Great! Let’s talk about physique training then.

 Guest author Vaclav Gregor’s Inspiring Transformation

The truth is that in order to change the way you look, you have only two options:
a) Lose or gain muscle
b) Lose or gain fat

That’s it, there’s no other option.

Fat loss is hard, but if you are dedicated it can happen very quickly. However, once you lose fat and get really lean, it takes time and hard work to build muscle. It’s just a painfully slow process and almost impossible to measure on a weekly basis compared to fat loss.

Let’s talk about the skills you need to have to ensure you build more muscle and shape your physique in the way you desire.

If you aren’t an athlete and you are not interested in performance, what you are basically doing is training for a good looking physique – physique training.

There are three absolutely crucial skills you need to learn in order to succeed in physique training.

Physique Training Skill No.1 – Well-Structured Workout Program

This is your number one tool if you want to build muscle and change the shape of your physique. There is no magic bullet or perfect supplement or anabolic food you can take to build muscle overnight.

Quite frankly there are only three options to build muscle:
a) Drugs
b) Juvenile muscle growth
c) Consistent training

And if you don’t want to take some kind of pharmaceuticals like the professional bodybuilders do and aren’t in your teens anymore, you are left with only one option – train your ass off in the gym (…um, that’s a metaphor, folks).

This is why it makes sense to put most of your budget into this area of your fitness, not some crazy supplements.

Let’s face it, supplement companies have really mastered the art of marketing, I mean it’s almost impossible to walk past the supplements in a gym and not end up drinking some shake.

So, it doesn’t come as such a surprise that people invest most of their budget in supplements, but when you ask them how much they have invested into workout routines and different programs, they say “well, nothing, I make my own programs, because I read fitness magazines”.

Well, if you are still asking yourself why you are not getting any results, there is your answer.

I believe that learning how to design a workout is a skill that anyone can learn, but it requires lots of experience.

And if you are not satisfied with the way you look, you don’t have enough experience and knowledge to design a good program.

You need to seek out some expert and have him design the workout for you. Or if you can’t afford a customized plan, there are all sorts of physique oriented workout programs and routines you can get online nowadays that are very good for just a few bucks, and they usually come with some sort of money back guarantee. You just have to know where to look for them and know who to trust.

Here are a couple of guidelines to help you out pick a solid physique training workout:

1. You need to know whether you are interested in physique training or performance training and if your goal is looking good, you need a workout that is focused on this goal.

2. In your workouts you have to focus on building your V-taper. Here is how: dedicate the first part of each workout to training your shoulders, the second part to back or chest and then follow by training your arms or legs and abs. Arms and legs do not need as much attention as the muscles that make up for the dominant V-taper. You need to build a solid frame first, then you can focus on your biceps or calves if they are you lagging parts.

3. Training twice a week is not enough. 3 times a week is bare minimum, but preferable you should train 4-6 times a week, depending on your conditioning. And don’t worry about over-training; it’s really just about conditioning yourself to handle more intensity and frequency (this is what The Vital Breath Performance System was designed to do). The only people that truly know what overtraining is are professional athletes who train 2-3 times a day, every day of the week, month after month.

4. The workout program should be made around YOUR lifestyle. Which means having no set times for the workouts or meals. You should be able to go to the gym after your work or before, whatever suits you the most. People go way too strict and then fail, because they don’t realize they have a life that will get in the way.

5. It should have variety of exercises and set/rep/rest patterns, and preferable change on regular basis and introduce new patterns every month

6. The rest period should be included and be very specific (ex.:90 seconds of rest in between sets)

7. It should state whether it’s designed for beginners, advanced, or very experienced trainees

8. It shouldn’t have muscle building diet plans or list of supplements you have to buy to get results from the workout or at least not stress it too much (if it’s just a list of recommended or optional stuff it can still be a good workout program)

These are a couple basic guidelines to have when choosing a workout program. I think that if you can find a workout program that meets 85-95% of those guidelines, you know you have found a really solid program.

The Results of a Solid Program

Once you have a good program it comes down to what you are going to do with it. Which brings us to skill number 2.

Physique Training Skill No.2 – Perfect Form

Having a good program is one thing, but knowing how to use it is something completely different.
You absolutely have to learn the proper technique of each exercise.

Your training style will determine how good results will you get form the workout.
You can buy the best workout program in the world that has helped thousands before you, but if you are just hanging out in the gym, sort of lifting some weights then you can’t really expect any results.

Some exercises are more difficult and you will probably find squats or deadlifts more tricky than bicep curls. However, it’s worth learning all of those. Go and watch some YouTube instructional videos (link to Vaclav’s videos) – you can start here and then copy those lifts in the gym.

Ask experienced guys in the gym about your form, and I would suggest paying some good trainer to help you learn a good technique and review your form with him once a month. Just tell him that you have your workout and you are only looking for improving your technique nothing else.

Women don’t usually have issues with this part, but for guys it’s like the phase “perfect form” doesn’t even exist. We are all about lifting heavy, right?

Well, you have to lift heavy or in other words create a great resistance, however if you don’t learn how to work that specific muscle properly it doesn’t really matter what amount of weight you lift.

If your form sucks, your results will suck too.

Remember that.

This brings us to the third skill you need to learn to master physique training.

Physique training skill No.3 -Muscle Tension and Muscle Contraction

One of the most common questions people (especially guys) ask is “How much should I lift?”.

Well, the answer is lift as heavy as possible; however there is a catch that most people don’t know about.

It’s not just as heavy as possible, but as heavy as possible with perfect form AND while still feeling the muscle working.

The last part is very important.

Here is the thing, it’s really important to lift heavy and challenge your muscles, you can’t lift pencils and expect your biceps to double in size over the next month. Ain’t gonna happen. However, there is a clear difference in lifting and training.

Most people go to the gym to lift. Well, if you focus on just getting the weights up and down you are missing a major bodybuilding secret. In order to get your muscles to grow, you need to really feel the movements. Or in other words think from the muscle, not from the weight.

Let’s see, most people care about how much they lift, you hear it all the time: “Hey man how much can you bench”.

Well, there will always be someone, who can lift more than you.

If your goal is to look good, then stop caring about the weight and how much you lift and start focusing on training your muscle.

Think from the muscle. Can you feel it working? Feel it stretching and contracting while lifting the weight?

Can you assemble the specific muscle units to fully work the muscle?
That should be the goal!

Learn those three skills and you will master physique training in no time (well almost).

Summary:

• Decide on whether you want to focus on performance or improving your physique, doing both performance training and physique training together is counter productive (ie. stupid).
• Get a good workout program that’s designed by a pro.
• Focus on building your V-taper, just as women have their naturally attractive look – hourglass, guys have too – V-tape.
• Learn the proper technique of all the exercises you have in your workout plan.
• If you are not interested in being a competitive powerlifter, then you shouldn’t think “from the weight”, but rather “from the muscle”.
• You need to make your muscles bigger, you shouldn’t focus on the weight. The number doesn’t say anything, but how you look does.

About guest author Vaclav Gregor

Vaclav Gregor is a former hard-gainer, fitness writer, online coach and founder of the Muscle Pyramid and member of Adonis Lifestyle team. His focus is on helping young, busy men achieve their physique goals and improve their social life.

He is a believer in doing things differently. Being connected to a few of the best scientists and “behind the scene guys” he knows the truth about bodybuilding, steroids and supplements.

To learn more about his approach and build a better body with professional workouts and diet made  to fit around your life, click here: 2012 Fitness Photoshoot (Photos & Mind-blowing step-by-step techniques included)

“I really wanted to get in shape and lose some weight. So, I looked around and found a workout program that seemed great. I got a gym membership, and was really excited to get started.

Then I dug in and worked hard for a couple of weeks. Slowly, I started to see some improvements.

But then I don’t know what happened. I just got tired of it and started skipping some of my workouts. And then a month later, I got busy and never seemed to find the time to do it anymore.”

Has that ever happened to you?

The old grind

It was the story of my exercise life until I reached the age of 59 and discovered a technique so effective that it completely changed my experience during and after exercise.

You see, the inconvenient truth is that most of us experience exercise as work or a chore. We’ve been taught that in order to get in shape it has to be mind over matter. We must muster enough will power to get us through the strain and the sweat of a workout in order to get the rewards of a better body.

That’s the “no pain no gain” school of thought. And while there have been some outstanding achievements by a few individuals over the years, ultimately, we have to judge the success of this system by the results we see daily in the general population.

And what we see is not a pretty sight. Regardless of all the advances in exercise, nutrition and sports science, our knowledge has not produced a model that is sustainable for the average man or woman.

If it had, we would not be living in a society with a rampant obesity epidemic where less than 15% of the population exercises on a regular basis.

If this is not the definition of systemic failure I don’t know what is.

So, what is the solution?

Well, it’s not the latest exercise gizmo on the TV or the flavor of the month extreme workout DVD.

A few years ago I tried a breathing technique, from the 5000 year old tradition of Ayurveda, that when combined with my resistance training, gave me a totally different experience than I’d ever had before.

Instead of huffing and puffing and straining on each rep, I sailed through the entire workout feeling calm, centered and serene.

When it was over, I felt no fatigue. In fact, I felt just the opposite. I had more energy than when I started, and that experience lasted the rest of the day.

What I used is a form of nasal breathing and a special protocol for applying it to exercise. Even though the technique is simple, it took some time to get used to it.

Initially, I had to dial back my weights by about ten percent. But after about six weeks I was meeting and then exceeding my old benchmarks.

There were three areas where I saw big improvements:

1. First and foremost, my enjoyment during exercise skyrocketed to levels I had never experienced. This solved the old problem that had plagued me with every training program I had ever tried over the course of forty years- workout burnout and boredom. Instead, this new technique made the process of exercise so enjoyable that it became it’s own reward. Hence, it became a self reinforcing cycle.
2. Performance levels all improved.
3. Recovery from exercise increased dramatically. Before using the nasal breathing protocol I could comfortably handle three weight training sessions per week age the age of 59. But after using the protocol for a couple months I advanced to training five to six times per week. I couldn’t restrain myself. The training itself felt so good, and recovery was so fast, that each day I would wake up wanting to train again.

The take away lessons from this are:

• You can make exercise fun again.
• One simple breathing technique can completely transform your experience.
• It’s never too late in life to learn a new trick.

Here’s one tip for you to try.

Next time you go for a brisk walk, start off by breathing only through your nose. If at any point that becomes too difficult then slow down till you can comfortably regain your nasal breathing.

That should give you a flavor of what I’m talking about. Let me know how it goes in the comment section below, and I’ll respond if you have any questions.

Then if you want to take your workouts to a whole new level, go check out the Vital Breath Performance System.

To your health and happiness,
Joe Weaver

The essence of what I discovered was the missing link of how to

effectively coordinate the mind with the body during physical activity.

I learned how to balance the demands of the ego with the performance of the body to meet and then surpass previous performance levels. In the process, I discovered the benefits of faster recovery and increased enjoyment (of being in the zone).

Since that time I have easily maintained that same high degree of fitness and health. And I’ve taken on coaching clients who are having the same positive experiences I did. So, in order to make these ancient techniques available to more people I put all this knowledge together in a program I call The Vital Breath Performance System.

I want to make it clear that I did not invent these techniques. These techniques come from a body of knowledge that is over 5000 years old called Ayurveda. Over time these techniques have found their way to various parts of the world in different cultures.

Ayurveda is the traditional preventative health care system that originated in India several millennia ago and now has practitioners all over the world. It has gained popularity in the west due to the pioneering efforts of Dr. Robert Svoboda, Dr. Vasant Lad, Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. John Douillard.

From time to time there have been revivals of this knowledge. But for the most part these techniques have remained hidden from popular culture.

After seeing the results for myself and my clients, I believe that this knowledge has the power to transform our experience of exercise and fat loss in a fundamental way. To change it from one of struggle and strain to one of ease and dynamic enjoyment.

This is a major departure from the old exercise paradigm of stress and recover.  Instead it gives rise to a revolutionary new paradigm I would call “stimulate and grow”.

Essentially it means we can have our cake and eat it too. It means we can completely enjoy exercise while we do it AND enjoy maximum benefits after. No more pain to get the gain. Instead we practice no pain and no strain to get All gain.

Enjoyment + Balance + Simplicity = Sustainability.

The techniques in  The Vital Breath Performance System nurture the four qualities I feel are essential in achieving any kind of long term fitness success.

ENJOYMENT

If you don’t enjoy the process while you are exercising or dieting your efforts will ultimately fail. You may have an iron will and an incredible ability to tolerate pain, but over time the accumulation of stress and boredom will sabotage all your efforts.

The techniques in Vital Breath Performance System establish the values of comfort, ease and enjoyment as the cornerstones for all fitness goals. The idea is to keep stress in your system to a minimum while incorporating rapid recovery and rejuvenation both during and after exercise.

BALANCE

With all the insane workout and diet information that is currently flooding the market it is easy to get confused. Most programs focus so heavily on end results that the aspect of balance isn’t even considered. It seems that many programs are only in a contest to make the most outlandish claims in their race for sales.

I believe balance is of primary importance, and true long-lasting fitness can not be attained without it. The Vital Breath Performance System begins with the goal of creating balance between the mind and the body. The mind may have definite fitness goals, but through our techniques you are able to listen to the body’s needs instead of over riding them.

In this way you nourish your body in an unstressful way and you minimize the risk of injury from overuse or over training.

Progress then becomes steady over time instead of a series of starts and stops. In fitness it is slow and steady that wins the race. And the race is not to get ripped in 90 days (although you can do that with this system). The race is for life long fitness and good health. Rome was not built in a day, and neither is a fit, healthy body.

I would much rather show people how to lose 1-2 lbs. a week using a gentle, balanced method that has been time tested over the last 5000 years than to have them lose five pounds a week only to put it all back on a month later.

Ripped at 60 is dedicated to the idea that fitness is a natural result of living a balanced life. The more balance you achieve in your life the more fit, vital, strong and full of energy you become. In this sense balance is true power.

SIMPLICITY

It seems that simplicity has also been lost these days in the modern frenzy to get fit. I get emails everyday telling me I have to manipulate my hormones and confuse my muscles. I am also told that I won’t get fit unless I have a doctor or PhD design my diet and exercise programs.

I know from my experience that there is a better way. Your body is your friend, and when you learn how to listen it will inform you and guide you in a way that is more holistic than any outside source of information could ever be.

Although variety is important in both your diet and exercise programs it does not have to be complex in order for it to be effective. In fact with a simpler program you will be more likely to stick with it and reap the rewards.

Fitness can be accomplished with simple modifications to your lifestyle. You don’t need to make fitness your life in order to get in great shape. In fact it is the other way around. You get fit so you can enjoy life and all it has to offer.

The Vital Breath Performance System is an uncomplicated program. The techniques are simple, but the results are powerful. It can be applied to any sport or exercise system to boost performance, speed recovery and increase enjoyment.

SUSTAINABILITY

Fitness is not a sprint. It is a marathon. The results and benefits of exercise are cumulative. If you stop exercising the benefits go away.

That is why it is imperative that all the pieces of your program re-enforce and support each other. Then fitness becomes a natural, easy lifelong habit.

True fitness is not the result of straining and forcing and manipulating our bodies to reach some unrealistic and unsustainable goal of what we should look like.

Rather, true fitness is the result of coordinating the mind and body to produce greater health, happiness and vitality in our daily lives.

It doesn’t hurt that we get a toned, lean and sexy body in the process.

• Enjoyment

• Balance

• Simplicity

• Sustainability

If any of these elements are missing you will not experience long lasting success no matter how well intentioned you are or how brilliantly structured your program is or how high your tolerance for pain and boredom is.

The wisest thing I’ve ever heard on the subject of fitness is this simple phrase:

“Make fitness fun and you’ll be lean for life.”

This doesn’t mean that your workouts can’t be challenging. Rather “fun” is that quality of enjoyment that is spontaneously exhilarating. It is a quality that can permeate your workouts and diet so that naturally the next day you wake up and want to repeat the experience.

This is the quality that eluded me for so many years while I followed the “No Pain-No Gain” mentality that is so prevalent in our society today. Today we are so driven to pay attention to only the outer parameters of success that we completely ignore the subtle cues our bodies are constantly giving us.

I believe that our bodies have an amazing innate intelligence. And if we want to attain our full fitness potential (or even realize a small slice of that potential in a sustainable way) we must connect with and listen to our body’s intelligence and wisdom.

Many of the world’s great athletes through the ages have alluded to this “inner intelligence” which they could tune into sporadically during their careers. A common thread that runs through their accounts is that when the mind and body become totally in tune the resulting experience is one of peace, freedom and effortlessness.

David Hemory, 1968 Olympic world record holder in 400-meter hurdles,“Only a couple times in my life have I felt in such condition that my mind and body worked almost as one. This was one of those times. My limbs reacted as my mind was thinking: total control, which resulted in absolute freedom. Instead of forcing and working my legs, they responded with the speed and in the motions that were being asked of them.”

Tiger Woods, “I always have an inner peace on the golf course. I’ve learned to trust the subconscious. My inside never lied to me when I was in the zone.”

Discovering a New Paradigm

It was the summer of 2010 and I was reading yet another old book on diet and training. I was once again starting to procrastinate working out. It wasn’t because I had lost interest in being, feeling and looking strong and fit. I still had a strong desire, but my will had begun to weaken.

As much as I wanted to exercise, I just could not motivate myself to continue training. It was like there were two voices inside my head. One was saying “Yes, let’s go do it”, and the other was saying “You know what, I just don’t want to today”.

And more often the second voice was starting to win out.

After years of research and self-experimentation with many different training and diet programs which each produced a limited amount of success, I was once again getting a case of Exercise-itis.

Exercise-itis is a disease that has reached epidemic proportions today. Depending on which news report you read it is estimated that 75-80% of populations in developed countries don’t get regular exercise. From what I see I believe that figure should be a lot higher.

Anyway, one afternoon in the summer of 2010 as I was reading the afore mentioned book I became intrigued with several ancient techniques that I had previously dismissed as irrelevant years earlier. I guess it was one of those cases of when the student is ready the teacher (or in this case the teaching) will appear.

As I thought about these techniques in light of my years of fitness knowledge and experience I was skeptical. But I decided to give them a try anyway. I was already on the verge of quitting my latest program. So this couldn’t hurt.

I did my regular scheduled workout routine and modified it to accommodate the new techniques.

The first thing I noticed was a feeling of effortlessness while I was working out. When I finished, I felt refreshed instead of fatigued. This was such a foreign experience for me that I wondered if I had practiced the techniques correctly.

Initially I had to ratchet down my intensity levels during exercise in order to properly perform the techniques. But after a couple months of adjusting I started to surpass my old performances. Instead of huffing and puffing I felt calm, serene and settled, but full of energy at the same time.

My ability to recover from exercise skyrocketed and my overall health became much stronger. That fall and winter of 2010 I no longer caught the colds and flu that had been so frequent and annoying in previous years.

By April of 2011 I was in the best shape of my life and felt robustly healthy. On a whim I decided to enter an online physique contest for men over 40. I was pleasantly surprised (make that “bouncing off the walls delirious”) when I placed second. The guy that beat me was 42, and the fellow that came in third was 40. I had just turned the ripe old age of 60. Thus the name of this site Ripped at 60.

The essence of what I discovered was the missing link of how to effectively coordinate the mind with the body during physical activity.

Part Two of this post will cover where this knowledge originated and how I organized it into the method I named The Vital Breath Performance System.

I’ll also cover how it nurtures the four qualities I feel are essential in achieving any kind of long term fitness success: Enjoyment, Balance, Simplicity and Sustainability.

Until then enjoy life and breathe deeply.