I started a new workout program a couple weeks ago called “Huge in a Hurry,” by Chad Waterbury. People love the title. Catchy, yet a little ridiculous. It’s going pretty well, and I already have seen some muscle gains and some fat loss.
Right now I’m pursuing the ever elusive six-pack. You know, abs that Brad Pitt would have in Fight Club or Troy
A more recent example would be Taylor Lautner from Twilight: New Moon. If you haven’t seen that movie yet, it’s a really, really inspiring film. Half the movie is legitimately well done, and the other half is hilariously bad. I enjoyed it the whole way through, half the time laughing at awful dialogue, and the other half enjoying great storytelling and special effects.
There’s this scene when Jacob (Taylor Lautner) goes through a bit of a transformation, and is standing in the rain with a new haircut and a phenomenal body. At the scene, every single person in the theater gasped out loud. Girls were going “Ooohhhh!” and guys were going “Holy shit…” in a state of shock. I’ll put some pictures below to give you a sense of what I’m talking about, but you’ll really have to see the movie to get the full effect.
I saw the movie with a friend, and we were both suddenly inspired to hit the gym a lot more. As the story goes, a year ago, Taylor Lautner was 16 years old and had a bit part as Jacob in the first Twilight movie. He was told in no uncertain terms that he was too skinny for the sequel. At 5’10 and 140 pounds, he would have made a piss poor Jacob, who in the sequel is extremely muscular.
Faced with the very real prospect of being replaced, Taylor committed to putting on 35 pounds of muscle to be prepared for the role. Part of his workout and diet regimen is posted at this article.
He ended up accomplishing more than gaining a good body. He gained an enormous amount of muscle, while at the same time lowering his body fat where every feature feature would stand out. What’s more, it wasn’t overly bulky. It fit exactly what kind of body a normal guy would want for himself who wasn’t striving to be a professional body builder. I’d say it’s the best film body within the last ten years, easily.
If you’re interested, here are the nutritional guidelines from the article for the suggested amount of calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
Total Calories = desired weight x (workout hours per week + 9.5)
Protein = 1 gram for each pound of your desired weight
Fat = 0.5 grams for each pound of your desired weight
Carbs = daily calories – [( protein grams x 4) + ( fat grams x 9)] / 4
Some of these get pretty complicated, but mine were:
Calories: 2430
Protein: 180 grams
Fat: 90 grams
Carbs: 225 grams
The road to a six-pack is actually very straightforward, but requires continuous discipline. The key word is “continuous.” All you really have to do is build more muscle mass through strength training, while following a solid diet. In most cases, the diet would be six small meals a day (or three meals and three snacks), high in protein, and cutting out as much refined carbs as possible. You’re allowed a cheat meal once a week, and as long as you don’t over-eat, the path is laid out for you. If you want the specifics of a workout/diet plan, I suggest either the book “The Abs Diet,” by David Zinczenko (there’s a version for women, as well) or “Huge in a Hurry” by Chad Waterbury for men that are a little more advanced. The Ab Diet worked wonders for me some years ago, so I have nothing against it.
I’m pretty good with getting to the gym enough, as well as getting enough protein in and having whole grain bread and rice instead of their white counterparts. Where I fall short is resisting the allure of pure junk food. The occasional soda, snickers bar, kettle cooked potato chips, and Swiss Cake Rolls.
The cake rolls are my real poison. There are few experiences that compare with a pack of Swiss Cake Rolls refrigerated overnight, along with an ice cold glass of milk. The Swiss Cake Rolls are unhealthy in likely every way imaginable. They’re high calorie, high in saturated fat, and processed beyond belief with completely unnatural ingredients. Perhaps that’s why they’re so cheap ($1.59 for a box of six double-packs). To make matters worse, if you eat one pack, you really want to follow it with another one, refrigerated or not. I guess I’m speaking from my own experience here, but we all have our temptations in life.
Especially after a stressful day, comfort food can make us feel better. Ironically, the more we want to have the comfort food, the more likely the food is going to be turned into fat. I’m not sure how scientifically tested this idea is, but it’s my theory that if you eat while stressed, the food is processed differently than if you eat while you’re already happy and not worried about anything. Possibly, in our caveman days, our stresses came from not having enough shelter or food for the winter so eating sweets while stressed would turn into a protective fat barrier for scarce times.
Now, I’m not fat at the moment. You can’t really see my abs more than a dent if I flex, and there is some real significant ground I have to cover before the abs are completely visible.
I compare the Jacob-body initiative to a Journey of 1000 Steps. Each time I eat and exercise properly, I move a step ahead. Each time I skip a workout, eat junk food, or overeat in general, I take a step backward. The more steps I take backward, the longer it takes for me to reach my goal If I take enough steps backward I could be back where I started or even in worse shape than I began.
In any long term endeavor, you need continuous progress and momentum. If you can get away with the start-stop strategy, you’d probably know by now. If you can’t get away with it, like most people, then you may just have to accept you’ll need to discipline yourself to get where you need to go.
In Karate Kid III, Daniel LaRusso’s tournament trainer Terry Silver talks of the Three D’s: Desire, Devotion, and Discipline. While I wouldn’t apply this philosophy to everything we do (plus Terry turned out to be a real jack-ass), I think in endeavors that require a continuous practice of right action, the Three D’s really hold up.
Other projects that benefit from the Journey of 1000 Steps mentality are starting a home business, or anything else where you don’t have anyone supervising you. When you are accountable to no one, no meetings to attend, no check-ins with a partner or supervisor, etc., then that’s when you seriously need to take control of your habits.
An important part of the Journey of 1000 Steps is not beating yourself up if you fall off the wagon. If you cave in and have some pizza with friends, you don’t give up and indulge in a five scoop sundae in tears, nor do you skip your workouts for the rest of the week. You don’t stop updating your blog for a month because you missed it for a week (I’ve been guilty of this). You let yourself off the hook, acknowledge where you are, and step back into right action.
Right Action is a part of the Eightfold Path that the Buddha talks about. As self help speaker Owen Cook puts it, Right Action is a muscle that you build over time. If any step that benefits your life is Right Action, and any step in the other direction is Wrong Action, see what percentage of your choices take you to where you want to be. Maybe you, like many people, take Right Action 5% of the time. As you grow in your discipline, in a year you’ll be taking Right Action 15% of the time. I’m betting even someone like Tony Robbins only takes Right Action 70% of the time. Even the smallest percentage will make a big difference in your life.
The Journey of 1000 Steps begins from where you are right now, so if you can do it, take the first step before the January 1, the day most goals are began and usually fail. I would be anything that goals started on December 15 get a lot more ground covered.
