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Brad’s Recovery From Not Exercising and Not Fasting For 7 Weeks: Part 2

October 16, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

 

Your win for today has to be your list; workout and calorie totals. You must base it on faith.

Your win for today has to be your list; workout and calorie totals. You must base it on faith.

 

Today’s Topic: Brad’s Recovery From Not Exercising and Not Fasting For 7 Weeks: Part 2

For the entire experiment Brad’s overall weight did not change.  During the first half of the experiment he lost muscle and gained fat.  This was not fun for him. Well, eating and relaxing was fun of course – gaining fat and losing muscle was not fun!

Rest assured, when you have built muscle and take a break from exercise your muscle will inflate back fairly quickly once you get back into your routine.

Diet

Losing the fat is a bit harder.

For Brad the first one or two fasts were hard. He had to break the ritual habits of relaxing and eating snacks in the evenings. Even though he was eating at maintenance he had quickly developed fun ritual habits with relaxing and eating.

After pushing through the initial couple of weeks he got into his healthy Reverse Taper Diet.  The first two weeks were hard.  Then six weeks in Brad was in a pretty good groove.

Training

He tapered up in workout time and volume, eased his way up in volume.  Again the first two weeks were hard but then six weeks in he was in a pretty good groove.

It is a delayed reaction.

Especially with a calorie deficit it is a delayed reaction.  There is no immediate feedback. There is no immediate gratification.  You have to go on faith; that what you do right now will have an effect next week, or in two or three weeks.

While you are slimming down it’s a difficult mind set.  You are eating and training for results to be seen a few days or week later.

Your win for today has to be your list; workout and calorie totals.  You must base it on faith.

 

Filed Under: diet, exercise, Fat Loss, Sage Advice, Uncensored Podcasts S03 Tagged With: , , , ,

Keys to Remain Consistent While Maintaining Fitness, Calorie Intake, and Training

October 2, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

 

The "Skinny Brad" is on the far right. If you are like me you are probably thinking "Skinny? He looks pretty good to me right there!" Brad is just plain awesome.

The “Skinny Brad” is on the far right. If you are like me you are probably thinking “Skinny? He looks pretty good to me right there!” Brad is just plain awesome.

Today’s Topic:  Brad’s 7 week experiment & DEXA scan

Brad Talks about his experiment after having just completed almost 7 weeks of no workouts, and no fasting.

The key to maintaining fitness is calorie intake and training.  While most of us already knew this, Brad proves this in a 7 week experiment using a DEXA scan and some measurements (an experiment none of us really want to undertake – so thank you Brad for doing this for us!)

One interesting point Brad makes in the podcast is that water fluctuations within the body happen constantly.  Even while eating at maintenance, not fasting, and not exercising Brad experienced the sudden weight loss (nicknamed “Whoosh”) the morning after a large meal, and also random mornings of unexplained weight gains.

This is proof that the scale being used for monitoring fat loss over time is a “trend tool” and we all need to ignore the water fluctuations that randomly happen in our body.   While some water retention can be explained with sodium, DOMS, hormone cycles, and certain foods some reasons are unknown and appear to be entirely random.  Don’t get caught up in worrying about random water fluctuations in the body that happen on a daily basis.

Brad answers the following questions in the podcast:

  • The key to having strength and muscle is needing it.
  • Muscle gain and loss is transitory.
  • Fat gain and loss is transitory.
  • Why you shouldn’t worry about muscle loss during a fast.
  • How does muscle memory work?
  • How easy it is to gain muscle back.
  • When does scale weight matter?
  • What metrics should you pay attention to?
  • Why a DEXA scan so important?
Filed Under: diet, exercise, Uncensored Podcasts S03 Tagged With: , , , ,

Marrying the Numbers to Your Picture

August 23, 2013 by

In light of the recent AT11 Contest, I felt compelled to add the latest installment of  the  Golden Eye for the Adonis Guy series.

Today’s Topic: Marrying the Numbers to Your Picture

The AT11 contest entries  yet again challenged the beliefs of what was believed possible to achieve in a mere 12 weeks.  Nevertheless,  the contestants of AT11 provided some valuable feedback from their transformational journeys.   As you may recall from Monday’s post, contestants were judged in a total of five equally weighted categories:

1-  Final Adonis Golden Ratio (AGR) – 20%

2-  AGR  Transformation (Delta) Change -20%

3- Weight Loss (LBS) – 20%

4- Muscularity- 20%

5- Aesthetics/Photogenic Quality – 20%

Here is an example of charted numbers in each category:

TALE OF THE TAPE

Scoring Metric Applied in AT11 Contest

Scoring Metric Applied in AT11 Contest

The Scoring Metric above serves as a great benchmark tool for quantifying your overall transformation.  However, this is only part of the equation…

Although, you may be familiar with the phrase, “The Numbers Don’t Lie,” there is another quote that states, “Statistics are No Substitute for Judgment.”  In the AT11 Contest, the numbers told the truth for the majority of the contestants,  however as the last quote stated, mere facts alone were not a substitute for “Visual Assessment.”  How you present yourself on camera with both confidence and proper posing is critical to balancing the equation.

 

Marrying the Numbers to Your Picture

For the first time in tangible form we’ve now been able to identify both the “Science and  Art” of a transformational contest.  John Barban summed up our finding best by simply saying, “marry the numbers to your picture.”

Michael B. AT11 Results truly demonstrate how to marry the numbers to your physique!

Michael’s AT11 Results truly demonstrate how to marry the numbers to your picture!

In conclusion, your numbers are helpful metrics to keep you guided in a logical 12-week transformation process.  However, a “Visual Assessment” should marry to your numbers and help to root the emotions of how you actually look, with the logic of what your measurements are telling you.  Ways to improve upon your “Visual Assessment”  is to take progress pics and practice posing which in return build confidence.

Stay Tuned for Monday’s Post as we’ll be revealing  a “Special Awards” category to the AT11 Contest!

 

Yours in fitness,

Allen Elliott

 

Filed Under: body image, Contest, diet, Fat Loss, Goals, Golden Eye Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Targets, Goals, and Missions

August 21, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Today’s topic:  Targets, Goals, and Missions

Once you get to your goal, your new model is you. It is your proximity to the target. You have a range you like to stay in.

Once you achieve your goal, the new model is you. It is now your responsibility to maintain a close proximity to the target. Find a range you like to stay in that suits your lifestyle.

Maintenance is hard.  At some point you arrive at a point of diminishing returns.

You have arrived at your goal.  You reach a point where you look in the mirror and say “That’s my body and that’s me, and that’s pretty good.”

Before you got to your goal you may have had a picture of someone else, a role model or a fitness model.

But once you have arrived there, you have photographic evidence.  You have pictures, which now serve as a new point of reference.

You can’t have goals, targets, and missions for maintenance without undergoing a personal transformation first.

It’s also VERY important not to compare yourself to others, but it’s okay to have a model to help visualize your goal.

Once your goal is achieved, the new model becomes yourself.  You have entered the “Realm of Maintenance” and want to maintain close proximity to the target range of your ideal Adonis Golden Ratio measurements.

There will be times when you are not as tight, muscular, or sharp,  but you are able to reel yourself in; returning to the “Ideal” version of  YOU.

Tracking your measurements serve as a guide; keeping you on track as life comes at you.

Once you achieve the body you want, then the next goal is to work to keep it in a desired range that requires the least amount of effort on your part.

In the Fitness Model Industry we refer to it as walking around within “Striking Distance” of your “Peak Physique” typically one or two weeks out from being “Photo-Shoot” ready.

Once you decide on your target, goals, and mission, it’s  time to then set up your “inner circle” support group.  You need to include people who are going to help you stay on track and exclude those who would want to hinder you.

Set a goal date to help keep your team or inner circle on your side.  It can be an special event, a vacation, another photo shoot, whatever you want to keep you motivated.

 

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Filed Under: diet, exercise, Fat Loss, Uncensored Podcasts S03 Tagged With: , , , ,

Weight Loss Is Not An Industry

August 7, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Today’s topic:  Weight Loss Is Not An Industry.

Is there really a tangible goal when it comes to weight loss?

Is there really a tangible goal when it comes to weight loss?

 

Is there really a  tangible goal when it comes to weight loss ?

After more than 100 years the  several approaches to weight loss have been  “Industrialized” into a wide variety of  products and services.

Here are a few for example:

Information-Based  Products/Services:

  • Clinics
  • Coaches
  • Personal trainers
  • Gyms
  • Forums
  • Books
  • Recipe books
  • E-books
  • Calorie counters
  • Blogs
  • Entertainment (weight loss shows and news)

Weight Loss Products:

  • Food
  • Gear
  • Clothing
  • Shoes
  • Equipment
  • Supplements
  • Pharmaceutical

If weight loss had a cure it would be the golden goose.  This is the crux of it all.  If weight loss could be solved with one paradigm or one fix, you would pay for it and you would get your money’s worth.

What drives people to over eat?  It is true to an extent that people are not as active now as in previous generations, but it’s only a factor.  People living prior to the Industrial Revolution were certainly more active all day long.

There is no comparison when it comes  to the one or two hours of high intensity work at the gym versus the laborious activities in manufacturing and agriculture performed all day long in previous generations.  As technology increases, we are slowly chipping away at our daily physically  activity levels. All of our daily chores are becoming automated.  Modern conveniences replace what would once require  hours upon hours of work.

We were built to move; the Information Age, strives for modernization and convenience so that will barely have to move at all.

There are hundreds of  driving forces behind why we eat too much (advertising, boredom, stress, etc.).

The bottom line is our appetite exceeds what we can eat for current activity level. Our metabolic rate is very low for our activity level. It does not feel wrong to eat 3000 calories in a day when our metabolic rate is under 2000.

We are designed for feast and famine. This is why we crave high caloric foods like sweets and fats.

We have gotten away from being able to feel when and how much we really need to eat. So the key would be to learn what just enough is, and sadly just enough is always going to be a little less than what you want.  When in doubt a little bit extra exercise is always a good idea, but not enough to burn you out.

You can’t get this answer from the “weight-loss industry”, in a pill, or in any of the “quick fix” answers.  One hundred years of industrial advances has not quite solved this.

If you want to know what it feels like to actually burn say 3000-4000 calories in a day try a form of exercise that takes at least three hours. That’s the sort of day where you might be able to eat ad lib or sort of unchecked.  Then as you are eating notice how quickly you can eat 3500 or so calories.

The bottom line is you will need to take steps to not become obese.  You will need to make an active effort from now on and for the rest of your life.

 

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

 

Filed Under: diet, exercise, Fat Loss, Uncensored Podcasts S03, weight loss

Uncensored on Uncensored

July 24, 2013 by

Here’s the first episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Today’s topic:  Uncensored on Uncensored.

Uncensored Taboo Topics

Taboo Topics: Uncensored on Uncensored

 

Brad and John will talk a little bit about the history of diet and fitness information.

What resources you should look at?

Magazines have always been mainly supplement catalogs paid for by advertising.  The content must bend somewhat to the advertisers.

Newspapers, news websites, and shows are all censored or narrowly focused.  Their job is to get the most viewers, or subscriptions, or hits.

Nothing online is really free. You are subjected to other forms of advertising.  You are the product, your information, or your search patterns.  YouTube sells viewing which must be shocking, compelling, or education mixed with entertainment. Even iTunes has requirements and restrictions.

The reason why we do these uncensored is because we want complete freedom of speech.  We don’t want the truth edited or watered down to bend to advertising.


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Not an Adonis Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

 

Filed Under: diet, exercise, Shape, Stories, Uncensored Podcasts S03 Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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