Learning Your Capacity for Change

Few things in life are as stressful as making a big change. This could be changing a job, relationship, where you live, or in our case, changing your body.

Will you be ready when it's time to make a change?

Regardless of what is changing you will find that you have a limited capacity to handle these changes. You can only handle so much change at once until it overwhelms your mind/body/spirit and leads you to a crash. This crash can manifest as a mental, emotional, or physical breakdown, or even all three.

Changing Your Body

The way your body looks right now is a direct result of:

A) Your current dietary habits

B) Your current exercise/activity workout routine

In order to change your body you must make a significant change in both of these areas, but you still have to be aware of your capacity to change, this however requires patience that many of us do not have or do not want to exercise. The tendency for most people will be a desire to make their body change faster that it’s capable of. Instead of accepting the natural limits of your capacity for change the desire is to force the change and make it happen as fast as possible without recognizing the necessity for gradual incremental changes that foster long term adaptation. This is “all or nothing” thinking and it’s certainly not a long term solution. In fact, this type of extreme thinking leads to yo-yo dieting and a lack of control over your body.

You have to be intelligent with the way you divide your energy between diet and exercise in order to get the maximum benefit without leading yourself to a crash, a rebound and ultimately undoing all the work you’ve just done.

Specifically when you have a significant amount of body weight to lose the bigger change will be from your diet and the smaller change will be from your workout. If you imagine that 100% of your capacity for change is being allocated to your body, then you could say at the beginning you will be putting 80% of that effort into diet and 20% into your workout.

As you lose bodyfat and start to get closer to your ideal bodyfat levels you can start shifting your focus from diet to exercise. This is part of the reverse taper protocol we’ve recently discussed and how this method will lead you towards lasting changes in your body.

Towards the end of your body transformation more of your mental and physical energy and capacity for change should be allocated to exercise and less to diet…the proverbial 20%/80% ratio should be reversed in favor of exercise.

This is how you should be viewing your capacity for change and where you should be allocating your energy when you’re changing your body for the long term.

In today’s podcast, we’ll discuss the ‘capacity for change’ and how to manage a body transformation with this concept in mind. We’ll discuss the reverse taper protocol and how this should ensure you do not crash and rebound at the end of your transformation.

John

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BCAA’s, Fasting and Autophagy

Intermittent fasting has become a popular method for reducing bodyfat. Brad Pilon’s popular book Eat Stop Eat is the go to resource for all things intermittent fasting.

Fasting itself is quite simple, just stop eating for a predetermined length of time. But it seems that people cannot leave well enough alone and always want to add something to make their fasts better, or tweak it in hopes to improve the outcome.

You could say Oscar is in charge of Autophagy on Sesame Street...ok not exactly, but I like the picture of Oscar.

This has lead to a recommendation for taking BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) during a fast. There is a belief that by taking BCAA’s during a fast, you can promote a greater degree of muscle growth than if you fasted without taking them.

This assumption comes from the role BCAA’s play in affecting something called the mTOR pathway in your muscle cells and a mechanism known as ‘Autophagy’.

Autophagy is defined as “the consumption of ones own body”

In typical fitness/bodybuilding media bro-science, this process is mistaken for the loss of muscle mass. Words like ‘catabolism’, ‘muscle break down’, “protein loss’ etc are used to explain this cellular process. These phrases sound like it would be detrimental effect to the process of building/maintaining muscle, however that is not the case.

Autophagy may be more accurately described as ‘cellular cleansing’ (or even just taking out the garbage) which is a normal process that happens constantly in all of your cells. It may even be that if this process is impaired it can lead to accelerated cellular aging and other metabolic problems.

In other words, it’s not correct to view autophagy as a negative event that must be stopped by taking BCAA’s, but rather it is a necessary step in the proper functioning of a healthy cell.

In todays podcast we’ll explain what autophagy is and how it relates to muscle growth, aging and the overall health of a given cell.

You’ll get a different perspective on what anabolism and catabolism mean, and another way of viewing fast with or without BCAA’s.

John

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VT4: 4th Venus Index Contest Announced

The 4th Venus Index Transformation and Open Contests begin next week Monday Jan 16th 2012. Here is everything you need to know to enter.

Top 6 in transformation and Top 6 in Open level 1 get prize money. You must be a Venus Index customer to participate.

There is also an Open Level 2 competition that is available for all those who have placed in a previous Open competition and a special invite to our latest transformation winner Kelly Hancock as well.

Prize Money

Prize money for both Transformation and Open Level 1 are as follows:

1st Place – $500
2nd Place – $350
3rd Place – $250
4th-6th Place – $200

Open Level 2

1st Place – $500
2nd Place – $350
3rd Place – $250

Entering Before Pictures

Submissions of “Before” Photos will be accepted starting Monday Jan 16th. We will be accepting submissions for 5 days until Friday Jan 20th.

Mandatory before photo poses are the front, back, and side relaxed (arms at side) pose.

Mandatory newspaper picture within this photoshoot is required. For the newspaper picture we need to see you in the same position in each of the front, side and back shots and we need to see your body and your face with the paper. Once you’ve done the shots with the paper please redo them immediately without the paper, same outfit, same position, same location, same photoshoot.

There is now a mandatory Contest data chart that you can download
at this link –> ***VT4 Contest Data Chart***

Fill this chart out with your name, age, height, and the “before” column for weight, waist, hip, and shoulder measurement. The chart has some built in functions to calculate your ideal VI numbers and how far you have to go to get golden.

Filling this chart out before and after the contest is mandatory.

Before pictures must be submitted in a zip file labeled in the format of the following example:

“Jane_Doe_Before_Pictures_VT4”

Each picture must be labelled with your first and last name and the associated pose ie:

“Jane_Doe_Before_Front_VT4”

Picture size:

Please re-size larger picture files down to a size that has a height of approx 500 pixels.

Failure to label, or re-size the pictures correctly or zip the file will result in potential disqualification from the contest (these files can easily become lost if they’re not labeled and sent in correctly)

***Send ‘before’ pictures and data chart to me at johnbarban (at) gmail (dot) com***

Before and After pictures are mandatory for all contestants even if you think you’ll be in the open level 1 category (the open category is essentially for those people who are ‘close’ to their ideal proportions whereas the transformation category is for all people no matter how far they have to go to get to their idea proportions)…if you make a big change but still have a ways to go to get to Golden you will likely be placed in the Transformation category…if you only have 10lbs or a few inches to go to get to golden then you will be placed in the open division.

The bottom line is not to worry about what category you think you might end up in. If you work hard, follow the program and put in a serious effort you’ll likely place in one of the two categories.

All contestants who place in the open division will qualify for the level 2 competition to be held in April 2013.

**Open level 2 competitors do not have to submit before pictures**

COVER MODEL AFTER PICTURES

A special note about taking ‘after’ photos. We are now looking at featuring some of our contestants on our book covers in the coming year. If you want to be in the running to be a Venus Index cover model we will be giving instructions on taking your best after photos. This doesn’t and will never require you to hire a photographer. We will be giving you instructions for taking great after pics with a regular digital camera and some simple lighting and a back drop you can put together at your house.

All contestants (both transformation and open category) will be in the running to become a Venus Index cover model. This is just a little bit more incentive to do your very best and take some kick ass ‘after’ pictures to show of your new VI body!

If you want to hire a photographer that is your choice, but we do not require it and will never ask anyone to do so. Past winners have done a fantastic job taking pictures on their own. I suggest you listen to all the contest interviews and learn what you can about taking after pictures.

Previous winners have set the bar high, now it’s time for someone to step up and blow us all away. Who is it going to be?!

John

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Contest Rules and Regulations:

This is the section with the boring legal stuff, you don’t have to read it all but it must be included in this post.

All entries become the property of the Contest Sponsor and will not be returned.

Contest Sponsor, its advertising and promotion agencies assume no responsibility for lost, stolen, delayed, damaged, illegible, incomplete, postage-due, garbled or misdirected entries or entries that have been submitted through illicit means, or do not conform to or satisfy the Contest Rules or for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any entry to be received or traffic congestion on the internet or at any website, or any combination thereof including any injury or damage to an entrant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from playing or downloading any material in the contest.


The Contest Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, cancel or suspend this Contest should an external circumstances arise which are beyond the reasonable control of the Contest Sponsor. The Contest Sponsor is not responsible for any errors or omissions in printing or advertising this Contest.

The Contest Sponsor collects your personal information for the purposes of registration, program evaluation and to keep you informed about contest. The Contest Sponsor may, if consent was given during registration, also contact you from time to time with information about other ways you can lose weight.

The Contest Sponsor will not share any personal data about entrants with any
other party. The personal data collected for this Contest will not be used for any other purposes unless entrants provide explicit permission as indicated on the entry form. For more information about our privacy practices or to obtain a copy of our Privacy Policy, visit Privacy Policy

By entering this Contest, entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Contest Sponsor and their respective employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives, successors, assigns, advertising and promotional agencies from any liability for any loss or damage of any kind to the entrant or any other person in connection with this Contest or participation in any Contest related activities, including but not limited the taking of a urine test or, if declared a winner, the use or misuse of a prize or any portion of a prize including personal injury, death or property damage.

This Contest will run in accordance with these Contest Rules, subject to amendment by the Contest Sponsor. Contest Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, amend, modify or terminate this Contest or the Rules at any time in its sole discretion and without notice.

Entrants must comply with these rules, and will be deemed to have received and understood the rules if they participate in the Contest.

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So You Want to be a Snowflake…Careful What You Wish For

We are living in the era of evidenced based fitness, and evidenced based medicine…you could even say it’s an era of evidenced based health advice. So what does this really mean?

Health care practitioners use a combination of the best evidence that science has produced so far combined with their clinical experience and expertise to provide you with their best estimation and advice for your  health and well being concerns.

Being unique might not be an advantage

We can’t predict the result of your actions with 100% accuracy but rather we can only give you a probability of what is ‘likely’ to happen to ‘most’ people who are similar to you. Your specific results may vary from this average, and this is where the personal aspect of health and fitness comes into play.

With most human physiological systems we can easily put everyone into predictable categories and pools based on age, height, gender, exercise experience, geographic location, socioeconomic status etc. With an understanding of these variables and a brief medical history it’s not hard for a trained health professional to make some general assumptions and recommendations about your best course of action if you want to ‘get in shape’ and improve your  ‘health’.

After that it’s up to you to follow through on these recommendations and see how they worked. Even if these recommendations have been studied and shown to have a ‘average’ effect of 10lbs of weight loss over 10 weeks and a lowering of blood pressure and an increase in muscle mass and strength we can never know for sure how it will affect you specifically.

Enter the Snowflake Paradox

During any weight loss study, or muscle building study or any research in any health related field the results are usually presented as an average. You will hear claims like “subjects lost an average of 15lbs in 4 months”…or “subjects gained an average of 5lbs of lean mass in 12 weeks”…or “on average cholesterol lowering medication will cause a 10-15% reduction in circulating cholesterol after 3 months” etc.

The key word to notice is AVERAGE. Data collected from a group of people will be presented as an average, but this doesn’t mean that even one single person actually had that exact result. There will be outliers on both the high end and the low end.

If a weight loss study showed an average of 15lbs weight loss in 4 months, there could easily be some people who only lost 2lbs and others who lost 25lbs. And here is the Paradox of wanting to be the snowflake…anyone with a significant amount of weight to lose will want to be the outlier or ‘snowflake’ who displays atypical results that benefit them…in other words, you will only want to be the snowflake if it means you get to lose 25lbs and not the poor sucker who only lost 2lbs in this study.

The kick in the butt is that you don’t get to choose which snowflake you are. Your genetic predisposition and a myriad of other and likely unknown factors will determine if you are average, or above average or below average. The only way for you to know where you will be is to go through the program and find out for yourself.

In today’s podcast, I talk to Bryan Chung about evidenced based medicine and fitness and how to understand what fitness claims really mean.

John

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Get Back to Basics to Get in Shape

It’s the first week after new years and the gyms will be overflowing with new years resolutioners. The resolutions are usually some vague goal such as ‘lose some weight’ or ‘get in shape’ etc. These people are well intentioned no doubt, but one of the problems I see with this sort of action is a lack of a defined goal and a lack of a structured plan to get there.

Watch TV at the gym instead of at home with snacks…it’s a basic change that can go a long way

This is the time of year that reminds me how confusing and complicated the diet and fitness media has made things. It’s becoming apparent that people think getting in shape must be significantly more complicated than it has to be.

In reality there are just a few basic items that need to be taken care of to reach any diet and fitness goal. Unfortunately most people look right past these fundamental basics and instead clutter their minds and lives with the minutiae and trivial things written in the pages of fitness magazines and blogs.

If you don’t have the basics under control, none of the fancy techniques you read about will be of any value.

First and foremost you have to get back to basics, and get a base of effective principles and habits in place before you even think of messing around with fancy diet or advanced training techniques.

For example, do you even get an hour of movement in per day? If not, then that is your first order of business…forget about ‘functional training’ or a periodized workout routine, just get out of your house and get moving for a start.

After that you need to get calories in control, if you don’t know how many calories you consume on a daily basis then you must get this under control before you start reading about vegetarianism, or paleo this, and low carb that, and the latest diet fads. No matter what a marketing claim has told you…calories matter, and you have to get a handle on them if you’re serious about making a change in your body.

These are the most basic items that you must get a handle on if you want to change your body. If you’re struggling to make a change in your body and you don’t know where to start, then make your resolution to get back to basics and build effective habits for the new year.

In today’s podcast, we’ll discuss the basic principles that are essential for getting in shape, it’s simpler than you think.

John

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A Picture is Worth 1000 Words: Interview with Lauren Jacobsen

When you’re browsing a fitness magazine or the interwebs for diet and fitness information you will no doubt be exposed to pictures of fitness models.

In some cases the models are in an ad openly endorsing a given product like a supplement or workout system or device, but in many other cases the models are simply displayed within articles about training or nutrition. In both cases we learn to associate the look of the model to have something to do with the information we’re reading.

A Picture Chronology from Rookie Model In 2006 to Seasoned Pro in 2011

2006 - Laurens First Photoshoot ever!

2009 - 3 months out from her next figure show

 

2010 - On stage at the Arnold Classic Figure Competition

2010 - Day after the north american national figure competiton

 

2011 - 8 weeks out from Arnold Classic

In each of these pictures Lauren is in a different condition based on where she is compared to a figure competition

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This can be very misleading if you don’t know the story behind the picture and the model in that picture. In todays podcast you’ll get to know the model in the above pictures and the story that goes with them.

Lauren Jacobsen is a national level figure competitor and has been working in the supplement industry for the better part of the last 10 years. She’s knows what goes into making a professional ad and photoshoot both from the marketing side and the model side. She has been a model in multiple photoshoots and today she will reveal some of the ‘secrets’ behind them.

When it comes to fitness photoshoots a picture is truly worth 1000 words, and today those words are going to be Lauren explaining to you what really goes into a photoshoot and the look of a fitness/figure model.

Pursuing the goal of a better shape and a better feeling body is always a good thing, it will give you a sense of self confidence, and a feeling of empowerment but you have to do it for yourself and on your terms. You can do a competition if you like, or you can simply book a photoshoot and do your best to get in your best shape. With a little insight and effort you can have a professional looking photoshoot just like Lauren.

Going through the process of preparing for a photoshoot may show you once and for all that you can get your body to look every bit as good as a figure model if you want to. But the key is that it’s got to be your choice and on your terms.

Listen up ladies, because this is going to be very revealing about what really happens in the competitive realm of figure and fitness competitions as well as the behind the scenes look at photoshoots and what you’re really looking at in magazines and online.

It’s a big reminder to never compare yourself to anyone else besides yourself…and especially not to a picture of a fitness model that you’ve never met in person.

John

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Never Let Them See You Sweat

I was recently speaking with a fitness competitor who had just won a show and she said something that was very revealing about the process of getting in shape. She said that she was shocked at how much ‘her body’ rebounded from the diet and getting in shape.

She said it almost as if she had nothing to do with the overeating that took place after the show. And this is partly true. If you diet incorrectly and push it too hard to get into extreme condition you can set yourself up for a big rebound characterized by an uncontrollable urge to overeat.

Is the point to show them how hard you work, or the body you built?

 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Unfortunately many people get coached to cut calories harder and harder as they get leaner and leaner and this is the exact opposite of what we propose you should do. Instead of cutting calories lower as you get leaner, we suggest you cut calories hard when you have the most bodyfat to lose, and as you get leaner bring your calories up closer to maintenance until you finish with your leanest look and eating all the way up to energy expenditure.

This pattern should teach you how to not only diet without a crash, but also maintain the body once you get there. This pattern of ‘reverse tapering’ will take care of the physiological rebound that accompanies most hard diets, and that is a good thing because there are multiple other factors that can also sabotage your body transformation success.

Enter the “Imposter phenomenon”

Many people who go through a transformation report that they still cannot believe they did it and that they cannot believe what they’re seeing in the mirror. They’ve been living so long with their old body image that they have a hard time accepting that they’ve now changed and look different and well, look better. The point is that your body can and will change much faster than your mind. The time immediately after your transformation is when you have to re-train your mind to accept and believe that you deserve the new body and that it’s here to stay. This is partly why diets fail, and another reason why avoiding any rebound eating is so critical. This is why reverse taper dieting works so well, it helps you  avoid big time hunger cravings during this fragile psychological state when your mind is still getting used to seeing and accepting your new body. The next big challenge is the social effect of being in shape.

Once you’re in great shape you can no longer identify with the process of ‘getting in shape’ because at some point you will finally be in shape. At this point the goal is to maintain that shape with the least amount of work possible. This is the concept of never letting them see you sweat.

Being the guy or girl in the gym who is sweating buckets, and grunting and screaming, and ‘working harder’ than everyone else isn’t the goal. Instead, being the person who works just as hard as everyone else BUT looks better than everyone else should be the goal.

This isn’t to say that you don’t take your workouts seriously, but rather to do what is necessary to maintain your look without overdoing it.

The workout and the effort isn’t the goal, the body is the goal. This is achieved with just the right amount of targeted effort, and not a buckshot approach of doing as much as possible.

Once you’ve achieved a new body, the challenge is to keep it while making the least amount of sacrifices as possible…in other words: Never Let Them See You Sweat.

John

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How to Avoid Gaining Weight Over the Holidays

Wouldn’t we all like to just cruise through the holiday season without gaining an ounce but still indulging in all of the holiday feasting!?

NOTICE: This is an oldie but goodie from last year that we’re bringing back up for the holiday season

It’s entirely possible and in today’s podcast we’ll explain how, and believe it or not it has nothing to do with how you eat at these big events. It has to do with how you eat when you’re alone.

The point of eating for weight loss (or even just to avoid weight gain) isn’t to avoid social events and all of the celebrations of the holidays but rather to go for it on those days, but do the real work during the ‘off’ times when nobody is around.

The key is to not let anyone see how much work it really is. The more it looks like magic to everyone else the better you’re doing.

In other words, you should be able to show up to thanksgiving or any other holiday dinner and eat whatever you like and have people come up and wonder how you manage to lose weight, or maintain your figure while eating like that.

You don’t want to be the person avoiding the potatoes, and stuffing, and pasta, and bread, who just sits at the end of the table eating a salad and calculating how much protein you need to maintain your muscle mass. This isn’t and never was the goal.

 

READ: You can download the transcription of the podcast here:

How To Avoid Gaining Weight over the Holidays

John

When Does Bodyweight Matter?

There are many different metrics you can use to measure a change in your body shape and composition. The short list includes, bodyweight, bodyfat %, and the circumference of your waist, hips, and shoulders. All of these measurements can be made at home relatively easily with a decent degree of accuracy.

At what point does the scale become useless?

All you need is a scale, a cheap set of bodyfat calipers, and a measuring tape and you can keep a pretty good eye on the shape and composition of your body.

These metrics can give you a snap shot of where you’re at during any given point in time, but how much information will they give you about how much you are changing over time?

The answer to this question is dependent upon where you currently are.

If you’re BMI (Body Mass Index) is in the overweight or obese category it’s likely that the only metric that is even worth measuring is bodyweight. Indeed if one is large enough calipers are problematic to use, and it may not even be obvious where to put the measuring tape to get a true ‘waist’ measurement etc.

The point is when an individual has between 50-100lbs to lose, bodyweight itself is likely your most useful measurement tool. The goal is simply weight loss, regardless of what the weight itself even is…it will likely be a mix of bodyfat, excess body water, and even some pathological forms of lean mass (remember not all lean mass is muscle mass).

Reducing total bodyweight is the key for people who are in upper range of the overweight BMI and all those in the obese range.

Once your bodyweight enters the ‘normal’ weight range of the BMI things like bodyfat % and the tape measure on the waist, hips and shoulders (as well as arms, legs, chest etc) start to tell more of the story.

Bodyweight becomes less useful as you approach the 10% bodyfat range, and becomes almost totally useless below this level. As a woman approaches the mid to low teens in bodyfat % the only thing left to track changes is the mirror.

In today’s podcast, we’ll discuss where the break points are for using body weight, body fat % and measurements as an accurate way to track progress. In the end the only measurement that will truly matter is the mirror.

John

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Lift Heavy for Longevity: Interview With Denise DeGrazia

The diet and fitness industry/media has grown exponentially since the internet has become a regular part of our daily lives. You have almost limitless information outlets to consume and confuse yourself with. Unfortunately most of them are providing less information and more entertainment.

With the increase in information channels there is a disproportionate increase in incorrect and basically useless information. In many cases it’s not only useless but detrimental.

Denise Venus Index Open

Denise 4th Place Venus Index

Denise DeGrazia Venus Index Open 4th Place

It is sometimes hard to know what is true and what is false at first glance. One of the only ways to truly understand is through experience and trial and error.

In todays interview Denise DeGrazia will take us to school through her experiences with fitness and lifting weights over the course of the last 3 decades. She relates stories of what it’s been like going through many fitness fads, and learning what really works for women and how to build and maintain a strong muscular lean body well into her 50’s.

Wisdom from Experience

Over the years Denise has seen diet and fitness fads come and go, and experimented with many different forms of exercise and dieting. She has the authority of many years of experience on her side and relates it to all of us in this podcast. She has a unique perspective going all the way back to what diet and fitness meant to women of her mothers generation, and then her own generation, and now to the generations below her. The story transcends decades but the final answers for getting lean, strong and muscular will always remain the same. Lift heavy and often, and keep an eye on your calories.

When you start strength training it will help build, shape and strengthen your muscle and body for your best shape. Over time the long term benefit becomes that of longevity, quality of life and the ability to live an independent and fulfilling life well into advanced age.

LISTEN:

 

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