Beyond Fat Loss

We all know why we really lift weights and eat better. But here's some other stories of how lifting improves your life.

MARK

My friend an online client Mark Durmon got himself in the best shape of his life and found his new passion in life through fitness and nutrition.

He later got in a near fatal car wreck to where it was thought he may have to lose his legs.

Turned out he had built his legs to such a muscular level that he essentially saved his legs.

He's now working out in a wheelchair and slowly regaining strength in his legs.

In fact the doctor has just updated him that he can now put weight on one of his legs.


Luckily he didn't end up like this guy

LINDSEY

When she first started she had very bad knees. She couldn't do lunges, barely do any weight on leg press, Now she does heavy barbell squats with full range of motion, deadlifts, and every leg exercise there is.



LAURA

Most people bring up Laura's tremendous weight loss. What they don't know is, Laura's first day she wore a leg brace to class. Lifting weights fixed her injury so quickly people don't even remember her one time injury.


Not necessary for Laura anymore.


RANDY

Randy lost over 200 lbs and got in the best shape of his life. But it wasn't just aesthetic, People at his job were complaining about how heavy he was breathing and his job was being threatened. He couldn't even sleep unless he laid down in the correct positioning.



Those are just a few examples of what I've witnessed through my time training clients.

Simple Method to Getting Ripped

So those that have been keeping up with me know that I've used some of the more extreme diets to get lean fast.  But these are not necessary at all. You can eat moderately and have fun on the way there. I used them because I'm trying to get to a certain body fat as quickly as possible.

The problem with these diets, besides how brutal they are, is that they don't teach long term nutrition habits.  They actually do the opposite. As they make you never want to diet again, and they give you bad memories associated with your weight loss.

  Many people balloon back up after one of these diets. Same goes for over training. Ever watch Biggest Loser? Those people can't keep that kind of regimen long term. It's not practical. See Proof!

What about most of these outrageous diets give you the illusion of weight loss only to truly be ridding you of water and muscle weight. Just like getting sick and not eating for days. Basically the same thing except you're torturing your body on purpose this time.

Not to mention some people getting addicted to these extreme diets and never getting off of them.

But I digress. Let me instruct you on the basic way to get lean, preserve muscle and your mind, and do it at a steady pace.

K.I.S.S...Not those dudes
K.I.S.S. means:
"Keep It Simple Stupid"

1st: Find your caloric maintenance.
There's tons of formulas and online calculators that do this.  One of my favorites is the:

Katch McArdle Formula.

There's the old school method where you multiply your weight from a number between 12-15  based off of how active you are.  There's no 100% to say for certain. Bodies have different metabolisms. Bodies react to food and exercise differently.

Basically you have to experiment. Some guys like to start with 3000 calories per day and some women start with 1800 per day.  Anyway, just pick a starting point for getting to know yourself.  Now you're going to take 20% of that and it will be your amount of fat.

Fat is healthy and necessary.

The only problem with fat is it's calorie density. Fat is worth 9 calories whereas protein and carbs are only worth 4.

 =  4 calories

Protein, now, you need your protein.  The best way is to take your LBM (Lean Body Mass) and multiply it by 1.25-1.5.  Why so high?  Because you're on a deficit and want to retain as much muscle as possible.  Not to mention all the hardcore workouts you're doing. You're not the average human walking the streets. Though most could do with more walking.  Hiiiyyyooooo!!!!!!!

By the way, you obtain your LBM by subtracting your total fat from your body weight. You get your fat lbs from subtracting your body fat from your overall weight.

Now take your fat and protein calories. Remember that protein is worth 4 calories and fat is wroth 9. Subtract it from your total calories. That's how many carbs you need.

Measure yourself weekly.

Once you finally hit a plateau, you can subtract some calories. Maybe around 300. All from your carbs. Add some more cardio too.  This is that experimenting we were talking about earlier.  You're going to hit plateaus, and this is how you get past them.

Some people like to make it even simpler and just even  40% carbs  and  40% protein.  You can do that too. But I find the former version better calibrated to the individual.

I think it goes without saying you need to be on a weight lifting program.  I'll write some more posts about that as well.

That's all for today children.

https://www.getfarmerfit.com

Leg Exercises

I usually post about nutrition but today I'll tell you about working out.

I won't go into detail on technique.

Other people have detailed videos that are so great it would be a waste of time to try to compete.'

I'm just telling you what, why, and giving you an image.

Anyway...

Great Leg Workouts

Squats or Goblet Squats

Squats are usually regarded as the most important workout there is, and it's because it pretty much is.

If you have knee issues, than that's even more of a reason to do it. Increasing blood flow to your knees helps them heal. I've fixed many a bad knee via squats.

Incomplete form stresses the knees. Make sure you go all the way down with your butt below parallel to engage your stretch reflex and not stress the knees.

For those having issues doing squats, such as stability and tightness, you should start out with goblet squats until you've worked your way to enough stability to do it.

Romanian Deadlifts

Unless you're doing Low Bar Squats, most of your posterior chain will be built using the deadlifts.

Romanians isolate the glutes and hamstrings more than regular deadlifts.

Most people are quad dominant, especially people nowadays that sit all day and develop a weak posterior.

So you definitely need an exercise that strengthens those weak posterior chain muscles and this is it.

Again, if you want to learn form there's plenty of sources I'm just highlighting these workouts briefly.

Lunges

We all know about the lunges and it's a great exercise to add in addition to squats.

Do you know all the variations you can do to keep them fresh?

There's Backwards lunges, Walking Lunges, Barbell Lunges, Side Lunges, and even Stationary Lunges which is the same thing as a ...

Split Squat

Split Squats allow you to focus on one leg at a time and use lighter weight. 

There's the normal version.

And the Bulgarian version.

Calf Raises

Most calves are genetic but you can still build them.

They work all the time, much like forearms. All the walking and stari climbing you do is constant exercise for them. So they need extra stress. Meaning lots or sets, reps, weight, and frequency. Meaning many times a week.

You can do them standing, sitting, and even donkey...

Sitting focuses on the soleus more, standing focuses on the gastrocnemius more.

As you may have noticed I never mentioned leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, smith machine, etc.

I try to stay away from machines as much as possible.

I won't go into all the details but machines work off a fixed position and make you work around it.

Instead of having the weight work around you.

Not to mention missing out on all the stabalizing muscles.

These exercise hit many muscles at once, burn more calories, are actually functional, and don't put as much stress on joints.

How Quick Can I Get my Six Pack!?

Different for different people?

Oh, you wanted a more concrete answer. Sorry, I'm not a bull shit artist.


But I could be. It's very easy based on all the stuff people fall for. People will fall for almost anything.




If you're a guy you need to usually be around the single digits of body fat.'

For girls you need to be around 15-18%



So now you know your goal.

Next, you need to know where you are currently.

So get your body fat measured.

I don't care what you use, electronic calipers or skin fold calipers, or if you're rich or well connected dunk yourself in water every time. I don't care.



Whatever you do, do it the same way every time. Same day of the week, same time of day, same routine before you measure.

And if you you're getting pinched, have the same person pinch you every time. Everyone measures different with skin folds. Trust me. Which makes using skin folds a bit more impractical.

Now, you can lose around .5- 1% a week. But it's hard to say, everybody is different.

Plus, it's hard to really measure your body fat in the first place.


Depending on how well you follow your diet, and how often you exercise your calories in vs calories out amount can expedite all this.

If you're planning for some high school reunion, wedding, beach vacation, etc. you want to give yourself plenty of time ahead.

Once again                                               

1) In case it takes longer than you planned
2) You will make mistakes. Learn from them
3) So you don't have to rush it, and can keep more muscle during the cutting phase.

If you're just doing it with no deadline. Give yourself one. Measure every week.

Let's say your doing well with your program but the numbers have stopped dropping.

Give it 2-3 weeks.

Have they still not dropped?

Assess the mirror and clothes. If you're looking leaner and clothes are fitting loser than don't worry.



Mirror and Clothes Fitting>Weight and Body Fat.

Water weight can mess up the scales. What you look and feel like are always number one.

Make sure you're on an awesome program.

Like training with me. Either in person or online. Either one get's tremendous results. Ask my clients.



Sorry, had to market myself.

Anyway, you should be lifting at least 3 times a week.

If you got time, add cardio also. Especially if you're a woman. Sorry, guys really do have it easier.

I won't go into all the details about lifting on this.

Nutritionally you should be on around a 30% deficit from your maintenance calories.

Can you do less of a deficit. YES!

But for those that want to lose quick and want more guaranteed results I like this way better.

It's all dependent on your metabolism and if you're reading this, yours probably sucks.

You can cut lower and lose quicker but to safely describe how to do it I would need to post a whole other blog. Just try this first before you do anything extreme.

ALWAYS COUNT YOUR CALORIES.

"But my friend doesn't count calories and he's in great shape" -Some loser

Once again, your friend has a great metabolism. You don't.

Myfitnesspal takes around 3 minutes at most. And it only get's easier after time.

Follow this and you'll get there in no time.

Worst Current Trends

1) HIGH ALTITUDE MASK


For more red blood cells, or did you just want to look cool. Either way you fail in both. You'd have to live in that environment in order to gain the red blood cell count. The only thing you're actually doing is holding back your workout intensity because you can't breathe and having people talk about you behind your back for looking like a weirdo.




2) BODY WRAPS

Something bodybuilders invented a long time ago and used in contests as it gave TEMPORARY RESULTS in reductions in water weight. This is not something that will give you any long term results aesthetically and especially health-wise. This is worse than juicing. You're so lazy you're going wrap yourself to lose weight? Why in the name of science would that work? Do you have any proof beyond some anecdote about your friend looked skinnier. Whatever water weight she lost will come back and you're even worse if you sell this shit to people for profit. Unless you're actually dumb enough to believe you're getting results from it.

The name of one of the biggest scams in wraps is called 'IT WORKS'. If you have to call your company something like that, it shows how much bull shit you're involved with.



3) Juicing

The most hippie dominant trend in the world of fitness. Something with no scientific results but supposedly works because it's "RAW" and "NATURAL". Save yourself time and just eat it normally and get much better results. And burn that fedora.

4) Vibrams aka Toe Shoes

Actually they're supposedly pretty good, as that a lot of athletes and coaches I respect use them. But there were lies about the overall effectiveness of them causing millions in refunds. I mostly just hate the sight of them and they usually smell because they require a lot of washing that most people fail to comply with. Not to mention you have to buy dozens of toes socks to go with it.

5) Calorie Counters

Not talking about My Fitness Pal. I'm talking about things like Bodybugg(which I was forced to sell as a trainer at 24 hour Fitness). There's no true accurate way to know, so why put so much emphasis. in its. Just do your lifting and your cardio, count your calories consumed, and that's it. You will know if what you'red doing is effective off your results. Will you really alter your day because Bodybugg told you that you only burned 150 calories raking the yard? Don't make things any more complicated than necessary.

6) Paleo/Caveman/Atkins/Ketogenic Diet

Avoid all carbs? Let's get this straight you want me to demonize an entire nutrient because Greg Glassman, some old fat guy with no muscle, said to? Think for yourself.

The reason this seems to work is because carbs are the easiest thing to over eat. When you cut them out you're left with pretty much only protein. How much meat can one eat. Only so much. But all that meat means a lot of saturated fat, so this make s the diet even worse.

How do people get their energy on this diet without carbs. Well all that extra protein is stored as glycogen, not fat as most believe. So in other words they're eating really expensive carbs (protein).

7) Banana Diet

Eat only bananas. This is even worse than the paleo diet. Fuck all these scientist and research. Let's just eat only one food all the time. Either she's got great genetics or is lying about what she does. Either way don't fall for it.

8) Pre-Workout, Intra-Workout, Post-Workout Supplements

Lies made by the supplement companies. No supplements are really necessary. There's no anabolic window so get your protein and carbs whenever you got the time (within reason).


9) Testosterone Booster

Look, either take the steroids or don't do it at all. There's no halfway. This is complete bullshit at it's highest capacity. The only effect I know of, anecdotally, is that it make guys hornier. And there''s plenty of supplements better at doing that.

10) Detoxing

No scientific proof again. Much like juicing. Something that is sold to many for profit and MLM marketing schemes. Your body detoxes all day on it's own. If this actually worked every doctor would try to patent it and sell it for huge loads of money.

11) GLUTEN FREE

There are people who need to avoid gluten. But that doesn't mean gluten is bad. I'm allergic to peniscillan, but it doesn't mean everyone should avoid it. I know a lot of people have lost weight doing gluten free, but that's becaue it makes them avoid a lot carbs. And we already went over how that paleo diet stuff works.