The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (11 page)

However, by investing your time equally between the most important elements of your fitness lifestyle—weight training, cardiovascular, nutrition, rest and recuperation, supplementation, and mindset—nothing short of miraculous results are quite achievable.

Your intention guides all of these pieces to help them work together. Clearly, intent is critical to success. So, what exactly is intention? According to Princeton University, it is “an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions”. Your intention for this book is likely to look better than you ever have, right? Yes, that’s certainly a broad way of looking at it, but we want you to have a more specific and direct intention. Perhaps your intention is to lose 20 pounds of fat and to add 2-5 pounds of muscle to your frame in 1½ months. That’s a specific intention; a very direct and realistic goal, combined with an exact time frame.

In order to define your intention, we have discovered an exercise that is most effective and should always be used when focusing your intention. While many of us confuse intention with purpose, it is important to note that intention and purpose are not the same. So first we need to make the distinction between intention and purpose.

The difference between the two is that purpose is achieved through reflexes, and intention is achieved through planning.

It might be helpful to look at it this way: If I were to tap you on the knee with a hammer, your leg would automatically move; this is the same as purpose. Purpose revolves around seeing a stimulus and reacting to the stimulus. Intention would be similar to asking why the hammer is hitting the knee and discovering why your leg moves when hit. Intention is a much deeper conflict and will, in fact, help you in your quest for a fulfilling fitness regimen.

Exercise involves concentration on the goal at hand. For instance, if you are beginning an exercise such as a bench press, you should look at the weights and grow intent on using them to build your muscles. Think to yourself, “If I do this bench press I will work my upper body and will further develop it by breaking down and rebuilding the muscle tissue.” Do not use purpose, which would be saying, “If I do this bench press my chest muscles will start burning and I’ll be sore when I am done.”

The distinction in this case may be accurate,
but recognizing the short-term nature of purpose will help you focus on the bigger picture. Use intention exercises to understand the underlying goal of the exercise, not just the reaction to the exercise.

So, how does one go about creating this point of finally being “ready”?

You must begin by recognizing that right now is the most important point of your life!

Get up off the couch, get your kids up off the couch, get your brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, and foes off that couch! Our country depends on this, folks!

Now, let’s hit the fast forward button …

FAILING FORWARD

Most of you reading this book may have already attempted to follow a workout and diet regimen. It’s easy to look back on past failures and dwell on the reasons why you or those programs failed to get you in shape.

Here’s the deal: In order for any program to work, the negative must be banished from your mind. The only way to do this is to forget the past. Do not accept the past, forget the past! Accepting the past will make you think that it is just fine that you have failed in your physical fitness pursuits. It is not fine that you have failed because you are more important than to have failure run your thoughts.

At first it is hard to do this. A good way to practice this is to forget about recent problematic situations that you cannot control by dwelling on them and move on. If you are late for work one day, then set a goal and do not let it happen again. If you go out to dinner with friends and feel totally overwhelmed with temptation to resist those fried mozzarella sticks, remember that you are in control and that you and only you can sabotage your commitment. Do not sit and ponder on what has happened in the past. In doing this, you will say to yourself, “maybe my diet and exercise program has failed, but this new program will not fail because my failure is in the past.”

Sticking to a fitness regimen (a.k.a. commitment) has been proven to be the absolute most challenging thing for people who constantly seek to shape up. It’s the reason why fitness is a multi-billion dollar industry and it’s not about to decrease anytime soon.

So, why do so many people, possibly including you, fail with health and fitness goals? There are a few reasons why, but one of the biggest reasons is the “Buy In”. In other words, unless you really have a powerful reason to get in shape and you’re willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears necessary to make it a reality, you are guaranteed to fail at it, case closed!

So, how do you create a “Buy In”? It may sound harsh, but one way is with scare tactics. You tie your reason for getting in shape to a fact such as, if you don’t shape up, you’ll likely end up getting sick and will die young. You do it by admitting to yourself that if you don’t take care of yourself your family will likely lose you. You do it by being honest with yourself about the fact that the only way that anyone will be attracted to you is if you are attractive! You do it by not BS-ing yourself into thinking that people who are in good shape aren’t treated better than those who are not! Listen, we hate these facts as much as many of you will (especially considering that we both were once obese) and we are sure we’ll hear some of your rants about how wrong we are, but sadly enough, these are facts and it is what it is.

Another way to combat fitness failure is by having an accountability partner. Choosing a training partner who has similar goals as you is a great way to stay in the game and to make your goals a reality.

By not getting caught up in the past, one can see failure as a necessary step in achieving any goal. One cannot know success without also becoming acquainted with failure. Just be prepared for the next time and build up your willpower.

This technique can be used throughout your exercising career. If you fail to meet your ideal performance goals, then just forget about your failure that day and try it at the next workout session. If you fail at the next workout session, then forget about your failure and then try it at the third workout session. It’s all about getting back in the saddle and not giving up!

Approach anything that you have failed at before as though you are trying it for the very first time. By exercising daily and following various nutrition guidelines, you will begin to notice that any type of setback has little or no effect on your motivation to succeed.

If you want your reality to be filled with success, then only think about the successes. If, however, you focus on failures, your physical fitness reality will be filled with failure and self-doubt.

Fail forward and you will realize your greatest fitness potential!

Here is a list of ways that you can avoid fitness failure and make your Body Sculpting goals a reality:

1. Create a scare tactic for yourself.

2. Find an accountability partner.

3. Make sure that your regimen includes the “Five Muscular Tiers,” which are: Resistance Training, Cardiovascular Training, Nutrition, Supplementation, and Rest & Recuperation. By following the
Body Sculpting Bible
Program, you will fulfill this requirement.

4. Don’t start your fitness regimen on New Years Day. It’s a trend and trends end. Start it either before or after the holiday. Even a week apart is better than starting on this infamous day of destined fitness failures!

5. Be realistic with your goals. If you shoot too high, you could easily become frustrated and quit. Shoot for a doable goal, e.g. “I will lose three pounds by the end of this week” or “I will take my treadmill training to another level this week by increasing the speed by ½ MPH and adding a one-grade incline.”

6. Make a pact with your family members. If you don’t, self sabotage is imminent. If you all make fitness a part of your lives, all of your lives will surely be enriched.

Chapter 3

Training

For immediate Body Sculpting Bible support & coaching directly from James & Hugo, please visit
www.BodySculptingBible.com

Training is the first component inside the parenthesis of the formula for success. The way you train will ultimately determine the way you look. This is how you will be able to sculpt your body into a work of art.

There are two types of training: Anaerobic exercise (e.g. weight training), which uses glycogen as its main source of fuel, and Aerobic exercise (e.g. walking, bike riding, etc), which uses oxygen as its main source of fuel. We will discuss each separately and then go into detail about each type.

WEIGHT TRAINING

The anaerobic training that we will be using is weight training. Weight training is the number one way to re-sculpt your body. It is by far superior to any other form of exercise because
it is the only way that can shape your body and increase your metabolism permanently
. This is vital since a slow metabolism is at the root of obesity. We find it ridiculous how some so-called fitness authorities don’t adhere to this simple yet very true concept. It is ludicrous how some “fitness experts” believe that aerobic exercise alone provides the key to the perfect physique.
These “authorities” are wrong
and should educate themselves by learning the facts.

Many women are concerned that weight training will make them muscle bound. This is not possible since women simply do not produce enough testosterone (the male hormone that is responsible for muscle growth) to achieve the Arnold Schwarzenegger look. What weight training will do is provide the firm, cellulite-free looking body that most women desire.

G
OALS

Without goals we are dead in the water; we have nowhere to aim and nowhere to go. Therefore we need to set goals in order to achieve success.

Our ultimate body sculpting goals are as follows:

Gain:
5-10 pounds of muscle (or more depending on what you want) in order to tone up and increase your metabolism.

Lose:
Enough fat to get down to between 12-16% body fat. Women
should never
go below 12% as going any lower would cause undesirable side effects such as the cessation of the monthly period (amenorrhea) and reduction of breast size.

Depending on where your physical fitness level is at this moment it may take you longer than six weeks to achieve these goals. However, don’t feel bad about it: the important thing is that you will be moving forward. You will achieve these goals very quickly by being persistent and serious about your fitness program. Besides, remember that by doing nothing, in a year from now your body will look the same if not worse.

Now that you know where you’re headed, let’s see what the characteristics of a good weight-training program are.

C
HARACTERISTICS OF A
G
OOD
W
EIGHT
-T
RAINING
P
ROGRAM

In order for weight training to be effective, the following rules should be followed:

Sessions should be short: 60 minutes maximum
. The maximum amount of time a weight training session should last is 60 minutes. After 60 minutes the levels of muscle building and fat burning hormones (like growth hormone and testosterone) begin to drop. In addition, the glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in your system, which is the fuel that your muscles use to contract, is depleted. If you weight train more than 60 minutes you
will actually be wasting your time since you will no longer have the hormones or the fuel necessary to produce muscle growth. Continue to train past 60 minutes and you will get impaired recovery, which leads to overtraining, a condition where your body does not recover from its weight training sessions. This leads to loss of strength and muscle mass.

The rest between sets should be kept to a minimum;
90 seconds or less. Keeping your rest time in between sets and exercises to a minimum not only allows you to perform a prodigious amount of work within the 60-minute weight training window, but also helps to improve your cardiovascular system and most importantly maximizes the output of growth hormone, a powerful fat burning/muscle building hormone. Also, this rest interval promotes a muscle voluminizing effect in which water goes inside the muscle cells (not outside) and makes the muscles look more firm and toned. Do not confuse this with water retention outside of the muscle cells, which is what makes us look puffy and fat.

Sets of each exercise should consist of 8-15 repetitions
. There are many reasons for this. First and foremost, it has been shown that it is within this range that growth hormone output is maximized. As we already know, this is a good thing since this hormone does exactly what we are looking for (increases muscle and decreases body fat). In addition, since you are performing so many repetitions, you get a great pump (blood rushing into the muscle) that provides nutrients to nourish muscle cells and helps them recover and rebuild faster. Finally, performing 8-15 repetitions reduces the possibility of injury dramatically since you will need to use a weight that you can control in order to perform the prescribed amount of reps.
(Note: This rule does not apply to the calves and abdominals as these muscles usually respond
better to higher repetition ranges, in the order of 15-25 reps)
.