Important Key Points To My Body Transformation

Jan 31st 2011 -April 2th, 2011

Important Key Points To My Body Transformation


1. Calories matter

This is the number one most important thing when it comes to dieting: You have to reduce your calorie intake to less than what your body uses in order to lose weight! You can do cardio until you pass out but you still won't lose weight if you're eating 3,000 calories when your body is only burning 2,500 a day. 


I've heard people say that they hardly eat anything and exercise everyday yet they still can't lose weight or keep gaining weight. I say this is crap and the fat on your body is not being made out of thin air. At least in the beginning of a diet, you have to count calories in order to know exactly what you are taking in and how to adjust to make progress.


2. Lift heavy


A common misconception is that in order to get "cut up", you need to lift lighter weight for higher reps to "tone" the muscles. This misconception really needs to get trashed because the only thing it will lead to is a smaller, weaker version of your current self. 


Since it will be very difficult to build muscle while on a caloric deficit, the main objective of lifting weights during a diet is to maintain the muscle you currently have. 


This requires that you attempt to lift just as heavy as when you were trying to pack on muscle. Now being that you are in a caloric deficit, the volume of sets/reps/exercises you do will need to be lowered, but the intensity should be just as high.


During my transformation, I alternated heavy days of a 5x5 routine with medium days where the rep range would be between 8-12 reps per set. Doing this actually allowed me to get stronger during the 5x5 heavy days!


3. Take it easy with the cardio


Another mistake people generally make when they cut is that they do something like an hour of high intensity cardio after their hour long weight session. I'm referring to high intensity as any type of cardio where you need to open your mouth to breathe or pant. On a calorie restricted diet, this easily leads to muscle loss which also will turn you into a smaller, weaker version of your current self. 


I used to do the higher intensity cardio while dieting myself and found that it lead to muscle loss and loss of strength as well. This is not what we want when transforming our bodies. We want to hold on to as much of the hard earned muscle mass we built as possible.


During my transformation, I stuck to doing low intensity incline treadmill walking or the elliptical. By low intensity, I mean keeping my heart rate between 110 - 130 beats per minute. Or a simple way I monitored this was to just make sure I was able to breathe through my nose and not my mouth. It should be fairly easy, non panting cardio.


4. Progress slowly


Another key to retaining retaining muscle mass is to slowly progress on the diet and cardio. If you start a diet by immediately cutting your calories down to 1,000 a day and doing 1 hr of cardio everyday, you're going lose a lot of muscle fast and hit a plateau just as quickly. When you hit the plateau, you have no room for adjustments since you're already only eating 1,000 calories and doing a ton of cardio. 


By reducing calories by a reasonable number and adding in some cardio slowly over time, this allows the body to slowly burn the fat while retaining the maximum amount of muscle. You should start off on a calorie deficit of about 500 calories a day. Then maybe after two to four weeks depending on how you feel and the results you're getting, add in 30 minutes of low intensity cardio every other day. Then maybe after another two to four weeks reduce calories further or lengthen your cardio sessions. You get the point...It's all about slowly progressing so that you can make adjustments along the way if needed to get the desired results.


5. Supplements can help


There's some debate on whether supplements actually help or are even effective and do what they are supposed to do. In my experience throughout the years and during my transformation, I feel they definitely do improve results. I'm not going to go into the science of these supplements here but will list what they are intended for and what effects I felt from them. Here are some of the important ones I used during the transformation:


a. BCAA's (Branched Chain Amino Acids) - I take these during my weightlifting sessions and cardio sessions to help preserve muscle. BCAA's don't need to be broken down by the liver so are absorbed directly into the bloodstream. These activate the body's signals to increase protein synthesis and decrease muscle breakdown. The specific one I used was Scivation's Xtend which is arguably the most popular BCAA product on the market.



b. Fatburner/Thermogenic - These are used to sustain energy levels, decrease hunger, and increase metabolism. My favorite one is OxyElite Pro by USP Labs. I've tried many others but this has been my favorite one and the one I stick to now. 


c. Creatine - This is also another supplement which is meant to help preserve muscle and strength during a diet. Creatine can also lead to more intense workouts which in turn can burn more calories and preserve muscle. Any standard Creatine Monohydrate product will do.


d. Testosterone Booster - The one I used during my transformation is called Free Test by Applied Nutriceuticals. This product is intended to increase testosterone, decrease estrogen, and control cortisol levels. All of this together will lead to more muscle preservation and strength and less fat. I felt I had great results with this product and would use it again. I normally don't gain strength on a diet, but with this product I did!


So to summarize: Eat less, lift like a man, take it easy on your heart, pace yourself, and take your supplements :)



12 Week Body Transformation - Intro

12 Week Body Transformation continued - Cheat Days