lean

3 PILLARS FOR A KILLER PHYSIQUE

October 7, 2015 By GURJOT 16 Comments

“Simplicity is the greatest form of complexity.” As the saying goes and it seems to hold weight. The fitness industry (like many industries) loves over complicating, hyping and peddling half-truths etc… yada, yada… you get the picture.

Anyways, that’s a whole other chapter in and of itself.

Outlined in this article are three key points that have certainly benefited me, and I’m certain that, should you choose to adopt them into your training arsenal, (if you haven’t already) they’ll bring significant and dramatic effects to your physique.

The three points listed combine together to produce an outcome I’ve dubbed the “TRIPLE D’S”

Density, Definition & Detail!!

If you structure your training and nutrition in a way that enables you to direct your attention to these areas, I’m certain you’ll relish the result.

Enough chatter. You ready to get down to it?

1) Strength (Relative) : To increase density and carve out detail

Strength takes top priority, because developing strength is the cornerstone in creating a base or laying the foundations for a solid, dense physique. In fact, if you were to focus on honing your strength level and getting incredibly lean, you’d carve out a pretty damn impressive physique.

Now let’s take it a step further and say that relative strength is more impressive and will do way more for your physique than total strength. Think about it logically, if you can bench press 315lbs at a bodyweight 175lbs and 8% body fat compared to some other guy that can press the same weight at 230lbs and 20% body fat, who’s stronger? (I leave you to decide).

Improving your relative strength is simple in nature, but far from easy in practice. Why you ask?

Because you need to progressively increase poundage and get stronger whilst maintaining a lean body. (We’ll talk more about body fat a little later).

Lift and progress to lifting heavier weights or adding reps with the same weight each workout. Make it your aim to improve on a weekly basis either by adding an additional rep or increasing poundage through a technique called micro loading. (For those who don’t know micro loading involves strapping on a pair of fractional plates i.e 0.5lbs-2.5lbs to the ends of the bar to continue incrementally progressing).

This is a highly effective strategy, since it’s not always an option to slap on 5-10lbs to the bar and rep out every workout.

Remember, the key pointer here is, that muscles are adaptive tissues that respond to stress and tension. (Without getting too scientific) They grow and adapt to handle stresses so that your body is ready and prepared to deal with a similar challenge in the foreseeable future. (The challenge in this case, the stimulus from weight training).

Muscle is therefore created in an attempt to make the body more efficient at dealing with the physical stress of lifting weights, thus making it imperative that you increase the stimulus overtime, to avoid stagnation.

On a side note, lifting heavy weights is only one form of progression, there’re other ways to challenge your body, as it’s not always feasible to continue upping the poundage. Eventually there comes a point when you just can’t possibly get any stronger. (To put it in perspective, if the human body was capable of continuing to lift heavier with no upper limit, everybody would be lifting 3,000lbs).

That said however, the majority of people are a way off from maxing their strength potential.

So back to the point, lifting heavy has two major advantages over lighter “pump” workouts. The benefit being an increase in muscle density and (obviously) overall physical strength. This added density gives the muscles a hard, angular look or what I refer to as “marble flesh.”

Personally, I employ a rep range of around 4-8 reps. I use a method known as RPT (reverse pyramid training) meaning my first set is the heaviest. I usually hit the first set for 4 followed by a set of 6 and finally a third set of 8 reps.

2) Low body fat: To boost definition and bring out detail

abs

A lean individual, showcases chiseled, dense musculature. Cuts, separation and definition all become more prominent as adipose is stripped away. The idea is to look like you’re carved out granite. A damn solid sculpture.

Being lean in the 7-10% (the more you tend towards to lower end of the spectrum, the more pronounced the effect) body fat range will make you look more angular and in certain eyes this is more attractive. (If you catch my drift).

Having a low body fat isn’t just an asset when it comes to pure cosmetics either. No, no, no. Being lean will have positive effects on endocrine functioning and hormonal profile. A leaner body has an “easier” time utilising nutrients and directing them towards muscle growth and cell repair than a fatter individual.

Just like anything you can run into issues or too much of a good thing. Eventually the leaner you get the body begins to run certain issues i.e. decline in testosterone declines, mood issues, muscle loss and a dive in sex drive. (None of these are desirable).

These problems usually arise in individuals maintaining sub 5% body fat for extended periods of time. (Which isn’t the vast majority of folk, I might add).

Getting down around 7-10% body fat range will not result in those damned pesky issues and you’ll still look fantastic.

The trick to getting lean and staying there, is to find a suitable way to eat less, while getting in essential nutrients to nourish your body. I personally like intermittent fasting, but you don’t have to fast to get lean.

Find a way of eating that allows to you to:

Eat at a calorie deficit
Fits your schedule/lifestyle

If you can stick to it, that’s worth it’s weight in gold.

Proportion

Pecs too big for the arms? delts dwarfed? Having the right balance and keeping muscle groups proportionate with each other is key in looking good (let’s face it, we all want to look good on some level).

Unless you want to look like Johnny Bravo, (nothing against you) you need proportion to maintain balance and symmetry of your physique.

From a purely aesthetic standpoint it’s a good idea to attempt to bring and model your physique on the classical V shape.

Broad, masculine shoulders, wide, flaring cobra like lats that sit atop a taut, slender waistline housing a diamond cut midsection.

Focus on sculpting your shoulders, upper back and lats to make your waist appear smaller. Bring your legs on par with your upper body. Build your upper chest to give your pecs an armor plated appearance.

If you need a little inspiration, take a look at images of the Roman and Greek sculptures, hell go visit a museum or art gallery and get a firsthand view.

So, in a nutshell

Get Strong
Get Lean
Get Proportionate

From now on make your mantra

“Density, Definition & Detail.”

Hope you enjoyed the article. Feel free to subscribe for more epic content.

WARRIOR NUTRITION: EATING FOR THE WARRIOR PHYSIQUE PART 2

November 21, 2014 By GURJOT Leave a Comment

Warrior Nutrition In the last article we covered training to attain the warrior look. Today’s topic…. Nutrition.

Nutrition nowadays is one of the most highly debated and controversial subjects out there. Some people tend to identify with a particular “diet” or way of eating to the point that it becomes a religion/ideology of its own.

I don’t think extremes are healthy. (Especially in the mental sense). They cause unnecessary tension and are the reason for many pointless arguments.

I’ve tried numerous diets, tinkered with different macro/micronutrient ratios, played with, and cycled calorie intake, all of which finally enabled me to uncover and create the nutrition protocol that has served me well.

Personally, I don’t diet in the conventional sense.

Dieting, or at least most people’s connotation of the word conjures feelings of negativity and misery.

Screw starving yourself to death in an attempt to look great. The truth is you don’t need to be extremely restrictive with your food intake.

Creating a modest 400-500 calorie deficit daily is your best bet when the goal is to lose body fat, as opposed to dropping down to 1000 calories a day.

That said, just because I don’t “diet” in the conventional sense of the word, that doesn’t mean I don’t monitor the food that goes down the hatch. I do. However, I just don’t see what I do as dieting.

While there’s a great deal of variation in regards to meal set-up, frequency, calorie breakdown etc. The basic principle remains fairly consistent.

On the simplest level, if you want to look great, experience amazing energy, vibrancy and health, whole, natural, minimally processed foods should make up the bulk of your nutrition plan.

Eating like a warrior involves eating predominately from the land itself. Eating minimally if not completely unprocessed foods the majority of the time.

That means lean proteins, vegetables and whole fruits should be staples in your diet, with starches like rice and potatoes added in to supply glucose to fuel demanding activities such as intense training.

These are staples in my “diet” and the way I eat 90% of the time. The other 10% I allow myself room to fit in some “junk” foods. Although by sticking to the outline listed above, I pretty much steer clear of any cravings.

I find these foods are typically more filling than the processed garbage that is so prevalent in todays society.

This is the basis of “warrior nutrition.”

Eating in this manner combined with an intermittent fasting set up and the right training protocol will cause your body to lean out and develop warrior proportion and strength.

This is just a basic, general template.

The following are my go to food choices. I don’t buy them all at the same time (particularly the protein sources). I just rotate them when I want to spice things up and add some diversity to it.

It’s pretty simple and basic, but damn does it get the job done and I feel great eating this way.

Proteins

Chicken (breast, thighs and drumsticks)
Lamb (mince and chops)
Eggs (Whole)
Tuna
Salmon
Venison
Turkey
Cottage cheese

Carbohydrates

Rice (white)
Yams
Sweet potato (White as well as red varieties)
White potato (Jersey royals, new potatoes and russet potatoes)
Vegetables (Mainly green beans, broccoli, carrots, spinach and kale)
Fruit (Primarily berries, pears and bananas)

Note: Although I’ve included vegetables under carbs, they only contain trace amounts that are insignificant and not worth the hassle counting.

Fats

Butter
Olive oil
Avocado
Coconut oil
Cashews, walnuts, pecans (small handful)

That’s pretty much the bulk of my diet. I do add certain spices and condiments to add and enhance flavor, but this is the key component.

It looks fairly limited, because it is. I like sticking to foods that enable me to stick to my diet.

Occasionally I’ll fit in treats here and there because I believe in a balanced approach, but I never deviate from the backbone of my nutrition approach.

Now, I do include intermittent fasting as part of my nutrition strategy mainly because it frees up time (I don’t like to cook and clean all day). It also allows me to eat bigger meals as opposed to snaking on small meals throughout the day.

I use a leangains style approach to fasting. I fast for 16hrs a day and have an 8hr-eating window.

Though I’m more relaxed about the window. I don’t worry about going over it. Sometimes life gets in the way and I end up going past the eating window.

The important thing with intermittent fasting is not to get caught up with the eating window itself. You’ll still want to push your breakfast to later in the day, around about lunchtime. (Don’t be to damn rigid though. The whole point of fasting is to break away from nutritional dogma).

The number one priority is hitting your macronutrient and calorie intake. The eating window itself is secondary.

A typical day

1-1:30pm: Meal 1

4:30-5pm: Meal 2

8-9pm: Meal 3

Addressing psychological factors behind dieting

Most people lack the drive and conviction to stick to a nutrition plan. I don’t blame them.

When you’re told you have to give up certain foods for good, it just makes the whole process miserable which is exactly what you don’t want your experience to be like.

The whole purpose of your nutrition plan should be to help you reach your goal in the most enjoyable and rewarding way possible.

1) Stop deriving and associating happiness/pleasure with food.

Stop associating pleasure and happiness with food. Let go of your emotional connection and attachment to food. Food is fuel. It’s nourishment. Nothing more.

Most of the food related issues such as obesity and comfort eating all stem from associating food with pleasure and giving food power over your life.

If getting lean, dropping fat and developing dense muscle is your goal, all you need to do is eat enough to sustain yourself while progressively getting stronger in the gym. That’s really all there is to it.

Happiness and contentment has to come from you. Specifically being content and present. Accept the moment as it is and just roll with it.

2) Become a conscious eater.

When you sit down to eat, focus solely on the food you’re about to consume. Put the phone away, don’t stare at the tv or laptop, or read a book/magazine. Just concentrate on the food in front of you. These things are all distractions and the last thing you want to do is be distracted.

People that pay attention to their food and chew each morsel thoroughly, focusing on the flavor and texture tend to find it easier to not only eat less food overall, but also reach satiety quicker than those who are preoccupied with the aforementioned distractions. (This is purely an observation on my part. I’ve got no scientific studies to back it up. It’s my own anecdotal evidence).

3) Give yourself permission to include foods you like.

A bit of reverse psychology at work here. If you were told you could never have a certain food you liked again, for example chocolate. You probably wouldn’t be able to stick with your eating plan for very long. It’s damn frustrating and infuriating to be denied like that. Sooner or later you’d cave and eat a whole bunch of it.

It’s like telling someone not to press the red button, the individual will no doubt do it anyway to see what happens. The point is, people always want what they can’t have.

The simple way to avoid this predicament is to not put yourself in that position in the first place.

As long as you’re mindful of the quantity you’re consuming and it fits within your overall plan (macro and caloric breakdown) you can still lose body fat while including “bad foods.”

Funnily enough, when you allow yourself the choice to include “treats” into your nutrition plan, you’ll actually find yourself craving those foods less. It’s a weird feeling and something I’ve personally gone through.

Nowadays, sticking to my nutrition protocol isn’t difficult. I don’t deal with cravings or binges and I attribute these three simple, yet powerful pointers to helping me on that front.

Well, that about wraps up this article. There’s still more to cover on the nutrition front. Namely breaking down macronutrient and caloric intake. We’ll cover that in part 3. Subscribe now. You don’t want to miss out.

If you want to learn more, pick up a copy of WARRIOR 101. Everything is clearly detailed and broken down for you. You’re covered on both training and nutrition.

CRAFTING THE WARRIOR PHYSIQUE: PART 1

October 25, 2014 By GURJOT 17 Comments

Rain Ninja Assasin

The warrior build is a lean, defined, proportionate look packed with strength and versatility.

Bruce Lee, Rain (ninja assassin) and Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden character from Fight Club all reflect the warrior build to some degree.

The simplest, most effective means of building this physique is through progressively getting stronger whilst remaining lean and trim.

For many, that means stripping of body fat whilst preserving/building lean muscle tissue, through the combination of diet and heavy, progressive strength training. (It doesn’t get any simpler than that fellas).

Focus on boosting your strength and power to weight ratio. Every single pound on your body should have a reason to be there.

Breaking down the warrior physique

photo-15

The Warrior physique is a lean, dense and proportionate build that prioritises strength and density over “puffy mass.” Every pound on your body has to earn its place, and pay rent in a manner of speaking.

The warrior build prioritises compact, solid, hard muscle, with incredible levels of leanness and definition.

The actual size of the muscles themselves may not be that impressive by bodybuilding standards, but they’ll be hard, cut and dense. The muscles will look like they’re literally carved from marble.

It’s the combination of a very low body fat and heavy strength training that produces this result.

An average amount of muscle mass, with exceptional definition brings about a much more impressive look, than a puffy, swollen, bloated looking physique.

Besides, training for dense muscle will have a lasting effect. Your muscle will look hard virtually all the time. Whereas, simply relying on higher rep, pump and fatigue training will only boost sarcoplasm (fluid) within the muscles, leading to a temporary swelling of the muscles.

This ultimately makes the muscles look bigger, but unfortunately it doesn’t last.

Anyway, moving on. Lets get to the meat and potatoes of this post.

The Essentials: The main movements of the “Warrior Routine”

Weighted Chin-ups/pull-ups
Weighted Dips
Barbell Curls
Incline Bench press
Overhead Press

These are the exercises that will make up the bread and butter of your routine. Give them your undivided attention.

Pour your sweat and guts into them and you’ll carve out an impressively lean, dense and proportionate physique.

Increasing strength on these exercises alone will carry over and yield incredible results in terms of helping build and maintain an impressive physique.

Note: If you already have reasonably large thighs, you can drop or reduce emphasis on moves like squats and deadlifts.

Additional exercises/ contributing lifts

These are movements that complement the main lifts. They round out the routine and help fully develop the physique.

Chest: Incline Dumbbell Press

Deltoids (Shoulders): Lateral Raises and Face Pulls or Bent Over Flyes.

Back: Bent Over Rows

Legs: Squats, Deadlifts and Standing Calf Raises

Biceps: Seated Incline Hammer curls

Abs: Hanging Leg Raises and Planks.

Workout Overview

The overall volume and frequency is low. You’ll perform three workouts a week, each comprised of no more than 5 exercises per session.

Your primary objective is to improve strength on the on the main movements, which incidentally happen to be the one’s with (RPT) next to them.

Why low volume?

As mentioned earlier, higher volume, pump style training is not conductive to long term strength and dense muscle gains. (It’s worth repeating).

Put it this way, if you perform extensive volume and exercises per workout, you’ll end up stalling your strength gains and even regress.

It’s pretty well established that to make continual progress in the muscle gains department you need to get stronger over time.

Doing too many exercises will sap your strength during training and subsequently you’ll find your energy, focus and ability to lift heavy will waiver with the latter exercises. (Also increasing the likelihood of sustaining an injury as fatigue takes it’s toll).

Well that’s enough chatter. I’ve kept you waiting long enough. So hear it is folks….

The Warrior Routine

Note: Perform 2 warm up sets on first exercise of each muscle group. On RPT sets rest 2-3 minutes between sets to allow for optimal strength gains.

Workout A : Chest / Triceps / Deltoids

Incline Bench Press 3 x 5,8,10 (RPT)

Incline DB Press 2 x 6-8

Overhead Press 3 x 5,8,10 (RPT)

Lateral Raises 3 x 5-8

Dips 2 x 5-8

Notes on this workout: I like to emphasize heavy lateral raises. Most people perform them in the 8-12 rep range. I find that going slightly lower, working with 5/6 reps helps build density and caps the delts off nicely. Play around with it and see what works for you.

Workout B : Back / Biceps / Rear Deltoids

Weighted Chins/Pull-ups 3 x 5,8,10 (RPT)

Barbell Rows 3 x 5-8

Barbell Curls 3 x 5,8,10 (RPT)

Face Pulls w/rope attachment or Bent Over Flyes 3 x 8-12

Seated Incline Hammer Curls 3 x 8-12

Workout C: Legs / Abs (Optional)

Squats 3 x 5

Sumo Deadlifts 3 x 5

Standing Calf raises 3 x 4,6,12 (RPT)

Hanging leg raises 4 x 8-12

Plank hold 3 x 90 secs

Notes on this workout: You’ll notice I use RPT on calf raises. I’ve found that getting stronger in the 4-6 rep range with calves tends to yield better overall development. Calves are one of those areas that are stubborn as hell when it comes to growing. Be prepared to work them hard.

Means of progression

The aim of the game is to make some form of progress from workout to workout. Each training session you should be lifting heavier weight on the main lifts than your previous session.

I always aim to add anywhere from 2.5 – 5lbs to the bar each session. Constant progress, no matter how small is still progress and it adds up in the long run.

At the end of a 4-week period you could add 15- 20lbs to your lifts. (Damn fine progress). If you track your poundage, you’ll be able to see the progress you’re making and that’ll only help keep you motivated. (It’s a thing of Beauty).

What and why RPT?

If you’ve been lifting for a while, you probably have already come across RPT. This style of training has been increasing in popularity. Especially in strength circles.

RPT stands for Reverse Pyramid Training. It’s simply a way of training that involves beginning your session with your heaviest set first, while you’re fresh and full of energy.

Regular pyramid training involves building up to and ending with your heaviest set. With RPT you reverse the order.

The biggest benefit of training in this way is, that by starting with your heaviest set first (minus 1-2 warm up sets), you’ll find you’re stronger and lifting heavy won’t be as much of a struggle as it would if you were to lift heavy later on, as you become fatigued.

How long should I stick to this routine?

Thought you’d never ask.

I usually find it best to stick with a program for at least 8-12 weeks. Forget all that “muscle confusion” bullshit. Your body needs a chance to actually get used to the movements and improve at them before you switch up and do something else.

If you constantly program hop in search of “the next best thing”, you’ll never get the full benefits from the routine.

My thinking when it comes to training is to “milk” all the benefits and results that a program has to offer me. When progress comes to a halt, I’ll switch things up.

The problem is people change programs and exercises way too soon.

What about Cardio?

As leanness is a prerequisite for the warrior physique, most people will find they need cardio to help them reach and maintain a low body fat percentage. For cardio I usually go for walks with my dog on a daily basis, which covers low intensity cardio

On rest days or days when I’m not hitting the iron I’ll hit some sprints for a little high intensity cardio and to keep my anaerobic system in good condition. (Never know when you’ll have to out run an army of zombies).

You can play sports, hike, swim etc. Do whatever the hell you like, as long as it’s something you enjoy and doesn’t interfere with your strength training.

You don’t need to go cardio crazy. Just 15-20 mins of high intensity work 1-2 times a week on rest days will suffice. For low intensity cardio 30-45mins is fine.

To sum up:

Hit the iron 3 days a week
Focus on progressive overload on main moves
Do some cardio and abs on rest days
Be patient and enjoy the process.

In part two we’ll delve into eating for the warrior physique. Don’t miss out. Subscribe now.

If you liked the article and found it informative and want a fully structured program and nutrition guide that breaks everything down and goes into more detail when it comes to building the warrior physique, head over and grab a copy of WARRIOR 101.