Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

I came across this article last night about calories during sex and other overly exaggerated fitness myths and I think it makes a great point: It’s all in the research.

You see, in the health, fitness, training, nutrition and fat loss arenas, there are a lot of so-called “truths” that people, especially bullshit artist personal trainers cling to like there is no tomorrow: their opinions on cardio (which I’ve debunked numerous times), protein intake, fasting, supplement use, training volumes and rep protocols, different nutritional strategies, etc. The crazy thing is that 99% of the things that these trainers and “experts” (sarcasm) are overwhelmingly disproved scientifically.

There are several top level training and nutritional journals that are available for anyone. Also, you can look up any study, it’s parameters, and results on the PubMed site.

I prefer to back my opinions and methods with science and experience. After almost 15 years in this business, I’m not too proud to say that research has forced me to change my mind on things that I deeply believed to be true. This field is one of learning and there is evidence available to support or disprove any theory that may come along if you’re willing to look for it (beyond doing a simple Google search).

Don’t go on your fat loss or body transformation journey in the dark: Education is the KEY!

I have to repost this because it seems that I find myself having this discussion way too often when, in fact, there’s NO debate on which type of cardio is most effective for fat loss and physique transformation!

I’ve argued this for years and for some reason, people still believe that steady state cardio is still “the answer”. No matter what evidence you put in front of them (something simple such as which group is leaner: sprinters vs distant athletes such as marathoners, other endurance based sports), everyone seems to think they are different and that for some odd reason slow cardio will work better for them. Unfortunately, personal trainers are the worst offenders, often prescribing hours of long duration cardio to their clients.

Here is a start: 4-6 30 second sprints produce greater fat oxidation than an hour of steady state cardio

This is one of literally hundreds of studies that show the same thing: High intensity style cardio is superior to slower, steady state cardio.

Want to read more related scientific studies that will get most of these “GURU” personal trainers all wound up? Here you go:

HIIT For Fat Loss in Overweight Women – Really? That’s the main group these so-called “gurus” are putting on treadmills for hours each week…

HIIT is Superior For Improving Body Composition in Males

HIIT’s Effects on V02, Muscular Force, and Endurance

HIIT and Hypertension – Yep, another myth debunker…

So when your trainer has you doing hours of constant state, long session cardio, feel free to send them to me so I can educate them. But I don’t want them to get all confused by the science – it happens to work in the real world. See Renae. Chelsey. Sarah… All products of HIIT/Sprinting in prep and none of that two a day cardio nonsense, nor hour long cardio sessions.

My clients do lower volume, higher intensity cardio and LOSE MORE FAT, period… If you’re a competitor and you find yourself doing excess low to modern intensity, long duration cardio, You are setting yourself WAY BACK and getting fooled by all of these guru coaches and personal trainers.

This post is to everyone: male, female, young, old, skinny, obese, competitor, or weekend warrior: in summary, if you want to get really lean, ditch the steady state, long duration cardio and start doing HIIT/Sprints. If you want a healthier heart, no mo slow go cardio and yes to Sprints/HIIT. If you want to increase lean body mass, damn sure stay away from long duration cardio and hit that HIIT!

Good morning everyone!

Maybe I spend too much reading – I try to read anything I can fitness related. Half of the time, it’s just to get through writer’s block (sometimes when someone else writes an article furthering fitness nonsense, it is able to piss me off so badly that I’m ready to sit down and write a 50000 word fitness dissertation.

I didn’t write my annual “New Year’s Resolution” article on December 31 because I figured I’d just let the hysteria die down, and let the other personal trainers spat off about the same old tired “fitness truths” and let them rehash the same article that has been written thousands of times over.

You see, most personal trainers, fitness writers, and Gurus/Experts are afraid to go against the grain: they cling to ineffective, disproven diet strategies, training programs that are as worthless as the Shake Weight, and decades old myths about the types of cardio one should to to maximize fat loss. I am the Anti-Guru – I call those types out on their myths and misinformation. Far too many personal trainers, if truthful, would list their education and experience as reading a few issues of Oxygen and/or Muscle and Fitness Magazines, and maybe a weekend seminar or two: they are learning their craft on your dime.

Enough of that, on with the tips:

-Intense Cardio is the only type of cardio you should be doing. No more of that marathon nonsense for an hour. Intervals are what I prefer (25-60 seconds all out, followed by a similar time for recovery and repeat for a total of 15-25 minutes).

-”I want to get toned/lean/look better naked, get in a bikini, etc, etc, etc”: Your training program should be centered around weight training. No, you will not gain muscle at an insane rate to where you cannot control it and become an NFL Linebacker (ladies), but even a slight increase in lean body mass will increase your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a given day to maintain your bodyweight at rest). THIS is the biggest bang for your buck on caloric expenditure: slightly increasing your metabolic rate is much more efficient than either removing a few hundred calories from the diet or burning it via exercise – and when an increased metabolic rate is combined with exercise and efficient eating, the undesirable weight falls off.

-The scale is the most full of shit tool ever created by man. It is not a measure of progress. Simply put, weight loss helps you look better dressed, fat loss helps you look better naked.

-A healthy lifestyle is not about all you give up: I hear people upset about giving up eating a certain dish, drinking, partying, a tv show or whatever. A healthy lifestyle is, however, about all you will GAIN: confidence, energy, health, and a longer, more productive life.

-Just because someone “goes to the gym” does not make them an expert on health and fitness. In fact, most people that go to the gym are just burning time by moving around (which is better than nothing, so don’t get me wrong). When someone is going to the gym and lifting for an hour or two and doing “an hour of cardio”, I automatically think about how much time they are wasting and how inefficient they are. My competitors, who are maximizing fat loss and body transformation techniques, don’t spend near that amount of time in the gym. In fact, 99.999% of the people reading this can make dramatic changes to their bodies with less than 5 hours of training or less.

-There’s a difference between working out and training: working out is staying busy and moving just to break a sweat. Training is designed to get you to where you want to be, whether it is from an aesthetic or a functional point of view. Time is valuable, don’t waste it.

-Accountability is key: whether you hire a personal trainer, join an exercise group, keep a public log, join an online exercise forum, or train with a loved one, positive pressure helps! Tell people that you are close with about your goals and use their support as motivation!

-A diet is an unsustainable way of eating. I mean, come on: everyone is always coming on and off of their diet. My competitors DIET when they are getting ready for a show. The rest of the world? They have to make sustainable lifestyle changes and learn how to make the best choices to allow them to not only get into shape, but maintain what they have worked so hard for. It’s okay to DIET to get to a certain point, but at some point, you have to realize that the more radical an eating strategy is, the less likely you are to stick with it.

-Drink water. Your body is 70% water, I shouldn’t have to explain why this is important. You’re probably not drinking enough. Go for the gallon.

-”But the RDA says”: Reccommended Daily Allowance, designed to keep you alive if you lay on the couch 24/7. Written by the government. Have you been to the Driver’s License Office lately? Social Security Office to simply get a card? VA? Read the tax code? Oh, you want the government telling you how to eat? You think they’re actually qualified at anything but spending money? RDA is survival – you should be eating for optimal performance and physique transformation!

-The only way to force the body to change is to introduce it to a stimulus it is unfamiliar with. When you train, you should do every exercise with the thought “Body, you are going to change, dammit”. It is called WORKING out for a reason: do work!

-Get off of your ass!!! Thinking about starting at the first of next month is not good enough. If you aren’t busy living, you are simply dying! Even if it is getting up and taking short walks throughout the day during breaks, do it.

-A little sacrifice is worth the huge gain. Yes, you may have to go to bed later or get up earlier. You may have to give up those tv shows you like. You may have to skip a few happy hours. Shouldn’t matter, because none of those things holds a candle to a lean body that you are proud to show off at a pool party or at the lake/beach. Life is too short to be covered up by clothes.

-Looking for that magic pill? Keep looking. There is not one. You’d be better off looking for a pill that made you want to workout harder and be disciplined enough to skip the fried foods and dessert. That one would be worth 100 times its weight in gold.

-”But it’s not easy”. No kidding, it isn’t for anyone.

-”I don’t have time. You have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has. We all have kids, jobs, responsibilities, family issues, dying relatives, sick friends, car pool, travel, whatever. No matter how much you think you do, I’m betting I have a client that has the same schedule and does just as much. It’s the difference between wanting it and wanting to find an excuse.

-I don’t care if you hire a personal trainer or do a workout video or Zumba or whatever. Whatever you do, do it hard, and commit to it for a fair amount of time. When things get tough, your schedule gets hard, your work starts getting into your “bad time of year”, so what – don’t give up!

-Damn Boyd, you’re expensive. Yeah, but I’m the best in the world at what I do. I’m 36, have been ONLY training for the last 7 years, have multiple degrees, and choose to do this. I’m not some kid that decided to do this because it’s a low barrier of entry and didn’t feel like going to school. I train multiple professional athletes, figure competitors, bodybuilders, bikini models, magazine cover models, and everyday people with real jobs and real responsibilities JUST LIKE YOU!!!

You can make the decision to change or you can simply keep making the same old tired excuses that may temporarily make you feel good, but are holding you in that rut that keeps becoming deeper and deeper.

The first step IS the hardest, but once you get moving, it’s a hell of a lot easier to KEEP moving.

Become unstoppable!

Hey everyone,

Above my desk, I have several pictures of my most recent clients that have competed in figure shows over the last few months. While I realize that most of my female clients aren’t going for the “competitor” look, obviously, fat loss and a slight increase in lean body mass will go a long way to delivering that lean physique that looks great on a beach.

Which leads me to the title of this post. My four most recent competitors prepared for roughly 10-12 weeks each for their shows. Guess how many total sessiouns of cardio these four ladies did that were longer than 20 minutes?

If you guessed ONE, that’s one to many. That’s right. Not one time did any of these ladies do more than 20 minutes of cardio. And not one of those sessions was constant state – it was mostly HIIT or sprinting.

So if you’re trainer is still telling you the importance of “getting that cardio in”, save your money as they are killing your fat loss and body transformation progress.

Take a look at my “Getting Started/Must Read Articles” on the sidebar to the right for more info on why cardio is overrated for fat loss.

Get off that cardio machine, clean that eating program up and hit those weights!

“Definitely one to mark off the bucket list!”

This is what Renae said to me just a few minutes after earning the Open Tall Class victory in her very first figure show a month before her 40th birthday.

While she’s obviously not the first mom to win an NPC Figure Show, she is the perfect example of what one can do with hard work. This one is especially rewarding for me as her trainer because we were friends before she ever decided to compete.

Renae decided to compete when she tagged along with us to Chelsey’s show in Shreveport. I had suggested that I knew she could, and she admitted this weekend that she had her doubts. Here is a pic of Renae after that weekend, roughly 14 weeks ago:

She obviously wasn’t obese or in bad shape, but the condition it takes to get on stage is not achieved easily.

Initially, we decided to compete at the NPC Texas State Championships on October 13. About 3 weeks ago, I felt like she was ready to get on stage before that point, and suggested that she compete in the El Paso show this past weekend (August 25).

All she did was win the Tall Class in the Open Figure Division!

I’m always proud of any client that competes, but I’m more proud when a client and a friend realizes that limitations are only placed on us by ourselves and that anything is possible.

Her goal was to get on stage, have fun, and be in the best shape of her life at almost 40 years old. She did those things. I posted on Facebook that she was calm and confident, and looked like she had done it 100 times. There was no way, it seemed, that this was her first show.

Winning her class was a huge bonus to cap off 15 weeks of hard work!

Not only did she win, but she also became Nationally Qualified in the NPC, which means she can compete to become an IFBB Pro at a national competition!

Proof that when you believe in yourself, the SKY IS THE LIMIT! Congratulations, Renae!

Hey everyone,

I’m sitting in my hotel room in El Paso with the air conditioner down to about 65 (I really love that about hotels), someone on ESPN babbling incoherently about Lance Armstrong, Roger Clemens, and a host of other irrelevant topics – simply trying to pass the time until my client Renae competes tomorrow morning at 9am in the Figure Division of the Sun City Classic here on the campus of UTEP.

Last night at dinner, I met a couple of guys that are in the Air Force and are here TDY in El Paso. Being former Air Force, it was nice to hear about current “going ons” and it never surprises me, but we actually had many common friends (the military is the small world). When they found out what I was here for, like many others usually do when they find out what I do for a living, they wanted to know exactly what it takes to get into amazing shape.

Also like others, they prefaced their curiosity with “I don’t want to compete, but…” Realistically, the difference in what it takes to make a drastic physique change and to actually get on stage is very small. Both require intense discipline and more than likely, changes to the habits that you already have – obviously, what you are doing right now depends on how much you actually need to change.

Another key is to learn exactly what it is you need to be doing. I meet a lot of people that really in their hearts believe that they are doing what they should be doing, yet, the progress they desire isn’t being made. There is no one-size fits all program. Ultimately, you’ve got to know when to change the approach and the game plan.

Of course, the best game plan in the world means nothing if you don’t stick with it. In the hotel room next to mine, there’s a lady that hasn’t had as much as an M&M in 15 weeks. Not one sip or nibble of something that doesn’t fit our plan of attack. Obviously, that is extreme. But Figure is a sport of extremes. I have several clients that do not compete and live a relatively NORMAL life – but they exercise discipline and do make sacrificies. And most of them will tell you that it simply becomes their new normal.

I hate to break it to you, but there are no shortcuts. There’s no 15 minute per day workout, there’s no overnight diet or pill that will allow you to eat whatever and however much you want. Serious results take a serious approach.

The coolest thing about my job as a personal trainer and figure/bodybuilding prep coach is that everyone I work with, while extraordinary in their commitment and determination, are normal people that have jobs that require long hours, families that require extra attention, and everyday problems that rise up that they cannot ignore.

The difference between success and failure is how you deal with those obstacles: do you let them become excuses or do you make it happen?

If you’re looking for the right time to drastically change, it’ll never come. Your life will never be stress and obstacle free. If something is important to you, you’ll find a way to make it happen!

I want to congratulate all of my clients that have gotten or will be on stage thus far this year: Chelsey, Maelien, Renae, Brandy, and Lulu (and to the others that are competing early next year: Brian, Tracy, Elimae, Angel, Brooke, Amy, Melanie) – you all completely inspire me and I’m very proud that I’ve had the chance to work with each of you, and look forward to your continued success on stage and in life!

I have never paid for an ounce of advertising. I suppose, that indirectly, my blog is advertising, but for me, it is as much about being able to talk about what I do and what I love as it is a tool to bring in new clients. With all of this being said, I am typically as booked as I care to be. I do have slots that open up, but for the most part, I stay very busy with my personal training, consulting and online businesses.

I think the biggest thing that separates me from most personal trainer is because I pound nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. Most of my fat loss (and even competitor) clients do not do tons of cardio. I’m not one of those personal trainers that assigns hours of extra exercise. For the most part, most people are well served exercising no more than 5-6 hours per week with few exceptions.

Bottom line: nailing the nutrition is everything.

That all leads to a great question from a reader about simplifying fat loss, and I thought I’d share it.

Boyd:

There are a lot of complicated formulas for calculating caloric maintenance, goals, etc and sometimes, they are a bit overwhelming. Is there an accurate way to simplify? I know it takes serious effort, but the equations are confusing me! I’d like to be as precise as possible, and sometimes I’m eating the right macros, eating too much (or not enough), or what. I know this is a broad question, but would appreciate any guidance you can offer.

First and foremost, from a practicality standpoint, all we can do is ESTIMATE caloric expenditure and how much we “need” to maintain a certain weight.

On the other end of that, we can get pretty damn close to determining what it is we consume, so that’s obviously where I work to get very exact.

I take many different factors into account when I begin working with a client and setting up their nutritional programs: their goals, their condition, body fat, age, gender, nutritional history, metabolic conditions, (in some cases, blood work), and a whole host of other considerations. Doing these things, I can get pretty close to one’s daily caloric expenditure – and from there, can figure out the proper food intake (in the proper macronutrient ratios) to help the client get from where they are to where they want to be when they need to be there.

However, one must remember one simple thing that I stated earlier: these things are estimates. Like the weather (although if I was as bad as the weatherman, I wouldn’t still be in business, or at least I wouldn’t be very busy).

One very basic issue I want to mention is calories per gram of specific nutrients:

1g of protein = 4 calories
1g of carbohydrates = 4 calories
1g of fat = 9 calories

Not rocket science, but if you don’t know that, the rest of this is going to seem like it is written in Latin.

A few years ago, I read something that fat loss expert Lyle McDonald had written and it kind of stuck with me and I still consider these four thngs today when I’m setting up a client’s diet.

1. Caloric Deficit
2. Establish Protein Intake.
3. Establish Fat Intake.
4. Everything else.

Here is a quick synopsis of how I use McDonald’s recommendations.

Caloric Deficit
How much of a caloric deficit is determined by several factors: speed of fat loss, maintenance of lean body mass, performance considerations, and time to lose a certain amount of weight. Highly conditioned athletes typically operate better on a smaller deficit (also, this same group has less body fat to lose). If I have a competitor coming off of one show and only needs to make minimal physique changes, we’re using a small deficit. If I have someone that has a great deal of fat to lose, I may start them at a larger deficit initially to give them a little bit of instant gratification (and to show them that they CAN lose fat) and to see how well they can handle it.

But there’s one thing to strongly consider: the larger the deficit, the harder it is to stay on the diet for any amount of time. Also, many trainees become discouraged because a drastic caloric deficit doesn’t provide them with enough fuel to train and function at optimal levels. Of course, that is sometimes negated by seeing the scale and calipers move. Typically, I like to find a happy medium – provide the client with enough calories to kick ass in the gym, while seeing continual fat loss. I’ve used as small as a 10% caloric deficit to over 25%. Obviously, the latter is for extreme situations and short term needs and simply put, is not for everyone (nor is a deficit that large necessary for everyone, regardless of how impatient they are). For those that think they’re being “extreme” and “balls to the wall”, they are often quickly humbled by trying to create that much of a caloric deficit.

Protein Intake
I had a figure competitor on twitter tell me that losing muscle was only a concern if you weren’t getting enough protein, no matter how much cardio you did or how little overall calories you had. She wasn’t a very successful competitor, but that’s for another post.

Protein intake varies greatly depending on one’s activities and lean body mass. Bodybuilders and weight trainers have been using a gram per pound of bodyweight for years and I think that’s a great starting point for anyone who is remotely active and looking to drastically change their body composition, but I prefer to use 1 gram per pound of lean body mass instead (obviously, one needs to know their approximate body fat percentage). I know what the RDA is and I ignore RDAs – they are for survival and if you’re in the business of letting the government determine what is healthy, then you probably don’t need to be on my blog anyway (smoking is legal). My recommendation is to base the protein intake on your total caloric deficit – if you’re looking at a high end deficit (in the 25% threshold or greater), get closer to 1.5g per pound of lean body mass. If you’re lower on the scale, .8g-1g per pound should be plenty.

Note that I’m not discussing the requirements for sedentary individuals. That’s really not my target niche, so not going to waste my energy on that.

Fat Intake
I’ve been pretty open that I’m a healthy fat whore. The total amounts of DHA/EPA one needs are open for debate, but I tend to think that one can drastically improve their body composition (and overall health) with large amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids, and I often recommend 15-20g per day of such (liquid fish oils are usually simple and the most affordable). For several reasons, I prefer to keep Omega 6 intake in roughly a 1:1 ratio to Omega 3. Obvious Omega 6 fatty acids include nuts and such, and Sesamin is one of my favorite supplements of all time. Focusing primarily on Omega 3 should give you what you need, as you will get most Omega 6 from residual fats in other foods.

I tend to lean toward a higher dietary fat intake than most for a few reasons. First, fat is saturating and makes you feel full. Yes, I know it’s more than 2x as many calories per gram than a gram of carbs, but I think it’s 3 times more filling. Fat is slower to digest, thus fills the stomach fuller. There are other reasons (fat stabilizes glucose, is necessary for healthy organs, etc) but I’m going to bore the piss out of you with this if I get any further into it.

Everything Else
Here is where we determine other requirments of why we may or may not need a specific amount of calories (performance, leanness, lifestyle, metabolic issues, conditions, etc).

I am going to see if I can find Lyle McDonald’s in-depth article on these topics, as he gets deep into each of the four headers (for those of you who love things like this). Over the years, I’ve read everything that guy has written, so I’m not sure if it was in one of his books or one of the 10,000 articles he has written (sorry Lyle :).

These are simply starting points and give us an idea of where to go.

Determining Caloric Requirements
So I spent a great deal of time explaining how I’d begin to set up a client’s nutritional strategy and why I’d make certain decisions. And you’re thinking “Jeez Boyd, you long-winded bastard, just answer the question, please?”

Ok… Sorry. I’ve messed around with a lot of magical calculations determining caloric expenditures and creating the necessary deficit that will provide great weight loss and still allow the client or athlete to function on a daily basis.

I prefer using the simple range of 14-16 calories per pound of bodyweight as a starting point to determine a person’s maintenance caloric requirements. I’ll make slight adjustments to that in extreme situations, but for someone who trains regularly in the 60 minute per day range (on average) and isn’t completely a lazy ass the other 23 hours of the day, this is fairly accurate 99.9% of the time (and yes, YOU fall under that 99.9% – no matter what you think).

First, I’ll use a 200lb male as an example, and an estimate of 15 calories per pound of bodyweight. 200 x 15 = 3000 calories (maintenance). Now we determine the deficit we’d like to create. Let’s say we are looking for a 20% cut in calories as an acceptable rate and performance standard (3000 x .2 = 600 caloric deficit). 3000 – 600 = 2400 calories daily, creating roughly a 4200 caloric deficit the first week (or a 6000 calorie deficit over the first 10 days). Evaluate and adjust as needed.

Let’s use a 140lb female now: 140lber x 14 calories (per lb of bw) = 1960 calories (maintenance cals). Let’s say she is looking for as much weight loss as she can get to be as small as possible for a reunion in 6 weeks (not always optimal, but hey, it takes all kinds): 1960x.25 = 490. 1960-490= 1470 daily calories to create a 3430 calorie deficit in the first week (remember, as the subject becomes smaller, it’s time to re-evaluate and adjust).

It may take a bit of tinkering, but give yourself an adequate amount of time to see where you’re at. Don’t freak out if the scale isn’t plummeting – the body plays a lot of games with us that confuses a lot of people as to why they aren’t making “progress” (when, actually, they are).

I prefer to evaluate someone weekly and make any needed caloric adjustments. I don’t change things just for the sake of making changes – if the acceptable rate of fat loss is being made, I’ll ride with it.

So, how do we know when it is time to make changes to what we think is the baseline?

-I hesitate to say when fat loss isn’t fast enough, because most people are ridiculously impatient and pay too much attention to the scale with little attention to actual body composition. In most clients, I make adjustments every 10-14 days. In competition clients, we make adjustments every 7-10 days.

-When performance drops, an increase in calories may be necessary. If you’re dragging ass, unable to exercise or, God forbid, function in society, you have probably created too much of a caloric deficit.

I keep an open mind to many different types of strategies – ketogenic dieting, different macros, etc. In some cases, misery may be part of the package, but don’t confuse temporary discomfort and killing yourself.

-Decreasing lean body mass. As important as fat loss is, maintaining lean body mass is also crucial for keeping the basal metabolic rate high. Nothing you do in a day burns more calories than your simple BMR, so keeping it as high as possible is paramount for long term fat loss. I’m never impressed with a commercial or a person that claims to have lost 100lbs, because in many cases, they’ve lost at the very least 50/50 fat to lean body mass, and in most cases, they just look like a smaller version of their former self, with no change in overall body composition. The primary goal of fat loss is simple: look better when you take your clothes off.

Obviously, there are many reasons why following a certain nutritional strategy doesn’t work. More times than not, it’s simply psychological barriers, non-compliance and deviating from the strategy itself. In many cases, it’s mis-estimating the amount of a) calories one burns and b) calories one consumes. Whether you’re working with someone or yourself, investigate all of these things and be honest about it as a whole. Also, TRACK IT. Don’t use the excuse “I eat the same thing all the time”. Write it down and check/double check that you’re absolutely positive about the amounts you are putting in your mouth. More times than not, excess calories creep in. IF you’re without a shadow of a doubt certain that you’ve accurately measured what you have consumed, then it’s time to make adjustments to the deficit itself.

This weekend, someone asked me what was the biggest mistake people make when it comes to losing weight. After a little bit of thought, it’s pretty simple. Most people make one of two mistakes: 1) They over-estimate how many calories they burn day to day or 2) They underestimate how many calories they actually consume.

Macronutrient ratio aside, calories are energy, and humans get energy from one source: food. I’ve heard people say that they gain weight on 1000 calories per day (and these people weigh enough to where, if they had the worst metabolism ever, they’d burn 2000 calories on a given day). I hate to tell them this, but it’s physically impossible, or they’re from outer space – your body is incapable of creating energy from nothing.

Of course, everyone believes that they are special and 10,000,000 years of evolution has nothing to do with them.

I specialize in not only helping individuals lose weight, but lose the weight they want. While I have different methods to help individuals achieve these goals, it simply comes down to manipulating the amounts and the ratios of fuel people put in the mouths. Ultimately, it’s what every diet in the world is about – no matter what it calls itself.

Typically, most one size fits all programs are about restriction – the subject loses a lot of weight quick, their bodies readjust to their new metabolic base point, and the fat loss stops. Instead of readjusting their caloric intake, they think “It worked once, it’ll work again”. It’s not rocket science, it’s the way the body works: it isn’t going to start magically giving you results because it worked before.

I love the science of fat loss and manipulating one’s body composition, but too many people are looking for intense, scientific reasons behind why their fat loss endeavors aren’t working – ultimately, it comes down to what they’re cramming in their mouths and laying on their asses. I hate to break it to you, but letting those little snacks and treats creep in on a regular basis does have a drastic effect on the way you look!

To Moms Everywhere:

Saw this magazine cover and wanted to share: it’s a picture of Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres in a bikini with the caption “A Flat Belly At Any Age”. While Dara is an awesome specimen, allow me to introduce Mrs. Torres to my client (and 39 year old mother of three) Renae, who has a much better set of abs than Dara:

Renae is 84 days out from her first figure show, the 2012 NPC Texas State Championships on October 13. These are also the abs featured on the banner on my main website: Custom Personal Training – Nutrition – Supplementation – Competitor Services

Abs like this take insane discipline and hard work, but they are attainable at any age (and no, Renae, I am not calling you old). Job, kids, family, school, commitments: it doesn’t matter. You can either make a decision to do what it takes, or continue to make excuses.

I’ve argued this for years and for some reason, people still believe that steady state cardio is still “the answer”. No matter what evidence you put in front of them (something simple such as which group is leaner: sprinters vs distant athletes such as marathoners, other endurance based sports), everyone seems to think they are different and that for some odd reason slow cardio will work better for them. Unfortunately, personal trainers are the worst offenders, often prescribing hours of long duration cardio to their clients.

Here is a start: 4-6 30 second sprints produce greater fat oxidation than an hour of steady state cardio

This is one of literally hundreds of studies that show the same thing: High intensity style cardio is superior to slower, steady state cardio.

Want to read more related scientific studies that will get most of these “GURU” personal trainers all wound up? Here you go:

HIIT For Fat Loss in Overweight Women – Really? That’s the main group these so-called “gurus” are putting on treadmills for hours each week…

HIIT is Superior For Improving Body Composition in Males

HIIT’s Effects on V02, Muscular Force, and Endurance

HIIT and Hypertension – Yep, another myth debunker…

So when your trainer has you doing hours of constant state, long session cardio, feel free to send them to me so I can educate them. But I don’t want them to get all confused by the science – it happens to work in the real world. See Renae. Chelsey. Sarah… All products of HIIT/Sprinting in prep and none of that two a day cardio nonsense, nor hour long cardio sessions.

My clients do lower volume, higher intensity cardio and LOSE MORE FAT, period… If you’re a competitor and you find yourself doing excess low to modern intensity, long duration cardio, You are setting yourself WAY BACK and getting fooled by all of these guru coaches and personal trainers.

This post is to everyone: male, female, young, old, skinny, obese, competitor, or weekend warrior: in summary, if you want to get really lean, ditch the steady state, long duration cardio and start doing HIIT/Sprints. If you want a healthier heart, no mo slow go cardio and yes to Sprints/HIIT. If you want to increase lean body mass, damn sure stay away from long duration cardio and hit that HIIT!

One of my clients and I were talking the other day about some of the stuff people throw out about why they’re not in their best shape, and she said a lady told her “Just wait until you have kids, it all changes…”

First, getting in great shape takes serious willpower, and whether you have kids or not means very little if you don’t have willpower, dedication and serious focus. I’ve had many clients make amazing transformations after having children (and I’m sure that leaves the hecklers to yell about “genetics”).

Actually, I have three ladies right now that are training for figure shows that have children as young as 1 year old. Brandy is getting on stage in 40 days and Renae is getting ready for her first show – how does she look so far:

Thirty-nine years old (39 YEARS OLD), mother of three… That’s a real pic, taken within the last week.

So, are you counting every bite that you eat? Are you following THE RIGHT plan? Are you training like a machine?

I’ve had ten straight ladies at least win their classes in figure shows – I don’t see that streak coming to an end soon, kids or not!

The body you want can be yours if you want it bad enough, no matter what the naysayers tell ya!

My client Brandy sent me this yesterday (Brandy is 9 weeks out from her first figure competition – GO BRANDY!)

High Protein, High Fiber, Clean Carb, Low Fat Pancakes

112 gms baked sweet potato
112 gms or 3 large egg whites
60 gms or 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 scoop vanilla whey/casein blend pp
Vanilla or almond extract
1/2 TA cinnamon
Few drops liquid stevia
1/2 t baking powder if desired
Mixed in magic bullet or blender, cooked on griddle
Made 5 small pancakes
Topped with 70 grams dark mixed berries

Whole recipe ( without berries)
Calories-234
Carbs-32
Fat-1
Pro-26

Everyone is a fitness expert. Whether it’s the people at the gym offering their unsolicited advice, the latest certified personal trainer that just completed their weekend certification course, a Twitter genius spouting off about their upcoming competition or what have you, you don’t have to look hard to get the “facts” on how you’re supposed to train.

So, I ask myself, why the hell do people still believe that long, slow boring cardio is the way to lose fat? Why are people still doing fasted cardio when research and actual proof has shown that it is catabolic (read: burns lean body mass) faster than AIDS?

Yesterday, one of my clients was doing her prescribed 25-30 minute HIIT cardio that I had given her. Of course, a random lady scrubbing along at 5.5mph told her that her workout was ineffective and that she was only running for a total of roughly 5 minutes.

So let’s break open the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and compare the two.

Ok, before we do that, let’s ask ourselves: which saves the most time? Obvious answer there. Of course, NOBODY has enough time, as this is the biggest excuse why people do not exercise (or at least exercise effectively) – always in a rush.

In the aforementioned journal study, the following was discovered:
-In 6 weeks doing sprints, you can run for an actual total of 45 minutes (at 60-75% all out) versus over 13 hours at a constant speed and lose more fat.

-The sprint group lost 12.4% body fat and 2-3kg of fat per individual.
The endurance group lost on average of .5kg of fat per individual over 6 weeks.

-Sprinting increases oxygen consumption, improves metabolic rate, and burns a ton of calories fast. Distance cardio actually has the opposite affect on metabolic rate, due to the body’s basic survival mechanism kicking in an effort to fend off intense catabolic breakdown (induces the starvation reflex).

-Do a search on the side for afterburn effect. I’ve discussed it hundreds of times over the years. Medium of energy (fat vs glucose for you heart rate monitor freaks) is misleading. Just because you are burning most of your calories from fat after a certain point at loser intensity doesn’t mean a damn thing. First, you’re burning more overall calories sprinting, and ACTUALLY, the number is just as high from fat. Also, post-long cardio, your body turns to glucose for energy in an attempt to preserve itself. It’s the opposite for sprinting: your body has already attacked stored muscle glycogen, so now, it’s burning fat for a longer period after training.

Simple comparison: who is leaner – a sprinter or a marathon runner? I said leaner, not “skinnier”. Unless you like the tapeworm look, the sprinter has a much more desireable physique.

Stop slogging through hours of cardio – it’s KILLING your progress!

And if you’re wondering, I have all of my competitors performing HIIT (and nothing slow-go). Is it working? Go check out my Facebook Training Page and look at Chelsey’s pics, who won overall in her first show this weekend.

Boyd Myers
San Antonio Fitness Expert
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

If you’re wondering why you aren’t losing fat and changing your body, it’s time to get drastic. Try this hardcore, yet seriously effective approach.

1. Stop the long, slow go cardio. High Intensity, Intervals, Sprinting. These things make you lean.

2. Limit fructose to sub 10 grams per day.

3. Make your two carbohydrate sources berries (cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) and fiberous veggies.

4. Shoot for 10-15g of fish oil per day, and make sure you have a 1 to 1 ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids.

5. If you’re training, you should be consuming BCAAs while you are doing so.

6. Have Vitamin D, Zinc, and Magnesium levels tested (it’s inexpensive) and fix any deficiencies immediately.

7. Lift heavy with multi-joint exercises. Intensity is key, progression (getting stronger, adding reps, weight, etc) is king. No, you’re not going to get big and bulky. Keep the rest periods short.

8. Get sleep. It only takes a slight sleep deficit to throw yourself out of whack hormonally. A 3 hour deficit has the same fat storage effect as overeating by 600 calories.

9. Don’t forget the protein. I’ve written about it numerous times, so search the blog.

10. Eat real food. Ditch the bars and supplement meals.

11. Cut the processed foods completely.

12. Cut all trans fats.

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey everyone,

Was looking at comments and blog emails and had one from someone who wasn’t completely sold on Fish Oils, so I thought I’d share!

Boyd: I’m usually in step with most of the things you say, but I really am on the fence about fish oils. In a nutshell, why should I take them?

In a nutshell, eh? How’s this? There is plenty of research readily available on PubMed (where government studies are published) that state fish oil can:

-Increase insulin sensitivity

-Decrease post-partem depression

-Improve hormone and blood sugar levels

-Benefit sufferers of Crohn’s Disease, asthmatics, rheumatoid arthritis, prostate cancer

-FAT LOSS

-Improving protein synthesis (increase lean body mass)

I don’t know about you, but I can name a million nutritional supplements that, over the years, have made half of these “claims” without any scientific backing and they’ve been all the rage. But this stuff is actually backed by science.

If those aren’t desirable uses for fish oil, then I’ll definitely not beat you over the head with it (although I should). In short, EVERYONE should be supplementing with at least 6-12g of fish oil per day!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454