There was a record number competitors with 65 men and women competing in the show.
That’s A LOT of competitors especially considering that we are a pretty small province population wise.

Both my girlfriend Trish and I competed.
I placed 3rd in the Light-Heavyweight Division. But the BIG success was with Trish, she won The Figure Short Class, The Figure Masters (over 35 class), as well as the Figure Overall Title.
I’m super happy for her!

Below are a few pics from the show as well as some that I took Sunday the day after the show.
I’ll be posting up some more pictures as we get them. There were lots of photographers at the show, but not everyone has their pictures uploaded yet.

Click on the images to see the full size photos.

P.S.
Besides Trish and myself competing, we also coached 4 other competitors who competed at the same show this past weekend. All 4 of our coaching students made incredible physique transformations over the course of their pre-contest training.

I’ll be posting up some of their “Before” & “After” pics over the next week and share some insights as to the diet & training strategies that worked the best.

So stay tuned for that!

Below is a quick video clip of a practice posing session that I did, this was shot 3 weeks out from the competition. My body weight is currently 200 pounds (and I’m 5’6 tall).

My goal is to drop another 8-10 pounds between now and the competition and weigh in somewhere in the low 190′s to really nail in my best conditioning.

If you are interested in learning what goes into bodybuilding competition training and how competitive bodybuilders get that lean ripped look, then you should pick up a copy of my book
“Your First Bodybuilding Competition”.

This is a complete step-by-step bodybuilding competition training guide that explains everything you need to know about preparing for and looking your best at your first bodybuilding competition.

Click Here For More Info…

This is going to be my 13th bodybuilding competition… Lucky Number 13 LOL

Things are going pretty good, I’m pleased with my progress thus far. Over the past few months I’ve dropped over 20 pounds of bodyfat while actually gaining some lean mass.

Below are some pictures that I took tonight during my posing practice…

The full album is posted on my Facebook page at:
Total Fitness Bodybuilding Facebook Fan Page.

=======================================

If you’d like to learn some advanced training & diet tips for maximum fat loss, then I highly recommend you check out my Extreme Fat Loss DVD program.

This covers in detail the exact Fat Loss Diet and Training Cycle that I’m personally using RIGHT NOW to get ripped for my up coming bodybuilding competition.

One the DVD I break down exactly what you need to do on a daily basis with regards to your diet, supplements, and your workouts to quickly lose that stubborn bodyfat and get a lean, tight, athletic physique.

To get more information just click on the link below:

Click Here For More Info…

Vince Gironda – The Legend & Myth

He was known as the Iron Guru and a lot of today’s effective training methods have developed from the basis of what Vince was teaching his muscle building students over 60 years ago!

In fact, Vince even coached the great Arnold Swarchenegger back when he first came to America in the 1960′s. Vince’s teachings helps mold the physique for the world’s most famous bodybuilder ever!

The knowledge, depth, and complexity of Vince Gironda can be seen in all his works. Vince’s Gym in Studio City California was the first Mecca of bodybuilding. Established back in the 1940’s. There have been more bodybuilding champs and movie stars trained under Vince Gironda’s watchful eye than any other gym in the world.

Vince’s Gym in Studio City, California.

Unfortunately, Vince passed away in 1997 just shy of his 80th birthday. To say he was ahead of his time is an understatement. His love and passion for exercise and nutrition was overwhelming. But thankfully you can still get access to all of his unique and effective bodybuilding tips, tricks, and methods in the book “Vince Gironda – Legend & Myth” which is available at: www.VinceGirondaProgram.com

Click Here for more info…

In fact this is the book that I’m currently reading and I’ve literally been face and eyes into it, I just can’t put it down because I’ve been enjoying it so much!

And this blog post is going to basically be a quick summary of some of the insights that I’ve picked up so far from reading this 334 page piece of bodybuilding history!

First off, I must tell you that this book is NOT just another “workout program”…
Let’s face it, they can get pretty boring… But rather this is like an education to the way bodybuilding was back in Golden Era of bodybuilding… The “Pumping Iron” Days… And how the champs of yesterday trained and ate to build their classic physiques!

The Classic “Old-School” Bodybuilder Physiques!

His secret was in the combination of proper exercises, strict diet, and the strict adherence to exercise form. He used to say that the more you know about training, the less complicated the equipment you need. And the more you know about nutrition, the faster your results will be.

Now while Vince had some very unique methods with training and nutrition, he knew there were exceptions to everything and said that:

“Rules are made to be challenged, questioned, changed or completely broken.
There is no absolute right way, or wrong way, to workout.”

He expressed what he felt and showed things his way, but he was also open to alternatives for anything that didn’t work well for a particular individual.

Vince was the first guy to advocate that your bodybuilding success is 80% nutrition.
Now whether or not you actually agree with the number, you can’t argue with the fact that what you eat, when you eat it, and what supplements you take and when you take them is much more important than most bodybuilders could possibly imagine.

Vince had some very unorthodox eating strategies that he followed and taught to his students;

Do NOT combine carbohydrates with protein in the same meal:
Proper protein digestion requires a higher level of an acidic base in the stomach. Where as proper starchy carbohydrate digestion requires an alkaline medium. If you consume both together you’ll only get partial digestion and the residue will result in severe discomfort, gas, bloating, heartburn, and hyperacidity… Not to mention the dreaded bodybuilder farts LOL…
This is covered in much more detail on Page 54 of the Vince Gironda Program.

Vince was often asked about gaining weight and he would reply with a question of his own:

“Do you want increased body weight, or is it an increase in muscle size you are after?”

Of course the response would usually be “size”.

Vince claimed that muscle size is desirable, but not simply adding body weight, which will only smooth out your definition and increase the size of your waist and hips while causing a loss of symmetry.

The Steak and Eggs Diet:
Vince believed this was the best way to build quality muscle mass while stripping away excess fat from the body. He reported personally achieving his all time best shape of his life by following this diet… The specifics of his exact diet plan are outlined on Page 16 of the book.

Now of course in some cases guys actually did need to “Gain Weight” to fill out their frames. Especially guys with a naturally lean and slim ectomorph body type. In these situations Vince would often recommend the…

The European Weight Gaining Trick:
Vince claimed this special mix was a proven and tested way to gain weight and he stated that he had students of his who gained as much as 40 pounds by having this simple “in between meal” drink… Details on Page 58.

And speaking of different body types. Vince had a unique, but very realistic view on the subject of genetics and muscle building. He used to say that:

“Champions are born, NOT made.”

Now I realize that comment is going to ruffle some feathers, but if you really look at it from a big picture you’ll see that it’s actually very true.

Most people who take up bodybuilding could no more be a Mr. Olympia than they could be a professional basketball player, which requires another type of genetic extreme altogether. But does this mean all your training is hopeless???

Not at all, for the truth is: You can probably develop a body that appeals to more people and is more esthetically pleasing than that of most professional bodybuilders of today…

Don’t Do Sit Ups!
Another thing that really stood out was Vince’s stance on abdominal training…
He advocated minimal abdominal work. Vince did NOT do endless sets of ab work like a lot of people do. In his mind excessive ab training thickened the waist and actually slowed your gains. He believed in training the abs just like any other muscle group and to get a ripped 6 pack you focused on your diet and doing faster more intense training sessions.

Some other unique training theories that Vince Gironda had…

To increase a muscle’s size you must increase the intensity of work done within a given period of time. This means minimum rest between sets and pushing yourself hard during your workouts. A prime example of this principle can be seen when you compare sprinters and marathon runners. Even though the marathon runner is doing a greater volume of work, the sprinter is doing more work per unit of time thus builds more muscle.

Training To Failure VS. 60% – 80%…
Vince recommended training with weights that are in the range of 60% to 80% of your maximum for sets of 8 reps. He advocated shortening up the rest periods between sets before increasing the weights to get more concentrated work volume done per unit of time. In his opinion speeding up your workout is your best form of progressive resistance.

Vince Hated Doing Squats…
Another thing that really got my attention was that Vince absolutely hated doing regular back squats the way most bodybuilders and powerlifters do them. He believed that they over developed the hips and glutes and ruined your symmetry. And I can see his point of view on this. However, he was a huge fan of doing unique front squat variations and “sissy squats” to develop well balanced and proportional legs…

This is pretty deep stuff isn’t it?
And it’s just the tip of the ice burg… The book “Vince Gironda – Legend & Myth”
is jam packed with 334 pages of absolutely inspirational and fascinating info for any bodybuilding fan.

It’s one of those books that you can just get lost in…
Once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down, it’s that good!

And right now you can pick up a copy of this for yourself for a huge 50% discount over at:

www.VinceGirondaProgram.com

Click Here To Get Your Copy Now…

Since that time I have had the opportunity to train, coach, and get real world feedback from hundreds of people in person, and literally tens of thousands of people online via my websites.

Bottom line…
I’ve been around this sport long enough to know what works and what’s a complete crock of Bull-Sh!t.

For over a decade now my main mission in life has been to tell the truth about bodybuilding & fitness and to help my online followers, people like YOU, get in their best shape ever!

And I’m here to tell you that the NUMBER #1 thing that is going to make the biggest difference in your overall bodybuilding & fitness success is your Nutrition Program.

Now obviously you need to workout consistently, that’s a given. You can’t be like the wannabe’s out there who keep making up excuses about how they are “Too Busy” to workout, and that once they have more time they are “Going To Get Back At It…”

This whole working out “On & Off Again” (like so many people do) is a complete waste of time. It’s literally taking 1 step forward and then 1 step back. You can do that from daylight til dark and at the end of the day what did you accomplish… Sweet F_All… You are still at square one with nothing to show for your efforts.

But once you are past that initial novice phase and working out is now a part of your daily lifestyle. The single biggest factor that’s going to make or break your success and separate the men from the boys is the fuel you put inside your body.

You see there are countless people out there who hit the gym regularly and train hard. But they spend most of their time stuck in a rut going nowhere in terms of building a leaner more muscular physique because they fill their body’s with low quality “junk-food”.Not only that, but a lot of guys will piss their gains away by hitting the night clubs on the weekends, getting sh!t faced drunk, and then following it up by eating pizza afterwards. I mean it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that’s a recipe for disaster!

Don’t Piss Your Gains Away Like This Guy…

So if you are really serious at all about gaining lean muscle and getting the body you’ve always desired, then you need to nail down a solid Bodybuilding Nutrition Program.

Now the problem with this is that there is so much conflicting crap out there these days that it can be mind boggling…

If you are confused when it comes to proper bodybuilding nutrition… I can’t blame you!
(high carb, low carb, high fat, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, cheating, & you name it.)

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel…
You see one of My Original Bodybuilding Mentors and 6 time national drug free champion,
Skip La Cour, has just released a complete Bodybuilding Nutrition System
that I want you to check out for yourself at:

www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net <

Skip Who…?Just in case you don’t know who Skip La Cour is, I’ll share a little bit of info about him… He’s one of the most successful Natural Bodybuilder’s of all time. And I’ve been a huge fan of his and have been following along with Skip’s programs since I started bodybuilding 20 years ago! He has won 15 bodybuilding competitions in his career. At the peak of his competitive bodybuilding reign, he was the most recognized drug-free bodybuilder on the planet. Back in the 1990′s it was hard to pick up a muscle magazine and NOT see Skip in there somewhere. And when I first seen his physique I knew then and there that was the type of body I wanted to build… Big, Strong, Lean, & NATURAL!

In fact, over the years I’ve bought up pretty much everyone of Skip’s e-books, I own several of his DVD programs, and I even have a framed autographed photo that Skip sent me a few years ago!

I have to admit that I’ve based a lot of my own training around the stuff that I’ve learned from following his programs. And the thing I like the most about this guy is that he “Walks The Talk”.

There’s NO BS with Skip. Not only does he look the part, but he’s proven that he knows his sh!t by winning at the highest level of Natural Bodybuilding Competition… That says a lot about a person!

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because I have personally studied Skip La Cour’s Bodybuilding Nutrition System and I’ve incorporated it as the foundation to my own eating plan. And I really think you can benefit from this program as well.

www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net <

But here’s the best part…
You see Skip has just revised his complete nutrition system and made it even easier to understand and follow. So if you pick up a copy of this program right now you’ll be getting the latest in Real World Nutrition Advice that will help you pack on pounds of ripped rock solid muscle while stripping away that soft ugly belly fat.

Here’s everything you’re going to get:

• Skip’s Bodybuilding Nutrition Book
  – 103 pages of simple and to the point eating strategies to help you reach your goals. 
• Skip’s Eight Week Mass Food Journal
  – Printable pages to track your food intake and meal planning.
• The Secrets To Getting Lean & Shredded Audio MP3
• Done For You Meal Plans & Food Exchange Lists
• The Top 10 Secrets of Best Bodybuilders Book
• The Disarming of the Alpha Male Book
• Skip’s Exclusive Guide To Supplements
• and more…
• Again, you can get all the details and download your copy at the link below:

  www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net <

  

You see it was about this time last year that I revealed my “Best Kept Secret”
for quickly packing on lean rock hard muscle mass without getting fat in the process.

I shared this “Special Program” with my good friend Vince Del Monte
and he went on to gain a whopping 7.4 pounds of pure muscle mass,
while actually losing 1 pound of bodyfat, in just 21-days!

And I want to share this exact same program with YOU Right Here!

Download Your FREE Muscle Building e-Books Below:

Download The Death Of Bulking

Download The Anabolic Amplifier Effect

In these 2 e-Books, you’ll discover why you don’t need to
buy into the nonsense bulk up diets that only pack on pounds
of fat, instead of quality muscle. You’ll also learn a secret
technique that competitive bodybuilders have been hiding for
decades to getting bigger and leaner year in and year out…

Not only that, but you’ll also get the EXACT Meal Plan that
Vince used to gain 7.4 lbs of muscle in just 21-days, these
e-Books could easily retail for $39.95, but right now I’m
GIVING them away to you! (no catch or credit card needed).

Just download your FREE Muscle Building e-Books from the links above.

Don’t even think about starting any muscle-building
workout or nutrition plan until you read this info!
It’ll change the way you build muscle… Forever!

Enjoy the free info!

Have you ever felt like it was a chore to…
- Go to the gym
- Do your cardio
- Stick to a proper muscle building meal plan
- Take your supplements
- And all that stuff…

I think if we are honest with ourselves, every single one of us has felt this way at some point or another.

(I know I have felt this from time to time.)

Now there are all kinds of tips and tricks that you can use to help spark your training motivation. But the #1 tip that I can share with you is to simply get around folks who are more advanced than you are.

When you hang around guys who are bigger, stronger, and more ripped than you are it will help motivate and encourage you to up your game and take your own training to the next level.

And one very simple way that you can do this is by attending local bodybuilding and powerlifting competitions in your area. Competition brings out the best in people. So if you want to see who the movers and shakers are in your neck of the woods, just go watch and support your local athletes.

This simple tip is the #1 thing that helped propel me to early muscle building success. I started watching local competitions when I was 15 years old, and I started competing in local competitions when I was 17 years old.

When you hang around and associate with people who are successful, you can’t help but have some of that success rub off on you as well.

And today I’m going to practice what I preach and go check out our Provincial Powerlifting Championships. I want to go and support the local lifters and also get a shot of training motivation at the same time!

After watching a local bodybuilding or powerlifting competition you can’t help but get fired up to hit the gym and strive to set some new personal records of your own.

Another great way to keep yourself motivated is by regularly watching videos and DVD’s of guys who are on top of their game. This is one thing that I did right from the get go and I still do it.

I’ve literally got boxes of old VHS tapes and DVD’s from trainers, bodybuilders, and powerlifters and they are awesome sources of education and motivation.

In fact my good friend Vince Del Monte has recently released a brand new DVD series outlining EXACTLY how he went about getting ripped to the bone shredded for his most recent fitness model competition.

And not only that, but he even won his Pro Status as a Fitness Model at that very competition!

So if you are looking for some cutting edge real world advice and motivation from a pro athlete I suggest you check out Vince’s new DVD series“Stage Shredded Status”.

I’ve already ordered a copy for myself because I’m always looking for any extra edge that I can get to help with my own training, and I’d suggest you do the same.

Just click on the link below for more info…

Stage Shredded Status DVD Series

I’m writing this blog post while sitting in Toronto airport and waiting for my connecting flight back home to Newfoundland. I just spent the last few days hanging out at the 2011 Arnold Classic Bodybuilding & Fitness Expo with the 21-Day Fast Mass Building Transformation Challenge winners. As you may recall, back in January we held a “before and after” muscle building transformation contest and the grand prize was an all expenses paid trip and VIP tickets to the Arnold Classic Sports Festival Weekend.

It was an incredible weekend and all the guys who attended the event with us had an absolutely awesome time. This is by far the biggest sporting event in the world with Athletes from across the globe competing. If you’ve never been to the Arnold Classic before it’s defiantly a “Must DO” thing. I know all of our transformation winners who went with us were stoked about experiencing this event for themselves first hand.

I’ve posted up over 100 pictures from the event on my FaceBook Page at: http://www.facebook.com/total.fitness.bodybuilding that you can check out for yourself. I’ve also got a cool little video clip of our Transformation Winners posted below…

We treated our 21-Day Fast Mass Building Transformation Winners to a first class weekend…

–>> We went to the VIP meet and greet with the pros on Thursday night and finished up with a few drinks at the hotel bar.

–>> On Friday we went to the Expo for the day and later that afternoon we treated our guests to BBQ Buffalo dinner, then went to watch the Ms. International Bodybuilding, Figure, Fitness and Bikini finals.

–>> Saturday we went to the Expo again. Then hit up the best steak house in town for the most mouth watering steak and lobster dinner, then watched the Arnold Classic Bodybuilding & Strongman finals. And we finished off the night at the Arnold after party with the pros at one of the hottest night clubs in town and we all had “one too many drinks” LOL.

–>> Sunday we took in the Arnold VIP training and nutrition seminar with Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. Then headed over to snatch some last minute deals at the Expo, and we finished off the day with a delicious Italian pasta dinner.

Needless to say it was an action packed weekend!

Click Here to see the full photo album.

Click Here to see the full photo album.

Top 3 Muscle Building Mistakes Bodybuilders Make…

By Lee Hayward & Vince Del Monte

Your muscles grow on calories, correct? Of course. We all know you’re not going to pack on serious muscle size without an ideal consumption of muscle-building foods. In fact, without a certain amount of muscle-growing and nutrient dense foods you are at risk for losing the current muscle mass you already have.

This is probably why many newbie bodybuilders fall for the logic behind the “see food diet” that encourages you to eat anything within an arms reach if your goal is to grow big muscles.

I wish it was that simple!

Eating more food than your body requires will certainly make you a bigger person but it does not promise you’ll be a more muscular person! Too often we see young guys with great muscle-building potential ruin their physiques by eating excessive food quantities, even junk food, in the quest for stimulating faster muscle gains. Unfortunately, if you’re a drug-free trainee your body has a limited capacity for growth. Each person can only produce so much muscle tissue based on his or her’s protein intake, genetics, testosterone levels, testosterone to cortisol ratio, insulin sensitivity, muscle fiber breakdown and many other factors. Bottom line: you can’t force your muscles into growth by simply overloading your muscles with more and more calories. Giving your body more than the ideal number of calories only results in your body to gain more body fat, not muscle.

Bulking Up Then Cutting Down: Yes or No?

Let’s first admit that both cases are extreme approaches even though each method is the polar opposite. When you’re bulking your primary goal is to pack on size and mass without too much concern for extra fat gain.

This is a period of time you eat everything within arms reach and some even employ force feeding yourself. You eliminate your cardio and any activity that might stall your weight gain. Your success is dictated by how much the scale goes up, with minimal concern for your appearance.

The rationale is that you’ll be able to diet off the fat later. Your next goal is a cutting phase where the objective is to strip as much fat as possible. This is accomplished by increasing cardio, restricting your calories and introducing more physical activity to accelerate the fat loss process.

Problem #1:
You can’t force your muscles to grow. Muscle growth occurs in spurts.

Bodybuilders will routinely go from heavy “Off-Season” mass building programs, to ultra strict “Pre-Contest” fat loss programs, as well as taking some down time where they settle into more generic maintenance style cruising programs.

You see building muscle happens in spurts. It’s kind of similar to the seasons in nature; you have the planting season of the spring, the growing season of the summer, the harvesting season in the fall, and then some down time over the winter.

Muscle building works along the same lines, it is NOT a non-stop process that just goes on and on forever without interruption. You have to work WITH your body, not against it. If you are stubborn and try to force your body to grow non-stop it will fight back with all the negative training symptoms of plateaus, over training, burnout, and injuries. You may have already experienced some of these things first hand for yourself, or at least know of people who have.

However the 21 Day Fast Mass Building training cycle avoids many of these pitfalls by providing variety and unique muscle stimulation. It also takes advantage of the body’s natural anabolic growth and recovery cycles and uses them to maximize muscle growth.

Problem #2: Simply eating more food won’t always lead to more muscle growth. Instead it’ll add more weight but in the form of body fat. You might be thinking… “So what? I’m going to cut the fat later and it’s only on my body for a few months…” Here’s a brief summary of the health problems you can’t escape from bulking that results in excessive fat:

1. Insulin-resistance.

First things first…
Low insulin resistance is good. Insulin resistance is bad. Low insulin sensitivity is bad. High insulin sensitivity is good.

Those two terms used to confuse the heck out of me! Better insulin sensitivity is also known as nutrient partioning effect which simply refers to forcing the nutrients you consume get shuttled into your muscle cells and not into your fat cells.

Your entire nutrition program and training must be designed around shuttling ingested calories away from fat stores, and direct them into muscle. Makes sense, right?

Let me break it down a tad further:

When you’re in caloric excess, calories can either go into muscle or fat. When dieting, calories can either be pulled out of fat or they can be pulled out of muscle. Someone with good partitioning and a high metabolic rate is easily able to pull and utilize energy from fat, and direct energy into muscle.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: the key to a clean and healthy bulk is nutrient partitioning, and the lower your bodyfat the better your body becomes at nutrient partioning (see how this all ties together?)

Ever wonder why physique competitors continue to get leaner and more muscular each year while the majority of gym goers pretty much look the same? It’s because every time you compete you lower your percentage body fat and that makes your body better at nutrient partitioning.

Physique competitors become more effective at storing ingested nutrients in the muscle (as muscle tissue or glycogen) or in the liver (as glycogen) and less effective at storing nutrients as bodyfat.

Here’s a picture of Vince (Far right) from his first fitness show in 2005. Lean and mean – He was 171 pounds and 5% in this picture:

Here is Vince is in 2008 – 3 years later- at around 196 pounds and 6% fat at the same show – FAME World Championships in Toronto. Staying lean helped Vince gain muscle size from show to show.

Having Excess BodyFat Will Decrease Muscle Gains

We now have research to support that it is unquestionably clear that higher fat levels can decrease muscle gain.

Want to see the evidence?

Forbe’s Theory: In 1980′s, Forbe’s showed that there is a logarithmic relation between fat gain and lean body mass gain. He showed that the extent of LBM gain or loss depend on the initial body fat in humans and other species.

Basically, lower your bodyfat, better your muscle gains when you overeat. As you put on more fat, your muscle gains tend to decrease. Lean people show 30-70% of LBM gain and obese people show 30-40% of LBM gain with overeating.

Anecdotal Evidence: There has always been some anecdotal evidence that natural folks tend to gain the most muscle at 10-15% body fat. Beyond 15%, you tend to gain more fat and less muscle.

How and why in the world does this happen?

Insulin Resistance: The decrease in muscle mass with increasing fat can largely be attributed to the insulin resistance in the muscle with increasing fat accumulation. The recent animal study was the first to show that increase fat levels can directly blunt muscle protein synthesis via the insulin pathway. Mice fed a high fat diet and loaded (akin to weight training) for 30 weeks. The mice in high fat group put on 31% more weight than the low fat group. The results showed a significant decrease in the muscle mass and the activation of key members of the muscle growth pathway in the high fat group. (It’s an animal study so take it with a grain of salt).

Next we have…

2. Fat cell hyperplasia.

Another problem with bulking up is fat cell hyperplasia. Here’s what we learned from muscle-building expert, Christian Thibaudeau:

“You can add size or volume to a structure either by making the existing components bigger (hypertrophy) or by increasing the number of components (hyperplasia). This holds true for fat cells.”

Fat cells (adipocytes) are like little bags. The more fat you put in the bags, the bigger they get. However, the bags can only hold so much fat. But lucky for us (or not) our body is a fantastic storage machine built for survival. As a result, it can also increase fat storage by adding more fat cells. The more fat cells you have, the easier it is for your body to store fat. This is where the problem comes in. When overeating for a significant period of time, your body increases its number of fat cells. While you can make the existing fat cells “smaller” by emptying their fat content (fat loss), it’s impossible to remove fat cells without surgery. So your body can add fat cells, but it can’t remove them…

This is a big problem: the more fat cells you have, the easier it is for your body to store fat. So by adding new fat cells to your body you’re actually making it better at gaining body fat as well as worse at losing it! By following an all-out bulking approach, you can stimulate adipocyte hyperplasia, which will make it harder to lose fat and easier to gain it over time.

3: Bulking up can ramp down the power of your thyroid hormone production.

If you know anything about fat loss you know this is not good.

We learned this one from Charles Poliquin too and he was quoted as saying:

“Thyroid production is essential for fat loss. The fatter your abdominal wall becomes, the less conversion there will be of T4 to T3, the metabolically active form of thyroid.”

Here’s what I’ve personally discovered: You can get away with a traditional bulk up/cut down cycle, maybe a few times in your life.

As you train longer and become more experienced, eventually you’ll hit a point that overshooting your goal ripped look before cutting becomes more and more challenging as you get closer to your natural genetic potential.

Let’s say your first bulk was from 150 to 200 and then you cut down. If it was your very first transformation then I’m guessing the majority of that 50 pounds was lean muscle and you only had 10 or so pounds of fat to cut? No problem. Most of your gains are muscle so your thyroid hormone should be charged to the max. The end result is a lean 190 pounds. This situation is very similar to how Vince Del Monte’s first physique transformation went.

Let’s say now you want to go from a lean 190 pounds up to a lean 220 pounds. In order to do this you’ll probably have to bulk to 240 or 250 and then diet back down to end up at a lean 220. It’s going to take longer to cut 20 or 30 pounds of fat instead of cut 10 pounds of fat.

Can you see a problem?

More time cutting results in less time bulking and less time bulking means less overall muscle mass.

Another hidden problem with cutting cycles is that the longer you cut the greater the chances of losing muscle due to the caloric deficit. This is definitely not what you want.

Problem #3:
Bulking can become overwhelming and not practical (for some).

Bulking for four to six months at a time can be an intimidating and daunting goal. Often times, guys can’t commit to the grocery bill, meal prep time, cooking time and constant meal feeding. They begin seeing some decent muscle gains but soon hit a plateau and find the only scale weight that continues to increase is fat.

There is a mental benefit to breaking down your large goals into smaller chunks that can be more appealing and realistic for most people to commit to. With the 21 Day Fast Mass Building System, instead of a 12 week bulking / cutting phase you only have to focus on a 2 week overload phase and a 1 week primer phase with our new method.

Mentally and physically it’s easier to follow a short high energy 21 day program rather than a monotonous 12 week long program. Plus you’ll make faster gains with shorter programs when you’re compliant to the training and diet.

SUMMARY POINTS:

• Don’t get fat. If you’re a competitive bodybuilder than your bodyfat should never go over 10% fat all year round. If you never plan on stepping on stage than your bodyfat should never go over 15% all year round, even during bulking cycles. Anyone can maintain 10% – 15% bodyfat. These are not high standards by any means and I like these numbers because you’re always within a few weeks from being in super lean shape.

• Your body develops muscle in spurts and trying to “force feed” your body into growth will only work for a certain period of time and result in poor health, bad habits, excessive fat and ruin your physique.

• Staying lean will helps you grow muscle better through nutrient partitioning. Packing on fat only makes it harder to lose it later on. Remember, lean people are more efficient at storing their digested food in the muscle (as muscle tissue or glycogen) or in the liver (glycogen), and less efficient at storing them as body fat. In plain english, lean people can eat more food with less chance of getting fat.

• The fatter you get, the more fat cells you accumulate in your body. This makes losing fat harder in the future, and that does not even factor in the less insulin sensitive you become. This is why lean people have an easier time staying lean and why fatter people seem to be up against a losing battle.

• Your muscles do grow on calories but this isn’t rationale to eat junk-food and don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that pizza, chicken wings and donuts will equal the same muscle growth as brown rice, chicken, and fish. It’s true, many times lifters don’t eat enough to promote maximum muscle gains, but allowing your self to get fat is not the plan you should follow. If you’re not growing then most likely you’re not eating enough but never take the easy way out and resort to low-quality junk food.

Questions? Comments?

Leave them below and Vince and I will hook you up with answers.

all the best,
Vince & Lee

The Anabolic Amplifier Effect: What it is & How it works…

By Lee Hayward & Vince Del Monte

I’ve got a question for you…

What’s The Most Anabolic Muscle Building Substance You Can Get Your Hands On?

…Is It A Black Market Steroid ?
Nope.

…Is It The Latest Bodybuilding Supplement Stack ?
Negative.

…Is It Some Exotic Herb From The Amazon Jungle ?
Heck No!

The most anabolic substance known to man is “food”.

I’m dead serious about this. All the training, drugs, and supplements in the world won’t build an ounce of muscle mass without proper nutrition and adequate food intake. In fact when you get right down to it, the food you eat is the only real “Anabolic Component” of your entire muscle-building regimen.

Going to the gym and working out is NOT anabolic. The workout itself is actually catabolic and breaks down muscle tissue. Now granted it’s the stress of working out that triggers the adaptation response within the muscles so that they get the signal to become bigger and stronger. But it’s the food you eat that actually goes towards building muscle tissue.

So the question is how do we maximize the muscle building power of food in order to get big and ripped? Well the key is to understand exactly how your body reacts hormonally to changes in your food intake.

Yo-Yo Dieting… Chances are you have probably heard the words “Yo-Yo Dieting” brought up in conversation among dieters and weight loss experts before. Basically Yo-Yo Dieting, also known as weight cycling, is a term that was coined by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., at Yale University, in reference to the cyclical up-down motion of a yo-yo. In this process, the dieter is initially successful in the pursuit of weight loss but is unsuccessful in maintaining the weight loss long-term and begins to gain the weight back. The dieter then seeks to lose the regained weight, and the cycle begins again.

Ok, so to translate that into English it basically means that a fat person goes on a diet and they lose some weight. But after a while they get fed up with being on a low calorie diet and feeling hungry all the time. So they ditch the diet, pig out, and gain the weight back again.

Now most mainstream diet and weight loss gurus talk about Yo-Yo Dieting as a “bad” thing that should be avoided. But when you actually take a deeper look into the topic, you’ll see that it’s not as bad as the weight loss gurus have made it out to be.

You’ll hear all kinds of myths and misconceptions about Yo-Yo Dieting… People say stuff like… “it will ruin your metabolism”, “make you get fatter”, “make it harder to lose weight again in the future” and the list goes on and on.

But when you do your homework you’ll see that the research doesn’t back up these myths. In fact studies have shown that repeatedly cycling your caloric intake actually increases your food efficiency and doesn’t “ruin your metabolism”.

And while it’s true that most people will re-gain weight when they come off a diet. What is NOT taken into consideration is the actual body composition of that re-gained weight. There have been several studies that show a lot of the weight that’s re-gained after a low calorie diet is actually lean muscle mass and NOT just excess bodyfat.

Yo-Yo Dieting For Muscle Growth!

Competitive bodybuilders will regularly go through phases of “Yo-Yo Dieting” for the purpose of gaining lean muscle mass. They will follow an ultra strict diet before a competition in effort to lose weight and get ripped to the bone shredded. Then right after the competition is over they will purposely change their diets and gain back the weight they lost, along with several pounds of additional new muscle mass. The end result is they get bigger and more muscular with every single competition they do!

A prime example of this happens right after a bodybuilding contest when bodybuilders experience their post contest “Rebound”.  It’s during this short window of opportunity bodybuilders will literally make the most insane rapid muscle gains ever! If you’re not familiar with how the Post Contest Rebound works, then let me explain it for you… Bodybuilders will go on a very strict fat loss diet for at least 12 weeks prior to a bodybuilding contest. This is so they can strip away all their excess bodyfat and get as ripped to the bone shredded as possible. Their goal is to step on stage with NO Excess Bodyfat What So Ever! This is necessary in order to bring out all their rock hard muscle definition. However, once the contest is over the celebration begins. Can you imagine how good it must be for all those “starving bodybuilders” who have deprived themselves of their favourite foods for weeks on end to all of a sudden be allowed to eat them again?! Let’s just say that the typical foods most bodybuilders eat after a show are NOT the most “healthy”…

Pizza, burgers, fries, ice cream, cake, cookies, and chocolate bars are just some of the many things that will get devoured in ridiculous amounts… If they actually added up all the calories consumed it would be scary!

Now in most “normal people”, eating this much food would just be stored as ugly unwanted bodyfat. But when your body is depleted (as in the case of a pre-contest bodybuilder) this Over abundance of calories triggers the body to unleash HUGE amounts of Natural Anabolic Hormones that shuttle all this food towards building solid Lean Muscle Mass!

Note:
I’m am NOT suggesting that you purposely go out and eat “junk food” in effort to gain size. I’m just telling you what the majority of competitive bodybuilders will do when they “pig out” after months of strict dieting.

It’s actually quite common for bodybuilders to gain 20+ pounds of muscular bodyweight during the first week after a show!

Now obviously a lot of that rapid weight gain will be water and muscle glycogen being stored within the muscle cells. But about 5-10 pounds of it will be actual solid lean muscle mass.

Can you imagine the incredible muscle building results that you could make by going through this kind of rebound cycle again and again?

Considering the fact that the average gym member is lucky to even gain 5 pounds of muscle per year. You can now see why competitive bodybuilders are among the BIGGEST & Most Muscular guys in the gym, especially since they are literally packing on 5-10 pounds of permanent muscle mass with every pre-contest diet & post-contest rebound!

When following a strict bodybuilding contest diet you’ll lose a lot of bodyfat, as well as some lean muscle mass in the process. But once you start the post contest rebound the majority of the weight gained is lean muscle mass with only small increases in bodyfat.

All Good Things Must Come To An End… (Or Maybe Not ?)

As impressive as these results are for both competitive bodybuilders the key thing to realize is that these fast muscle gains are only temporary. Fast muscle gains come in spurts, it’s NOT a non-stop process.

When competitive bodybuilders are “pigging out” after a bodybuilding contest. They generally make incredible muscle gains for about 2 weeks before things start to slow down and plateau. After that if they continue eating excessive amounts of calories beyond the 2 week mark those extra calories will get stored as bodyfat, and NOT as lean muscle mass.

This is the biggest draw back to traditional Bodybuilding “Bulking” Programs. Guys will often go on a prolonged high calorie eating plan for 12 weeks at a time. Now granted they will make some fast muscle gains initially when starting the program, but they quickly get to the point where the gains in bodyfat are greater than the gains in lean muscle mass.

So do you want to know the “secret” strategy to avoiding these problems?

It’s simple… Implement Shorter and More Frequent Training & Nutrition Cycles!

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back…

Now if you’ve done any reading on the topic of fat loss, than I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of cycling your calories. I’ve talked about it here with regards to “Yo-Yo Dieting”. But the common strategy that most weight loss diet experts recommend these days is to temporarily increase calories to prevent the metabolism from slowing down and hitting a fat loss plateau.

What researchers have found is that whenever you start a low calorie diet you can make rapid fat loss progress for the first few weeks. But after that the body adjusts to the low calorie diet, the fat loss results comes to a screeching halt.

So to overcome this problem people have incorporated different kinds of calorie cycling variations. Having a “cheat day” or “high calorie re-feed days” planned into the fat loss program helps to prevent your metabolism from adapting to the low calorie diet, and it actually speeds up your overall fat loss results.

Not only that, but having a planned “Cheat Day” gives you a mental break as well. Temporarily going off your diet satisfies your food cravings and makes the process of following the fat loss program much more tolerable over the long term.

Now there have been tons of research articles published about this calorie cycling concept from fat loss point of view. After all we live in an overweight society where the average person wants to lose weight. But this same principle also applies in reverse to muscle building as well. It just hasn’t been documented as much because building muscle isn’t nearly as popular as losing fat.

So like I’ve already mentioned whenever you drastically increase your calorie intake over base levels your body will release higher amounts of anabolic hormones to shuttle those extra calories towards lean muscle growth.

This elevated anabolic response continues for about 2 weeks. After that, the body adapts to the higher calorie intake and your muscle growth progress hits a plateau. This is when you need to temporarily back off on your food intake and “Re-Prime” your body for another rapid growth “Rebound” phase.

Cycling your calories like this not only helps you make better lean muscle gains, but it also gives your digestive system a break from consuming excessive amounts of food all the time. A lot of people don’t realize this, but following a high calorie mass building eating plan is down right hard!

While it sounds fun initially to be able to eat a lot, it quickly becomes a chore. Having to regularly consume over and above your maintenance calorie intake day after day is very difficult. If you have ever followed a typical bulk up eating plan for any length of time you know exactly what I’m talking about here.

Just like when you are following a fat loss diet and you look forward to a cheat day when you can “pig out”. During a mass building phase you actually look forward to low calorie days when you don’t have to eat so much.

The brand new 21-Day Fast Mass Building System that will be available on January 11^th is based on those exact nutritional cycling principles. The program is divided into 2 phases that complement one another, and keeps your body on the “Anabolic Edge” for maximum muscle growth.

The first phase of the program is a 1-week low calorie “Primer Phase”. This will give your digestive system a break, increase your insulin sensitivity, and elevate hormones and enzymes so that your body becomes very efficient at storing the food you eat as lean muscle.

Then once your body is primed for growth, we’ll switch gears and move into the 2-week high calorie “Overload Phase”. This will open up the floodgates for natural anabolic hormone production (IGF-1, Testosterone, and Insulin). It’s during this phase where you’ll literally be able to feel your body growing bigger and stronger by the day!

In addition to cycling your nutritional program, we’re also going to cycle your training routine. You see a HUGE mistake that bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts often make is not matching their workouts so that they complement their diets.

Obviously, when you are following the low calorie “Primer Phase” you are not going to have the same level of strength, muscle fullness, and power as you will when following the high calorie “Overload Phase”.

So to go along with the “Primer Phase” we’re going to follow a fast paced conditioning circuit routine that utilizes higher reps and more bodyweight exercises. This lighter training phase will give your joints and tendons a break, and prep your body for the heavy mass building power-training phase that’s to follow.

With the 21-Day Fast Mass Building System the scales are tipped in favour of lean muscle growth, because you’ll spend the majority of your time in a caloric surplus. While at the same time following a heavy mass building power-building workout program, thus allowing you to grow bigger and stronger!

But you will not experience the metabolic pitfalls that are associated with traditional long term bulking and heavy mass building workouts, because we’ll be strategically “Re-Priming” your body with a brief period of lower calories and lighter training every 3^rd week.

This short low calorie “Primer Phase” will also allow you to trim off any excess bodyfat that you may gain during the high calorie “Overload Phase”. This is a nice little side benefit of the program that ensures you make LEAN muscle gains over the long term.

With this system you’ll work WITH your body’s natural growth processes and NOT against them. You’ll literally take 2 steps forwards and 1 step back with every 21-Day Fast Mass Building Cycle. And you can follow this program for as many cycles as you like until you reach your desired level of muscular development!

Note:
Make sure to come back here tomorrow, because we’re going to share 3 of the biggest mistakes that most guys make when they go on a mass building program that actually sabotages their gains and makes it harder to gain lean muscle… So stay tuned for that!

Let’s make 2011 your best year ever for living large both inside and outside the gym!

all the best,
Lee & Vince

FREE MP3 Audio Interview!

By Lee Hayward & Vince Del Monte

Fitness authority John Romaniello interviews Lee Hayward and Vince Del Monte on the secret technique behind their new 21 Day Fast Mass Building Program. This is the same technique that competitive bodybuilders have been using for decades to pack on lean muscular mass year after year.

This killer strategy (The Anabolic Amplifier Effect) can pack on as much as 12 pounds of pure muscle in only 21 days. Even though this may sound “to good to be true”, it is not. It’s based on rock-solid science, 50+ years of real-world experience and Vince and Lee’s recent results. All revealed in this FREE MP3 audio! Listen in and then leave your questions and comments below…

Right Click Here To Download The MP3 Audio File.

Note:
If you haven’t already done so, make sure to download your 2 free reports
“The Death Of Bulking” & “The Anabolic Amplifier Effect”.
You can get both of these by clicking on the link below:

Click Here To Download Your 2 FREE Reports…

If you are a bodybuilding fan, I’d highly recommend attending the Mr. Olympia competition and expo at least once. It’s a totally different experience to check out the show and feel the energy live. You just can’t capture that stuff on video or in pictures.

Every time I watch a bodybuilding show, be it a pro show or even a local amateur show, I’m always super motivated to kick my own training up to the next level.

If you’ve ever watched a bodybuilding show live than I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. And if you’ve never attended one before, than you should make a point to go and watch a local bodybuilding competition in your area.

One thing that’s very motivating about local bodybuilding shows is that you’ll see competitors from all levels and age brackets. Novices, experienced competitors, masters, etc. Chances are you’ll see someone who you can relate with and who inspires you with their dedication and progress.

Seeing regular everyday folks taking action and making great progress is always a huge motivator. It makes the whole idea of building a ripped muscular physique seem more real & achievable. And if you think it’s real and achievable, than you are more likely to take action and make things happen for yourself.

That’s basically how I got started on my own personal “muscle building journey”. I started watching local bodybuilding competitions and learned from the guys who were building ripped muscular physiques in the “Real World”.

If you’d like to get more information about competing in bodybuilding and actually see how these guys go about building lean, ripped, muscular stage ready bodies. Than I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of my book and DVD program “Your First Bodybuilding Competition”.

This is a complete program that takes you step by step through the entire competition process, starting 6 months out and leading right up to the day of the show.

Again you can check it out for yourself at: “Your First Bodybuilding Competition”.

Well I’m off to sunny Las Vegas to check out the Mr. Olympia competition.

My early prediction is that if Jay Cutler hits his peak just right, he’ll walk away as the champ. But that’s all speculation, you never know what’s going to happen until show day.

The cool thing about the Olympia competition now is that it’s a level playing field and any number of guys could take the title. Unlike in years past where the same guy would dominate the show year after year.

Who do you think will win the Mr. Olympia?

Please feel free to post your early bird Olympia predictions in the comment box below…

This is a no-brainer approach to fat loss nutrition that’s so simple and easy that I just had to share it with you.

And here it is…

Ta Da!

If you just reduced your intake of starchy carbohydrate foods (i.e. bread, pasta, rice, cereal, etc.) like this food pyramid diagram shows. And then based your eating around lean protein, veggies, fruits, and healthy fats you would pretty much have the perfect fat loss diet!

In fact, that’s the foundation of what I did to get ripped to the bone shredded for my most recent bodybuilding competition.

Way too often people make fat loss nutrition more difficult than it needs to be. The simplest approach that you “actually follow” will work 10 times better than a super duper complex diet plan that leaves you frustrated and confused.

In my Extreme Fat Loss DVD I cover in detail exactly how to go about following a low carb eating plan, meal by meal, so that you can easily see how to plan out your day to maximize fat loss. And I also cover how to incorporate strategic “High Carb” re-feed meals throughout the week as well, so that you can actually gain lean muscle mass while losing bodyfat at the same time.

So if you are ready to step up your game and finally get a lean, ripped, muscular physique… 
I highly recommend you pick up your own copy of the Extreme Fat Loss DVD.

The video doesn’t really do justice for showing detail and conditioning.
But if you’d like to see more, I have professional quality pictures posted
up on my FaceBook Page – Click Here To See The Photos -

I won the best poser award at the show with this routine.
When they were presenting my trophy they dropped it and it broke,
so they got me a new one and engraved my name on it

================================

If you’d like to compete in a bodybuilding competition someday, I’ve put together
a complete beginners guide showing you exactly what’s involved. It’s called:

Your First Bodybuilding Competition Training & Nutrition Guide

Your First Bodybuilding Competition is a book and DVD package that breaks down the
whole competition preparation process into an easy to follow step-by-step plan. It
will clear up a lot of myths and misconceptions with regards to competitive
bodybuilding and help you confidently step on the contest stage in Your Best Shape Ever!

Click Here For More Info…

Imagine going out with your friends this weekend and indulging in a big ole pig out feast of pizza, a couple of beers… and oh what the heck, let’s toss in a few donuts in the mix as well for good measure

Then imagine waking up the next morning in BETTER Shape then you were the day before… WTF?

Sounds like some Bull S%$t diet scam right?

Well, that’s exactly what I did the night before our post bodybuilding contest photo shoot and check out the ripped conditioning in the pics below…

Not too shabby eh?

Now granted the pizza and beer didn’t get me in that kind of shape “duh!”… But by including strategic “cheat & re-feed meals” throughout your fat loss diet will help speed up your results, fill out your muscle glycogen, make you look bigger, fuller, more vascular, and more ripped.

This stuff is all very common stuff among experienced bodybuilders and fitness competitors, but for the average folks who are new to dieting for fat loss the whole idea of eating “junk” and getting leaner sounds crazy… But when done properly – It Works!

However, the key is to do it *properly*…
If you screw up you’ll just end up looking like a bloated fat pig (not good).
But if you do it right the results will blow your mind!

Lucky for you my good friend Joel Marion has broken down the entire process into a
Fool Proof No Fail Step-By-Step System with his brand new…

“25-Day RAPID Xtreme FatLoss Program!”

This is a highly strategic system that incorporates cheat days, fast days, depletion days, and strategically timed exercise in the most ideal combination to yield the fastest possible results.

The “Official Release” of the Xtreme Fat Loss Program is not until next week, but Joel is running a $30 OFF pre-sale on the entire system from now until midnight this Thursday May 6th.

So if you are looking to kick-start your summer off right with a rapid 25 day fat loss program this is the program you’ve been looking for.

Click Here to get your very own copy of the “25-Day RAPID Xtreme Fat Loss Program!”

And as an extra bonus of my own I’m going to add in a FREE copy of my own “Extreme Fat Loss DVD Program” to everyone who orders Joel’s program via the link below:

http://www.XtremeFatLossProgram.com

On this DVD I outline exactly what I did with regards to the foods I ate, the workouts I did, and the supplements I took to get in my most ripped to the bone shape ever.

I’ll take you on a personal tour of my very own kitchen, give you the behind the scenes sneak peek inside my supplement cupboard, and basically spill the beans on everything you need to know to blast away stubborn bodyfat and get that ripped six pack just in time for summer.

This will give you the best of both worlds…
Kick start your fatloss program with 25 days of Rapid Results!

And then continue making progress with my Bodybuilding pre-contest style fat loss program for as long as you need to get absolutely ripped to the bone shredded!

The only catch is that you need to order right now through the link below and then e-mail your clickbank receipt and shipping address to get your FREE DVD sent to you via rush delivery…

http://www.XtremeFatLossProgram.com

Bottom line, I wouldn’t recommend this program to you if I didn’t believe in it 110% – So if you’re up for a rapid results 25 day fat loss challenge, this is the best choice for you. And right now, you can get it before *anyone* else while saving $30 off the regular price and getting an extra FREE DVD bonus program to boot… That’s a killer deal!

Click Here to get started on your very own Fat Loss transformation right now!

http://www.XtremeFatLossProgram.com

I just wanted to share some killer “Pumped Up” workout gym pics with you.

I just got these pics today and posted them up on my Total Fitness Bodybuilding Facebook Fan Page