Exercise smart to build a better body

Before beginning my body transformation journey I was a triathlete. Over the years I was lucky enough to compete for Great Britain in New Zealand (World Champ's) and Switzerland (European Champ's). As you can imagine training for triathlon requires a lot of training time and not surprisingly most of this training is spent doing steady state and long interval based training up to 20 hours per week.

What amazed me at the time was, despite training for 15-20 hours per week every week for 3 years, I was never ripped (defined) and retained a high level of body fat. What I didn't know then was that this type of training, coupled with a high carbohydrate diet is a bad strategy to lose body fat and get ripped! As a triathlete I was never below 16% body fat and was as low as 66kg in weight. I was basically a skinny fat man.... Not a good look!

I am now in the best shape of my life and only train 4 times per week for 45-55mins at a time. All my training is spent in the gym lifting weights. However, I do not lift for lifting sake I monitor every workout so much so I could tell you the exact exercise, rest period, target rep range, sets, weight lifted and actual reps I have completed for every workout for the last 12 months. Geeky I know but it worked! I am now 77kg and 11.6% body fat.

If I new what I know now I would have never trained for so long to try and achieve a perfect body! You really do need to train hard but smart to build a better body (male or female), which means lifting weights. Don't worry ladies you will not get big and bulky. If done correctly you will achieve and lean, toned body, which is simply not possible with steady state cardio. FACT!

Eat Like a Caveman

One of the keys to dropping body fat quickly was my discovery of a Palaeolithic eating plan. The concept behind this way of eating is not based on new research (well not in the purest sense), or new fad diets but instead on a way we, as human beings are genetically designed to eat. Even though our foods have changed a lot over the last 10,000 years our genetic make up has not change at all from that of our Palaeolithic ancestors.

I first came across this concept when I studied the methods and ideas of Paul Chek and William Wilcott. Once I Applied these methods I started getting better results with my clients almost instantly. In the pursuit of finding an even better way I have recently moved closer towards the teachings of Charles Poliquin and within the last 6 years I must have read over 1000 academic journals and books. Combined with 6 years of applied practice and gathering my own data since April 2009 I can honestly say that this is most effective way I have come across to improve health and reduce body fat!

Following a Palaeolithic diet (Caveman) is not actually that difficult. You simply eat from the following 5 food groups:

1. Meat (lean)
2. Fish
3. Poultry
4. Fruit and Vegetables
5. Nuts and Seeds

I make sure i eat protein at every meal so never eat carbohydrates on their own and NEVER EVER eat processed food! All carbohydrates I do eat I try to always go for foods under 50GI and those that are packed with antioxidants.

I allow myself a cheat day once per week and by doing so find it very easy to follow these basic principles.

Check out the following video link to help you better understand why it makes sense to eat this way:

http://www.youtube.com/user/born2moveuk#p/a/f/0/uCFZoqmKf5M