The Guinea Pig Trial Week 2

As you many know my triallists for the Fat Loss Action Blueprint are into Week 3 now.

They are performing short, intense workouts between 20-30 minutes long and eating clean, healthy food.

They are all busy people with no time for hours in the gym.

These are the latest results

(A new lady started this week so we'll see how she gets on next week!)

Jez

Weight 12 stone 5.....11 stone 11.75
Hips 39.25cm.....37.5cm
Waist 36cm.....33.5cm

Tom

Weight 79.9kg.....73.1kg
Hips 98cm.....96cm
Waist 93.5cm.....85.5cm

Jon

Weight 82.8kg.....77.2kg
Hips 102cm.....97.5cm
Waist 100cm.....91cm

Can't argue with that.

The programs out soon, so keep an eye out!

Jon

PS If you want free fat loss advice join my community at http://www.fatlossactions.ning.com

The scales don't matter

Bathroom scales are one of the reasons ladies never get better bodies. Chocolate-fuelled Sex in the City marathons are another.

Unfortunately I cannot think of a good enough article to stop you fantasizing about the lives of four American city-dwelling man-hunters. (Actually I can – it will be out soon)

The truth is every lady in the history of modern society has had minor (or major) heart palpitations at the sight of the small red hand whizzing up and around the bathroom scales.

It seems that to many this is the only thing that matters in life. Now I am not about to tell you that I believe the human mind is actually the most important thing and that true beauty is on the inside.

Whilst this may be true to a large degree, it won’t help you attract men in a bar.

The truth is that focusing on your weight can be a fast-track way to making your body look and feel even worse than it does now, no matter what state you’re in.

When you step on the scales, what you see is how much your body weighs. But consider the following:

- How often has a man come up to you in a bar and asked how much you weigh? They don't. They look at your face, your bum and various other parts!
- When you look in the mirror, are you thinking "Oh dear I weigh 2 stones too much" or are you thinking "I look fat".
- When you see a great looking model waltzing around the red carpet outside the Batman premiere, do you think "Oooh she weighs about 8 stones" or do you think " I wish I looked like her" or " I wish I had a bum like that!"

You should be seeing a recurring theme here. The word 'look'. How much you weigh should not be the focus.

It's all about how you look. For many, health and fitness is about how they FEEL. Looking great usually makes you feel great too.

The point is that what the scales say is a small, often irrelevant chapter in a much bigger story.

I am a man who likes ladies. I am attracted to ladies with good bodies (plus intelligence, humour and personal drive before I get the feminist brigade on my back!).

I am attracted to girls who weigh 7 stones and girls who weigh 10 stones. I couldn't care less about how much they weigh as there are many 'weighs' to look sexy and attractive.

Let's be honest here. If you are concerned about your body image it is because you want to be more attractive to the opposite sex (or same sex in some cases).

Your key concerns in improving your body image should not be the scales as an absolute end but your body fat levels, muscle tone and circumferences (waist, hips, upper arms etc)

It is possible to lose weight and look worse. Similarly you can lose only a little weight but look so much better.

Let's say you weigh 60kg and have a body fat percentage of 35%. This means you have a lean body mass (muscle, bone etc) of 39kg and fat stores of 21kg.

You crash diet, do lots of boring cardio and your weight drops to 55kg. Job done, yes?

No.

If you have been starving yourself and performing lots of cardio and no weight training you will have lost mainly muscle and water. So if out of the 5kg you lost, 4kg is muscle and 1kg is fat, your numbers will now look like this.

Lean body mass of 35kg. Body fat 20kg. This means your body fat percentage is now 36.4%.

So you have lost weight according to your scales but you are actually fatter than before! Not only will you look slightly fatter and feel flabbier but, because you have lost muscle, your metabolism will have slowed down.

This means you have to work harder and harder to lose more weight. So you do more cardio. You lose more muscle. Your metabolism slows down further.

You get the picture.

The girls with the great bums and tight arms and stomachs have sculpted those using weight training and sensible eating. There is no other way.

Cardio has its place but not long, boring runs. Short, sharp interval training will help you burn fat without losing muscle and you'll have a much better shape.

If this means your weight hasn't gone down much but your body fat is 10% lower allowing your newly toned muscles to pop into view, what's the problem?

If you believe eating less and exercising for longer each time is getting you a better body you're wrong.

People are probably commenting that you look stick-thin. Either that or you still look like you did a year ago but your metabolism is slower.

We all know the lady in the office who does every diet, talks about it, starves herself and ends up looking fatter 6 months later.

You can choose to be next by focussing on your weight or you can get smart, eat properly, train in short, sharp bursts using cardio and weights together.

I know which one will get more attention from the lads!

PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER!

Train hard, eat clean.
Jon

What lies beneath

I'm part of a great online fitness pro community and spend a lot of time interacting with the guys and girls on it.

The leader of the community Dax Moy has challenged us all to write a blog about our true beliefs and our own intepretation of where we are headed.

I think if EVERYONE did this from time to time, the world would be a much happier place and there would be a hell of a lot more successful people.

So here goes Jon Le Tocq's view on the world...

1) The more I practice, the luckier I get.

I stole the quote from Gary Player but it's so true. There is no such thing as luck in my eyes. What many perceive as luck is where days, months or even years of preparation meets an opportunity. I have been told on many occasions I'm lucky to have my own studio in the city centre of Notts and lucky to have my own business doing my dream job at 25. Generally it's the same people who told me I was nuts to leave the financial security of Guernsey for a 5.77 per hour gym instructor job; the same people who questioned why I worked 60 hour weeks at the gym.

You get what you deserve.

Maybe not today or tomorrow or even this year, but you get what you deserve.

Overnight successes take years.

2) Don't focus too much on yourself in order to progress my life.

I have made mistakes in the last two years focussing too much on what I wanted and what I wanted to do and how I thought it should be done. Yes goal setting is imperative but I now realise that the key to individual success is other people.

Help other people, teach other people, learn from other people, follow other people, use other people as a guide to what you do or don't want to be.

Success will follow.

3) Burn your bridges and you will force yourself to move forward

It's so easy to cling to the security of the past but if you never let go, if you never force yourself out of your comfort zone and if you never take risks but always leave yourself the option to take backward steps that is exactly what you will do.

4) It's all about you.

This may seem a contradiction to me saying that success is all about other people but it's not. My point here is that the world is in the state it is in because it is always 'someone else's fault'.

- The economic crisis in Britain is America's fault.
- I'm fat because my friends make me drink lots.
- I'm poor because I don't get paid enough

All of the above are b*llocks.

We are all responsible for our actions.

I don't mind people celebrating their own successes whereas other people see it as boasting or gloating. These are usually people who are able to accept that their mistakes are also just that. THEIRS.

Only when we become accountable for everything good and bad in our lives can we become better people.

5) There isn't as much of a difference between success and failure as people think.

There is actually very few differences between the great men and women amongst us and 'Joe Average'

The key difference is this.

Successful people manage their fear.

They realise fear doesn't actually exist. Two identical people can be in the same situation but experience opposite outcomes because one allows fear to control them and the other accepts it as part of the experience. The physical situation is no different for either person but the outcome is MASSIVELY different because one stepped through the fear and the other walked backwards away from it (see Point 3).

6) Experiences are everything.

I believe that philosophies about life can be summed up in one snigle sentence.

When you are lying on your death bed, will you be able to say "I did everything there was to do"?

I have been very bad at this up until now. I missed the point of success and earning money.

This is changing.

7) I believe I am on the verge of greatness.

I have gone through the school bullying for being a hard worker.
I have gone through very difficult months at university feeling like I didn't fit in (because I couldn't control my fear of new situations)
I have left a comfortable life and stepped into the unknown in a very different environment.
I have left my friends and family behind in search of great things.
I have invested lots of time and money in things which may or may not work.
I have spent many weekends holed up worrying about things but trudging through it with the support of my family.
I have nearly quit on many occasions.

But I am still here. I am stronger. I am ready. I am ready.

I. AM. READY.

Why?

Because I am destined to do great things in this world.

I know I have the intelligence.
I know I have the drive.
I know people are starting to see me as a leader.
I know I have prepared and am ready for the opportunities when people will say I am lucky.

When the world is ready for what I have to tell them...

I AM READY.

Bring it on.