Great.

In comes the nurse with the papers from the next patient waiting. Her problem was clearly something very banal. I’m ashamed to admit, but this kind of patients in the ER on a Sunday,that’s just something that often makes us health workers sigh because we believe we have more important, more urgent stuff to take care of.

A Round Kick In The Face

Walking in and looking up, the suffering and sadness in the woman’s eyes hit me like a round kick in the face. I felt chills down my spine, like someone took a gallon of ice-cold water and poured it down my shirt.

This woman, about 60 years old, suffered from a very rare form of blood cancer.

Her husband had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and suffered a stroke during surgery.

She told me about her son who for years struggled getting children of his own and once he and his wife succeeded, the child was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 4 and she lost her first grandchild at the age of 6, after two years of intensive therapy.

His second daughter was born with a brain damage.

And now, just a few years later, her son was himself diagnosed with incurable lung cancer with months to live at the age of 40.

She was upset BECAUSE she did not have time to go to the hospital for banal problems like these, when all she wanted was to sit by her son’s bed.

I gladly sat there and listened intensely to her story. THIS is what it’s all about, the reason you become a medical doctor in the first place. Then I helped her as quickly as I could and sent her on her way.

After all, I was lucky enough to have an awesome job, to help people like her, to let them share their story.

And that walk from the parking spot? I probably needed it anyway.

Fast Forward Your Life 50 Years

You are ill and old.
Looking back on your youth – do you want to see obsession and calorie tracking in absurdum while debating grains vs. dairy online

or

smiles over heavy lifts and the occasional post workout beer with real people?

Don’t be an idiot.

Go out and live your life.

None of us know what’s waiting.

This Sunday was a real eye opener to me. Please make the woman’s story COUNT and share this with your friends. 

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© 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Some of you don’t know the Clark Kent side of the superman author of this site but let me assure you, I have many hidden talents that you don’t know about (yet). I do more then cut people’s abdomen, stuff their mouth with medicine and lift heavy stuff. Photography is one such thing.

Last weekend I attended a big bodybuilding competition, the BMR Grand Prix in Malmö, Sweden. My bud Binais Begovic was hosting the whole event and asked for my assistance with the on-stage photos. I shot over 4000 photos and edited 750 of them. 3 days with practically no sleep. No wonder I’m bitching over my sore throat right now…

I felt that it was stupid to keep them to myself so I decided to share them not only with the athletes but anyone interested.  The photos below are pretty small in size since there is a ton of them and I’d hate the upload to take 6 weeks to finish.

If there is a photograph of YOU that you like, or want to print on a big canvas all over your living room and therefore want the full scale photo (the files are BIG), contact me via the Contact Me form.  Or maybe you want a photo some other reason (like making stupid training-motivation memes). Get in touch!

And even if you don’t like bodybuilding and don’t want to look at pictures of semi-naked men, I still highly recommend that you take a quick glance at the bikini ladies. You will not regret it.

Click the share-button to your left to share all photos with your family and friends!

Bikini

Figure

Classic Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding -80 kg

Bodybuilding -90 kg

Bodybuilding -100 kg

Bodybuilding +100 kg

Bodybuilding Overall

Athletic Fitness

Woman’s Physique

That’s it. I hope you liked the photos and If YOU were a competitor – Well done. You all made it into an awesome show! Share the photos with your friends and family by clicking the share button on you left.  If you have any questions just drop a comment bellow and I’ll get back to you.

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© 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

There are 3 reasons you should grab a bowl of potato and continue reading:

1. I’m about to tell you what my problem with auto regulation is and how most trainees use the technique incorrectly
2. I will show you how to use it to get better results in your own training
3. At the end, there is a picture of a potato unicorn that farts rainbows (don’t peek just yet!)

What Is Auto Regulation?

Auto regulation is a fancy term that personal trainers love to use to appear educated. It makes them seem hip and innovative. To me personally, it’s the seventies porn music equivalent to today’s resistance training scene.

Technically, it is a method by which the trainee increases strength by progressing at their own pace based on daily and weekly variations in performance, unlike traditional linear periodization, where there is a set increase in intensity from week to week.

In essence: decide how much weight you lift based on how you feel.

Sounds comfortable?

Well it is, and that is exactly my problem with it, since lifting heavy weights week in and week out is no way near comfortable.

Gives You A Great Reason To Skip Your Workout

In my opinion when something new and hip comes around, the pendulum almost always swings too far in one direction.

What if you don’t feel like training in the first place? Is auto regulatory training not a perfect excuse to stay at home and watch How I Met Your Mother instead? After all, this kind of training was about skipping doing things you don’t feel like doing, right?

This is where many trainees go wrong, and it’s my main concern with how people adapt to the technique.

Research supports AutoRegulation as an effective tool when deciding on which training load to use, not deciding whether you should workout in the first place. >> Click To Tweet This Quote

Read that again. I’ll wait. Tweet it too – it’ll make you sound super smart to all your followers.

To build a physique like this you need to go to the gym even when you don’t feel like it.

The only thing I know, is that the soreness in my butt as I am writing this is highly appreciated, and had I not performed the workout the other day, I would be sitting in this chair comfortably, and I absolutely hate sitting down comfortably.

Try Smart Auto Regulation Instead

Always have a plan – a goal for the workout. Check your last results on every exercise. Give everything you’ve got and try to beat your previous numbers.

Auto regulation will take care of itself. If there is no way you can get the weight you were hoping for, feel free to auto regulate: reduce load and work on technique or add some low load high volume work.

DO NOT skip going to the gym just because you don’t feel like training and justify it with the auto-regulation wildcard.

Like I’ve said a thousand times before: how you feel is a lie, and in the long run, you will miss many of your best workouts just because you did not feel like going to the gym.

Take-Home Message

I have no problem with auto regulation per se; I believe it can be a useful tool when deciding upon training load. My problem with it is when it becomes an excuse for skipping workouts.

Use Auto-Regulation as a tool for deciding on the load you are to use based on how you feel in the gym, not at home.

Learning to perform with maximal capacity on sub-optimal days is a skill. It can be taught, but only if you get to the gym in the first place. I’ve lost track of the number of awesome personal records I’ve set on days that I thought were going to suck.

A big PR on your best day is cool. But what’s more awesome is the PR you managed to pull off on your worst day. That’s almost as cool as this potato unicorn…

Do you think the best athletes in the world got to their current level by training on their best days only? I think not.

Do you have any experience with auto-regulatory training that you’d like to share?

Drop a comment below!

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© 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Needless to say, this is not a diet cheesecake, and it’s pretty calorie dense, especially if you use full fat cheese and real sugar like I did. If I know you guys right however, you will fall in to one of the following 3 categories and eat it anyway (probably the whole thing).

1. You are doing my LIZA program and need a bizarre amount of calories just to support the crazy intensive work you are putting in
2. You are isolating your vital organs for the upcoming winter.
3. You just don’t give a shit and eat it because you want to, which is perfectly fine too.

In either case – knock yourself out, this really is an awesome cheesecake.

Oh, and if you hate reading, there is a video with snap shots and the recipe in the end.

Ingredients for 8 servings

For The Biscuit Base

• 250 g digestive biscuits
• 125 g butter

For The Filling

• 750 g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia original)
• 2 teaspoons lemon rind
• 110 g sugar (Or sweetener of your liking)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 3 eggs

For the Lemon Curd Topping

• 45 g butter
• 110 g sugar (Or sweetener of your liking)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice

The Method

1. Mix the biscuits and butter in a food processor (or melt the butter and crush the biscuits and mix manually if you don’t have one). Press onto the base of a 23cm springform tin and press the base up all the way to the top on the sides using a small glass. Put in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
2. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius (=302 degrees Fahrenheit according to Google).
3. Prepare the filling: Using an electric mixer – mix the cream cheese, grated lemon peel, sugar and vanilla sugar. Add the eggs to the mix, one at the time.
4. Distribute the filling evenly over the biscuit base and put it in the oven for one hour. Allow the cake to cool slowly in the oven.
5. While you wait, prepare the lemon curd by mixing all ingredients in a heat resistant bowl. Put the bowl over a saucepan with a little water in (the water and the bowl not touching). Stir continuously while the water starts to boil for approximately 20 minutes until the curd thickens (it should stick on the back of the spoon). Take the bowl of the heat and cover with plastic foil and allow it to cool slowly.
6. Distribute the lemon curd over the baked cheesecake and put it in the refrigerator for 3 hours (minimum!)

Watch the video below for snapshots of the process.

Enjoy!

Nutritional information

Whole Cake

5450 calories

• 90 g protein
• 407 g carbohydrates
• 386 g fat

Per Slice (1/8 of the cake)

680 calories

• 11 g protein
• 51 g carbohydrates
• 48 g fat

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Actually, I had a twitter conversation some time ago with a good friend of mine, Mark Young (who’s blog you should add to your RSS reader if you are not familiar with his work). We both eventually laughed at the blogging love-hate relationship.

The more you write the better it feels, because you know you’ve had an impact to a lot of people around you. The constructive feedback and the ability to actually reach a lot of people in the blink of an eye is, well, awesome.

The downside? Every loop we close tends to open up three new ones. It’s always an increasing number of ideas, plans and projects which require even more researching, even more writing, and even more editing. This leads to putting off, which leads to the feeling of “I should be working on it,” which leads to more procrastination and finally, more feeling like shit in general.

Not exactly what I want.

What strikes me the most is how the should-be-writing awareness hits me at the most inconvenient times – you know, when there is nothing I can do about it. Like a swarm of Mosquitos in my head – they’re buzzing around loudly, but I can’t seem to smash any of them. And when I actually do have the opportunity to write, I just can’t seem to get started.

Does my frustration with writing sound a lot like the fitness goals you’ve been trying to achieve but just can’t manage to do so?

Figured.

Information = Procrastination

I constantly make efforts to improve every aspect of my living being. But how does one improve a skill or becomes more knowledgeable?

Information?

Logic says it’s by getting more facts, analysing  information, reading books, articles, science, get another aspect, another point of view. This is a never ending list and they are not necessary bad things, but they are for someone who is already producing stuff.

Not the procrastinator.

But we’re missing the critical point here – the massive amount of information out there, accessible for each individual in the modern age, is part of the reason for procrastination, not the solution.

The more information you have about the topic the more of it you think you need to do a decent job and the harder it is to actually get started.

And as you drain your rational cognitive capacities and rely more heavily on emotional thinking – fast and intensive positive feedback will come easier than working on projects with a distant deadline.

It’s programmed in our DNA and used to be an evolutionary necessity for our survival as a species.

In the modern world however instant gratification does not come from postponing mating for running away from the threatening lion. It comes from checking your Facebook account, watching another episode or Dr. House, or just playing another game of solitaire.

There is always New Year’s Eve to start, right?

No wonder many successful writers have a writing laptop with nothing but writing software installed, or remove the internet connection in their homes.

Be Stupid = Look Better

So to eliminate my procrastination when it came to writing, I came up with a plan: I decided to actually write.

Big shocker, I know!

I wrote whatever the hell I wanted. It didn’t matter as long as words were being produced on the page.

Sounds stupid, right?

Well it is, and it isn’t. When you take a very simplistic approach towards solving a problem such as this, you realize that taking the right action (in this case, writing) is the only way to get anything on paper and eventually end up with the result you wanted – a solid article for eager readers.

The first draft will probably be of secondary quality, not very well researched and not exactly what I wanted, being the perfectionist that I am.

But it will be on paper (well, on your screen to be more precise), and I know it will improve over time.

I can research, evaluate, think, brainstorm and draft out whatever I want but unless I actually put anything on paper, I won’t be able to influence the lives of thousands.

Which sucks, because influencing lives is what I’m all about.

I won’t lie, at time it feels hard and as if I’m just wasting my time. Other times I’m unmotivated and can’t think of a single word. But, if I can get my notepad and start scribbling, then it doesn’t matter because at least I’m producing something.

Which as we all know, is better than nothing.

Wana guess how I started writing this piece? I was watching another boring episode of CSI Miami (yes, I was procrastinating), and during the five minute commercial break, I pulled my iPad out and started jotting things down.

I didn’t know what I was writing, who the audience would be or if anyone would read it at all. I just knew that I needed to write, period. And I figured that a nice place to start would be the frustration I was lately having with procrastination.

If you’re an aspiring writer or fitness blogger then trust me, begin with just get something on paper, anything.

“Ok Doc, So How Does This Relate To Fitness, Exactly?”

Without any hard numbers at hand, I’d say fitness and fat loss it’s the number one reason for procrastination in the western society. I find the similarity to my writing procrastination habit striking.

• You can twist your program all day.

• You can set goals.

• You can think about supplements, reflect over potency of strength training on the natural body, research squatting styles, speed or different modalities of strength/hypertrophy/agility/cardiovascular training.

• You can discuss the role of cinnamon on the mTor pathway, potential side effects of creatine, whey, gluten or non-organic non-grass fed beef.

You might become a hell of a debater with thousands of arguments and data to pull out of your pocket when sitting at 3 am on your favorite training forum.

But did you actually take a single action step towards getting closer to you goal?

The over analysis only leaves you standing on the same spot. And it probably affects you the same way my non-writing does. You might have spent 1 day or 10 years of your life standing on the same place, extremely educated but confused and neurotic.

However, you did not take one single physical action to improve.

The Solution

If you tend to procrastinate in a particular area, you need less information in order to start, not more. Stop thinking and just start doing – you’ll learn the right way eventually, and will also have a shit load of experience under your belt.

When it comes to fitness, let’s get real simple: sometimes, you just need to shut the fuck up and lift something heavy. Don’t stress over it, don’t think about it, just get it done.

The tendency to start doing before knowing everything is, I believe, the difference between the ones that are successful and well, the rest.

There is one fact I know for sure – effort and consistency brings results, every god damn time. All else is secondary.

I feel blessed for actually liking to work out. I do get my lift in, even If I feel like crap. When I’m consistently taking action, that’s when I research to improve my game.

I never procrastinate when it comes to training.

Writing obviously does not work the same way for me. That’s why I stay more idiotic about it for now – at least I’m producing something. And to be honest, judging by the traffic on my site and the response from you guys lately, you seem to like the ‘New’ me!

I don’t give a shit if your program is idiotic, your nutrition principles are crap and your supplements are burning a hole in your wallet. Follow your crappy ass program, put an honest effort in, and you will get results better 95% of fitness enthusiasts who hop from program to program on a weekly basis, while citing the latest abstract from The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

And what if you can’t write a program because you just don’t know where to start?

Pay someone to do it for you.

It’s truly a smart investment to let somebody else do all the thinking for you, and leave you with nothing but the doing part. It eases stress and can feel very liberating – this is why even the best trainers and bodybuilders hire other trainers and coaches to create plans for them.

It’s not that they are lacking in knowledge, if at all, it’s just that planning out something for 12 or 16 weeks is mentally exhausting.

That energy can be much more efficiently utilized for doing.

Starting Is Like Swimming

Getting started is not like swimming the first meter of a 200 meter race in an ice cold pool.

Getting started is jumping into the water.

Don’t stand on the edge of your ultimate fitness potential and analyse every single aspect of the 200 meters you are about to swim, twisting every argument around fivefold. Dive head on into the cold water and take the first stroke as fast as possible.

Because the longer you wait on the edge the colder the water seems. Once you are in there, swimming does not seem like such a big deal.

So are you a fitness procrastinator? Do have troubles getting started? Here’s my open and completely free invitation to take action.

Be Stupid

Allow yourself to be idiotic, got to the gym and have some fun.

Put your favorite music on, drink a nice warm cup of coffee and just go lift something. Just like the eager swimmer, at least you’ll already be in the cold water.

The rest will come.

Look at this giant beast of an article that I came up with, just by writing on an empty note app during a 5 minute CSI commercial. Crazy isn’t it?

So do yourself a favor and scroll down below to join the Lift-Heavy VIP list - this way, you can always get relevant information and motivating up to date content from me.

Then I want you to close this window and get started.

Here’s to doing.

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

I used to create long excel spreadsheets, planning my training phases with red lines every 12^th week saying “REST WEEK.”

It made perfect sense… at the time.

My mantra has always been that regression is ok, as long as it allows me to keep on progressing thereafter. One step backward followed by two steps forward.

There is just one problem with this rigid solution: for the majority of us, weight training isn’t an isolated event from the rest of our lives, and therefore this method is highly inflexible. We all have shit to do.

Sometimes, after 12 weeks, I’d still be on the top of my progression curve, making awesome gains every single training session. Other times I was feeling completely worn out by week 7.

And like every other human being, from time to time I’d catch a cold and be forced to stay out of the gym for a week or two, and that always messed up my planning and brought upon much frustration.

So instead of turning into the Swedish Hulk, I decided to come up with a more flexible solution that would help me reach my goals.

This solution allows me to give my body a break from time to time without losing my groove, all the while extending my progression curve throughout the whole cycle.

The 50/100/200 Solution For Deload Weeks In 5 Steps

1. Don’t plan your deloads

Planning when to deload in a rigid schedule is very inflexible and something I strongly advice against. I’m a big believer in auto-regulating deloads.

If it’s working, then I don’t fix it.

If I’m progressing nicely and feeling fresh and motivated – I just keep rocking on. But when I’m starting to feel unmotivated, tired or notice weird aches in my body and I feel like giving it some rest – I deload. Genius right?

2. Cut the accessory work

It’s a deload, remember? Go into the gym, perform all your main movements, but skip the bosu ball stabilized eccentric rotator cuff rotations.

Come on, just this one week.

3. Focus on technique

Using my definition of a deload; it is not just time away from the gym. It’s a specific set of actions you decide upon that will still take you closer to your goal(s), while taking some stress off your body for physical and mental recovery.

Remember, you’re taking a step back so that you can take two more later on.

However, don’t just go in and perform your sets in a brain-dead, zombie like fashion. Focus your full efforts on hammering in a perfect technique. Every single set and for every single rep.

This is a perfect opportunity to get some low load, high volume technique training in, which is why I want you to go in and double your sets with the 50/100/200 system.

4. 50/100/200 – 50% weight, 100% reps, 200% sets

When I feel the need to take a deload week I still go into the gym and perform my main movements. I simply cut the weight in half and double the number of sets while keeping the number reps per set constant. That’s what 50/100/200 stands for.

Lower load, double volume, focus on technique.

5. Let life plan off-weeks

No more planning full weeks away from the gym, you risk losing your groove and missing a chance at improving your game. If something important comes up, or if you need some time away from the iron – sure, feel free to handle your life outside of the gym.

Also, don’t forget about other factors for good recovery: stay active, eat well, get enough sleep and be nice to people.

Seriously.

Why It’s Full Of Win

The 50/100/200 solution for deload weeks allows you to have a more flexible solution for backing off, that takes in consideration other aspects of your life for a more relaxed style of training. Apart from giving your body a break, the 50/100/200 deload also makes sure you stay in the groove for bigger and better results even when it is time to recover.

By increasing the number of sets you preform, you make sure to keep hammering in the technique during all the main movements, while lowering the load to take some stress of your joints and tendons, allowing you to keep getting bigger, stronger and leaner – long term.

An example 

Let’s say I train on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday performing an upper/lower split. My main movements consists of the bench press, standing overhead press, weighted chin-ups, deadlifts and squats. I’ll normally perform 3 sets x 5 repetitions on those movements followed by a bunch of accessory exercises.

Following the steps above I’d cut all accessory work, decrease load to 50 % of my one repetition max, double the sets and focus on perfect technique and movement patterns.

Conclusion

We all need rest weeks from time to time, but don’t let them be passive, but keep them constructive with you goal in mind. A deload is still a deliberate action to get you closer to your goal.

Regressing is always the right thing to do, if it allows you to keep progressing

By considering your “rest weeks” deloads with technique focus, the 50/100/200 method will allow you to deload when needed, not when planned. Cut all accessory movements, double the sets and focus on movement patterns and perfect execution.

Stop scheduling weeks completely away from the gym, life takes care of that by itself by gifting us with a cold, a trip to some electrifying place, or a big work project or an Xbox. Ahem.

Cheers!

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

How do you do it?

Do you train high volume, or low volume? Do you train every body part separately or do you do full body training? Do you use 30 second or 3 minute rest periods?

I do it my way.

We’ll get to that in a minute…

First, let me tell you a personal story of a guy I used to know. Jim is a guy who has been skinny his entire life and often made fun of because of his physique. Other than his not-so-impressive body he is the usual 17-year old guy. He’s nice and caring, loves superhero movies and very much interested in mating with any girl of his liking.

His 9 year-old physique paired with a decent level of lack of self-confidence makes that last part a bit difficult for him.

One night he decides to go out with his friends. Walking home that night, a guy attacks him, beats him up and empties his pockets of everything with value. At first, Jim is embarrassed, somehow feeling that this whole event is his fault for not being able to stand up for himself.

Then he decides that there is no use in feeling sorry. Either he cries, or takes action. There are no other options.

Jim joins the local commercial gym with one goal and one goal only: He’s going to gain muscle. He’s going to build a physique that will make him proud, that will grab the ladies’ attention and that will make the bad guys think twice before trying to rob him. It has been done oh-so-many times before and there is nothing stopping him.

The Way

He walks into the gym and talks to PT Pete, about The way to build a big body. PT Pete is happy to help. Jim receives his 3×10 full body beginner machine routine and starts killing it right away. And the results are pretty good, within a few months he’s started to add quite some mass and even his friends have started to notice.

As the rate of progression starts to slow down after 6 months or so, that’s when the confusion starts.

He reads everything he comes over to learn The way to train for mass. He speaks to a really big guy, Big Bob, at the gym who tells him PT Pete is pathetic and that body splits are The way to build mass. Jim starts having arm days and calves-and-shoulder days.

Just as Jim starts to adapt he stumbles over a blog from an apparently really famous trainer, Functional Fred, who apparently is making shit loads of money – he’s got to know his shit, right?

Functional Fred proclaims that The way to mass is not in the nineties-bodybuilding-bodypart-splits
but that new research and his experience have shown that full body, 3 times per week programs with sprinting, vertical jumps and wide-stance goblet split squats from a deficit is The way to muscle mass and he’s got some really nice testimonials on his site to prove it.

Then as he starts digging the full body programs, he talks to an old friend, Busy Brad who tells him about low volume training. He talks about all the bodybuilders in history who managed to build impressive physiques with DC-training and HIT.

Seems convincing, let’s try that.

Confused, he’s jumping from program to program, and in his attempt to learn The Way he never gets anywhere, ends up confused and turns to the one solution he knows will work.

Steroids.

This natural-training-shit does not work anyway.

And as he is pushing unsterilised needles into his leg in his bedroom, making decisions that will change the course of his life, on the internet forum PT Pete, Big Bob, Functional Fred, Busy Brad and many more characters are still arguing about The Way.

My Way

So what is The way to build muscle mass?

Sometimes the level of ignorance among both the trainers asking and the experts answering just strikes me.

Shouldn’t it be obvious by now that people have built exceedingly impressive physiques with classic with body part splits, upper-lower splits, powerlifting and whole body training? Some did low volume HIT training and others did endless sets of biceps curls. We all have Big Bobs, Functional Freds and Busy Brads in our lives.

How can they all be right? Or all they all wrong?

I’ve been researching the topic for quite some time, and to be honest – we don’t know shit.

How could we?

Apart from testing different training programs for different individuals, outside of a lab setting you’d have to control a billion other stuff, including, but in no way limited to, nutrition, supplementation, sleep, socio-economic status, life style factors and drugs.

Congratulations, you’ve got yourself an endless amount of confounding factors contaminating the data and destroying your chances of understanding The way.

In theory, sure, there might be individual differences in an individual’s responsiveness to different training regimens physiologically.

But I don’t really believe in that.

The “find what works for you” mindset, I believe, is very much on the mental level – you don’t “find” if your body type responds best to 5/3/1 or 3×10, you find a program that you like doing and will keep doing for a meaningful period of time. I bet that one common denominator is valid for Big Bob, Functional Fred AND Busy Brad.

All of them believed in their methodology and stayed persistent.

Read that last sentence again. I’ll wait.

NO results ever came without a little effort. And I think that’s where the focus should be.
Like I’ve said many times before: I don’t care if you pick a shitty program, as long as you stay consistent for a long period of time you will get results. Period.

To me it’s all about love. Find a way to train that you like. Personally, I love to lift heavy (duh, did you see the name of the site?). That’s why all my training is based around heavy compound lifts. Do you have to lift heavy to gain muscle mass? Absolutely not. I do it because I love it and that’s why I keep doing it. Over and over and over again.

Here’s how I see it: Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. So spend more time doing what you love.

Saying that your way is The way to get it done is like saying that eating potato is the only way to get fat.

And we all know potato is awesome.

This is a very real problem for many frustrated people. Help me spread the message and save a lot of people from confusion and frustration. Share this article with your friends. The sharing buttons are on your left. One click is all I ask for.

One love.

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Here’s the first email that she sent to me and that made me ask her to share the report with my readers.

Hi Mr B!

we spoke briefly awhile back – and I have since then experimented with myself with great success.  Thank you for taking the courage to demonstrate that this is possible (Im the midst of writing up my own report and showing it to my training buddy who would not believe that Im lifting similar if not heavier weights than her)

The text below is an direct copy-paste of her report, unedited and uncensored as always for your pleasure. Enjoy!

ILCD Experiment

Experiment date: Fri 18/5/2012 to Thurs 24/5/2012 (7 days)

Nickname: KS

Objective

1. Is fat loss possible on an extremely low calorie, protein-sparing diet?
2. Can muscle strength be preserved during this period?
3. Will there be significant fatigue affecting performance at work/training during this period?
4. Will there be significant hunger affecting performance at work/training during this period?
5. Would mental focus be significantly affected during this period?
6. Are there any adverse effects from attempting this experiment?

 Setup

1. -1800 to -2000kcal daily (maintainence intake for subject is 2350kcal)
2. Alternating intake with protein shake and fresh salmon for EFA
3. BCAA to provide continuous source of protein to body
4. All other calorie-free beverages allowed
5. Re-feed with carbs on last day after glycogen depleting workout

Day 1 – Friday, 18^th May 2012

Weight – 67.5kg

Nutrition:

1.30pm protein shake x1 scoop

4.40pm protein shake x1 scoop

6.30pm pre-workout BCAA

10pm protein shake x1 scoop

Workout: – heavy day

Pullups BW WU 8 WS 3/3/3/3/2+1

Squat 32.5kg WU 7 WS 3/3/3/3/3

Shoulder Press 17.5kg WU 9 WS 3/3/3/3/3

Deads 32.5kg WU 10 WS 3/3/3/3/3

Bench 22.5kg WU 9 WU 3/3/3/3/3

Curls 10kg WU 5 WS 3/2/2/3/2

Fatigue: 1/10

Hunger 0/10

Mental Focus 10/10

Notes: 1^st day of experiment –very excited!  At first worried cannot lift heavy (expected training to be at 1pm after work but ended up at 6.30pm) But many PRs!!!  Full of energy, hope this will pan out smoothly

Day 2 – Saturday, 19^th May 2012

Weight – 66.9kg (-0.6kg)

Nutrition:

9am BCAA

1.30pm pre-workout BCAA

5pm Salmon x300g

Workout: – general conditioning

Dragon boat practice x2 hrs

Fatigue: 4/10

Hunger 3/10

Mental Focus 10/10

Notes: Day full of activities!  Surprisingly not hungry – perhaps mind was too preoccupied.  Salmon kept me full till late at night

Day 3 – Sunday, 20^th May 2012

Weight: 65.3kg (-2.2kg)

Nutrition:

12.30pm pre workout BCAA

2.30pm protein shake x1 scoop

4.30pm BCAA

6.30pm protein shake x1 scoop

8pm protein shake x1 scoop

Workout: – heavy day

Leg Press 5,5,5 – 300lb

Lats pulldown 5,5,5 – 56.7kg PR

SL Deads 5, 5, 5 – 65lb

DB 1-arm snatch 5,5,5 – 10kg (for shoulder mobility)

Fatigue: 7/10 (due to lack of sleep)

Hunger 3/10

Mental Focus 7/10 (due to feeling very cold while working in ICU)

Notes: Starting to feel cold intolerance while working today, which warmed up after the workout. Skin’s starting to look a little dry as well Will remember to wear extra layers when working next day A little worried about working out with Jenny cm. V surprised that I am not hungry at all – no thoughts on food, in fact its kinda a chore to drink protein shake every couple hours

Day 4 – Monday, 21^st May 2012

Weight: 65.1kg (-2.4kg)

Nutrition:

5pm Salmon x300g

7.30pm pre workout BCAA

10pm BCAA

Workout: general conditioning

Pullups WU [(A)30] 8, 7, 6 WS [(A)30] 5, [(A)43] 5, [(A)57] 7

DB Step Down Lunge 11x4sets – 12.5kg

DB Deads + Shoulder Press 8x3sets -  15kg

Inverted Row – 50reps

DB 1-arm snatch 5/side – 12.5kg

Fatigue: 4/10 (at work but no more after workout)

Hunger 2/10

Mental Focus 7/10

Notes: Again, very cold in the ICU but manageable wearing an extra layer – generated lots of raised eyebrows though. Did decently well for the workout! Halfway thru! Again no hunger – with excellent mental focus at work

Day 5 – Tuesday, 22^nd May 2012

Weight: 64.9kg (-2.6kg)

Nutrition:

1.15pm pre workout BCAA

3.15pm protein shake x1 scoop

11pm protein shake x1 scoop

Workout: – heavy day.

Chins BW 5, 5, 5

DB Split Squat 5, 5, 5 – 20kg PR

Seated Bench 5, 5, 5 – 55kg

Waiter’s Carry x3 laps – 14kg

Fatigue: 6/10 (at work but more energized after workout)

Hunger 2/10

Mental Focus 7/10

Notes: Was mentally crippled before starting 3^rd heavy workout of the experiment, but still managed to do well!  Missed 1 protein shake as was too engrossed catching up with a friend.  Hope I won’t suffer tomorrow!  Am already feeling my clothes/uniform feeling loose. No hunger!!!!! How is that possible…I used to be thinking about food all the time.

Day 6 – Wednesday, 23^rd May 2012

Weight: 64.4kg (-3.1kg)

Nutrition:

1pm pre workout BCAA

2.30pm BCAA

3.15pm Salmon x300g

Workout: – general conditioning

Man-maker 8x3sets – 10kg

Deads + burpee 10x4sets – 20kg

Squat + cable row 10×3 sets – 23.75kg/26.26kg/31.25kg

Fatigue: 8/10 (AM pre-workout during work) 2/10 (PM post-workout)

Hunger 2/10

Mental Focus 3/10 (AM pre-workout during work), 6-7/10 (PM post-workout)

Notes: Worst day so far. OMG. Very cold + lethargic since starting work.  Could not focus, reviewed patients with half of my normal working speed.  Could NOT wait to knock off.  Literally shivering.  But it’s the 2^nd last day to end of experiment, cannot give up. Funny I was only feeling lethargic but not hungry at all. Still able to pull off the workout, albeit slower speed, felt an increase in energy levels after…due to sense of achievement?? Note to self: do not trust energy levels pre-workout…cos I would still be able to pull it off and still feel awesome after.

Day 7 – Thursday, 24^th May 2012

Weight: 63.6kg (-3.9kg)

Nutrition:

4pm – Salmon x 300g, Asparagus x 100g, Roasted pumpkin x 700g

8pm – Braised lamb x 300g

Workout: – glycogen depletion

Leg Press 15x3sets – 150lb

superset with

Leg Curl 1x3sets – 31.5kg

Seated Press 15x3sets – 30kg

superset with

Lats Pulldown 15x3sets -36kg

Posterior delt raise 15x2sets 4kg

superset with

DB curls 15x2sets – 6kg

Fatigue: 3/10

Hunger 2/10

Mental Focus 8/10

Notes: Feeling a lot better than yesterday albeit a little tired.  Looking forward to the last day of this experiment. Felt like bursting after eating all that pumpkin, but it taste so good!!  Am expecting a weight gain tomorrow from filling up the glycogen stores. What a great week this has been!!! Can’t wait to test out my strength tomorrow on the 4 lifts and answer my own clinical question – then its Jap food for dinner!  Sashimi nomnomnomnommmm.

Day 8 – Friday, 25^th May 2012

Weight: 63.5kg (-4.0kg)

Nutrition:

8pm – Jap food

Workout: – heavy day for post-experiment measurement vs 18^th May

Pull-ups WU 7 WS 3/3/3/3/3 PR

Squats 33.75 WU 6 WS 3/3/3/3/3 PR

Deads 33.75 WU 9 WS 3/3/3/3/3 PR

Bench 22.5 WU 9 WS 3/3/3/3/3

Fatigue: 1/10

Hunger 1/10

Mental Focus 9/10

Notes: Awesome end to this experiment –was a smashing success!!  No hunger/ fatigue since am…maybe cos I know it’s the last day and Im already feeling very good.  Able to focus well at work, which is an added bonus!

Conclusions

What felt surprising:

- nil hunger for the entire week despite being on such insanely high calorie deficit

- still able to pull PRs even on the last day of the experiment

- energy levels were generally high (except for the morning of day 6)

- now I know never to trust energy levels just before workouts….cos I would always feel better after it

Adverse effects:

- Loose stools (not diarrhoea kind though, still regular bowel habits, maybe because I did not eat any vegetables during the experiment)

- Cold intolerance (started from day 3)

- Dry skin, which became better on day 7

Before:

After:

Notes:  waist/belly definitely smaller, belly more tucked, thighs are tighter

My notes:

Very much the same conclusions that I got when I did the experiment. At times, it’s definitively a struggle, and I have gotten a few reports from folks who couldn’t last more than 4-5 days. However, those cases are rare and those who actually manage to pull it off display amazing results. The case is no different here, and if you cannot visualize the change in the pictures above, you need to get yourself a pair of good glasses and remember: this was while maintaining or even increasing strength!  

Do you have a testimonial of your own? Make sure you send it to me! Shoot me an email via the Contact me page!

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Here’s how it turned out! What do you think?

–> Click here to read the full article.

Are you recommending your clients to stop eating grains, to stay away from dairy or drink tons of water? Better yet, are you recommending they do anything without FULLY UNDERSTANDING all angles of your recommendation?  STOP – right away! By giving medical advice you might be hurting clients, wasting money, and risking your credibility!

–> Read the rest of the article HERE

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Joe Lightfoot, a last year medical student, wrote a guest article named Just Because A Doctor Said It – A Response on Tony Gentlicore’s blog, and its popularity has been spreading like this year’s strain of the influenza virus. You should definitely read that blog post; it’s a good piece with some thought-provoking points, and you’ll probably need it to understand my arguments fully.

I’m constantly bombarded by stories of people’s “stupid doctors” who said X,Y and Z about fat loss diets on my Twitter and Facebook news feed. This bashing is getting tiresome, and if you ask me, it’s based on completely the wrong premises of what I do as a medical doctor versus what I did when I worked as a personal trainer, or what I do currently with my online consultations.

As a physician working with real patients on daily basis, I do have a few opinions which I’d like to share. Joe Lightfoot and I agree on many points, but there are a few aspects that I believe needs to be added to the discussion. So far, the discussion seems solely focused on two parties: the health practitioner and the trainer. We have completely forgotten to include the third, and biggest party: the general population.

Point one: the misconception about what doctors do

Question: As a doctor, do you know I do on a daily basis?

Answer: I see ill people (also called patients). I sit by their bed, I comfort them, listen to their stories, examine them, use the x-ray to get under their skin so I can give them a diagnosis, plan their treatment, prescribe the right medicine and do a follow up.

Doctors need more education on everything to do with lifestyle advice, particularly exercise and nutrition. That is indisputable.

That is an interesting point by Joe Lightfoot, and in a fantasy world where you could ride the rainbow, shower in moonbeams, and do wand-wielding magic, that could probably be feasible. Reality however, is a cruel mistress.  In most countries med school is six years long, and that is before any kind of specialization comes into play. In the real world, there is just not enough time to learn everything. Specially if it is not going to be a part of what you will be doing on day-to day basis because to become a good clinician, we need to get students out of med school as fast as possible and get them to start building real world experiences.

Sure, doctors need to understand human physiology and the effects of lifestyle on the pathological processes, to a minimal degree. This is a very important point, which is why I will repeat it: they need to understand it, to a minimal degree.

What often comes to light in these discussions is that the advice given by your idiot doc was not the “optimal” advice. Nor was it in accordance to the latest paper published in the British Journal of Nutrition (which you have probably only read the abstract of). That’s considered talking about expert opinions, not general guidelines. I repeat once again: doctors need to understand human physiology and the effect of lifestyle on the pathological processes to a minimal degree, as a way to understand ILLNES and the treatment thereof. Because THAT is what doctors do. There is just no time to learn all that other stuff, unless that’s something you are genuine interested in (and even then, people will still call you an idiot because you don’t follow the same nutritional cult as they do).

This brings us to the next point

Point two: The reason doctors give advice on fitness and nutrition even if they shouldn’t

So if doctors really don’t have a clue about optimal nutrition or exercise physiology (the two weeks spent touching on that during med school just aren’t enough) – why the hell do they give you advice about it?

Just like Joe Lightfoot said:

Whilst some are motivated by money and titles, the vast majority of people became doctors because they want to help their patients.

They will give you advice because of the very same reasons anyone gives advice about nutrition or fitness. With a few exceptions, your doctor wants to help you, and will say what he or she truly believes will do so. So does your mom, your neighbour and your personal trainer. That does not mean they know what they are talking about, and YOU are the misinformed one who thinks that’s what they are supposed to know. If you’re not smart enough to know who to listen to, then you’re just as “dumb” as they are. Don’t blame others because they tried to help your ass out.

Point three: Your doctor is not the idiot. You are.

Nutrition and the education on lifestyle and preventive medicine during med school was minimal. And like I stated above: I don’t necessarily think that including more lectures and adding years to med school is the solution, since that is not what we work with on day to day basis once school’s out. When you ask anyone on the street what you should eat to lose weight, you’ll get the answer this person happens to have, which is usually influenced heavily by external factors. This could be yesterday’s magazine, some random documentary or from last week’s episode of The Biggest Loser. Understand this: Your doctor has the SAME source of information as the general public. It’s you who thinks that just because your doctor said it, there should be some validity to it. In a way, calling doctors stupid because of the nutrition advice they give, tells more about the knowledge of the audience than the doctor.

The focus needs to shift from the doctors being stupid and not knowing shit, to the general population who are the misinformed ones about what they can expect from their physician. Give your doctor a pair of strange sounding lungs and you should expect him/her to diagnose pneumonia and prescribe you with the right antibiotics. However, don’t expect him to know which the optimal diet is for fat loss, even if he does think he knows, and there is a stethoscope hanging around his neck.

The conclusion

In the perfect world, doctors would stop giving advice about areas outside of their expertise (so would the general population). In the meantime, the general masses need to get their facts right about what a physician’s job is and most importantly, what it’s NOT… before they start hating for the sake of hating.  On the same note, trainers need to shut up with advice about how much water people should drink to reduce risk of kidney stones, how sleep deprivation causes cardiovascular disease and why gluten is the most evil thing since dairy.

Finally, I want to get back to the original question:

 Is it true because your doctor said so?

I’d say it depends on the initial question you asked your doctor. If your physician is trying to explain what bacteria caused your pneumonia and how you should go about treating it – the yes, you should expect your doctor to know, because THAT is what we do. When it comes to nutrition, preventive medicine, or exercise physiology? No, not any more that you trust your mother, neighbour or favourite columnist – they all get their information from the same sources anyway.

The takeaway is this: Stay critical and ask for people’s sources, never ever trust people blindly just because of their title – be it your doctor, mother or columnist.

Trust me – I’m a doctor

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© 2012 – 2013, Dr.Bojan Kostevski. Lift-Heavy.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – All images are copyright of their respective owners.