GURJOT

JOHN DOE’S “BECOMING THE BULL”

August 31, 2014 By GURJOT Leave a Comment

back wolfs

Note: I’m not one for doing reviews. However, I made this exception for John Doe’s “Becoming The Bull” after thoroughly reading through it, for the simple reason that the man knows what he’s talking about. He’s honest and his 17 years of experience with bodybuilding and physical culture is extensive.

It’s due to this and a request from the office of big time blogger, Victor Pride, that I’ve decided to do this review.

WHO IS JOHN DOE?

wolfs gym

Before we dive into the actual review itself, you’d probably like to know a little background info about John.

John Doe is a former competitive bodybuilder who also happens to be a blue-collar-worker. (Those of you who don’t think fitness can compliment your life take note).

Re-Read that again and let it sink in. He works a full time job in an industry where your life is literally at stake everyday of the week, has a family and still manages to get down to the gym, train and look phenomenal. (That’s commitment).

John’s the owner of johndoebodybuilding.com where he discuses topics in a real, honest, no no-nonsense fashion, from life, nutrition and training etc.

WHAT IS BECOMING THE BULL ABOUT?

tricep dip

When you break it down, Becoming The Bull is John Doe’s no nonsense guide to building the body and mindset of a champion. It’s written with John’s gritty, sincere style and approach.

You get access to actual routines and diet plans, which have been used by John himself and gotten him results. There’s a reason behind everything.

You’re not getting the typical, rehashed advice you’d find in monthly issue of flex magazine.

Becoming the Bull goes back to basics and helps you build your body from the ground up. You’ll be surprised at the simplicity of it.

This isn’t just a book on fitness though. John covers things that you won’t find in other fitness books and magazines.

He talks about living a lifestyle conductive to fitness, how bodybuilding actually got him through rough times in life and helped him grow as a person. He opens up about his personal and family life.

The book also goes into how to develop a winner attitude in life, attract women and develop balls of steel. As John puts it “Live like a man with nothing to lose”.

John is literally giving away a piece of himself through this book. He’s opening up his world to the audience, sharing all the things he’s done and experienced over his 17 years of bodybuilding.

John doesn’t subscribe to the “Do what I say and not what I do” crowd.

This book is a genuine case of leading by example. He’s done it himself and shares the raw, real experience as he worked his way up from a humble beginner to where he is now.

It’s simple and easy to understand. There’s no fancy jargon, no complex or gimmicky feel to it.

Everything is laid out clearly so that even the most dim-witted individual can follow it.

Inside it you get:

Training routines– For the complete beginner with no access to equipment all the way up to intermediate and experienced lifters.

Meal/diet plans- Sample diet plans and meal options that can be tailored to suit your requirements.

A real way to boost confidence and attract women– As John puts it “Live like a man with nothing to lose”.

Anabolic steroids– John discuses steroid use and cycles for those looking to take their training to the next level. There’s a chapter dedicated to discussing these powerful compounds.

The real deal on supplements– John discuses supplements and why you don’t need to rely on them. In fact as a complete beginner they aren’t necessary.

Recovery– John discuses methods for improved recovery, from saunas to deep tissue massages etc.

Plus much, much more!!

wolfs2

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

Though not specifically stated, this book is for men. (Sorry ladies).

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS BOOK?

Anybody from a complete beginner, intermideate to advanced trainer, trying to sculpt and build their body and fitness.

WHAT DO I GET?

You’re getting 14 in-depth, detailed chapters, spread over the course of 89 pages. Everything packed into an instantly downloadble PDF, available to you immediately after purchase. (You couldn’t ask for more).

Click here to get Becoming the Bull (Note the following is an affiliate link).

I wouldn’t put my name to and represent something if I didn’t think it was of value and I didn’t believe in it. I don’t condone any product without testing the waters with it myself before hand.

Becoming The Bull is truly a quality product and will benefit any man in his pursuit of carving an impressive physique.

A SIMPLE, EFFICENT WAY TO BUILD MUSCLE- PART 1

August 7, 2014 By GURJOT Leave a Comment

Muscle model

There are 4 key components that come into play and will literally make or break your efforts of achieving the physique you want. (I know you’re probably anxious to hear about them so lets get started).

Hormones
Nutrients (macro/micro)
Calories
Training

(You were expecting something more. Damn shame. In the simplest terms it really does boil down to this).

Tick of each of these boxes and watch as your body gradually changes. Each of these components works together in conjunction with one another to produce results.

Now maximising each of these areas will result in a “rapid” transformation.

Note: I’m not saying you’ll gain 15 pounds of pure muscle in 6 weeks. You will however, allow your body to function optimally and build up at it’s own pace.

For the sake of simplicity and to keep things short, (relatively speaking) in this first part of the series we’ll cover hormones.

Note: Most people’s efforts to build muscle would go a lot smoother, if they had a relatively low body fat to begin with. (Relax, it’ll all become clear).

Hormones

(Obviously if you’re on chemicals, this isn’t really a concern).

Since we’re addressing the issue of muscle growth, the key hormones we’re concerned about is none other than big daddy testosterone, the most anabolic hormone in the body, insulin and to an extent growth hormone.

All three of these hormones play a major part if you want to grow muscle tissue. Therefore, maximising these becomes priority number one.

The first thing I would do is lean down. Yep, that’s right I would lean down a bit to make improve my body’s level of sensitivity to insulin.

Lower body fat = better hormonal response, mainly in the form of insulin sensitivity, which results in better overall nutrient partitioning.

Shedding fat also has an effect on testosterone levels, improving them, whereas being a fat ass leads to increased estrogen. (Not good when it comes to being lean and more importantly masculine).

The fatter you are the worse your body is at efficiently utilising nutrients.

So increasing insulin sensitivity and losing body fat is the first piece of the puzzle.

I’ve found the best approach for me personally is to adopt a diet lower in carbs, anywhere from around 50-120 grams a day.

I’d keep protein to about 1-1.5grams and increase the fats to compensate for the drop in carbs.

Depending on current body fat levels I would maintain that for the course of 1-3 weeks.

If you’ve got a lot of lard to lose, I recommend sticking to the above protocol for 3 weeks, before transitioning to a more conventional fat loss approach.

If we’re talking body fat ranges, In approximation, if you’re around 15% body fat with no visible abdominal definition, I would lean down till about 10% then up the calories in order to spur new growth.

If you’re at 10% body fat already and have some semblance of a six pack, I would still lean down a to about 7-8% body fat, before upping the calories and prioritising muscle and size gains.

Note: You don’t need to get super shredded 4-5% body fat. Going below 7-8% starts to become tedious and demanding on the body.

It seems counter intuitive to go the opposite direction, but in the long run it’s definitely well worth it.

You’ll find you put on less fat during muscle gain phases. (I hate the word bulking and the idea of conventional bulking).

Your body will also absorb and make use of the nutrients you’re feeding it and will push them towards the muscle cells instead of the fat cells.

In short, you’ll have an easier time building muscle without accumulating heaps of unwanted fat. (You don’t want to turn into a doughnut now, do you?).

Most people want to look good throughout the year, not just for 1-2 weeks out of 52.

Unless you’re a professional, competitive bodybuilder, or borderline anorexic or bulimic, conventional bulking is not the most optimal or conductive way to build muscle and look good naked.

By getting leaner first you’ll promote better insulin sensitivity, which will enable your body to shuttle nutrients to your muscle cells instead of your fat cells. Thus keeping you leaner during periods of higher caloric intake. (It’s worth repeating).

There are various ways to naturally go about raising your testosterone levels. However, they’ll never compare to being chemically enhanced, so get the notion of becoming a super freak out of your head.

Here are some things you can implement, if raising your testosterone, improving muscle mass and body composition is your goal.

Lean down – If you have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 25 and can’t see your toes, you need to lose fat period. Don’t even consider a muscle gain phase until you have some abdominal definition. If you’re skinny fat, same thing applies. Your first priority should be to balance your out of whack hormones. It makes the muscle building process a lot smoother.

Sleep sufficiently– 7-8hrs a night. During sleep cycles the body is repairing and testosterone peaks during the night.

Eat some fat– Fats aren’t the enemy, but if you over do them they aren’t going to be your friend. Avoid trans fats as much as possible. They’re the worst kind. I stick to fatty cuts of meat, egg yolks, nuts, avocado’s, butter olive oil and fish oil for my fats.

Supplement with zinc and vitamin D3- If you have an issue with low testosterone, supplementing with zinc and vitamin D3 has been shown to improve levels of T.

Get your levels checked– Visit your doc and get your levels checked. If they’re low he/she can give you some pointers.

Avoid over consuming caffeine- Caffeine is a stimulant. Yes it can aid fat loss by mobilizing fatty deposits from fat cells, allowing them to be more readily burned during training. However, too much caffeine in the long-term will fry your adrenal glands and cause your body to (unnecessarily) secrete cortisol, resulting in lowered T levels.

What about Growth Hormone?

Growth hormone is important. Most people understand the importance of it when fat loss is a concern.

It has an important role in the body’s ability to utilise fat from fat stores, as well as allow the body to recover optimally.

Thus, proper sleep is important as gh is secreted by the pituitary gland during nightfall.

So partying, getting stoned and staying up late to watch bad(cheesy) horror movies are not going to help you. Not to mention when your sleep cycle is out of whack your body’s cortisol levels go up.

I’m not going to get to in depth with cortisol, other than to say you want to keep it low the majority of the time.

It’s a stress hormone that’s released when your body is over stressed.

When cortisol levels are up gh and testosterone go down. Similar to a seesaw, when one goes up the other comes down.

So not sleeping enough, being overly stressed out taking in too much caffeine (all you coffee drinkers out there) and training too damn long, will raise cortisol levels.

Back to Growth hormone then.

While it doesn’t necessarily promote muscle growth it does play a key role in the preservation of muscle tissue.

So how do you go about naturally increasing it?

Other than ensuring sufficient sleep at night, I would throw in a bit of interval training. I like to run sprints 1-2 times a week, either on foot or on the bike.

Generally speaking, after intense training your body’s level of gh will be up.

The only real way to boost gh considerably is to inject synthetic growth hormone out of a vial. It’s true. Nothing you can do naturally will compare to what you can do when enhanced.

That’s just the nature of the beast.

Cheer up, there’s still plenty you can do on your own. It’s still possible to look good without chemical assistance.

If you found this article helpful don’t forget to like, share and subscribe. Don’t miss the next article, Part 2 Nutrients and calories.

JUST GET STARTED

July 25, 2014 By GURJOT 2 Comments

The biggest obstacle in your path is you.

That’s right.

You can be your own greatest ally yet also your worst enemy. Hey there’s two sides to every coin, right?

See, people tend to get in their own way and sabotage their own efforts and chances of improvement and/or accomplishment.

The problem most people have is this:

THEY DON’T GET STARTED!!

Take the guy or gal who plans to start exercising and eating better, but constantly talks themselves out of it, postponing it for tomorrow, inevitably never getting around to actually doing it.

Maybe it was fear and lack of self-belief that held them back, or maybe they were just plain lazy.

It doesn’t really matter. The point is they never got started. They held themselves back.

Maybe they got their head wrapped up in all the minor details, like what’s the best routine? What should my macro intake be? How many exercises should I do in a workout? How long should I train? Should I use forced reps, rest pause, strip sets and other advanced techniques to get better results?

They get so caught up in all of this, end up getting confused and ultimately give up before they even start.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t track your macros, or whatever the hell you like to do and I’m not saying you shouldn’t tailor your training program to you.

But if you’re over thinking everything and getting confused, it’s probably a good indicator that you currently lack the knowledge and experience to use certain principles.

It’s like trying to run before you’ve learnt to walk.

Just pick a suitable program that you’ll be able to stick to and follow basic nutrition principles and see where it takes you.

As you get more advanced you can tinker and tweak things to suit your own unique body and lifestyle.

Now this is just a hypothetical situation, but there are millions of people out there that can relate and go through similar situations like this on a daily basis.

Their fears, doubts and insecurities paralyse them and they never take the first step.

This doesn’t just apply to fitness and wanting to look good naked. Oh no, no, no.

It extends into a variety of aspects.

Some people chase “dream jobs” and “ideal occupations” but never get round to actually working them.

They talk about the things they want to do and stuff the want to own, but never reach any of their goals.

It stops at that. Just a goal and nothing more. It’s a word on a page. An idea generated in the head that stays in the head.

They never take an actual step to getting there.

Goals are sweet, but the feeling of crushing them is a whole lot sweeter.

You can read all the motivation books, watch all the motivational videos, but in the end it all comes down to you and your desire to reach your goals by taking the first step towards them and getting started.

Lao Tzu’s saying nails it.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Damn straight.

The “experts” would like you to believe you need something revolutionary to achieve.

All you really need is a little thought, some planning and plenty of hard, focused work.

If you just make a start, you’ll be ahead of the herd, wondering what could happen. Maybe, just maybe you’ll turn dreams into a reality.

I’ll guarantee you this though, if you don’t make a start you’ll never find out.

Remember, When you make success a necessity, you’re chances of being successful increase substantially.

Take your chances, don’t neglect your opportunities and grow as a human being.

All in all, JUST GET STARTED!!

CROSSING THE FINISH- LEAVE NOTHING ON THE LINE

July 1, 2014 By GURJOT Leave a Comment

“I won’t back down. No I won’t back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down.”

The lyrics of that Johnny cash song still ring in my ears. A reminder and constant reinforcement of the will and drive I’ve dedicated to this game called life.

There is only one certainty in life. Everyone dies, and it’s as true for me as it is for every human being on this planet.

Maybe that’s the one thing we all have in common. It’s common ground.

We all face the grind on a daily basis and while it’s true some face more hurdles and pitfalls along the way than others, everyone, no matter how amazing their lives seem face challenges. (That’s no damn joke).

Anybody that tells you otherwise is a fool and outright liar.

If you want to succeed in life and become the best version of yourself that you can, genetics and talent aside, you need to be prepared to give 100%.

“You’ve got to give before you can get.”

Talent and genetics alone will only get you so far. You need the resolve, that little voice in your head that tells you to go on and keep going, and not to quit when things get hard or when it looks like you’re not going to make it.

To truly say that you’re living a fulfilling, productive and happy life, I believe correlates with your ability to leave all the cards on the table.

To give it your all, knowing full well there isn’t another damn thing you can do.

That, to me is the real way of achieving personal satisfaction.

I’m not saying I have the key to living an extraordinary life. This is simply something I live by and make every effort to uphold.

I believe in this principle and it’s a cornerstone of life for me.

I’ll only do something when I know and feel my soul is 110% in it. Otherwise I won’t get involved. It isn’t just a question of morals and ethics.

It’s something personal and I intend to uphold it to the very end.

See, I know the difference between going all the way and stopping short, and let me tell you with complete confidence that all the best decisions I’ve ever made stemmed from going into something with all guns blazing.

Yep, you read correctly. No matter how many times you’ve fallen, it’s your ability to rise up, say screw you to life and that I won’t be at your mercy. I am not a slave to you. That’s what counts.

Never half ass anything. Go all or nothing. Play to win and always remember, when things get hard that’s the real time to shine.

Even if you do lose, this way you can truly do it with honour and walk away with your head still held high, knowing full well you gave it everything you could. You did everything humanly possible.

“Do something part-time, you’ll get a part-time result. Do it full-time and you’ll get a full-time result.”

I know it’s tough to will yourself back when you feel like you’ve lost your way. Most people give up, devolve and regress.

Hell, I’ve stumbled more times than I can count and probably will continue to, but I will keep getting back up. That’s what really counts in this life. Once you’ve succeeded at something all your previous failures don’t seem quite so bad.

Look at it this way, you’ve got a chance to start with a clean slate. You’ve got a fresh start.

You may fail 100 times at something, but hit the jackpot on attempt 101. If you give up on that 100^th attempt how will you know?

The point I’m making is that people get derailed too easily and give up way too soon.

Practice makes perfect. It’s repeated so damn often and it’s so damn true.

Keep one thing in mind though. You can only properly apply this to your life if you have a purpose, a goal, something that you’re committed to and really want. (If you’re not a cage breaker this isn’t for you).

That’s why I love a good underdog. As much as being a champion is phenomenal and I imagine it feels amazing to be the champ. All eyes are on you but you’ve got nothing left to prove.

You’re at the top and that’s when people tend to get cocky. They get caught up in the fame and let their egos go to the moon.

That’s the problem. They stop focusing on what got them to the top and start gloating in self-glory. They underestimate those who pose a potential threat.

They forget that something as small as a pin can deflate even the largest balloon.

Good challengers on the other hand have everything to prove. (Especially to themselves). Usually they’re the ones working as hard as they can because they know what’s at stake.

They understand that going head to head, toe-to-toe with the champ is no easy feat and that in order to have even the slightest chance of winning, they have to bring their “A” game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JSmbM1z54k

This video says it all. (The DBZ reference makes for a nice bonus).

Now it’s your turn!!

Remember, as long as you’re still breathing there’s still time to cross that finish line.

If there’s something you want in your life, what are you still doing here? Go out and grab that sucker by the throat.

THE GAME IS ON!!

ARE YOU PLAYING TO WIN?

EVOLUTION AND GROWTH

BURST THE LIMIT- TRAIN LIKE AN ELITE

June 27, 2014 By GURJOT Leave a Comment

Bring the fire and intensity to your training. — Bring the fire. Add intensity to your training.

What separates the winners from the losers?

The champions from the average.

One word.

Intensity!!!

People like to complain.

“This dude is stronger than me. They’re faster and bigger.”

“That guys on drugs.”

“That guy has great genetics.”

Rather than fuss about something that is out of your hands, focus on yourself and what you can do to improve.

How far can I push?

How far can I go?

What can I do to improve myself?

What can I do to reach my absolute limit?

These are the real questions you should concern yourself with.

If you want to take your training to the next level you’ve got to train with intensity. There’s no denying it or hiding from that fact.

How do you train with intensity and reach a level many dream of and even fewer achieve?

Understand the principle of training to the limit.

You’ve got to get out of your comfort zone and find comfort in the uncomfortable. When you’re at the point where you muscles are on fire, you feel like you could give out and any second, that’s intensity.

Put it this way, if you’re not in any discomfort then you aren’t working hard enough.

If you leave the gym or wherever you happen to train feeling like you could train some more, you haven’t been working maximally.

Intensity is not something that can be bought and can’t be taught. It has to be acquired through experience.

I train way harder and intense now than I’ve ever done before and every training session whoops my butt.

When I first started training I didn’t understand intensity or know what it felt like to really tax your body and taking your muscles to real “failure.” (I don’t like the word failure because of the negative stigma and connotation associated).

Let me give you a scenario:

My last chest and arms session

I did 6 total sets for chest and 3 for bi’s and tri’s. (Not including 1-2 warm up sets). The session was short and sweet and looks simple on paper, but man was it another thing in practice. The whole ordeal was over in about 40mins.

The way I executed those exercises was intense enough that I felt a little sick, shaking and had to sit down for 10 minutes after training.

Here’s the full break down

(Rest periods between sets were no longer than 30 secs or about 10 deep breathes). As soon as I was done with an exercise, I moved straight to the next one with no rest.

Chest

Bench press- 3 sets starting with 5, 8 and on the last set complete failure. Grinding out reps until I could not lift the weight and the muscles would not contract anymore.

Note: I used a leverage machine so there was no danger of a loaded bar falling on my chest when taking the set to failure.

If you’re thinking of attempting this on a regular bench, be smart and have someone there to spot you incase the bar comes down and you’re not able to lift it back up.

Weighted Dips- 3 sets of 5,8, then complete failure. (I removed the weight and did bodyweight dips to failure).

Moving onto arms I did a superset of barbell curls and rope pushdowns 3 sets for each. Keeping the reps at 8 on the first two sets and to failure on the last sets.

Note: I didn’t fixate on reps when taking the final set to complete positive failure. My only concern was taking the muscles to their absolute limit and exhausting them.

I started out with my heaviest sets first using RPT (reverse pyramid) fashion. The heavy sets get the central nervous system fired up and primed.

That session was 12 sets total and at the end of it I was fried.

My definition of intensity is: The greatest amount of effort/force an individual is able to generate toward a targeted goal or objective.

To train to your limit and experience results unlike any other you must:

Work through pain – There’s a pain threshold that people often confuse with muscle failure. A lot of people train up to the point at which they feel pain, aching and lactic acid build up and then stop.

Training to failure is going beyond that, it’s pushing to the point where the muscles are no longer or barely moving.

This is the fundamental principle. Everything else is useless unless you understand and apply this concept to your training.

Limit your rest periods – If you’re doing heavy sets you’ll need longer rest periods to recover your central nervous system enough to be able to complete the next set. (3-5 mins is average).

That’s great for powerlifting and building strength and that’s the way I train when training solely to improve strength. However, you don’t need to be doing that with every damn exercise in your routine unless you are a power lifter or just trying to improve strength.

If you want to tax your muscles and give them a reason to grow you have to overload them, not just with weight but tension as well.

Muscles grow and adapt to the stresses placed on them. Therefore you have to stimulate them with new stresses. By limiting the rest periods and getting back to work faster, you’re challenging your body to work harder under less than ideal circumstances (for the body).

This’ll encourage new growth and development while also having the side benefit of toughening your will and resolve.

Remember, Intensity is subjective. It’s relative. Your level of intensity will not be the same as mine. We’re individuals and are at different stages.

I don’t expect a beginner to be able to train like this and understand intensity. It is only learned and acquired through experience.

When I started training I couldn’t train like this. I had no concept of intensity and this level of training and the amount of effort it required.

This is something that you learn as you go.

Another thing I need to stress about intensity, which I think is often mistaken, is this:

A lot of intensity wannabes will make statements like, “You have to be prepared to train to the point of passing out or losing your lunch.”

That’s absurd.

How on earth is that going to be beneficial?

It’s not.

If you’re passed out on that bench or hurling your lunch all over the floor how is that helping your training?

I never train with that intention. In my opinion it’s stupid. If I’m losing my lunch, I’m losing nutrients that could be used for repairing the body.

If I’m constantly passing out during training I won’t be able to finish training.

It’s not practical, nor is it a consideration or focus for me when training.

Just because you’re not passing out or hurling food doesn’t mean you can’t train intensely.

Now, when some people do train intensely that is a response they get. It can and does happen. I’m not denying that. But trying to chase that feeling and illicit that response in my opinion defies logic.

When you break it down, to train intensely you need to fatigue your muscles, make them burn, pump, ache and ultimately reach the point where they are no longer able to fully contract. (Believe me it’s definitely becomes more of a mental than physical game).

I don’t always train with this level of intensity and this is another point I want to bring up.

If you train like this, you have to be aware of the potential and likelihood of you getting injured is definitely very high. More so than if you train like the average gym rat does.

You need to give yourself breaks to allow your body to repair and heal adequately.

This type of training is hard and causes a great deal of pain. HELL IT’S DARN TORTUROUS.

YOU WILL BE UNCOMFORTABLE.

That’s why most people don’t do it. You will however, see more results than all the others at your gym that don’t train with intensity.

However, just like you can have too much of a good thing, if you train like this constantly you will probably get hurt at some point.

Therefore, it’s important if not vital that you take periodic breaks and lower the intensity.

Instead of constantly blasting your body, add some light training days in and increase the rest periods.

Play around with your training. Be smart and listen to your body. If you don’t feel like going heavy on a certain day don’t go heavy. ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. That’s the key.

In the end it all comes down to this.

Crank up the heat, bring the drive, dedication and conviction and you’ll get your worth!!

INTENSITY AND IMPROVEMENT