The Mind Over Body Matter Letter

I hear a lot of people asking about “toning” and how much weight they should use…

(start excerpt)

The key to burning the most calories through weight training AND triggering the highest “afterburn” potential revolves around the amount of WORK (the scientific definition) you do. In the bodybuilding realm, they like to call it volume.

So you want proof, huh? No problem:

The First Law of Thermodynamics

This law states that the change in the total energy of a system is equal to the change in the amount of work done by the system minus the amount of heat generated by the system:

dE=dW-dQ

dE = change in total energy of a system
dW = change in work done by the system
dQ = change in heat generated by the system

(Now, for you physics or engineering types, I realize that this equation is generally a partial differential equation. We are simplifying the analysis greatly… )

Now, this is a little calculus and I am making it extremely basic.

Okay, if we say that the change in the energy in a person is going to be zero (we aren’t eating any food at the moment and heat lost due to radiation, convection, and conduction is zero).

By making these assumptions, we can say:

0=dW-dQ or dW~dQ (~ means “is proportional to”)

So, we can say that the change in work done (lifting) is proportional to the change in heat generation. Since heat generation is directly proportional to the amount of calories burned, we can say that the change in the amount of calories burned is proportional to the change in the amount of work done by a person.

Of course, if we say that we aren’t doing any work or burning any calories due to working out at the very instant we start to exercise, we can say that the amount of calories burned at the end of our weight training is proportional to the total amount of work done during the workout.

If you remember from 9th grade science:

Work = Force x Distance (US units)

So, our key is to maximize the amount of work done during weight training. If you use a weight of 20 lbs and can do a maximum of 20 repetitions (let’s say the weight moves 2 ft up and down during a repetition). In this example our work done equals 800 lb-ft of work done (20lbs X 40ft)

What if we go heavier, say 40 lbs and we can do that 12 reps (40lbs x 24ft = 960lb-ft)?

What if we go even heavier, say 65 lbs and we can do 8 reps (65lbs X 16ft = 1040lb-ft)?

Even heavier, 80 lbs, 4 reps (80lbs X 8ft = 640 lb-ft).

In this example, we can see that the 65 lb weight actually allows us to perform the most work; and, for calorie burning purposes, should be the weight we work with (after warming up correctly, of course).

A note on “toning”

It’s probably the biggest crock ever. Most people only try to “tone” when they exercise for fear of their muscles growing uncontrollably. It’s not easy getting big, trust me. If it was, every person you see in a health club would be large. Gaining a significant amount of muscle mass takes time, commitment, and a SURPLUS of calories (did I mention we are going to be working with a caloric deficit?).

(end excerpt)

I hope this helps you understand more on how to effectively select a weight for maximum fat loss…

For more great info, check out the Fat Loss Black Book

Here’s another “extreme” video for your viewing pleasure from “Rocky IV”

Oh man…

18.2% body fat

I didn’t know I’d fallen off the wagon THAT far.

But no big deal: I’ve just got work to do.

Okay, yesterday… a little chest and tri’s… although next week we’ll start to get a little more aggressive and switch to upper body and lower body days.

Make sure to check it out.

Warmup: Two sets of pushups immediately followed by a non weighted bar only set of incline bench.

Set One: Incline bench, 10 reps at 135 lbs
Set Two: Incline bench, 12 reps at 135 lbs (I generally need a little more warmup for chest for some reason)
Set Three: Incline bench, 8 reps at 185
Set Four: Incline bench, 4 reps at 205

Compound Set one: Iso wide Hammer Strength with 2 plates on each side followed immediately by 10 bodyweight dips
Compound Set two: Same as above with 3 plates on each side
Compound Set Three: Same as above with 3.5 plates (0.5=25lb plate)

Two sets of pushups (20)

10 25 yd “sprints” at 3/4 speed with a walk back for rest

Cool down for 7 minutes on the bike (mainly just to catch up on some reading… lol)

I had a little extra time to mess around so I also shot basketball for about 20 minutes. While doing this, I was doing a few full court sprints with the ball and converting lay ups.

Diet was a little off yesterday.

Shake in the morning and shake after the workout…

Chicken and veggies for lunch and the same thing for dinner.

I gotta hit the grocery store.

More tomorrow.

No big deal.

I got the workout in… which what what I was really looking to do today but the diet aspect sucked pretty bad.

I’ve got to hit the grocery store… period.

So the workout was pretty short - a little over 30 minutes but I walked out sweaty and tired.

Here’s how it went:

Set one: Warm up set of overhand bent over rows with just the bar.

Compound set one: 8 reps at 135 bent over row followed with 8 reps lat pull at 140.

Compound set two: 8 reps at 155 bent over row followed with 8 reps lat pull at 160

Compound set three: 6 reps at 185 bent over row followed with 6 reps lat pull at 180

Two sets of 8 reps of pull ups (or you can just go to burn out either way)

Compound set four: machine row 8 reps at 120 followed with 8 reps standing curls (bar only)

Compound set five: machine row 8 reps at 140 followed with 6 reps standing bar curls (95)

Two sets of 10 leg raises.

10 minutes of interval training on the bike: 1 minute warm up (low level), 30 second “sprint” at a mid level, 30 second cool period at a low level, 15 sec “sprint” at a high level, 45 sec recovery at low level, repeat.

Went home and drank a Cyto gainer shake to get some calories in me.

For this workout, low level means low resistance and low effort. High level means high resistance and almost max effort.

Also, I probably could have went a little heavier in the workout but I’ve been so sporatic lately that I didn’t want to over tax my joints and connective tissue… yet

I haven’t done the measurements yet… although I’ll try to get a bodyfat one tonight.

More tomorrow, until then, grab the book so you’ll know why I’m doing what I’m doing and then check out this video and see if you can do this…

You know, I’ve got to thinking recently… I know… scary thought right?

I haven’t seen any product or service do a real, true to life documentary on fat loss progress. I mean, you’ve got testimonials, but what about legitimate proof?

Proof with pics and videos as we walk THROUGH the journey.

So that’s what I’m gonna do.

It’s no surprise that I’ve slacked off during the last couple of months… and my physique has suffered a bit.

No matter… because I was planning on doing something like this anyway.

Here’s the deal.

I’m the guinea pig.

60 DAYS of torture…

… and I’m going to document it every step of the way.

No more articles per say… just “journal” entries that show you EXACTLY what I’m going every single day.

What I eat.

How I exercise.

Do you think that would be helpful for you?

I thought so.

I’m gonna use every single tip and trick in the Fat Loss Black Book PLUS a NEW technique that I’m gonna try out once per week.

I’ll explain it when we get to it.

Tomorrow: Measurements and weight. Today’s exercise, today’s food intake.

Let me leave you with this cool video with more INSANE ab workouts:

Hey guys,

Quick post today…

On Monday, the Fat Loss Black Book will be raised to 37 bucks… that’s double what it is now…

Of course, more material is being added… but you’ll get that anyway with the update.

Don’t get left out.