capetownII 
"Please note: This username is no longer used. I am active under user: GertLouw"
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This will give you and overview of my TRAINING and DIET program as well as some GENERAL TIPS I've picked up over the years.
Please note, I am by no way a professional and consider myself a novice in lifting weights. What might have worked for me, might not necessarily work for you. Use what you can and create your own workable solution from all other successful trainers experiences.
MAINTENANCE AND BUILDING
I do a maintenance program for 3 months and then switch to an intense building program for the next 3 months and then repeat cycle.
During the maintenance program, I lift slightly lighter weights (sometimes with slightly more reps) but generally still stick to the same program for both maintenance and building.
During the building 3 month period, I increase the lifted weight on all exercises on a weekly basis, forcing the muscles to respond and grow - kind off like a shock treatment.
TRAINING PROGRAM
All exercises are done in 4 sets per exercise.
I do 8 reps per exercise (unless otherwise noted) with muscle failure occurring on the 8th rep.
MONDAY - pecs & abs
flat bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press,
cable pec machine
abs routine:
3 different crunches (lying on floor with legs in air, sitting on bench in v-shape, exercise ball crunches)
all are done in 3 sets with 15 reps per set.
Feel the PAIN, if no pain then you are simply NOT squeezing those abs hard enough! Abs are like any muscle group they must be train in low reps to the point of failure to grow. U not gonna grow deep rippling abs by doing 200 crunches in a row...
TUESDAY - shoulders
(Note: some people prefer to switch the shoulders and leg routine around so that legs is on Tuesdays and shoulders on Wednesdays.)
Lateral raises, front raises, military presses, standing front barbell upright rows (or whatever one call it!),
shrugs
WEDNESDAY - legs
leg extensions, squats, leg extensions, squats, calve raises
THURSDAY - back
straight bar pull down, flat bench barbell raises, straight bar pull down, seated rows
FRIDAY - biceps & triceps
biceps and triceps exercises are done in supersetting mode - without resting in-between. Provides a great pump.
seated biceps curls (alternating, dumbbells), triceps extensions, barbell curls, triceps cable extensions, standing hammer curls (alternating), triceps dips, concentration biceps curls, triceps extensions
SATURDAY - rest
SUNDAY - rest
POINTS OF NOTE
a) 45 minutes before training I take 5g BCAA's on an empty stomach.
b) 15 minutes before training I take a whey isolate with glutamine (plus NAC and ALA).
c) Lots of water while training.
d) Immediately after training I take whey isolate with a banana and glutamine (plus NAC and ALA).
SAMPLE DIET
08h00 (waking up!) - 1 scoop whey and 1 scoop casein proteien shake with water.
09h00 - 4 wheetbix pieces with milk and 2 tblspoons sugar.
11h00 - 4 egg whites, 1 scoop whey with water
12h30 - 2 scoops whey with water & 10g Glutamine
Training
14h00 - 2 scoops whey with water & 10g Glutamine + 1 banana
17h00 - 2 scoops casein proteien with water
19h00 - small evening meal. No starches. Only veggies/salad and proteien (fillet, chicken or fish - 150g)
22h00 (bedtime) - 2 scoops casein shake with water.
Note: whey and casein proteien contains zero carbs and is pure proteien. One scoop = 20g approximate
HOW TO GROW AS BIG AS POSSIBLE QUICKLY
I get asked a lot by guys new to lifting, what to do to grow as quickly as big as possible. I am no guru on bodybuilding, but I have learned my fair share as time progressed. So here follows some of the truths that I have learned:
My suggestions to guys new to bodybuilding is always the same. You will not grow, no matter how hard you lift if you do not get the train/eat/rest pattern sorted.
1) Do NOT overtrain. This is the easiest way for your muscles to shrink - literally! The best growth usually occurs when you work a muscle group intensely only once a week. You have to rest about 2 days a week. Your body MUST have time to grow and recover. Muscles do NOT grow in gym (they actually get teared down), they grow outside the gym while you are sleeping/recuperating/resting.
Overtrain ing is by far the biggest mistake people new to the sport makes.
2) No matter how hard you train, if you do not eat correctly, you will NOT grow. Diet determines 80% of your bbng success. Eat 7 small meals a day. Each meal must have a good protein source. First meal must be when u wake up (protein shake) and last meal when u go to bed (slow release protein shake).
LOTS of water. You must use a potent Multi Vitamin.
3) The type of exercise you do is not that important. What is important is that you do the exercise with a heavy enough weight so that you reach muscle failure by rep 8. If you focus on slow controlled movements, forcing the muscle with intensity to failure at rep 8, you WILL grow (if you rest enough and eat right).
Follow the above rules, make sure you cover a muscle group once a week and train with highest intensity possible. Then the type of excercise does not matter so much anymore, because you will grow.
HOW TO GET CUT?
First I must state that I have never struggled to loose weight.
The main reason for my low bf% is that I eat VERY little carbs (like in VERY little!).
I try to eat a fair amount of good oils (flaxseed oil, extra virgin olive oil, etc.) with every meal.
Again, lots and lots of water is critical for a fat-loss environment. High water consumption WILL speed up your fat-loss dramatically.
NO carbs after 6pm! Your last meal just before bed MUST be a casein slow release protein shake containing near zero carbs.
Eating every 3 hrs (from waking up to going to bed) means your metabolism is firing continuously, which in turn mean you are burning alot of energy. Do not underestimate these frequent meals for fat-loss.
Some people has done severe damage to their metabolism's through fad diets. For such people, it might take 1 - 3 months of frequent small meals just to correct their metabolism. U won't see any benefit until such time that you have aligned and corrected your metabolism.
Now u may say "but what about your energy levels because u eat so little carbs?". Very true! The trick I use is to inject me every other day with Vitamin B12 in the bum. Yeah, I know, ouch!!! But the fact is, it gives me a lot of energy and also help with metabolizing fat, thus helping you to cut easier.
Does this mean I always have enough energy?...never dudes!..remember I am 44! But it helps a lot!
I get asked by many guys how I get the adons belt so pronounced. I honestly thinks the biggest factor is your genetic make-up. But I do do something that might help making it more pronouce. With EVERY rep, I contract from my abs/core to perform the rep. It basically results in and abs/core workout with every lifting session.
A last point of note here: When I go for the kill to reduce body fat as low as possible, I include a cycle of CLENBUTEROL. Apart from the fact that it helps with the fat burning process, it has a great benefit that it protects the muscle from wastage when on a very low carb diet and heavy training program. NB: Do not do clenbuterol cycles too frequently (like more than 4 times a year). It has a negative affect on the heart muscle (hardening it). Use it sparingly and stick to the exact cycle specs. Just type "big cat clenbuterol" on google and u will get all the answers.
HERE FOLLOWS AN EXTRACT FROM AN INTERVIEW I DID
1) Can you tell The Muscle & Fat Loss Inner Circle members a little bit about yourself?
Business owner, with very little time to work out. Been married 18 yrs and 2 yrs ago wife fell pregnant. Our baby boy was born and it gave new meaning to my life.
2) What were your initial motivations for transforming your body?
4 years ago I became terrible ill and ended up on, what I then thought was, my “deathbed”. In my hospital bed, I was forced to choose between life and death on more than one level.
I had, what many would consider, a “rough” life before and during the ordeal accepted Christ as my savior. Yeah, I know a lot of you are gonna say “Arrgh, another Jesus Freak”, but the truth is, my spiritual changes had a LOT to do with helping me stay focussed and becoming someone I actually liked. Simply put, I do not see me reaching success without the spiritual side.
So yes, my whole life changed from there-on. I became a very different person on all levels. Before this I never wanted any kids. Being so close to death made me appreciate the wonder of life more and me and wife decided to see whether God would bless us with a child. Little Janu was born soon afterwards. He is now just over 2 yrs and in perfect health. My boy gave me new focus to continue on my health and fitness road. I wanted to be there for him to help him though the pitfalls of a teenager and pick him up when he falls.
After my hospital ordeal all my energy went into increasing my health from all angles. Some doctors were very negative about my prognosis, but I just persisted with me new health and fitness lifestyle. I just wanted to see another day, then another month, then another year. My body responded very well to the new lifestyle. I started actually to look good with a thinner waist and bigger muscles.
In a sense I was “lucky”. I had no option. This made it easy for me to put everything into my new lifestyle. The new me was not seeing failing as an option. The stakes was too high. Consider yourself blessed if you have the ability or opportunity to reach a healthier/thinner you without having to be “forced” to do it!
3) How long have you been on your program for and what kind of success have you experienced so far?
4 years.
My health has increased dramatically.
Well, my wife now call me a hunk…that should explain all (oh and the before and after pics of course).
Bodyfat went from 19% to 7%.
Weight went from 85kg to 76kg and then increased again to 80kg as my muscle mass increased. Bodyfat stayed nearly constant between 6 – 8% year round.
4) How has this success changed your day-to-day life for the better?
There truly is no comparison to my life now and how it was. I don’t want to go into all the boring details, but my spiritual changes made me a new person that I now actually liked. Plus having a body that most guys envy really makes me feel like being young again, ready to take on the world. Add a loving wife and beautiful baby boy to the mix and well, that is what I call happiness!
5) Did you experience any setbacks along the way? If so, what were they and how did you get past them?
As I mentioned earlier, the stakes was very high for me and failure was not an option. But there were days that I really did not felt like lifting weights. My body ached and I had no energy. When the aching was really bad, I might take a painkiller to help.
To overcome these difficult days, I went through a set of set motions. I always had a short meditate/prayer session before I start exercising to focus my mind on the important things. Well, then I simply put on my favorite rock tunes (LOUD) and focus on just the first set. I do not think about what is still waiting and have to be done, I just focus on what is at hand and finish it. Rep, by rep becomes set by set and before long I have completed the whole session. It might not have been my best session, but I’ve DONE it. I NEVER skip a day. There is no excuse worthy of canceling my session.
Please let me know if this info has helped you, or whether u reckon I'm wrong with something. I would appreciate if u can tell me...we all gotta learn a lot still!
Wish u all much success!
MY LIFE STORY
And Lastly, for those interest....this is my story how I came to follow Jesus Christ.
My life story. The wrongfull actions. My pain. My near-death experience. My death sentence. My new life. My new body.
Important:
This is not meant to offend anyone, this is about my life and the experiences I had.
This is NOT meant to glorify me! All the glory goes to the almighty God, without whom I would not even be here today.
I share my story, because various people have asked me about it on BB.COM.
Hopefully this will help the reader to understand why Christ is so central to everything I do. There is “no room in my heart” that is closed for Christ. He stands in the middle of every room. No matter whether it is bodybuilding, work, sport, socializing, etc… With everything, and in everything, I will give the glory to Jesus Christ my saviour.
I do not believe or adhere to “political correctness”. I live my life with the focus completely on God almighty.
4 Years ago, I lived a life removed from God. Although I did not realize it then, my life was filled with all kinds of sin. I was following the call of the world. I was self-righteous and in my “wisdom” created a God to suite me. I followed the teaching of “the world” about God, ie: Anything is right, anything goes, as long as it is right or true for me. The God I made up was defined by my own rules. Basically I created my own God. How ignorant I realize I was. How can I tell God how and what He should be!
Today I realize that this is actually what most people do…
But through all this, God was watching over me and was about to call me with a loud voice. Because he had plans for me, but I was not fulfilling those plans.
Let me take you 12 years back. God, in his wisdom, led me and my wife to start a business. We both resigned from our secure jobs and went head over heal into creating this business. We knew nothing about running a business and less about the field of business we’ve entered. But God had a plan and He guided us through all the pitfalls and although we were far removed from Him, the business grew from strength to strength against all odds. [That is a miracle in itself. We started the business with $2 266, all the money we had. Today we employ nearly a 100 people, most coming from a jobless background and our yearly turnover is inexcess of $6 000 000 – a lot of money in South African terms! And all this without taking out a single loan to help the business.]
The bigger the business grew the more self-righteous I became and the further removed from God.
I believed I was “invincible”…but becoming increasingly depressed and with all this success found no real reason worth living.
I could afford everything my heart desire, do anything I want, but simply nothing satisfied me.
Then (about 4 years ago) God spoke to me in a very loud voice. I became seriously ill. At one point I was basically clinically dead in hospital (no pulse, no blood pressure). I was severely dehydrated and most of my organs were damaged as a result. Although the doctors could never exactly tell me what went wrong, their official explanation is that it was a normal flu that turned very bad. They said it was one of the worse dehydration cases they’ve ever seen. I was in hospital for more than a week and lost a lot of weight. My recovery was slow.
I knew (unexplainably and with 100% certainty), the moment I hit the hospital bed, this was God working with me. I knew this was the moment in my life where I had to choose between life and death in more than one way.
Then the news came from the doctors: “You’ve got about three years to live.”
My battle with God was over. I surrendered. I can remember how I was lying in my gymroom flat on the ground on my stomach in front of Christ, crying for forgiveness. My sins I’ve done in the past against God just became crystal clear to me. Where I had no remorse in the past, my heart was just filled with painfull remorse. My past life was in front of my eyes – all my sins, all my self-righteousness and self-glorification. I literally “felt” the presence of God and His purity and holiness and this overwelmed me. It made me realize really how unpure I was and how much I’ve hurt Him through my past actions.
I laid everything before Him and pleaded forgiveness by the blood of Jesus. It was an extremely emotional period for me and I cried before God a lot.
There were a couple of times that Jesus lifted me up from this despair with and awesome peace and love. The joy I felt at moments like that was awesomely amazing.
My life changed – full stop. I repented my sins before Christ (each one of them), I accepted Christ as my savior and I accepted that He died for my sins on the cross and I turned from my ways…
My depression disappeared. I wanted to follow Christ with all my heart and started living just for Him. Everything I did was focussed on Him and for His glory. I cut out everything that was part of this world from my life and brought Christ in the middle of everything.
I started doing weightlifting seriously and even with that, Christ was in the middle of it. There was no aspect or facet of my life where Christ was not part of it.
The emotional healing continued.
The business went further from strength to strength.
My health continued to increase.
We started with various gospel projects at work…and then my eyes started opening and I saw what God had in plan for me all along and why He pulled me closer to Him when I did not listen to His calls. With our gospel projects at work, we reached more than 100 families most of who renewed their faith in God and drew closer to Him. Our company’s number one priority became to glorify Christ.
We had weekly praise and worships gathering at work for employees and clients.
We started sponsoring missionaries (and some of our own people are now in missionary/outreach work)
We became involved in a magnitude of gospel projects to spread the word and uplift disadvantaged communities.
Money was of now importance to me anymore, but God blessed us so much that the more we give the more we had.
This is now just over 4 years since the doctors told me my fate. But God had other plans for me. I regained most of my health and the doctors were amazed. I looked physically the best I’ve ever looked in my life. I am at peace and every day is a joy for me. It is the most amazing path to follow Christ. Everything I entrust to Him (my life, health, big+small problems) and it’s incredible how He flattens the bumps in my road and bring peace to it.
I live very close to God now. Sometimes I can literally hear God speaking to me. I daily lay all my problems before Him and he give me clarity each and every time. Sometimes as quickly as the next day. A couple of days ago I laid 2 serious issues before Him and the very next morning the two first tings that happen to me gave me absolute clarity about the exact two matters. Every day I am so amazed by the wisdom and greatness of God.
A couple of months ago I had an amazing vision while praying. God took me from where I was kneeling and the next moment I was kneeling at the feet of Christ. It all was so vivid. The peace and love was so amazing. It was one of the most wonderful and powerful experiences of my life.
And lastly, after 17 years of marriage God blessed my wife and me with a child. Little Janu is now 9 months old, absolutely perfect and preciously beautifull. I can already see his arms and shoulder muscles developing… Hi name “Janu” means, “gift from God”.
My life before Christ was empty, painful and meaningless. I cannot in words express the amazing changes my life went through when I started following Christ. All I can do is pray that everyone receive the opportunity to experience the love, peace and fulfillment it brings when following Christ with ALL your heart.
When I see the pain and suffering people bring upon themselves, the self-glorification, the sexual perversion, the drug abuse, the gods we create for ourselves, the pain we are causing God, I just want to shout out from a mountain top “Open your eyes people – the real God is out there and you have no idea the love He has for you, Stop telling God how he should be and listen to what God says He is!” [God almighty gave us a detailed account of His being in His word that stands forever: The Bible]
Gert Louw
You can contact me on: gertlouwljc@hotmail.com
I wanna give u Proverbs 16:3.
"Ask the LORD to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out." |
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