LEAN APE LIVING Real Life, Real People, Real Results Lose weight, get lean and look good naked
Dave Turner & Alexis Watkins Copyright Š 2012 Dave Turner & Alexis Watkins All rights reserved worldwide under the Berne Convention. This book may not be copied or distributed without prior written permission.
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Disclaimer
The ideas, concepts, and opinions expressed in this book are intended to be used for educational purposes only. This book is provided with the understanding that the authors are not offering medical advice of any kind. This book is not intended to replace medical advice, nor to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any disease, condition, illness, or injury. No book or website should be considered a substitute for a face to face meeting with your own physician. It is imperative that before beginning any diet or exercise program, including any aspect of the Lean Ape Living program, you receive full medical clearance from a licensed physician. The authors claim no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the material in this book. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for informational purposes. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms. Some of the links contained within this book are affiliate links. This means the authors receive a small commission should you purchase via those links. The authors do not accept any responsibility or liability for damages of any kind from any actions you take from the information provided. By continuing to read this document and all pages you agree to all terms as stated above Sorry, but that’s all the legal stuff out of the way so that now we can offer you some practical advice. The advice here is all for healthy adults age 18 and older. Remember, you are in control of your body. Listen to it, treat it well, and don't spring any surprises on it.
CONTENTS Please note: This is the full table of contents for the complete book. Only links to chapters contained in this free preview copy will actually work. : Lean Ape Living Introduction
Part 1: Diet & Nutrition : Lean Ape Nutrition – An Introduction : Lean Ape Diet “Rules” :How to Eat : How Much Do I Need to Eat? : Beverages : Lean Ape Diet for Fat Loss : Eating for Maintenance : Why Low Carb, High Protein and Moderate Fat? : Carbohydrates : Protein : Fat : Carb Cycling : Intermittent Fasting : Vegetarian Lean Ape : Cheat Day : Hints and Tips : Why the Lean Ape Diet Works
Part 2: Exercise : Introduction : A Note for Absolute Beginners : Training Realities : Why You Should Perform Resistance Training : Myths Concerning Women and Muscle Size : Myths About Toning : Beginning Lean Ape Resistance Training : Begin Light : Constant Adaption and Overload : Exercise Selection : Core Exercises : Warming Up and Stretching : How to Build Impressive Strength and Muscle with Just 3 Exercises : Lower Body : The Trap Bar Deadlift : Stiff Legged Deadlift : Barbell Squat : Dumbbell Squat : Upper Body Training : Chin Ups : Alternatives : The Dip : The Push-Up : Goals : Advanced Tips for Chin and Dip Mastery : Progression : Micro Plates : The Core Program : Moving Away From Beginner Status : A Note on Soreness : When To Work out
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: How Many Times A Week To Work Out : Cycling Your Training : Reverse Pyramid Training : How Much Time Does It Take? : Rest Between Sets : Rep Speed : Adding Some Variety : Additional Movements to Consider (Especially for Beginners) : Program in a Nutshell : Getting a Six Pack : Tracking Results : A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words : Program Revisited : Machines vs. Free Weights : Getting Ripped : Supplements : Home Gym or Commercial : Equipment for a Home Gym : Single Purchase Alternative : Cardio : Never Compare Yourself to Others : Dealing with the Numbers : Tying It All Together : How to Get Lean and Look Good Naked : The Check Up
: Resources
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INTRODUCTION
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e find it hard to introduce this book without coming across as if we have some kind of magic fix. The reality is that if you DO follow what we outline, over the numerous chapters on nutrition and exercise, then you will be a changed person. We guarantee it. You will get a lean body, a body free of excess fat, a body that is healthier, more energetic, and one that has enough lean muscle to make you look athletic, trim, and pretty damn hot. In fact, better than almost any other person you will ever come across in your life. Men will look muscular without looking musclebound, and women will look fit and athletic and have a gorgeous, toned body... ...IF you actually see the Lean Ape Living way of life through as a lifestyle change. If all you do is read it and then carry on with the lifestyle you have been leading up until now, then nothing will change. If you follow it for a few weeks, then revert back to your old ways, then you will lose what you have begun to benefit from. But if you actually make a lifestyle change, and it is not even a drastic one to be honest, then you are going to be one of very few people on the planet who can say they look hot naked.
Why We Wrote This Book We work from home at jobs based around the Internet, and have done so for a number of years now. It is very sedentary, comparable to the office jobs many millions of people have. And over a few years something rather horrible happened. We began to put on a fair amount of excess weight. Bad eating habits had crept into our lives, and a total lack of exercise began to take its toll on our bodies. Our skin was in poor condition, we had excess weight, and we had that kind of soft, unhealthy look to our bodies that many now take for the norm. But it isn't normal. Lean Ape Living Introduction 6
What is normal for people is to have a lean body that is hard in the right places and soft in the right places. Not soft all over. Men should be firm, lean, and look masculine. Women should look athletic but still rounded in the right places. So this is what we set about obtaining for ourselves. Bodies that look good naked. Let's step forward to the present day. We have now changed how we look so that we are down to body fat levels that are respectable. Not levels so low that you wouldn't believe it possible, just levels that allow our true shapes to shine through. And the great news is that this is what you are going to achieve as well. Do you want to carry on feeling defeated by your looks and body image, or do you want to feel proud and confident of how you look? It's kind of a silly question isn't it? Everyone wants to look and feel good, and be proud of themselves. But a negative body image really can dent your confidence, not to mention real world scenarios where excess weight really does work against you. We all want our bodies to feel great – bodies that actually look, to put it bluntly, bloody amazing. This is the aim of this book. To take anyone who is reading this and to allow them to transform how they look and feel. But without it being full of pseudoscience you don't even understand, and without it taking over your life.
Minimal Time Invested for Maximum Return People lead busy lives, or simply have neither the wish or desire to obsess about food and exercise. At least we don't, and most others feel exactly the same way. You will find countless exercise programs and diets on the Internet and in magazines
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that promise the earth but never deliver. Or they deliver for a short time only, and after you have busted a gut (literally) for the results you have obtained. But so many of these crazy programs have one thing in common: they are simply not sustainable. If what you do is too extreme then it is a short fix only, nothing more. This book changes all of that. The Lean Ape Living program is for anyone who wants to lose weight and get a hot body, and then keep it. We have no interest in getting you to lose 40 pounds in a few months, only for you to gain it back a few months later. We have no interest in getting you to perform workouts that last hours and leave you half dead. Who is going to do that for the rest of their lives? We have no interest in you following a program for a short period of time We want you to have a happy way of life that you will continue with forever. And this is exactly what we have delivered.
A New Life Begins Today What we have learned, and more importantly implemented, since our initial fall from grace to being overweight and looking awful, is what is contained in this book. We outline simple exercise routines to be performed 3 times a week at first, very quickly moving to training twice a week or less. The training is based on resistance training via body weight or free weights. There is simply no disputing the fact that this is the most efficient use of your time for building a desirable looking body – one that is both strong and healthy, as well as looking hot. You train for 30 minutes and then get on with your life. And it works fantastically well. This is no gimmick; this is the truth that the numerous fad programs do not want you to hear about. This is based on doing insanely productive exercises that turn you into a fat burning furnace, pack on lean muscle that makes you look amazing, and allow you to continue to lose weight while doing so.
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If you have been led to believe that you cannot build muscle while losing weight then you have been lied to. We have done exactly this. It's tied in with a way of eating that boosts your metabolism, stops your weight gain dead in its tracks from day one, and reverses the processes that keep adding fat to your body. You are going to learn the secrets the food industry simply does not want you to hear. The reason why you keep gaining weight even if you do not eat excessively. Not only is weight gain tied to overeating, it is what you eat AND when you eat that is as much the issue as overconsumption. Eat the wrong foods, even on a calorie deficit diet ,and you can still not lose weight. You simply have to eat the right foods at the right time. We don't believe in ridiculous extremes. You can still eat your favorite foods, but in a more controlled manner. Timing is everything. You will find that certain foods are what make you gain weight, and if you keep on eating them all the time, then you are never going to reach your goals. We lay it out simply, with instructions on everything that you need to know, to change forever how you look and feel. We talk you through the absolute best ways to change your eating habits for rapid fat loss, and we introduce you to a way of eating that is so against what you have probably been led to believe that you may be shocked initially. You will lose weight while still feeling full and enjoying your food, using advanced techniques to time your intake for amazing muscle building and fat loss capabilities. The reality is that we have been lied to – lied to about what is good for us, what will allow us to lose weight effortlessly, and what foods will make us fat even though they may seem healthy. So much bad information is out there and recommended, it is not even funny. If you want to change your life for the good, get a killer looking body, and eat great food, then this book is for you. You have already bought it, right? Now is the time to put the Lean Ape Living program into practice. Lean Ape Living look inside Introduction 9
Please do not look at this as any kind of diet in the traditional sense, i.e. one you do for a certain period of time. This is a way of life that keeps you lean forever. This is taking what we eat right back to basics, but suitable for the modern person. It is not strict Paleo, Low Carb, Primal, or Atkins. This is the Lean Ape way of life. A life where we enjoy food, but we keep it as natural as possible. We eat foods that for the most part our ancestors would have eaten, but taking into full consideration we all like a bowl of pasta and a nice dessert now and then. If nothing else we are realists, and life is for enjoying – and that means being a little indulgent from time to time. The exercise program is brief, an hour a week once you're out of the induction phase, and it works like you wouldn't believe. In fact, it is so damn potent in terms of boosting your progress, you won't quite believe how simple it is. The sad truth is that if you ditch every other information source when it comes to training and nutrition, and simply refer back to this book on a regular basis, your progress will be optimal. The best results are always going to be obtained if you simply put into practice an effective approach to weight loss and muscle building over the long term, without swapping and changing your approach. And that is why this book encompasses all of this in a way that is not going to make a large impact on your regular life. Actually do it and you will succeed – that is the bottom line. Don't believe the crazy exercise plans; they are not effective long term. Simple progression in terms of weights used, by means of a few incredible exercises, is the secret that many magazines and businesses try to hide from the masses. It isn't a way for them to make money. What would they write about if they simply told you what the most effective program was and then never tried to get you hyped about some new miracle exercise routine? It has been proven time and time again that short bouts of intense exercise with progressive resistance is the only effective way to get that finely developed physique and killer body we want. However, this crucial bit of information tends to be left unsaid. Well, that is about to change.
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LEAN APE LIVING PART 1 DIET & NUTRITION
INTRODUCTION
F
or the first part of the Lean Ape Living Guide we'll be focusing on nutrition: what to eat, what not to eat and when to simply not care about what you're eating! Your diet is going to be the most important factor in deciding your weight and body composition. Expect 80 percent of the results you want to come simply from what you're eating. While the fact that there do seem to be scientific studies to prove that many different diets work, even ones that are terrible for you, we've taken a more practical approach. We believe in building on a system that works. All the science behind why it works could be argued, both for and against, till the cows come home. But if our energy levels are up, our self esteem is higher than ever, and our body fat keeps on disappearing, it would seem churlish to argue against the benefits for us of eating the way we do. And since the way we eat is not faddish, not expensive, and concentrates on providing the widest range of foods to provide health and vitality, why not share the secrets with you?
Our philosophy regarding nutrition is extremely simple: low carbohydrate, real food.
Our modified low carb plan ensures bodies become leaner while fat becomes a distant memory. We ensure anyone following the plan has more than enough energy. But that energy is supplied by fewer carbohydrates than within a traditional Western diet. This means the body is no longer continually battling blood sugar spikes, insensitivity to the resulting insulin, and the routine of laying down more fat cells. Please let us reiterate: we recommend low carb, not no carb. By eliminating some of the most problematic (and least useful) traditional carbohydrates like pasta and bread, we focus on providing all your energy requirements from more beneficial sources. We won't ask you to calculate carbs either, which will come as a relief to all those that want to enjoy their food, rather than analyze it to death. We want your body's fuel to come from protein and foods with a low glycemic index. Lean Ape Living look inside Introduction 13
Indeed, even foods that are primarily carbohydrate BUT also release their sugars slowly are to be enjoyed to the full. So while very low carb diets might even go so far as restricting your vegetable intake, the Lean Ape plan says, “eat all the veggies you want to.” We even make room for some useful starchy foods, such as legumes, that come without sugar highs. These “good” starches contain some carbohydrates along with a whole host of other benefits, such as fiber and nutrients. We don't recommend replacement products such as “low carb breads” or “protein shakes” because on the whole you won't need them. We do suggest you eat food made with real, unprocessed ingredients (for the most part). What we don't do is ask you to spend half your life worrying about whether “x” is suitable for the Lean Ape diet, or whether “y” will ruin your weight loss progress. By keeping things simple, we've managed to keep a handle on what works, and we think you will too. There is no calorie counting, carbohydrate calculating, or fat rationing. We are both firm believers in the fact that once you educate yourself a little about food, and follow some very basic rules, you shouldn't need to be a mathematician or slave to the diet. In fact, our main goal when it comes to nutrition is to simply find a healthy, satisfying way of eating that lets us stay lean, fit, and active for life. We both enjoy food and would never want to turn what we eat into some guiltridden chore. That takes all the fun out of meal time! In the next chapter we will look at the very basic rules you need to follow to start losing weight. But this is also a way of eating forever. So while you might call it a Diet, in reality it is simply our daily diet without the capital D! In general, the more calories you put into your mouth, the more energy you will need to expend to ensure those calories don't turn into fat cells. So it is no surprise that so many diet plans involve calorie counting. Ours doesn't. Why then do we mention calories? Because educating yourself a little about food will help you stick to the plan!
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Likewise, this is low carbohydrate eating, so there is a lot included about carbs. But you won't be rationing carbs as you would with other diets. No, just learn a little about the types of carbohydrates available to you and eat accordingly. We see no reason to become obsessive when it comes to the nutritional values of each ingredient on your plate. Simply learn a few golden nuggets of information and make your dietary decisions based on them. The Lean Ape way of eating does not provide a week-by-week plan, or a progression of regimented “phases� where you consume certain types of carbs at different times during the diet. But that isn't to say it doesn't change and evolve. If you have more than a few pounds to lose weight-wise you will find that following the diet will kick-start the process quickly. Though the plan might seem rigid at first, trust us, it is infinitely variable. For example... You might want to follow our ideas about breakfast (or the lack thereof) only after you've spent a month or more getting used to your new way of eating, or simply to get yourself off a plateau. Your idea of a high protein lunch might be Dave's (chicken and a little more chicken) or Alexis's (eggs, salad, and veggies). The diet is flexible depending on how you eat, what foods agree with you, and whether you are trying to shift lots of weight, or simply convert some fat to muscle mass. But that isn't to say any of this will be complicated. We just want to let you know that things won't be set in stone, which is why this is such a great way to eat forever, rather than just until you can get into that swimsuit!
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LEAN APE DIET RULES
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ow, that sounds pretty strict doesn't it? Thankfully, though, there are only a few “rules,” and for a healthy, happy life we do suggest you break them now and again (more on that later on)!
But you're here to know what to eat to lose weight, get lean, and look good naked, so here we go...
The Avoid List: 1. Sugar. 2. Fructose* – check labels; it is everywhere if you eat processed foods, sodas or sports drinks. ..............................................
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End of sneak peek of Book 1 Onto Book 2.........
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LEAN APE LIVING PART 2 MUSCLE BUILDING
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isclaimer: What this emphatically is NOT is some gimmicky training program that will leave you dreading the next workout. It doesn't take hours, and it doesn't have any kind of weird name that sends many people with busy lives running for the hills (albeit at a slow pace!) This is a way of life, and a way of exercising, to be done every week. And amazingly it will take up no more than an hour to an hour and a half of your time per week. It is not a program that you do for a few weeks, then stop, and lose the results from your hard work in a few weeks after that. No, this is a tried and tested way to constantly improve your body without it being a huge time commitment. Brief, intense, and very productive is what this is all about. It is for busy people, family oriented people, and to be honest for anyone that actually wants a program that works. It doesn't matter if you have plenty of time on your hands or hardly any at all. The fact remains that short and relatively intense workouts done very infrequently, so that your body adapts and gets stronger and builds larger muscles, is the only sustainable way of building a great looking body. And this is exactly what you are going to be doing. Changing how your body looks in the most productive way possible. Free of gimmicks, free of superfluous exercises, and dedicated to allowing anyone to Lean Ape Living look inside Lean Ape Diet Rules 18
look their very best naked, without falling for some mad program that is simply not going to be beneficial over the long term. Exciting times, eh? Let's get down to business then people...
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INTRODUCTION
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hat you are about to read is worth the price (and more) of the Lean Ape Living book alone. It busts training myths and takes you right back to simple techniques that are guaranteed to work. Actually, this section is worth a lot more than the price of the whole book, an awful lot more. Why? Because it probably costs about the same as a personal trainer for an hour or two, but cuts the crap. They need to justify their rates, and many (unfortunately) will have you doing exercises that are not optimal for getting a great looking body. Making you use the wrong exercises, ones that are not the best use of your time, and ones that are unnecessarily complicated. Plus getting you to use machines that will ensure you keep paying your gym membership. And many trainers refuse to make people perform exercises that require hard work, when the reality is that if you want a nice looking, lean body then you have to work out with heavy weights or resistance, both men and women. There is no exception to this rule, whatever you may have been led to believe. And we tell you exactly why, too, in just a moment. You can forget all that you have thought to be true; most is utter rubbish. We cut through the bull and give you honest advice. Advice that you need to be given once, and a program that is guaranteed to work, and one that you will not need to repeatedly pay for. Sound good? Cool. Just one little tip for you, though: As with the eating program, there is a magic key to your success.
DO IT! Nothing is perfect – you can tweak all you like, but basic principles give you 99 percent of the results. Stick to it and you WILL get results. Don't over think it; just actually DO IT!
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Failing to stick with the program is why most people fail with both diets and exercise routines. Nutrition is certainly going to deliver you the best results in terms of losing weight and getting a much leaner body. It can only go so far, but boy, can it take you a long way toward looking ultra hot! We can guarantee that if you follow our diet recommendations, then you can pretty much diet down to a weight that you will be very comfortable with. What this actually ends up being is entirely under your control; never forget that.
But if you try to take it too far, and get too lean, you will be in for a nasty surprise. You may well end up simply looking “skinny fat.” You may get slim, or skinny, but as you lack muscle mass you still won't look that impressive. If your aim is to actually have a toned physique, then exercise, and exercise that involves some sort of resistance, is crucial. This is not even simply for the sake of appearance – it has a number of other very “real world” benefits too. Skinny people may make you envious, but the bottom line is that if you see them naked, you may not be quite as impressed. In fact many people are going to look better with a slight excess of weight unless they combine it with exercise so they fill out their frames properly. A simple routine performed a maximum of 3 times a week can change the way you look with your clothes both on and off, and to a very impressive degree. But it is not just appearance, although, as we shall see, that is incentive enough to train with some form of resistance on a regular basis. Real world applications are also an incentive, plus the fact we will live a much healthier and happier life. As well as looking (and for many this is still the main criteria) better than 99% of the rest of the people on the planet. Not a bad thought, eh? All right then, let's go to it and get that killer body that is going to make others swoon!
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A NOTE FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS Anyone who has previous experience using resistance training with free weights or body weight can skip this section. However, if you don't know your sets from your reps, or your dumbbell from your chin-up bar, stick with us for a moment. The book does explain exactly how to train in order to get the best results from the minimum time invested. Everything is here. But if all of this is completely new to you, it can seem a little overwhelming at first, so a brief synopsis for the beginners will be helpful. It's not so long ago that Alexis was in the same position, so we thought a quick beginner's guide to resistance training would be in order.
What Is Resistance Training? A pretty important point, eh? We talk about strength or resistance training interchangeably here, and what we mean is using exercises that make your muscles work. Hard. The resistance comes from the forces of “overcoming inertia, momentum, or acceleration from gravity.� So you lift a weight, pull yourself up over a chin-up bar, or dip your body weight. You get the idea? The goal is to strengthen your muscles by making them work harder every time you exercise. This might mean using more weight, performing an exercise more slowly, or simply doing it more times.
Why? Strength training has a number of benefits. First of all, it means short, infrequent workouts. Secondly it will give you the look you're after (toned, firm women and Lean Ape Living look inside A Note For Absolute Beginners 22
muscular, strong men). On a less narcissistic note, it is great healthwise too. Stronger muscles mean better posture and less chance of injury in other activities (and of course it's simply more practical on a day to day level). You'll reduce age related problems associated with joints and muscle atrophy, and it even helps you raise your good HDL cholesterol, improve your cardiac function, and simply feel better about yourself and your health.
How to Train Resistance training involves working to your maximum strength for a short period of time. A set of exercises can be made progressively more difficult by adding more weight, performing them in higher numbers, or taking longer to perform them. So you learn an exercise and then perform it more and more intensively each time you work out.
Practicalities Each full exercise (and remember, we only need to perform three!) is performed for a number of repetitions (reps). Once the entire set of reps has been performed, we take a rest. Then we start again performing the entire set again. The number of reps and sets you perform is personal to you. Some people cannot make progress if they perform too many reps, while others make gains doing the exact opposite. This means it will take a little trial and error before you have your rep and set ranges down pat. We want the exercise to be tough to do, if we have to do it for a certain number of reps. So generally, every workout will follow the same rep and set pattern. We are not trying to train our muscles for endurance, so the number of reps and sets needed is relatively low. You may have seen girls waving pink neoprene dumbbells around for hours in the gym. They are training their muscles to do something easy for a long time. That's not what we want to do, since our goal is to make muscles stronger and bigger than they are currently. So we do exercises that are much harder, involving more weight, and do them for a much lower number of reps. Our muscles aren't training for a marathon – they're being trained to get strong. Through practice you will get to know what combination of reps and sets works the best for you. However, to start you off, here is a general guide. Your numbers should not be wildly out of these ranges or you won't be working hard and getting stronger: Lean Ape Living look inside A Note For Absolute Beginners 23
For leg work – aim for 12 to 20 reps. For upper body work – aim for 8 to 12 reps. Each exercise should be performed in 3 to 5 sets. The idea is that at the end of an exercise you are tired. REALLY tired. So you gauge the weight, exercise, and combination of sets and reps based on being able to perform the routine, but only just barely! You must make your body work hard if you want to get that toned, athletic look you're after.
What Exercises Will I Do? We go into everything in much more detail later in the book. But to help the complete beginner navigate through the guide, here's a sneak preview: One leg exercise. Ideally this will be the trap bar deadlift, but there are plenty of alternatives detailed. One back exercise. Ultimately this will be the chin-up, but again there are lots of alternatives, as well as intermediary exercises to help you build up to the chin. One chest exercise. The ideal is the dip, but don't worry; there are lots of others to choose from too. Of course there is room for plenty of variety, along with additional activities to add to your routine. But since this is the “beginners'” section, let's keep things laser focused and oh so simple!
What About the Weight? For the first few weeks you will be learning how to perform each exercise safely and for maximum gain. The actual weight won't be as important as simply learning the movements themselves. Once you know what you are doing, aim to increase the weights so that each workout is difficult but not impossible to perform. If you are doing body weight exercises such as push-ups, chins, or dips, you don't need to consider weight for a good while yet. It will take some practice to be able to do any of these exercises for the full 3-5 sets of 12, so work on that for now and consider adding weight to a belt or backpack only after you are a master!
Progressing You must stick to a routine so you can gauge your progression. Record everything and keep rest periods the same from workout to workout. Then you can really see how well
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you're doing. You'll be working toward achieving the given number of reps and sets. Then you'll be adding weight to make the exercises tougher still. Every week you must progress. So don't start off too hard. If you make your first few workouts the maximum you can do, you'll find it hard to recover and get stronger in time to do it all, and more, in a few days' time.
Women: Don't Panic! Yes this is strength training and you will be using weights (gasp!). But none of the exercises are designed to give you a bodybuilder's physique. Men will get larger muscles because they have the testosterone to drive them. Women will get defined, athletic bodies that make them (and any significant other) happy and proud. Women can make exactly the same gains as men in terms of increased strength. But they will usually start from a much lower level. This brief introduction into the idea of resistance training should be enough to let you enjoy and follow along from here on in. But of course, if you have any questions, get in touch. We want you to get the most out of this course. If we can help you more to get you looking and feeling great, we'll be more than happy to!
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TRAINING REALITIES
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efore we begin to give you the program, and to tell you exactly why you should perform resistance training, it is very important to break through the myths surrounding training with resistance.
If you have read anything about training with weights, you will have read routines performed by people at the top of their game. Routines for people who are not like us. These people have genetics totally superior to the common person. They can handle heavy workloads and can train for hours a week.
NORMAL people simply cannot do this and hope to build a good looking body. The reality is that training has nothing to do with building muscle. When you train, you are breaking down your muscles. They only grow afterward. This is something so often overlooked by people that it is not even funny. If you want to get a nicely toned or muscular body, then you must provide your body with adequate rest. Once you have acclimatized yourself to the training routine, you will find that training even 3 times a week for 30 minutes may be too much. That's right, you don't need to train for even 90 minutes a week to maximize how much muscle you build, or how toned you get. Beginners need to train 3 times a week to get used to the exercises performed. But as soon as you actually begin to make a real effort in your training, then you will find this is too much. If it is not, then you are most likely NOT training hard enough. You should then change to working out a maximum of 2 times per week on the routine. And progression is the name of the game, as we shall talk about later. Please do not fall back into ways of training that you have heard are the best – most come with ulterior motives to sell you a magazine, a supplement, or a piece of equipment. The realities are quite different.
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If you train hard with just 3 exercises, then this is all you need to maximize your potential. And after an initial induction, you will find that you need to train for 30 minutes or less twice a week maximum. But most people, after maybe 6 months to a year, will find that training every third, fourth, or even every fifth day is all that they need to continue progressing with their training and getting leaner, stronger, and better looking each and every week for years on end. This advice goes against everything that you may have heard to be true. And when you tell friends and family, you can bet they will have recommendations for you.
DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM Training with resistance is hard work, and it must be for it to give results. If you try to train your muscles to look more toned, or attempt to build as much muscle as possible, then you must make your muscles try to work harder then they did last time. If you do not, then why would they change? Common sense, right? So forget about small movements such as triceps extensions if you want toned arms. A lean and toned body, or in the case of men, a muscular body, is built with heavy leg work plus chin-ups and dips, or variations on them. Training these 3 movements a maximum of twice a week for years on end is how you get an amazing body. Nothing more, nothing less. Apply what we recommend, and you will look like a different person in a matter of months. And then over the years that follow, you will develop a physique that will Lean Ape Living look inside Training Realities 27
absolutely astound you. We are not there ourselves yet by a very long way. But the journey is half the fun! The sad reality is that most people never develop muscle even if they go to the gym 5 times a week. They do not allow their bodies time to recover and grow, and they are wasting their time. You can forget neoprene dumbbells and working out using lots of isolation exercises such as leg extensions, triceps extensions, crunches and the like. With our routine you will see incredible gains in strength and how you look. Women will get that toned look, and men will gradually, over time, begin to look well muscled and very strong. If you want this, and from a program that allows you to get maximum results from just an hour at most every week (and less as you progress), then jump right on in. Please refer back to this section from time to time, as it is hard to take in at the first reading.
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WHY YOU SHOULD PERFORM RESISTANCE TRAINING Strength training gives a number of very important benefits: Stronger muscles. More robust tendons and ligaments. Stops bones weakening as you age. Builds up muscular stamina and endurance. Aids in real life situations. As we age, our muscles and bones (along with pretty much the rest of us), begin to weaken. By training our muscles to gain strength, we can put an abrupt halt to this situation. And we get to look amazing, begin to spend a little too much time looking in the mirror, and get complete strangers coming up to us and asking if they can run their fingers over our cool six pack too! Plus being stronger is so important in so many real life situations. Carrying, lifting, even gardening. And the more years you can put into training in the manner we will explain, then the more robust your body will be as it gets older. Not to mention the more opportunity Lean Ape Living look inside Why You Should Perform Resistance Training 29
you have to hone it to a degree that can be astounding.
Never Too Late to Begin Never forget this. You may be in your twenties, thirties, or your fifties. You are never too old to improve on what you currently have. Although as we get older we do get weaker, if we begin to train at any age we will be able to make improvements to both our physique and our starting strength levels. And you will be amazed by how much. True, if we have been training for decades, we won't be able to stop the decline in strength, but we can do our damnedest to try. And by using resistance training, we can remain at strength levels and have a physique that far surpasses anyone who refuses to follow any kind of program like this.
What this all boils down to is that if you actually put into practice what you read, then you are going to look better than people half your age, let alone your peers. Plus you'll have a strong body as you age and do an awful lot to prevent many common issues people face as they get older.
Mental Benefits Alone Are Worth It If you are lucky enough to be reading this when you are young, then you are at a huge advantage. You will be able to progress further, look better than if you began later in life, build up a much better core strength, and take the muscle size you are genetically capable of achieving to the maximum.
Sense of Pride Apart from the results you can obtain, it is the very real sense of achievement and pride that you are actually doing something that more than makes it worth following a regular exercise pattern. Most people stop; we have been there in the past. More don't even start. How many old dumbbell sets are gathering cobwebs in people's garages worldwide? But now, after working out consistently for some time, the knowledge that we can actually stick to something long term is worth it alone. Discipline is needed, and this gives you a great sense of achievement.
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Most people are lazy, and it shows in their physiques. Don't be one of those people.
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MYTHS CONCERNING WOMEN AND MUSCLE SIZE
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omen freak out big time when you say that the best way for them to look good naked, get lean, and not look like a stick is to actually get involved in resistance training.
They assume they will end up looking like a huge bodybuilder and be mistaken for a man.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously if you are built with high bone and muscle density, and look like a very muscular person already, then weight training and body weight resistance training are going to increase your muscle mass. But most females are simply not in this situation.
It is extremely rare for men or women to ever get extremely large muscles. We understand the concerns though. Resistance training is hard work for the results. To build any kind of substantial muscle mass takes downright hard work over a very extended period of time. And if you cease your activity, that gained muscle
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will slowly disappear, and you will revert back to the size you were before, over time. So even if you do have real concerns about looking hugely muscled, the good news is that if you see this happening you can change to lighter weights that are not going to involve such strenuous activity, and the muscle will slowly dissipate. And if you are out of proportion in terms of muscle, then there is absolutely no reason why you cannot simply stop using resistance training for certain parts of your body. If you have heavily muscled thighs and buttocks, then you don't need to do leg training. What would be the point? If you are prone to having a lot of natural muscle, and all you want to do is to get lean, then diet is the main factor. But if your upper body is underdeveloped, or not in line with the rest of you, then focus on getting your body in balance.
Train Lagging Parts Harder Than Others And if you really are one of those people that has heavy legs already, then be careful about doing any form of exercise that will increase the muscle size. You are already predisposed to gain muscle easily in that area, so don't perform exercises that will build on what you have already. But we know how people's minds work. Don't use this as an excuse to skip exercises.
Yes, that means you! You must be honest about this. The bottom line for most people is that beneath the excess weight they are severely underdeveloped when it comes to the amount of muscle they have. And going at a few sets of heavy leg work a few times a week will do almost everyone a world of good. Don't kid yourself – be honest, and train hard. The results will be increased muscle size that will build gradually over time, but still only very moderately. Most people simply do not have it in their genetic makeup to ever get large muscles that make others gasp. Most of us will simply look nice and developed, and if we can get the body fat low enough, then we will look incredible.
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Train hard, build muscle, which is actually going to burn fat faster than dieting alone, and reap the rewards. In reality, for nearly all women that bust their butt in the gym, or in their home gym, the end result will be nothing more than this:
A toned body with a firm butt, and a body that looks amazing naked! And who doesn't want to look stunning naked? It works as long as you follow the eating protocols along with the exercise program. Doing just one or the other will not give you anything like the results you are looking for. The routines we give you in the coming chapters are for both males and females. There should be no difference. The only consideration for both sexes is the level of muscular development you would like. If you absolutely do not want to get a little more muscular, and for females this often means looking nothing but toned, then use lighter weights. But we can tell you now that without adequate intensity and always striving for progression in terms of loads handled, you may lose weight, but it will be less than optimal. It will also mean you will be consuming much lower carbs, will have to severely limit your cheat days, and you will not burn fat as effectively.
Sobering thoughts, eh? Have you seen how strong female gymnasts are? Have you seen how strong many very lean women are? This is not a coincidence. They keep an eye on what they eat, they train as hard as men, and they look amazing for it. Nearly everyone reading this will do well to at least strive to build up a decent level of strength and muscle.
So that when the fat is stripped away, you are left with a body to be proud of!
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MYTHS ABOUT TONING This applies to both women and men.
Toning is a total myth! There really is no such thing. If you use light weights or little resistance, then you are not going to get results. If you think that light weights and high reps are going to just tone your muscles without making them bigger, then sorry, but that is simply not a possibility. What do you actually mean when you say toned? You want your muscles to be more defined? That means diet. Getting lean enough for them to be seen under the surface of the skin. But for most people, the fact is that if they do get very lean, then they just look skinny. This is not a good look; it is unhealthy and far from fashionable too.
Butts are back, peeps, and we want them pert! What looks good on both sexes is a body that looks “toned.” And by this we really mean “well muscled.” If you want to get down to low body fat levels, and to look good, then you need to build muscle. We have seen that for most people this is no easy feat – it takes hard work and dedication. And women actually have a much tougher time gaining lean body mass than men do. It is simply the way they are built. So don't fall for all this toning nonsense. It really doesn't mean anything. If you want to Lean Ape Living look inside Myths About Toning 35
look “toned,� then you need to lift heavy weights and increase the amount of lean muscle mass on your body.
There is No Other Way Doing bouts of cardio is not the way to increase muscle mass. High intensity workouts for brief periods of time, a few days a week, using heavy weights, are the best possible way to get a look that leaves others gasping. Don't be afraid to go heavy once you are well into your cycle of training. The only result will be increased strength and increased muscle size. It takes a long time to build up a decent amount of muscle, so don't go thinking that you are suddenly going to look like a superhero after a few sessions using resistance training of one form or another.
It ain't gonna happen!
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BEGINNING THE LEAN APE RESISTANCE PROGRAM
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hen you read about this program, you are going to think that it is some kind of a joke. It is minimal in the extreme. This is not simply to make your life easier – trust us, the workouts are hard.
It is Out of Necessity Nearly everyone who wishes to look lean, toned, muscular, and fit must perform brief, intense exercise, and infrequently too. And it needs to tie in with eating optimally for weight loss. It is certainly possible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time. We know; we have both done it very successfully following this program. But you do need to stick to the rules.
Programs like this are relatively simple for a number of reasons: It makes you more likely to stick to the program. It is all you need to make progress. You can easily track results. Best use of your time. Lean Ape Living look inside Beginning The Lean Ape Resistance Program 37
It doesn't interfere with normal life (we are all busy people). Motivation stays high as minimal time investment is needed (i.e. it doesn't take over your life). It goes without saying that before beginning any form of diet or exercise program, you must be sure that you are capable of doing so with no adverse effects on your body or health. Our programs are derived from personal experience and they work. But you should certainly seek the advice of professionals, and have a thorough checkup before commencing. All advice we give is just that, advice. And it is not intended to replace the recommendations of health, nutrition, and medical professionals. The workout routines are simple and easy to understand, but they can be repeated for years on end with nothing but continual progression. Combined with proper nutrition, you are going to look like a different person in a relatively short period of time. The better you can tie in the 2 aspects (diet and exercise), the better the results will be.
And we don't mean by degrees. We mean by a huge factor. Get every aspect right and you are going to be transformed.
Lean, muscular, toned, and looking really rather scrumptious without your clothes on too!
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End of sneak peek at Book 2
We hope that you like what you have read. This is just a small portion of the Lean Ape Living Book as a whole. If you enjoyed it then please do buy the full book. You can buy with a 60 day guarantee from the Lean Ape Living site. In full color as you see now, and full of additional images. Alternatively the book is now available from Amazon for the Kindle or as a paperback. Thanks for checking it out. Dave & Alexis
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