The Super Uber Mega Ultra Important Missing Ingredient EVERYONE Needs More Of

June 7, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 32 Comments

Could you eat (insert a delicious food that makes your stomach go “WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”) everyday?

Could you eat (insert a food that burns your buttcheeks and you wish that you could wipe it from the face of this Earth) everyday?

I don’t know many things, but I do know that I’d fight a bear and a tiger at the same time for a Cinnabon and could eat one everyday. Ask me to do the same with arugula or beets and eventually I’d end up trying to jump off a cliff. I imagine the scenario might play out similarly for you, minus the whole bear and cliff thing.

We do what’s fun and what we enjoy.

We avoid what sucks. As flawed as that can be at times, that’s how we roll.

But what if we applied this same mindset to our training and diet?

What if we did we did more of what we liked & loved and less of what we didn’t?

A Case Study In Fun

Kimberly Mills is one of my favorite Facebook friends. She’ll randomly update me with her progress and life happenings, but the reason why I dig her so much is because I can tell that she is living one hell of a life. In her messages she rarely uses periods, only exclamation points ranging from 1-18 depending on how excited she is.

Kim sharing her amazing story in the July/August issue of Experience Life magazine

She works with a trainer, but each set and rep of her training program isn’t locked down and set in stone; she has a ton of fun both during and outside of her official sessions. In fact, and I affectionately call her a special kind of sick because of this, she joined the 10,000 burpee challenge where she does 100 burpees a day for 100 days – definitely not my cup of juice, but if fun were money she’d be making it rain 24/7/365, and that’s more important than anything else.To say that she is loving fitness would be the understatement of the century.

A few weeks ago my friends Andrew Griffin, JC Deen and I got together and trained in a completely different way than we usually do. There was air humping. There were faux English accents, and we swung hammers in a very manly fashion – I can’t think of a time when I’ve had more fun during a workout (I managed to hit some PRs because of all the awesome energy as well.

Since then I’ve completely revamped the way that I train, doing only exercises that I love to death or I think are cool and want to learn, because…

If you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong!

No matter if you want to be ripped like old pictures after a bad breakup or turn yourself into The Incredible Hulk, it’s gonna take awhile to get there, so why not enjoy as much of the process as possible?

Fun is a prerequisite to success.

The road is long and there will be many times when you get frustrated, pissed off and want to ragequit. Try to bypass the fun step and the odds of you giving up before making it to where you want to be are pretty high.

I just put on my Miss Cleo turban, so I can now accurately predict your future – the less fun you have, the less permanent the results. For all my gamer nerds out there, don’t grind to get to the end game without stopping to actually enjoy all the quests and people you meet along the way.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. If you don’t find some way to milk as much fun & enjoyment as you can from the delicious teat of life then you’re missing the whole point.

Some people enjoy the thrill of constantly chasing after a new strength PR. Some enjoy learning a new movement and after months of small successes finally getting it. Some enjoy getting their swole on all day every day. Then there are those who aren’t having fun unless they’re raiding Death’s refrigerator and eating all his sammiches by the end of their workout.

If you like yoga, do yoga.

If you like jogging (and can do it without hurting yourself), go do it every now and then without worrying about muscle loss or strength regression – worrying will do more harm then the running ever could.

I don’t care what you do as long as you love it. Just make sure that what you’re doing is leading you closer to your goals – it’s hard to have fun making no progress.

There is ALWAYS room for good ‘ol fashioned tomfoolery – one workout or meal will never make or break your assault upon the gates of Castle Awesome, so stop treating it like it will.

Need some ideas? Grab your spoon, because here’s an entire bowl full of ideas for you.

Workout Funjections

Homie Fun

Get a training partner or two and just let whatever madness happens happen. Everything is more fun with homies.

Procrastinator Fun

Perform 2-3 sets of 1-2 exercises at the end of your workout.

Example:

A1) Leg Press – 2 x 20
A2) Dumbbell Hammer Curls with optional bicep kiss – 2 x 10

“Oh hi there” Fun

Choose an exercise that you love and intersperse it throughout your workout, staying 4-5 reps below failure.

Example:

A1) Deadlifts – 2 x 5
A2) Tricep Pushdowns – 2 x 8
B1) Dumbbell Rows – 3 x 10
B2) Tricep Pushdowns – 3 x 8
C1) Goblet Squats – 3 x 8
C2) Tricep Pushdowns – 3 x 8

Pump Fun

Get your main strength movement (bench press, overhead press, squat, deadlift, chin up, etc) out of the way and then pump your muscles to oblivion and beyond for the rest of the workout.

Example:

A) Barbell Back Squat – 3 x 5
B1) Barbell Hip Thrust – 2 x 30
B2) Chin Ups – 2 x AMAP (as many as possible with good form)
C1) Bodyweight Back Extensions – 2 x AMAP
C2) Dumbell Squeeze Press – 2 x 20
D1) Barbell Curl – 1 x 15
D2) Seated Row – 1 x 15

“I love everything!” Fun

Pick 4-8 exercises that you love the hell out of and do only those for your workout, varying the sets and reps for each.

“Zomgwtf!” Fun

Fill this workout with exercises that have haunted your soul since the beginning of time, or ones that you rarely do and want to get better at.

Example:

A1) Single Leg Deadlift – 3 x 8 each leg
A2) Pullups – 3 x 8
B1) Dumbbell Walking Lunges – 3 x 10 each leg
B2) Dumbbell Military Press – 3 x 10
C1) Dragon Flags – 3 x 6
C2) Heavy Dumbbell Holds – 4 x 15 seconds

Minimalist Fun

Pick 1-2 exercises and perform 5 sets of each, varying the rep ranges.

A1) Barbell back squat to box – 2 x 3
A2) Barbell bench press – 2 x 5
B1) Barbell back squat to box – 2 x 8
B2) Barbell bench press – 2 x 10
C1) Barbell back squat to box – 1 x 20
C2) Barbell bench press – 1 x 15

Survival Fun

Set a time limit (5-30 minutes is a good range) and see how many rounds of an exercise circuit you can perform.

Example:

A1) Pushups – 10
A2) Burpees – 10
A3) Dumbbell Row – 5 each arm
A4) Single Leg Hip Thrust – 5 each leg
A5) Jumping Jacks – 15

SMASH!

Smash stuff over and over again until you feel like stopping.

Food Funjections

There can be only one!

Eat one nice, hearty meal for the day – that’s it (don’t go out of your way to try and eat as many calories as possible, though).

Treat yo self!

Have a food that you absolutely love…everyday.

All day

Eat a food that you love…with every meal

The Minimalist Guide to Mobility: Moving Like a Ninja in 5 Minutes or Less

May 23, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 64 Comments

Courtesy of N1NJ4

9-5 desk jobs.

Epic back and forth commutes that are longer than a Lord of the Rings movie.

A never-ending stream of emails and messages.

Keeping up with the relationships that matter most to us.

With all that’s going on, we’re all busier than a one-armed man in a 5-on-1 boxing match – I totally get it

BUT! *waves finger in the air with much zest and vigor* that doesn’t mean we should sacrifice our health in the process.

Just a few years ago I was “that guy.” My days consisted of sitting in class for several hours, sitting at the library desk where I worked for several more hours, walking to the gym and doing a light jog on the treadmill before hammering my body, all before heading home to sit around more until bed time.

It’s no wonder that I moved like a tin man, my form on some exercises suffered, and I had the random aches to go along with it.

If this story sounds familiar and you’re finding yourself moving down the same path of movement lameness, consider this your intervention.

Movement Intervention

Below you’ll find a series of mobility drills to do at the beginning and end of each day. Simply pick one exercise from each category and perform 5-10 reps, cycling through them for 5 minutes.

If that seems overwhelming at first, just start by picking one of those times and a few less exercises. Set an alarm, turn on a movie/music, write yourself a note, or have a friend come by and slap you in the face as a reminder, whatever you need to do to make sure it gets done.

Many of these are mobility drills that I’ve added into my clients pre-workout warm up, and their experiences have been fantastic. Their form has improved, they’re moving better throughout the day and they’ve drop kicked nagging pains in the chest, all from doing them a few times a week – imagine what you’d gain from just 5-10 minutes a day (or more awesomely put, 35-70 minutes a week). The cumulative effect is oh so sweet.

Ankles

Rocking Ankle Mobilization (1:11)

Upper Back/Shoulders

Quadruped Thoracic Rotation (beginning of video)
Foam roller extension (1:47)
Wall Slides (2:13)
Band Pullaparts (2:28)
Sleeper Stretch (2:43) – 15 to 30 second hold earh arm
X-Band Walk (2:52)
Scap Pushups (3:50)
Band Shoulder Dislocations (4:05)

Hips

Spidermans (0:11)
Hip Flexor Mobilization (0:22)
Rear Foot Elevated Hip Mobilization (0:35)
Reverse Lunge (0:49)
Knee to Knee Stretch (1:35) – this can also be a 15-30 second hold if necessary
Quadruped Hip Extension (1:04 – targets the glutes very well)

Full Body

Squat to Stand (1:22)
Bodyweight/Assisted Squats (3:25)

Bonus: Static Stretching

*Hip Hinge Hold (3:06)
*Hip Flexor Stretch (3:17)
*Quad Stretch (3:21)

* 30-60 second holds

You can also order the red resistance band (and others) here.

Did I miss anything? Want more mobility drills?
Let me know in the comment section or e-mail and I’ll film some more exercises, because I love you more than a unicorn loves rainbows.

50+ Quotes Guaranteed to Inject Your Day With Unbridled Awesomeness

April 19, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 21 Comments

I’m a bit of a quote freak, and I know many of you out there are as well (it’ll be our little secret).

With the power to spur you into action when moments before you had nothing left to give, improve your perspective on life, or simply turn a droopy face into a beaming smile, quotes are pretty much the coolest thing you can read in under 5 seconds.

I start my mornings by reading a new quote, but I want to stop being a quote horder and spread the love around, so here are a few of my favorite ones guaranteed to make you smile, laugh, or maybe even change your direction entirely.

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
“It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.” – Dalai Lama
“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” – Khalil Gibran
“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” – Brian Tracey
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl
“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo
“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. – Francesca Reigler
“I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” – Winston Churchill
“Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.” -Eckhart Tolle
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
“As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” – Andrew Carnegie
“All problems become smaller if you don’t dodge them but confront them.” – William F. Halsey
“Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now.” – Jonatan Mårtensson

“There is no moment like the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards: they will be dissipated, lost, and perish in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.” – Maria Edgeworth

“There are so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, so few that we feel like doing today.” – Mignon McLaughlin
“Do it, and then you will feel motivated to do it.” – Zig Ziglar

“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.” – Alfred Adler
“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.” -Frank Tibolt

“Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.” – Jim Rohn
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The satisfied, the happy, do not live; they fall asleep in habit, near neighbor to annihilation.” -Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life, 1913

“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” – Arnold H. Glasow

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” – H. Jackson Brown

“It is never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” – Bruce Lee

“ The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” – Vance Havner

“When people say to me: “How do you do so many things?” I often answer them, without meaning to be cruel: “How do you do so little?” It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don’t. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.” – Philip Adams
“Establishing goals is all right if you don’t let them deprive you of interesting detours.” – Doug Larson

“Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.” -Yiddish Proverb

“We acquire the strength we have overcome.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Everyone must choose one of two pains: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” – Jim Rohn

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good.’ – Stephen Covey

“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” – Soren Kierkegaard

“The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.” – Jim Rohn

‎”There is only one success–to be able to spend your life in your own way.” – Christopher Morley

“I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one’s business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee

“We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.” – David Sarnoff

“You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper.” -Robert Alton Harris

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” – Cynthia Nelms

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Openheim

“The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable.” – Roux
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn

“I don’t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.” – Ken Venturi
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” – Epictetus

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” – Mother Teresa
“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” – Steven Furtick

Did I overlook your favorite quote? Leave it in the comment box below – I’ll be constantly updating this list with your submissions.

The Sexification of Rog Law: The Conclusion

April 5, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 3 Comments

Since the last update I’ve been experimenting with a modified version of one the most effective ways to lose the most amount of fat in the least amount of time – a protein sparing modified fast (PSMF for short).

When dieting to lose fat, you want to keep your protein levels high enough to preserve muscle mass while still maintaining a weekly calorie deficit. The problem is that the further you venture from your maintenance calories without returning to, or close to, those levels, the higher the risk of muscle loss if you don’t match that decrease in calories with more protein.

Think of fat loss as a game of tag, with maintenance being your “home base”. The further you get from base, the more in danger you are of getting tagged, aka muscle loss (and getting tagged SUCKS DRAGON TAIL).

A PSMF diet bypasses this problem by providing very high levels of protein and, well…not much else. In order to create the largest deficit possible, there simply isn’t room for many calories coming from other sources. Also note that for someone who is already reasonably lean, a diet like this is only supposed to be used in the short term in order to prevent possible side metabolic side effects. The more fat the that you have to lose, the longer that something like this can be maintained.

My diet from Sun-Thursday:

100g protein shake, 1 cup of 1% milk and 1 cup wat
2lbs chicken breast
1-2lbs of steamed broccoli
3 grams of fish oil
1 daily multivitamin

Pretty bland, but it’s the nature of the diet.

After Thursday I got mentally fatigued and decided to end it prematurely (I planned on doing it for 2 weeks), eating at maintenance up until Sunday night, where I weighed in at 192.

With my speaking event coming up on Friday and having lost 18lbs in 6 weeks while increasing my strength, it’s safe to say that I’ve accomplished the main goal of this leg of the journey. My long term goal is still to hit 180 or so, but I’ll take more of a relaxed approach and enjoy fulfilling some fun & kooky objectives that I’ve been kicking around in my head for awhile.

For those of you who are looking for more information on a scientifically sound approach to losing fat rapidly and safely, look no further than Lyle Mcdonald’s Rapid Fat Loss book. Filled with both the how and the scientific reasoning behind the why, it is simply the most user friendly and effective product on the market.

Faithful Sexification Supestars, do you have any questions that you want me to answer about this whole process?
Post them in the comment section below and I’ll do my best to help make your next move your best move.

The Complete Guide to Beating your Meat

March 29, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 27 Comments

White, thick, and very affordable. Meet your enemy, the dreaded chicken breast – it is here to destroy you.

There are few things in this world that will bring your dietary dominance to a screeching halt faster than a dry, boring piece of meat. Through sheer willpower alone you might get a few pieces down your throat, but in the end your body knows there are better tasting foods out there, and if you force it to endure the mouth-drying agony of a lamely prepared protein source one more time, it may very well seize up & choose your early demise over such a fate.

Not cool. I’ve seen it happen.

In the past I’ve let entire packages of meat go bad because I couldn’t muster up the mental & physical fortitude to eat more of it. Not only did it make my wallet pissed, but my fridge didn’t smell too lovely either.

So I’m here to do my part and help make sure you get the most out of your meat. In the video below I demonstrate my favorite quick & easy method for creating a juicy, mouth-worthy creation out of pretty much any meat (pork, beef, chicken, turkey – all these cuts work.

Here’s a sample chicken recipe for you to try as a well.

Let me know what you think in the comment section, and if you have any tips that you’ve used to great success please let me and the rest of the Sexification community know. Remember – friends don’t let friends eat dry meat (FDLFEDM).

The Sexification of Rog Law: The Training

March 14, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 30 Comments

Below is my training schedule. 3 days a week, in and out of the gym in under 40 minutes (warm up included) as long as I don’t spend too much time chatting between sets with co-workers and gym members.

Day A (Sunday):

A1) Trap Bar Deadlift – 3 x 3
A2) Weighted Chins ups – 3 x 5,6,8
B1) Gluteham Raise – 3 x 10
B2) Weighted Hyper Extension – 3 x 15

Day B (Tuesday):

A1) Weighted Dips – 3 x 2-8
A2) Weighted Hyper Extension – 3 x10
B1) Trap Bar Row – 3 x 8, 1 x 10-15
B2) Ab Wheel Rollouts – 3 x 10
C) Cable Face Pulls – 3 x 15

Day C (Thursday):

A1) Front Squat – 3 x 5
A2) Weighted Pushups – 3 x 10
B1) Band Hip Thrust – 3 x 15-20
B2) Seated Cable Row – 3 x 15-20

Diet first, training second.

Think of your diet as a box. How much, or how little, you’re eating, will determine the boundaries of the box; how big or small it is. The bigger the box, the more stuff you can put inside without it spilling over into the streets and having people point in your general direction while laughing as you scramble to pick up your unmentionables.

Now that “stuff” I talked about earlier, that’s the training. When eating at maintenance or above, you can get away with a lot more training wise without getting run down or halting your progress than you would while dieting. My diet-determined box is small, which doesn’t leave much room for a lot of sets and reps, so I’ve only included big lifts that will give me the most training bang for my time & effort invested, with enough accessory exercises to add a little extra emphasis to areas I want to focus on (upper back, booty and core strength).

Maintaining (or increasing) your strength while on a diet is an ideal situation, since doing so is a pretty solid indicator that you’re not losing muscle mass. To keep it as simple as possible, I give myself a number of reps to hit on the big compound lifts and if I hit that number and feel good about it, I increase the weight by 5-10lbs during the next session, staying there until I hit that rep number again. Since I’m eating like a baby bird, my strength gains are nowhere near where they would be if I were eating well, but I’m cool with that. Strength maintenance is my goal, so any gain is icing on the delicious cake of Sexification.

For cardio, I do nothing but walk 45-60min on my off days (or a random game of Dance Central), and I only do this because I love reading and being on the treadmill for an hour gives me some quiet time to do just that.

So far I’ve had a nice increase of strength on all my exercises, but the workouts have definitely become more taxing in terms of effort. I’m not run down by any means, but nor am I super excited for a set of heavy chin ups and deadlifts like I was pre-dieting. In light of that, this weeks training will be the last where I increase the weight in any of the exercises, and going forward I’ll just keep everything the same and ride those numbers out until I’m done dieting.

Here are some take away points for YOU:

1 – Focus on the big training rocks. Nothing wrong with included other exercises, but make sure you have your basis covered to a certain degree.

2 – Less is more. Your recovery is already compromised to a degree on a diet, so do less while making sure that the work you do in the gym is meaningful. I recommend training 3 days a week max. Use the extra time this saves you to enjoy your life outside of the gym.

The next Sexification update won’t be until April 1st, but starting next Sunday I’ll be undergoing a more strict diet for 2 weeks to finish off this phase, so I’ll be talking all about that.

Weight: 196.6

The Sexification of Rog Law: Meal Time Fun Time

March 5, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 19 Comments

I’m a huge proponent of IIFYM (if it fits your macros), with the main reason being that most diets fail from a combination of the physical – occasional hunger, etc – and the mental. Anything that we can do to minimize the perceived difficulties will go a long way towards success in the long run, and this approach does just that (for both me and my clients).

There are no off limit foods. If you want it, you can have it, as long as you hold yourself accountable to the decision and fit it into your calorie budget for the day. This kind of freedom drop kicks the mental side of dieting in face and can change the way you think about dieting (and your relationship with food) forever – triple win.

Here’s a sample of my usual meal schedule.

Training Day:

Pre-Workout: Usually a scoop of Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). Sometimes it will be a glass of milk or half of a protein bar. All depends on how I feel.

Post-Workout: 1lb of meat with 2 cups of oats, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar & 1 tablespoon of honey.

Meal #2: 2 cups of milk with 100g worth of protein powder and 2 cups of frozen berries.

Meal #3: 6 eggs, 2 oz of cheese, 4 pieces of beef bacon & 1lb of broccoli

Non-Training Day

Meal #1: 2 cups of milk with 100g worth of protein powder and an apple (or no fruit, depends on my mood).

Meal #2: 8oz of meat.

Meal #3: 1lb of meat with a separate plate of veggies.

Burgers (85/10 – 96/4% lean depending on the day)
Steak (sirloin tip usually, but ribeye if I’m feeling particularly manly)
Eggs (6 is the minimum – anything less would be uncivilized and a waste of my skillet)
Butter
Fish (tilapia, salmon)
Pork chops
Bacon
Cheese
Chicken (breasts and thighs)
Protein Powder (CINNAMON ROLL FLAVORED!)
Broccoli
Peas
Corn
Green Beans
Oats
Honey
Brown Sugar
Cinnabons
Milk
Quest Protein Bars
Rice
Apples
Oranges
Blueberries
Strawberries
Ribs
Ice cream
Shrimp
Octopus

Notice a trend here?

Most of my foods are minimally processed, but I also make room for treats if I want them. I also make sure that I’m only eating foods that I enjoy the taste of. I’ve learned the hard way that food that “sounds good” for me to eat will just end up going bad in the fridge, making both my wallet and soul depressed. I’ve had a carton of egg whites sit in the back of the fridge for more than a year once – true story.

Also I pretty much eat whenever I want, subscribing to no pre-determined number of meals I need to get in for the day. Some days I eat 3 meals and on days I’m feeling more glutenous I’ll eat just once during the day. Hitting your calories and macros by the end of the day is what matters the most from a physique standpoint.

The JC & RogLaw Podcast Episode 2

February 29, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 3 Comments

Greetings and salutations!

My good friend JC & I just released the second episode of our wonderfully swell and informative fitness podcast. In this episode we cover:

How to maintain muscle while dieting.

Program design and modifications for the individual.

How to break through strength training plateaus.

What music we life and chill too.

In other news, we’re still at a loss for what to call the podcast! If you have any input or suggestions, we would love to hear them.

To listen, you can either click play below or right click and save here.

You can also download our very first episode by right clicking and saving here

[audio:http://jcandroglawfitnesspodcast.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/jcdeen_roglaw_podcast_2.mp3]

I also talked about microloading as a form of progress, so if you’re interested in ordering some of those plates click this link: http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/3217/=ggpbvp

To find them, hit “ctrl-f” on your PC or “cmd-f” on your Mac and paste this number into the search field: 90108A046

Thanks for the support!

The Sexification of Rog Law: How I Determined My Fat Loss Calories & Macros

February 26, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 10 Comments

Before you start moving in any direction – putting on weight or trying to lose it – you first need to determine where you are.

It all starts with maintenance (how many calories you need to maintain your current weight within a 2-4lbs).

Step 1: Figure out your BMR.

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, a fancy term for the amount of calories it would take to maintain your body weight if you were to enter some type of bear-like hibernation, not moving at all.

There are a few different formulas for figuring this out, but since the numbers are going to have to be adjusted based on real world results, keeping it simple as pie works best, and this calculator does just that: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Step 2: Factor in activity

Using the number you got from the calculator, you would now factor in your activity in order to arrive at that maintenance number: ====> activity multipliers.

BMR = 2120

I train 2-3 days per week, walking an hour 2-3x a week, but other than that I’m not very active & am either training clients or sitting at the computer (aka not much activity). I’d then check the activity multiplier chart and see which one best fit in with current situation.

2120 (BMR) x 1.375 (multiplier) = 2915 calories

Note: The activity multipliers can sometimes spit out a number that’s a bit too high (which it is for me in the above instance), so don’t be afraid to use a lower number that’s not on the page. Test for 2-3 weeks & adjust on based on results.

I feel my number is a bit too high given my activity, so I played with the numbers and below are my adjusted calculations.

2120 (BMR) x 1.28 (adjusted multiplier) = 2714 calories

Step 3: Adjust For Goals

Now that I have my theoretical baseline, I can now plot out my training day and off day calories.

In my case, I’m going for straight up fat loss at the expense of everything else – muscle or strength gains are not in my plans at all. If I gain any of those two, it will simply be icing on the cake. The goal is to maintain what strength I do have until I’m done dieting down.

With that determined, I subtracted 500ish calories from my maintenance calories to determine workout day calorie intake (2195) and a little more than 1,000 calories from to determine my off day calorie intake (1660).

As you can see, I’m venturing pretty far from my maintenance levels, adding up to a pretty big calorie deficit. Please note that the bigger the deficit, the smarter you need to be about diet breaks and refeeds (check here for a great explanation as to what those are and why they’re important).

It all comes down to this: how fast do you want it, and how much of a deficit can you handle day in and day out?

I wouldn’t recommend big deficits like this for someone who is prone to food binges – slow and steady often is the best way to go in those cases.

For someone looking to lose fat at a slower pace (or increase strength and muscle mass), they would ease up on the big calorie deficit and add more calories to both their training days and off days, adjusting based on their results.

Step 4: Fill in with macros

Note: scroll down to the bottom of this post to see my macros & calorie intake.

Protein: 1 gram/lb of body weight is a decent starting point for fat loss, but in order to ensure maintenance of muscle mass I like to go a bit higher (1.1 – 1.2 grams/lb of body weight). The further you venture from maintenance (and the longer you’re in those periods) the more protein you’re going to need to make sure you don’t end up a smaller version of your former self at the end of the dieting process. This means your intake could vary anywhere from 1.1 – 1.5 grams/lb of body weight.

I set mine at 1.15 for the sake if ease and comfort.

Fat: I love eggs, cheese, ice cream, full fat dairy, bacon and fattier cuts of meat, and on a diet I would much rather have more of these than loads of potatoes, pasta & rice, and my macros reflect this as I skewed my numbers more towards fat on both training and off days. Coupled with all the protein, it helps keep me full longer and just tastes downright delicious.

Carbs: This was a personal preference decision. Large amount of carbs make me sleepy, even fruit if I eat way too much of it at once, so I kept them relatively low on my training days and very low on my off days, allowing me to enjoy more delicious fat while still getting in just enough to make sure that my workouts are productive and adequate recovery still takes place. Since I’m refeeding once a week, this isn’t a problem for me.

In general, you want to cycle your carbohydrates, having more of them when they’re needed (workout days) and less of them when you don’t (off days). As a result, fat also generally decreases significantly on workout days and increases on off days.

1st update

Questions? Concerns? Mean comments that make me want to go cry in the corner for all eternity? Drop them below in the comment section!

The Sexification of Rog Law (and what you can gain from it)

February 18, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 37 Comments

For the past few months I’ve just been eating anything that I’ve wanted, loosely tracking calories and macros, but for the most part not really caring how much I ate – lots of ice cream, steak, ribs, fruit, pasta and the occasional Cinnabon.

Training has been whenever I’ve felt like it – sometimes 1x a week, but usually 2x with a couple of challenges throw in for fun. Simply put I’ve been maintaining my results with as little time as necessary, but today marks the the day that I finally get off my butt cheeks and decide to actually get moving towards my own personal Sexification goals for several reasons.

1. I’ll be speaking on a panel along with Fitocracy at PAX East in Boston on April 6th entitled Gaming and Fitness – A Surprisingly Awesome Marriage, so I want to come in looking as Sexified as I can.

2. Pursuing a solid physique goal helps keep me on track in other areas of my life as well.

3. I want to show you, live & in the flesh, that getting the body that you want doesn’t have to be difficult at all (and it can actually be more fun than a box of kittens playing with a box of puppies playing with a box of pandas).

4. It gives me a fun reason to keep myself accountable along with my awesome friend Sohee Lee on her own Sexification journey.

My goal is simple: to look and feel as great as I can over the next 12 weeks, with April 6th being a nice checkpoint.

At my current weight, I have about 30-35lbs to lose, and I’m giving myself 8-9 months to knock it all out in a leisurely manner.

Here is my diet breakdown, with the logic and how I accomplish to be the subject of an upcoming post:

Training Days

240g protein
75g fat
140g carbs
2195 calories

Off Days
240g protein
60g fat
40g carbs
1660 calories
This is on top of getting in an hour of activity that I love on off days (walking, hiking, dancing, practicing kung-fu moves, fighting along with Bruce Lee movies, etc).

Every Sunday I’ll be updating with pictures and talking about what I’m doing training wise, what I’m eating, my calorie intake and how I’m varying it and pretty much anything else that I think will be helpful.

More importantly, I’ll be covering what YOU want to know about the transformation process and how you can apply it to your own situation, so ask away in the comment section below!

Starting weight as of 2/18/2012: 210.4lbs

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