|
Issue #12 -- Body Transformation Advice
1) Jimmy Smith is located in Stamford, Connecticut and has worked with fitness/figure competitors, high school athletes and fitness enthusiasts looking to achieve their perfect body. For more information and to find out about his training services you can visit www.jimmysmithtraining.com and www.jimmysmithtraining.blogspot.com CB: Okay, Jimmy, you are a bit of an expert in body transformations...how did that come about? And what is the number one mistake you see people making when they want to go from lean to ultra-lean? JS: My first real passion for this industry came as a kid reading every fitness magazine possible and I was blown away by all the information. As a collegiate athlete, I needed to train slightly different but any free time I had I was always looking into body composition training and how to maximize muscle mass and fat loss. There's a lot of unique stuff that we can do to pull fat off of people, we just have to keep an open mind. The number one mistake that people make when they want to go from lean to ultra lean is ignoring their damaged metabolism. When most people attempt to drop body fat they are under-eating to begin with. Think about it for a second, by increasing energy expenditure and decreasing our caloric intake, our body is naturally going to slow down. Our body is trying to get more mileage out of our stored fat. Two things happen now, lipoprotein lipase, a fat storing enzyme, increases and thyroid hormone (T3) rapidly slows down. Our thyroid is our main regulator of overall metabolism. So now we aren't burning calories, we've lost muscle mass and we're feeling sluggish. It makes it extremely easy to cheat. Worst of all, when we resume normal eating, lipoprotein lipase stays elevated and we welcome our old fat back with open arms. So I guess the number one mistake is our fear of carbohydrates, if we use them properly we can get super lean. CB: Let's say for some strange reason, I had a photoshoot coming up in 10 days, and I was down to about 9-10% body fat. How would I maximize my final preparation to look as defined as possible? JS: I'd use a protein sparing modified fast, which is a very low calorie diet that consists of lean protein, small amounts of fat and carbohydrate and unlimited green vegetables. So you are basically looking at a diet that is all protein. We would still perform some type of metabolic disturbance type training but I'd add in more heavy training, lower rep work. Since we already are at lean levels, we should be give the illusion of a thicker, more defined look. Now at this point in our diet, we are going to be weaker so we need to take safety precautions but we should avoid "pump" training until the day of the photoshoot. Our aerobic training is going to turn to steady state aerobic work. Remember we're at 9-10% body fat and we are also in a low blood glucose state and eating even less carbs, so this is going to make it pretty hard to do high intensity intervals. We've done our HIIT to get this low now we need to go with some steady state aerobic work to burn whatever fat is still on us. We're 10 days out, if we've done what we are suppose to we just need to ice the cake. Click HERE to read the rest of Jimmy's interview. 2) Exercise Video Clip of the Week for Platinum Members Sumo Squat This is a beginner bodyweight squat exercise, but can be used by all levels for circuits. Great for warming up the groin and opening up the hips. 3) Forum Topic of the Week: TTmember: Hi, I'm trying to get from 130 lbs and 15% bodyfat down to 124 lbs and 13% bf (female, 5'7"). I've been doing the TT workouts since February with great success, and am ready to take it to the next level by tightening up my nutrition. Please offer any suggestions to my menu:
Cals - 1642, fat 81grams, carbs 60 grams, protein 170 grams. I lift M-W-F, do HIIT tues/thurs and steady state cardio on Sunday. CB: How did things go with the anabolic diet? Did gains slow down? What has worked best for you in the past? TTmember: The Anabolic Diet was okay; I've broken out in a tremendous case of acne which I attribute to all the fat & oil in the diet. Right off the bat I lost 3-4 lbs, but whenever I did the 'refeed' I gained it all back. Seems like I was just swapping calories, except with the fats I lost excess water and then when I carbed-up I gained it all back. Perhaps I should try to stick with it longer than 3 weeks, but common sense just tells you that the human body needs a balance (which includes a moderate amount of carbs). In the past, being really strict with myself seems to work best. If I allow a cheat, then there is another one, etc. I like to eat the same foods nearly every day as it takes away the potential to make poor choices. However I've always plateaued about the weight I am now, and am trying to figure out a way around it. I've read Chris Mohr's book and Tom Venuto's, and neither of them advocate anything as extreme as the Anabolic diet. However I understand the concept of carb cycling, and believe that the addition of 'clean' carbs every 3-4 days would be the way to go. What do you think? CB: Yeah, I've always thought a more moderate approach is the best way to go. What I would do is make sure you schedule any "cheat meals" right before a time where you know it is easy for you to get back on track. I.e. rather than schedule a cheat meal for Friday nite, and then have to battle the urges all weekend, have a cheat meal on sunday nite, knowing that your work routine from M-F will put you right back on a disciplined schedule. TTmember: Yes, I've figured this out, too. A three-day cheat weekend is just a tad self-defeating! Thank goodness for Mondays to get strict again! Read the rest of the forums, including a discussion on "Fasting" HERE. 4) Workout of the Month - August 2007: The Dumbell-Kettlebell-Bodyweight Fusion Workout! The August workout has arrived! It's the TT KB-DB-BW Fusion Workout, combining kettlebell, dumbell, and bodyweight exercises together as one. This program is another fat burner, consisting of supersets of dumbell or kettlebell exercises paired with a bodyweight exercise. So it's the dumbell-kettlebell-bodyweight fusion fat loss. Click here for the August 2007 workout and videos. 5) What's Coming Soon on www.TTMembers.com The long-awaited Turbulence Training for Abs Workout! Plus, the TT Exercise Index is now available to download... Download hundreds of dumbell and bodyweight exercises here. Support the Fight Against Cancer Please visit www.Liftstrong.com and support the fight against cancer by purchasing your own copy of Lift Strong - a CD-ROM packed with inspirational and educational articles about training, overcoming the odds, and winning at life. Thanks for reading this week's TTmembers.com newsletter. Become a Turbulence Training Member Today! Sincerely, Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Author, Turbulence Training |