoyt RW, Marchitelli LJ, Martinez-Lopez LE, Askew EW. Endocrine markers of semistarvation in healthy lean men in a multistressor environment. J Appl Physiol. 2000 May;88(5):1820-30

v. Röjdmark S. Influence of short-term fasting on the pituitary-testicular axis in normal men. Hormone Research. 1987; 25(3):140-6.

vi. Bergendahl M, Aloi JA, Iranmanesh A, Mulligan TM, Veldhuis JD. Fasting suppresses pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion and enhances orderliness of LH release in young but not older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1998 Jun;83(6):1967-75.

vii. [Merck Manual 1992].

viii. Klibanski A, Beitins IZ, Badger T, Little R, McArthur JW. Reproductive function during fasting in men. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1981; 53(2):258-63.

ix. Röjdmark S, Asplund A, Rössner S. Pituitary-testicular axis in obese men during short-term fasting. Acta Endocrinol (Copenh). 1989 Nov;121(5):727-32.

x. Klibanski A, Beitins IZ, Badger T, Little R, McArthur JW. Reproductive function during fasting in men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1981 Aug;53(2):258-63.

Should You Be Worried If You Sport a Tan In the Summer?

Are you risking your long-term health if you spend time outdoors soaking up rays? I can't answer that question for you. In fact, I am not giving any medical advice here. You have to make your own decisions. Enjoying life in the sun has a built in calculated risk, but so does driving a car to work, or flying in a plane. That being said, there is some strong evidence against avoiding the sun. In fact the advice of avoiding the sun from 12-4pm, may do more harm than good—>At what time should one go out in the sun?

Outdoor Workers Get Skin Cancer Less Than Indoor Workers?

Here is a link, to a study which found that melanoma has been on the rise for indoor workers, but NOT outdoor workers. Some interesting findings for sure!

"Paradoxically, although outdoor workers get much higher outdoor solar UV doses than indoor workers get, only the indoor workers’ incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has been increasing at a steady exponential rate since before 1940 (Fig. 1, World Health Organization, WHO, and Connecticut cancer registry). Likewise, the calculated lifetime risk for getting CMM follows the same pattern. In fact, outdoor workers have a lower incidence of CMM compared to indoor workers."

…Perhaps Indoor UV Exposure is to Blame?

"In the early 20th century, people went against evolution by going indoors during the day to work, which drastically decreased their daily amount of cutaneous vitamin D3 and, along with it, their blood levels. With the addition of larger buildings and sky scrappers, people created an unnatural UV barrier when windows were developed and used in abundance. The UV barrier created by window glass divided UVB from UVA, so that the vitamin D making UVB was excluded from our indoor working environment; only the vitamin D-breaking and DNA-mutating UVA was included. Because this unnatural UV environment existed for decades in buildings and cars, CMM began to steadily increase about 20–30 years later in the mid-1930s."

UVB "Makes" Vitamin D3 and UVA "Breaks Down" Vitamin D3

Unfortunately, the glass in buildings allows UVA in, but blocks UVB. Vitamin D3 kills melanoma cells and reduces tumor growth. So vitamin D3 helps prevent cancer. UVB is what helps produce Vitamin D3 in the skin. UVA is what breaks it down. The study puts it best…

"Thus, we propose that along with decreased levels of cutaneous vitamin D3, UVA exposures, which can promote tumor formation and incidence cause DNA mutations, and break down vitamin D3, can together significantly promote melanoma."

Explanation of Chart: Outdoor workers get a good balance of UVA and UVB rays and therefore have a steady level of Vitamin D3. As you can see indoor workers typically have a poor levels of vitamin D3, except for on the weekends and perhaps summer and vacations.

Sunscreens Block Out the Good Rays as Well!

There are studies that suggest that sunscreens do not help in preventing melanoma. In effect, the sunscreen is doing a similar thing to glass…blocking UVB and allowing in more UVA. So sunscreen isn't helping much in this regard as well.

Europe Has UVA Blocking Sunscreen and the US Doesn't!

I just found an amazing site dedicated to sunscreen. Here's a post you will want to read if you use sunscreen: Sunscreens Exposed – 9 Surprising Truths. "Sunscreen chemicals approved in Europe but not by the FDA provide up to five times more UVA protection; U.S. companies have been waiting five years for FDA approval to use the same compounds". I want some good European sunscreen! If you are after good sunscreen you can actually look up your brand in the sidebar and they will tell you the UVA protection level.

15-30 Minutes of Mid Day Sun Exposure Every Other Day?

It doesn't take a heck of a lot of sun to get vitamin D to healthy levels. Studies have found as little as 5-10 minutes of sun exposure 3 times per week can boost your vitamin D levels to where they need to be. My guess is that people with darker skin may need a bit more than that.

My Summer and Vacation Plan of Attack Going Forward

A Strong Case for "Sensible Sun Exposure"

I want to give a shout out to Mark's Daily Apple, which linked to this outstanding post, by a blog called "That Paleo Guy": More Sun Science. This guys does an excellent job making the argument that sensible sun exposure helps prevent melanoma, not cause it. Again, none of this is meant to be medical advice…you need to weight the evidence and decide for yourself whether you want to go out in the sun or not.

High Reps to Fatigue = One Way to Build Muscle Mass

This isn't news to anyone who has read my Visual Impact courses, but high reps are actually a great way to build muscle mass. Lifting in the 8-15 rep range increases fluid within the muscle cells (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) and this causes quick muscle growth. I do recommend lower rep ranges as well to increase strength, density and definition…but lifting lighter works well for increasing the size of a muscle.

Right Now I'm Lifting As Light As Possible for 8-15 Reps

I should probably rephrase that: I'm using as light of weight as I can while still fatiguing my muscles to the max in the 8-15 rep range. This is not quite the same as phase I of Visual Impact Muscle Building. I'm purposely going lighter than would be ideal for that phase. I'll give you an outline of a routine, but first an interesting study…

A Study About Low Resistance Exercise and Muscle Growth

Christian Finn, has a great article on his blog about gaining muscle with oxygen restriction. This post talked about how low oxygen levels in the muscles stimulates fatigue and increased muscle gain. He sites a study which talks about reducing oxygen levels in the muscle by using higher reps:

"Even just using a light weight (50% 1-RM), slowing down your reps (3 seconds for eccentric and concentric actions, 1-second pause, and no relaxing phase) and trying to maintain "constant tension" on the muscles has been shown to lower muscle oxygen levels, as well as building muscle just as well as heavier weights (80% 1-RM) and faster lifting speeds (1 second for concentric and eccentric actions, 1 second for relaxing)"

The Main Variable Here Is Constant Tension

What they found was that more explosive movement didn't create constant tension…the muscles got "a breather" (literally) and wouldn't get the desired low oxygen fatigued state. I have been performing the reps at a slightly higher tempo, but not resting at the top or bottom of the movements at all. It has been working well, but I may switch it up and try the "3 seconds up and 3 seconds down" method my next workout. Thanks for the tip Christian!

My Quick Outline of This Type of Training

I don't want to mess with your workout split. Keep doing the routine you are doing, but use this set and rep scheme.

• Chose a Weight That is About 50% of Your 1 Rep Max: I can bench press around 265-275 at this time, so for bench press I use 135 pounds.
• Aim for 15-20 Reps on Set #1: Lift REALLY close to failure. If you can do more than 20 reps the weight is too light. If you can do less than 15 it is too heavy.
• No Pausing at the Top or Bottom During the Reps: Do your best to avoid pausing. You want the muscle to fatigue with each rep "building upon" the previous rep.
• Rest Only 45-60 Seconds Between Sets: Again…the idea is that you want to hit that muscle before it recovers from the previous set.
• Do 5 Sets Close to Failure: Typically you will be able to do less and less reps each set. Do your best to make sure that you don't dip under 8 reps on that final set.
• Do 2-3 Exercises Per Muscle Group: When you are feeling a surge of energy and have more time, pick 3 exercises per muscle group (15 total sets). On days where time is limited or you feel worn down, then chose 2 exercises per muscle group (10 total sets).

You Will Have to Suck Up Your Ego for This to Work

Guys who have been through phase 1 of my program have already gone through this, but it is humbling if it is your first time lifting like this. On your second exercise, there is a good chance that you won't even be able to use 50% of your one rep max. For instance, after doing my 5 sets of bench with 135 pounds my chest is smoked! I typically will use only 35-40 for my dumbbell incline press right after that. It feels light in my hands, but I can't push much past 15 reps no matter how hard I try. It's an odd feeling.

Easy on the Joints, But Not On the Muscles!

This type of training burns when you do it. Your joints will feel fine and improve week-to-week as you do this, but your muscles will feel sore on a regular basis. You should notice that your muscles look fuller than normal due to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. The only downside is that you will feel like a wuss when you are struggling to press 8 reps with 135 pounds on your 5th set of bench presses

Note: For those of you who want to avoid adding muscle, do the polar opposite of what I talk about in this post… Lift heavy, use low reps, avoid failure, avoid fatigue, less sets, rest a decent amount in between sets, pause in between reps, etc.

Probably Not Something I'd Recommend Long Term

Think of this mainly as a tool to use when you want to break through a plateau. If a lot of your lifts are stuck and you can't seem to get through this sticking point, this is the exact type of thing that will get things rolling again. Same with adding size…this will push muscles back into growth mode. My recommendation is to use this method in 4-6 week bursts.

Strength Training VS Building Muscle With One Exercise

This method works equally well for increasing strength as it does for building muscle. The main difference will be rep ranges and rest periods. If you are aiming for size, you will want to use this method to fatigue the muscles from set to set…or what I like to call "cumulative fatigue". If you are aiming to use this to increase strength without size, then you will aim for low reps while avoiding fatigue and failure. This will give positive feedback to your nervous system, which will result in stronger contractions (and more strength) over time.

10 Sets of 3 Reps [For Strength]

Multiple sets of 3 reps is a great way to add strength and increase density without adding a lot of size to the muscle. If you are after strength & size, simply use a weight that forces you to get closer to failure each set.

• Pick a weight you could press for roughly 5-6 reps and use that weight on all 10 sets.
• Stop at 3 reps even though you could do more.
• Rest one minute between sets, but increase the rest if you feel any sign of fatigue.
• Aim to get 3 reps for all 10 sets.

10 Sets of 10 Reps [For Size]

This is a pretty common rep and set range for size. This isn't the best thing for strength, but will shock the heck out of a stubborn muscle group. I tried this last week on incline dumbbell presses …It absolutely smoked my chest. I'll tell you that story in a sec, but first here is how to do this set and rep setup.

• Pick a weight you can lift 15 times and use that weight on all 10 sets.
• Stop at 10 reps.
• Rest one minute between each set…do NOT increase the rest period no matter how fatigued the muscles are feeling.
• Aim for 10 reps on all 10 sets (gets hard at the end).

Awesome Back Exercise I Used for 10 X 10 Last Week!
 

I typically use 80-85 pound dumbbells when I am doing 5 sets of 5 on the incline dumbbell press. Last week, when I decided to give the 10 X 10 workout a shot…I figured 50 pounds would be an easy weight for my first time around. I WAS WRONG! On the 5th set, I couldn't get past 8 reps. On the 7th set, I couldn't get past 6 reps. On the 8th set I was at around 5. On the last two sets I dropped the weight to 35 pounds…and it was a struggle to get 10 full reps! Nest week I will use 40 pounds dumbbells.

Figured I Would Maybe Do a Few Sets of Bench After This

The bench press is not my strong point. Anything over 225 pounds feels heavy. That being said…I was NOT prepared for how smoked my chest was after doing those 10 sets of incline dumbbell presses. When I attempted a 135 pound warmup set, I had a hard time pressing 135 pounds 5 times. Typically I feel like I could throw that weight to the ceiling if I had to. After doing 10 sets of inclines it felt around 225 pounds! My entire chest was smoked from inclines. You really only do need one exercise per body part when doing 10 sets of 10 reps! A similar thing happened when I tried doing a few sets of chin ups after doing the Vince Gironda 45 Degree Pulley Row.

8 Sets of 8 Reps [Muscle Building With Fat Loss]

So Mike Westerdal, the guy who helped me put together the Visual Impact Exercise Demo Ebook, is giving away a really cool free report this week. It is Vince Gironda's Go-To workout for simultaneous muscle fiber growth and fat loss.

Gironda's Top Routine for Getting Muscles Growing Again

Vince Gironda was no less than a training legend. He used a huge portfolio of workouts and this was one of his favorites. The big highlight here is that this particular workout takes no more than 30 minutes. It isn't a circuit routine, but shares some similarities to modern circuit routines. It uses 2 exercises per body part, but they are performed in a special way.

So 3 More "Plateau Busters" to Implement in Your Workouts

• Strength Plateau? Try 10 Sets of 3 Reps
• Size Plateau? Try 10 Sets of 10 Reps
• Size Plateau and a Little Chubby? 8 Sets of 8 Reps

Brad and John Show You How to Get Into Starvation Mode?

These guys take an interesting approach. They show you exactly what it takes to reach starvation mode. By showing how difficult it is to reach starvation mode, they destroy a lot of muscle loss myths. Once you listen to this, you can relax and not stress out about losing muscle when you are dieting and exercising to lose body fat. As you will see, you don't even need to begin to worry about this until your reach crazy low body fat levels. Here's that recording:

My Notes From the Starvation Mode Recording

All of this is covered in the recording, but I wanted to put some of this in text as well. You can also right click and save this recording and listen on your computer or iPod. I'll post my notes below like I typically format my blog posts.

Why Are Brad and John Examining a Military Study?

Brad and John mainly look at a military experiment done by Karl Friedl. They point out that the military has less restrictions and can push people much harder than they can in a typical university study. There is no way this stuff would get approved by a university, but no problem for the military. In their words…To find limits to what the body is capable of, you need to dip into military research.

Step 1 to Get Into Starvation Mode—> Start Out Lean

Karl Friedl used fit and athletic soldiers with an average body fat of 14%. This is what John Barban calls "4 pack lean". There were guys as low as 6% body fat and as high as 18% body fat. Think along the lines of a fit and muscular soldier to get an idea of the participants of this study.

Karl Pretty Much Tortured These Guys for 8+ Weeks!

Karl had these guys eat between 1,000-1,200 calories…but burn upwards of 6,000 calories per day with crazy activity levels and sleep deprivation. So deficits in the 3,000-4,000 range on some days. Average deficit was 1,200 calories per day. They trained like mad and also went through extreme sleep deprivation.

Here's what happened during the 8 weeks (avg height 5'9"):

• At Start… 167 lbs & Adonis Index of 1.4
• 2 Weeks…156 lbs & Adonis Index of 1.44
• 4 Weeks…152 lbs & Adonis Index of 1.45
• 6 Weeks…146 lbs & Adonis Index of 1.50
• 8 Weeks…140 lbs & Adonis Index of 1.52

Note: Adonis Index refers to the shoulder circumference divided by the waist circumference. As an example, my shoulder measurement is 50 inches and my waist is 33 inches. If I divide my shoulder by my waist I get 1.51. The ideal Adonis Index is 1.61. The video below explains why a 1.61 ratio is pleasing to the eye in not just body proportions…but in art, architecture, etc.

In This Experiment, They Were NOT Trying to Preserve Muscle

The important thing to remember in this study was that they were trying their best to beat these guys down. They weren't doing things that normal people would do while dieting, like proper resistance training. Here are some of the tactics they used to try to get into starvation mode.

• Severe Caloric Restriction
• Severe Amount of Exercise
• Severe Amount of Mental Stress
• Extreme Sleep Deprivation

Began to Lose Lean Body Mass Between Weeks 6 and 8

At around the 8 week mark a lot of guys who were in the 5%-6% range could not drop any more body fat. This is when they began to lose lean muscle. The guys who started out the leanest, reached their limits at week 6. These were the guys who lost the most amount of lean body mass.

They Didn't Lose Muscle Just Because They Were at 5%-6%

They lost muscle because they were still having days where they were running at a 3,000 calorie deficit. Once someone reaches their lower limits of body fat percentage it makes sense to eat close to maintenance levels. This strong calorie deficit at this low body fat level also caused extreme hormone disruptions: Testosterone dropped, thyroid issues, mood changes <---this is true "starvation mode".

Why People Think Their Metabolism is Slowing Down

People with more fat available to oxidize…can oxidize more body fat per minute. The less body fat you have, the less you can oxidize per minute. So as you get closer to your lower limits of body fat, the slower you will burn what body fat you have. This is why those last 4-5 pounds come off slowly, NOT because you are wrecking your metabolism with an aggressive diet.

Most People Never Need to Worry About Starvation Mode

Most likely, starvation mode isn't happening to anybody reading this. The average person thinks starvation mode happens between meals. It isn't about not having enough calories. It isn't about not having enough protein. It only effects people at their critical low body fat mass. You have to be in a massive deficit and already at your critical low body fat level. You are "6 pack ripped" before ever getting to starvation mode.

Summary: John Barban and Brad Pilon have tons of posts and phenomenal recordings over on these two blogs they run…

Adonis Index Blog <---For Men
Venus Index Blog <---For Women

All of their posts challenge bad info and myths with good solid scientific research. I've been following these guys for 3+ years and have learned a ton from Brad and John, especially when it comes to dieting for rapid fat loss. Great stuff!

Greater Calorie Burning With Less Pain?

Let's be honest…if you are willing to kill yourself, you can burn a lot of calories and eventually get super lean. Ever see the movie 300? That movie is an example of people who lived and breathed fitness and tortured themselves for months to get lean. The "brute force" method of fitness works, but who wants to live like that? I think training should be enjoyable and something that you want to do for life. Luckily a study found that 30-30 HIIT Intervals, done properly, felt easier and actually burned more calories than a longer more painful work-to-rest ratio.

Link to Study: Physiological Responses During Interval Training With Different Intensities and Duration of Exercise

"In conclusion, this study revealed that IT duration of 30 seconds in comparison to 3 minutes allowed the athlete to perform a longer session with a higher total VO2, mean VO2, and HR yet at a lower BLC. The study also indicated that a submaximal intensity of 90% of MPO allowed the athlete to perform a longer session with a higher total than IT duration performed at 100% MPO."

[I'll try to make these findings of the study easier to digest.]

4 Different Types of HIIT Intervals Were Compared:

1. 30-30 HIIT Interval @ 90% Maximum Power Output:
30 seconds of effort at 90% alternated with 30 seconds of recovery at 50%. This was to be done for 30 minutes or until the subject couldn't maintain the required Maximal Power Output.

2. 30-30 HIIT Intervals @ 100% Maximum Power Output:
30 seconds of effort at 100% alternated with 30 seconds of recovery at 50%. This was to be done for 30 minutes or until the subject couldn't maintain the required Maximal Power Output.

3. 3min-3min HIIT Intervals @ 90% Maximum Power Output:
3 minutes of effort at 90% alternated with 3 minutes of recovery at 50%. This was to be done for 30 minutes or until the subject couldn't maintain the required Maximal Power Output.

4. 3min-3min HIIT Intervals @ 100% Maximum Power Output:
3 minutes of effort at 100% alternated with 3 minutes of recovery at 50%. This was to be done for 30 minutes or until the subject couldn't maintain the required Maximal Power Output.

Intervals Allow Hard Work With Lower Blood Lactate

Let's discuss why intervals are effective in the first place compared to just training hard at a steady rate. Intervals allow you to spend a greater amount of time doing intense exercise at lower blood lactate levels than simply "running hard". The active rest is what prevents lactic acid buildup in the muscles. HIIT cardio allows you to spend more total time at high intensity levels without feeling it as much as simply training hard non-stop.

Less Pain & Fatigue With the Same Total Time at High Levels

Let's say that you do intervals of 30 seconds walking and 30 seconds running. Your average running speed is 10.5 mile per hour and you do intervals for 20 minutes. That is 10 total minutes of running at 10.5 miles per hour. If you ran at that pace for 10 minutes straight, you would be gasping for air as well as feel a burn in your legs after a minute or two. Alternating running with walking is what allows you to get this same amount of higher intensity exercise in without the pain and fatigue caused by lactic acid buildup. Same amount of work with less of a perceived effort.

Shorter Intervals Created a Larger "Oxygen Debt"

The shorter intervals had a 90% greater oxygen uptake than the longer intervals. This created a larger oxygen debt. Why is oxygen debt important? When you train at an intense level, like sprinting, your body can't supply oxygen at a fast enough rate to fuel the muscles. After the intense effort is completed, your body has to basically repay that "borrowed energy"…it owes oxygen to get those muscles back to their normal state. The more energy your body borrowed during an intense effort the more oxygen it owes…this is called Oxygen Debt. The larger the oxygen debt created by your workout the longer it will take to repay it…with the benefit of more calories burned for a longer period of time after you are done exercising.

90% Intensity Got Better Results Than 100% Intensity

The problem with training all out is that lactic acid buildup can shut the muscles down. You obviously want to train hard, but not to the point where you can't complete the next interval. So the finding here is that hard intervals are better than pushing your limit each and every sprint. How hard is 90%? Well you can use heart rate to kind of give you an estimate if you are pushing hard enough. It looks like the average heart rate of the 30-30 intervals at 90% was 171 beats per minute. Although using heart rate is not an exact measurement of effort, if you are in the 170 range at least part of the time doing your intervals…you will be close to the right intensity level.

Short Intervals Are An Efficient Way to Burn Calories

The 30-30 interval protocol is a good one for burning calories without feeling it as much as longer intervals. I'd consider this a good "go-to" interval routine. This 30-30 HIIT cardio workout is one you could do without risking over-training and you would get decent results, but you will get better overall results if you mix in longer intervals.

Why Do Longer Intervals At All?

Longer intervals increase your VO2 max. VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen in milliliters someone can use in 1 minute, per kilogram of body weight. Simply put, it is how much oxygen can you use per minute. Fit people can use more oxygen per minute than people who are out of shape. It has been shown that people with a higher VO2 max will burn more calories doing the same activity as someone with a lower VO2 max. Longer intervals improve VO2 max better than shorter intervals. My post on that: Brief Exercise Found to Be Much More Effective for "Fit" People

Long Intervals Allow the Short Intervals to Work Better

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I have studied the heck out of HIIT cardio workouts for close to 20 years now. What I have found is that longer intervals hurt more, but get you in better shape (improve VO2 max). This allows you to get more out of the shorter intervals, which don't hurt as much. I recommend cycling longer intervals with shorter intervals (I have a whole HIIT cardio course that I'm rewriting this fall and releasing in 2012 that will cover this in detail).

A Real Example of an Easy 30-30 Workout

I like to do my toughest HIIT cardio workouts early in the week and save the 30-30 stuff for the last few days of the week. I don't worry too much about hitting 90% intensity exactly…I simply track heart rate to give me an estimate. Here is one of my "go-to" 30-30 hiit workouts on an Elliptical.

• 30 seconds on level 11.
• 30 seconds on level 15.
• Alternated for 15-20 minutes.
• Try to get heart rate to 175-180 by the last minute or two.
• Steady state at level 12 for 15 minutes.
• Keep heart rate at 165+ during steady state portion.

Note: In my free ebook and Video Course, Abs Blueprint, I cover exactly what I do to get the most fat burning effects out of my cardio sessions. Make sure and read that ebook and watch the videos if you haven't already.

My Practical Advice from The Findings of This Study?

Adjust your intervals based on your fatigue levels. If you have physically demanding job, or simply don't want to feel worn down, then shorter intervals are the way to go. If you want to push hard, improve your VO2 max and don't mind a little more fatigue…then mix in the longer intervals into your HIIT cardio workout routine.

[I wish I would have known about this technique when I started out. I struggled with the bench press for quite a few years and this would have helped me avoid lengthy sticking points.]

The Story of "Bear" – The King of Our College Gym!

I went to the University of Washington in the late 80's and early 90's…and I probably spent too much time in the gym and not enough time studying back then. We had access to a free gym called the IMA. There was a big friendly giant that trained at our gym that went by the name of "Bear". Bear looked like a cross between Mike Tyson and the huge guy in the movie "The Green Mile". He looked intimidating, but was friendly and made our gym a fun place to train.

I'm Pretty Certain That Bear Bench Pressed Every Day

I've never seen a guy with a thicker chest and upper back. When Bear shook your hand, it felt like it was made of stone. I'm pretty certain that 90% of Bear's workout was set after set of the bench press. I'm not sure he did a whole lot else. I think we occasionally saw Bear hit incline presses and perhaps some behind the neck shoulder presses. Most fitness magazines would tell you that bench pressing every day would lead to over-training…but why then was Bear the so impressive at the bench press?

Extraordinary Adaptation by Focusing on 1 Single Movement

Unlike Bear, you are not going to want to just perform and master one exercise forever. Instead, Nick Nilsson suggests focusing on just 1 single exercise for 5 days straight. As Nick puts it…

"The results you are going to see in these five short days could very well surpass what you've seen in the last 5 MONTHS"

The general idea of compound exercise overload is to train using just one exercise for 5 workout days in a row. The lift is going to be trained for multiple sets of 3 reps short of failure. To ensure growth, the total volume of the workout is going to be very high. The rest periods are also going to be shorter than traditional strength training.

Avoiding Training to "Chemical Muscle Failure"

When you train with medium to high reps, the muscle fails due to lactic acid buildup or ATP stores getting low <—Nick calls this chemical muscle failure. What happens is that chemicals in your body stop the muscle from being able to lift additional reps…so the muscle fibers aren't worked to their full capacity. To avoid chemical failure completely, you will do sets of 3 reps. This is going to allow you to target muscle fibers. You also want to avoid failure in this low rep range to allow you to do many more sets…a greater volume. High volume is important for gaining muscle quickly, so this makes sense.

* Low Reps for Growth? * The "Compound Exercise Overload" workout involves hitting the muscle with 120+ reps per workout…and hitting that same muscle with that volume each and every day for a week. This is crazy amounts of volume and fatigue done with low reps. If you want to train for tone without growth, then you wouldn't want to use Nick's method.

How to Use the Compound Exercise Overload Technique:

• Let's say you want to focus on bench press.
• Pick a weight you can do for 6-7 reps and do 3 reps.
• Rest for 20 seconds, then do another 3 reps.
• Repeat until you are unable to get 3 reps.
• Now remove 10 pounds off the bar and do 3 reps.
• Rest for 20 seconds, then do another 3 reps.
• Repeat until you are unable to get 3 reps.
• Continue on in this fashion for 20 minutes.

Note: On Day 1 it will be 20 minutes. Day 2 is 25 minutes (using 5-20 pounds more than Day 1). Day 3 is 30 minutes (using 5-20 pounds more than Day 2). Day 4 is 35 minutes (using 5-20 pounds more than Day 3). Day 5 is 40 minutes (using the same weight you used on Day 1).

Rest, Nutrition, Other Activities, etc.

You will try to keep all other activities to a minimum during this time. That means no cardio, no abs, no sports, etc. Try to avoid anything that is physically demanding during this week.  Nick puts it best…

"We don't want to confuse the body with any other stimulus".

You also want to eat A LOT during these 5 days. There is an exceptional amount of muscle fiber breakdown and you will need some additional nutrients. You will also want to drink a lot of water to maximize muscle growth.

Some Additional Pointers from Nick

End each set before failure. Stop at 2 reps if the 3rd rep is going to be a struggle…then reduce the weight on the next set. After your final set, when the time is up…rest 2 minutes then do one final set with as many reps as you can at that weight you ended with. You should be able to get 5-8 reps.

This is a Slightly Different Than the Newsletter Version

I went dug up a few articles Nick wrote about "compound exercise overload" and this one looked like it made sense. In his Newsletter he talks about starting out at 45 minutes from day 1, but I think that could be brutal. I like the progression in the version I listed above. Make sure and subscribe to his newsletter where he gives out a few additional pointers. Compound Exercise Overload is the first workout he sends out to subscribers.

Note: My hope is that a few people will want to give this a shot. If you do, please comment here with your results! My guess is that it will be a rough 5 days, but also pretty fun to see the progress.

What is the 4 X 7 Model of Periodization?

The 4 refers to 4 distinct workouts…

• Workout 1: No Intensity
• Workout 2: Low Intensity
• Workout 3: Medium Intensity
• Workout 4: High Intensity

These 4 workouts are done 4 days in a row. The "7" refers to how many times this 4 day cycle is done. So over a period of 28 days, this 4 day cycle is done 7 times.

Where Did I Learn About This Funky Workout System?

Back in 2009 I was closely following an emerging blogger named Adam Steer. I liked his blog because he talked about many Eastern Philosophies ignored by many of us in the West. I learned things I had never seen mentioned in typical "fitness magazines". Adam teamed up with Ryan Murdock (inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2006) In late September of 2009, they released a groundbreaking body weight course—> I was so committed to learning what Adam and Ryan were teaching that I cancelled my gym membership…breaking a 17 year streak of paying monthly gym dues.

I Led a Private Blog  for People to Learn the Program With Me

Over 200 people decided to ditch the gym Oct, Nov, and Dec of 2009…and learn Ryan and Adam's body weight program along with me. I posted every day for 90 days and we all did the program together. Out of the 200 who started the program with me, only 46 made it to the end. It was a tough program, but every single person in that private blog group who finished the program loved the results.

No Rest Days Using the 4 X 7 Method of Training?

You do a workout every day, so no true rest days. Here's the cool thing…the "No Intensity Days" and "Low Intensity Days" are almost better than a rest day. I sometimes trash Yoga, but Ryan had us doing "Prasara Yoga". This was a complex high level program we were doing. The first two days of the cycle, prepared our bodies to perform at a higher level when the intensity was increased. Adam and Ryan call this, "Releasing the Parking Brake".

Learned About His New Project Over A Hefeweizen

So Ryan is an extremely brave and adventurous guy. We were eating some delicious Seattle seafood, drinking beer, and having a great time…then he told us that he was moving to Malta. I think my girlfriend asked him what Malta was like. Get this…he had never been to Malta! That is nutty, but cool at the same time. I don't have that in my DNA. Very funny! Then he told us about a massive project that he was launching in June…

Adam and Ryan Launching a Body Weight "Game Changer"

They are releasing a master product called Shapeshifter...but have set it up to where you can add "plugins" to create a custom program. Want to do body weight and resistance band training? They will have a resistance band plugin. It will be one master program with various plugins. Supposedly they will add more and more plugins over time for people to create any program that suits their needs. I can't wait to see what this looks like (the program isn't for sale at this time).

Get a Free Shapeshifter Sample for the Next 24 Hours

Bottom line…I believe in what Adam and Ryan are doing here.I was pleased with their first big program, but this is supposedly going to blow that one out of the water. My only complaint about the last program was the quality of the videos. Ryan told me they hired a guy who works on major motion pictures to film Shapeshifter. You can see how impressive this looks, by checking out their free sample workout…

Click Here to Get a Sample Shapeshifter Bodyweight Workout

Note: My passion is training with weights, but I plan to buy Shapeshifter (not for sale yet) and follow the program once every other year for 3-4 months to get past sticking points. After I completed their previous program…I came back to the gym weaker in a few lifts…but then blew past my personal best. <—this was due to a concept they teach called "releasing the parking brake". Great stuff!

"It's Kind of Hard to Gauge When You Are Not On a Treadmill"

One of the readers on the Fitness Black Book Facebook Page, put up a great question today…

"Rusty, another question about HIIT. Weather was great today, so I ran outside. I tried to increase the speed with each sprint, but it's kind of hard to gauge when you're not on a treadmill. About half way through I just ran about as hard as I could during the sprints. Is that OK? I've done HIIT off and on the last few years that way and had decent success."

It is Hard to Gauge Intensity Levels When Not on a Machine!

What happens with any type of HIIT, is that you need to make it progressively harder over time to continue to get results. If you simply stick to the same intensity level forever, you will reach a fat loss sticking point. So the problem when training outdoors is that it is difficult to really tell if you are pushing harder than the previous workout.

We Need to Use a Slightly Different Approach Outside.

Here is an interval training workout that measures improvement in a real, tangible way. It is setup to where intensity will increase over time naturally. I will outline the workout first and then explain the reasons behind the way it is setup. The only thing you will need is some sort of timer…and possibly a little notebook to record your results.

Outdoor Progressive Interval Training

• Go to the Field of Your Choice: It can be a grass field, the beach, your backyard, a street in front of your house, etc.  I wanted to set this up to where this can be performed anywhere outside.  Really the only people who will have problems with this are agoraphobics.
• Mark off a Starting Point and an Ending Point: Put some sort of marker down on the ground, walk 50 yards and place another marker on the ground. It doesn't have to be exactly 50 yards. The point is to count out how many steps it takes you to get to roughly 50 yards. Write down how many paces between the markers. The important point is that you are going to want to run this same distance each and every workout.
• Set a Timer for 20 Minutes: Even a cheap $5 mechanical kitchen timer will do the trick.
• Run 50 Yards Then Rest: You are NOT going to want to do an all-out sprint. Take it easy this first time. Sprint to the end marker and rest approximately 30 seconds.
• Run Back to the Start Point Then Rest: Run back to the start marker and rest approximately 30 seconds. This time put down a dash on your little notebook. After 30 seconds it is time to run to the marker on the opposite side of the field again.
• Repeat This Until the 20 Minutes Are Up: Once you are done make a note of how many times you made it back to the starting marker in 20 minutes. Write this number down. The goal is to beat this number each and every time you do this interval workout outside.

Intensity Levels Will Increase as Performance Improves.

In order to do more sprints in less time you will have to either decrease your rest periods or increase the speed of your sprints. This will contribute to greater HGH release, a greater after-burn effect, more calories burned, etc. The idea is that you are using progression in your interval training…in a way that you can accurately measure.

I Recommend You Use Periodization in this Workout As Well.

What I mean by that, is to purposely start off easy and then gradually work your way to where you are pushing the limit. Maybe just aim for improving by one more sprint in 20 minutes from workout to workout. Perhaps the first 5-6 workouts are purposely easy for you. This type of setup is used in lifting…and helps lifters make positive improvements much longer than if they go as hard as possible from day one.

What Happens When You Can't Beat Your Personal Best?

I have the ideal solution. Simply increase or decrease the distance of your sprint. So if you were sprinting roughly 50 yards before…maybe you extend out to 70 yards. Just like in lifting, you would want to back off at first and then slowly increase the intensity to where you were pushing hard. So you are using both progression and periodization in your outdoor intervals workouts…but bystanders will simply think you are just mindlessly running in a field.

Note: I put up a post yesterday about Adrenaline Intervals on My Facebook Page. Supposedly a study in Australia showed a specific work-to-rest interval that burned stubborn body fat better than traditional intervals. Who knows? Something to try anyway.

An Interview With Jarett Perelmutter About SpeedX ™

Rusty: Jarett, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Before we discuss SpeedX, let's talk a bit about your gym…Brick Sport Performance. Can you give me a bit about your background that let up to opening a pretty darn impressive CrossFit gym?

Jarett: I have been involved in athletics since childhood. I established a chain of five martial arts studios in the Miami, FL market, and after selling them in 2009, moved back to Los Angeles and got heavily involved in the world of CrossFit.

My background in martial arts and fighting led me to win over a dozen titles and world championships in kick boxing, and my love of exercise was reignited when I discovered CrossFit.

I immediately saw the appeal of the sport, and believe it is a revolution in fitness. I worked at a CrossFit in the LA area for a while as a private trainer while I also trained for the CrossFit Games and other various competitions. Seeing the opportunity in CrossFit, I found partners that were equally excited and we opened up BRICK in November 2010.

We set out from the start to be a bit different from the traditional CrossFit model that had developed nationwide. Our concept is a larger space with more amenities and variety of classes and programs to appeal to a broader audience and to keep members excited about coming back again and again. While CrossFit is our main focus we also saw great opportunity to develop other programs based on the CrossFit methodology.

Rusty: Although I have dozens of questions I'd love to ask you about CrossFit, I want to focus mainly on CrossFit for fat loss. When I was doing some research online, your workout called SpeedX came up on Google. Can you tell me a bit about it?

Jarett: We developed SpeedX as an alternative to traditional CrossFit.

Being located in an area that has a large population of very young and fit people accustomed to interval style workouts, we set out to develop our own class based on CrossFit methodology.

We had a lot of people coming in that were members of boot camps complaining about injuries and having reached a plateau. They were not, however, interested in the intense weightlifting components of CrossFit.

SpeedX was developed around high intensity bursts of activity with low to moderate weights and lots of body weight conditioning. In order to ramp up the intensity and results, we incorporated Tabata intervals. The typical class starts with a 15 minute warm-up, similar to CrossFit, designed to get your heart pumping, your body hot, and your muscles loose.

…We then jump into eight different stations, each a different movement, with 20 seconds of intense workout with 10 seconds of rest. Eight rounds at each station and then a 15-20 second rest in between stations. 64 bursts of intense energy in 45 minutes. The fat just falls off the bone.

The main attraction of SpeedX is that it is constantly changing. Unlike boot camps or other interval workouts, there is no repetitive motion and use of treadmills or other machines. Workout programs change daily to keep people excited, motivated, and coming back for more.

Rusty: So similar to the CrossFit WOD, you surprise people in the SpeedX class with a different set of exercises every time they come to class. Is there any station that people dread (in a good way)? What are some of the tougher stations?

Jarett: People usually dread the total body movements the most. Burpees, Handstand push-ups, wall ball targets, parallette bars, and the push-press thrusters. These are probably the hardest stations and the ones they dread the most. They're hard because there is constant motion – no way to rest between reps. These are also full-body exercises that work on multiple areas at once.

Rusty: This may be asking for a bit, but I best the readers would love a PDF sample of a typical SpeedX workout. Is there any way I could get a pdf for people to download?

Jarett: See attached a copy of a sample work-out for your readers. While the workout is awesome, we believe that the team aspect and energy we create within BRICK is what really drives people to push their hardest.

[Right click on the ebook cover and chose "Save Link As..." and save to your Desktop for easy access.]

Rusty: I'm one of those people who actually enjoys a typical commercial gym, but also likes the idea of doing some workouts in a CrossFit type of environment. Do you make special accommodations for people who want to keep their current gym membership, but maybe just want to come in 1-2 times per week for an intense fat loss session? Can people just pay for SpeedX classes without having to pay the full monthly membership fee?

Jarett: We absolutely do! We offer SpeedX either through the unlimited monthly membership, our 2 times a week membership, and through day passes that can be purchased in single to thirty packs. Most of our members have memberships at typical commercial gyms, but once they start to see the results from SpeedX, they stop going to their other gyms.

Rusty: Very cool. So someone who wants to kick their fat burning up in a big way in lives in the area…they can go to one of your scheduled SpeedX classes 2 times per week. Let's say someone is just traveling to LA for a beach vacation and wants to swing in mid week to one of your scheduled classes. Should they arrive 20-30 minutes early to learn the moves before the workout starts?

Jarett: If it is their first time, they can try out SpeedX for free.

We actually offer a free 7-day pass to everyone who wants to try out BRICK. They should come in about 20-30 minutes in advance to complete their paperwork and warm up a bit for class.

They can also speak with the instructor and let them know it's their first time so they will be given extra attention on form and technique. After the free week, they can choose between either purchasing individual or multi class packs or a 2-day a week membership, which will start June 1, 2011.

Rusty: I like team aspect of this. I know this type of workout is hard as heck to do without a little "push" from others. I can imagine that people would get fantastic results. What is the best way for people in the LA area to give your SpeedX class a try?

Jarett: The first step is just to come on in.

You can bring a buddy, but you don't really need one. You'll find that within 15 minutes, you'll have made 3-4 friends just by being there. That is our crowd and that is what we're most proud of – our community.

We've got members who have been in athletics and CrossFit for years and they'll come up to you and give you all kinds of encouragement and advice without any judgment or attitude. If people want to give SpeedX and BRICK's CrossFit a more casual try, we offer free classes at Runyon Canyon in Hollywood. Most Saturdays through the spring and summer months, people can come to Runyon at 11:30am and jump into one of our workouts.

Rusty: Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. I like trainers who think "outside of the box". You and the guys over at BRICK are certainly a great example of this.

Jarett: We appreciate the opportunity! Like I said before, our community is what keeps us going. To have such a diverse group of people come together and not only improve their health but create social bonds is really something we are proud of. We also strive to be the best CrossFit out there. Our place was designed around a cool and modern loft-style space with great equipment and amenities that a lot of other places don't provide. The single most important thing, though, is our trainers. They are all high level athletes and competitors who are dedicated to fitness. They are the most approachable, knowledgeable, and friendly bunch of professionals and they want to help people succeed and exceed what they thought possible.

BRICK Sport Performance
7811 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90048
(323) 315 – 0700
http://www.brickcrossfit.com/

[No doubt in my mind that Rocky would train in a CrossFit gym. On a side note, Rocky IV was a BIG deal when it came out in 1985. I bet almost 100% of the kids in the 80's saw this in the theaters. I always got chills then the Rocky theme played. Still do.]

CrossFit – Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

About 3-4 months ago I was driving to work on a typical rainy Seattle day. I noticed a closed down auto-repair garage in my neighborhood that was being painted dark grey. A week later there was a "NW CrossFit Coming Soon" sign. I thought it was strange that they were turning a big garage into a gym. About 3-4 weeks went by and I peaked in while stuck in traffic and was pretty impressed with what I saw. This was the first time I had seen a CrossFit gym in person.

Olympic Gymnast Coach Bela Karolyi Would Dig This Gym

This CrossFit Gym in my neighborhood has a pull up bar that spans the length of one wall, a digital clock above that, and a well padded floor that looked perfect for power lifting. I love my fancy gym, but there is something cool about this place. It has more of an Olympic training compound and doesn't feel anything like a commercial gym. This all made perfect sense once I did some research on the founder of CrossFit.

CrossFit Was Developed by a Former Gymnast

The creator of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, was a former gymnast. He found that certain body weight exercises he used as a gymnast were much more effective than many popular weight training exercises that were popular at the time. He kept the lifts that he felt gave the most bang-for-the-buck, to compliment the Gymnastics style exercises. What he came up with is a hybrid of body weight exercises mixed with technical Olympic style lifts and power lifts…what is now known as CrossFit.

[A good video showing a variety of different CrossFit workouts .]

How Many Days Per Week for a Typical Crossfit Workout?

The standard approach to Crossfit is to train 3 days on and 1 day off. Some weeks wind up being 5 days per week and some weeks wind up being 6 days per week. For those who can't or don't want to train on weekends, they can simply train 5 days per week and take weekends off. Obviously all of this is flexible depending upon goals and abilities.

"WOD" The Crossfit Workout of the Day

The brilliance of Crossfit in my opinion is that it posts a new Workout of the Day, each day, on its website. You can find it on the front page of the main website: CrossFit.com. I actually missed this the first time (almost too obvious). Each day is a new post with the workout that is to be done that day. Below each workout are updates, motivational stuff, and some of the weights or times recorded by fellow CrossFit'ers for that particular workout. This is the only workout needed for most to get in great shape. Others do supplementary work or take classes to learn proper form, etc.

The CrossFit Games = The Fitness Olympics?

In 2007, the 1st Crossfit Games took place at a small ranch in northern California. There were 70 athletes and a few hundred spectators. Fast forward to 20011…This event is now sponsored by Reebok and the top 4 winners will each win $250,000! The Crossfit headquarters picks out a new workout each week for six weeks. Contestants then either submit a video or are scored by a Registered CrossFit Affiliate. After 6 weeks the top people from each region compete against each other. Then it moves on to an elimination type of system: Details here —>2011 CrossFit Games.

So My Opinions on CrossFit?

My main concern about CrossFit is form breakdown that happens when training to exhaustion in theses technical lifts. Anyone with a history of back injury would need to be extremely careful and pick the proper CrossFit affiliate to work with who had a good understanding of this. If I was picking a CrossFit gym to work with I'd simply ask them about Stuart McGill. If they say "Who is Stuart McGill"…I would pass on that particular CrossFit affiliate. I can't make a blanket statement that all CrossFit is good…or that I dislike CrossFit. The right CrossFit affiliate makes all the difference.

Could I See Myself Ever Doing CrossFit?

I like to have precise control over all variables when I train. I am now to the point where I can dial in my workout to get the precise result I desire in a commercial gym. I like to keep resistance training for strength…and fat loss training separate. I simply like to lift heavy for strength and tone…and do intense cardio to get as lean as I desire. That being said…I could see myself doing CrossFit for 3-4 months just to add a little variety. I like to experiment with new routines for 3-4 month periods every other year. The last time I did this was with Adam Steer's and Ryan Murdock's body weight program and it was a good change of pace.

I'm Extremely Interested to See How Big CrossFit Becomes

I think there is definitely a place for both CrossFit gyms as well as big commercial gyms. Some people who do CrossFit knock commercial gyms as being a place where you can't train hard. I don't agree with that statement…but most commercial gyms don't have a place to properly do Olympic lifts. On the flip side, a lot of CrossFit gyms don't have a wide variety of high-end cardio equipment. I'm a big fan of doing HIIT on a special $10,000 StepMill followed by steady state cardio on another piece of commercial cardio equipment. To be honest, it would be cool to belong to a "Hybrid" gym that had both options. Maybe an LA Fitness combined with a CrossFit gym. I'd be the first member!

Speaking of Cardio and Burning Fat…

Within the next week or two, I'm going to interview the owner of a CrossFit gym who developed his own CrossFit workout specifically designed to burn fat. Its a circuit that uses lighter weights and is supposedly "kinder to the back" compared to some of the other CrossFit workouts for those of us with lower back issues. He is a busy guy with a sweet looking CrossFit facility, but hopefully I'll get to chat with him soon.

[Most people think of "fish oil" as the best source of Omega 3. Through research, I have found that this is simply not the case.]

I'm Going to Try and Simplify This As Much As Possible

My goal is to make this easy to read and grasp. When things get too technical, I tend to skim. I don't think any of us needs to understand every little thing about Omega 3's…and that isn't the goal here. I simply want to address this supplement in regards to weight loss, the proper dose, etc.

How Do Omega 3 Supplements Aid in Fat Loss?

Omega 3 supplements simply reduce your insulin levels throughout the day. When insulin levels are high, you can't use fat for fuel. When insulin levels are high, your HGH levels are low. You want HGH to be high and insulin levels to be low…and Omega 3 supplements make that happen. Keeping insulin stable is also key in avoiding adult onset diabetes…it is a good idea in general. Fish oil also directly increases the oxidation of fat within fat cells.

How Much to Take for Weight Loss?

This is where things aren't as clear. It looks like we are after 1.5 grams of combined EPA and DHA per day. So that works out to roughly 7,000-10,000 mg's of Omega 3 per day! Completely excessive in my opinion. The only time I recommend such a heavy dose would be 2-3 weeks before a vacation. In my opinion taking this much year round is probably excessive.

Most Sources of Omega 3's Have High Levels of Mercury

Most Omega 3 supplements come from fish and ingesting these fish oils daily can build up to a toxic level of mercury. You don't want to become lean and toxic. So what do you do?

Krill Oil is the Best Source of Omega 3

Krill are tiny deepwater crustaceans that are completely free of unhealthy toxins and pollution commonly found in regular fish oil. Doctors in Japan have now switched their patients from regular fish oil to krill oil.

Other Reasons to Take Krill Oil Over Fish Oil?

• 47 times the antioxidant power of regular fish oil.
• 500% better absorption by your body than regular fish oil, according to U.S. Government National Institutes Of Health.
• A recent study at McGill University, showed that krill oil increased good cholesterol 10 times better than fish oil.
• The same study showed that it dropped 16 times more bad cholesterol than fish oil.

I'm Taking Krill Oil Daily & I'm Going to Force My Girlfriend

My girlfriend isn't someone who enjoys taking supplements, but I'm sold on krill oil. I have recently begun taking this brand of Krill Oil, because they have stringent manufacturing and testing processes in place…plus I already take their multivitamin and BCAA's. You can go with other brands, but do some research on the company first. These guys also have a good free report if you want to dig deep into Omega 3's: What Your Doctor Never Told You About Fish Oil.

Do You Need Omega 3 Supplements to Get Really Lean?

Absolutely not….this supplement will just help you reach your goals a little faster. After all of this research, I've decided that I like Omega 3 supplements for their health benefits. They can be helpful as a weight loss aid, but taking 7,000-10,000mg a day can get spendy. My plan is to take 1,000-2,000mg per day for the powerful anti-oxidant effects (supposedly the antioxidant power of krill oil is 297 times greater than vitamin A or vitamin E).

Summary: Several articles I read claimed that the weight loss effects of Omega 3 supplementation weren't extremely impressive. The true benefit is long term health…and the best source is krill oil. If you do want to use as a weight loss aid, aim for 7,000mg-10,000mg per day (aiming for 1.5 grams total of EPA + DHA). Don't go above this amount, because it can thin the blood to unsafe levels.

[The Slow Carb Diet seems to work best for people with more than 10 pounds of weight to lose. I'm not sure it works as well for someone who wants to get really lean.]

You've Probably Heard of The 4-Hour Body

A few months ago Tim Ferriss released a blockbuster book called, The 4-Hour Body. My guess is that 90% of the people reading this, have at least heard of this book. It has quickly become a best seller and really is a well thought out book. I don't agree with every point that Tim makes, but that isn't the point of this book. His book challenges conventional wisdom…so it was a must buy for me. In this book he outlines a diet that he follows along with a massive group of loyal readers of his blog.

The Rules of The Slow Carb Diet

• Avoid White Carbohydrates: No rice, potatoes, flour, fried foods, breading, etc. The only exception is within 1.5 hours of training.
• Avoid Fruit, Sugar, Dairy and Alcohol: No cheese, fruit, sugar of any type, beer, etc. Tim has found that the diet still works if you drink 1-2 glasses of red wine each night. He also allows a limited amount of artificial sweeteners (1 Diet Coke, some sugar free jello for desert).
• Eat a Protein Rich Meal Within 30 Minutes of Waking Up: Meal frequency isn't important. Tim likes to eat 4 times per day. He does stress the importance of having a protein rich meal as soon as you wake up.
• Eat as Much of These Foods as You Like: Eggs, Chicken, Grass Fed Beef, Pork, Lentils, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, Spinach, Asparagus, Peas, Mixed Vegetables.
• Eat Whatever You Like One Day Per Week:Whatever sounds good…go for it on your "cheat day". Everything is allowed on this day, but once the day is over you are back to your diet.

I Decided to Give This Diet a Shot With My Girlfriend

I booked a beach vacation for mid-April and figured that it would be fun to see if The Slow Carb Diet would help me drop about 6-8 pounds. My girlfriend was aiming to lose about 1/2 that amount. Neither of us ever really "needs" to lose weight, but it is fun to get a little extra lean for summer and vacations, etc. We devoted the final week of February and the first 3 weeks of March to this diet.

My Starting Weight 195 Pounds – Ending Weight 191 Pounds

I lost 4 pounds in a month. This is actually really good for someone in my position. My girlfriend lost 3 pounds in a month (which is good as well). So why the "Mixed Review" in the title of this post? Well…since it is a drastic diet with some pretty hardcore rules I was expecting for us to lose about 50% more than what we did. If I would have lost 6-7 pounds and my girlfriend 4-5…then it would have been worth the sacrifice.

Felt Great During the Day With Stomach Problems at Night

This is a great diet for even energy levels. Working out felt like it took a bit more effort, but strength levels remained the same. Typically things went well throughout the day, but my stomach never really adapted to eating a diet so high in protein, beans, and veggies. Bottom line…my digestive system hated this diet! I tried organic stuff, Beano, etc. I felt like I had a 30 day stomach ache.

[Another tough thing for me, was only having beer once per week. Wirklich Schade! (Very Sad)]

A Diet Designed by a Wine Drinker!

Tim Ferriss is a big wine drinker, so this diet allows 2 glasses of red wine per night. This felt like he was setting up a little "cheat" that made this an easier diet for him to handle. Honestly…if I was designing the diet, it would allow for one light beer per evening. I've dropped down to 5% body fat while consistently drinking 1-2 Corona Light's per night with dinner. I followed Tim's diet to the "T" and didn't drink beer…but felt like this was an unnecessary rule. I didn't like the wine rule at all! Beer is good for the soul.

I Prefer Low-Calorie Diets Over Nutrient-Focused Diets

I like to eat what I want while creating a weekly calorie deficit. There are a lot of diets that focus on foods you can and can't eat. This works for a lot of people who do better with strict guidelines. No doubt, The Slow Carb Diet works. In fact, I could see it working well for the majority of people who follow it. It just wasn't a great fit for me or my girlfriend. We both felt it was too big of a price to pay to drop weight. I like beer, dairy, and gummy candy too much to make this a long-term deal.

How I Will Spend the Next 3 Weeks Leading Up to My Trip

Monday-Friday: I will have a meal replacement shake for breakfast and lunch…then eat what I want for dinner (within reason). Two days per week, I will do some intermittent fasting until dinner. I won't have a true "cheat day" but I'll leave it a lot more flexible on the weekend. If I see a movie I'll have a bag of gummy bears and a large Diet Coke. If I'm meeting up with friends we will order some hot wings and nachos…and a large beer or two. I will lose another 3 pounds or so, but it will be an easier approach for the way I like to eat.

Is the Slow Carb Diet Right for You?

If you have a lot of weight to lose, then yes it is. Some people experience amazing results. If you are trying to get really lean, and have only 5-10 pounds to lose, then I actually believe strong weekly calorie deficits are the way to go. Here is a link to Tim's blog which outlines this diet in greater detail: The Slow Carb Diet.

[Read below to find out how you can get this video overview as well as Abs Blueprint 1.0.]

So Why Did I Decide to Give This Away for Free?

For a few reasons:

1. I just released my premium Women's program and didn't want to put out another paid product so soon after this.
2. I released my last free report, Vacation Body Blueprint, about a year and half ago.
3. I want to build a large interactive Facebook Page and decided to use this free report as a way to launch it.
4. I want to start my newsletter from scratch and offer more helpful videos and reports, etc.

Facebook Will Allow Me To Share Useful Info Quickly

This blog is more like a fitness magazine. My goal is to simply add in a few posts per month with new training tips and things I've never discussed in the past. Every few months, I archive many of the posts in The Best of Fitness Black Book section. This is a growing resource of hundreds of articles all focused on getting the lean "Hollywood Look". The problem is that I wanted a place where I could share information in "real time". I also wanted a place where it didn't have to be so "text book"…I want to discuss entertaining stuff as well.

I'll Continue to Add to This Blog As Well

This blog is my bread and butter…no doubt about it! I want to keep discussing every possible topic related to getting lean and defined. I have hundreds of articles to go still, before this site gets redundant. I plan to keep adding to this on a regular basis for many more years to come. There is already a ton of content on the site… both in the posts and comments. I'm pretty darn proud of what this site has grown into.

Abs Blueprint 1.0 – Wasn't Created as a Free Product

This really is one of the best abs courses currently available (paid or free). It long, because honestly…I just wanted to outline what this golf pro taught me 20+ years ago. The guy had picture perfect abs, better than what I've seen on the cover of most fitness magazines…and the best abs I've ever seen in person.

This Isn't Info I've Shared on Fitness Black Book Before

These past 4 years I've discussed planks as a great way to build 6 pack abs. The problem is that they don't increase the density enough for deep abs that even look good on a cloudy day. Most effective ab movements that increase ab density… hammer the spine. The reason I stopped doing this routine 7-8 years ago was that it irritated my lower back…and now I have a solution for this. If you struggle with zero ab definition, this will do the trick!

A List of the Main Routines:

• The Flat Abs Workout: This workout is perfect for women who want a nice bikini body without any chance of too much ab definition. It seems almost too simple, but works extremely well. Guys can use this workout to maintain the ab definition they already have.
• The "Skinny Fat" Killer: So there are a lot of men and women who are skinny and pudgy with very little definition at all. High intensity training is probably the key here. Most people who are skinny fat, simply don't push the intensity levels as high as needed for great definition.
• Lower Ab Specialization: All of these routines will hit the lower abs, but you can target the lower abs even further by focusing mainly on various leg raises. I actually believe the lying leg raise is the best lower ab exercise. This workout is only meant to be done for 4-6 weeks max. I like to use this one before spring to ensure that my lower abs are up to par, before hitting my summer prep ab workout.
• Deep Abs Level 1: To get really deep six pack abs, we are going to have to add in a little more of the exercises that flex the spine forward a bit. Since we are going to flex the spine forward, extra care needs to be taken to work hip bridges and back bridges. These can't be done as an afterthought.
• Deep Abs Level 2: Like the previous deep abs routine, we are going to have to add in a little more of the exercises that flex the spine forward a bit…but this one is even tougher. Since we are going to flex the spine forward, extra care needs to be taken to work hip bridges and back bridges.
• The Beach Prep Tweak: this is meant as an add-on to any of the other workouts outlined above. I discovered this a few years back before I took a trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. In fact, because of a back injury…this was all I used with success. If you combine this with any of the other workouts you will most likely get the best abs of your life.

Click Here to Go to the FBB Facebook Page

You will be prompted to hit "like" to see the video and then you will get access to Abs Blueprint 1.0 as well as my new newsletter.

One Big Favor to Ask…

If you like the report, or have enjoyed my blog these past 4 years could you simply click this "Share" button and spread the word to your "peeps" about my new Facebook Page? Just a kind word or two would be extremely appreciated

Note: I will do my best to spend an hour per day over on the "Wall" part of the page. I'll post new and helpful info as I find it, respond to a few questions, etc. See ya there!

[This MacGyver collage would look awesome airbrushed on the side of a van. You know you'd dig it.]

One-Half MacGyver and One-Half Bad Ass!

Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock are to blame for this post. I was skimming Youtube yesterday and saw a couple videos where they turned into MacGyver and created their own fitness equipment. In one video they make a suspension trainer for under $10 at a dollar store…out of dog leashes and zip ties. Then later on, someone emailed me about Ross's furniture glider video. I figured I would do some digging on the net to find others with this special talent. All joking aside…there are some fantastic ideas here.

Ross Enamait – The Furniture Slider Exercise Tutorial

This is one of the coolest workout videos, I've seen in a long time. Ross is built like an Olympic gymnast and is just as strong (or stronger). No wonder this guy has such deep abs! Some of these movements don't even look like they should be possible. This is all done with a $5 furniture slider (used to slide heavy furniture over carpet). This is a sweet piece of home gym equipment…which would also be great for working out while traveling.

[Here's a link to Ross's site: Ross Training.]

Adam Steer – Gives You His "Pull Up Rig" Blueprint

Adam didn't like most of the home gym pull up bar options, so he had his own created. He hired a metalworker to build a pull up bar to his exact specifications! What I love about this is that he had a ring put on the side of the bar…so he can hook a bunch of equipment to it…Olympic rings, TRX, resistance bands, etc. Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock run the best body weight blog online called Body Weight Coach. I've become friends with both of these guys over the past couple of years…and love their blog, videos, courses, etc.

[Here's a link to the post with the blueprint: Body Weight Coach.]

Stevo Reed – Homemade – "TRX Style" Suspension Trainer

Here's a video showcasing how to make a homemade device that is pretty darn close to TRX suspension trainer. TRX is a great company that makes incredible suspension trainers…but they will run you in the $200 range. This is an alternative for people who don't want to spend that much, but still have a great piece of equipment.

[Stevo Reed's website: All About Performance Training.]

John Sokolowski – The Indestructible Sandbag.

This was the best make your own sandbag tutorial I found online. I also noticed a strange sandbag trend. Many of the sandbag training videos were set to a really cheesy brand of rock…like they wanted to show how hardcore the training is with "intense" music. If I hear "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" one more time I am going to be forced to call it a day. Yes, I am a little bit of a music snob…but I have to call it out when things are this corny. Got to get that terrible song out of my head now!

[John also has a great blog with hundreds of posts: Athlete 365]

Matt Wichlinski – PVC Pipe Dip Station

I hadn't heard of Matt before, but I found out that he is big in the "functionally fit" community. He has quite a few great do-it-yourself equipment videos. I liked this video the best because he showcases his dip station made of PVC pipe. He also shows how to make a homemade power wheel, bulgarian training bag, and a mace? Yes…I only thought maces were used for war until I watched this video.

RJ Nelson – A Homemade Power Rack Made of Wood

Simply a nice looking power rack made of wood. I like using power racks for doing incline barbell bench presses. With an adjustable bench press you can set the incline at any angle and then adjust the pins to hold the bar. I also love power racks for doing partial presses, to increase pressing power. Finally…they can also be rigged with a chin up bar for chin ups, hanging leg raises, etc.

[I don't think RJ has his own website, but great video!]

Tim Bell – Homemade Weight Vest In Seconds

Tim uses a book bag in combination with some other equipment to make a homemade weight vest. This is great for people who want to make body weight exercises more challenging. MacGyver would be proud for sure!

Pete Mazzeo – Homemade High Impact Medicine Ball

I ran across tons of homemade medicine ball tutorials and Pete makes the least "ghetto" version by far. The one in this video is designed especially for medicine ball slams. This is where you take the ball from an over head position and slam it as hard as possible to the floor. This exercise works your abs and all of the surrounding "detail muscles" hard. He demonstrates this towards the end of this video.

[Here's a link to Pete's website: Today Fitness.]

Ryan Murdock – Mare's Milk Hangover Cure (Yuck)!

Yeah…I know I already featured one guy (Adam) from Body Weight Coach, but this video from Ryan is cool. Ryan and his wife were recently in Seattle for a couple of concerts. Me and my girlfriend met up with him and his wife for some seafood and beer on the waterfront, not too far from my workspace. This guy has traveled all over the place and has tons of entertaining stories. Here is a video, shot when he was in Japan, about a "fermented mare's milk" hangover cure. It kind of feels MacGyver'ish…so I figured I'd include it. He also discusses more readily available cures in case you don't have any fermented mare's milk handy.

[Ryan's main site: Body Weight Coach.]

MacGyver'ing Your Way to Getting In Shape!

Bottom line…there are a ton of creative ways to get in shape at home. These are just a handful of countless videos I found online to develop your own fitness equipment, MacGyver style.

Note: Sadly…MacGyver's final episode aired on May 21, 1992…a day I will never forget (okay so I looked it up on Wikipedia). The important thing is that people like this, prove that his spirit lives on!

[It would be great if we could help some people kick diabetes butt. Even if this post simply helps people control their diabetes...that would be cool.]

The Difference Between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes: This is the rougher of the two types of diabetes. Only 15 percent out of all the people with diabetes have type 1. Bottom line – a person with type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin. They have to take insulin regularly to stay alive. Type 1 diabetes in NOT preventable. You cannot reverse or prevent type 1 by doing lots of exercise or eating carefully. It is not a result of a person's lifestyle.

Type 2 Diabetes: This type of diabetes can be caused by lifestyle (but not always). Often times people with type 2 diabetes have been overweight and unfit for long periods of time. This typically happens later in life, and is why it is also referred to as "Adult-Onset Diabetes". Unfortunately due to the rise of childhood obesity, people in their teens and 20's are now developing type 2 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes develop a condition where the insulin isn't working properly…they are insulin resistant.

So We Will Discuss Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance

Since 85% of all people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes is something that can be improved (and sometimes prevented) with diet and exercise…this is the main focus of the post.

Insulin Resistance – A Simple Explanation

I hope I haven't lost anyone so far…I used to skim when I saw terms like "insulin resistance". Here is a simple explanation: The cells in the body don't respond properly to insulin…glucose isn't getting shuttled from the blood into the cells properly. The issue is with the cells in the body…there is enough insulin, but the cells are not responding to it like they should. Since the cells are not responding to the proper amount of insulin, people with type 2 diabetes often need to take additional insulin.

Why Insulin Resistance Happens in the First Place

So it makes sense that we would want to avoid insulin resistance. Again…I'm going to simply a complex process. It is more complicated than I what I have outlined, but this will give you a general idea on how to possibly avoid insulin resistance.

• Frequent high exposure to insulin increases insulin resistance.
• Large amounts of food in one sitting releases more insulin.
• Frequent insulin spikes, speed up insulin resistance.
• Obesity can lead to insulin resistance.
• Lack of exercise can lead to insulin resistance.

[The first part of this post is about getting a basic understanding of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Now let's talk about what types of exercise helps control and reduce insulin resistance...and reduces the symptoms of type 2 diabetes.]

Time to Talk About How Exercise Can Help With Diabetes

So we know that being overweight can contribute to insulin resistance and getting diabetes. We also know that diet and spiking your insulin by overeating on a regular basis can contribute to type 2 diabetes. So what type of exercise is going to help with diabetes? Here is what I found through a little research.

High Intensity Sprinting for Diabetes: Richard Nikoley has a good post on how High Intensity Interval Training can reduce the effects of diabetes. Richard's blog, Free the Animal, is one of the best health and fitness blogs on the net by the way.  Dig around once you are there. Here is the gist of the post:

• Intense exercise draws glucose out of the muscle…then the muscles pulls the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the muscle cells.

So depleting your muscles of glucose, assists the cells in getting the glucose from the bloodstream to the muscle cells.

Combination—Weights and Aerobics—Best for Diabetics: Clarence Bass is a guy I first read about when I was 15. The guy was the most ripped 40+ year old I had ever seen. I have been a fan of his work and love it that he is still going strong. You can dig around his site for a long time and learn a lot of great things. In this post he refers to a recent study from November 24th, 2010 published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Here is what this study found:

• A combination of aerobic and resistance training helped patients with diabetes better than just walking or doing resistance training alone.

So Clarence Bass found a study which shows that a combination of resistance training and aerobics (cardio) had the best effects on helping with diabetes. "Only the change in the combination group was considered statistically significant…The combination group also saw a lowering in the amount of diabetes medication needed on average."

The Definitive Guide to Insulin, Blood Sugar & Type 2 Diabetes: Mark Sisson does an outstanding job of explaining type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance in this post. If you have read my blog for any period of time, you know I am a big fan of Mark's Daily Apple. It is a great site. Here is Mark's take on diabetes and exercise.

• First off, exercise does have a major impact on improving insulin sensitivity since muscles burn your stored glycogen as fuel during and after your workout. Muscles that have been exercised desperately want that glucose inside and will “up regulate” insulin receptors to speed the process. That’s one reason exercise is so critical for type 2 diabetics in regaining insulin sensitivity.

Mark also believes that a combination of resistance training and aerobics is the way to go…"Resistance training seems to be as effective as aerobic activity, but a mix of the two is the best."

Proper Exercise Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes?

Unfortunately some people will develop type 2 diabetes even while staying in great shape, exercising and following a healthy diet. That being said, a large portion of people who develop diabetes could have avoided it with regular exercise and a smart diet. Some takeaways:

• Include some High Intensity Interval Training in your routine.
• If you just perform resistance training, add in cardio.
• If you just perform cardio, add in resistance training.
• Avoid becoming obese or overweight.
• If you're overweight, simply lose that excess weight ASAP.

I Am Just Scratching the Surface Here…

I would love to hear from people who either have diabetes and how they cope with it…or other helpful books and studies people have found online. I also realize that I barely spoke about how excess carbs can contribute to insulin resistance. Although this article's focus was exercise and diabetes, I'm fine if we discuss diet and diabetes in the comment section as well.

[It is possible to get in phenomenal shape without getting the typical "gym body"...but you have to take a training approach that is quite different than what is being taught by the mainstream fitness magazines and books.]

Many Women Avoid Training Since They Don't Want to Bulk Up

Despite what many fitness experts claim, this is a legitimate concern. True that women won't be able to add as much muscle as the typical male, but it is also true that they can add more muscle than what they want. In the past, these concerns have been brushed aside and women are suppose to get used to the idea of looking a little more muscular than what they would like. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Resistance Training Can Be Done in a Way to Decrease Muscle Mass While Increasing Muscle Tone

I have perfected the methods to lift in a way that will firm up an area of the body, while reducing the overall size of that same area. This does NOT involve high-rep training. Some quick pointers:

• High-Reps are more likely to create a pump in the muscle which is perfect for building large Vascular muscles (but most likely you don't want bigger "veiny" muscles).
• Pushing your reps to failure breaks down the muscle, which contributes to muscle growth…and can actually weaken the muscle if done on a regular basis.
• The most important variable in gaining muscle is how hard you push the final reps in a set. <---So if you don't want to increase the size of a muscle, stop well short of failure.
• Low-Reps short of failure is the best way to firm up a muscle without building size to that muscle. It is also less likely to create vascular muscles, since it will not create "a pump".

Just Some Pointers If You Decide Not to Purchase My Course

I wanted to make sure that even if you don't decide to pick up Visual Impact for Women, then at least you get a takeaway from this blog post. I don't like to do 100% promotional posts. If you want to lift to increase and firm up your body without adding size, then these tips will help. My comprehensive course covers quite a bit more than that, but this is a start in the right direction.

[I love the way the graphics turned out for the cover. The website design is even cooler than the ebook graphics.]

What is Included in the Visual Impact for Women Course?

• Main Manual (89 Pages): A full blown comprehensive course to getting slim without adding excess mass. It covers diet, cardio, home gym, and commercial gym workouts. All of the routines are 100% customizable and you are actually encouraged to use your favorite exercises for each of the routines. Also things like "dieting for an event" and "how to lose muscle mass on purpose", etc.
• Fat Torching Cardio Manual: This is a 12 week "progressive cardio" course, designed to help you drop as much fat as you desire for a special event. This covers some advanced cardio concepts: 4 levels of HIIT, VO2 Max Cardio, "Pyramid Intervals", Aerobic Intervals, etc.
• Exercise Demonstration Manual (229 pages): This is a massive manual of photo demonstrations and explanations covering a ton of exercises. The cool thing is that it has clickable navigation, so you can zip around and find the exact exercise descriptions you are after without having to scroll through hundreds of pages.
• Printable Workout Charts: Each workout routine is contained on its own separate page, so you can easily print it out and take it with you to the gym. The idea is to eventually memorize the workouts, but this will help the first few weeks.

[I also did my best to create an informative and entertaining video as soon as you land on the site. I am certainly not a polished speaker, but I did my best to explain how this course is unique compared to other Women's courses released to this point.]

So Head on Over to the Website For a Full-Blown Description.

This short blog post is simply a thumb-nail of what this course is all about. To get a full overview head on over to the site now by clicking this link —> Visual Impact for Women.

[Here is a picture of Tyler Shields in a car with Haley Bennett.]

An Interview With Tyler Shields:

Rusty: Tyler…first of all, I dig your work. I think a link to a news story about you popped up on AOL News. This lead to watching one of your videos…and getting blown away. The video was set to Radiohead's "All I Need"…which made it that much cooler. At that point, I knew it would a great idea to feature you on my site.

So I did some research online and found out you have no formal training. How the heck did you break into being a celebrity photographer?

Tyler: First of all thank you! Secondly, I got my start directing music videos then moved into photography. Then one day, actors just started asking me to shoot them and it was a snow ball effect from there!

Rusty: When reading a bit of your background online it kind of reminded me of "The Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"…not that you are nutty like Hunter S. Thompson. I just get this picture of you running around LA non-stop, staying up for days at a time, living and breathing your work…intermixed with the occasional party. How accurate is that picture?

Tyler: Hahaha. No drugs & no drinks for me…but the crazy is right there on par. This is certainly my life and everyday gets more and more crazy.

Rusty: I'm fascinated by people who are creative and push the edge. What I love about your stuff is I'm sure that it offends some people…and others are huge fans. What are some of the most interesting reactions that people have to your work?

Tyler: A girl I was dating showed her father a photo I did of her. His response was "that is degrading and disturbing"…but she loved the photo and I thought his comment was amazing.

Rusty: Who are some of the other creative people (artists, musicians, actors, etc.) that inspire you?

Tyler: I am big into music but I listen to songs on repeat hundreds of times in a day. As far as inspiration goes, I find it all in my life.

Rusty: Is video or photography your medium of choice?

Tyler: To me they are all one in the same. A shoot is a shoot or video…still we are creating something together.

Rusty: You seem to work with the big names in young Hollywood. Justin Long, Kellan Lutz, Ashley Greene, Lindsay Lohan, Gary Busey (not young…but cool as hell), etc. Any particularly interesting ones that stand out above the rest?

Tyler: I have had adventures with all of them: Gary was so fun, Lindsay is amazing and Kellan punched something until his hand began to bleed for me. There is certainly a story that goes along with everyone i shoot. Sometimes people hear about it. Most of the time they don't!

Rusty: You have some great stuff in your portfolio. Rain Wilson's character Dwight on The Office has made me laugh hundreds of times…loved that video on your site when he attacks you. Do you ever get star struck working with some of these guys you have seen numerous times on TV or in the movies?

Tyler: No I have never been that type of person. We are just 2 people who happen to be doing something random. Rain said he wanted to do something crazy…and I said "why don't you beat me up"? Everyone laughed except for him. I kicked them out, then he beat me up. We will always have that story…connected through the chaos.

Rusty: Incredible choice of tunes in your videos. Have you ever thought of doing photo shoots with musicians?

Tyler: I have shot a few my Chemical Romance, Serj Tankian, Peaches and more…but its very different from actors. I suppose I will do more down the road.

Rusty: So tell me about your upcoming book "The Dirty Side of Glamour".

Tyler: I have been working on it for years . I'm so excited for the day to come when I'm able to say "Here is the book"…because if people think they have seen my crazy photos they are in for a treat. I have been saving the best for the book!

Rusty: I will make sure and put a link to your book here as soon as it is released. Until then, what are some of the best ways for people to follow your work?

Tyler: My website TylerShields.com and Twitter.com/tylershields are the best ways.

<----------End of Interview---------->

Make sure and check out his site.

The videos above are outstanding and I know he has received a ton of great feedback on them.

He gives regular updates on his photo shoots over on Twitter as well.

Tyler…thanks for again for letting me use some of your art on my site. I'm a big fan!

-Rusty

[What if a brief exercise of 60-90 seconds, made it less likely that this dessert would get stored as body fat? That is exactly one of the things Tim Ferriss explores in The 4-Hour Body].

Brief Muscular Contractions a Few Minutes Before You Eat?

So most of you probably know that after an intense workout, food calories are less likely to get stored as body fat. A simplistic explanation is that your muscles are depleted of glycogen and that a lot of the calories you eat at this time simply serve to refuel these depleted muscles. What I did not know was how little the stimulus needs to be in order for this to happen. Tim has found that this effect can happen in as little as 60-90 seconds. The proper activity done a few minutes before eating can encourage food calories to get shuttled into the muscle cells, before it has a chance to get stored as body fat.

Encouraging Insulin to Store Food Energy Into Muscle Cells

What exercise does is increase a substance in your body called GLUT-4 (glucose transporter type 4). Tim explains that exercise will encourage insulin to store calories in the muscle cells:

"The more muscular gates we have open before insulin triggers the same GLUT-4 on the surface of fat cells, the more we can put calories in muscle instead of fat".

In The 4-Hour Body, Tim talks about a study which compares the effect of 280 seconds of intense exercise to a 6 hour low intensity exercise session. What the study found was that 280 seconds of intense exercise increased Glut-4 in the muscle by 83%…and 6 hours of lower intensity exercise increased it by 91%. So 280 seconds of exercise had almost the same effect as 6 hours when it comes to increasing GLUT-4 levels.

From 280 Seconds…Down to 60-90 Seconds

So Tim suggests that you keep the pre meal and post meal exercise down to 60-90 seconds. The GLUT-4 levels will increase with this amount of exercise, but it will drop down to normal levels after 1-4 hours. Tim recommends doing 60 seconds of exercise right before eating and 90 minutes after eating. Why 90 minutes? He has found that blood glucose levels to be the highest 90 minutes after eating.

The "Air Squat" is Tim's Exercise of Choice

[The guys in this video do a great job of demonstrating Air Squats.]

"Killing Two Birds With One Stone"

If there was one weakness in my physique, it would be flexibility…particularly the lower back, hips, and hamstrings. As I've outlined in previous articles, actively stretching the muscles through a full range of motion is the key to flexibility. Doing traditional stretches has a much shorter lasting effect. Special Forces Trainer, Scott Sonnon explains this proper way to increase flexibility in an interview I did with him a while back. So these Air Squats will improve flexibility over time, especially if you are performing them a few times per day. For me this is almost as big of a benefit as the "calorie shuttling" effect.

Tim Also Recommends Two Other Exercises

Wall Presses & Chest Pulls are the other two exercise that Tim recommends. These are to be done for 30-50 reps. Even if you can do 30-50 push ups you will want to stick with wall presses, because you don't want these pre and post meal exercises to interfere with your normal workouts. What Tim calls chest pulls in his book are more commonly known as "Band Pull Aparts". Here is a video demonstrating that exercise.

[The closer your hands are together on the band, the more resistance this will provide. So in order to get 30-50 reps, you may have to begin with your hands wider than a shoulder width grip. The resistance also depends upon the band being used.]

No Need to Use These Exact Exercises

The main thing it looks like Tim is accomplishing with these three exercises is working the entire body. The air squats seem like a great idea, because these can be done anywhere. Then you would just chose some sort of pushing movement and a pulling movement and you would be good to go. Just make sure and do around 30-50 reps and don't push so hard that this interferes with your normal workouts.

How I Plan on Using This Strategy

I'll bring a pair of resistance bands to my work space and do these brief exercises for at least one meal per day. Once I develop this habit, I may apply it to two meals per day. Typically I eat 3 times per day when I'm not doing an ESE style fast. At least one of my meals is eaten an hour after intense training, so no need to add additional exercise before that meal.

Note: I highly recommend The 4-Hour Body, by the way. I don't agree with everything Tim recommends, but there is easily enough helpful tweaks to make it worth your time and money. Tim's Blog —> Four Hour Work Week Blog.