Are You Sure You’re On The Right Track To Getting The Lean Muscular Body You Want?

Is your world flat or is it round?

How to know instantly whether you are on the right track to getting the lean muscular body that you want.

It never ceases to amaze me that in this information age there is still so much confusion and misinformation in the realm of fat loss and muscle building that it’s no wonder the average person is overwhelmed, confused and frustrated. It’s little wonder there is a 90%+ failure rate when it comes to getting the body people actually want. Even people who have been ‘gym junkies’ for years still come up with some unbelievable feats of bizarre logic that make me shake my head in amazement – more on that one later.

The prevailing level of knowledge about muscle building and fat loss in society is akin to when everyone was convinced that the world was flat and that if you sailed off the end there would be a bunch of dragons. We rule the planet as the dominant species and can send men into space and yet we are still in the dark about getting in control of our own bodies. This situation just astounds me so much that I have to stop thinking about the complete absurdity of it because it shakes me to the very core.

As a society we go on diets and pump away in the gym for very very little in the way of real results. Fleeting improvements, an up and down spiral of spinning your wheels, maybe a few solid months or a year of two if you are one of the few more dedicated ones but nothing like the life long health, vitality and a lean muscular body for life that the fitness elite enjoy. As a society we are an abject failure when it comes to muscle gain and fat loss endeavors. If it’s not your thing that’s totally fine but for those that want to succeed in this area, the prospects statistically are extremely bleak.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Here’s a thought. Instead of jumping off the cliff into dieting and exercising, why don’t you learn about how the human body actually builds muscle and burns fat best FIRST.

If you are ‘eating healthy’ and ‘training’ and you CANNOT explain exactly how the human body builds muscle and loses fat in clear, concise, scientific terms with a thorough understanding of how it all fits together and the necessary actions to stimulate various body systems and processes such as metabolism and protein synthesis then HOW ON EARTH DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING? If you don’t know WHY you are doing something then WHY are you doing it at all?

To give you an example, I recently overheard a guy who is reasonably big but with body fat around 15-20% say that he had not eaten anything in FOUR DAYS “to try and get his abs to come out a bit” and then “shock his body” by eating up a heap in the following days. Now this is not a rank beginner, he’s probably been training for years and still he somehow comes up with something like that. This phenomenon is not unique though – in our information age a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. When people have no idea of how it all really works, it’s an endless cycle of ‘doing stuff’ such as bizarre exercises, weird diets and magic routines that ends inevitably in failure.

The reason people fail in their droves to get the body they want is that they don’t really know what they are doing and everything is just a guess or hearsay. When you take the time to understand and learn how the body works you instantly realize that the world is round and not flat. You are able to understand and explain how muscle growth and fat loss occur as well as any skilled personal trainer and because of this knowledge you have a system to create a specific exercise program, nutritional plan and lifestyle that will give you a lean muscular body for life.

A Better Technique Unlocks Your Full Muscle Growth Potential

It never ceases to amaze me the technique or rather lack of that can be seen in any gym. A small minority will never change because they are fixed in their ways but the vast majority of people who spend time in the gym to create a lean and muscular physique seem to have no idea of what it really takes to get them there and thus perform exercises in a way that makes no sense.

Remember muscle growth and fat loss is simple – stimulus and adaptation. That’s it. When you are doing an exercise, the only objective is the correct stimulus of the target muscle – not how many reps or the weight. Remember, there is no seated row or heaving DB curl world championship with vast sums of prize money at stake. Yet go into any gym and it seems like that someone forgot to tell a lot of the guys in there who seem to be honing their skills for such an event.

In order for the target muscle to grow it must be correctly stimulated. Lifting a weight gives some stimulus but over time if technique is poor and the muscles are not stimulated correctly, all that happens is that you will adapt to “get better” at performing that exercise poorly. Your strength curve and motor patterns – how your muscles fire and move will be imprinted with the pattern of how to do a really bad lat pull down really well. You will get strong biceps, traps and whatever you use but this will further impede your ability to hit the target muscle (lats) as everything else is stronger. It becomes the weakest link and your body likes to do things the easy way. From there it’s a hard job to play catch-up.

This doesn’t mean that you must or should always use textbook picture perfect form and pink vinyl dbs. (Although I was recently shown a set of rotator cuff exercises using 2kg dbs that was enough to destroy a 100kg+ ex-special forces soldier – this goes to show that anything done properly with intensity will work the body hard) It’s also not an argument about loose vs. strict form. The key is knowing what you are doing, why and how to execute your plan.

If you are going for maximal overload then be specific – it’s not about heaving up a bunch of weight to look tough. You are specifically trying to bullseye the target muscle with a heavier weight than would otherwise be possible with strict form. Controlled momentum and/or using other muscles to get past the sticking points of the movement whilst hitting the target muscle is the name of the game. A slow eccentric phase or lowering under control is a must to get the most out of a heavier weight – you are stronger in this phase so keep it tight.

If your goal is maximal occlusion, make sure you pick a weight that you don’t have to heave – you know what you are doing and why so don’t worry what the weight ‘looks like’. Keep the tension on, feel every inch and fibre scream and forget about the reps – have a target range and get there at all costs and then some if you have anything left.

Technique is a non-negotiable and it’s not about going light. If you don’t have rock solid form you are never going to squat double body weight or dead lift serious weight. Yes power lifters are strong use suits and have different goals but they know that in order to get what they want technique matters.

What Are You Trying To Achieve When You Train?

Whilst watching the farce that is the aptly named Biggest Loser, I was perturbed (though not surprised) by the number of contestants pushed until they threw up in their very first workout. Yeah you can go on about pushing mental limits and perceptions all you want but these made for TV stunts leave the average person thinking that to make rapid progress it requires projectile vomiting at every opportunity.

It’s true though that a lot of people who train hard do throw up at various points but it’s never an objective. Those that do on a regular basis are probably even doing themselves a disservice when you consider what the most fundamental basis for training actually is.

In a word: adaptation. Training is simply a means to make the human body adapt to stress on the muscles and metabolic systems with the end product being a body that looks good and functions well. You can have your various philosophies and reap many positive mental and lifestyle benefits as well but training in a physical sense is not about being tough or seeing how much pain you can endure.

Yes proper productive training requires intensity, far more than you see on average in the gym. But it does not require you to perform feats of insanity on a daily basis to get what you want. Dedication, desire and a strong will to progress and overcome are all admirable, but never forget that their purpose is to drive you to your end goal.

Consider another word: recovery.

All of your gains and results are a product of how well you recover. Drive your body hard to make it the way you want but there is no point taxing your ability to recover by performing more just because you can. The key is to hit the body hard enough to make it stronger not annihilate yourself so that it takes you a good deal of time to get back to your normal state before your body can even think about making improvements.

One final secret is to consider why there are some people that push themselves extremely hard and yet don’t get results in proportion to their efforts. Why?

The truth is because they have substandard nutrition and are unwilling to make the lifestyle changes to get this area even remotely up to par. People don’t like change in their lives and they will do anything to avoid it – even to the point of training like maniacs until they spew all over the place. They want to compartmentalize everything and desperately want to believe there is a completely exercised based solution to their lack of results.

The Truly Huge Interview Part 6

Q. What are your future goals?

A. My first major goal is of course to see Ultimate Body Success grow and develop and impact as many people as possible whilst constantly refining all aspects of the program to ensure that they are the best they can be. Secondly I want to realise my full potential as a Les Mills Instructor as even after training alone all these years this is a fresh new challenge. My final goal is when time and circumstances permit to compete in body building once again and earn a WNBF Pro Card.

Q. What is the toughest part about fitness for you?

A. It’s all easy really. Seriously though, everything becomes effortless after a while. One of the secrets of Ultimate Body Success is a bit of an esoteric concept but has a huge impact in practical day to day life. The key is that for life long results it’s not about what you do but it’s about who you are. To get the body you want you simply have to become the person in totality with the body you want. This means not only how they train and eat but also their beliefs, their work/life balance, their family and relationships. It might seem like semantics but if I had to do everything that I needed to do to be where I’m at, that’s a lot of effort. But because of who I am, all that I need to do simply ‘gets done’ and it honestly feels like no effort to get up in the morning and cook my food every day etc. It’s just a state of being not doing. We are human beings not human doings.

If the above sounds too ‘Zen’ of an answer (true as it is) then I’ll have to say perfecting my Les Mills presentation and choreography. For someone who is pretty ‘beat deaf’ I have to work hard at nailing that whilst coaching everyone in my class, remembering what comes next and working harder than anyone else in the class.

Q. Tell us about your Ultimate Body Success program?

A. Ultimate Body Success is a complete, impossible to fail system to create a lean muscular body and keep it for life. It gives you a total understanding of how your body works so that you know and then can do exactly what is required to transform your body. It is a complete system that covers all aspects of nutrition, training, supplementation, mental attitude and practical logistics such as choosing a gym, hiring a trainer, equipment and even cooking.

Every single principle is distilled from countless years and experiences of what I call the ‘Fitness Elite’. These are the people that you see at the gym with the great physiques, that train hard with clock work consistency and yet they have a simple easy lifestyle that is worlds away from the diet deprivation gung ho training and injury cycle that the average person endures. Simply put, the Fitness Elite do certain things that make them successful, Ultimate Body Success is about meticulously detailing what they do and the science in simple terms behind why they do it. The program also gives you an insight into how they think and how they live as people, which believe it or not is the one thing that I have found in all my years is the real secret to success. Most importantly though it shows you how to do exactly the same to get your best results ever.

On top of the secrets of the Fitness Elite, Ultimate Body Success crams in everything that we know you will need to be successful in the real world. For example instead of some useless ‘healthy recipe book’ - I don’t know what you like to eat or if you can even cook, we created a practical kitchen guide to give anyone the ‘big picture’ as well as to details such as knife and frypan choices that you need to have in place to prepare clean food on a daily basis. We then even go into how to carry your food with you. It is these small practicalities that often trip people up. We make it impossible to fail because we don’t leave even the smallest detail to chance. You get the whole picture from start to finish.

The Ultimate Body Success Program is the result of not only my 15 years of training but 15 years of research plus the countless years of wisdom I have been fortunate to be exposed to from the many great sources of information that I have hunted down from around the world and people I have met. It is a complete, step-by-step blue print that is guaranteed to produce results by giving you the complete arsenal of knowledge and tools to take control of your body once and for all.

The Truly Huge Interview Part 3

Q. What adversities have you had to overcome?

A. Apart from genetics? Just kidding. I have been very blessed and there
hasn’t really been any epic adversities that I have had to overcome that
haven’t been self inflicted.

Q. What are your favorite and least favorite exercises?

A. Squat and probably standing barbell press and perhaps barbell curls
as well as I tend to be good at those. Lunges in all their variations suck but
are very effective and I do them when I need to.

Q. What are your tips for the beginner, intermediate and advanced?

A. A beginner needs to learn the TRUTH about what really works and what
doesn’t. They need to get on the same path that everyone who has ever mastered
their body as soon as possible. They need someone or something to lay the whole
big picture out for them without trying to sell them useless shortcuts.

For intermediates, the key is to implement what works and develop the
mental, emotional and lifestyle characteristics that will ensure they are
driven to succeed but are patient enough to be easy going and realize that they
are on a lifelong journey that is only just starting. Going to the next level
from intermediate is inevitable if they are consistent. They just need to put
everything into place outside of the gym and in their heads to make sure that
it happens. The other key is to keep an open mind as this is a time for
logical, sensible trial and error. It’s not about getting caught up in the latest fad
but rather considering different approaches in training and nutrition and
finding out how their body works and responds best to.

A truly advanced trainee is beyond tips really. The advanced trainee
never stops learning and constantly challenges themselves and explores new
horizons with their training to maximise their enjoyment; truly advanced
trainees have it all worked out, they know all this and more already. My one
tip though is this: advanced trainees should pass on what they know to others
to the best of their ability when asked. True it will fall on deaf ears 95% of
the time, people just don’t seem to get or rather want to believe in the TRUTH..
But for the few that do, advice from an advanced trainee may be what sets them
on the path to master their body for life without which they would struggle and
eventually fail like the vast majority of the masses. Think about all the
benefits that reaching an advanced level has given you and what it would be
like to help someone else have the same.

The Truly Huge Interview Part 2

Q. What got you started in fitness?

A. In terms of training the classic story. Skinny kid wants muscles, picks up the weights. I was around
12 at the time and I bought a bench from the sports store and the good old 20KG DB set and a bar.
 still remember the first time I got stuck under the bar – it’s the classic rite of passage isn’t it?
From there I started to sneak into the gym at high  school (though kicked out many a time until I figured
out how to get out of the line of sight of patrolling teachers) and I made good progress.

All in all though I credit my teenage and ongoing success to just reading a single book early on that
made all the difference: Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik. That was the book that set me on the path
to where I am today. I believe that all it takes for the ‘average’ trainee that is frustrated and doesn’t get
the results they want is to simply hear the TRUTH from one source. If they are finally shown and it
is proven to them that the key principles that are common to all forms of productive training such as hard
work and dedication, no-nonsense functional, precise and specific nutrition (clean eating) and perhaps most
importantly the specific mental, emotional and lifestyle traits that those who have mastered their bodies
share are what really works and that there are no shortcuts then they have a chance. Once you realise
the TRUTH, there is no turning back and you go to a whole new level. You are no longer confused and
bogged down by the quagmire of crappy information out there. From one good source of information you
will find another and another. It is this process that I believe is so critical but starting it is the key – many
people can train their whole lifetime and never see, hear or read the TRUTH and thus never achieve the
body they deserve.

My start in the actual fitness industry was a little less conventional though. Straight after finishing my
business degree specialising in strategic and operations management and ready to be recruited to one of
the big four firms I thought, I’m passionate about fitness so I’ll go do that. 

Q. What is it about fitness that you love so much?

A. Ahh, what’s there not to love about fitness? Whilst I could say the lifestyle if it’s your thing it’s
certainly great and that the modern corporate stresses aren’t there and getting paid to train is also the
closest that I  will get to being a professional athlete not to mention a whole bunchof other perks,
none of them really capture it.

For me this is it. Although I am surrounded by the world of fitness, I am acutely aware that fitness
doesn’t exist in a vacuum and that it has a place and a context for each and every participant. One of
the things that I love the most is seeing people reap the benefits of their participation in fitness in other
areas of their lives. Of course people feel better about themselves if they look better and in very real terms
 they become better versions of themselves, better people. This impacts their family
and friends because they become better husbands, fathers and friends. The mental discipline and
toughness from training is also invaluable in this challenging modern life of ours. Productive fitness training
 without a doubt will have a positive impact on career and goal achievement as well. Of course from a
health perspective the people I see each and every day function better, with less pain and more energy.
All in all one of the things I love most about fitness is very much from a societal standpoint that due to all
the flow on effects, I know deep down inside that each and every day I get up I help make a difference and
in some small way make the world a better place.

The Truly Huge Interview Part 1

Hey,

Here’s the transcript of the interview I was asked to do for www.trulyhuge.com

I really enjoyed doing this, Truly Huge has been around for a long time, they realize the value of the Ultimate Body Success philosophy it’s quite long, so I’ll break it up over parts.

Here it is:

Q.  Can you give us some background about yourself?

 A. I am a dedicated full time fitness professional and business owner
with a passion for bringing the TRUTH, WITHOUT ANY HIDDEN AGENDA of what REALLY works and
what doesn’t to anyone and everyone who wants to make a REAL, LIFE LONG
difference to their health and fitness by transforming their body into what
they have always desired.

I am a fully qualified Personal Trainer with client base ranging from
international level body shapers, power lifting national record holders, ex-Olympians and
Master’s Games athletes to corporate executives and clients who simply want to maximize their
results in the gym from a diverse range of backgrounds. I am also a group fitness instructor
teaching fourteen classes per week ranging from Pilates and Fitball to Les Mills RPM Indoor
Cycling and BODYPUMP. On top of all this is of course my work to create and
develop my Ultimate Body Success Program and constantly refine my knowledge base to be as cutting edge as
possible whilst seeking the simple truths that are the keys for anyone to 
unlock their own potential. distributorship of the best indoor bike in the world bar none: the Body Bike.
Finally because fitness is a way of life for me I also squeeze in some supplement
sourcing and sales just to round everything out.

In terms of my training background, I have trained for over fifteen
years and over that time I have covered the full spectrum of olympic lifting,
power lifting and body building (2005 Under  65kg NPFC-IFBB Australian Champion) as well as obtaining 

my level 10 in
Shaolin Jee Shin Wing Chun Kung Fu. At the moment my classes are my main
training focus as I strive to be the best role model I can be each and every class – riding over 120km
per week of hard intervals and pumping out 500 plus squats, 400 odd reps of
chest presses and a few hundred reps on all the other body parts whilst motivating others to do the same
with a smile on my face does me just fine.

Two Powerful Words To Maximize Your Muscle Gain And Fat Loss Results

Pay attention.

Simple isn’t it.

Here’s another simple idea. In order to maximize your muscle gain and fat loss results you need to learn about and understand how your body works. Only then can you know what the best course of action that will get you the fastest results will be.

How do you learn about your unique physiology?

Pay attention.

Most people just train without a second thought. Even if they push themselves they simply follow a program blindly doing their 3×12 for years on end.

Training is very simple at it’s core and yet there are a multitude of subtleties – little things that often go unnoticed but have potential to make a huge difference to your muscle gain and fat loss efforts. It’s not about overcomplicating things. It’s about finding the best way for you to execute the fundamentals and work towards an overall system that fits you perfectly to give you maximum results.

I have a guy in one of my classes who has been consistent for the last 6 months or so. Even though his coordination is far from the best and he was a complete novice he has progressed far more than someone of similar abilities that I have seen over the years for one simple reason – he is always asking questions. He does the best he can and then takes the feedback from how his body feels to ask me more questions about the finer points he is not sure of. He then works on what I have told him and pays attention to his weight training to see what else he can discover that he knows isn’t quite right so he can make it better.

He pays attention and reaps the benefits.

One of my best clients has got the paying attention thing down too. He asks lots of questions as well but since he is now moving towards intermediate advanced, he has picked up a sense of self awareness as well. He is switched on each and every set, good or bad and can notice the difference between a 7/10 set and a 10/10 set and know why. He can feel the target muscle groups and when he hits them perfectly and when he doesn’t. He knows his optimum grip width and height settings for various machines. He understands heavy vs. occlusion exercises. I’ve helped him along the way but fundamentally he has developed the realisation that he has to pay attention when he trains and then think about what he has discovered to make improvements in how he works out not just how hard.

Competitors are a prime example of people that pay meticulous attention to their training as well as what they eat. They document and take photos and learn how food makes them look and how various diets shed their body fat whilst noting how much muscle and strength is retained. It gets so precise that I once heard a competitor remark that their hamstrings didn’t look the way they should because he should have eaten a banana 30 minutes earlier.

The Fitness Elite never stop learning and thinking of ways to improve their results. To join them, you will need to start paying attention and thinking about your training.

Choosing A Personal Trainer And The True Secret To Long Term Results

Passion is not enough.

One of the most often used (and upon reflection over used) words in the fitness industry is passion. It is used in a number of contexts but the two key areas that are most important are when passion is used by people in the fitness industry in relation to their work and how individuals feel about training.

Like many professions, the fitness industry is one where it takes a certain type of person with specific skills and personal attributes underpinned by the right set of core beliefs to be successful at the highest levels let alone rise above an ever deepening pool of mediocrity. Just because a personal trainer or gym instructor is passionate or says they are about health and fitness, it’s not enough for them to be able to get you a result.

What does this mean for you? The reality is that many of the wrong people are attracted by the ‘hollywood image’ of the fitness industry and subsequently struggle to a basic level of mediocrity as they find their passion dissipating and realize that all they really have is just grind it out day to day job.

Although it has been highly monetized and skilled professionals are paid highly for their services, fitness as a profession in my opinion should really be considered a way of life, a calling of sorts that carries a certain ethos and responsibility to conduct and live your life in a certain way. To me, the importance of the work to people’s lives makes it a calling of sorts much like becoming a priest or doctor. It is more than just a job. If you ever choose to work with any people in the industry, always look beyond their enthusiasm and deeper into the character of who you are seeking advice from.

This idea of passion can also be applied of course to training. Many people get excited and even highly motivated and dare I say passionate about their training… at least for a while. Yet this is just a feeling and feelings can change easily with our mood and other circumstances, it is not enough to sustain us.

So what is needed?

Something stronger. It’s the same thing that the best fitness professionals also have.

I have no doubt that many of the fitness elite are passionate about their training amd lifestly but that’s not what sustains them. What sustains them is PURPOSE. Their training has purpose for them, they are acutely aware of the benefits training gives to them and are able to quantify the benefit that it gives them. They have deeper compelling reasons to train so even if they feel discouraged bored or even lazy it is a temporary fleeting state because training and lifestlye for them is supported by an entire belief system that is tied to their identity. There is a certainty to all that they do and thus motivation or excitment to drive them to action becomes irrelevant.

You Too Can Easily Join This Exclusive Club: The Fitness Elite

Another secret of the fitness elite.

The fitness elite have many things in common. That’s what sets them apart. One of the key attributes that they share is an effortless consistency.

It should be noted that I use the term fitness elite to encompass a wider range of people than the term may initially suggest. Yes at the highest levels you have those who have mastered their bodies and developed them into a lean and muscular condition that they are happy with and can be proud of. Most importantly though they have done this whilst creating a sustainable lifestyle that they can maintain for life and enjoy all that it has to offer whilst keeping the body they have worked hard for.

However, these are not the only people I consider the fitness elite. There are many others who I see on a daily basis who are equally deserving of consideration. I see them every day. They are the ones who have successfully integrated health and fitness into their lifestyle and perform with a clockwork consistency that many in the masses can only ever hope to achieve. They may not have the lofty goals of others who are more driven to achieve certain results but they do have goals and they methodically knock them over with a relentless consistency. They have tapped into that same secret that drives those in the elite to the highest levels – the peace of mind and sense of effortlessness that comes from having some understanding of how the human body works. The confidence that comes from unlocking the various cause and effect relationships between nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and getting the body that they want frees them from the mass market hype that seduces the average person and detaches them from the actual results – they know that all they have to make a decision, follow it up with certain choices that are sustainable and everything will fall into line.

Whilst Ultimate Body Success is focussed on creating a certain look for your body, it is of course much more than that. Health, fitness and lifestyle is a quality of life choice. For many it is about the body but for many it’s not. There is a lady who lives about an hour or so from the gym yet she is there virtually every morning between 6:30am and 7:00am before work. She will never compete in a figure show but she is a healthier, fitter and stronger person for it and she knows it. This routine is now part of who she is, not just something that she does and hence she is able to achieve the effortless consistency of the fitness elite that the masses simply do not understand as the ‘real secret’ that they need to get the body they want. They have been sold on miracle supplements and various dietary permutations, junk exercise equipment and convoluted training programs as the ‘secrets’ that will give them the body they want.

The fitness elite have many secrets but they are often not what most people perceive them to be…