The Secret Super Fast Six Pack Abs Bro-gram (or Heavy Lifting?)

Sorry for I have not updated this blog in a long time. I’ve been busy with work.

To make up my long silence, I'm back with a big announcement!

What I’m going to tell you next is going to change your life forever. I’ve dug into deepest of Pubmed and read every fitness article ever written. I’ve cruched the data day and night.

And finally... I’ve combined all the science of muscle gain and fat loss into one package; an audio book.

It is titled The Secret Super Fast Six Pack Abs Bro-gram™ (no typos here, folks).

You Need Magic: How It Happens?

This bro-gram gives you the right tools to turn your body into a fat exploding volcano!

From SSFSPAB™ protocol you will learn seventeen secret cruch techniques and special biceps curls, that also work as an ab-killer exercise. If you order now, you’ll also get a free DVD teaching you to do shit this dumbass does (*click* it's a video).

And it’s only $99.

Or... Just Lift Heavy

OK, I’m just f*cking with you. No audio books, DVDs or secrets here.

But I have something to show you that’s actually real. Do you still remeber Patrik - a guy who shed 28 lbs of fat and got strong in just 3 months - from one of my earlier posts?

How’s he doing these days? Well, take a look.

Patrik 3.0. Children are frightened of him.

No special core exercises, bosu-balls, or curls. Patrik does what we do here; he trains hard and lifts heavy. He does consistent work and keeps things simple.

He also hits clubs pretty much every weekend. Yes, beer included. Being fit and strong doesn’t mean you have to give up your life for it.

Stop looking for another magic bullet. All the answers to your questions are already here.

Train smart. And then, train hard.

Everything You Believe is Wrong: Harnessing the Power of Data

In a picture above you see two tables. Now tell me, which one is longer?

The one on the left of course.

Wrong. Actually they are exactly the same length. Measure them if you don't believe me. Let's take a look at another picture.

How about this one: which one is bigger, the guy on the right or the guy on the lower left?

Uh, the one on the right?

Wrong again. They're exactly the same size. Damn the tricky perspective!

What is Going on?

Okay, now you know that the tables are the same length and the guys are the same size. Now scroll back, take a look at them again and tell me what you see.

The same as before.

The table on the left still seems longer and the guy on the right still seems bigger. You already know the truth but you're still wrong. And we're not talking about making the difference between the smell of coriander and the smell of cumin here. We're talking about your God damn eyesight; the sense you trust and rely on the most!

So, your eyes are both easily tricked and uncapable to learn. What does this tell us about the human nature? Our comprehension fails.

Harness the Power of Data

Is your strength training program making progress? How about your weight loss? Are you losing bodyfat or muscle? Are you eating too many calories?

What about the illustrations above: visual was clearly unreliable, so you did a double-check, right? You measured by metrics.

What I'm saying here is; collect data and use it. Track your progress to judge if your methods are working or not. Your vibe about something is not enough and in most cases, it's just plain wrong. Measure your bodyfat%, weight yourself, write down your gym results... Just measure something. Anything is better than nothing. There are countless amount of options.

You see, numbers are like hips; they never lie.

Death by Deadlift

These days, I usually finish up my strength training routine with a short MetCon. Today I tried out the workout called Death by Deadlift. Sounds pretty badass, doesn't it? That's exactly what it is.

The workout goes like this.

One minute rounds. One rep of deadlift for the first one. Rest extra time.

Two reps for the second round, three reps for the third round and so on.

You get the idea. Add one repetition for each round. Continue until you can't keep up with the required number of lifts anymore.

Guys should start with somewhere around 225 lbs (or 100 kg). Aim for at least 140 % of bodyweight. Girls? Excuse my ignorance, but I really don't know how much girls deadlift. Try it out and let me know!

I finished 11 rounds and five reps (total of 71 reps) with 145% of BW. First 10 rounds felt alright, but after that the dead end was inevitable. After round 11 I was so beat up I could barely lift the bar off the ground.

Fun? Hell no. But definitely worth it.

How many rounds did you manage? Post results to comments section.

The Importance of Context & The Minimalist Plate

A picture completely out of the context.

When someone asks me about what they should eat, I usually ping them back with a question; "what are your goals?"

You see, we are unique. When you buy a new car, the salesman will ask you a bunch of questions, like "do you have kids?", "what do you need a car for and for what sort of terrain?" It's one's individual needs, i.e. the context, that defines what kind of a car one should get. Why is it that when it comes to nutrition we often offer very strict and precise guidelines to the people we know nothing about?

Does a professional athlete have the same nutritional requirements with a white-collar worker? What about diabetics, cancer patients or other folks suffering a disease? People have different needs. This should be a no-brainer.

It's all about the context.

My Plate

There are dozens of different diet programs available: the paleo diet, raw food, vegan, zone, low-carb... List goes on and on. What they all have in common is their polarized nature; good foods vs. bad foods. A nature, that just doesn't mix well with the human one.

For example, some paleo folks could compete in the Olympics with the amount of mental gymnastics they're able to pull off in order to transform evil neolithic foods into holy paleo foods.

"Milk is unhealthy for all, but feel free to supplement with whey protein after your primal workout." Wait, what? Don't get me wrong, I support the whole paleo eating concept and 80 % of my diet would easily fit into that framework. But honestly, what's the point of all the rules, if people simply aren't capable of following them!?

Seriously, eating healthy really isn't that hard, people!

A while ago, USDA published new nutritional guidelines and the food plate. Once again, I wasn't quite satisfied with them. So, I made my own. You can see the illustration below. I nicked the idea from FITBOMB. Shame on me.

The Minimalist Plate. Let's keep it simple!

Bodyweight Challenge: Thunderstorm Barbara

The Minimalist Gym.

Time for another Body Weight Challenge, eh? You bet your ass it is! This time we'll be doing The Crossfit workout called "Thunderstorm Barbara". It's just like a normal Barbara, except it's done in the thunderstorm. No questions! Wait for the right time. It's essential when forging elite fitness.

No, really. Just do it whenever you like! I just happened to get caught in the storm while trying it out. Just before that, my friend Pete did his circuit training in a hell of a heat wave. In Finland, you never know what the weather might throw at you. Anyway, here we go!

Thunderstorm Barbara

In this workout, you will be doing five rounds, each of 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and 50 air squats. Keep the pace!

Between rounds, you rest 3 minutes. No more, no less.

So, five rounds and a hell of a lot of reps. This workout is a great metabolic conditioning for the wrestlers and such. Watch my Barbara video below to get motivated. I did only 10 pull-ups in each round, because I wasn't so sure about my "pull-up condition". Feel free to ease it up, if it feels too bad. If you don't start up with something, you end up with nothing!

GO!

How to Walk the Talk: Keep Your Goals to Yourself

There are a lot of people, who constantly make a big fuss about their goals. They might be on a mission to quit smoking, lose weight or gain muscle or whatever they are into at the moment. If you are not one of them, you most certainly know some of them.

I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that!

And what happens? They never get shit done. Well technically, they do get started with a massive amount of enthusiasm but never actually finish anything. What they probably should've done, is keep their mouth shut. Let me explain.

Talking or Doing?

It's a good thing to tell people about your goals and intentions, isn't it? Apparently not. Some studies have been made and some books have been written about the subject. To cut the story short: telling someone your goals makes them less likely to happen.

Human brain isn't always very clever. Seemingly, it often can't make a difference between talking and doing. Telling someone your goal and getting aknowledged of that tricks your brain to think, that it's already been done. Because of that feeling of satisfation, you end up less motivated to actually do the dirty work.

Your brain is after the reward and it doesn't really mind, whether it comes from actually walking the walk or just talking the talk.

So, keep your goals to yourself and just do the work.

For more information, see a 3 minute TED Talk by Derek Shivers titled Keep Your Goals to Yourself.

Bodyweight Challenge: Pete's 15

Get a move on and get your hands dirty!

I rarely do jogging or other typical cardio as we know it. Instead I prefer high intensity bodyweight exercises, which I find both time saving and more suitable for myself considering my sports (submission wrestling & BJJ).

Recently my friend Petri Mehto introduced me one of his bodyweight workouts, which in turn I am now going to introduce to you. Pay it forward, good karma and so on. It's a modified version of the Crossfit workout called "Cindy".

I've used my unauthorised authority to name this workout a Pete's 15.

Pete's 15

In this workout you will be doing chin ups, push ups and air squats. You need nothing but some space, a bar to hang on to and your body. I also suggest you to have a bottle of water, if you're going to do this workout in 86 °F (+30 °C) like I did today.

So, lets get started.

You have one minute time limit.

During that time you will do 5 chin ups, 10 push ups & 15 air squats. You can rest the extra time (left of that minute).

Repeat 15 times (15 minutes).

Check out my Pete's 15 video below to get some groove on. When you start to get used to the workout or if it's simply just too lightweight for you, try upping the time to 20 minutes or ever longer.