Do You Suffer from Regional Fat Storage?

“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” – Psalm 73:26

Here are some of this week’s updates for members of Underground Fitness Revolution. Be sure to sign up for our Weekly Newsletter to get all the updates (fill in your name and email address in the box at the top right part of the web site).

Fitness Quote of the Week:
“If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.” – Julius Erving

Transformation Tip of the Week:
“To live an extraordinary life you must resist an ordinary approach” – Frank McKinney

For fat loss, this means NOT doing the same things as everyone else in the office (i.e. bringing in donuts, eating fast food, going to bed late and running late in the morning skipping breakfast). Instead, you need to plan, shop and prepare for your meals and stick to a workout schedule – be consistent and you’ll achieve extraordinary results.

And remember, if you want REALLY advanced results, you must take advanced measures like following your nutritional plan 90% of the time, not missing training sessions and getting additional exercise on off days. You can’t expect to coast to lose body fat and achieve your goals. So stay strong!

Achieving Your Goals:
Kekich Credo #73. Nothing wins more often than superior preparation.

For Fat Loss, You Must:

1. Plan, shop and prepare your meals.
2. Come up with two solutions for every obstacle in your life.
3. Use a structured, professionally-designed workout (like the workouts at Underground Fitness Revolution).
4. Get social support (stay away from “toxic” people).
5. Have a positive and determined mindset that you are going to DO this, not that you are going to “try” and do this.

Nutrition Tips of the Week:
1) Keep your healthiest foods at eye level. Whether in your pantry or refrigerator, what you see first is typically what you’re going to eat, especially at snack times. Don’t hide the fruits and veggies in a drawer. Keep them in front of your face, where they’ll be saying, “eat me!”

2) Mom was Right! Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, etc. contain very specific and unique phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help to fight against estrogenic compounds.

And by fighting against these belly-fat stimulating estrogenic chemicals, this is just one more step in helping you to win the battle against abdominal fat!

Like I said in the Underground Nutrition Guide, eat vegetables (and/or fruit) with every meal and snack (just don’t forget to also eat protein with each meal and snack as well).

Fitness Tip of the Week:
The strength, health and appearance benefits of training your core are numerous and basic. Let’s take a look at a more intense variation of a standard, though already-underutilized, core exercise — the elevated plank.

While the standard plank — when you flex your abs and low back to hold a straight line from your shoulder to your ankles — will train your core statically and without flexion or rotation, it’s an exercise that doesn’t lend itself to added resistance. Weighted vest planks aren’t quite the same.

The common suggestion to hold the basic position for longer time, anywhere from a minute to two minutes, isn’t an uncommon suggestion. Remember, in last week’s newsletter I mentioned that Dr. Stuart McGill recommends being able to hold a standard plank position for two minutes to reduce your chances of back problems.

However, a more challenging version is the elevated plank. With the elevated plank, you’re setting your feet up on a bench (box, chair, ball, etc.), which changes your body-weight distribution and forces the muscles to adapt in a new way. Plus, because the load is shifted slightly more toward your upper body, the shoulders and upper back are doing more work, which should carryover into some improved posture and upper back stability.

Try incorporating the elevated plank either into “off” day workouts, recovery weeks or as a more challenging version of a standard plank or plank walk-up during our training sessions. You can start with 3 sets of 15-second holds. Gradually increase each set by 5 seconds, until you’re up to 3 x 45-seconds. By then, there should be no doubts about your core strength.

Do You Suffer from “Regional” Fat Storage?
You know, “problem area” fat deposits like on your hips, butt, thighs, stomach, “love handles,” or the dreaded “man boobs?”

Although fat loss happens throughout the entire body, there are ways to target specific areas. The problem is that most people don’t understand the CAUSES of regional fat storage, and thus you haven’t been provided with a solution.

Fortunately, I DO know both – the causes AND the solutions.

Problem Area: “Love handles”
Hormone to Blame: Insulin
Solution Hormone: Growth Hormone (IGF-1)
How to Stimulate IGF-1 Release: Dynamic Training

Problem Area: Hips, butt, thighs and/or “man boobs”
Hormone to Blame: Estrogen
Solution Hormone: Testosterone
How to Stimulate Testosterone Release: Density Training

Problem Area: Belly/stomach
Hormone to Blame: Cortisol
Solution Hormone: Growth Hormone
How to Stimulate IGF-1 Release: Lactic Acid Training

The fact is, you can fight off “problem area” hormones by naturally producing more combative hormones via specific types of training and exercise.

And that’s essentially the foundation of our Underground Fitness Revolution workouts. We use metabolic resistance training, compound exercises and different types of training parameters to elicit the response necessary to help with your problem areas!

Just remember, your diet is the MOST important factor in the battle for fat loss. Follow your Underground Nutrition Guidelines 90% of the time and attack each training session with everything you got to get the results you want.

Latest Research Studies:

Study 1:
Researchers at Harvard Medical School studied 4,456 females for several years regarding their weight-control behaviors, including dietary approaches and physical activity.

During 4-years of follow-up, participants gained an average of 7.25lbs.

However, two things helped them gain less weight:

1. Exercising 5 days/week – (So stay active on your off days!)
2. Limiting portion sizes – (A simple tip here is to use smaller plates when eating.)

Researchers concluded that “physical activity is a necessary strategy for long-term weight control. Combining dietary weight-control approaches with physical activity is the most effective method for reducing weight gain.”

Reference: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 91, No. 1, 147-153, January 2010
Weight-control behaviors and subsequent weight change among adolescents and young adult females

Study 2:
In this study, researchers reviewed the diets of 664 participants aged between 18 and 55 years.

They found that people generally fell into 2 categories:

1. The Western Diet (refined grains, French fries, red meat, processed meats and regular soft drinks)
2. The Prudent Diet (eggs, fish, seafood, vegetables and non-hydrogenated fat)

The researchers found that subjects who ate the Western Diet had a larger BMI, heavier weight, bigger waist and a lot more fat. They were much more likely to be obese.

But people on the Prudent diet were the opposite.

Reference: International Journal of Obesity (2009) 33, 1419–1426.
Associations between dietary patterns and obesity phenotypes. A-M Paradis1,2,3, G Godin4, L Pérusse2,5 and M-C Vohl. Laval.

Listen, nutrition is pretty simple. In fact, it can all be summed up like this:

“Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants, berries, nuts and lean protein sources.”

Heck, eat ANYTHING but the Western diet. That is the diet of death.

Study 3:
Researchers studied 89,432 Europeans, aged 20–78 years, for six and a half years.

Results: Total fiber was inversely associated with subsequent weight and waist circumference change.

Reference: Am J Clin Nutr 91: 329-336, 2010.
Dietary fiber and subsequent changes in body weight and waist circumference in European men and women.

That means the more fiber you eat, the smaller your waist circumference and the lower your weight. It looks like fiber helped these folks keep off the fat.

Get plenty of fiber in your diet from a variety of veggies, fruits, beans and raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.). Also, Prograde Lean contains 8 grams of fiber per serving while also giving you 35 grams of protein, 26 grams of carbs (including the 8 grams of fiber) and healthy fats all while helping to keep you full longer!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s updates. Get ready to hit it hard this week!

Dedicated to your health and fitness,

Nate