Does Soreness Matter?

The answer to this common question is no.

Muscle soreness or lack there of is not an indicator of the success of your workout. Remember the goal of each weight training workout is to overload the muscle with a heavy weight (Max-OT style) and therefore initiate the best muscle growth response.

You have probably found there are certain muscle groups that always get a little sore and some muscle groups that never do. I think this is normal based on my own experience and the feedback from many others. I wouldn't put much stock into it one way or the other.

As you go forward with your workouts I would suggest not placing emphasis on your degree of muscle soreness and certainly don't use it to gauge the success of your workout.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/

Body Transformation Tip!

To truly transform your body you need to have a strong muscle building component to your plan. This is true for men and women.

Remember that every ounce of muscle you build you will increase your resting metabolic rate and thus greatly aid the fat loss process.

Weight training is the catalyst for the muscle building component of your plan and there is no better weight training approach for encouraging muscle building than Max-OT.

Pictured to above is Stuart MacDonald and he underwent an amazing body transformation in a 6 month period of time and one of the keys to that transformation was Max-OT training. (You can see Stu's amazing transformation unfold in front of your eyes in the popular documentary "I Want to Look Like That Guy.")

Don't have the mindset that you have to lose weight before you focus on building muscle. It is best for your plan to have an emphasis on muscle building right out of the gate!

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/

New eBook Unveils the Secrets for Getting Totally Shredded!

I'm excited to announce the much anticipated release of my "Lost Logs" eBook is finally here.

I believe this is the ultimate drug free bodybuilding nutrition resource. It’s a very rare look at the actual “play book” I used to become one the greatest drug free bodybuilders in history and now this eBook puts it all at your fingertips to help you construct your own winning game plan!

My "Lost Logs" contains explicit detail documenting every single nutrient I ingested as well as the timing of each meal. It also lists every supplement, exactly how much and specifically when I took them for the 18 weeks leading up to both contests.

In addition to all that detail you’ll see complete nutrient ratio breakdowns for every stage of the plan and as an interesting point of reference there is documentation of my bodyweight changes over the 18 weeks.

I often get asked how to adjust nutrition in the final days before a contest and what to do on the actual day of the show. No need to question any more as these logs illustrate exactly what I did with my plan right up to the very moment I stepped onstage.

My "Lost Logs" is also packed with some bonus information you won't find anywhere else:

*Contest Color Schedule - Any of you who have competed know how important onstage color is. It can make or break your physique. It took me years to perfect my contest color and now with this schedule you can see exactly what I did to achieve the perfect winning tan.

*Lost Cardio Logs - See record of all my cardio sessions from January 2002 through my Team Universe Overall Victory in August of 2003. Frequency, mode, distance, calories burned and intensity are all there in minute detail. This is the exact Max-OT cardio schedule I executed to get absolutely shredded.

*Body Weight Chart - View my body weight changes from August 2002 through August 2003.

Don't miss this opportunity to get the championship "play book" in your hands. Act now and get your copy of my "Lost Logs" at a special introductory price.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/

Fat Loss vs. Weight Loss

I am against the biggest loser mentality because I think it encourages the wrong approach to fat loss. A person’s goal shouldn't be to lose as much weight as possible in the shortest amount of time. It should be to lose fat and build muscle on a continual basis. Emphasizing muscle gains will yield the greatest long term results. The key phrase there is long term.

There are quicker ways to get more immediate weight loss results than the approach I follow, however, rapid weight loss often equals having a worse body composition (body fat % vs lean muscle %) than what you started with. Let’s examine why.

If your program is simply focused on weight loss you are most likely not doing things very conducive to building muscle or at minimum maintaining muscle and that is where the trouble begins.

Losing muscle is a bad thing for long term results because every ounce of muscle you can gain, you raise your resting metabolic rate. That’s right; with more muscle added to your body you will burn more calories each day right out of the gate. That is why having a strong muscle building component to your program is critical for fat loss.

Following Max-OT style training will set you up to build muscle, lose fat and really transform your body. That means you may not see much movement on the scale initially and that is OK. We are concerned with long term results and over time there will be a downward trend with your weight but it will not happen over night. For this reason I don’t encourage frequent weight checking.

Here’s another cautionary tale for scale addicts. Contrary to popular belief muscle does not weigh more than fat. That is like saying a pound of bricks weighs more that a pound of feathers. A pound is a pound. Muscle is, however, more dense than fat. That means the same volume of muscle will weigh more than the same volume of fat therefore you could be a few pants sizes smaller and yet weigh almost the same as you did when you were carrying more fat. You see how that works? This is a prime example why the scale is not the best way to measure progress.
I believe a better indication of progress is how our clothes fit or if you want to get more exact you can chart inches lost or measure your actual body composition. Another good tool is visual assessments and the use of photos to see the changes made over time.

The moral of this story is concern yourself with fat loss and not simply weight loss because they are two different things. Be patient and execute a smart plan that has an emphasis on building muscle.

Believe. Achieve.

www.jeffwillet.com

What is Max-OT and why is it best for changing body composition?

Max-OT stands for Maximum Overload Training and is based on the physiological principle that overloading a muscle with heavy resistance creates the best stimulus for growth. The Max-OT principles were created by Paul Delia, CEO of AST Sports Science and are the principles I’ve followed exclusively since 1998. Paul was a very valuable mentor and I model a lot of my teaching after things I learned from him.

Max-OT is a low volume, high intensity approach to weight training that will maximize muscle and strength gains. Remember, this is very important to anyone interested in fat loss because every ounce of muscle you can build you are going to raise your resting metabolic rate and make fat loss easier. Plus, if you can build muscle you will achieve a more shapely/toned body when all is said and done.

When I speak about volume I am talking about the total number of sets and reps you are going to perform in any given workout. Most programs advise way too many sets and reps in my opinion, particularly those programs that are supposed to be designed specifically for “toning”.

I often hear people say they don’t want to lift heavy because they don’t want to get too bulky or they will point to one of my contest photos and say "I don’t want to get that big"; they just want to tone up. They make it sound as if the moment they start lifting any weights they’ll add gobs of muscle over night. Before I yell at them, I remind myself it is not their fault they have this fear of lifting heavy. It’s because that is what has been ingrained in their heads. We all hear it all the time….light weight and high reps for muscle tone and heavy weight with low reps for bulk (BTW - I hate the term bulk. To me that is another way of saying fat because adding quality muscle will never make anyone look “bulky”. A so called “bulky” look comes from too much body fat). Every time I hear the talk about light weights for muscle tone I want to scream because that is just not accurate and leads people to mediocre results.

You don’t need to lose any sleep over building too much muscle. Building muscle is very low on the physiological totem pull. You need to do a lot of things right with your weight training and diet to build muscle and not only that, you have to do these things day in and day out for a long, long time. Even then you might not build appreciable amounts of muscle depending on your body type. It is doubly hard for women right out of the gate because they don’t have the hormonal support to build muscle easily on top of everything else.

Take most drug free bodybuilders for example. They work their tails off for years doing everything geared towards building muscle from a diet, training and supplement standpoint just to add a few inches of circumference to their muscles. What makes the average person think they are going to start working out and become the Incredible Hulk over night? It just isn’t going to happen so stop listening to all that nonsense and start grabbing heavier weights.

Lifting heavy weights is not going to make you huge but it is going to set you up to build muscle way more efficiently than high rep training. The reason is because overloading the muscle with a heavy weight will create the best stimulus for the muscle to grow and become stronger. This is not my opinion, this is physiology talking. And let’s remember that is the whole purpose behind lifting weights to begin with is to build muscle and strength. (More muscle = higher resting metabolic rate and a more shapely body when you lose the fat with smart diet and cardiovascular exercise.)

I believe Max-OT is the best way to train to maximize results based on what physiology tells us and also based on my own 20 year real world study with myself as the primary test subject. Plus there are countless success stories of men and women all over the globe who've really changed their bodies by executing this style of training.

If you’ve seen our documentary “I Want to Look Like That Guy” it illustrates this point perfectly. In the documentary, Stuart MacDonald (Pictured Above) was the test subject and he followed Max-OT training for a 6 month period while also following the Max-OT cardio principles as well as a very strict and carefully calculated nutritional plan. In those 6 months his results were astounding and you can watch it happening right in front of your eyes during the film. He went from over 30% body fat to under 6% body fat and lost over 50lbs. All this by continuing to lift heavy weights throughout. If you follow the logic that heavy weights build bulk and light weights get you toned and trim then how do you explain Stuart’s outstanding results?

Keeping the weights heavy with Max-OT style training kept Stuart in a state where he was building and at the very minimum maintaining muscle throughout his strict diet and intense cardiovascular exercise. I guarantee you that if Stuart followed the “normal” guru advice and did a lot of high rep, high volume workouts with long duration cardio he would have never achieved the results he did. He may have been able to lose 50lbs or even more but his physique and body composition would not have been as incredible as there were at the end of the film. Why? Because he continued to have a muscle building emphasis with his weight training by using the Max-OT principles.

I've said it many times before and I will say it again. There are many different training philosophies and you can workout a variety of ways and achieve results. Some programs might work more on your athleticism, some on your agility and some on your flexibility, however, if your primary goal is to change your body composition then I firmly believe Max-OT is the best. To really change your body composition you must have a strong muscle building component to your plan and that is exactly what Max-OT will give you.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/

Fat Loss Tip - Don't Simply Cut Carbs.

Many people are under the misconception they need to cut out carbohydrates when trying to lose fat. The truth is, carbohydrates play a vital role in muscle recovery and if you cut them out of your diet you will hinder your fat loss and muscle building capabilities.

A high carbohydrate diet is not recommended or necessary, however, specific selection and timing of carbohydrates is essential for maximizing your results.

After intense exercise you should consume a high glycemic liquid carbohydrate source to replenish glycogen stores and facilitate greater nutrient uptake. This specific post-workout carbohydrate timing is especially effective when combined with 100% hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate like VP2 whey isolate from AST Sports Science because the high GI carbs will satisfy the body’s energy demands allowing the Whey Protein Isolate to go directly towards muscle support. This is important for those trying to lose fat because the more muscle you can build and maintain while dieting, the higher your resting metabolic rate will be.

You also want to add some high GI carbs to the meals that fall within 3 hours after your workout. This is an important 3 hour window where nutrient uptake capabilities are at their highest.

As I've said before, don't fear carbohydrates rather understand their GI rating and time them accordingly. You should consume most of your carbohydrates and calories within the 3 hour post workout window.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/

Don't Over-complicate the Process

The muscle building process is actually pretty simple. When I say that, I am not talking about the effort required to execute the process, just the basic formula which can be summed up as stimulus and response. Muscle is best stimulated to grow by being placed under heavy mechanical tension (overload) and responds to that stimulus by building bigger stronger muscles through proper recovery.

It’s almost like some people feel a need to make it harder than that. So they over-examine things, dissect the minor details and look for the hidden strategies. In the process of scouring particulars they miss the bigger picture. Like Paul Delia once told me, “They are missing the dollars to pick up the pennies.” That has been a favorite saying of mine ever since.

For instance, some people ask me questions about weight selection. They say they are confused and don’t know exactly when to increase weight or what percent to increase it by. Rather than making it difficult, simply use the 4-6 rep range as your guide. If you can get 6 reps on your own then increase weight by the smallest increment you can. It doesn’t have to be a perfect science as long as you progressively work to use more weights while staying in the 4-6 rep range with good control and execution.

If you over analyze the process you are wasting energy and causing yourself unnecessary confusion. The principles are pretty clear cut and spelled out simply throughout the Max-OT course. And above it all, the underlying key to your success is the consistent hard work you do while executing those basic principles.

You can basically break the muscle building process down to a few major points:

*Train heavy with the Max-OT principles.
*Follow a good nutrition schedule daily.
*Practice smart post workout nutrient/supplement selection and timing.
*Train with Intensity.
*Execute the program consistently.

Don’t over complicate the process rather channel your efforts towards executing the plan to the best of your ability each and every day.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/

Overload is more important than variety.

I don't believe in the idea that you need to confuse your body with different exercises on a regular basis in order to get continual results. As long as the overload is progressively increased over time, your muscles will keep being triggered to respond to the heavier weights they are subjected to. I use myself as a prime example. I've done the same basic exercises for years on end and achieved great results because I continually challenged myself with progressive overload and high intensity.

If you like to change your routines and exercises for mental freshness, that is fine but don't do it under the idea that physiologically you need to "shock" your body. I recommend taking a week off training after every 8-10 weeks and when you start back that is a good time to change things up. Again, this change is more for mental freshness.

My best advice on this subject is stick with basic compound lifts for your exercise selections and work on progressively improving your numbers each workout. When you hit 6 reps with good execution you need to add more weight. Simple as that! If you follow this method you don't need to worry about "shocking" your muscles.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/
http://www.iwanttolooklikethatguy.com/

Attitude is Everything!

When you are striving to achieve a goal your attitude is so important. No matter how motivated you are, you won't always feel like doing everything on your schedule. That's just a part of life. It doesn't mean you want your goal any less it just means you are human. You have to direct your thoughts and control your attitude to stay on track and perform each task, each day to the best of your ability. Only then will you fully maximize your potential.

A great attitude is something you need to work on the same way you need to train your muscles. You need to do this every day. I've always found it helpful to use visualization. I connect to the vision of what I want to achieve and this keeps my attitude positive and my motivation high. I know that every task I successfully complete will take me one step closer to achieving my ultimate goal.

Successful people are able to power through the obstacles and are willing to do the tough tasks even when they don't necessarily feel like it. They are able to see the big picture and understand that hard work done consistently day in and day out will lead to accomplishing their goals.

The next time you don't feel like doing a scheduled task, instead of complaining about it, ask yourself if complaining is going to get you closer to achieving your goal OR is executing the task to the best of your ability a better choice? I think the answer is pretty clear.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/
http://www.iwanttolooklikethatguy.com/

Drug free muscle building nutrition tip of the day.

Don't fear carbohydrates! Carbohydrates are a necessary part of a smart nutrition plan. You just need to have an understanding of the Glycemic Index Rating of carbohydrates and how to time them most effectively.

All carbohydrates are converted into sugar once ingested and the glycemic index (GI) rating basically measures the rate at which this conversion happens. If a carbohydrate has a low GI rating it is converted slowly and if it has a high GI rating it is converted fast. You want both low and high GI carbs at various times of day.

When you first wake up as well as directly pre and post workout you want high GI carbs. This window for high GI carbs also extends about 3 hours after your workout. During this period of time high GI carbs are preferable.

During non training hours you want to stick with low GI rated carbs, specifically green crunchy vegetables. Vegetables are a perfect selection particularly for those interested in getting leaner.

These are the same basic carb timing principles I used with great success over the years and coach all my clients to use as well.

If you are interested in having a specific nutrition plan set up just for you, contact me about my online coaching service.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/
http://www.iwanttolooklikethatguy.com/

Physique Transformation Tip

Muscle and fat are two different tissues. Contrary to what you may have heard you can't turn fat into muscle and conversely if you stop working out, muscle will not turn into fat.

If you are over weight and your main emphasis is fat loss you still need a strong muscle building component to your plan (This goes for women too!). Don't feel you need to lose fat before you focus on building muscle. It is quite the opposite.

Remember, every ounce of muscle you build you will increase your resting metabolic rate and encourage greater fat loss.

Believe. Achieve.

http://www.jeffwillet.com/
http://www.iwanttolooklikethatguy.com/