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Piero Maina's Website – Never Give Up!

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  • What No One Is Telling You About Calories In VS Calories Out

    What No One Is Telling You About Calories In VS Calories Out

    Title: What No One Is Telling You About Calories In VS Calories Out

    By line: By Tom Venuto

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 776 words

    I’m going to share with you the most crucial weight loss strategy that will literally make or break your success. This is the number one fat loss tip I could ever give you. If you don’t get this right, you can kiss your fat loss results goodbye. This is the one absolute requirement for weight loss, and it’s something you’ve probably heard of before. However, there’s one critical distinction about this familiar advice that you might not have considered – and this one thing makes all the difference in the world…

    Let me quote Melvin Williams, PhD, professor emeritus of exercise science at Old Dominion University and author of the textbook Nutrition for Health, Fitness and Sport (McGraw Hill):

    “Human energy systems are governed by the same laws of physics that rule all energy transformations. No substantial evidence is available to disprove the caloric theory. It is still the physical basis for bodyweight control.”

    There are a variety of diet programs and weight loss “gurus” who claim that calories don’t count. They insist that if you eat certain foods or avoid certain foods, that’s all you have to do to lose weight. Dozens, maybe hundreds of such diets exist, with certain “magic foods” put up on a pedestal or certain “evil fat-storing foods” banished into the forbidden foods zone.

    Other weight loss “experts” invoke the insulin/carbohydrate hypothesis which claims that carbs drive insulin which drives body fat. That’s akin to saying “Carbs are the reason for the obesity crisis today, not excess calories.”

    They are all mistaken.

    Of course, there IS more to nutrition than calories in vs calories out. Food quality and nutrition content matters for good health. In addition, your food choices can affect your energy intake. We could even point the finger at an excess of refined starches and grains, sugar and soft drinks (carbs!) as major contributing factors to the surplus calories that lead to obesity.

    However, that brings us back to excess calories as the pivotal point in the chain of causation, not carbs. A caloric deficit is a required condition for weight loss – even if you opt for the low carb approach – and that’s where your focus should go – on the deficit.

    Now, here’s that critical distinction…

    You’ve heard it said, “exercise more and eat less” a million times. However, saying “focus on the calorie deficit” is NOT the same thing. If you don’t understand the difference, you could end up spinning your wheels for years.

    You could exercise more, but if you compensate by eating more, you cancel your deficit.

    You could eat less, but if you compensate by moving less, again you cancel your deficit.

    This type of compensation can happen unconsciously, which leads to confusion about why you’re not losing weight or why you’re gaining. That often leads you to make excuses or blame the wrong thing… anything but the calories.

    Therefore, “focus on the calorie deficit” more accurately states the most important key to weight loss than “exercise more and eat less.” Make sure you understand this distinction and then follow this advice.

    Last but not least, keep in mind that there are a lot of ways to establish a deficit and many of those ways are really dumb. Eating nothing but grapefruits, cabbage, twinkies… but in a deficit?… Dumb!

    The bottom line is that a calorie deficit is required for fat loss, but once your deficit is established, the composition of your hypo-caloric diet DOES matter. That’s why any good fat loss program starts with “calories in vs calories out” but doesn’t stop there – you also need to look at protein, essential fats, macronutrients, micronutrients, food quality and how the diet you choose fits into your lifestyle. This is the pivotal strategy that my entire Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle system hinges upon.

    Don’t let the simplicity of this idea fool you. This is the #1 key to your successful weight loss now and in the future: Focus on the deficit!

    Train hard and expect success,

    Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle www.BurnTheFat.com!

    About the Author:

    Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!”

    The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!”

    Title: The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!”

    By line: By Tom Venuto

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 1492 words

    The Doctor Says, “Aerobics Will Kill You!” By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com!

    I recently got an email from a reader who was told by a fairly prominent doctor/authorthat aerobics and running will “kill you” (that was more or less the gist of it). As a result, you should avoid aerobics like the plague, says this MD. Since I’ve tolerated enough “steady state cardio is dead” and “aerobics doesn’t work” nonsense over the last few years, despite the success stories I keep churning out that clearly show otherwise, (not to mention my own bodybuilding success, which includes regular cardio), I thought I should not only answer my reader, but also make this topic into an article for anyone else who may have doubts.

    Here’s the “killer cardio” question and my response:


    ——————————————————————————————
    BURN THE FAT READER EMAIL:
    ——————————————————————————————

    Tom, your articles are great. Here’s the problem. More runners die from sudden heart attack and stroke than any other form of exercise on the planet.
    It’s because nothing is more foreign to human beings than getting their heart rate up and keeping it there for long periods of time.
    Recent studies have shown that while there are benefits to aerobics, (like weight loss), in the long term, statistics show a direct increase in heart disease.
    Part of the reason for this is that in an effort to adapt to the unnatural demands being put on the body, to economize, the heart and lungs actually shrink.
    Just look at the long list of joint, bone, and muscle injuries that come along with running (it’s right there in the magazines).
    As I know you know, a serious weight lifter, if he’s paying attention to form, should almost never suffer injury from weight training. The same is true for the following:
    Instead of unnatural, self-abusive aerobics, the best way to actually increase heart and lung capacity and size is to go beyond aerobics. In short, spurts of intense exercise, such as wind-sprints, you move past your ability to produce ATP with oxygen as fast as you are using it, causing your muscles to become ATP depleted.
    That’s the point at which your anaerobic energy system kicks in. This is also known as crossing your aerobic threshold.
    Burst training, sprints, whatever you want to call it, it shouldn’t be done in addition to aerobics, it should be done in place of aerobics.
    Incidentally, I am not saying that one shouldn’t walk, jog, bicycle, swim, etc, just be reasonable.
    I had a heart condition that has been totally alleviated. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of each week, I go through a 45 minute weight training session, followed by a 20 minutes of the interval program.
    Check it out, I think this sort of thing would be a great addition to your already good program.
    -Jeff

    ————————————————- RESPONSE: ————————————————

    While I agree with much of what you said about the benefits of intense “burst” exercise, I find the anti-running and anti-aerobics arguments promoted by these “experts” to be horribly inflexible, dogmatic and, unlike what you suggested, totally UNreasonable.

    Based on the science, I also find the argument that traditional cardio or aerobics is “unhealthy” to be wholly unconvincing. That doctor isn’t giving the full picture.

    I subscribe to many sports medicine and exercise science journals and I’ve certainly seen research papers looking at sudden death in elite runners, etc. But most of them were case studies and epidemiology. Believe me, there’s another side to the story.

    Marathon running is a highly publicized sport, and the media loves bad news, so the oxymoron of a runner dying of a heart attack makes a great story, which means greater visibility for what is actually a very rare occurrence.

    It’s also easy to cherry pick case studies on just about anything to start up a big scare.

    This comes from the American Journal of Cardiology:

    “The overall prevalence of sudden cardiac death during the marathon was only 0.002%, strikingly lower than for several other variables of risk for premature death calculated for the general U.S. population.”

    Although highly trained athletes such as marathon runners may harbor underlying and potentially lethal cardiovascular disease, the risk for sudden cardiac death associated with such intense physical effort was exceedingly small.”

    I also find comparing serious endurance athletes pushing their physical limits to regular cardio for general fitness training to be an inappropriate comparison.

    What does a rare cardiac event during a 26 mile run have to do with you doing 30 or 45 minutes of jogging or me doing 40 minutes of moderate work on the stairmaster to get cut for a bodybuilding contest?

    Even sillier are the people who keep using the late marathon runner and running author Jim Fixx as an example of anything but a guy who had a genetic predisposition for heart disease (gun was loaded). Rumor has it he was a long time smoker, too.

    I know some bodybuilders and weight lifters who died of heart attacks in the gym. Should we argue against against weight lifting too? Should we just play it safe and stay on the couch? Freak incidents happen and heredity is a factor.

    Please note, I’m saying all this as a strength/physique athlete (bodybuilder), who understands full well that excessive aerobics is counterproductive to my goals and that weight training is priority #1.

    But in the right amounts, balanced with proper recovery (as you said, “reasonable”) regular cardio can be instrumental in helping me lower my body fat and it can benefit you in many other ways, physically and mentally.

    There are MANY ways to do cardio and all of them have their place at certain times for certain people.

    What you’re talking about with sprints or burst training is also known as High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT for short.

    HIIT can be a great way to get cardiovascular conditioning and burn a lot of calories in a very time efficient manner.

    Furthermore, a paper just published recently in the ACSM’s Exercise and Sport Sciences Review (July 2009) discussed the research suggesting that intense aerobic interval training provides greater benefits for the heart than low or moderate intensity exercise.

    The benefits discussed included:

    • Increased maximal oxygen uptake
    • Improved heart muscle contractile function
    • Improved heart muscle calcium handling
    • reduced cardiac dysfunction in metabolic syndrome
    • Reversed pathological cardiac hypertrophy
    • Increased physiological hypertrophy of the heart muscle
    • Overall improved quality of life and length of life by avoiding fatal heart attacks.

    This is NOT an argument AGAINST regular cardio, it is evidence in favor of intense cardio.

    I like HIIT and intense types of cardio! I don’t need to add it to my program because it’s already a part of it.

    My first book about fat loss, BurnTheFat Feed The Muscle was first published in 2002 and I recommended HIIT way back then – as well as regular cardio, not one or the other. I Still do!

    There were also people promoting HIIT long before me. It’s not any revolutionary idea – people just keep putting new names and spins on it for marketing purposes.

    The problem is, to argue in favor of HIIT should not be construed as arguing against conventional cardio or aerobics.

    Many of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models used slow, steady state cardio exclusively prior to competitions and they got ripped right down to the six pack abs. They didn’t die of a heart attack and they didn’t lose muscle either.

    In fact, many bodybuilders opt for low intensity cardio specifically for muscle retention when they get to the tail end of contest prep where body fat stores are getting low and food intake is low. Adding more high intensity training on top of all the weight training is often catabolic in that caloric deficit situation.

    Listen, HIIT and other types of intense cardio are great. It’s time efficient, making it ideal for the busy person, and its very effective for both fat loss and cardiovascular conditioning. It’s also more engaging, as many people find longer, slower sessions of cardio boring.

    If you have a history of heart disease and you smoke like a chimney and at the same time you decide you want to take up marathon running, ok, I’ll concede to some caution.

    But, “Aerobics is going to kill you!”??????

    GIVE ME A BREAK!

    Perfect marketing hook for a cultish “HIIT is the only way” type of program… little more.

    Bottom line: sure, do your HIIT, do your sprints, do your Tabatas….

    OR…

    Do your regular steady state aerobics or running too…

    Or, do a little bit of everything like I do!

    Be sure weight training is your foremost training priority and then do whatever type of cardio you enjoy and whatever type gets you the best results.

    If you like to run, then RUN, and tell the “experts” who say otherwise to BUZZ OFF and take their sensationalistic journalism and marketing with them!

    Train hard and expect success!

    Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

    Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle at www.BurnTheFat.com!

    About the Author:

    Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • 5 Tips to Avoid Plateaus and Metabolic Slowdown

    5 Tips to Avoid Plateaus and Metabolic Slowdown

    Title: 5 Tips to Avoid Plateaus and Metabolic Slowdown

    By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 1340 words

    5 Tips to Avoid Plateaus and Metabolic Slowdown By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com!

    QUESTION:Tom, Is it possible to not lose body fat because you’re eating too little? -Linda

    ANSWER: Yes and no. This gets a little complicated so let me explain both sides.
    Part one of my answer: I say NO, because if you are in a calorie deficit you WILL lose weight.
    Most people have heard anecdotes of the dieter who claims to be eating 800 calories a day or some starvation diet level of intake that is clearly in a deficit and yet is not losing fat. Like the mythical unicorn, such an animal does not exist.
    Every time you take a person like that and put them in a hospital research center or metabolic ward where their food can be counted, weighed, measured and almost literally “spoon fed” to them, a calorie deficit always produces weight loss.
    There are no exceptions, except possibly in rare diseases or mutations. Even then metabolic or hormonal defects or diseases merely lead to energy imbalance via increases in appetite, decreases in energy expenditure or changes in energy partitioning. So at the end of the day it’s STILL calories in versus calories out.
    In other words, NO – it’s NOT your thyroid (unless you’ve got a confirmed diagnosis as such…and then guess what… it’s STILL calories in vs calories out, you’re just not burning as many as someone should at your height and weight).
    One famous study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine years ago proved this point rather dramatically. After studying obese people – selected specifically because they swore they were eating less than 1200 calories but could not lose weight – Steven Lichtman and his colleages at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York came to the following conclusion:
    “The failure of some obese subjects to lose weight while eating a diet they report as low in calories is due to an energy intake substantially higher than reported and an overestimation of physical activity, not to an abnormality in thermogenesis.”
    That’s right – the so-called “diet-resistant” subjects were eating more than they thought and moving less than they thought. This was probably the single best study ever published that debunks the “I’m in a calorie deficit but I can’t lose weight” myth:
    Part two of my answer, YES, because:
    1) Energy intake increases.
    Eating too little causes major increases in appetite. With hunger raging out of control, you lose your deficit by overeating. This happens in many ways, such as giving in to cravings, binge eating, eating more on weekends or simply being inconsistent, so some days you’re on your prescribed 1600 calories a day or whatever is your target amount, but on others you’re taking in 2200, 2500, 3000 etc and you don’t realize it or remember it. The overeating days wipe out the deficit days.
    2) Metabolism decreases due to smaller body mass.
    Any time at all when you’re losing weight, your metabolism is slowly decreasing due to your reduced body mass. The smaller and lighter you get, especially if there’s a large drop in skeletal muscle mass, the fewer calories you need. So your calorie deficit slowly shrinks over time as your diet progresses. As a result, your progress slows down even though you haven’t changed how much you eat.
    With starvation, you always lose weight, but eventually you lose so much weight/body mass that you can reach energy balance at the same caloric intake you used to lose weight on. You might translate that as “I went into starvation mode” which wouldn’t be incorrect, but it would be more accurate to say that your calorie needs decreased.
    3) Metabolism decreases due to adaptive thermogenesis.
    Eating too little also causes a starvation response (adaptive thermogenesis) where metabolic rate can decrease above and beyond what can be accounted for from the change in body mass (#2 above). This is “starvation response” in the truest sense. It does exist and it is well documented. However, the latest research says that the vast majority of the decrease in metabolism comes from reduced body mass. The adaptive component of the reduced metabolic rate is fairly small, perhaps 10% (ie, 220 calories for an average female with a 2200 TDEE). The result is when you don’t eat enough, your actual weight loss is less than predicted on paper, but weight loss doesn’t stop completely.
    There is a BIG myth about starvation mode (adaptive thermogenesis) that implies that if you don’t eat enough, your metabolism will slow down so much that you stop losing weight. That can’t happen, it only appears that way because weight loss stops for other reasons. What happens is the math equation changes!
    Energy balance is dynamic, so your weight loss slows down and eventually stops over time if you fail to adjust your calories and activity levels in real time each week.
    I teach a system for how to adjust calories and activity weekly using a feedback loop method in my Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle program (more info from www.BurnTheFat.com!)
    So what can be done to stop this metabolic slowdown caused by low calorie dieting and the dreaded fat loss plateau that follows? I recommend the following 5 tips:
    1) Lose the pounds slowly.
    Slow and steady wins in long term fat loss and maintenance every time. Rapid weight loss correlates strongly with weight relapse and loss of lean body mass. Aim for one to two pounds per week, or no more than 1% of total body weight (ie, 3 lbs per week if you weigh 300 lbs).
    2) Use a higher energy flux program.
    If you are physically capable of exercise, then use weight training AND cardio to increase your calorie expenditure, so you can still have a calorie deficit, but at a higher food intake (also known as a “high energy flux” program, or as we like to say in Burn The Fat, “eat more, burn more.”)
    3) Use a conservative calorie deficit.
    You must have a calorie deficit to lose fat, but your best bet is to keep the deficit small. This helps you avoid triggering the starvation response, which includes the increased appetite and potential to binge that comes along with starvation diets. I recommend a 20% deficit below your maintenance calories (TDEE), a 30% deficit at most for those with high body fat.
    4) Refeed.
    Increase your calories (re-feed) for a full day periodically (once a week or so if you are heavy, twice a week if you are already lean), to restimulate metabolism. On the higher calorie day, take your calories to maintenance or even 10, 15, 20% above maintenance and add the extra calories in the form of carbs (carb cycling). The leaner you get, and the longer you’ve been on reduced calories, the more important the re-feeds will be. (You can learn more about this method in chapter 12 of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle at www.BurnTheFat.com!)
    5) Take periodic diet breaks.
    Take 1 week off your calorie restricted diet approximately every 12 weeks or so. During this period, take your calories back up to maintenance, but continue to eat healthy, “clean” foods. Alternately, go into a muscle building phase if increasing lean mass is one of your goals. This will bring metabolism and regulatory hormones back up to normal and keep lean body mass stable.
    There is much confusion about how your metabolism, hormones and appetite mechanisms are affected when you’re dieting, so this was really one of the most important questions anyone could have asked.
    If this didn’t REALLY click – then you may want to save this and read it again because misunderstanding this stuff  leads more people to remain frustrated and stuck at plateaus than anything else I can think of.
    If you’d like to learn exactly how you should be eating to lose 2 lbs of fat per week, then visit www.BurnTheFat.com!.
    Train hard and expect success,
    Tom Venuto, Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle www.BurnTheFat.com!

    About the Author:
    Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time

    How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time

    Title: How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time

    By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 2222 words

    I’ll never forget the very first time I got ripped, how I did it and how it felt. I’ve never told this entire story before or widely published my early photos either. Winning first place and seeing my abs the first time was sweet redemption. But before that, it was a story of desperation…

    I started lifting weights for bodybuilding when I was 14 years old, but I never had ripped abs until I was 20. I endured six years of frustration and embarrassment. Being a teenager is hard enough, but imagine how I felt being a self-proclaimed bodybuilder, with no abs or muscle definition to show for it. Imagine what it was like in swimming class or when we played basketball in gym class and I prayed to be called out for “shirts” and not ‘”skins” because I didn’t want any one seeing my “man-boobs” and ab flab jiggling all over the court.

    Oh, I had muscle. I started gaining muscle from the moment I picked up a barbell. I got strong too. I was benching 315 at age 18. But even after four years of successful strength training, I still hadn’t figured out this getting ripped thing. Muscle isn’t very attractive if it’s covered up with a layer of fat. That’s where the phrase “bulky” really comes from – fat on top of muscle. It can look worse than just fat.

    I read every book. I read every magazine. I tried every exercise. I took every supplement in vogue back in the 80’s (remember bee pollen, octacosanol, lipotropics and dessicated liver?) I tried not eating for entire days at a time. I went on a rope skipping kick. I did hundreds of crunches and ab exercises. I rode the Lifecycle. I wore rubber waist belts.

    The results were mediocre at best. When I made progress, I couldn’t maintain it. One step forward, one step back. Even when I got a little leaner, it wasn’t all the way. Still no ripped abs. When I played football and they beat the crap out of us at training camp, I lost weight, but STILL didn’t get all the way down to those elusive six pack abs. In fact, it was almost like I got “skinny fat.” My arms and legs lost some muscle but the small roll of ab fat was still there.

     

    Why was it so hard? What was I doing wrong? It was driving me crazy!

    My condition got worse in college because I mixed with a party crowd. With boozing came eating, and the “bulk” accumulated even more. At that point, the partying and social life were more important to me than my body. I was still lifting weights, but wasn’t living a fitness lifestyle.

    Mid way through college I changed my major from business management to exercise science, having made up my mind to pursue a career in fitness. That’s when I started to feel something wasn’t right. The best word for it is “incongruence.” That’s when what you say you want to be and what you really are don’t match. Being a fitness professional means you have to walk the talk and be a role model to others. Anything else is hypocrisy. I knew I had to shape up or forget fitness as a career.

    But after four years, I STILL didn’t know how to get ripped! Nothing I learned in exercise physiology class helped. All the theory was interesting, but when theory hit the real world, things didn’t always work out like they did on paper. My professors didn’t know either. Heck, most of them weren’t even in shape! Two of them were overweight, including my nutrition professor.

    However, out of my college experience did come the seeds of the solution and my first breakthrough.

    In one of my physical education classes, we were required to do some running and we were instructed to keep track of our performance and resting heart rates. Somehow, even though I was a strength athlete, I got hooked on running. After the initial discomfort of hauling around a not so cardio-fit 205 pound body, I started to get a lot of satisfaction out of watching my resting heart rate drop from the 70’s into the 50’s and seeing my running times get better and better. And then it happened: I started getting leaner than I ever had before.

    The results motivated me to no end, and I kept after it even more. My runs would be 5 or 6 days a week and I’d go for between 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I had a circular route of about 6 miles and I would run it for time, almost always pushing for a personal record. When I finished, I was spent, drenched in sweat and sometimes just crashing when I got home. And I kept getting even leaner.

    That’s when I started to figure it out. If you’re expecting me to say that running is the secret, no, that’s NOT it per se. I was thinking bigger picture. In fact, I noticed that my legs had lost some muscle size, so I knew that over-doing the runs would be counter productive, ultimately, and I don’t run that much anymore these days. But that’s how I did it the first time and I had never experienced fat loss like that before. The fat was falling off and I had barely changed my diet.

    My “aha moment” was when I realized the pivotal piece in the puzzle was calories. It wasn’t the type of exercise, it wasn’t the specific foods and it wasn’t supplements. Today I realize that it’s the calorie deficit that matters the most, not whether you eat less or burn more per se, but in my case creating a large deficit by burning the calories was the absolute key for me.

    These runs were burning an enormous number of calories. Everything I had done before wasn’t burning enough to make a noticeable difference in a short period of time. 10-15 minutes of rope skipping wasn’t enough. 45 minutes of slow-go bike riding wasn’t burning enough. Hundreds of crunches weren’t enough. I put 1+1+1 together and realized it was intensity X duration X frequency = highest the total calorie burn for the week. How much simpler could it be? It wasn’t magic. It was MATH!

    It was consistency too. This was the first time in SIX YEARS I stuck with it. Body fat comes off by the grams every day – literally. Kilos and pounds of body weight may come off quickly, but they come back just as fast. Body fat comes off slowly and if you have no patience or you jump to one program to the next without following through with the one you started, you’re doomed. In six years, I had “tried everything”… except consistency and patience.

    Then the stakes went up. I had finally gotten lean, but there was another level beyond lean… RIPPED! My buddies at the gym noticed me getting leaner and then they popped the question: Why don’t you compete? My training partner Steve had already competed 3 years earlier and won the Teenage Mr. America competition. Since then, I had been all talk and no walk. “Yeah, I’m going to compete one of these days too… I’m going to be the next Mr. America.” Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. The only title I had won was “Mr. Procastinator.” Then finally, Steve and my other friends challenged me almost in an ultimatum type of way. Well, the truth is, I set myself up for it with my big mouth and they called me out, so I would have been the laughing stock of our gym if I didn’t follow through.

    The first time you do a real cut – all the way down to contest-ready – is the hardest. Not as much physically as psychologically, simply because you’ve never done it before. Doing something you’ve done before is no big deal. Doing something you’ve never done before causes uncertainty and fear, sometimes even terror! I was plagued with self-doubt the entire time, never sure if I was ever going to get there. It seemed like it was taking forever. But failure was not an option. Not only did I have an entire gym full of friends rooting me on, I had great training partner who was natural Mr. Teenage America! The pressure was on. I had to do it. There was no way out. No excuses.

    Some other day, I’ll tell you all the details of the emotional roller coaster ride that was my first contest diet, but let it suffice to say, at that point, I still didn’t know what I was doing. It was only later that I went into “human guinea pig” mode with nutritional experiments and finally pinned down the eating side of the equation to a science (and gained 20 lbs of stage-weight muscle as a result).

    In the late 1980’s, the standard bodybuilding diet was high carb, low fat. For that first competition, I was on 60% carbs – including pancakes, boxed cereal, whole grain bread, and pasta – so I guess you can toss out the idea that it’s impossible to get ripped on high carbs – although high carb is NOT the contest diet I use today. But it didn’t matter, because I had already learned the critical piece in the fat loss puzzle – the calorie balance equation. Understanding that one aspect of physiology was enough to get me ripped. It only got better later.

    In the end, I took 2nd place at my very first competition, the Natural Lehigh Valley, and one month later, I won first place at the Natural New Jersey. Seven months later, the overall Natural Pennsylvania.

    Looking back, was all the effort worth it? Well, my good friend Adam Waters, who is an accountability coach, teaches his students about using “redemption” as a motivator. Remember the Charles Atlas ad where the skinny kid got sand kicked in his face and then came back big and buffed and beat up the bully? That’s redemption. Or the dateless high school nerd who comes back to the 10 year class reunion driving a Mercedes with the prom queen on his arm? That’s redemption.

    After all the doubt, heartache and frustration I went through for six years, I not only had my trophies, my abs were on the front page of the sports section in our small Pennsylvania town newspaper. The following year, I was on the poster for a bodybuilding competition… as the previous year’s champion. THAT’S REDEMPTION. You tell me if it was worth it.

    There are 7 lessons from my story that I want to share with you because even if you have a different personal history than I do, these 7 lessons are the keys to achieving any previously elusive fitness goal for the first time and I think they apply to everyone.

    1. Set the big goal and go for it. If your goal doesn’t excite you and scare you at the same time, your goal is too small. If you don’t feel fear or uncertainty, you’re inside your comfort zone. Puny goals aren’t motivating. Sometimes it takes a competition or a big challenge of some kind to get your blood boiling.

    2. Align your values with your goals. I understood my values and made a decision to be congruent with who I really was and who I wanted to be. When you know your values, get your priorities straight and align your goals with your values, then doing what it takes is easy.

    3. Do the math. Stop looking for magic. A lean body does not come from any particular type of exercise or foods per se, it’s the calories burned vs calories consumed that determines fat loss or fat gain. You might do better by decreasing the calories consumed, whereas I depended more on increasing the calories burned, but either way, it’s still a math equation. Deny it at your own risk.

    4. Get social support. Support and encouragement from your friends can help get you through anything. Real time accountability to a training partner or trainer can make all the difference.

    5. Be consistent. Nothing will ever work if you don’t work at it every day. Sporadic efforts don’t just produce sporadic results, sometimes they produce zero results.

    6. Persist through difficulty and self doubt. If you think it’s going to be smooth sailing all the way with no ups and downs, you’re fooling yourself.. For every sunny day, there’s going to be a storm. If you can’t weather the storms, you’ll never reach new shores.

    7. Redeem yourself. Non-achievers sit on the couch and wallow in past failures. Winners use past failures as motivational rocket fuel. It always feels good to achieve a goal, but nothing feels as good as achieving a goal with redemption.

    Postscript: My journey continued. Since that initial first place trophy, I have competed as a natural for life bodybuilder 26 more times, including 7 first place awards and 7 runner up awards. And yes, I finally nailed down the nutrition side of things too. You can read more about that and the fat loss program that developed as a result at www.BurnTheFat.com!

     


     

    Tom Venuto Newspaper Photo

    Train hard and expect success always,

    Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS Fat Loss Coach www.BurnTheFat.com!

    About the Author:
    Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • The Truth About Fast Weight Loss

    The Truth About Fast Weight Loss

    Title: The Truth About Fast Weight Loss

    By line: By Tom Venuto

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 1356 words

    WEIGHT LOSS POP QUIZ: What are 3 things that ALL 8 of these advertisements have in common?

    “Burn 30 lbs in 3 weeks – no diet!”

    “Lose 9 Pounds Every 11 Days!”

    “Lose a pound a day without diet or exercise!”

    “Lose 2 pounds a day without dieting!”

    “Lose 30 pounds In 30 Days!”

    “Lose 20 lbs in 3 weeks!”

    “Burn 30 lbs in 25 days!”

    “Lose 10 Pounds This Weekend!”

    ANSWER: (1) They are all FALSE, (2) they are all DECEPTIVE…

    I just did an Internet search for “how fast should you lose weight” and these are just a small sample of ACTUAL ADS that are running this very moment. They sure are enticing, aren’t they? They play on your emotions and on your desire for instant gratification.

    But did you know that…

    (3) these claims are all actually ILLEGAL, says the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

    “We have known for some time now that there is a serious problem with weight-loss product advertising,” said FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris. “Reputable marketers continue to take care to avoid false and misleading claims, but it appears that too many unscrupulous marketers are making false claims promising dramatic and effortless weight loss to sell their products. It is not fair to consumers; it is not fair to legitimate businesses, it is illegal, and it will not be tolerated.”

    You might be asking, “Ummm, if it will not be tolerated, then why do we keep seeing these ads?” Ah yes, well, God bless the Internet, On Google, you can put up an ad and have it showing in 15 minutes. You can then have it taken down just as fast. Same goes for websites. The FTC couldn’t keep up with OFFLINE false advertising, how are they possibly going to keep up with it ONLINE??? And it’s only going to get worse.

    There’s only so much the FTC and other consumer watchdog organizations can do. It’s up to YOU to educate YOURSELF and know the red flags and warning signs of bogus weight loss claims.

    Here’s what else the FTC says about why these types of advertising claims are so damaging:

    • “The deceptive promotion of quick and easy weight loss solutions potentially fuels unrealistic expectations on the part of consumers. consumers who believe that it really is possible to lose a pound (of fat) a day may quickly lose interest in losing a pound a week.”
    • “The proliferation of “fast and easy” fixes undermines the reality of what it takes to lose weight. People who need to lose weight are buying empty promises.”

    I believe that the weight loss education industry has been knocked a few steps backward in the last few years due to (1) the internet and (2) the horrendous reality TV shows that actually encourage people to attempt “extreme” body makeovers or see who can lose weight the fastest. The winners (or shall we say, the “losers”, as if that’s a flattering title to earn), are rewarded generously with fortune, fame and congratulations.

    These shows are damaging and despicable. I’m shocked that so many millions tune in and I’m even more surprised how many people think this garbage is “inspiring.”

    Let’s face it. Everyone wants to get the fat off as quickly as possible – and having that desire is not wrong – it’s simply human nature. Patience is the one thing you never seem to have when you’ve got a body fat problem. You want the fat gone and you want it gone now!

    Like the FTC said, with what we see on TV these days and with web page after web page of fast weight loss claims, you actually start to believe it’s doable and you’re no longer interested in a healthy 1-2 lbs weight loss per week. In fact, you even see people with your own eyes losing weight incredibly fast. How do you deny it’s possible when you see THAT?

    Well, the answer comes to you when you expand your time perspective and see where those people are 6, 12, 18 months from now. Deep in your heart, you KNOW the answer…

    The faster you lose weight, the more muscle you will lose right along with the fat, and that can really mess up your metabolism.

    An even bigger problem with fast weight loss is that it just won’t last. The faster you lose, the more likely you are to gain it back. It’s the the “yo-yo diet effect” – weight goes down, but always comes back up.

    What Really Matters Is Not How Much WEIGHT You Lose, But How Much FAT You Lose

    Where did your weight loss come from? Did you lose body fat or lean body mass? “Weight” is not the same as “fat.” Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water…

    Don’t Be Fooled By Water Weight Losses

    One thing you should also know is that it’s very common to lose 3 – 5 pounds in the first week on nearly any diet and exercise program and often even more on low carb diets (because low carb diets deplete glycogen and every gram of glycogen holds 3 grams of water). Just remember, its NOT all fat – WATER LOSS IS NOT FAT LOSS – AND WATER LOSS IS TEMPORARY!

    The only way to know if you’ve actually lost FAT is with body composition testing. For home body fat self-testing, I recommend the Accu-Measure skinfold caliper as first choice. Even better, get a multi site skinfold caliper test from an experienced tester at a health club, or even an underwater (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.

    From literally hundreds of client case studies, I can confirm that it’s rare to lose more than 2 to 3 lbs of weight per week without losing some muscle along with it. If you lose muscle, you are damaging your metabolism and this will lead to a plateau and ultimately to weight relapse.

    The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake That Is FATAL To Your Long Term Success

    Lack of patience is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to losing body fat. If you want to lose FAT, not muscle, and if you want to keep the fat off for good, then you have to take off the pounds slowly (of course, if you want to crash diet the weight off fast, lose muscle with the fat and gain all the fat back later, be my guest!).

    This is one of the toughest lessons that overweight men and women have to learn – and they can be very hard learners. They fight kicking and screaming, insisting that they CAN and they MUST lose it faster.

    Then you have these TV shows that encourage the masses that rapid, crash weight loss is okay. To the producers of these shows, I say SHAME ON YOU! To the personal trainers, registered dieticians and medical doctors who are associated with these programs, I say DOUBLE SHAME ON YOU, because you of all people should know better. These shows are not “motivating” or “inspiring” – they are DAMAGING! They are a DISGRACE!

    The rapid weight loss being promoted by the media for the sake of ratings and by the weight loss companies for the sake of profits makes it even harder for legitimate fitness and nutrition professionals because our clients say, “But look at so and so on TV – he lost 26 pounds in a week!”

    Sure, but 26 pounds of WHAT – and do you have any idea what the long term consequences are?

    Short term thinking… foolish.

    Do it the right way. The healthy way. Take off pounds slowly, and steadily with a sensible lifestyle program like my BurnTheFat Feed the Muscle System that includes the important elements of cardio training, strength training and proper nutrition.

    Measure your body fat, not just your body weight, and make this a new lifestyle, not a race, and you will never have to take the pounds off again, because they will be gone forever the first time.

    Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle www.BurnTheFat.com!

    About the Author:

    Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • Health And Fitness Is Not A 12-Week Program

    Health And Fitness Is Not A 12-Week Program

    Title: Health And Fitness Is Not A 12 Week Program

    By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 2230 words

    Not long ago, one of the members of my health club poked her head in my office for some advice. Linda was a 46 year old mother of two, and she had been a member for over a year. She had been working out sporadically, with (not surprisingly), sporadic results. On that particular day, she seemed to have enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye that I hadn’t seen before.

    “I want to enter a before and after fitness contest called the “12 week body transformation challenge.” I could win money and prizes and even get my picture in a magazine.”

    “I want to lose THIS”, she continued, as she grabbed the body fat on her stomach. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

    Linda was not “obese,” she just had the typical “moderate roll” of abdominal body fat and a little bit of thigh/hip fat that many forty-something females struggle with.

    “I think it’s a great idea,” I reassured her. “Competitions are great for motivation. When you have a deadline and you dangle a “carrot” like that prize money in front of you, it can keep you focused and more motivated than ever.”

    Linda was eager and rarin’ to go. “Will you help me? I have this enrollment kit and I need my body fat measured.”

    “No problem,” I said as I pulled out my Skyndex fat caliper, which is used to measure body fat percentage with a “pinch an inch” test.

    When I finished, I read the results to her from the caliper display: “Twenty-seven percent. Room for improvement, but not bad; it’s about average for your age group.”

    She wasn’t overjoyed at being ‘average’. “Yeah, but it’s not good either. Look at THIS,” she complained as again she grabbed a handful of stomach fat. “I want to get my body fat down to 19%, I heard that was a good body fat level.”

    I agreed that 19% was a great goal, but told her it would take a lot of work because average fat loss is usually about a half a percent a week, or six percent in twelve weeks. Her goal, to lose eight percent in twelve weeks was ambitious.

    She smiled and insisted, “I’m a hard worker. I can do it”

    Indeed she was and indeed she did. She was a machine! Not only did she never miss a day in the gym, she trained HARD. Whenever I left my office and took a stroll through the gym, she was up there pumping away with everything she had. She told me her diet was the strictest it had ever been in her life and she didn’t cheat at all. I believed her, and it started to show, quickly.

    Each week she popped into my office to have her body fat measured again, and each week it went down, down, down. Consistently she lost three quarters of a percent per week – well above the average rate of fat loss – and on two separate occasions, I recall her losing a full one percent body fat in just seven days.

    Someone conservative might have said she was overtraining, but when we weighed her and calculated her lean body mass, we saw that she hadn’t lost ANY muscle – only fat. Her results were simply exceptional!

    She was ecstatic, and needless to say, her success bred more success and she kept after it like a hungry tiger for the full twelve weeks.

    On week twelve, day seven, she showed up in my office for her final weigh-in and body fat measurement. She was wearing a pair of formerly tight blue jeans and they were FALLING OFF her!

    “Look, look, look,” she repeated giddily as she tugged at her waistband, which was now several inches too large.

    As I took her body fat, I have to say, I was impressed. She hadn’t just lost a little fat, she was “RIPPED!”

    During week twelve she dropped from 18% to 17% body fat, for a grand total of 10% body fat lost in three months. She surpassed her goal of 19% by two percent. I was now even more impressed, because not many people lose that much body fat in three months.

    You should have seen her! She started jumping up and down for joy like she was on a pogo stick! She was beaming… grinning from ear to ear! She practically knocked me over as she jumped up and gave me a hug – “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

    “Don’t thank me,” I said, “You did it, I just measured your body fat.”

    She thanked me again anyway and then said she had to go have her “after” pictures taken.

    Then something very, very strange happened. She stopped coming to the gym. Her “disappearance” was so abrupt, I was worried and I called her. She never picked up, so I just left messages.

    No return phone call.

    It was about four months later when I finally saw Linda again. The giddy smile was gone, replaced with a sullen face, a droopy posture and a big sigh when I said hello and asked where she’d been.

    “I stopped working out after the contest… and I didn’t even win.”

    “You looked like a winner to me, no matter what place you came in” I insisted, “but why did you stop, you were doing so well!”

    “I don’t know, I blew my diet and then just completely lost my motivation. Now look at me, my weight is right back where I started and I don’t even want to know my body fat.”

    “Well, I’m glad to see you back in here again. Write down some new goals for yourself and remember to think long term too. Twelve week goals are important, but fitness isn’t 12 week program you know, it’s a lifestyle – you have to do it every day, for the rest of your life.”

    She nodded her head and finished her workout, still with a defeated look on her face. Unfortunately, she never again come anywhere near the condition she achieved for that competition, and for the rest of the time she was a member at our club, she slipped right back into the sporadic on and off workout pattern.

    Linda was not an isolated case. I’ve seen the same thing happen with countless men and women of all ages and fitness levels from beginners to competitive bodybuilders. In fact, it happens to millions of people who “go on” diets, lose a lot of weight, then quickly “go off” the diet and gain the weight right back.

    What causes people to burn so brightly with enthusiasm and motivation and then burn out just as quickly? Why do so many people succeed brilliantly in the short term but fail 95 out of 100 times in the long term? Why do so many people reach their fitness goals but struggle to maintain them?

    The answer is simple: Health and fitness is for life, not for “12 weeks.”

    You can avoid the on and off, yo-yo cycle of fitness ups and downs. You can get in great shape and stay in great shape. You can even get in shape and keep getting in better and better shape year after year, but it’s going to take a very different philosophy than most people subscribe to. The seven tips below will guide you.

    These guidelines are quite contrary to the quick fix philosophies prevailing in the weight loss and fitness world today. Applying them will take patience, discipline and dedication and they will put you in the minority. Just remember, the only thing worse than getting no results is getting great results and losing them.

    1) Don’t “go on” diets. When you “go on” a diet, the underlying assumption is that at some point you have to “go off” it. This isn’t just semantics, it’s one of the primary reasons most diets fail. By definition, a “diet” is a temporary and often drastic change in your eating behaviors and/or a severe restriction of calories or food, which is ultimately, not maintainable. If you reach your goal, the diet is officially “over” and then you “go off” (returning to the way you used to eat). Health and fitness is not temporary; it’s not a “diet.” It’s something you do every day of your life. Unless you approach nutrition from a “habits” and “lifestyle” perspective, you’re doomed from the start.

    2) Eat the same healthy foods consistently, all year round. Permanent fat loss is best achieved by eating mostly the same types of foods all year round. Naturally, you should include a wide variety of healthy foods so you get the full spectrum of nutrients you need, but there should be consistency, month in, month out. When you want to lose body fat, there’s no dramatic change necessary – you don’t need to eat totally different foods – it’s a simple matter of eating less of those same healthy foods and exercising more.

    3) Have a plan for easing into maintenance. Let’s face it – sometimes a nutrition program needs to be more strict than usual. For example, peaking for a bodybuilding, figure, fitness or transformation challenge contest requires an extremely strict regimen that’s different than the rest of the year. As a rule, the stricter your nutrition program, the more you must plan ahead and the more time you must allow for a slow, disciplined transition into maintenance. Failure to plan for a gradual transition will almost always result in a huge binge and a very rapid, hard fall “off the wagon.”

    4) Focus on changing daily behaviors and habits one or two at a time. Rather than making huge, multiple changes all at once, focus on changing one or two habits/behaviors at a time. Most psychologists agree that it takes about 21 days of consistent effort to replace an old bad habit with a new positive one. As you master each habit, and it becomes as ingrained into your daily life as brushing your teeth, then you simply move on to the next one. That would be at least 17 new habits per year. Can you imagine the impact that would have on your health and your life? This approach requires patience, but the results are a lot more permanent than if you try to change everything in one fell swoop. This is also the least intimidating way for a beginner to start making some health-improving changes to their lifestyle.

    5) Make goal setting a lifelong habit. Goal setting is not a one-time event, it’s a process that never ends. For example, if you have a 12 week goal to lose 6% bodyfat, what are you going to do after you achieve it? Lose even more fat? Gain muscle? What’s next? On week 13, day 1, if you have no direction and no long term goal to keep you going, you’ll have nothing to keep you from slipping back into old patterns. Every time you achieve a short term goal (daily, weekly and 12 week goals), you must set another one. Having short term goals means that you are literally setting goals continuously and never stopping.

    6) Allow a reasonable time frame to reach your goal. It’s important to set deadlines for your fitness and weight loss goals. It’s also important to set big, ambitious goals, but you must allow a reasonable time frame for achieving them. Time pressure is often the motivating force that helps people get in the best shape of their lives. But when the deadline is unrealistic for a particular goal (like 30 pounds in 30 days), then crash dieting or other extreme measures are often taken to get there before the bell. The more rapidly you lose weight, the more likely you are to lose muscle and the faster the weight will come right back on afterwards. Start sooner. Don’t wait until mid-May to think about looking good for summer.

    7) Extend your time perspective. Successful people in every field always share one common character trait: Long term time perspective. Some of the most successful Japanese technology and manufacturing companies have 100 year and even 250-year business plans. If you want to be successful in maintaining high levels of fitness, you must set long term goals: One year, Ten years, Even fifty years! You also must consider what the long term consequences might be as a result of using any “radical” diet, training method or ergogenic aid. The people who had it but lost it are usually the ones who failed to think long term or acknowledge future consequences. It’s easy for a 21 year old to live only for today, and it may even seem ridiculous to set 25 year goals, but consider this: I’ve never met a 40 or 60 year old who didn’t care about his or her health and appearance, but I have met 40 or 60 year olds who regretted not caring 25 years ago.

    Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is a fat loss program which acknowledges the simple truth that going “on diets,” entering “Fitness challenges” or competing in “Transformation contests” without having long term goals and a lifestyle attitude, is a recipe for failure. Don’t let yourself be part of the latest fitness dropout statistics: visit the Burn The Fat website for more details on how to change your lifestyle… and keep the change! www.BurnTheFat.com!

    About the Author:

    Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • P90X Vs P90X2 I due programmi a confronto.

    P90X Vs P90X2 I due programmi a confronto.

    Titolo:  P90X Vs P90X2 I due programmi a confronto.
    Autore: Piero Maina
    Conteggio parole: 1392

    Cominciamo col sentire direttamente dalla voce di  Tony Horton, il creatore dei due programmi, quali sono le differenze. Nel video seguente troverete la comparazione fra  P90X vs P90X2, in inglese.

    P90X VS P90X2 – Tony Horton Explain

    P90X vs P90X2 Mettiamoli a confronto

    Qui sotto trovate una tabella comparativa fra i due programmi. Ecco le principali differenze fra P90X e P90X2

    Programmi P90X P90X2
    Obiettivi
    Ottenere la migliore forma fisica della vostra vita
    Incrementare le vostre prestazioni atletiche, di agilità forza, flessibilità e raggiungere uno stato di forma ancora migliore
    Metodo di lavoro
    Confusione muscolare utilizzando allenamenti per la resistenza,plyometric, cardio e yoga
    Come il P90X, ma con l’aggiunta dell’allenamento P.A.P.(Post Activation Potentiation)
    N° Fasi
    3 Fasi ciascuna della durata di 30 giorni
    3 fasi ciascuna della durata di 3-6 settimane (Più flessibile e personalizzabile)
    Programma Settimanale
    6 giorni a settimana, 1 giorno di riposo/stretching
    5 giorni a settimana(2 giorni riposo o stretching/Foam roller)
    N° Esercizi
    12 Tipologie di esercizi
    • P90X – 01 Chest & Back.
      Forza e definizione. Flessioni e trazioni alla sbarra per un’ora di allenamento.
    • P90X – 02 Plyometrics.
      Forza esplosiva,salti,cardio all’estremo. Un’ora di intenso allenamento e aumenteranno le vostre performances.
    • P90X – 03 Shoulders & Arms.
      Ottimo allenamento per spalle e braccia.Otterrete forza e definizione
    • P90X – 04 Yoga X.
      Esercizi combinati per l’aumento della forza, dell’equilibrio,della flessibilità e della respirazione utilizzando tecniche yoga.
    • P90X – 05 Legs & Back.
      Squat, allungamenti e trazioni per un allenamento combinato gambe/schiena molto efficace.
    • P90X – 06 Kenpo X.
      Esercizi per l’allenamento cardiovascolare ad alta intensità. Comprende mosse di kick boxing ed esercizi in equilibrio che richiedono coordinazione.
    • P90X – 07 X Stretch.
      Stretching per migliorare la nostra flessibilità ed evitare infortuni.
    • P90X – 08 Core Synergistics.
      Allenamento per il core e muscolatura in generale.
    • P90X – 09 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps.
      Petto,Spalle e Tricipiti. Quant’è duro! Provare per credere!
    • P90X – 10 Back & Biceps.
      Schiena e Bicipiti. Molto intenso e completo, ma meno di quello sopra.
    • P90X – 11 Cardio X. Esercizi cardio brucia grassi.
    • P90X – 12 Ab Ripper X.
      Grande routine per gli addominali. 349 ripetizioni in 16 min. Con questa routine ho allenato e alleno i miei addominali.
    12  (più 2 allenamenti estremi acquistabili separatamente)
    • P90X2 – 01 X2 CORE(57 min.) La base fondamentale del P90X2: Padroneggiate questo workout dedicato al core e vedrete tutto il resto migliorare di conseguenza.
    • P90X2 – 02 PLYOCIDE(57 min.)Un insieme di movimenti di coordinazione e forza esplosiva, allenatevi e guardate come miglioreranno le vostre performances.
    • P90X2 – 03 X2 RECOVERY + MOBILITY (approx. 58 min.)Stretching attivo e mobilità utilizzando l’elemento chiave: il foam rolling . .
    • P90X2 – 04 X2 TOTAL BODY (approx. 64 min.)Allenamento contro resistenza e instabilità per un allenamento generale molto efficace.
    • P90X2 – 05 X2 YOGA (approx. 68 min.)Aumento della forza isometrica migliorando la flessibilità e i muscoli stabilizzatori.
    • P90X2 – 06 X2 BALANCE + POWER (approx. 63 min.)Forza e destrezza. Il core viene ulteriormente sollecitato
    • P90X2 – 07 CHEST + BACK + BALANCE(57 min.) Allenamento effettuato in maniera instabile.Aumento della forza e dell’equilibrio diversamente dai classici pesi.
    • P90X2 – 08 X2 SHOULDERS + ARMS (approx. 53 min.)Ottimo allenamento per braccia e spalle. Sempre in condizioni di instabilità.
    • P90X2 – 09 BASE + BACK (approx. 56 min.)Plyo e trazioni alla sbarra per un’ora.
    • P90X2 – 10 P.A.P. LOWER (approx. 63 min.)Ho scritto un articolo a parte su questo allenamento, qui.
    • P90X2 – 11 P.A.P. UPPER (approx. 53 min.)Molti atleti di fama mondiale sono stati distrutti da questo allenamento.Ho scritto un articolo a parte su questo allenamento, qui.
    • P90X2 – 12 X2 AB RIPPER (approx. 17 min.)17 minuti di duro allenamento per gli addominali, ma è meglio dire per il core.
    • P90X2 – 13 V SCULPT(approx. 54 min.)Allenamento per schiena e bicipiti. Aumento della forza e del livello fitness in generale.
    • P90X2 – 14 X2 CHEST + SHOULDERS + TRIS(approx. 49 min.)Petto,Spalle,Tricipiti sempre sollecitati al massimo utilizzando piattaforme instabili (Swiss ball e palle mediche).
    Durata Yoga
    75 minuti
    60 minuti
    Piano Nutrizionale
    Incluso
    Incluso, con l’aggiunta di piani alimentari per i vegani e i celiaci e le ultime novità in fatto di alimentazione sportiva
    Equipaggiamento minimo necessario
    • Barra per le trazioni
    • Bande elastiche o Manubri
    • Barra per le trazioni
    • Bande elastiche o Manubri
    Ulteriore Equipaggiamento necessario
    • Tappeto per Yoga
    • Blocchi per Yoga (2)
    • Cardio frequenzimetro
    • Maniglie per le flessioni
    • Swiss Ball
    • Foam Roller
    • 2 Palle mediche da 4 kg.
    Supplementi Alimentari Consigliati
    • P90X Recovery Drink
    • Shakeology
    • Proteine in Polvere
    • P90X Recovery Drink
    • Shakeology
    • Proteine in Polvere

    Ho concluso dopo 4 mesi e mezzo il primo ciclo con il P90X2 e qui volevo scrivere la mia impressione “a caldo” rispetto al suo predecessore il P90X, con il quale mi sono allenato per un anno e mezzo. Va prima detto che è ovvio aver trovato una maggiore difficoltà alla partenza con il P90X, non solo per la tipologia degli esercizi che richiedevano una solida base di allenamento già in partenza e che io avevo anche se non così solida come avrei avuto più tardi dopo un paio di cicli  di allenamento e ancor più in seguito. Inoltre alla partenza a Settembre 2010 avevo una tibia con frattura da stress che mi ha impedito di allenare le gambe fino a Marzo 2011. Di converso ho iniziato ad allenarmi con il P90X2 a Gennaio 2012 proveniente da 5 cicli completi,(tranne le gambe nei primi due cicli) con il P90X e quindi la mia soglia di allenamento era alta, ciò nonostante la partenza non è stata delle più semplici, sia per il tempo necessario a meccanizzare gli esercizi, che proprio per la tipologia d’esercizio differente. Nel P90X2 è richiesto un utilizzo della muscolatura core molto più impegnativo così come la soglia dell’equilibrio si dovrà stabilizzare e le tipologie degli esercizi mirano ad un lavoro che premia maggiormente la pura performance atletica e la costruzione di un fisico “fitness” che la sola costruzione di un fisico da mostrare.(Apro una parentesi, non è che il P90X sia orientato a costruire un fisico che sia solo da mostrare,anzi…va solo detto che gli esercizi nel P90X2 si svolgono sempre su basi instabili e più che la massa muscolare,viene premiata la prestazione, ma non vorrei essere frainteso. Anche il P90X crea un vero fisico super, solo che gli esercizi sono più di tipo classico e a mio avviso è bene utilizzare esercizi di entrambi i programmi. Poi i risultati sulla massa muscolare sono determinati dall’allenamento contro resistenza e soprattutto dall’alimentazione) La mia esperienza a livello di risultati raggiunti è risultata molto valida, ma se vado a guardare da vicino le masse muscolari secondo me sono diminuite. Non di molto, no, sono ancora nella stessa classe di peso e anzi come avevo scritto nei precedenti articoli sto cercando di crescere un poco. Il mio lavoro non è mirato al bodybuilding puro, se no non seguirei questi programmi e il mio utilizzo di integratori si limita agli omega 3, sotto forma di capsule di Krill oil, glucosamina coenzima Q10 come antiossidante oltre al già citato omega 3, Fibre in quantità e un paio di cicli all’anno di creatina e niente altro. Sempre in riferimento a quanto già scritto, il mio scopo è di mantenere un fisico fitness oriented per un peso che sia l’altezza in centimetri della persona – 100, ma con una massa grassa molto ridotta, diciamo intorno al 6% e quindi per  me si traduce in 178cm. – 100 = 78 Kg. Solo che si parla di 74 Kg. di massa magra sui 78 kg. totali. Bene torniamo al nostro articolo, ora che entro nel pieno della stagione, non credo che farò un altro ciclo di P90X2 da subito e anzi in una prima seduta di P90X effettuata pochi giorni dopo il termine del primo ciclo di P90X2, ho notato l’efficacia dei vecchi esercizi del P90X e i muscoli “bruciavano” nei giorni seguenti, addome compreso. Pertanto ci sarebbe la voglia di tornare a fare 90 giorni di P90X puro, visto che sono esercizi che esaltano comunque le doti atletiche, ma rispettano maggiormente i canoni tradizionali. Di contro, non vorrei perdere le doti di equilibrio,atleticità e forza acquisite con il P90X2 ed essendo questo programma flessibile e integrabile con il suo predecessore o anche con l’insanity, ho deciso di fare i prossimi 90 giorni di allenamento con un programma ibrido che alternerà i due programmi in una sorta di confusione muscolare ancora maggiore e la certezza di ottenere risultati superiori sotto tutti i punti di vista. Alla fine però non mi sono espresso su quale sia meglio fra i due secondo me. In effetti non posso dire che uno sia meglio dell’altro, dipende da cosa si cerca. Con il P90X si è davvero in forma e con il P90X2 si rifinisce il lavoro…..GARANTITO!

    © Copyright 2012 – 2024  Piero Maina – Tutti i diritti riservati

  • P90X2 – P.A.P. LOWER + P.A.P. UPPER

    P90X2 – P.A.P. LOWER + P.A.P. UPPER

    Titolo:  P90X2 – P.A.P. LOWER + P.A.P. UPPER
    Autore: Piero Maina
    Conteggio parole: 1088

    Ho completato il programma P90X2 che ho cominciato a gennaio e ho protratto fino ad oggi, allenandomi fino a sei settimane per le prime due fasi e 4 settimane per l’ultima che comprende gli esercizi P.A.P. (Post Activation Potentiation) come riportato nel titolo. Pertanto i giorni di allenamento sono stati oltre 120 contro i 90 che uno si aspetterebbe. Questo articolo dedicato agli esercizi dell’ ultima fase o fase 3, vuole spiegare come funzionano gli allenamenti P.A.P.  per la parte bassa e alta del corpo visto che si tratta di una vera novità nel panorama dei vari circuiti di allenamento conosciuti.

    Guardiamo da vicino come sono composte queste due sessioni di allenamento:

    P.A.P. (Post Activation Potentiation) sono allenamenti unici nel loro genere come ho giá scritto sopra e sono composti da una serie di esercizi che vengono chiamati ‘complexes’.  Sono due serie di esercizi, ciascuna composta da 4 esercizi combinati in modo da effettuare un lavoro sinergico che coinvolga ciascuna area interessata. Il P.A.P. allena praticamente tutto: core, potenza esplosiva, plyo, forza,resistenza e cardio il tutto ad un ritmo elevato.

    Lo scopo è quello di esaltare le doti atletiche piuttosto che creare il muscolo solo per mostrarlo e il risultato è quello di ottenere migliori prestazioni atletiche allenandosi in maniera più funzionale. E vi assicuro che anche se siete atleti molto allenati alla fine di una sessione di P.A.P. sarete stremati e sudati come un calzino, comunque ne beneficieranno le vostre prestazioni atletiche e salterete  più alto e correrete più forte. Questo vale anche per i cosiddetti atleti “della domenica”. Naturalmente per loro sarà necessario un periodo di adattamento più lungo.

    Guardiamo prima il P.A.P. Lower (Arti Inferiori)

    Pro: Come ho scritto sopra tutto viene attivato, glutei compresi.

    Contro: Teoricamente se siete arrivati alla fase 3 o fase P.A.P. dovreste già essere in buona forma, ma siccome alcuni esercizi vengono effettuati su un solo arto, se il core non è sufficientemente allenato potreste non riuscire al meglio.

    Composizione degli esercizi: Riscaldamento, 4 esercizi complex, pausa idratazione di 1 min., 4 esercizi complex differenti, raffreddamento.

    P90X2 PAP Lower Prima Serie

    – Step Up Convict (necessario uno sgabello o rialzo e manubri)
    – Skater Plyo (Balzi laterali come i pattinatori)
    – One Leg Line Hop (Saltelli rapidi su una gamba)
    – Tony’s Triangle (Esercizio isometrico per i glutei e core)

    P90X2 PAP Lower Seconda Serie

    – Squat Cross Reach (Necessarie due palle mediche e manubri)
    – Split Squat Jump (Balzi sul posto in accosciata gamba avanti/indietro)
    – Monster Slalom Jump (Balzi laterali ad altissima velocità e massima distanza)
    – Side Bridge Leg Lift (Esercizio isometrico per il core molto impegnativo)

    *Materiale Opzionale: Nastro adesivo da mettere sul pavimento, Salvietta e sgabello o rialzo, ma io salgo sul bordo del divano.

    Alla fine di questo allenamento il fiato sarà veramente corto e come tutti gli allenamenti dipenderà anche dal grado del vostro impegno e la correttezza di esecuzione oltre al peso utilizzato. In ogni caso vi renderete conto di quanto sia impegnaticvo il P.A.P. Lower.

    Ora guardiamo da vicino il P.A.P. Upper (Parte alta del corpo)

    Iniziamo col dire che è veramente tosto, naturalmente va sempre visto come viene eseguito l’esercizio, ma se non siete allenati schianterete sul posto! Complessivamente tutte le aree muscolari della parte alta vengono sollecitate, ma non con lo stesso metodo del classico workout di palestra e nemmeno del classico P90X. Si tratta di  4 serie di 4 esercizi, poi dopo la pausa acqua altre 4 serie di 4 differenti esercizi.  In questo allenamento non ci sono gli Ab Ripper al termine, in quanto gli addominali vengono stimolati a livello di core nei vari esercizi, sia isometrici che in quelli dinamici con la palla medica.

    Materiale necessario:

    Barra per le trazioni, Manubri, Elastici, sgabello o rialzo, 2 asciugamani, foam/rumble roller, palla medica e Swiss ball.

    *Se non avete gli elastici anche un bastone,magari appesantito, può servire allo scopo.

    P90X2 PAP Upper Prima Serie

    – Renegade Row (Flessioni/Trazioni con manubri)

    – Plyo Push Up (Flessioni con il battito delle mani)

    – Plank on Med Ball (Posizione “Plank” con i piedi sulla palla medica)

    – Superman (Esercizio per i muscoli lombari/core con bastone appesantito)

    Questi 4 esercizi per 4 volte senza pausa e al termine pausa acqua di 1 minuto.

    P90X2 PAP Upper Seconda Serie

    – Towel Pull Ups (Trazioni alla sbarra tenendosi a due asciugamani)

    – Med Ball Pike (Addominali crunch con palla medica)

    – Step Up Hammer Press (Spalle – Alzate con manubri e gamba sollevata su rialzo)

    – Roller Angel (Stretching attivo sul foam Roller)

    Al termine raffreddamento e stretching.

    Tutto ciò di cui sopra, nonostante i video che possano far sembrare gli esercizi una “passeggiata”, viene svolto a ritmo elevato e rigorosamente senza pausa. E’ molto duro, soprattutto la prima serie di 4 esercizi dell’upper workout, ma se eseguiti con impegno tutti gli esercizi del P.A.P. ci metteranno alla frusta. Con questa mia affermazione non desidero farvi pensare a qualcosa di particolarmente duro e punitivo, è solo che si tratta di una serie di esercizi che richiedono allenamento e volontà e una volta che gli esercizi saranno “ingranati”, la gratificazione e la forma ottenuta ci ripagheranno dell’impegno.

    Va inoltre aggiunto che c’è sempre la dimostrazione per chi si trova in viaggio con materiale di fortuna e quindi anche se non “spinto” al massimo l’esercizio può sempre essere eseguito. Va da se che i migliori giudici per il nostro corpo siamo noi stessi e pertanto se avvertiamo vertigini o senso di disagio evitiamo di spingere al massimo da subito.

    In sintesi è un bel lavorare e per questo ho voluto scrivere un articolo dedicato al P.A.P. Resto dell’idea però, che il P90X è sempre valido e per certi versi forse anche di più del P90X2, diciamo che hanno una finalizzazione differente e nessuno ci proibisce, anche per la loro natura flessibile, di utilizzare in maniera ibrida e combinata i vari esercizi, proprio per raggiungere il miglior risultato a seconda delle nostre finalità. Se notate il fisico di Tony Horton nel P90X2 rispetto al P90X è nettamente più “tirato” e sembra quasi aver perduto la sua massa, sia nelle gambe che nelle braccia. Per quanto riguarda il mio risultato sono decisamente in forma e sono migliorato sotto il punto di vista della mobilità, equilibrio e core che sono alla base per l’esecuzione di tutti gli esercizi. Non posto le mie foto attuali perchè non sono così diverse da quelle che potete vedere nell’articolo Burn The Fat La mia esperienza questo perchè il mio lavoro è finalizzato al raggiungimento della massima forma con aumento della massa magra per la fine di Agosto.

    Prossimamente scriverò la mia opinione fra il P90X Vs P90X2.

    © Copyright 2012 – 2024  Piero Maina – Tutti i diritti riservati

  • Why Some People Quit And Some People NEVER Give Up

    Why Some People Quit And Some People NEVER Give Up

    Title: Why Some People Quit And Some People NEVER Give Up

    By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

    URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 627 words

     

    Throughout my 18 years in the fitness industry as a trainer, nutrition consultant and motivational coach, I have noticed that some people who start a nutrition and exercise program give up very easily after hitting the first obstacle they encounter. If they feel the slightest bit of discouragement or frustration, they will abandon even their biggest goals and dreams.

    On the other hand, I noticed that some people simply NEVER give up. They have ferocious persistence and they never let go of their goals. These people are like the bulldog that refuses to release its teeth-hold on a bone. The harder you try to pull the bone out of his mouth, the harder the dog chomps down with a vice-like grip.

    What’s the difference between these two types of people? Psychologists say there is an answer.

    An extremely important guideline for achieving fitness success is the concept that, “There is no failure; only feedback. You don’t “fail”, you only get results.”

    This is a foundational principle from the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and the first time I ever heard it was from peak performance expert Anthony Robbins back in the late 1980’s. It’s a principle that stuck with me ever since, because it’s a very, very powerful shift in mindset.

    A lot of people will second-guess themselves and they’ll bail out and quit, just because what they try at first doesn’t work. They consider it a permanent failure, but all they need is a little attitude change, a mindset change, or what we call a “reframe.”

    Instead of saying, “This is failure” they can say to themselves, “I produced a result” and “This is only temporary.” This change in perspective is going to change the way that they feel and how they mentally process and explain the experience. It turns into a learning opportunity and valuable feedback for a course correction instead of a failure, and that drives continued action and forward movement.

    It’s all about your results and your interpretation of those results

    Dr Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, did some incredible research on this subject and wrote about it in his book, Learned Optimism. Dr. Seligman noticed that the difference between people who give up and people who persist and never quit is what he referred to as “explanatory style.” He said that explanatory style is the way we explain or interpret bad events or failures.

    People who habitually give up have an explanatory style of permanence. For example, they hit a plateau in their progress and explain it by saying, “diets never work” or “I have bad genetics so I’ll always be fat.” These explanations imply permanence.

    Other people hit the same plateaus and encounter the same challenges, but explain them differently. They say things such as, “I ate too many cheat meals this week,” or “I haven’t found the right diet for my body type yet.” These explanations of the results imply being temporary.

    People who see negative results as permanent failure are the ones who give up easily and often generalize their “failure” into other areas of their lives and even into their own sense of self. It’s one thing to say, “I ate poorly this past week because I was traveling,” (a belief about temporary behavior and environment), and to say, “I am a fat person because of my genetics” (a belief about identity with a sense of permanence). Remember, body fat is a temporary condition, not a person!

    People who see challenges and obstacles as temporary and as valuable learning experiences are the ones who never quit. If you learn from your experiences, not repeating what didn’t work in the past, and if you choose to never quit, your success is inevitable.

    About the Author:

    Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com!

  • No Pain No Gain: Fitness Myth or Ultimate Fitness Truth?

    No Pain No Gain: Fitness Myth or Ultimate Fitness Truth?

    Title: No Pain No Gain: Fitness Myth or Ultimate Fitness Truth?

     By line: By Tom Venuto URL: www.BurnTheFat.com!

    Word count: 1086 words

    No Pain, No Gain. Is this aphorism just a fitness myth and downright bad advice? A lot of people seem to think so. As a bodybuilder with 25 years of training experience and more than two dozen trophies on my shelf, I have another perspective to offer you. Success with your body and in every area of your life is all about stepping outside of your comfort zone and that means embracing pain.

    To reach high levels of physical and personal success you must approach your training, and your entire life, as an endeavor in constant growth. The ultimate truth is, you are either moving forward or moving backward; growing or dying. There’s no such thing as comfortably maintaining.

    To grow, you must step above past achievements; beyond your perceived boundaries and limits. That means stepping out of the known, into the unknown; out of the familiar and into the unfamiliar; out of the comfortable into the uncomfortable. You must get out of your comfort zone.

    The Late Cavett Robert, who was founder of the National Speakers Association, said something I’ll never forget: “Most people are running around their whole lives with their umbilical cords in their hands and they’re looking for some place to plug it back in.”

    Most people are scared of the unknown. They prefer to stay in that womb of comfort. When the going gets tough; when the effort gets painful, when the work gets hard, they always pull back into safety. But the extraordinary people do the opposite. They know they have to get out of the comfort zone, and into new territory or they’ll stagnate and die.

    Walt Disney once said that he never wanted to repeat a past success. He was always creating something new. They called it “Imagineering.” Disney’s mission was to continuously dream up and create things they had never done before, and look at what Disney has become today.

    Here’s a little quote that you should post on your bulletin board, your computer desktop or somewhere you will always see it:

    “Do what you always did, get what you always got.”

    You can’t grow or change by doing what you’ve already done. You’ve got to train just to prevent yourself from going backwards. Maintenance doesn’t occur when you do nothing, maintenance is working to fight entropy, the tendency for things to naturally deteriorate.

    Still, most people won’t leave their comfort zones. They won’t do it in business, they won’t do it in their personal lives. They won’t do it in their sport. They won’t do it for personal health and fitness. Why? The answer is simple… It hurts.

    By definition, what’s it like outside the comfort zone? It’s UN-COMFORTABLE, right? Change is uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s physically painful, but it’s always mentally and emotionally painful, in the form of discipline, sacrifice, uncertainty and fear.

    The maxim, “no pain no gain” gets knocked all the time as if it were bad advice. The fact of life is that you don’t grow unless you’ are constantly stepping outside the comfort zone, and outside the comfort zone is discomfort and pain.

    I find that it’s mostly the non-achievers who make out “no pain, no gain” to be a bad thing. But the winners get it. The champions understand stepping outside the comfort zone in a healthy context, so they embrace it.

    When you’re talking about the Olympics, or pro bodybuilding or the Super Bowl or a world championship, you’d better believe it’s physical pain, it’s discipline, it’s sacrifice, it’s blood, sweat, and tears – literally. But for most people who simply want to go from unfit to fit, from overweight to ideal weight, it’s not so much about physical “pain”; it’s more like stretching yourself.

    How do you develop flexibility? What does your trainer tell you? You stretch to the point of discomfort, but not to the point of pain, right? You get into a position of slight discomfort and you hold it just long enough, then what happens? The discomfort goes away, because the muscle becomes more pliable, and the range of motion is increased.

    Each time, you stretch a little further, just barely into the range you’ve never been in before, and eventually, you’re doing the splits. And why do you approach it like that? Because you don’t want to injure yourself. Stretch too far, too fast and your muscle tears.

    The elite athletes and high achievers really have to push themselves; they’re going to push their boundaries and test their limits. But if you’re not an elite athlete or seasoned bodybuilder, and you take the advice, “no pain, no gain” too literally, you’re going to end up getting injured.

    I always say to my training partner when I watch him cringing during a set and he finishes up with that pained look on his face, “Are you injured, or just hurt?” He knows what I’m talking about. If he says he’s hurt, I say, “OK, good. As long as you’re not injured. Let’s get on with it. Next set.”

    It’s not about injury. That is bad pain. That is stupidity. But do stretch yourself. You can’t improve unless you stretch yourself. If that’s what some people want – if they just want to “stay fit” – OK fine. It actually doesn’t take that much to stay fit, once you’ve already achieved it.

    But what if you want to improve? What if you want a new body? What if you want to change? If that’s what you want, you’ve got to push yourself a little. You’ve got to break comfort zones. And if your body is not changing, then I don’t care how hard you think you’re working, whatever you’re doing right now is inside your comfort zone.

    The statement “no pain, no gain” has been misinterpreted, criticized and labeled a fallacy by many. However, the people doing the criticizing are almost always comfort zoners who haven’t achieved much. Don’t listen to them. Instead, follow the small percentage of people who step out and achieve great things. If you don’t like the sound of it, then say, “No effort, no gain.” We’re still talking about the same thing.

    Embrace the discomfort like the champions do. Soon it subsides, you enjoy the benefits of the change and the pain is forgotten. You’ve reached a new, higher plateau of achievement. Enjoy the view for a short while. But be on guard because it’s not long before that higher level becomes your new comfort zone and then its time to press on again.

    About the author
    Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer and best selling author of www.BurnTheFat.com,Feed The Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has been featured in IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Italian IRONMAN (Olympian’s News), Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness, Muscular Development, Men’s Exercise, and Men’s Fitness Magazines. Tom’s hard work, no-quick fixes approach has won him multiple titles in drug tested bodybuilding including Mr. Natural Pennsylvania, Natural New Jersey, Natural New York State, Natural Mid Atlantic States and NPC Natural Eastern Classic championships. More important, tens of thousands of people in 141 countries have used Tom’s Burn The Fat program to lose as much as 253 pounds or just the last stubborn 5-10 pounds and achieve that coveted 6-pack of abs. To learn more about Tom’s all-natural approach to fat burning, visit his site at www.BurnTheFat.com!

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