Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Ladies, this one is for you!

We all know that looking great in a bikini is a huge goal for a lot of women around this time of year.  But do you know exactly how to get the best looking body and booty you can get without spending months in the gym?

How about a one month program that will help you shed fat in your butt, hips, thighs, shape them, and give your butt lift and a nice round shape?

Beachbody has a great program geared towards helping you get the booty you want for this summer, and it is a one month, 4 week program.  You can have the nice round Bum Bum you want just before Memorial Day, the real start of summer!

The program?  Brazil Butt Lift.

My wife started out on this routine the beginning of the year.  She did two months of it.  During those months, and without real strict dieting, she shed a lot of fat from her thighs, hips, and abs.  And her rear never looked better!

Check out this video on Brazil Butt Lift.  If you want more info, click the link above or drop me an email (brent@getfitwithbrent.com).

Brent Fitness VIdeos Brazil Butt Lift, great bikini butt

As I posted about Brazil Butt Lift earlier I did not know what Beachbody was planning…

How about a chance to win a trip to Brazil by using Brazil Butt Lift!

Beachbody is holding a “booty transformation” contest.  If you have had great results from Brazil Butt Lift (or want to have great results, you can check out Brazil Butt Lift here), you and 11 others can win a all expenses paid trip to Brazil to have a photo shoot, some fun on the beach, and so much more.

Here are the rules for the contest.

My wife personally loves this workout and gives it credit for not only helping tone her butt but also helping her lose fat from having 3 kids in less than 4 years.

If you want to know more about Brazil Butt Lift, watch this video.  If you have questions, you can always email me (brent@getfitwithbrent.com).

Brent Fitness VIdeos Brazil Butt Lift, brazil butt lift contest

So while not technically day “60″ I consider this my P90X 60 day measurments and photos using The Abs Diet as my nutritional regiment.

I had a better rate of body fat loss during this phase and shed some additional inches.  I’m going to list my starting/current measurements to give a perspective of progress made so far during this round of P90X.

Chest:
Start:  42.5″
Current:  41.0″ (-1.5″)

Neck:
Start:  15.5″
Current:  14.75″ (-0.75″)

Waist:
Start:  39.0″
Current:  36.5″ (-2.5″)

R Bicep:
Start:  13.0″
Current:  13.25″ (+0.25″)

L Bicep:
Start:  13.25″
Current:  13.5″ (+0.5″)

Hips:
Start:  38.0″
Current:  37.0″ (-1.0″)

R Thigh:
Start:  21.0″
Current:  19.25″ (-1.75″)

L Thigh:
Start:  21.25″
Current:  19.9″ (-2.25″)

Weight:
Start:  183.8 lbs
Current:  173.8 lbs (-10.0 lbs)

Body Fat:
Start:  18.95%
Current:  16.17% (-2.78%)

My body fat decreased by nearly 2% in the last 4 weeks, so the muscle build/clean eating combination is starting to kick in a bit.

Here are a couple of pictures showing the difference between days 0 and 60.

So, tomorrow starts P90X Phase 3 with Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X.  My goal is going to shift from an 8-10 rep set to 12-15, with focus on 12 reps (will shoot for 15, but want to be struggling by rep number 12).  I’m hoping that doing this will increase my fat burn over the next 5 weeks.

Thanks for following my progress…this has been a fun, exciting, and humbling journey.  I’m looking forward to finishing out this round of P90X strong and seeing where my results are in 5 weeks.

Brent Fitness VIdeos P90X, P90X Results

With only 3 days to go until I do Insanity, I thought I would give a little preview of what I will be doing.

This workout looks crazy!  But, it burns fat.  Take a look at the video below.  And if you want to know more, simply go to my Insanity page here:  http://www.GetFitWithBrent.com/Insanity

Brent Fitness VIdeos

Beachbody’s master trainer Chalene Johnson has put together a great new exercise program that is releasing in June:

Turbo Fire!

Chalene’s goal is to make you feel like you’re at the gym in a live class.  Based on High Intesnity Interval Training, Turbo Fire helps you keep burning fat and calories even after you finish working out.

Check out this video to give you just a glimpse into what Turbo fire is and what it can do for you.  If you want to get on my mailing list for when this program hits the shelves, drop me an email to brent@getfitwithbrent.com and I’ll let you know as soon as it is available.

Brent Fitness VIdeos beachbody, chalene johnson, Turbo Fire

It happens to people, and it has happened to me:  You stop losing weight/fat, you plateau (a common name for this), and you get frustrated.  You’re exercising, you’re eating right, you’re sleeping well, you seem to be doing all the right things, and yet the scale hasn’t budged in 2-4 weeks, you’re clothes are not getting looser, and you’re thinking about grabbing that gallon of Ben and Jerry’s and just saying “Screw it!”.

Been there.  There currently, minus the Ben and Jerry’s.

Plateaus happen.  They suck.  They are frustrating.  I’ve personally been stuck at the same weight for 3 weeks now and can relate.  With my shoulder issues my exercise has been scaled back, but I’m still eating on my chosen nutrition plan.

When plateaus happen, it’s time to shock the body.  You’ve got to try something different, right?  So here are a few things that may help, may not, and cannot hurt to try (just don’t go overboard here).

1.  A cleanse, detox, or something similar – I’ll talk about what I plan on doing a bit later in this post, but try a cleanse.  Sometimes our body needs to reset.

2.  Over-eat one meal – Similar to a cheat meal.  In fact, you can take this as a cheat meal if you want.  But if you’ve been on calorie restriction for a period of time (or severe calorie restriction), eat at-or-above maintenance one day, or eat one really big meal.  One big meal won’t kill you and very well may reset your body to need to burn more.

3.  Take a slight break from exercise.  Yes, I said it:  Stop exercising!  But only for a short time, such as a week.

4.  Up your intensity of exercise.  The opposite of #3.  Lift heavier, do a HITT, something different.

Try one of these four.  Can’t hurt, right?  Eating one meal isn’t going to cause you to gain 5 pounds of fat back, and one week of not exercising is not going to turn you into a soft body.

As for me….

With going through shoulder PT, I’m limited on upper body work.  I plan on using my body as a human lab.  I’m experimenting with two different things:

1.  I plan a Shakeology Cleanse.  I need to reset my body nutritionally.  Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of doing a cleanse, but it has always helped me when I need to move my metabolism into overdrive.

2.  I am going to do a Leptin Reset.  I have a slight feeling that I may have a bit of leptin resistance which causes my body to burn more sugar than fat (hence why last year I was 159 lbs, approx 13% body fat, and still did not look slim).

I have nothing to lose doing either of these.  I will not be blogging daily about how it is working but will hit on it every now and then throughout the week.  My goals is to bust through this plateau through nutrition and moderate exercise while the shoulders are healing.  I will take before/after pictures of the cleanse, and will also take weight measurements during the reset with full measurements every two weeks as well as pictures.  The Leptin Reset is only a 4-6 week cycle, so I should finish up by end of March, maybe into the first bit of April.

Note:  This is fairly extreme.  Not that it is extreme as in extremely difficult, but rather just a big change for most.  If you have been eating Paleo/Primal, it cannot hurt to try, which is why I want todo it.

By the way, what are some of the advantages I’ve read about doing a Leptin Reset?

-  Fat Loss
-  Better hair/nails
-  Better sleep (a big reason I want to do this)
-  Increased sex drive
-  Better recovery from intense exercise
-  Decreased cravings

I’ll write more on how I plan on doing the reset (yes, it will include Shakeology, since I’ll be taking reduced carbs I want maximum nutrition).

If you’ve busted through a plateau, I’d love to know what you did and see if anyone else here could benefit from it as well.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, Primal/Paleo Eating fat loss plateau, leptin, not losing fat, Shakeology, weight loss plateau

This is my P90X Transformation in 2010.  I knew I had made a lot of progress, but reviewing these pictures several months removed from when they were taken, I’m amazed at the progress I made.  No, I didn’t have a 6 pack, but that’s hard to accomplish going from a 47″ waist (or a 44″ waistline starting in 2010) to get down small enough.

This was only 9 months of work!

I can only imagine what 9 months of working out is going to do for me this year.  Granted I did gain a little bit back while I let my shoulder heal (and ate poorly…almond bark covered pretzels became like crack in my house), I’m losing at a great rate now.

I’m proud of my P90X results video to just demonstrate what can happen if someone really focuses.  My goal for 2011 is focus for all 12 months (going on a cruise in December, so must keep on it!).

So here’s my secrets to success:

1.  Push play everyday.
2.  Use Shakeology
3. Got a lot of fat to use?  Use the Beachbody Slimming Formula.
4. Eat 90% clean, but take some cheat meals here and there to keep sanity.
5.  Track results.  Pictures, measurements, etc.  Use these to keep accountable.
6.  More than anything, enjoy the journey…embrace the journey!

Brent Fitness VIdeos P90X, P90X Results, p90x transformation

Yesterday was P90X Day 90, so that wraps up this round.  It was also the last day of my 3 day Shakeology cleanse.  Yoga was tough at the end, but glad to get through it.

Last day of the cleanse I dropped another 1.2 pounds for a total loss of 6.2 pounds.

Now, for my P90X 90 day results.

Weight:
Start:  183.8
End:  166.6

Body Fat:
Start:  18.96%
End:  14.78%

Neck:
Start:  15.5″
End:  14.5″

Chest:
Start:  42.5″
End:  39.5″

Waist:
Start:  39″
End:  35.5″

Hips:
Start:  38″
End:  36.5″

My arms stayed almost the same, just with less fat.  My legs went down about an inch each.  Overall, a solid fat burn.

Here are just a few 0/90 day comparisons:

Brent Fitness VIdeos P90X, P90X Results

Ok, anyone who just glances at my blog knows that I am a coach with Beachbody and I support all of their products.  I use a good portion of them purposely (they work).  But, one product in particular can be fairly controversial with a Primal Blueprint style diet.

Shakeology, of course.

So I decided to do an experiment on my own body:  Eat primal, do not take Shakeology often (or at all), high protein/no fat breakfast, more carbs are night, etc.  I decided to do this after reading some post out there about a study where the participants ate more carbs at night, less in the morning, and how it affected their leptin levels, their weight loss, etc.

The results:  Not pretty.  In 2 weeks, I managed to only lose .25″ off my waist, only .2% body fat.  .2%!  That’s ridiculous for someone in the 18% range.  I ate at a deficit each day, exercised at least 3x a week (first of 2 weeks was doing P90X, the second I decided to let PT do it’s job and recover some from this impingement).

Not only did my fat loss nearly stop, but I was more irritable (ask my wife).  I didn’t sleep as well.  I did not feel as good.  I started having cold like symptoms.  I had cravings (MASSIVE cravings for sugar, breads, etc).

Moral of my story:  I’m not doing that again.  In fact, I’m going to revert back to how I was doing it:  More carbs in the morning post workout, veggies mainly at night.  I may mimic the Asylum style diet where no carbs at night, and a carb at lunch 2-3x a week (I’m thinking 1/2 a sweet potato at lunch every now and then).   I’m also going to log, for one week, everything I put into my mouth again to make sure I’m eating enough.

But Shakeology will be on that list everyday.

Brent Nutrition And Diet P90X, primal blueprint, Shakeology

Day 6 of Insanity was Plyo Cardio Circuit.  I could tell I was a bit more tired today for some reason.  I struggled a lot through this routine.  But the important thing is to always show up, press play, and do what you can.  At least, that is the philosophy I take with each one of my routines.

One week of Insanity is complete!  8 more weeks, time to get a bit more serious and start pushing a bit harder.

Brent Fitness VIdeos insanity, insanity plyo cardio circuit