NOT by the number

As I sit here, preparing to burn 150 calories on my spin bike, I begin thinking.  I am thinking about my 20 sets a day I have set before me this week. Over 200 reps that will hit my body each of those days.I think about the food I will use to fuel this machine. The  180 grams of protein, the 140 carbs and 60 fat that will go in every day I touch a weight. And then how I must change it all on the days that the iron doesn’t meet flesh.I look at my tape measure and my scales on my desk, all the numbers they will show me this week and how that will affect what goes on next week. It hits me just how crazy this fitness thing must look to all of you.

Let’s get serious!

To all the people that have just started or are looking for guidance. These numbers, whether you knew it or not, probably are one of the main reasons you have quit in the past. At some point the weight scale has tricked you into failing, you had bad measurement session, your training numbers didn’t quite fall were they were suppose too or maybe you have never tracked and have no numbers to show. Whatever the case may be I wanted to take some time an talk to you all on something that I have been thinking about.

Thought in the Dark

Progress, it is the end goal for EVERYONE. Whether you are looking to get stronger, healthier or you’re on a Zyzz shred quest, you want to see progress. I, as trainer, always like to see this progress and my normal way of seeing this is in the form of numbers. The mainstream media has put the weight scale as the “King of the Measurements.” a while I don’t agree, the weight scale can be a powerful tool for people just beginning to get into the fitness world.

In my camp, we love to look at strength as the “King,” but lately I see a problem even with using this as my leading measure.

Keeping in mind that these numbers all have there place. I want to look at you as a goal oriented person only care about seeing progress so I’ll make this statement.

I realized that the #1 KING OF KINGS measure is… Mental Soundness.

This look different to all of us. The following is going to be focused on “the beginner” in the fitness world, but I will approach “intermediate” and “life timer” in a later post.

Even he enjoys the dark

The Beginner, almost always sets the standard goal, they love how Kim K’s butt looks or they want to look like Ryan Gosling from that one movie. They think with a little research from Dr. OZ and a set of shake weights is what it is going to take to get them there. Ok, maybe it;s not that bad, but let’s just say they are a little mislead by what they see and what it’s going to take to get there. Below are a few things I believe would be great things for a newbie to heed before starting.

–Dedication– Nothing magically disappears by a certain season. All those summer hotties you see worked their butt off all winter to get where they are at. So if you hope to achieve what they have, be prepare to invest  a lot of time.

–Not Magic– No amount of equipment, pills or research will take you as far as hard work will.

–Married to it–  through light and the dark, you have to make it part of you. You have to become one with your goals and you have to make sacrifices to achieve what you are after. And just like in a real marriage, you can’t cheat on it and expect it to work.

–Find a good guide– The greatest things in life are hard to find and fitness is no different. You will have a million things thrown at you via mainstream media and you are expected to make sense of it all. Trying to figure this whole thing out alone is one of the number Lucky for you there are a number of trainers online that would love to help *shameless coaching plug* me being one of them. Contact one of them if you are unsure of your path. This person will also be able to keep you in the game when the numbers don’t play in your favor.

–Find a friend- As I said earlier, if the numbers don’t play in your favor once or twice, you might divorce this whole thing right there. Grab a friend,  let them know what’s up and let them journey with you. If you have no real community to connect with and are looking for an incredible online one, hop over to my Fitocracy tab and check out the great site over there.

TL;DR- As a beginner you have to be mental prepared for the goals you have set for yourself. If the numbers don’t play nice then you need to be tough enough to gut check up and press on. If you have failed because of this in the past, get a guide next time. Do Not Be Weak!

See you in the Darkness,

BT

As the darkness seeps in…

The body returns to former glory.

Week 5 of the cut is over and I’ll be darned if I am not feeling amazing on top of seeing some great results thus far.

My macros for this week didn’t change from last week and  my body is already starting to look comp ready.

With week 6 upon me I will add 3 differences this week.

1. This bad boy http://instagram.com/p/WYdahkiAuj/ .

Yeah, this year I am adding cardio in. Something I didn’t even touch last year prepping for comps. This year I am going to see what I get out of it, if anything. I will be using the spin bike in the morning and during Netflix sessions. I will be using the stairmill for 30 minute sessions after workouts 3 different days a week. I will also be including short cardio body part finishers, just for a little “fun.” Jump rope for shoulders, battle rope for chest, C2 rower for back, and prowler sled or tire flips for legs.

2. I will be starting my EC stack this week. I will be starting with around 24mg/250mg for this week and then upping it as I see fit. Normally don’t need to go that hard with these fat burners, but I figured I would let you know I’m on this stack. If you have any questions around this, feel free to ask.

3. I will be reducing my carbs by 20g this week. This is how I prefer to get my carbs out.

That is the plan for this week when it comes to training and at the end of this post I will have a request from all of you.

Thought in the Dark

This week was the Arnold Classic and saw one of my favorites, Dexter Jackson, take home the gold this weekend. I want to congratulate him on the win. He and every single one of those guys pour every ounce of their being into being the best. My hat is off to them.

The Blade

Talking to Blackjack this weekend we have come to the point that I need to get my name out on more of a local level here in Arkansas. We are thinking of doing some sort of charity event and relate it to fitness. I have no clue what this will be or how we will get it done, but I wanted to let all you all know so that if you have any legit ideas you could send them my way. Legit ideas only, please no fun run 5ks. Kthxs.

::READER PARTICIPATION TIME::

Finally, I said above I would need everyone’s input on something I will be adding into my program this week. I will be calling it “Shot in the Dark.” Shot in the Dark is a set of 4  exercises that I will finishes each of my days with. I will only do one set with the 4 moves (that you all will pick)for 20 reps. This can be any exercise you can come up with that will hit the following muscle groups. I have all the basics in and have great accessory lifts already, but now I want to know what you guys can come up with for me to finish off the muscles.

What I would like from you on is the following:

One exercise for each of my days and please make them odd. The top requested moves will be added to my routine as my weight finisher

1. Chest move

2. Back move

3. Shoulder move

4. Leg move

5. Arm move

Please leave these request on my Fitocracy page here : https://www.fitocracy.com/profile/BlackoutTrainer/

Everyone who leaves this on my page will get a shout out on the next episode of the Jack-N-Out Connection with special guest, Jon Goodman.

Thanks everyone in advance. Also, I know there is no cutting video this week, but I will have a posing video that I will put out later today and will add it to the blog later.

WARNING: I look extremely white in the spot lights

Shameless Plugs:

If you are in need of a coach feel free to email me at coachingwithbt@gmail.com. I have sessions starting at single skype session for $20.

If you haven’t already, check out my facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/BlackoutTraining

Darkness returns and calorie count rant

*the rock voice* Finally,  the Blackout Trainer has come back to the Darkness.

It’s cutting time people and I am on a new level of hype. Ate the hell out of some nasty food this past week to get my weight snuggling up to 180 pounds. This is crazy considering that on the day of my last competition in August , I weighed in at 149.

I will be using IF (intermittent fasting) as my timing method. I will be fasting for 18 hours and feeding for 6. During this cut I will be tracking macros only, NOT CALORIES. This is very important because if I were to only count my calories, I would eat only Nutrageous until I met my calorie limit.

Yummy, yummy, yummy I got love in my tummy!

But really, diet plans like weight watcher and others are nothing more than calorie counters for dummies and reward you for making dumb choices. For example, a regular snickers bar on Weight Watchers in 7 points, when a Clif builder bar nets you 5 points for roughly the same size bar. With them being that close you would figure their nutritional make up would be similar. *Insert Stone Cold Steve Austin voice* EH EH. Both bars have 270 calorie, wonderful for all those calorie counter out there. The snickers has 14 grams of fat, 35 grams of carbs, and a measly 4 grams of protein. While the builder bar has 8 grams of fat, 30 grams of carbs and 20 grams of protein. A clear difference in the two bars, but yet weight watchers or a simple calorie counting diet would not differentiate the two. Pretty dumb set up if you ask me.

Anyho, that’s my feeling on the subject and why I will be sticking to counting my macros. I will be putting out a video next week about what my macros look like and how my workouts went. You can check out all my workouts on fitocracy. The big change in my workouts is that I increase my tempo and increase my set count. The exercise stay consistent and my weight stays heavy.

For everyone that has submitted for coaching over the last 3 weeks, I haven’t forgotten about you. I will be putting together some new packages and will begin taking names for the May Blackout Squad soon.

If you all have any questions leave them below. If you or anyone else would like to know more about coaching, fill out the info on the coaching tab and I will be sure to send you the coaching package.

Lastly a quick shout out to my friend, Jon Dao. If any of you are in positions, whether it be for work or for school, where you need some help on public speaking, interview skills or just putting a speech together, he is your man. Hit him up here at http://commdao.com/speech-coaching/ 

Hope everyone has a great week and I look forward to sharing this cutting journey with you all.

Week in Review- Week away from cutting and client success

One more week in the books and one week closer until my journey for aesthetic beginning (again).

This past week was used taking care of myself. I wasn’t dumb in the gym and no more damage was inflicted to my abs. Training went well, even though it was lacking big numbers. At the end of the week, I was happy that I was closer to a healthy 100%, than anything else.

CUTTING!!!

I’m super thrilled I am to start my cut this next week, Friday to be exact.

Pretty much that says it all.

I will be using this next week to plan out my workouts, set my macros for  the first 3 weeks of the cut, and watch too many Zyzz videos to count. Also, I’ll be eating every carb in sight.

Come near me with a cookie and you might as well begin praying for your life.

The cut plan is 12 weeks of intermittent fasting with a carb cycle, decreasing carbs weekly and adjusting fats and proteins to go along side the carb changes. Based on the some of the feedback from people, I will start a weekly cutting video showcasing  some workouts, the macros and just general “how I am feeling” type of stuff.

Quick shout out to a few clients who have been doing awesome. Over the last 3 weeks this pair of sisters I have been training have lost 10 pounds each. This is all while increasing their protein intake and lifting heavy. Also, one of my boys for the Blackout Squad has put on 5lbs and is lifting like a maniac. I will be talking to the others this week and hope to have more promising updates next weekend, as they begin their 4th week with me.

Action item for you guys! Above you saw that I will be doing a weekly video series during my cut. Please let me know if there is something else you would like me to touch on as I drop all of this winter fat and attempt to get  shredded as fuark

…I mean this

Thanks for catching up with me and I look forward to having some great info for everyone with this upcoming cut.