Or... "How I lost 25 pounds of fat and added 5 pounds of muscle in 7 weeks by talking to some guy on the phone!"
Followers of this column are aware of Beck's ongoing tale of transformation. Unbeknownst to readers, another of my Purposefully Primitive "phone train" clients was undergoing his own dramatic transformational odyssey simultaneous to Beck. Jim Vee contacted me a few months back and engaged my over-the-phone personal trainer services. I set him up using a virtually identical training and nutrition template to the one I had put Beck on a few weeks earlier. Jim was a few years younger then Beck, 54. Both were the same height, 5 foot 10 inches. Jim Vee started the program off a weighing 206 while Beck commenced weighing 227. Both were out of shape and serious about getting back into shape. Both were determined to shed pounds and add muscle. Interestingly both men hit identical benchmarks last week...
➢ In week ten Beck registered a 25 pound fat loss and a five pound muscle gain
➢ In week seven Jim registered a 25 pound fat loss and a five pound muscle gain
Beck started off on our Purposefully Primitive program weighing 227. This past week he tipped the bathroom scale at 207. Jim Vee started his program weighing 206 and this past week he weighed 186. The training and nutritional protocol for each was identical...
➢ Resistance training: three exercises were performed exclusively three times a week: squat, bench press and Sumo deadlift. By purposefully limiting the exercise menu, each man became quickly proficient at each of the three core lifts. Both started off with high-rep, no weight squats. Once they were able to perform the 'no weight' flatfooted squat while maintaining an upright torso, keeping the hips under the shoulders at all times, we proceeded to the 'plate squat.' Weeks later I eventually transitioned each to barbell back squatting. Both men had experience bench pressing though they had to 'unlearn' some bad bench habits. Dumbbell bench presses were done using a 'stretch and pause' start and a complete lockout. The Sumo deadlift was taught as a 'reverse squat.' Both used a kettlebell (initially) before transitioning to the barbell Sumo deadlift. I actually cut back on their weight training after four weeks: dropping the middle day and reducing weekly weight sessions from thrice weekly to twice weekly.
➢ Cardio exercise: each man used outdoor 'power walking' as their lone cardio mode. Both obtained heart rate monitors and logged results. Outdoor walking is a vastly underrated aerobic mode. Overweight individuals can easily generate 80-90% of their age-related heart rate maximum by simple power walking - so why would an out-of-shape untrained person resort to jogging, running or some other high impact, potentially injurious form of cardio? Walking outdoors is an invigorating experience for those who've never tried it. Ever wonder why they now install TVs in fancy cardio machines? To take your mind off the drudgery of aerobic exercise done in a gym while using a machine. Both men fell in love with early morning outdoor cardio. Beck got to a point where he was burning 1,000 calories in his extended walking sessions; Jim Vee was able to rip through 500 calories in 31 minutes. Intense power walking amplifies a sluggish metabolism, bestows endurance and inhaling fresh, highly oxygenated outdoor air infuses the walker with what the Russians call Zdorovye, roughly translated as 'vitality.'
➢ Nutrition: The first order of business was to assure both men that starvation-style eating is NOT the way of the Purposeful Primitive. We train hard and eat lots of healing, regenerating, nourishing calories. Meal timing is important. We suggest the trainee either subscribe to the bodybuilder-inspired multiple-meal plan wherein small meals are eaten at equidistant intervals throughout the day OR subscribe to my friend Ori Hofmekler's Warrior Diet approach wherein one large meal is eaten at day's end - other than a post-resistance training 'recovery meal.' Both Jim and Beck selected the Warrior Diet approach. I didn't get too mental about their nutrition; initially I had each man 'clean up' their food selections. Past that there is a natural, predictable process that occurs when an individual actually makes tangible gains: the deeper they get into the process, the more gains they reap, the more they seek to clean up their eating - without my prodding. I call this 'creeping incrementalism.' Real results spur self-discipline.
Each man developed an ever increasing physical momentum the deeper we got into the process. As the weeks slipped by, as each man saw the irrefutable physical changes, they naturally exerted more effort in the gym, during their walks and they ate with ever greater discrimination - all of which further amplified results. Jim Vee shed 25 pounds of fat and added 5 pounds of muscle in 49 days. It took Beck 70 days.
On day one of week one Beck was able to perform 2 sets of 10 in the no-weight squat and finished with one tough set of 10 reps holding a 25 pound plate. These were deep pause squats: on day 64 Beck barbell-squatted an ultra-deep set of 5 reps with 125 pounds. On week one, day one Beck deadlifted a 54 pound kettlebell for 10 reps and pulled 135 for 5 tough reps in the Sumo deadlift. 70 days later he deadlifted 205 for three easy reps.
On day one of week one Jim Vee hit a set of 30 reps, then 20 and finally 16 reps in the 'no-weight' pause squat: on day 45 JV blasted up two sets of 8 reps with 140 pounds in the barbell back squat. In week one on day one Jim sumo deadlifted a 54 pound kettlebell for three sets of ten reps: on day 46 he deadlifted 225 for a triple.
It's one thing to lose body weight - it's quite another to lose body fat while adding muscle in the process. Both men continue to roll on. I am all about "teaching people to fish" instead of continually "selling them fish." These two men now understand the 'system' and at this juncture each man has successfully been taught how to fish.
Anyone wanting to become a 'phone-train' client of Marty Gallagher can contact him at MGSO@embarqmail.com. He limits phone clients and currently has only one spot available.
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