Bodybuilding

here is my challenge to you:
Dedicate 12 weeks of you life to see if you can make a change. See if you transform
your body into the one you have always desired. Do exactly what is outlined and you
will be successful. You bought this book so it is obvious that you are ready for some kind
of change. The time for change is now; you are about to be presented with one of the
tools that will help you get there. So lets do it!

Your Food Index-

 

** Indicates the food should be fat free or low fat.
This menu will be a guide for you when you start you 12-week program. I have listed
some morning, afternoon, and evening meal ideas in Appendix A. So if you get stuck and
don’t know what to eat, there are a few suggestions that will give you some meal ideas.
Details of when and how to incorporate this diet will be provided later.

Achieving Your Desired Body:

When people think of dieting, they think about losing weight. They think about a trimmer
waistline and having more energy. What most people don’t know is that a big part of
weight control is your metabolism. There is a reason that young kids can drink 10 cups of
kool aid a day, eat nothing but brownies, and still not gain weight. It is their high
metabolism, and this is one of the major factors that affect our weight. A high
metabolism would keep you from gaining weight whereas a low metabolism would keep
you from losing weight. If you want to lose weight, you need to raise your metabolism.
There have been studies that show after we reach the age of 30, our metabolisms starts
slowing down. This is why it is much more difficult to stay in shape as we grow older.

So what does this mean for you?

You have to change some things and work a little bit harder to keep your body in ideal
shape, unless you are fairly young. The foods you consume, as I am sure you know, have
a huge impact on your physique. Our focus will be changing your diet a little bit. The diet
that is provided is more lenient than others. Instead of telling you how many calories a
day you must eat or what you must have for each meal, I have setup parameters to guide
you through your day.

These new parameters will help combat the effects of a lower metabolism, help you lose
unwanted fat, and keep or gain more muscle. The more muscle you have the better your
body will look, this is why you will need to keep track of your body fat.

Quality:

OK, so lets say that you have been on a so-called “diet” for 1 week and you haven’t
noticed any weight loss, and you have no energy. Every hour is just a hungry daze and
you are not able to focus. The explanation for this is simple; you do not have a quality
diet. In other words, you body is being deprived of essential nutrients and it is starving.
If you are going to diet, you must do it correctly by eating the proper foods. This is where
“You Food Index” that I have created for you comes into play. The foods on this menu
may not seem as flavorful as you are used to eating, or may not be what you prefer. But
remember, the training cycle is in 12-week periods, and I am just asking you to try it for
one period of 12 weeks. Also remember that you only have to diet 6 days out of the week,
on the seventh day you get to eat whatever you want.

Quick and sudden weight loss:

If you go on a miracle diet and lose 10 pounds in a week, guess what….it’s not what it
seems. The weight you lost was probably more muscle than fat. Studies have shown that
for every 10 pounds you lose, 6 pounds is muscle. The goal is to lose fat not muscle. So
to counteract this statistic, we have to eat properly and exercise. If more muscle is lost
than fat, I can guarantee that you will gain that weight right back and plus a few pounds.
The muscle in your body plays an important role in burning off unwanted fat and
calories. So if you are losing more muscle than fat, you are going to be in trouble.

The diet we have setup will make sure that you lose the “fat weight” and keep the good
“muscle weight.” This is why we have included a bodyfat pincher so you can track you
bodyfat.

Portions:

When you eat your six meals everyday, you will be eating a potion of protein and
carbohydrates with each meal. A portion is about as big as your fist. A portion of
carbohydrates for me would be a large apple. A portion for someone who is smaller than
me would be a small apple. It’s a pretty simple concept; the bigger you are the bigger
your portion will be.

Lifestyle:

Since this diet is new to you and you obviously want to change, there are going to be
some obstacles in your path, otherwise you would already have your perfect body. So you
need to think hard and figure out what is in your way.

Do you always make excuses before going to the gym, do you put things off until it is to
late to do them, or maybe you have an addiction to sweets. Whatever stands in your way,
you need to recognize and change that particular issue. Pick three things to change. Here
is an example of three things that I had to change when I first started to get into shape:

1. Stop over-sleeping because it throws my whole day off schedule.
2. Stop snacking all day and eat 6 meals.
3. Go to the gym every day at 5:00PM instead of procrastinating until it is too
late.

It was hard to change these things because they were completely mental. The hardest for
me is getting up in the morning. I had been known to hit the snooze button 15 times.
Once I finally got on a schedule, it was easy to get out of bed. It took about 2 ½ weeks
before I finally adjusted and now I don’t have a problem getting up in the morning. The
hardest part is adjusting to the change.

Start thinking about a few things that you need to change; we will be revisiting this
subject at the end of the book.

Keep in mind that you can workout as much as you want, but without a proper diet you
may never see results. Also, remember that you may eat healthy and never see results
without exercise. The two work together; so don’t focus on just one.

Planning:

If you want this program to work for you, planning is going to be an important factor. If
you are trying to eat the foods that are in the menu we have provided, you must have
them available.

Pick a day of the week to sit down and figure out what you are going to eat. My day is
Sunday and on each Sunday I sit down to plan what I am going to buy at the grocery
store. I make sure that I have enough food to last me until the following Sunday.

If you don’t plan you are setting yourself up for failure.

To ensure that your 12-week diet runs smoothly, you have to plan for success. This
doesn’t mean that you have to plot out every nutrient for every meal of the week. It just
means buying enough food to supply six small meals a day.

If you can afford a meal replacement shake like Myoplex, I highly recommend that you
buy a box of them. They contain all the nutrients you would essentially get from a meal
and they are very convenient.

When you are planning for the week, take a look at the foods I have provided in the menu
and be creative. Make a taco salad or a breakfast burrito. Here is an example of one of my
days:

•  Meal One: A three-egg omelet with onions in it with two glasses of water.
•  Meal Two: A myoplex meal replacement shake.

•  Meal Three: A tasty tuna fish sandwich with two glasses of water.

•  Meal Four: Precooked rice and vegetables that I prepared earlier in the week.

• Meal Five: A seasoned grilled halibut steak with a fresh lemon squeezed on it

           to add flavor with two glasses of water.

• Meal Six: A portion of cottage cheese with a portion of sliced peaches. 

 *Note: Meal six should be eaten about 1 hour before bed. 

It really isn’t that hard to eat six meals a day. You just have to use your imagination. You
probably don’t currently use this diet so it will take a week or two to get used to it. Once
you have done this for a period of time you will have more energy and you will feel like
your body has been revitalized.

Free day:

Once a week you are required to take a break and relax, this will be called your “Free
day.” Your free day will be a break from your diet and training schedule. Eat what ever
you want on this day, really…I mean eat whatever you feel like eating. If you want to eat
ice cream and chocolate all day, then that’s what you can eat. If you want to eat some
fried shrimp, head on down to the Red Lobster.
This break is mainly a reward for the past 6 days of hard work. You deserve it after 6
days on a fairly strict diet. Once you have satisfied all of your cravings and relaxed all
day, you will feel relief and dieting won’t be a problem at all.
The best part is that you feel no guilt because you know you have earned it and that is a
great feeling when you have a mouthful of ice cream, the mouthful of ice cream is also a
good feeling too, at least for me.
Most diets will break you, so I decided to break the diet. This means less stress for you
and something to look forward to every week. Your entire dieting schedule is outlined
later in the book, so there is no need to write any of this down.

Dieting:

Dieting is a dreaded word by some, but it is not what most people think. The word diet is
defined as “ One’s usual food and drink.i” So don’t be scared when you hear the word
diet because you are dieting right now. What did you eat with your last meal? That is
what is part of your current diet. The following chapter will cover foods and eating habits
that have been proven to get the results you desire.

Diet offered:

We designed your diet, but you will be putting together the diet that works for you. This
allows you to get more involved and choose the foods that you like to eat or that you
think will be best for you. We have a complete list of foods that covers every category
that you need.

For example, the protein category has a list of meats, poultry, eggs, whey protein, etc.
You get to choose which of these foods you want to eat with every meal.

Final note before we get started:

The foods that we have listed should be a menu that you choose from. Whether your goal
is to lose weight, tone up, or have more energy; these are foods that will help you get
there. The cleaner you diet is, the cleaner your body will be. I promise that you will feel
better and have more energy.

So you are probably thinking that I am trying to tie you down for life. No, I am just
giving you some guidelines to live by for 12 weeks. This program will be a test of
physical strength, but more importantly, it will be a test of your mental strength. You
have made it this far and it is very apparent that you are ready for a change.

So here is my challenge to you:

Dedicate 12 weeks of you life to see if you can make a change. See if you transform
your body into the one you have always desired. Do exactly what is outlined and you
will be successful. You bought this book so it is obvious that you are ready for some kind
of change. The time for change is now; you are about to be presented with one of the
tools that will help you get there. So lets do it!

 NUTRITION:

Weight training stimulates muscle growth. But if you want to enhance and maintain your
weight loss, you need to have structure in your diet.

This structure will come in the form of proper nutrition and will help you stay in the best
shape possible. Eating right will not only keep you healthy, it will boost your immune
system having an inside–out effect. It will make the internal organs in your body process
more efficiently which will lead to better looking skin, more definition in your muscles,
and an overall healthier looking body.

Here is a basic overview of the nutrients your body needs and what they do:

1) Proteins- The chemical building blocks from which our cells, organs, and
tissues are made.
2) Carbohydrates- Your basic energy source that is composed of simple and
complex carbohydrates.
3) Fats- These cells are your energy storage units.
4) Water- Essential for a number of vital bodily functions & accounts for
approximately 72% of your muscle tissue while transporting all of your
nutrients, increasing your blood volume, and eliminating waste.
5) Vitamins- These complex chemicals are required for bodily operations, are
produced naturally by the body, and are referred to as “organic compounds.”
6) Minerals- Not produced in nature and of referred to as “inorganic.”

Here is a more detailed description of the nutrients…

Proteins:

Q: Why Does The Body Need Protein? 

A: Protein is a nutrient made up of amino acids. There are two types of amino acids.
Non-essential Amino Acids that can usually be synthesized by a healthy body from the
daily foods that we eat. Then there are Essential Amino Acids that must be obtained
through the daily diet.

• Protein has a number of important roles in the body, including:

• Repairing of body cells

• Building and repairing muscles and bones

• Providing a source of energy

• Regulating many important metabolic processes in the body

Without protein, you cannot build muscle tissue. In your diet, you will incorporate
approximately one portion of protein with every meal. This will help build muscle tissue
and give you a leaner body.
The most effective source of protein is whey protein that is discussed in the next chapter.

Carbohydrates:

Q: Why does the body need carbohydrates?

A: The main reason your body needs carbohydrates is to provide energy. Carbohydrates
consist of starches (complex carbs) and sugars (simple carbs) that are broken down into
glucose, which then turns into energy.

Since carbohydrates are the main form of energy that your body can utilize, you need
them in your diet. Eating carbohydrates will provide your body with the energy it needs
for day-to-day activities and exercising.

In the dieting section we will explain how to incorporate carbohydrates or “carbs” into a
muscle gain or a weight loss diet.

Fats:

Q: I am trying to lose fat; do I need to incorporate fats into my diet?

A: Yes, fats are an important part of your body. They provide insulation and reserved
energy when you need it. Fat has also been found to raise energy levels and contributes to
your strength gains. When you short term energy supplies burn up (which can take 20-45
minutes), your fat cells are then used as the primary energy source.

                                               Why do we need fat in our diet?

Fats are just as important as proteins and carbohydrates, they are essential for:

• Providing energy.

• Are building blocks for essential chemicals.

• Carry fat-soluble vitamins.
  

However, eating too much dietary fat may lead to the following health problems:

• Obesity

• Heart disease

• Stroke

• Hypertension

So you probably want to know which fats are the good fats and which fats are bad fats.
There are really three basic types of fat that include saturated fats, unsaturated fats, &
polysaturated fats.

Saturated fats:
This kind of fat is like Crisco, its bad for you. It solidifies at room temperature and can
lead to a number of health problems. Saturated fats really have no role in our body. Foods
that contain the most saturated fat include:

1) High fat beef
2) Butter
3) Cheese
4) Chocolate

You are better off trying to avoid these foods.

Unsaturated fats:
These fats are better for you than saturated fats and are usually still liquid at room
temperature. Your body cannot manufacture these fats on its own but they still need to be
incorporated into your diet. They are found in olive oil, fish oil, and cold-water fish. Two
important unsaturated fats are polyunsaturated fats & Monosaturated fats.

Polyunsaturated and Monosaturated fats:

Polyunsaturated fats are essential parts of the structural component of your cell
membranes. Not only do they promote healthy circulation, they help raise metabolism
and burn off saturated and monosaturated fats. Our bodies and need to be taken in
directly from your diet cannot naturally produce these fats. Since your body needs these
and cannot naturally produce them, we call them essential fatty acids (EFA’s). Some
EFA’s are found in:

1) Fish oil (salmon, trout,…)
2) Pecans
3) Almonds
4) Some margarines
5) Corn oil
6) Mayonnaise

The best way to utilize these fats is to eat a lot of fish or to find oils that contain these
fats. Sunflower oil, fish oil, and corn oil all are all good sources of polysaturated fat.

It has been found that diets too low in EFA’s will cause your metabolism to slow down.
Your body will have a harder time burning off excess fat and the low fat diet becomes
pointless. If you are looking for fats that will not affect your cholesterol, you would need
to consume monosaturated fats that come from olive oil and macadamia nuts. They have
been shown to actually help lower bad cholesterol levels and help raise the cholesterol
levels that your body needs.

Should I Avoid Fat?
You should avoid foods that are fried, these contain harmful fatty acids. When fats are
heated, they are not good for the body. When EFA’s are heated, they also become bad for
your body.

Water:

Q: How much water should I be drinking everyday?

A: At least 2 glasses with each meal

If you want to look your best, water needs to be an essential part of your diet. It is
responsible for the transportation of vital nutrients and cleaning toxins from your blood.
Your body is made up of 40%-60% water. From constant perspiration and daily activity it

is very easy to become dehydrated. Many of us never even know that we are close to
dehydration. When your throat becomes dry, your body is already dehydrated.
To get the daily amount of water that your body needs, experts recommend multiplying
your body weight by .55 and then drinking that many ounces of water each day. So a
200lb individual would need approximately 110oz a day (.55 multiplied by your body
weight of 200lbs=110oz). Your muscles are over 72% water and in a sense become
deflated when you reach dehydration.

To ensure that you are getting enough water I recommend drinking 2-3 glasses of water
with every meal. This will help your body digest the food that you have just consumed
and avoid dehydration. Most people will not multiply their weight by .55 and measure
the amount of water they need to drink, so if you consume 2-3 glasses with each meal,
you should be fine.

Since your body has a tough time transporting nutrients when the body is dehydrated,
your muscles don’t get the vitamins and minerals that they need. This can cause an
overtraining effect on your body. Many people directly correlate overtraining to weight
training, but this is not entirely correct. If your muscles cannot get the nutrients that they
need, then they cannot repair and grow.

A quick word on soft drinks- Soft drinks are not a substitute for water, they cause more
dehydration than hydration due to the sugar content.
Vitamins and Minerals:

It is a good idea to have a well-rounded multi-vitamin to get your essential nutrients such
as Vitamin C and E. Vitamins and minerals are essential for the repair of body tissue and
overall health.

SUPPLEMENTS:

What are Supplements?
Before the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in 1994,
supplements were considered to be vitamins, minerals, and protein. You could not get
chromium picolinate, DHEA, or certain amino acids without a prescription. After this act
was passed, the definition of a supplement changed and now includes vitamins, minerals,
herbs, botanicals (excluding tobacco), and dietary substances that could be used to
supplement your diet by increasing total dietary intake. Now, our laws seem to be more
liberal than anywhere in the world.

A supplement is defined as anything to supplement or add to the diet.

Recommended Supplements:
The following supplements can and will help you if they are added to the diet properly.
Again, I only recommend using these supplements to be added to your diet.

Whey Protein

• What is Whey Protein? Whey protein is a by-product from cheese

manufacturing and is the most preferred form of protein available.

• What does it do? After whey protein is broken down, it supplies your body with

branched chain amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle.

• Who should take whey protein? Everyone should take this supplement. It

promotes the overall health of your body.

Whey protein has the highest biological value of any protein. The higher the biological
value, the more protein that can be used by the body. It has a biological value of 100 (100
being the maximum), the highest of any protein. I highly recommend using this
supplement because your body needs protein to build muscle. It is also good for adding
into fruit smoothies, pancake mix, or really anything that is mixed.

How whey protein helps:
Whey protein isolate is the highest quality of protein, providing you body with essential
amino acids such as branched chain amino acids that are needed for your body to recover
from your workouts. Whey protein is also extremely low in fat and lactose.

Best time to take protein:
The best time to take protein is at night and in the morning. Your body naturally breaks
down protein at night when you are resting. To help prevent the loss of this protein when
you rest it is a good idea to have a protein shake an hour before you go to bed or first
thing in the morning.

Meal Replacements:

• What are meal replacements? Meal replacements. Pretty self explanatory, they

are small packets, usually shakes, that provide your body with all of the nutrients
that you would essentially get if you had eaten a meal.

• Do you need them? Meal replacements are for people who are always on the run,

but remember you still need actual meals to provide you body with minerals and
nutrients.

Have you ever tried eating six meals a day? This is where meal replacements can help. It
would be virtually impossible to prepare six meals everyday, unless you are a chef where
you cook and eat all day. It has been proven by every credible bodybuilding expert that
consuming a high of amount of small frequent meals increases your metabolism, energy
levels, and exposes the anabolic affects of insulin. I personally consume one meal
replacement everyday and I recommend you should do the same.

These low fat high calorie meal replacements can help you get the calories that you need
while keeping you waistline trim. They also help you get your daily vitamins and
minerals so you don’t have to take a handful of pills everyday. Meal replacements can be
a vital part of your success.

Energy Bars:
In earlier times candy bars were our choice product for energy bars, this all changed
when Powerbar® introduced its first product line in 1987. Now, there are many other
Powerbar® look-alikes that are trying to promote a healthier life. This new market
segment now includes products like:

1. Powerbars®
2. Cliff Bars®
3. Steel Bars®
4. Boulder Bars®

These bars have a great amount of nutritional value and have been found to increase
performance when eaten before exercise. Some even taste like candy bars. You can take
these bars with you when you exercise because they are small and convenient.

But should these bars replace fruits such as bananas, oranges, or other
carbohydrates that contain essential nutrients?

No. Although the nutritional value of these bars are high in vitamins, carbohydrates, and
protein; eating engineered foods has been show to have negative long-term affects.
Replacing your diet with these bars can result in an even lower intake of the fiber,
carotenoids, and other health-protective phytochemicals found in fruits, veggies and
whole grains.ii

I am not saying NEVER eat one again, because I would be a hypocrite. I eat Powerbars®
after I workout, but I also eat bananas and fruits after working out. I would urge using

these bars in sports situation and for pre and post workouts. I would not recommend
replacing your diet with these bars as snacks; they are more expensive and not as good
for you. Energy bars easily cost $0.70 per 100 calories. In comparison, raisins are only
$0.18 per 100 calories; bananas, $0.20; and granola bars, $0.28.

 

Getting in Shape 

Body Statistics:

To ensure that you are making progress you will need to keep track of your body
statistics. This includes measuring your body fat and taking tape measurements from your
arms, legs, torso, etc…
For example, lets say that you have a 15-inch bicep and you measured your body fat at
10%. If you measure your bicep 1 week later and it is still exactly 15 inches, you might

be disappointed, but if your body fat has gone down to 9% that muscle is now bigger and
there is less body fat. This will make your arm look more defined.

To measure your body fat, you will be using the Parilloiii method. This is a nine-point
body fat measurement method. You will be using the body fat pincher that was sent to
you along with the book to test these nine sites. The results will look something like this:

Pictures and instructions that describe this process will be provided later. This will help
you keep track of your body fat percentage so you can determine if you are losing body
fat, gaining muscle, etc.

Your workout schedule:
Monday-Saturday will be the days you will exercise. This will include three days of
aerobics and three days of weight training. The following is an outline of your weekly
schedule:

• Monday: Weight training at the time you have scheduled.
• Tuesday: Aerobics before you eat anything that morning.
• Wednesday: Weight training at the time you have scheduled.
• Thursday: Aerobics before you eat anything that morning.
• Friday: Weight training at the time you have scheduled.
• Saturday: Aerobics before you eat anything that morning.
• Sunday: No workout but you should still be dieting unless it is your free day.

Compound Exercises:
These exercises stimulate the most responsive muscle growth. They place the most stress
on your body and usually require many muscles to perform the movement. For the best
results use free weights with these exercises. If you use a machine for these exercises
some of the supporting muscles will not be fatigued and you will not get the maximum
results from your efforts.

Compound exercises include:

Pull Ups are a great example of how a compound exercise can use many different
muscles. Although this movement is often classified as a lower/upper back exercise, to
achieve this movement you need to use your legs for balance and support and much of
the upper body to complete the lift. This in turn stimulates the best results for your
efforts.

These exercises require so many muscles, it would be almost impossible for any machine
to match the stress and fatigue that compound exercises place on your body. This is
where the best results will be seen.

You want to do these exercises at the very beginning of your workout. If you want to
see noticeable results from your lifting program, you must do compound exercises.
Perform these at the beginning of your workout. They are a key factor in building muscle,
whether your goal is to lose weight or gain weight, these are essential to helping your
body get the best workout.