Is it best to lose fat or gain muscle when trying to transform your body?  I guess that depends on your ultimate goal. If you are trying to win a 12 week physique transformation contest then I would recommend cutting fat as hard as you can.  If you cut and do great lifting workouts during the 12 week contest you will find that you get some amazing results.  By losing fat you enable the muscle underneath to show.  But is everyone trying to win a physique transformation contest?

I believe that if you are looking for long term success, you should focus on gaining muscle.  Everything you do with your plan should be with the intent of gaining more and more muscle.  When you do this you turn your body into a fat burning machine.  Muscle burns fat by increasing your resting metabolic rate.  The more muscle you have the better your body becomes at burning fat.  It is just a given.

With muscle gain as the focus, other aspects of your plan need to fall into their proper place.  Your nutritional plan will involve alot of protein along with a rotating amount of carbohydrates.  While many people see carbs as a very evil thing, it is true that they are a necessary part of building mass.  On my low carb days I tend to pile in all my carbs towards the early part of the day.  I do this because I workout in the morning, so my body has the necessary fuel to complete that workout.  It makes it easier to lift heavy when you have enough fuel in your body.

Predictions for 2009 – Fitness Industry

    Everyone will discover that they aren’t gaining anything from the 4 minute workouts that are all the rage right now and they will go back to volume training
    Full body workouts will become popular as people try to crack the muscle building barrier
    Steady state cardio will steadily decline in popularity until hardly anyone does it
    Fitness guru programs will fall from popularity as people realize they can do it themselves cheaper
    Social Networking will have a major influence over the fitness industry as people use Facebook and Twitter to connect in ways never before imagined
    Fitness boot camps will become even more popular
    Membership sites will increase the cost to be a member
    Wii Fit will become even more popular as overweight people everywhere will avoid the gym and workout in the privacy of their own home
    Technology will play an even bigger role in people’s quest to get fit
    Tom Venuto’s new book, The Body Fat Solution, will be a huge success

Predictions for 2009 – The Muscle Building Fat Burning Machine

    There will be a major movement towards High Intensity Training as people begin to realize that results come faster when using this technique
    The blog will see over 1,000 distinct visitors daily (twice what it currently receives)
    The book Get Back To Lifting will be released and the content will surprise everyone
    I will achieve less than 10% body fat 
    I will win a body building competition in my age group
    The Cardio Coach, Sean O’Malley, will get me into the best shape of my life
    The Muscle Building Fat Burning Machine will cause ripples to occur in the fitness industry as many fake gurus are exposed for what they truly are
    The emphasis will be placed more and more on teaching and mentoring others and less on what I am up to
    Carb cycling will be taken to a new level as the Anabolic Diet is refined even further using the Experiment of One
    The principles of the Experiment of One will once again be vindicated through the results achieved by using it

There you have it.  10 predictions for the fitness industry and 10 predictions for the Muscle Building Fat Burning Machine.  Now let’s see what happens in 2009.  Have a Happy New Year!

Matty’s Workout Log:

 

Carlos is a truly amazing man.  He is undefeated in 36 tested bodybuilding competitions.  That is a truly amazing record that I guarantee will never be broken.  As a result, Carlos is the real deal.  The principles he teaches are the very principles that allowed him to win the 1985 Professional Mr. World title.  Yes, Carlos is a World Champion.  I find him to be quite a humble man.  As I speak to him on the phone, there are times he has a point to make and I get entranced just listening to his wisdom.  I try to repeat back to him what he’s just said to confirm that I’ve picked it up correctly.

Carlos has taught me a multitude of principles, but none has worked better for me than the principle of the Experiment of One.  As a result of learning this principle, I’ve experimented with both nutritional and training ideas and have found the things that work well for my body.  This is such a valuable lesson!  I am now able to create my own workouts and can modify my nutritional plan at will because I completely understand how my body is going to respond to the changes I make.  It is no longer guess work, it is more of a science now.

As I write my eBook (and yes, I’ve changed up the approach on the eBook just like I have on my blog), I’ve realized just how much influence Carlos has had on my life.  He has helped me more than he knows and for that I am extremely thankful.  I am ready to take on the world as a result of his mentoring.

Matty’s Workout Log:

“Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
I cant tell if I’m a king pin or a pauper”

“Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Today was a day of giving things away.  Well, at least two things were given away—1 willingly and 1 not so willingly.  Allow me to explain.

As you all know by now, my son, Matty, is a goalie on a pretty bad hockey team.  The team has not won a game yet this season, even against must weaker opponents.  His team is currently involved in a Christmas tournament.  At the same time, I’ve been holding tickets to the Chargers v. Broncos game for close to 6 months.  The game happened to be on the same day as one of his games.  Because we had no chance at the championship game, I spoke to the coach and got his approval for Matty to attend the football game with me.  This was done yesterday. 

Throughout the night I kept waking up thinking “What if they win and we are not there?”  It was really bothering me.  When I woke up I spoke to Matty about it. He admitted to having the same thought.  After some time he told me he was calling the coach and he was going to the game.  At that point I knew I had to make a big decision.  I was going to give away tickets to see my favorite team (the Broncos) so that I could watch my son play hockey.  We gave the tickets to a neighbor and it literally made his day.  He was so excited.

Fast forward several hours and I am at the hockey rink.  The game starts and obviously our team is the better team.  We manage to score a goal in the second period.  Later, our other goalie (who was playing because the coach promised him he’d play the day before when he thought Matty would be in San Diego) and one of our defensemen botched a play on the puck and an easy goal was scored.  The game remained tied at 1-1 for a very long time.  With 18 seconds left, one of our forwards made a mistake, passed the puck back into our zone to one of our defensemen.  The defenseman looked up and tried to clear our zone.  He hit a very weak pass and it was intercepted by the other team who came in 1 on 0 on the goalie and scored to take a 2-1 lead with just 18 seconds left!  Yes, we had managed to give away what would have been the first game we DIDN’T lose.  Needless to say, it was a huge disappointment!

The Muscle Building Fat Burning Machine Video Podcast – 12/28/2008 – Weight training