A New Year, A New Body

Happy New Year!

You asked for it, you got it.  Many of you all have asked for:

• Help with motivation
• Help with energy
• Help with finding the time
• More samples of my programs
• More exercise guidance
• Help with dropping belly fat, arm fat, back fat, thigh fat, butt fat…

Here it is. With the good folks at Primer Magazine, I have laid out a complete 12-week, 3-phase program that addresses ALL of the above points and spells out the nutrition AND exercise program to get you MAXIMUM results in MINIMUM time.

For the ladies, yes, Primer is a men’s magazine, don’t worry about this.  This is a fat loss program NOT a muscle growth program.  While almost everyone will gain some muscle on this program, the women just won’t gain that much and what you do gain will be sexy and feminine.  It takes a lot of a different kind of work to turn into a she-man, and this isn’t that program.  (Not to mention that there really isn’t that much demand for the she-man look.)

There are only 2 differences between men and women when it comes to body-composition training (improving ratio of fat to muscle):

#1.  Women usually need fewer carbs.  So just eat more fruits and veggies and use a Whey recovery drink intead of a carb + protein one (i.e. Surge)

#2.  Sometimes women need extra cardio.  Occaisionally women need to add 10, 15 or 20min of hard steady-state work AFTER their intervals.

However, I don’t see this very often.  I have plenty of ladies in their late 50’s who look great without any steady-state work.

So, 1st follow the plan as written and track results.

2nd If results are not as desired, check that you are eating on-point and lifting heavy enough weight.

3rd, if #2 doesn’t fix (it almost always does), then tack on 15min.

Here is part one of the road map to a brand new you.

Josef Brandenburg is also the author of The Body You Want, and a Washington, DC based nominee for 2009 Personal Trainer of the Year from Personal Fitness Professional Magazine. Click here to find out more.

2 Things You Need In Your Kitchen

Before I get into the meat of the post I want to thank you for tuning in to me in 2008.  I am honored by your attention and time.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in the New Year.  In week #1 look for the start of a 4 part series on creating a brand new body in the time that you actually have.  I’m doing it with the good folks at Primer Magazine over the next 13 weeks:

•    Part I A (week 1):  creating the mind-set to finally succeed this New Years – 99% of Americans fail to keep their resolutions past even 2 weeks, so don’t miss this part.
•    Part I B (week 1):  the simple nutrition plan that will massively skyrocket your energy AND help you drop 10lbs of body-fat in 4 weeks without having to count calories
•    Part II (week 2):  the 4 week Metabolic Blast workout plan – the other half of the equation that will have you down up to 10lbs of body-fat in just 28 days and less than 3.5hrs/week of exercise.  (I’ve had people do a lot better than 10lbs in 28 days.)
•    Part III (week 5):  phase II of the Metabolic Blast and trouble-shooting based on readers questions.  If you want your body to make progress, then you must systematically (NOT haphazardly) progress your workouts over time.  Generally every 4 weeks works very well.
•    Part IV (week 9):  phase III of the Metabolic Blast.  Its time to finish off your New Year’s transformation and “unveil.”  If you’ve stuck with it so far you will be looking at a new person in the mirror.

#1.  Sugar-Free Syrup

.25 cup regular maple and/or pancake syrup has at least 200 kcal in it, ALL of which are from sugar.  A quarter cup is only 4 tbsp and is extremely easy to eat without realizing it.  Most people end up eating between .25 and .5 a cup with breakfast.

4tbsp of maple syrup is the equivalent of a 20oz bottle of regular coke.  That is a HUGE blood sugar spike and crash (energy destroyer), and a HUGE spike of insulin (super fat storage, unless you just finished lifting weights).

Sugar-free syrup has just 20kcal per .25 cup, all of which come from slow-digesting sugar alcohols.

So, if you are making my super yummy, high protein pancakes use sugar-free syrup.  By the way “super yummy, high protein pancake” is NOT an oxymoron, and they’re made out of actual food, not a hodge-podge of highly processed Franken-food.  Oh, and they are very easy to make too.

#2.  Low-Carb Ketchup

Ketchup is pretty much just red high fructose corn syrup (HFSC).  This came as a big blow to me as I am a ketchup lover.  75% of the calories in regular ketchup come from HFSC, the most fattening substance known to man.  A few tablespoons here and a few tablespoons there you have a can of coke on your eggs, bun-less burger or whatever you like ketchup on.

Luckily there is such a thing as low carb ketchup where they take out the HFSC or sugar and replace it with Splenda, and the remaining calories come from actual tomatoes.  It has 75% fewer calories AND no added sugar and still tastes good.

While neither one of these changes alone will give you a completely different physique, both will help you to make more progress towards a leaner and more energetic you.

Josef Brandenburg is also the author of The Body You Want, and a Washington, DC based nominee for 2009 Personal Trainer of the Year from Personal Fitness Professional Magazine. Click here to find out more.