30 Day Summer Blitz
Extreme, healthy, and sustainable transformations don't really happen in 30 days. But it is more than enough time to completely change the course of your life.
Alright guys, we are approaching the half way mark of the The Summer of Gains and The Creatine Chronicles.
A movie adaptation may be made but probably just a trailer.
So we are going to kick off a little 30 day challenge just to ramp things up a bit and assist with some motivation.
We are scheduled to do our next round of InBody scans in the next couple weeks but I am going to push it out until the end of August so we can push strong to the end of summer.
I know some of you guys are dialed in and have been going hard but this will just give you an extra couple of weeks to get even harder.
But I think as we get into August most of the summer vacations are wrapping up and it makes a good opportunity to tighten things up and zone in on those gains.
We are going to scan after August 30th so this blitz officially starts August 1st.
And we are going to get a scan in and then another one 30 days after that so in the first week of October.
I’m a big proponent of finishing strong.
That’s really the bigger challenge.
Almost everyone is able to start out strong, as we see right after every new year.
But who really perseveres?
Who can finish stronger than they start?
I’ll tell you who - us.
I’m going to try and make this as concise and simple as possible.
To shed the belly and get on the road to becoming the best version of yourself, here’s your plan:
1. Train hard and heavy
Get this in your head right now - there is no such thing as a fat loss workout or program.
Those circuit classes and fit booty aerobic things are just marketing scams.
Your fat loss plan is to build muscle, which makes real change to your body composition and sets off a cascade of positive physiological changes in your body one of which is a higher metabolic rate. A muscular body is basically a fat burning machine.
And you build muscle by getting stronger.
When I say “go heavy” I mean moderately heavy of course like I program for the majority of the time (5 to 10 rep range), using weights that you can lift with technical mastery.
The masses tend to think that to get “tone and cut” and shed fat that you are supposed to start lifting a bunch of light weights for high reps and start doing everything as a circuit.
That is not true and you guys know it’s not true by now.
The objective is to stimulate as much muscle growth as possible while minimizing central fatigue.
This is called the stimulus to fatigue ratio and it’s most efficient when you follow our programming as written and go hard on your top work sets.
For cardio, do 3 to 5 low intensity 30 minute sessions per week - brisk walks, treadmill, bike, etc. plus 1 high intensity session like the hill runs we currently have programmed or the following workout on the Airdyne bike:
2 minute warm up
10 to 15 sec hard as you can
45 to 50 sec slow pace
Repeat for 8 to 12 rounds.
2. Nutrition
Here’s exactly how you handle your nutrition -
Total Calorie Calculation (BW x10)
Calculate your total calories by multiplying your current bodyweight by 10.
If you are severely overweight, as in close to obese, you may want to multiply by 9.
This is going to put you in to a pretty steep deficit but nothing you can’t handle with a little willpower.
So for example, a 200 pound guy would put his daily caloric intake at 2000 calories.
If you are already lean - less than 12-15% BF, then you don’t have to go this steep.
Just confirm with me at the barn or through text message.
Total Protein Calculation (BW x .8 to 1 gram/day)
Once you have your total daily calories, set your protein at 1 gram per pound of bodyweight.
Again, if you really fat, bring this down to .7 to .8 grams per pound.
But it’s still higher than most of you who are fat asses are getting. That’s part of the reason you’re fat - you don’t eat enough protein and eat too much of everything else.
Total Fat Calculation (BW x .3 to .4)
To get your total daily fat intake multiply your bodyweight by .3 to .4 based on personal preference. The lower you set your fat, the more carbs you will fill in.
If you are pre-diabetic, go on the higher side of fat, less carbs.
Otherwise I recommend keeping carbs moderate to the higher side to fuel high intensity training.
How do you know if you are pre-diabetic?
If you are at >25% bodyfat, then I assure you, insulin shots are in your very near future.
Better to moderate the party now while it’s in your control rather than be forced to never join the party again.
Total Carbohydrate Calculation (whatever is left of total daily calories after protein and fat has been calculated)
Ok here’s where you have to pay attention and do a little third grade math.
Lets take our 200 pound guy as an example.
His total calories is set at 2000 kcals/day (BW x 10)
His protein is set at 200 grams per day (BW x 1). Protein is 4 calories per gram so that makes up 800 calories (200 x 4 = 800)
His fat is set at 60 grams per day (BW x 0.3). Fat is 9 calories per gram so that is 540 calories (60 x 9 = 540).
800 + 540 = 1340 calories
So now we take 1340 and subtract it from 2000 to get 660 calories left.
Divide that number by 4 to get your total carbs per day.
660/4 = 165 grams
So final numbers for our 200 pound guy are:
2000 calories
200 grams of protein
60 grams of fat
165 grams of carbohydrates
Everyone’s eyes have glossed over.
I can’t believe I just wrote all that.
You can also come close to this by simply putting in the following macro percentages into the MyFitnessPal app:
Set calories to BW x 10
Then,
40% Protein
35% Carbs
25% Fat
Or just download the app, then give it to me at the gym and I will dial it in for you.
So these are all the options -
Do the calculations yourself.
Put it in the tracking app and let it calculate the percentages for you.
Have me do it for you.
That’s about all I can do.
I don’t cook or weigh or track food for you unless you want to give me like $2000/day.
But even then that still sounds like a miserable job so I probably won’t do it.
I can’t be your willpower or discipline for you.
That will take a certain level of self - motivation.
3. Food Choices
Last I want to quickly cover food choices but without making restrictions.
If you want to make your own restrictions that’s fine.
Like, “I can’t eat any such and such food.”
But I don’t want to add to your psychosis.
If you want to go Keto, go ahead.
I personally don’t like that kind of shit but that’s just me.
However, when you cut your calories low enough to lose fat, you are going to want to get enough micronutrients in so that you don’t create deficiencies.
I cover this by supplementing Athletic Greens (you can google it) and by eating mostly the following in order of priority:
Food from Animals (as in their meat, with some dairy and eggs in moderate amounts) Fish and protein shakes fall into this category as well.
Fruits. Go hard on fruits. I recommend making fruit your primary carb source when leaning out because it’s satiating and full of vitamins and nutrients and is especially good if you have a sweet tooth.
Small to moderate amounts of veggies, steamed preferably. The carnivore guys do have a point about veggies and their anti-nutrient properties. I know because in their raw form they bloat the hell out of me. So eat veggies according to your own personal tolerance.
Low amounts of starchy carbs like potatoes and rice. You can eat these but again, try to get more carbs from fruit and then sprinkle some of these in. My favorites are pita bread from Trader Joes and a little bit of oatmeal or sweet potatoes.
Creatine. Creatine is good for you. Take some.
Vodka. Just drink vodka.
Get good rest and recovery in addition to all that and you are good to go.
Is doing this for 30 days going to change you into a super hero athlete with the physique of a Greek god?
No, but it’s more than enough time to change the rest of your life.
Going hard today!