What is your view on periodization? I always assumed that  periodization should be used more for athletes or for folks with a deadline (sport, race, wedding etc.). Does an “everyday” client  looking to lose bodyfat or general fitness need to do sets of 4-6 reps  for a few weeks in order to reach their goals (weight loss, conditioning, etc)?

I know the body adapts to the same workouts, but doesn’t changing the exercises every couple of weeks avoid this?

If someone just used a rep range of 10-15 and changed (multi-joint, compound) exercises every 4 weeks and adjusted loads when needed –would that be enough to stay in shape the rest of your life?

If I’m missing the point on periodization?

Thanks again for your info in your site ——–I love the info…….
Mark

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Even though this is “Ask Mike” I knew I wanted to find one of the most qualified people I could to answer this training question (as you know nutrition is my gig). Keith Scott (the author of Unbreakable) graciously answered Mark’s question about periodization. Here’s Keith’s answer.

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Periodization needs to be looked at as a process of varying your training regimen at fixed time intervals so you can make changes or make gains.

In simpler terms, it is a long-term plan with fixed intervals of change. It can be used in sports training but also general fitness, fat loss, etc… Is it necessary? I think so if you really want to see optimal changes in the shortest period of time. Besides that, it is another way to do it all safely. It doesn’t have to be complex, but I think it needs to be there. The
biggest mistake people make in their routines is having no fixed or real plan. Periodization is the plan…

It can be as easy as doing 3 X 12 for 4 weeks with weights, and then doing 2 weeks of body weight training with 45 seconds intervals and then back to 4 weeks of weight training with 3X8. Whatever you choose to do, do it with a plan.

I use it with fat loss too.

Weeks 1-3 – Prep – 2-3 X 12-15 reps, and HIIT work with 30 on, 60 off

Weeks 4-8 – Base strength and hypertrophy – 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps (heavier) with HIIT on off days at 20 on, 45 off

Etc…

The bottom line is that you need a structured plan with set times to do these changes. Sounds like you already have a concept of this. Structure it more, and plan it on paper. Stick to it and adapt when needed.

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Got an opinion? Didn’t Keith’s answer just bring up more questions? Post a comment below.

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You can also get an exclusive interview with Rachel for free as part of the Fat Loss Gold Mine.

At the gym yesterday, sitting in my office and I hear “I can’t get my big fat ass up there.” I immediately throw open my office door and look to see if who I think said what I think she said and by the look on her face (as if she had just been caught in the cookie jar) she did. And then she said- “I just got busted! I didn’t know you were here!”

This is one of my clients who has been working her butt off to get the body she wants. She has struggled for years and is ready once and for all to do this. She has been training hard, eating clean and her body is changing. She fits into a pair of jeans she couldn’t before and she has been steadily dropping body fat.

Over her journey my biggest goal has been to get her to change the way she talks to herself because I know that even if she manages to get to where she wants to be, she won’t be able to stay there with this kind of internal dialogue going on. When she started she constantly would say things like, “I am just destined to be fat.” “I am frustrated; I’ll never get a handle on my food.” I knew that in order for her to succeed we had to change this Stinkin’ Thinkin’, a term I heard weight loss expert Kara Mohr use, and get her focusing on positive thoughts. I don’t tolerate this kind of negative talk in my gym- it does nothing for you and it does absolutely nothing for those around you. I will not tolerate it and yes she did get busted!

The crazy thing is most women talk to themselves negatively all the time. Constantly putting themselves down and finding every flaw they have but they never recognize their own strengths. If anyone else were to talk to them the way they talk to themselves they most likely would not be friends with that person for long. Isn’t it interesting that as women we think it is ok to talk to ourselves in a way that we would not tolerate anyone else talking to us? Bottom line: You don’t deserve to be talked to that way! Don’t let anyone tell you that you are fat, that you have no willpower, that you are frumpy…not even yourself!!!! Got it?

I am a huge believer in your mind being very closely connected to your body. I believe our bodies listen to everything we say. Every thought, every word, everything and after planting them in our subconscious, our bodies take each of these as a command for what it needs to do. We have about 50,000 thoughts a day. If the majority of these are negative, your body and life will reflect that. If you keep saying- I am fat when you are trying to lose weight, you will not succeed. If you say out loud that you have a big fat ass…guess what…your body thinks it is a command. You must start to visualize where you want to go, what you want to look like and how you want to feel and focus on that.

You may be thinking…this is fine and all until you head outside of the gym into the real world where you get surrounded by people who are constantly bombarding you with negative thoughts. “You’re lifting weights? You’re just going to get big and bulky and never going to lose the weight.” “Why don’t you just have a glass of wine and some bread…don’t deprive yourself! It isn’t working anyway and you’re no fun these days!”

Alright girls, here is what you need to do in these situations- You are Wonder Woman! Remember Wonder Women’s wrist bands? Your wrist bands deflect any negative comment. So, next time someone says something to you to try to bring you down and sap your motivation deflect the comment with your super power wrist band and don’t even let it get to you.

Another scenario us girls come up against is when we are hanging with our girlfriends and one of them starts in on the body bashing comments- “I hate my pooch…” Your first instinct is to join in and say, “I have a pooch too, mine is worse than yours…” Do not do it! Do not join in with the body bashing. Again, your body is listening. Instead, tell your friend you think she looks fabulous and change the subject!

Take a moment to yourself and think about why you go to the gym everyday. Think about why you keep an eye on what you eat. Think about what it is you want from this lifestyle and what motivates you to stick to it? If you have been struggling with getting the results you want then start to listen to that voice in your head and tell it to shut up and change those thoughts to focus on where you want to go and how you will feel.

Next time you catch yourself saying, “I can’t get my big fat ass up there.” Or “I look fat in this outfit.” Immediately catch yourself and cancel that thought with something positive and motivating!

Train hard and stay focused on what you want from all of your hard work. You deserve to feel empowered, confident and have nothing but compliments and positive thoughts! You’ll find that with this new attitude you’ll inspire others!

Better late than never!

You’re gonna love this

http://www.nakednutritionnetwork.com/237-allfree
-Mike

Cutting your carbs – even if just by 10% of calories – is essential for optimal health and weight loss. One of the simplest ways to do this is to switch out starchy/high carb foods for fibrous vegetables. In this video I share with you 4 different ways to make this simple carb cutting switches.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have also moved up the release of the Strong, Fit, and Healthy newsletter. With the release of Strong, Fit, and Healthy we will be giving away 100 copies of my new DVD – The Truth about Dietary Supplements.

If you are someone that is trying or has tried to lose weight and sculpt a better body, then you know how difficult it is to get where you want to be.

Frustration can set in pretty fast when you don’t see progress and the temptation to go back to old habits is easier each day.

In my experience working with fat loss clients, I find that the people that recognize their obstacles are the most successful.

Once you realize what is hindering your progress it is much easier to find ways to overcome those obstacles and get where you need to go.

In contrast, the people that say things like “I just cant lose the weight!” or “I have tried everything, and I cant make any progress.” Are the people that usually fail.

The first step is to figure out what is getting in your way to fat loss.

I am going to share things throughout the week that I have seen and worked on with clients that ultimately have gotten in the way of being successful in losing fat.

Today, I am going to talk about Diet and Self-Discipline. Be sure to share your thoughts on both aspects and maybe how you were able to overcome these issues.

Diet

More time than not, it is people’s diet that gets in the way of successful fat loss. You cannot out work a crappy diet. In other words, you can have the best fat loss training routine around, but if you diet is bad, you wont get far. The tricky part of this, is the majority of people I have dealt with truly believe that their diet is good and that it must be something else. Once I look at their diet it becomes obvious that what they are putting in their mouths is the real problem. Again, opening your eyes and really recognizing the problem is key here and most people just don’t know how to do that.

If you are serious about losing fat and getting a better body, you must figure out the diet part of this. If you cannot afford to hire a professional to help you, try to seek out someone that has experience in helping people lose weight. If that is not an option, there are plenty of online options as well. You can purchase a program like Mike offers to guide you. Warp Speed Fat loss and The Naked Nutrition Guide awesome programs that if followed, will get you where you want to go.

Discipline

Being disciplined is probably the biggest factor that gets in the way of people trying to lose weight. You are either disciplined or you are not. There really isn’t an in between when you are trying to burn fat. Following your diet and program ¾ of the time isn’t going to get you the results you are after. This is a tough pill for some people to swallow, but it is essential that you figure out your discipline level and work on it everyday.

Use a daily journal to help you “see” how disciplined you really are. Obviously you will have to be honest with yourself to really see what is going on, but if you are, you will be able to understand your discipline levels.

Start by writing down every single thing you do throughout the day that has to do with your diet and exercise. At the end of each day, compare your journal notes to your program. See how close you were to following your plan. At the end of the week add up how many days you followed your plan and also how many days you didn’t. Awareness is the first step in fixing the problem. You might be surprised at how many things are missed or skipped throughout your days and weeks. Fix the discipline problems are you are on your way.

It is really funny how many nutritionist/dietitians that I know refuse to ever eat anything that could be labeled unhealthy. Not me. I think that it is important to enjoy the occasionally unhealthy food (if you like them) as it helps with sanity. With eating buffalo wings (or whatever your favorite forbidden food is) usually comes increase calories.

There are several different ways that you can do damage control to prevent the destruction of your physique. Today I wanted to highlight one in particular because it is potentially the most important one (and I just read a new study about it).

The best form of damage control is being lean. When you have lower body fat levels your body is more forgiving during days of caloric excess. This is for a couple different reasons. One is that when you are leaner you have improved insulin sensitivity (i.e. your body handles carbohydrates better). Another is that new research shows that when you are leaner, you actually undergo changes in the genes of your stomach fat in response to over eating (overweight people don’t have these changes) that may help keep you lean.

The concept that lean people can handle higher caloric intakes than overweight people is really applicable beyond just eating lots chicken wings (I was just trying to get your attention). The best real world application of this is that lean people can eat more calories while maintaining their leanness. This is the ultimate scenario isn’t it?

Eat more and keep your six pack.

But you have to get lean first.

-Mike

P.S. Next week Alwyn Cosgrove and I have something really exciting planned to you that will not only give you the extra motivation to lose any extra weight you have hanging around but we are also going to personally help you lose it.

Synergy according to Merriam-Webster is, “conditions such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects.”

In other words, if you exercise intensely enough and frequently enough, you may lose some body fat.

If you follow an effective eating plan designed for fat loss, you may lose some body fat.

But, if you put them together, and if you stick with the program long enough, you’ll be amazed by your results.

Case in point.

“JK” has been trying to reduce her body fat for many years.  She’s been successful to the degree that she’d drop a few pounds of fat, but in a short time, she’d regain it.

She was always a great exerciser and trained as many as 5 days per week at times.  It was easy for her to hit the gym and give it her all.  Her biggest challenge like most of us was her love of certain foods and fine wines.  She’s also very prominent in the community and loves to entertain.  Never relying on a caterer, she’s a masterful cook and spared no calorie in her party preparations and exquisite dinners.

Just a few months ago, all that changed.  Sure she still entertains and handles all the preparations herself, but she “flipped the switch” and committed to an effective eating plan and even increased her total exercise volume by adding in some low intensity exercise to top off her energy expenditure.

She still eats her favorite foods, but now she eats in proper portion sizes.  Her meals will vary from 4-6 per day, and she drinks mostly water with an occasional glass of wine with dinner.

Her exercise program looks like this:
Monday
6 a.m  Strength training with fitness coach and interval training
Evening walk 30-60 minutes

Tuesday
Walk 30-60 minutes

Wednesday
6 a.m  Strength training with fitness coach and interval training
Evening walk 30-60 minutes

Thursday
Walk 30-60 minutes

Friday
6 a.m  Strength training with fitness coach and interval training
Evening walk 30-60 minutes

Saturday
Casual walk with her husband

Sunday
Off or walk

JK still considers herself a work in progress.  Her doctor, her husband, and her coach are all thrilled with her progress so far.

Summer can present a number of challenges to sticking to your fat loss program. Schedules are frequently so variable that it becomes more and more difficult to be consistent in the execution of your plan. The kids have activities, your social calendar tends to be busier, and with plenty of sunny weather, you may just want to spend more time outside than hitting the gym.

As the summer comes to a close, there’s two things to remember…you can’t wear white after Labor Day, and it’s time to renew your commitment to you fat loss program.

As I write this there are 11 weeks and four days until Thanksgiving. This is more than enough time to transform your body and achieve some of your most important fat loss goals.

Here’s a four-step plan to make the next 11 weeks your most productive fat loss weeks yet.

1. Do an end of Summer fat loss program recheck

If you had to give yourself a grade for your summer fat loss plan, what would it be? Were there some areas where you fell short? Were there some parts of your program that you were consistent with? Remember your goal is to always achieve a 90% score for consistency. Did you eat at least 90% of your meals each week? Did you complete at least 90% of your fat loss workouts each week? If not, why? Were there issues beyond your control? Do they still exist? Is there something you can do to be more consistent than you were? It’s imperative to be honest with yourself. Identify where you were strong and where you fell short. Then go to step 2.

2. Review and revise your goals

Pull out your written goals list. If you still don’t have one, write one. Writing down your goals gives them a new level of importance and brings them into reality. Did you achieve any of your current goals? If so, cross them off. Are there any that need to be continued into the next two to three months? Perhaps you need to upgrade your goals after a successful summer of fat loss training. Perhaps you need to reconsider your “Why” and attach more emotion to your most important goals. Picture where you could be in just 11 weeks. Recharge your battery and then go to step 3.

3. Tweak you plan

After you determine the strengths of your program and where you may have fallen short, look at your methods that you used for the last three months. Was there something that didn’t seem to help you move toward your goals? Were there components of your program that seemed to work well and move you forward? Do you need more of something like increased meal frequency? Did you really give your exercise program your best efforts every workout? Take advantage of the Workout of the Month if you’re unsure as to where you need to take your program for a new level of success. Maybe you need to upgrade your metabolic strength training. Maybe you need to up the intensity of your interval training.

4. Execute and track your progress.

Start (or restart) now. There’s never really an ideal time to restart your program. There are always challenges to address like last minute changes in your schedule. The key is to have a plan to work from and move forward, it doesn’t have to be exact or perfect. The important thing is to start now. Track your progress from today forward and review your progress every two weeks. Work for a 90% consistency rating each week. If you don’t reach it, recheck, review, tweak, and execute.

Don’t forget to keep us all up to date on your progress in the forum.

So fats are your friend. Which ones should you eat? Here are three favorites of mine:

1. Avocados – Avocados are actually a fruit. You should aim to eat avocados as often as possible as they are nutrition powerhouses and fall under the Power Food category as they have it all – an awesome blend of fatty acids, fiber, more vitamins and minerals than you can count AND they have been show to actually enhance the uptake of other nutrients such as beta-carotene (more reason to eat salsa with your avocados!)
2. Eggs – Once the black sheep of the diet world eggs have finally had their bad name cleared. As a fat burning food eggs rule (especially whole ones). Whole eggs contain a nice dose of leucine which will directly impact your muscle building capabilities. Remember the Naked Nutrition Fat Loss Equation MM=MM=MFL (More muscle = More Metabolism = More Fat Loss)
3. Olive Oil – Touted as the king of heart healthy fats, olive oil has been shown to actually function in a manner similar to Advil. Unfortunately you’d need to eat 1/4 cup of olive oil (but it is still cool). While many liken the ‘goodness’ of olive oil to be due to its high concentration of monounsaturated fats, there is more going on here than just that. Extra virgin olive oils contains sky high levels of polyphenols which will make you healthy, live longer, and happier (cause wouldn’t you be happier if you were healthier and alive longer?).

So pick up some avocado this weekend, grab some omega-3 enriched eggs, and add a little extra virgin olive oil to your scrambled egg whites for more flavor.

Have a great weekend,

Mike

P.S. Sunday night the $1 14 day trial membership to the Faster Fat Loss Zone goes away and the monthly membership price goes up from $14 to $19.95 a month. Bill Hartman is putting the finishing touches on the September workout of the month “1 Dumbell Fat Loss Workout” – Hope to see you in the Members Area.