Whenever I get a chance to visit the left coast, I always make sure to get together with my good friends the Cosgroves, Alwyn and Rachel. 

I had he good fortune to interview Rachel last week and got a chance to talk about their fat loss philosophy and programming that they use in their gym, Results Fitness.  It’s almost like that have a real-world fat loss laboratory as they’ll train anywhere from 200-300 client sessions per week.  In other words, they’ve got fat loss down to real-world science.

I also found out that Rachel has recently been made a member of the USA Trialthon Team.  Seeing as she’s only been at it for a couple of years, it’s quite an accomplishment.  

With her recent background in endurance competition, you’d think that her endurance training would strongly influence her fat loss programming with her fitness clients.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, Rachel is very clear that fat loss training and training for endurance are two distinctly different animals.

So much so, Rachel has written a new book specifically for those wanting to train and compete in their first triathlon.  It’s called, So You Want to Train for Your First Triathlon:  Beginners Guide to Training, Nutrition, Recovery, and Competing.

I’ve gotten a sneak peak and the book is outstanding.  It covers everything you need to address and not address in your preparations for your first triathlon.  If endurance training is your thing, this is a must have for your bookshelf.

Bill

P.S.  Quick story…Rachel got into triathlon competition as part of Team in Training to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after Alwyn was diagnosed with cancer.  It was her way of giving back for without the funding that’s raised via Team in Training and donations, Alwyn may not have beaten the cancer like he did.  Alwyn also gave back in his own way by brining together a Who’s Who in the fitness industry to create an 800 page “book” called Liftstrong.  Not only do you get the best info in the business, but all the proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help others who are battling cancer.  To date, LiftStrong has raised over $50,000….it’s not enough.  If you don’t have it yet, get it.

 Mike Roussell rocks!

 Mike was kind enough to let me post our interview that I mentioned yesterday. 

Have a great weekend!

I’ve been really surprised by all the curiosity as to how I dropped 13.5 pounds of fat in about 4 weeks (see My Training).

I mentioned before that I pretty much followed the principles in Mike Roussell’s Your Naked Nutrition Guide with some minor personal modifications to adapt it to my current lifestyle, schedule, etc.  It does pay to have friends who are at the top of the game in the nutrition and training field as it’s difficult to be objective with yourself.

As far as training goes, if you have Afterburn from my friend Alwyn Cosgrove, then you understand the basic training principles you’ll need to duplicate my efforts. 

The combined synergy of the eating plan and training plan really kicked the fat burning into high gear.

Mike thought my fat loss was pretty remarkable, so he and I recently did a little interview where we talked about how the plan was implemented and how my fat loss at my “advanced age” differed from that when I competed in bodybuilding many years ago. 

After we got finished, Mike mentioned his Your Naked Nutrition Guide Accelerator Program which I knew about but didn’t realize how extensive it was.  Imagine having Mike providing you regular tips on how to make your eating plan even more effective using the Your Naked Nutrition Guide principles.  The kicker is that it’s only available to Your Naked Nutrition Guide owners.  I know many of you have it already, but if you don’t, you can’t take advantage of the Accelerator program.  You’ll also get to hear our interview as part of the program.

Bill

So I mentioned last week that I’m training in the wee hours of the morning these days due to a busy schedule.  I didn’t expect so many of you to be so concerned for my lumbar spine health.

First thanks for reading the blog, second, thanks for caring, third, congrats for reading Dr. McGill’s book, and fourth, don’t sweat it.

For those who’re in the dark about my comment above.  Here’s the scoop.

As you sleep, the lumbar discs are decompressed and will hydrate (aka, swell with water) which puts the annulus of the disc at a greater risk of injury during lumbar flexion activities.  According to Dr. Stuart McGill, in his book Lower Back Disorders, it’s best to avoid bending exercise until after the first hour of rising from bed.  After the first hour of being up, the disc dehydrates by about 90% of what it will all day, so after the first hour, the injury risk goes down.

Makes good sense.

Now let me give you some insight into what I’m actually doing.

I’m up at 4 a.m. (It was actually 3:59 this morning which is kinda scary…has my brain adjusted to the early hours…could I be a…gasp!…morning person?!).  I walk down the hall to “drop a little water weight” and then head off to the kitchen to mix up my workout drink. I get dressed for training and head back down the hall to the gym.

I’m in the gym at about 4:15 give or take a couple minutes (depends on how hard I had to argue with myself to leave my warm bed).  I then do some form of warm that includes dynamic mobility drills.  This is to wake up and raise my body temperature.

At no time from the time of rising until about 4:30-4:40 have I performed any lumbar flexion activities (even during dressing and putting on my shoes) as I’m very aware of the risk.  So I’ve got about 30-40 minutes of no flexion and only body weight loads at best.  If 90% of the water that will leave the disc does so in the first hour, I’ve got a good start and risk is already down. 

After this point it’s strength training and metabolic training.  Still no lumbar flexion activities (don’t confuse lumbar flexion and hip flexion).  Even if it wasn’t early in the morning, my approach would be the same. 

By the way, I would be just as concerned about lumbar flexion for someone who sits slouched at desk all day or just drove home from work and went right into their strength training program.  The passive posterior structures will tend to lengthen and the nucleus of the disc may shift due to periods of prolonged flexion and may place you at greater risk for instability and lower back injury if the spine is loaded before creep of the tissue is restored.

If you haven’t read Dr. McGill’s book, you may be as much as 6 years behind on your approach to treating and preventing low back injuries.

Bill

About a month before Christmas, I decide to see how much body fat I could drop in that short time period. 

With a few modifications to my strength training and an increase in energy systems training to add some metabolic stress, the exercise programming was a snap.

To address the nutritional side of the program, I contacted my good friend Mike Roussell, author of Your Naked Nutrition Guide, to consult on what modifications I needed to make to maximize fat loss over that last month of the year.  I ended up using the same principles that Mike explains in his book. 

A couple of revelations…

Chicken breasts are a lot bigger than you think.  Where I needed about 5-6 oz. of chicken breast in some of my meals, turns out the chicken that I was buying was about 10-12 oz. per breast.  Even eating clean, you can exceed your necessary food intake for fat loss if you don’t pay attention to serving sizes.

I prepped food twice per week on Sundays and Wednesdays to keep things fresh and flavorful.  I always had a large bowl of fresh veggies prepared and cooked chicken breasts, fish, ground beef, etc. in quantity.

I stored everything in glass Pyrex containers.  The food tastes better that way and I could heat and eat in one dish, so clean up is easy.

I started the Morning Breath Club.  With my schedule, getting my own training in after a long day was the last thing I wanted to do, so I started doing it first thing in the morning.  Based on my schedule, that means I’m up at 4 a.m. and in the gym by 4:15.  75 minutes later, I’m done and ready for my work day.  It was exceptionally difficult at first to get up that early and train with any intensity.  At this point, I only carry on my mental argument to stay in my warm bed over training for about a minute and then I’m up and ready.

Drinking water can get a bit boring, so I put a couple scoops of Xtend BCAA’s in my water bottle to add flavor.  I recommend the grape flavor over the lemonade (which isn’t too bad either), but I haven’t tried the orange flavor yet.

Staying on an eating program is very easy when you’re busy.  Too much down time is the killer I think for most folks who struggle with controlling their eating.  I don’t have too much unplanned time, so for me eating is something that’s just part of the daily schedule.  I didn’t really have any major cravings to deal with and was rock solid the entire month maybe missing a couple meals throughout.

The results…

13.5 pounds of fat lost with no measurable loss of muscle in 4 weeks.

I took the week of the holidays off from controlled eating, ate what I felt like at the time and didn’t stress out about it.

I got back on it after the new year and as of this morning, I’m down 16 pounds of fat. 

I have one belt that I can’t wear anymore because there aren’t enough holes in it, and my pants are looking like hand me downs from my big brother becaue the waist is too big.

My final revelations from the last 6-7 weeks…

While I didn’t really look it, I was a lot fatter than I thought. 

My overall conditioning is has improved, and I feel a lot better.

I need some new pants and a new belt…I HATE shopping.

Bill