How to Lose Body Fat in a Faster Way

If you're anything like me, then that means you want to lose body fat now.  The issue with that is that fat loss takes time.  If you rush the process without proper planning then it's very likely that you will stumble.  This is because no matter what the fat loss process takes time.  With that being said, there are ways to lose body fat faster, and that's what this article will cover.

1:  Eat until your slightly satisfied:  what this means is that when you're eating and dieting, you never want to be too full.  Being too full almost assures that you won't lose fat.  When you want to lose body fat you need to be in a caloric deficit.  If you're never too full it will make fat loss much easier.  

2: Consume more nutrient dense whole foods:  When you eat whole foods that have great nutrients, you will stay full longer, feel better, and perform better.  This is because our bodies weren't designed to eat massive quantities of candy, cookies, cakes.  If you replace those foods with, Steak, Chicken, Beef, Fish, white rice, sweet potato, and avocado.  If you only ate those foods you'd never get fat and fat loss would be much easier.  Since you're satiated you will be less likely to overeat.  

3: Allow yourself to feel hunger consistently:  If you're not hungry, you're not losing fat, period end of story.  The key to getting lean and ripped is to become comfortable with hunger and feeling the hunger pangs, it's a sign that you're on the right track.  Learning to deal with this and embracing will help a lot.  This is because everyone is scared of failure and most people are also afraid of pain.  Hunger means you're losing fat, just keep that in mind.  

4: Intermittent Fasting: This one is controversial.  Intermittent fasting is great for burning fat, and it's average at best at building muscle.  This article is about fat loss though, so we'll leave that topic for another day.  The way you can do IF is to fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8 hour window.  An example would be.  If you start eating at 12 pm, you have to stop eating by 8 pm.  This diet/lifestyle works, you just have to follow it to the T.  You just need to stick to it an be consistent.  During the fast, you're allowed to drink water, diet coke, coffee, and anything that's zero calories.  Whoever wants to lose fat fast, I recommend them do this.

5: The Keto Diet:  This last one is the most effective for losing fat.  For those who are unaware, the keto diet is a zero carb, high protein, medium fat diet.  I follow Dave Palumbo's keto diet, and that's the one I recommend.  On the keto diet you can't consume carbs, this is what puts your body into ketosis which is what makes the body burn fat for fuel instead of sugar.  You will get a headache on the 3-4th day if you're doing the diet correctly.  

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Building your body is About You

When a lot of people first start working out, they focus on the people in the gym who have the best bodies.  While this is a great example of what to aspire to, that doesn't make it a good strategy for your own physique development.  When it comes to building your own body, the most effective strategy is to put all of your thoughts and attention on building your body, not what someone else is doing at the gym.

Building a great physique will require you to focus.  The better you can focus the better you will be at making gains and accomplishing your physique goals.  Focus also helps you with your lifting in the gym.  In general, it's better to be focused than distracted.  Pick a program and reasonable diet that you can stick to and do it for at least 3 months if you really want to see results.

90 days is enough time to make a solid transformation.  Again, this is assuming that you can stay focused and stick to a program/gameplan.  The key is to see the program and diet all the way through with minimal mistakes/cheating.  Keep your mind on what you're looking to accomplish and stay on track.  Getting distracted is what hurts people the most with their physique development.

Another common issue people have is jealousy people have over someone else having a better metabolism, and not having to eat a strict diet.  The more strict you keep your diet, the better you will look though.  Just because Jacked Daddy over there eats pop tarts doesn't mean you should.  Stay focused and stick to your diet.

The same thing goes for gym training.  If your best squat is 385 stick with 385 for your training max, don't raise it to 405 just because you see me or someone else easily squatting that weight.  Lavar Ball said it best "Stay in Your Lane" staying in your lane will make you great at building your body.  Focus on you and you only, bodybuilding, physique development, is a selfish pursuit.  If you're not focused on yourself you won't be any good at endeavors like these.

Being self-centered, or selfish, is actually a great thing in bodybuilding.  The more selfish you are the better bodybuilder you will be.
All this means is to be preoccupied with yourself and to not worry about what anyone is saying or doing.  I can write workouts for anyone, what I can't do is teach you how to only focus on you.  You have to develop that ability.

Bodybuilding is about reaching your physical genetic potential.  All the bodybuilding greats, Kevin Levrone, Yates, Shawn Ray, they never cared about what other bodybuilders were doing.  It was all about progress and being the best bodybuilder they could possibly be.  None of these guys cared about what the other guy was doing, it was all about bringing the best body to the stage.  Now, if you go to gyms everyone gets discouraged if they don't look like Arnold after 3 weeks.

Remember that when you're building your body, you are the only one that matters.  If you hire me as your trainer, it's your program that counts.  If you're serious about building your body your thoughts and attention need to be on yourself.


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Declutter Your Life

Today this post has more to do with myself, however these tips can be applied to your own life and I do find these principles to be useful for other people as well.  When you're trying to advance and make gains in your life you have to be aware of the type of people who are around you.  Now, these are people you might get along with or have nothing against.  However, you need to have the ability to detach from your emotions and coldly analyze whether this person is advancing and making progress in their life.  If they are not you need to be cold and ruthless and drop these people from your life.

You need to see it from the perspective of decluttering, or taking out the trash.  Just because you get a long with someone doesn't mean that you need to be hanging out with them.  A lot of people will tell you what you want to hear just to fit in and so you will like them.  You need to pay attention to the people who are moving forward and doing something with their lives.  These people aren't as available as the unsuccessful crowd.  You need to be aware of what's going on.

If you're trying to make positive changes and forward progress you need to be around people who are doing the same thing.  Now, you will need to be aware of the pretenders out there.  These are the people who will promise everything and never deliver.  Stay away from these people.  This is why you need to hold others accountable.  This way you will know whether or not a person is worth investing in or not.

Most people aren't quite frankly.  And while that may sound harsh, if you have this mindset it will be hard to get taken advantage of.  This is what people fail to realize.  If you're unable to see people this way, don't be surprised when you don't accomplish your goals and you get caught up in their bullshit.

If the person isn't at your level or higher, don't work out with them.  For me that means hardly anyone has the right to train or workout with me.  I'm simply at a higher level than the majority.  If you can't at least do what I can do in the gym, I have no interest in working out with you.  This means the heavy lifting and the physique.

I'm not responsible for any training partners gains, I'm only responsible for my own gains.  If someone is way behind me, I'll never train with them again.  I made this mistake recently.  Now, the other guy was cool and nice, he's just nowhere near my level.  And while that may sound arrogant and egotistical.  I do have plenty of proof and evidence to prove my point.

You need to take out the trash and de clutter your life.  A lot of you guys think it's your responsibility to pick your guys up and leave no man behind.  I'm here to tell you that's wrong.  Move yourself forward, if your buddy wants to stay behind leave him behind.  I want to say this without sounding redundant, but someone else's progress is not your responsibility.  You can hold them accountable but that is all you can do.  If they choose not to make gains or move forward that's their problem.

I know this post was about me and what's going on with my life, but if I can help 1 person with this article then I did my job.

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10 Reasons You Can't Lose Fat

As summer approaches you may be wondering why you don't have the body you want.  Or if you had a good bulk you want to lose the body fat to reveal the gains you made in the winter.  For you guys you will need to pay close attention to the content of this article.  Most people just don't have the drive or focus necessary to make long term gains, or short term gains for that matter.

A lot of people have a fat loss problem.  This article will provide the solution for you.  Too many people are given bad fat loss advice, that leaves them smaller and weaker, and then they end up gaining most of the weight back at some point.

1: You're not in a calorie deficit

The whole purpose of a diet is to lose body fat.  People don't seem to understand that you need to be slightly hungry most of the day in order to be in a deficit or lose weight.  Now throughout my fat loss journey I have consistently been hungry.  If I am not hungry, I know that I am not losing body fat.  Here's my current body Recent pics
More pics
Last pic

(ps, the only reason I post pics of myself is because I have done the work and have evidence, I am an authority on this topic and I can back up what I write)

2: You're training the wrong way

A lot of people don't understand that when you're on a diet it's very unlikely that you will add new muscle.  What this means is that you need to train in a way that will help you keep as much muscle as possible.  Meaning that all of those high volume routines will need to go.  When you're in a calorie deficit the primary goal is to maintain the muscle you have.  You won't do that by lifting light weight and high reps.  Throughout my whole diet I have been lifting heavy.  Heavy training clips
Snatch high pull

This heavy training is what will keep the size and dense muscle.  I'm not telling you to squat 500 lbs, just push yourself to keep training heavy.

When you train heavy you're forcing your body to keep the gains you make during your bulk.  Training correctly during a diet or fat loss phase is crucial.

3: You're full of excuses

This one is tough to here for most people.  If you complain about how hard a diet is all of the time you will begin to weaken yourself and start to create excuses, which we all know does nothing.  Excuses do nothing, don't forget that.  Once you start making excuses it becomes a painfully difficult habit to break.  This is why you need to be certain that you're ready to start your diet.  Once you start your diet, see it through to the end.  Keep yourself focused on the current workout and next meal, that's all your mind needs to worry about.  Fat loss is mental and if you can't win the mental battle with yourself you will cheat and mess up your diet.

4: You're trying to lose too much too fast

This is similar to the 2nd reason.  Most people think they can start doing cardio and high reps and they're going to get shredded quick.  This is a delusional belief.  Realistically you can expect to lose 1-2 lbs of body fat per week.  Any more weight loss and you will risk tapping into that valuable muscle tissue you worked so hard to build.  Keep yourself focused on losing fat slowly in order to preserve as much muscle mass as possible.  This is what people don't like to do.  If you're trying to lose too much weight too fast, you will be disappointed, burned out, and you will throw in the towel like the quitter you are.

5: You're too stressed out

A lot of reasons why people struggle with fat loss is due to their hormone profile.  Especially the 9-5ers that are working 40 hours or more per week and dealing with traffic every day.  These people are chronically stressed.  This is not good, as cortisol the primary stress hormone, is terrible for your fat loss and muscle gains.  The more stress you have the harder it will be to lose body fat and take reveal that beautiful six pack you worked so hard to build.  Calm down. smoke a j, meditate, do what you need to do to relax.

6: You have no discipline

If I had to pick one quality that is most important for losing fat it's discipline.  Jocko Willink likes to say that discipline = freedom, which I do agree with.  You can also add, that discipline equals a great physique if you apply that discipline to your diet.  Once you've mastered yourself and staying disciplined you will be able to see the changes in your physique.  This is something that people need to develop asap.  Pay the price today pay any price tomorrow.

7: You're too worried about your feelings

Almost everyone that struggles with dieting is because they are emotional eaters.  This is a bad habit that needs to be corrected.

The only way to conquer emotional eating is to only eat when you're hungry or when there is a scheduled meal.  If you're not hungry don't eat.

8: You snack too much

Another common issue a lot of people have is when they snack.  Snacking is okay, in moderation.  Although in this situation snacking is a terrible choice.  Most people snack to avoid feeling hunger, this is a stupid idea, seeing as though you will need to feel hunger throughout the entire diet in order to lose the most body fat.  Just keep that in mind.  To lose body fat you need to be in a caloric deficit.  Snacking takes you away from a caloric deficit.  When you're eating correctly, you won't feel the need to snack.  Now, if you're one of those people who has to snack, stick with protein shakes and protein bars.  

9: You think just eating clean is enough

Again this is going to get redundant.  If you're not in a caloric deficit you will not lose body fat.  A great example of this is when people claim to be eating clean and they're still not losing fat.  If you're eating clean and can't lose fat it's because you're consuming too many calories, it's as simple as that.  

10: You're not tracking your calories

If you could only remember to do one thing, remember to track your calories.  This will help you find the exact amount of calories you're eating every day.  When you track your calories into MyFitnessPal or CalorieKing, you will actually have it written down and there will be no guesswork.   Tracking your calories can also help you stay focused and more aware of the foods you're eating.  The best reason to track your calories is so that you will know whether or not you're in a caloric deficit.  

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How to Stop Holding Yourself Back and Start Making gains

If you're like most people you want to make gains.  Yet, you don't make gains, and you look the same as you did 6 months ago.  This is due to several factors.  The first one is because they have no game plan for the gym.  

In everything you will need to plan in order to be effective.  This is due to organization skills.  If you're not organized, training in the gym will be different and your gains could slow down.   Without even realizing that it's possible that you're holding yourself back.

Self-sabotage is not easy to stop.  And it's even weirder that people can't seem to break this habit.  At least most people. What you will need to do is become aware of what your thoughts are.  By watching over your thoughts and noticing your habits, you will then be able to recondition yourself to think differently.

I see so many people in the gym and in life who hold themselves back way too much.  Release the emergency brake, this is the only way you'll make progress.  You need to get in touch with the darkness within and use that when you train.  These are some of the ugly truths of training.

People also hold back on their workout intensity.  The truth is, if you focus and move fast, you can finish all of these workouts in 1 hour.
The faster you move and finish the workout, the faster you can get out of there and eat your post workout meal.  The issue that people have is that they're scatter brained and are easily distracted by anything.

Stop worrying about what other people are doing in the gym.  Focus on your own training, and the progress you want to make.

1: You can only build your dream body if you believe it

This principle really drives it home for me.  People don't understand that writing down goals or new years resolutions, doesn't mean a damn thing.  If you want to build your dream body you need at least 3 days of training per week, and you need to follow a good diet program.  When you cheat on your diet or keep yourself fat, it's usually because you've allowed being fat to become your identity.  Self sabotage is is common with these people.  They subconsciously don't believe that they deserve their dream body.

Of course they'll never get there.  You have to believe that you can diet effectively and get lean.
Here's the solution.  Every day you need to repeat these affirmations.

I will build the body of my dreams no matter what
I'm invincible
I stick to my diet until it's completed.
I deserve to have my dream body.


Pick 1 or 2 of these affirmations and repeat them multiple times throughout the day.  Now, you still have to go train and eat a clean diet.  The affirmations are useful, because some people really don't believe they can get and stay in great shape.  The affirmations are a great solution to a lack of belief.

Always remember this.  It takes 30-90 days to create a new habit.  These affirmations when said with conviction will help you more than you realize.  Try it for 1 month, and if you're not happy with your progress stop saying the affirmations.

I'm not gonna tell you guys what to do.  That's not my role here.  My role and purpose here is to give people the tools to build their dream body.  I don't give orders unless I'm working with my clients.  That's because I know my clients are going to listen to me.  Now, on this website, all of the information has been tested out by yours truly.  495 low bar

The only reason I share videos is so you guys can see that I'm serious about the gains and I can help you guys make serious gains as well.  Otherwise I wouldn't show them.  Trust me I would rather help people build their dream body and experience it, the difference is that if I don't show you guys what I can do or have done in the gym I wouldn't have any credibility.

Another common error people make is not doing the exercise correctly.  A good example of this would be an extreme rounded back dead-lift. DON'T DEAD-LIFT LIKE THIS

If you don't do the exercise correctly you won't develop the right muscles and you can be at risk for an injury.  This is why being so technical is important.

2: Delusional Expectations:

Sadly the main reason a lot of people give up is because they're goals take longer to accomplish than they previously expected.  When you first start working out, you need to think long term.  You're not going to look like Arnold overnight.  The good news is that you, me, and everyone else can build their dream body.  It will take time.

3: Wanting to look like Someone Else:

Here's another mistake that I have made myself.   For my first couple of years of hard training I wanted to look like Flex Wheeler, the issue with this is that Flex has a different shape and structure than me.  The mindset switch needed to make gains is to focus on having the best body you can possibly have.  If you want to look like someone else, you're not practicing self-love, which will help you make gains as well.  A lot of people sabotage themselves, and this is because a lot of people don't truly believe.

It's okay to aspire to be something.  Flex Wheeler is my vision of the ultimate body.  I do know, that I will never look like him.  We are two different people.  Which is why you need to focus on yourself.

4: You're not Focused

Any goal that someone has needs an insane level of focus.  If you're focused on the wrong things your gains will be subpar at best.  What you need to focus on is the body you want to develop and how you can do that.  If you train yourself to focus you can double your gains.  This is something that people need help with, me included.  Before every workout think about how you want each body part to look.  Setting goals and focusing on them makes it easier. 

If you don't focus on your own goals you will be helping someone who is focused on theirs. 
Here's what to focus on.

• What kind of body do I want?
• How badly do I want to change the way my body looks?

If you don't develop the ability to focus on your goals you will never achieve the dream body you want.

Apply these principles and see how many gains you will make.

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Reach out to my personal email if you're ready to take the next step in building your dream body.

duke1614@gmail.com

How To Get Summer Shredded

I get a lot of questions from people about what is the best way to go about getting shredded.  Everyone wants the latest diet or workout.  These are basic and simple.  This is what people need to make gains.  The easier something is to understand, the easier it will be to stick to it. 

When you're trying to get shredded, the main obstacle is dieting.  Most people fail miserably on this part.  This is due to a failure to plan.  When you have a goal and want to accomplish it, you have to put your energy and focus into it.  Never think about how you're going to diet or how long you want it to last.  This leads to paralysis by analysis.  You also need to know what foods you crave and what time you get these food craving.

What needs to be done next is to inventory what you're currently doing in the gym and analyze how well it is working for you.  Unfortunately, most people don't do this correctly.  To do this right, write down every top set of each workout.  If you're not getting stronger, or making visible changes in the mirror, it means what you're currently doing isn't working.  

Without proper inventory, it's hard to find out what your habits are.  If you don't know your daily habits how will you know what to correct?  These are the questions that people don't want to ask themselves.  If you focus and correct these mistakes you can make gains and help yourself .  This is the reason I have been able to make gains myself.  If you can't stick to the program and focus you will never make gains. 

Now, let's get to the actual workout and plan.

The number one mistake people make in the gym when dieting is not lifting heavy enough.  When you lift heavy during a diet, you force your body to keep as much muscle mass as possible since you're continuing to train heavy.  The goal here is to lift as heavy as possible during the diet in order to preserve as much lean muscle mass as possible, 

As far as how you structure your diet.  Here are some useful questions that you need to know the answer to.  What healthy foods do you enjoy eating?  I know you enjoy your donuts and pizza.  Well how's that working out for you?  For most people, go ahead and skip the donuts and pizza.  Other questions you need to answer are why are you dieting?

What is the reason for the diet?  Are you getting ready for a wedding, bodybuilding show?

How often do you get or "feel" hunger during the day?

If you take it seriously and actually answer these questions you'll make gains.  This is only if you stick to the diet as written and I'm assuming you'll continue to train heavy even when it's inconvenient.  You will have sleepless nights, there will be moments where you will want to give up, it will be up to you to decide how you will react.  If you know what you like to eat, and when you get hungry you will be better prepared to make a good decision about what to eat.

Get Shredded Diet and Training Plan

Sample Diet and Meals:

Meal 1: 5 whole eggs, 1/2 cup of oatmeal

Meal 2: 8 oz canned tuna, with 1 serving of almonds

Meal 3: 6 oz of lean beef, w 1 cup of green beans and 1 cup of rice

Meal 4: 1 serving of almonds, or protein shake

Meal 5: 8 oz of canned tuna, or cottage cheese

As far as the meals are concerned, follow this sample diet and if you do it exactly as written you will make gains.  The problem people have is that they don't know understand what needs to be done to get shredded.  Sticking to an effective diet is most important for body composition.  

Get Shredded Workout Program

Day 1: Push Day

Flat bench press: 3 x 4-6 reps

Weighted dips: 3 x 8 reps

Overhead Press: 3 x 6 reps

Close grip bench press: 3 x 8 reps

Ez bar tricep press downs: 3 x 20 reps

Day 2: Pull

Dead-lifts: 1 x 6 reps

Deficit dead-lifts: 3 x 6 reps

Weighted chin ups: 3 x 8 reps

Pendlay rows: 3 x 10 reps

Barbell curl: 3 x 12 reps

Day 3: Legs

Back squats: 3 x 3-5 reps

Front squats: 3 x 6 reps

Leg press: 3 x 20 reps

Walking lunges: 3 x 20 steps per leg

For the best possible gains, do each workout once per week with a day off in between each workout.  It's important to take the off days.  Dieting is hard and stressful on the body.  In order to successfully diet down, you need to preserve as much lean muscle mass as possible.  When you're on a diet the body doesn't have the required amount of calories to build lean mass.  

Building muscle requires a caloric surplus.  For fat loss, a caloric deficit is the most important.  Contrary to what the fitness industry says, you can't build muscle and lose fat simultaneously.  Muscle building simply requires too many calories.  What this means is that you need to make sure that you're in a caloric surplus every day.

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If you're interested in 1 on 1 coaching personal training, email me at duke1614@gmail.com.  I'll do everything I can to help anyone achieve their dream physique.  

What Should You Focus on in The Gym

After a long hiatus I am back and we will be bringing more useful content to you guys soon.  Now, a lot of people go into the gym and they have no plan.  They don't understand what needs to be done in the gym, and they lack the skill to execute the effective movements.  The best thing to do is to admit you're not making gains and learn to focus on big barbell movements.  This is what the majority of people need to pay attention to. 

The average Joe is never going to compete in a bodybuilding show.  With this being the case, it wouldn't make sense to train them the same way a bodybuilder you would train a bodybuilder.  For the overwhelming majority, they're energy needs to be focused on making strength gains on the big compound movements in the 6-12 rep range for upper body and 2-8 rep range on squats and do 20 rep squats too.  When you double down on what works, you will make gains.

When you're doing what you're supposed to in the gym, you'll make noticeable gains and most people will come up with an excuse to talk to you.  The bare bones minimum is what is needed for most people, you don't need fancy techniques or long isolation exercises.

Average Joe Bare Bones Minimum Program

Leg Day:

Low Bar Squats: Work up to a heavy set of 2-5 reps and then complete 1 set of 20 reps

Walking barbell lunges:  4 sets 12 steps per leg

Romanian dead-lifts: 4 x 8 reps

Calf raise machine: 4 x 12-15 reps

Shoulders and Triceps

Overhead press: 4 x 6-8 reps

Dumbbell Seated overhead press: 4 x 12 reps

Bent over lateral raises: 4 x 15 reps

Close grip bench press: 4 x 6 reps

Weighted dips: 4 x 8 reps

Back and Biceps

Dead-lifts: 4 x 3-6 reps

Weighted chin ups: 4 x 3-5 reps

Bent over barbell rows: 4 x 10 reps

Lat pull downs: 4 x 15 reps

Barbell curls: 4 x 8 reps

Hammer curls: 4 x 8 reps

Preacher curl machine: 4 x 8 reps

Chest

Flat bench press: 4 x 6 reps

Incline bench press: 4 x 8 reps

Decline bench press: 4 x 12 reps

Dumbbell pullovers: 4 x 15 reps

That average Joe program is simple and it is effective.  Any one who does this program and makes gains is proof that the plan and training style works.  

That program is basic and bare bones minimum, if you have a gym membership, you will be able to do every single exercise.  This website focuses on gym training not body weight or calisthenics, so if you don't have a gym membership obviously you would have to do a modification of this and do what you can do.  

When you put your focus and energy on programs like this, you will make more progress in the long term.  This program will make you grow if you're bulking, and if you're cutting it will help you shed weight fast.  

How to make this program effective for you.  The best way to look at this program is to focus on the key lift of the day.  On push day it's bench press, on legs it's squats, pull day is dead-lifts.  This is where people struggle since there's so many exercises people don't know how to prioritize.  This means that you'll need to pay attention to the lift of the day, and do anything you can to help yourself add weight on the bar while continuing to use the correct form.  

Recap:

You need to focus on the bare essentials in the gym. 

This means putting at least 80% of your training focus on the big barbell compound exercises.  

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Try the program and comment below with your results.