Where the fact and fiction of celebrity fitness collides with hard core fat loss basics. This blog will help you lose stubborn fat and get the body you really want. Celebrity Fitness + Kettlebell Workouts + Diet = Being proud of and inspired by your body™ josh [at] stubborn7.com
There are a lot of diets that tell you that you don't need to count calories, that all that matters is quality.
That's bullcrap.
The truth is, the QUALITY of the food you eat and the QUANTITY of the food you eat are both important, and they both effect different results.
Case in point - Rober Downey Jr. has played Iron Man's Tony Stark three times, and he's played Sherlock Holmes twice. There's a 20-25 pound difference between the two characters, depending on the movie. And yet, Robert Downey Jr looks wicked fit playing both characters.
The only difference is QUANTITY of food.
Both times Robert Downey Jr. did Iron Man directly after playing Sherlock Holmes, he said that he upped his caloric intake to 5000 calories per day to gain the weight to play Tony Stark.
More food = bigger and heavier.
But because he kept the QUALITY of food he was eating awesome, he gained muscle instead of fat.
And it goes without saying, he was doing really smart workouts for BOTH characters.
Here is what I've found with clients after a detox:
1.) They aren't addicted to sugar like crack anymore
2.) They don't crave starchy carbs anymore
3.) They aren't crazy about salty/fatty foods either
4.) They can have a free day every week, and they *still* don't go back to craving junk food the day after the free day
So, as you can imagine, I'm a big fan.
And that's totally besides all of the healthy things it does for your liver to function right and be healthy and stuff.
But you know me, I don't dig to much into the health part. I'm all about how this is going to effect your weight loss in the short term and the long term.
It isn't something I have every client do though. It's something that's really effective for people who really just can't shake the junk food.
A good detox will break them free of that, and get them hooked on healthy foods.
And once we break that junk food addiction and get on a long term plan of healthy food, then results come pretty steadily every week. Just always remember - how you eat after the detox is as important as the detox itself.
On top of that, they lose a bunch of weight really fast during the detox, which is fun. And if they have a solid *post-detox meal plan* to go to afterwards, they can keep it off, and/or keep losing fat.
My friend Dr. Charlie's Liver Detox program Fat Loss Factor is pretty awesome. Besides two phases of detoxes, it also has a post detox meal plan, it has beginner, intermediate and advanced workouts. It has home workouts and gym workouts. And it has a program especially for women over 45 years old, and a plan for men over 45 years old.
History repeats itself: For Iron Man 2, Robert Downey Jr. had to put on 25lbs of muscle after Sherlock Holmes.
In a funny twist, he was in the exact same position for Avengers: He had to put on 25lbs after Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows.
His trainer, Brad Bose, Phd, told WebMD that he took Robert Downey Jr. back to a modified old-school workout, including.
His upper body workout included these big bang staples:
1.) Pullups 2.) Dips 3.) Bench Presses 4.) Body Rows 5.) Military Presses
Robert Downey Jr's lower body workout included:
1.) Barbell Squats 2.) Lunges 3.) Leg presses
His workout included high intensity days that were 45 minutes, but also included bodybuilding type days that were a slower pace and were 70 minutes.
A lot of the high intensity circuit days included pushups and body rows on the War Machine, a suspension trainer similar to the TRX, but with a pulley at the top forcing you to stabilize rotationally.
Don't Get Hurt
What's really awesome though, is that Brad capped all of Robert Downey Jr's workouts at 80% intensity. He explained that the older you get, the more important it becomes to just not get hurt.
He told WebMD:
"After age 40, shoulder stabilization becomes important, and pull-ups and dips put an unusually large strain on the shoulder capsule," Bose says. "Doing these to failure risks the shoulder capsule unnecessarily; therefore, we stay at 80% of max reps."
This has always been a staple of the RKC system of training - we call it "keeping a couple reps in the bank".
For a weight that you could do 10 reps of, you do 8 reps.
For a weight you could do 5 reps of, you do 3 or 4.
For a circuit you could do 6 times, you do 4 or 5 times.
There is a myth that everything you do has to be at 100% all of the time to get results, and nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, Robert Downey Jr's 25 pounds of muscle proves it. You can get great results at 80%.
How Do You Get Results If You Aren't Giving 100%?
This is a totally amazing question, and I'm so glad you asked.
You get resultsin your body by getting results in strength or strength endurance. If today you can squat 135 pounds, and next month you can squat 185 pounds, you will look better in a month.
It doesn't matter if you were lifting at 100% or 80%. If you actually made progress, it will be reflected in your body.
It's about doing more.
More. More. More.
More sets. More reps. More weight. Doing more than you've done before. And here is a news flash: You don't need to go to 100% intensity or to technical faiulre on an exercise to do more.
The goal is not to be sore, or to wear yourself out.
The goal is to improve.
Robert Downey Jr's Actual Workout
(as told by his trainer, Brad Bose, to Men's Fitness)
Upper Body:
Band Squat 4 x 8-12 Hamstring Curl 4 x 8-12 Leg Press 4 x 8-12 Suspension Trainer Lunge 4 x 8-12 Suspension Trainer Superman Squat 4 x 8-12 Romanian Deadlift 4 x 8-12 Sandbag Squat 4 x 8-12 Kettlebell Swing 3 x 40
Lower Body:
Weighted Pullup 3 x 8-12 Weighted Dip 3 x 8-12 Swiss Ball Bench Press 3 x 8-12 Low Row 3 x 8-12 Cntinuous Tension Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 8-12 Bosu Ball Pushup 3 x 15-20 Suspension Trainer Row 3 x Failure Suspension Trainer Row 3 x Failure Lateral/Front Shoulder Raise 3 x 8-12 Sand Bag Power Throw 3 x 12-15
In case you missed my email yesterday, my good and rapid fatloss expert Joel Marion just added ANOTHER bonus for everyone who picks up the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet system before midnight tonight, but both the bonus and the $30 discount are expiring TONIGHT. (you only have four hours left!)
What's the bonus? The Fastest Fat Loss Week EVER.
Yes, you heard that right, the diet lasts ONE short week. That's it.
And it's strategically designed to help you drop up to 10+ pounds of stubborn body fat in just 7 days...
And get this -- you can do the program back to back for DOUBLE the results!
Do you have ONE week to commit to a fat loss program? If you do, you'll have a slimmer waistline...rather quick. And perhaps the best part is you get to KEEP the results (unlike gimmicky plans that just lead to water loss).
Whether you're looking for the most strategic 25-day program to help you get in your best shape for summer by the end of THIS month, or a short-term, even more intense rapid fatloss 1-week program to use anytime you NEED to drop fat incredibly fast, BOTH are going bye-bye at midnight.
The $30 discount on the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet system will be GONE, and the Fastest Fat Loss Week EVER bonus will be history.
The workouts are pretty awesome - as I said, I love most of the 50+ exercises in Xtreme Fat Loss.
That being said, there is one exercise I don't really like.
After I tell you what it is, I'm going to tell you three different moves you could replace it with, and which one is for you.
The Upright Row
The upright row is a fine exercise for someone who has great posture, no shoulder issues, and doesn't have any problems with over-active upper traps.
Unfortunately, almost everyone who sits at a desk all day at work... wait for it... has bad posture, shoulder issues, and over-active upper traps.
So I'm going to have you replace of the Upright Rows in the program (it's actually only in the program three days) with face pulls:
Face Pull
Changing the direction of the exercise makes all the difference. By pulling horizontally, we find that people can actually pull their shoulders back and down into the safe and happy position.
Face Pull + External Rotation
For people who have bad posture (forward, rounded shoulders) we can kick it up a notch by adding in some external rotation.
To put it simply, people sit at their desk half way into a fetal position. This exercise is all about opening them up!
You won't be able to use as much weight as the normal face pulls, but for people with bad posture, it's a trade worth making. And given that you are doing plently of dumbbell row variations in Xtreme Fat Loss, you can totally get away with going a little lighter and doing the + External Rotation version.
Bent Over Elbows Wide Dumbbell Row
The wide version of the bent over row is essentially a face pull with dumbbells. Again, changing the direction of the pull, from vertical to horizontal, makes all of the difference.
Other Xtreme Fat Loss Moves
Ok so now I've taught you one of my favorite exercises from Xtreme Fat Loss (the side press) and I've taught you what to do instead of the one exercise I hate from Xtreme Fat Loss (the upright row).
Whether you do the Face Pull (for those with mostly good posture) or the Face Pull + External Rotation (for those with bad posture or shoulder issues), you're going to be stoked.
Some of the other exercises I really like from Xtreme Fat Loss include Kettlebell Swings, all the variations of pushups and all the variations on lunges and squats.
I think some people will be shocked to find that there are dumbbell curls *gasp!* a few times in the program. Before everyone runs to take away my kettlebell instructor card - look - curls are fine. In fact, I love me some curls as much as the next dude.
A good program should be based on the big bang exercises: Squats, lunges, swings, pushups, dumbbell presses, rows, pulls, deadlifts ect. And there is NO SHORTAGE of those in Xtreme Fat Loss. In fact, it may be more of the good stuff than you've ever done before.
So given how wicked intense the program is, some of the exercises are deliberately less intense (from a full body standpoint) to give you a minute to catch your breath. Some of the movements that I didn't like at first (like the Y-Press) I now see are a deliberate way to reduce the intensity at a specific time.
Enjoy the Xtreme Fat Loss, and enjoy the Josh's Face Pull Customization!
You are going to feel really awesome to have such a killer, structured, effective plan, and to know you aredoing everything possible to lean up as much as possible in the next month!
Josh Hillis, RKC, CPT, PES, ZMIS
P.S. Just found out that they added another bonus: The Fastest Fat Loss Week Ever. It's a 7 day program for the most fat you can possibly lose in 7 days, without having one of those stupid rebounds.
P.P.S. I'm going to do a post about what is a really smart, short term, aggressive diet, and what's flat out stupid. In the meantime, just know that most of the "cleanse diets" fall in the stupid category. The Fastest Fat Loss Week Ever falls into the smart, short term, and aggressive category.
P.P.P.S. I'm pretty stoked that it says "Best Ever" in the title.
I'm a huge fan of all things RKC and Dragon Door - that's why I buy my kettlebells there, I buy kettlebell books from there, and I even got my kettlebell certification there. I'm an affiliate, and I get a commission if you get stuff from them, and that pays for me to be able to spend time writing this blog. I'm also friends with everyone there, and they're good people. So what I'm saying is, my opinion is a little biased towards the RKC, but it's only because I think it's the best kettlebell information organization out there, and I've invested my kettlebell education there.
