Lean Bodies Consulting

Oh, I’m back with more for ya:

I talked to “trainer’s name here” and again he made sure i understood that i need to get that 2 hours of cardio in … and more if possible.

So last night i did 2 hours … and add that to my 30 minutes in the morning … 2.5 hours of cardio yesterday on top of my shoulder workout! I already feel leaner! Silly i know, but i know that is what is going to get me the smallest … and hopefully the muscles will show as i lean out more

Come on!

When are people going to wake up and get it? How is this fun? Training 3 hours a day? 20 hours a week? For how much progress? Seriously?

Sure if you eat few enough calories and exercise enough you’ll lose weight. That’s certainly not rocket science.

Here’s what I think of this:

How about this one?

Fitness trainer at my local gym told me that I should drink only 2 cups of water a day until Friday if I want to look cut. But I’ve decided to go with reducing sodium intake method. If I,

A. consume less than 500 mg of sodium per day.
B. do cardio and sauna
C. drink more water
D. cut down my carbs by 30%

would I be able to look somewhat cut?

The fitness trainer says to drink 500ml of water/day in the final week. Wow! So the girl isn’t going to do that and appears to make a better choice when she says ‘drink more water’ - but I don’t know what that technically means, but for sure it’s better than the ‘fitness trainer’ advice she received.

500mg of sodium per day for the final week? That one is going to backfire.

Sauna? No, no no!

You know, it’s when people aren’t in good enough shape that they’re banking on final week voodoo magically transforming their body. And the truth of the matter is, it doesn’t. Add to that, any visual effect is really only apparent if you’re lean enough in the first place. If I were to run myself through a prep week, you know what would happen? Nothing. LOL! I’d look exactly the same at the end of it.

Focus on getting in great shape and using those last few days to polish things up, not try anything crazy that you’ve not even experimented with before.

So I often rant and rave about contest prep strategies that I think are silly - nonsensical even - yet sadly, oh so commonplace in our competitive circles. I think people get in shape in spite of some of this stuff, not directly because of it. The internet is a gold mine for examples and so are clients of mine, who hear and see what their friends are doing.

I pride myself on rying to do it the ’smart’ way - at least I consider it the smart way; at the very least, the sane way. Now don’t be offended if you do something that you see me make fun of. Hey, it’s your choice.

But you know what? Here’s something that’s really sad - competitors who do a show, even do well - great transformation, good placing in the show, etc. - and decide to give it up. Why? Because they just can’t see themselves going through that prep again. All the cardio, the extreme restrictiveness, the big post-contest rebound, and so on. And because it’s such a common methodology, they’re lead to believe it’s the only way. I mean, hey, I don’t blame you. I’m pretty sure most competitors start off on their competitive trails for multiple reasons - one of which is that they think it’ll be fun to do a show. An overall enjoyable experience. And then … it’s just not. Now I’m not saying it’s ever going to be easy getting in contest-ready condition, because surely, it’s never easy. It IS hard, it DOES take sacrifice. But in the end, you should walk away with a good experience. Most are never going to make a living being competitors; it’s a hobby for many. Hobbies are fun.

I had a client who I have now worked with on three separate occasions, who decided she wanted to give it a go; she wanted to do a show. Of course, I was all for it. And here is a comment she just sent me via email that sums it up - see? Fun. Great experience.

I just don’t think I have the words to tell you how grateful I am for this experience. I have grown so much and learned so much about myself. Being so committed to achieving this goal has given me such strength and built a lot of character for me. Something just clicked for me in this prep and I’ve been happy the whole way through. Part of it was not worrying (too much anyway) because I knew I was in the best possible hands to get me to where I needed to be – the smart way. And part was my mindset. I chose not to alienate myself or avoid social situations that involved food (done that many times before!). It then became more about the people in my life and not the food. I felt more connected and supported, which is important to have when you’re doing something difficult like a contest prep. And the last part was just having a goal to work toward. I have realized that usually the things that are tough are the things that are worth it in the end. And this competition experience was definitely was worth it! I’m so ready to do another one because I know I can do even better! Thank you thank you thank you!!!! Mwah!

There IS another way.

Disclaimer - apologies (only small ones) if this offends you.

It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon (yes surgeon :lol:) - or a smart contest prep coach for that matter - to get fat off someone if they starve them enough and get them to do enough cardio. How does that make a trainer … awesome? 14 hours of cardio a week? 21 hours of cardio a week? 1200 calories while doing that amount of cardio? This isn’t the program recommendations of a great trainer, IMO - it’s the program directions of someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing - who has one tool in his or her toolbox. Eventually everyone will get in shape if they eat few enough calories and do enough exercise for long enough. And people pay for this?

What? You’re not losing fat? Hmm, we’ll we’re already doing an hour of cardio a day. Let’s double it. Two hours a day now. We’ll also drop your calories to 9x BW too.

Two weeks later

Nothing? Alright then - 8x BW in calories and you get no carbs but vegetables and you get no fat either. And you only get nearly fat-free protein sources - egg whites and orange roughy for you. Wait, make it two-and-a-half hours of cardio a day. I also want you to do walking lunges - no weights - every day for 20 minutes - to spot reduce the fat off your glutes and legs of course.

Weight starts falling.

What? You’re hair is falling out? Suck it up, you’re a competitor. Hardcore!

Brilliant!

I’m sorry but you have to diet extremely hard and do hours upon hours upon more hours of cardio per week to lose what? You better be getting Biggest Loser results and dropping pounds of it each week. I mean, a pound of fat has a whopping 3500 calories. Unless you’re crawling on the treadmill and you have the math skills of a 2-year old (subsequently adding up your 2500 calories and thinking it’s 1000), then it’s NOT working very well now is it? A pound a week? (Because you know you’re not dropping 3lbs per week and you’re not even dropping 2/week if you’re pretty lean), then that’s not success. You have to do ALL THAT for a pound of fat? Come on now. Your body is broken if that’s what it takes. Actually let me correct that - that’s not what it takes. For anyone. Do you really consider that a winning formula? Because you might have “won”?

And another thing - those that don’t do their prep this way? Those that get in shape with sane dieting and sane amounts of cardio? They aren’t just genetically lucky. They work just as hard as you do. They just work smarter. There’s nothing special about you that deems it absolutely mandatory to do 7, 14, 21 hours of cardio per week to drop a small amount of fat per week. I mean, if a pound of fat is 3500 calories and you’re doing all that cardio and you’re dieting hard, don’t you think something might be a tad wrong there?

Get ready for your rebound. I have been saying this for quite a while now - those who do the most cardio in their preps are invariably always the ones with the most horrendous post-contest rebounds. And I think this is separate from the psychologically influenced rebound triggered by retardedly restrictive contest diets where you get only 5 foods. Of course, you’re going to start eating after that. Sheesh.

But the cardio? It’s almost as if it’s programming you for fat storage when the calories become available again. Whether it has to do with an efficiency phenomenon or something else entirely, the bottom line is that cardio junkies rebound terribly, more often than not. I don’t really care why it happens – just that it’s happening. There is far too much empirical evidence in contest circles to deny this.

Why do you think 30 minutes of cardio stops working and becomes 45 minutes? And 45 minutes per day becomes 60 minutes? And 60 minutes becomes 90 minutes? Something is happening there for you to have to be continuously adding more and more cardio. So what happens the next time you diet? Do you have to do even more? I know of competitors who return a previously successful contest prep program (successful meaning they got in shape) and it doesn’t work for them - nothing happens. Hmmm

The prep methods of many competitors are in my mind, nothing short of downright silly. It’s sad really - to see what some people believe they have to do in order to compete. And it’s not even the competitor’s fault - it’s the people they entrust themselves to. I can’t believe some of the stuff I’ve read. Boiling chicken breast in distilled water? What? People still do that? Cutting sodium a full week out? I’m sorry, but what the heck? Fish and vegetables 6x a day? 3 hours of cardio? A day? And it’s not like competitors are coming up with this stuff on their own - they’re being instructed to do this and they’re paying for it!!

And never mind how silly and just beyond explanation it is; it’s downright damaging. I can’t tell you how many competitors I’ve worked with now that have come from the above and my first order of business is getting their bodies responsive to diet and training again and correcting the damage done by their previous trainer. Many times over now.

Listen, being a hamster on a treadmill is not the only way to get in contest shape. Hamsters aren’t even cute.

There IS an easier way. No, not easy – as getting in contest shape will never be easy, but it’s easiER. And it can be a far more enjoyable experience. Man, there’s some troopers out there. Girls who go through this every single contest season. You have to hand it to them – that’s seriously some hardcore dedication. Hey, if you like it - more power to you. But …

There IS another way.

Comments? Agree? Disagree?

1. Here’s a good one for ya:

Talked with trainer by text yesterday and he called me this morning to see how i was holding up. My diet changed as of today and he told me i MUST get the 2 hours of cardio in … in addition, I have 15 minutes of step-ups … to work the booty

Where to begin?

Do you realize my keyboard has dents from typing about these subjects?

15 minutes of step ups to work the booty? Who is this trainer? They belong in another industry. So what is the 15 minutes of step ups going to do to ‘the booty’? Is it spot reduction cardio? Sure, of course that works. Muscles grow or they shrink. Or I guess a third option is they stay the same. I’ll assume that since this person is dieting (the 2 hours of cardio per day gives it away), that the step ups are not being done to ‘build the booty’. So I take that’s to mean they’re being done to strip off booty fat? If someone ever tells you to do this - you need to immediately start laughing hysterically at them. And then call them an idiot.

2. How about this one?

I recently started talking to a girl I went to high school with me and she has hired a trainer for the first time to do a figure competition (she’s done a few in the past apparently). She tried to “give me some pointers” from her trainer (mind you I never asked, she just offered because I’m a “newbie”). She thinks her trainer is awesome because he “really gets into her muscles” by having her do bodyweight lunges for about an hour. No joke. And SS cardio not to be done above 60% max HR. MAN I am SOOO glad I am working with you Erik.

Ok, you thought the first one was bad - and she was only doing 15 minutes of step ups. This poor girl is getting AN HOUR of lunges. You know, to get really deep into those muscles. Can these trainers even keep a straight face when they say this? Let’s not forget - how incredibly boring would 60 minutes of alternating lunges be?

Oh and don’t go past 60% MHR - because if you do, you’ll burn NO FAT. Let’s bow down to the fat-burning zone. Oh wait, one more thing - make sure it’s done fasted too.

3. This comes from the same source as the last point.

The same girl I talked about in my last biweekly gave me a few more pearls of wisdom the other day. First, her diet sucks. She gets like 1 tbsp of peanut butter, and lean steak every third day, but has to eat egg whites/chix/veggies/oatmeal for the rest of her diet. Poor girl also has no salt, dairy, fruit. She told me to watch the fruit and yogurt because “They have a lot of sugars in them that will keep you from getting the leanest you can.” Oh and no surprise she has 2x day cardio.

Awesome! She gets four different foods on her diet. FOUR!! Does anyone want to bet what’s going to happen the day after the contest? FOUR FOODS!!

Oh no! Fruit keeps you fat! Yeah, it’s the fruit that keeps people from getting lean. How much fruit would you have to eat for that to happen? Sure, a piece or two of fruit is going to be the one thing that keeps you from the stage. Does this even sound logical?

Got any more for me? Let me hear it in the comments.

Today I’ve got a very insightful and thoughtful guest blog from National NPC figure competitor, Jennie Hamilton (who’s own personal blog you can find here - Eternal Health Naturally)

Diet-for-Thought

Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.

It’s quite obvious to me that our culture remains obsessed with dieting. I’m not talking balanced, long- term minded dieting but rather dieting beyond reason, becoming slaves to restriction, false control and the gratification seeing the scale move in a downward spiral brings. Along with this comes a whirlwind of hormonal fluctuations, starvation, and deprivation not just from food but from family and friends and let’s not forget the ridiculous amounts of exercise. Why do people do this? Are they gluttons for self punishment? Is this truly the only way? Perhaps it’s the only way they know how.

There is a false sense of control that comes with severe dieting. I think that’s what appeals, at least temporarily, to the vast majority of extreme dieters -the feeling of conquering the painful hunger, being able to say no to temptation and running on such low energy. It makes one feel powerful, like a false strong will. But where do these people end up once the scale stops dropping or they have reached their short-term diet goal? Short-term goals in essence are great but what matters most is how one reaches the goal and then the steps they embark on after the goal is met. Time after time the dieter finds themselves back where they began. Yet another short term goal upon them that they once fulfilled. It worked once, they do it again. The ever popular yo-yo diet enslavement continues because they know no other way.

Is there another way? Are people afraid of long-term maintainable goals? Where does this fear of being incapable of embarking on a lifelong change come from? Change, that’s what is needed. Change. Not small short-term change but rather a change of heart and purpose. It seems today there is an epidemic not only of obesity but commitment-phobia. People fall to the seduction of quick-fix, now now now, dieting propaganda that the media tries to lure us with.

I have watched endless times people “live it up” after the diet is over. After that short term goal is reached. They are not only of the physical and mental deprivation but the deep dark knowing that again they will face the same grueling challenge in the future again. The evil neurotic diet will return. They swing the pendulum from one extreme to the other. Where has the balance gone? What about the negative effects this has on our bodies and overall health? At what expense?

How does all this nonsense stop? Well as it’s said “a little common sense goes a long way”. Obviously extreme doesn’t work. Committing to a more practical long-term way of sensible, healthy eating and exercise does. Do you really want to change? Commitment is a scary thing - it’s as though people fear they’ll lose the control they once had. Remember, it’s false control. The reverse is true; you gain control of your health. Go ahead, dig your feet in and give yourself a break from this destructive bondage. Embrace the fact that it won’t always be easy but was the previous diet easy? The reward of a long-term goal is incomparable to that of the endless rollercoasters of dieting. You sprinted. Now it is time to face a marathon. It’s going to take some time but once you sign up, make the commitment and begin - there is no turning back.

You can make it happen. You have to let go of past dieting failures, and concentrate on the better way, the healthy way. The change of mind, body and attitude will evolve. You will be set free. My greatest advice is to seek help. When we have support and knowledgeable guidance, the journey somehow becomes enjoyable, doable and lifelong. Having a diet coach changes everything. A great coach goes beyond just basic knowledge and program design. A great coach is a positive mentor and leader who has a great passion for helping others. They never stop learning and evolving as a professional. They serve as a role model in mind, body and action. Erik Ledin is all of that and above. As not only my coach but a great friend, I fully put my trust in him. If you are ready to be set free from the dieting pit you’ve dug yourself in and are eager to know what it is really like to travel the road of lifelong change, then don’t hold yourself back. Come into the light.

- Jennifer Hamilton

I could probably write page after page on this one, but for the time being, I’ll keep it brief.

1. Here’s something someone said in the context of figure competitors:

NO squats. NONE. Figure girls have no business squatting for the most point- so says Charles Glass who is notorious for his knowledge of training. I do sumo squats or plie squats to tighten my inner glute…but NO squats. Makes you blocky and no figure girl wants to be blocky- you want to remain lean and tight.

Do I even need to go any further here? Figure girls have no business squatting? Because Charles Glass says so? Sumo squats and plie squats to tighten the inner glute? The what?

Yes, because squats make you all blocky and no figure girl wants to be blocky. Hmm, then the person goes on to say that a figure girl wants to remain lean and tight. Ok, so I think we can fairly conclude that being lean and tight has something to do with bodyfat right? So if this point is being made as to why one should not be doing squats, does that mean squats make you fat? Even if the claim that squats make you blocky were true, that would imply some kind of undesired muscle gain, no?

The picture above? For those of you who don’t know, that’s Jennie Hamilton. How’s that for blocky? She squats heavy, very heavy.

Ok, nevermind. You get the point - this is retarded advice. I hope this won’t be a revelation for any of you reading this; that you’re nodding your head as you read along.

Nothing builds better (and by better I mean fuller, rounder) glutes than full squats. You want a nicer butt? Start squatting - deep. And NOT on the Smith Machine (which is a post for another day).

2. I saw this on a forum the other day. The discussion was about the competitor’s off season:

Still doing early morning cardio 45 min M-Sat just to keep BF at decent level.

What for? Another ridiculous concept. If you’re doing 45 minutes of cardio in the OFFSEASON, how much cardio do you plan to do when you’re in pre-contest mode?

What’s so offseason about that? That’s still more cardio than I have anyone do when they’re in show prep.

To keep that bodyfat in check? Yeah, because you know, you can gain muscle and with little to no increase in body fat.

It’s fine to do some steady state cardio in the offseason. No problem with that. But keep in mind you still have to be consuming more calories than you’re expending and if you’re doing 5×45 minute cardio sessions per week, that’s just a caloric sink you need to overcome with more food.

I guess if your offseason diet is so high in calories mind you, there’s at least some rationale for doing all the cardio. But why not just eat a normal bulking diet? And not do so much off season cardio. Again, the big thing is - where do you go from there? Right to 60 minutes a day at the start of your prep?

Not to mention the fact that muscle fibers are malleable and adapt to the demands imposed on them. Do enough SS cardio and you might just run the risk of a qualitative fiber-type shift that does nothing good for your physique. The last thing you want, in this context, is muscle fibers taking on a more endurance-based profile.

3. To the Canadians out there, Happy Thanksgiving. Today we had dinner at the inlaws. I had …

Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
California Salad (sour cream, coconut, tropical fruit cocktail, marshmellows)
Dinner Rolls
Stuffing

Repeat that one more time

Cherry Pie
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Victory!

I linked to these before and after pictures of LBC client Sunny Daye in the most recent newsletter, but I thought I’d also post them on the blog.

Sunny went on to win three classes at the Pacific USA Naturals Bodybuilding and Figure Championships, taking first in Figure Short, Figure Masters Short and Figure Masters Overall.

So, the 2008 IFBB North Americans have now come and gone. We just got home from Cleveland a short while ago and we actually made good time getting home in just over 4 hours.

Many of you already know the results from the forum updates, but in short we had two girls in the top 5 in their first national shows.

Lisa Peper ended up in 5th place in a good sized D Class and Jennie Hamilton came in at a solid 4th spot in a smaller, but very competitive F class. The overall goal for each was a Top 10 placing, so a final placing inside the Top 5 is icing on the cake.

All in all it was simply a really fun weekend. We stayed with Jennie and Will with was the icing on a great trip, as there was a lot of laughs over the weekend. Will, besides being HUGE, is hilarious. (watch out for the dark horse at the 2009 NPC Junior USAs).

Did you know that in Mississippi they say ole instead of oil? As in, “I think Jennie needs more ole” Or “I heard they had to eat boled chicken breast.” That latter one comes from Jennie … A CANADIAN who’s relocated to Mississippi. Hilarious.

Or the fact that they call every pop (some of you say soda), a COKE. Sprite, Orange Crush, Pepsi, Mountain Dew - it’s all Coke.

So Will relays a story relating to the above. I can’t remember where he was but clearly not in a place where they refer to pop as coke.

Paraphrasing …

Will: Can I get three cokes? Two diet and a Sprite.
Server: So you want six drinks?
Will: Huh? Three cokes - two diet and a sprite.
Sever: Yes, I know - so six drinks.
Will: THREE COKES!!!!!
Server: That’s six drinks!!!!!

And so on - that’s not verbatim but it sums it up. You can imagine Will thinking it’s clear as day that he wants three drinks - and then is telling the server what kind of cokes he wants. The server counts six - which is what I’d do as well. We laughed so hard at that over dinner.

Speaking of which, Friday night we hit the Hard Rock as a group of 10 and Neely, Jennie and Lisa went to town on steak and french fries and then some dessert goodies back at the hotel - the Friday Night Fat Load. Lots of fun. I had chicken - dumb.

Saturday night we went out for dinner and waited an hour for food that sucked.

All in all, a great time and I’m really glad I was there to share in the experience.

Here’s a few pictures:

Here’s a shot of me and Lisa, me and Jen and then the three of us after the Finals with their trophies.

Just a quick update here from Cleveland, Ohio at the North Americans. The prejudging rounds - both one and two piece are over and we’re just back chilling out in our room (myself, Laura, Jennie and Will).

Prejudging went pretty well overall.

Class C was Neely’s class, which had a whopping 35 girls in it (this is still my beef with these shows - the huge difference between class sizes - ranging from 9 to 16-20 all the way up to 35. Anyway, Neely was pulled out in the 16 or so range - 4th callout.

Class D has Lisa Peper. Lisa looked great, eclipsing last year’s conditioning. In the 2-piece round (which oddly enough was before the 1-piece here), Lisa was in the 2nd callout which was the 5-9 placing. In the 1-piece round, she got bumped up to the first call out which was the 1-5 placing, so it looks like a potential placing around 5th, which is awesome for her first shot at a National show.

Class F had Jennie Hamilton. Like Lisa, easily the best Jennie to date. In the 2-piece she was the first called out in a 5 person callout and then similar in the 1-piece, so it looks like a clear top 5 for Jennie as well - again at her first crack at a national-level show.

Keep your fingers crossed. Finals are in a couple hours. Here are a few pictures after Prejudging. We didn’t get many.

Here’s some pics of Jennie after the prejudging

Lisa posted some shots of her at two days out and nice and depleted.

In case you haven’t already seen them on her blog, here’s the link.

Lisa Peper Two Days Out