Making the Cut (28 page)

4 cups cauliflower florets

1 ounce I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray

1 ounce half-and-half

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Steam cauliflower until soft.

2. Puree in a food processor, adding butter spray and the half-and-half. Season with pepper.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

4 slices roast beef

4 large butter lettuce leaves

4 teaspoons fat-free cream cheese

4 teaspoons French’s honey mustard

4 scallions, chopped

1. Place 1 slice roast beef on a lettuce leaf spread with 1 teaspoon fat-free cream cheese.

2. Top with 1 teaspoon of honey mustard. Sprinkle wraps evenly with scallions (roughly 1 scallion per wrap).

NUTRITION PER SERVING

1 pound carrots

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Wash and peel carrots and cut off the ends. Blanch carrots for 2 minutes until crisp-tender.

3. Mix all herbs together and sprinkle over carrots. Place carrots on cooking sheet, and coat sheet and carrots lightly in spray. Bake for 25 minutes.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 bunch broccoli, cut into 1-inch florets, stems peeled and cut into 2-by-¼-inch strips

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 garlic clove, pushed through a press

1 bag (10 ounces) washed spinach

1 small hot red chile or jalapeño pepper, seeded, finely chopped

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1. Toast sesame seeds in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring until golden brown and fragrant. Transfer to a small bowl.

2. Heat oil over medium heat in same skillet until hot. Add broccoli and red pepper; cook until broccoli is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, spinach, jalapeño, soy sauce, and sesame oil; mix well.

3. Cover and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach

8 large mushrooms

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons reduced-fat Parmesan cheese

1. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add spinach. Cover and cook according to package directions.

2. Wash the mushrooms, and remove and chop the stems. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped mushroom stems and sauté until golden, about 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the mushroom caps to the skillet and sauté for 4 minutes. Remove the mushroom caps and place them on a plate.

3. Drain the spinach, carefully squeezing out extra water. Stir in the chopped mushroom stems, minced garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Spoon the spinach mixture into the mushroom caps and serve immediately.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

3                   SWEAT

T
here’s no way around it: if you want to get ripped, you have to
sweat
! And if you want amazing results fast, you have to know how best to use your workout time so that you are burning maximum calories, shedding maximum fat, and building maximum muscle. The good news is that if you know what you’re doing, it can actually be fun. More good news: you don’t need to hire an expensive trainer to rev up your workouts and achieve the body of your dreams. In addition to designing the kick-ass workout program you will follow religiously over the next 30 days, I’ve also distilled everything you need to know about working out safely and effectively into seven simple rules.

THE RULES

Rule 1: Intensity, Intensity, Intensity

The first rule of the game, if you’re looking to shed those last stubborn pounds, is to increase the intensity of your workouts. During my program you will be working out at 85 to 100 percent of your maximum heart rate, or MHR. Now I know some of you are thinking, “But what about the theory that low-intensity workouts are the best way to burn fat?” According to this theory, by working at just 70 to 75 percent of your MHR, you enter your “target fat-burning zone,” where your body is drawing predominantly on fat calories for energy. This theory is completely misleading, not to mention
way
outdated.

Do Unto Others
Karma dictates that our thoughts and actions affect our destiny. From a psychological perspective, this means that our relationships are nothing more than a reflection of the relationship we have with ourselves. Call it karma, the golden rule, or whatever you want—it is imperative that we kick our habit of judging others, or we will simply bring that negativity back to ourselves.

Here’s the deal: during physical training, your body has three possible sources of energy: glucose/glycogen (blood sugar and sugar stored in the muscles), fat, and protein. Protein is always the last resort—of the three energy sources, your body is least likely to draw on protein. But whether your body draws on its sugar stores or its fat stores depends on the intensity of your workout. The harder you work out, the easier it has to be for your body to process the fuel it needs to keep going. For a body training at a high level of intensity, the sugar stores are the more efficient source of fuel. But, this does
not
mean that you are
not
burning as much fat! By working out at that high level of intensity,
you are burning more calories overall,
so although your body uses a lower
percentage
of fat-calories to sustain itself through a high-intensity workout than it does for a low-intensity workout, the
total number
of fat-calories burned during a high-intensity workout is going to be higher because you’re burning more calories, period. It’s all about the cold hard numbers. At the end of the day, the main determinant of weight loss is quantity of calories burned, not the composition of those calories. Oh yes, one other thing: when you exercise at a higher heart rate, you not only burn more calories during the workout, but you significantly boost your metabolism for up to 24 hours afterward. You will learn more about the so-called “afterburn effect” on Chapter 3.

As you know though, my program isn’t just about burning enough calories to lose weight—it’s about
Making the Cut
! Higher-intensity training provides superior conditioning of the cardiovascular system, which helps enable an increase in lean muscle tissue and translates into the definition you’re here for.

Sure, the idea of working out harder, faster, or longer than you’ve become used to can be daunting. I’m human too. But trust me, the process itself can be pleasurable if you take the right approach, especially if you know you’re going to get results. If you’re working out alone, try signing up for a class where you might be inspired to work harder by having people around you. Also try pumping up the music—if you start working out to a faster beat, your body will want to keep up all on its own.

So how do you make sure you’re working out at the right level of intensity to reap all the benefits I’m talking about? First you need to calculate your MHR: if you’re a woman, subtract your age from 220; if you’re a man, subtract your age from 226, and voila, your MHR, in beats per minute. Next, I strongly recommend that you buy a heart-rate monitor—it will be an invaluable tool to you over the next 30 days. Program in your information (usually age, weight, and MHR) and clip it on before your workout, and it will provide you with instant feedback on how you’re doing, letting you know when you’re working too hard or not working hard enough. Most monitors will also give you an accurate account of how many calories you’re burning.

Daily To-do List
The dictionary definition of
success
is “the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.” It’s easier said than done, right? Not necessarily—a daily to-do list is a simple but powerful and useful tool that allows you to outline, organize, and prioritize your agenda to achieve success.

Additionally, prioritized to-do lists are fundamentally important to efficient work. Often problems may seem overwhelming, or you may feel overburdened with work and out of control. By using to-do lists you will ensure that:

1. You remember to carry out all necessary tasks.

2. You tackle the most important jobs first and do not waste time on trivial tasks.

3. You do not get stressed by a large number of unimportant jobs.

By making a daily to-do list, you will have a precise plan that you can use to eliminate the many problems or challenges you face, and plot a clear-cut path to your goals.

Rule 2: Mix It Up

Know your enemy—its name is
homeostasis.
This is the term for your body’s natural tendency to maintain stability or the status quo. The problem with most people’s exercise routines can be summed up in one word:
monotony.
Apart from being boring, doing the same exercise routine all the time allows your body to become accustomed to it, and after a while, no matter what you’re doing, your workouts will stop yielding results. You know how it goes; if you haven’t exercised for a while and all of a sudden one day do 10 push-ups, you’ll be sore the next day. But do the same 10 push-ups for 10 days straight, and by the tenth day you’re not sore anymore. That’s because your body has responded by strengthening the muscles in your chest, shoulders, and triceps just enough to accommodate the stress of those push-ups.

To make your body change the way you want it to, you must constantly apply new and challenging stimuli. My 30-day program (see Chapter 3) is designed to keep your body guessing, to bust you out of the rut your workouts might be in, and to challenge you. We will accomplish this by using my unique exercise methodologies, which employ the most advanced training techniques in the fitness world. We will completely overhaul your physique and transform your body into cut perfection. You will read about these techniques in more detail in Rule 7.

Rule 3: Stick with It

To see results in any area of your life, you must be consistent and stay the course. Well, this is doubly true for fitness, health, and weight loss. My program will deliver incredible results fast, but you’ve got to do your part, and consistency is the single most important thing you can bring to the table to ensure that you get the results you want. If you aren’t consistent on my program, then you will always be playing catch-up, and you will make at best some gradual progress rather than getting your body in gear and maximizing crazy results in no time.

People are inherently different, and for that reason some respond to a workout regimen more quickly than others. For this reason, it’s important to keep your head down and maintain consistency. Stick with it, and your clothes should be fitting differently by the end of week one; by the end of week two, you should see dramatic changes in your physique; by week three you should be feeling more confident, strong, and fit than you ever have in your entire life; and by the time the program is complete you should be ripped—as long as you’re consistent!

Rule 4: Quality over Quantity

To get the most out of your workouts, you must use proper form. How
well
you lift is way more important than how
much
you lift. I can’t stress this enough, especially when it comes to the workouts you’ll be doing on my program. These are advanced exercise moves, and incorrect form can lead to injury; on top of that, if you are sloppy, swinging the weights or rushing through your sets, you greatly decrease the effectiveness of your workouts.

So what constitutes proper form and technique? Precision, concentration, control, and breathing.

         
Precision.
When you are beginning a new exercise for the first time, start out with a very light weight. Go through the motions of the exercise slowly. This way you’ll gain an understanding of how it is to be performed, as well as committing the movement to your muscle memory. Once you understand the basic movement, you can progress to heavier weights and faster completion.

         
Concentration.
Concentrate on what you are doing and the specific muscle you are training. This is not the time to think about what color to paint your nails. Your mind should be focused on the task at hand, isolating the muscle group you are working and really feeling the work you’re doing. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to say that when he did bicep curls, he would visualize the muscles growing with every repetition. I think we all know how doing that worked out for him. To achieve maximum results, you
must
focus on the muscle you are training and make every rep count.

         
Control.
You must perform your exercises through a full range of motion in a deliberate, steady manner. As well as increasing your flexibility, this will ensure that you are stimulating the entire muscle, not just a portion of it. Every movement you make has three separate elements, each of which are of equal importance: the concentric contraction, which shortens the muscle; the eccentric contraction, which lengthens the muscle; and the isometric contraction, which neither shortens nor lengthens the muscle but rather develops it as it is held at a constant length. Picture a plain old bicep curl: lifting the weight toward your shoulder is the concentric contraction; holding it there is the isometric contraction; and lowering it back down again is the eccentric contraction. This last element of the movement is the one that is most often overlooked—people lift the weight, hold it, and then think it’s over and just let the weight fall. In fact, muscles develop faster and more easily when they are being stretched
and
strengthened at the same time, which is exactly what’s happening in the eccentric contraction. The bottom line? Maintain control and focus on every aspect of every move you make during your workout. It will allow you to really max out the benefits of your training.