Check Out Our Latest Videos!

We’ve made three new videos since our last monthly email newsletter, so be sure to check them out!

Building your QUADS & CHEST

Listen to John answer your questions about building your chest & quads.

Click here to watch the video!

Nautilus Double Chest Machine REWORKED

See what you can do to a 30+ year old Nautilus Double Chest Machine.

Click here to watch the video!

How to Make CapTri® Mayonnaise and Tartar Sauce

You can find the recipe for CapTri® Mayonnaise in the Featured Recipes section below, and you’ll also find a recipe for Tartar Sauce, which uses CapTri® Mayo.

Click here to watch the video!

Featured Recipes of the Week:

CapTri® Mayonnaise

70 g. egg whites

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup CapTri®

1 tsp. dry mustard

Beat egg whites in blender on low speed. Add lemon juice and dry mustard. Continue to blend and slowly drizzle in CapTri®. Continue blending until smooth. Keep refrigerated!

Makes about 1 and 1/2 cups (24 tbsp.) mayonnaise.

CapTri® mayonnaise has 78 calories per tbsp. (14 g.) used!

Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup CapTri® Mayonnaise (see recipe above)

1 to 2 tbsp. green onion or fresh chives

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. dried tarragon OR 1 tbsp. fresh tarragon, snipped

1 tsp. dried dill weed OR 1 tbsp. fresh dillweed

Mix all ingredients with fork until well blended. Allow to sit while preparing fish.

Tartar Sauce has the same calorie count per tbsp. as CapTri® Mayo!

You can find more recipes using Parrillo’s CapTri® MCT Oil in the CapTri® Cookbook.

Three Multi-Tasking Supplements

We’ve all heard about multi-tasking – doing more than one thing at a time – and maybe some of you are multi-taskers. I know one thing for sure, there are several key supplements that multi-task too. The more research comes out on them, the more benefits that are discovered. Here’s a round-up of key supplement multi-taskers that are musts in your supplement regimen.

• Fish Oil

You may already take fish oil since many of their benefits are old news by now, such as how they reduce harmful inflammation, protect joints, and help muscles recover after workouts. Or perhaps you take them because they lower blood pressure, and prevent heart attack by decreasing levels of triglycerides (harmful fats) in the blood and reducing the appearance of arterial plaques. Or maybe because they’ve been shown to fight depression, improve memory, and aid concentration. Of course, they’re also potential cancer-fighters.

Fish oil supplementation is also a fat-fighter. It helps reduce body fat when combined with regular exercise. Australian researchers examined the effects of fish oil and exercise, alone or in combination, on body composition and cardiovascular health. Approximately 80 overweight men and women were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Subjects blindly took either six grams of fish oil per day, or six grams placebo oil. One group assigned to each oil treatment also exercised in a prescribed fashion three times weekly. This protocol continued for three months.

Tests performed at six and 12 weeks indicated that fish oil supplementation and exercise alone both improved body composition. When supplementation and regular exercise were combined, the beneficial effects were even greater. It appears, then, that supplementing with fish oil, along with regular exercise can keep you lean. (1)

For these reasons, just about every health care practitioner recommends that people supplement with fish oil capsules.

Our fish oil product is Parrillo Fish Oil DHA 800 EPA 200™. Each product contains 1100 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids; this includes 800 milligrams of DHA and 200 milligrams of EPA. We suggest supplementing with 1 capsule daily, taken with meals.

• Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine monohydrate is important for several things, including mass- and strength-gaining, increased muscle endurance, and fat loss. Taking creatine before and during workouts helps your muscles continually produce the rapid energy they need to perform rep after rep in the gym. This energy supply is the major reason creatine supplementation leads to increases in muscle strength and endurance. But its effect on pumping up muscle may be its most significant benefit – drawing water into the muscles increases their size and stretches them. This triggers growth.

Creatine has been the subject of more than 400 research studies in the past 10 years, focusing primarily on muscle performance and size both in athletes and in individuals with neuromuscular diseases.

Creatine is a key nutrient in muscle energy production, and it also appears to increase muscle size.

The way to use creatine is to start with a loading phase, which usually is 20 grams a day for five to seven days. To do this, take five grams (one teaspoon) four times a day, for five to seven days. This is followed by the maintenance phase, which is five to ten grams a day. After only one month, you should see a noticeable increase in size and strength. Parrillo Creatine Monohydrate™ is the highest purity creatine supplement available. And a word of caution: don’t be fooled into buying creatine phosphate supplements; this form of creatine phosphate is not absorbed from the intestines.

• CapTri®

My favorite multi-tasker (if I had to pick) is CapTri® (MCT oil), one of our flagship supplements. MCT oil was first formulated in the 1950s by the pharmaceutical industry for patients who had trouble digesting regular fats. It is processed mainly from coconut oil but does not have any of the adverse effects associated with tropical oils, such as elevated cholesterol.

MCTs do a lot for the body. They’re fat burners, for one. A 2008 study published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that substituting moderate amounts of MCT oil for other fats in a weight-loss program resulted in fat loss, including around the waist, with no adverse impact on cardiovascular risk factors. (2)

Unlike conventional oils, MCT oil gets burned immediately by the liver before it even has a chance to get stored as body fat, and many researchers feel that it has a place in weight management. Of course, I agree!

Of course, CapTri® isn’t just for weight loss; it’s also for building and maintaining lean mass, since it has a positive effect on your metabolism. CapTri® dramatically increases the rate of oxygen consumption – and thus the metabolic rate – after a meal. It’s no accident that we’ve incorporated CapTri® at the core of our supplement program. The reason? As you know, CapTri® is a very concentrated source of calories – calories that can be used for energy and to support lean weight gain. The increase in oxygen consumption that occurs after you eat CapTri® means that it is being burned very fast. Remember, foods are burned by reacting with the oxygen we breathe, so the reason oxygen consumption increases after you eat is to supply enough oxygen to burn the food to produce energy.

I suggest that you take one tablespoon with each meal; up to six tablespoons per day. Consult the Parrillo CapTri® Manual for more detailed usage guidelines.

One good way to use CapTri® is as a substitute for other oils in salad dressing – just add vinegar, herbs and spices. MCTs emulsify (go into and stay in solution) easier than many other lipids, so they’re a bit more versatile than regular oil in that you can mix them successfully in other Parrillo supplements such as Pro-Carb™.

CapTri® should not completely replace all dietary fats, as this would result in a deficiency of other fatty acids—essential fatty acids —that the human body needs from food sources. To avoid essential fatty acid deficiencies, a person should also include omega-3 and acids in their diets. Good sources of essential fatty acids include fish, Parrillo Fish Oil DHA 800 EPA 200™, and Parrillo Evening Primrose Oil 1000™.

References

1. Hill, A.M., et al. 2007. Combining fish-oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise improves body composition and cardiovascular disease risk factors. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 85:1267-1274.

2. St. Onge, M.P. et al. 2008. Medium chain triglyceride oil consumption as part of a weight loss diet does not lead to an adverse metabolic profile when compared to olive oil. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 27(5):547-552.

Your Questions, Answered!

Let us know if you have any questions you’d like to have answered by filling out the Questions and Comments box at the bottom of the page. Don’t forget to include your email address if you’d like a direct response.

Q: Some of my friends put the Protein Chew Bars™ in the microwave for a few seconds…does the microwave destroy any of the great ingredients?

A: You can microwave the Parrillo Protein Chew Bars™ (or any other variety of Parrillo bar) for around 5-10 seconds, depending on your microwave.  Be sure to take the bar out of the wrapper first. Microwaving the bars has no effect on the nutritional values or ingredients.

Q: Do I need to store CapTri® in the refrigerator? 

A: No, CapTri® does not need to be refrigerated; you should keep it at room temperature on your kitchen counter or in a cabinet.

Q: Where should I store my Parrillo bars?  

A:  Here are some guidelines on where you should keep your Parrillo bars:

There are no preservatives in Parrillo Bar products, so they need to be kept in a very cool dry place (68 degrees or lower, away from sunlight and heat.) Here are some storing suggestions for the upcoming hot summer months: Store your bars in the refrigerator, and keep larger quantities in the freezer.

All Parrillo Performance T-Shirt Sizes are Now Back in Stock!

We now have all unisex Parrillo Performance T-Shirt sizes back in stock!  Parrillo’s unisex T-shirts are black “Gildan Ultra Cotton” 100% Cotton Preshrunk shirts.  We have sizes M-3XL; Sizes M through XL are $15 each and sizes 2XL and 3XL are $18 each.

Just click on the links below to order online or you can order over the phone by calling 1-800-344-3404:

Medium Unisex T-Shirt

Large Unisex T-Shirt

XL Unisex T-Shirt

2XL Unisex T-Shirt

3XL Unisex T-Shirt

We also have Women’s fitted V-neck T-shirts available in sizes S-XL for  $18 each:

Small Women’s T-Shirt

Medium Women’s T-Shirt

Large Women’s T-Shirt

XL Women’s T-Shirt

Just like the rest of the world, I am stuck. I haven’t progressed in a year. I hit each body part once a week and use pyramiding, facial stretching, forced reps and all the other Parrillo procedures. I am looking to add some muscle (who isn’t) and am mighty bored with what I am doing. Any angles or ideas to bust loose and generate some progress would be appreciated. I am an intermediate guy: I have a good physique but want a great one. At 6 foot 1 and 185 I am lean and have abs; but I look too thin and need some MUSCLE!
Ronnie, Wheaton

I see where you, “like the rest of the world,” train a muscle once per week. I would suggest you reignite progress by “goosing” the training frequency: let’s shake things up by training a lagging muscle(s) twice a week. Start with one lagging body part, say arms, and try training the target muscle twice or even (gasp!) three times per week. “Three times per week!” I hear the readers collectively groaning, “Why that goes against everything we know about overtraining!” The most cherished of all current training commandments is: “Thou shalt not over-train!” Too much lifting, too much volume is bad, bad – Bad! with a capitol B. Most bodybuilders are unaware of the inconvenient fact that the immortal physiques of yesteryear were built by guys that trained their muscles THREE TIMES A WEEK! Oh, indeed: Arnold, Sergio, Franco, Robbie, Zane and all of the great physiques of the early 70s hit every body part THREE times a week. To make the bad news worse, they would hit each muscle or muscle group with as many as six different exercises for six sets of 8-12 reps. It took hours to slog through those Old School bodybuilder workouts. Bill Pearl is the man that formalized and popularized this classic high-volume approach. His marathon 4:30 am training sessions are legendary.

For example, we present you with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s exact arm routine done at the absolute zenith of his career. This arm workout is done three times per week. The exercises might change, session to session, however the training template, i.e., six sets per exercise, six exercises per body part, four to six body parts per session, stays intact. Those that train this way are going to be in the gym for a long, long time on a continual basis. Eventually, in order to fit it all in, the West Coast bodybuilders invented the infamous, “six-day double-split” routine. Six days a week you would show up at the gym TWICE each day: in the morning you would hit half the day’s body parts, pick the easy ones to get your day started. Throw in some morning cardio. Then in the evening you come back to the gym for a second session. This is the serious session and you blast the important muscles, heavy and hard. This time intensive approach is not applicable for people with real lives and kids and families…

On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Schwarzenegger would train arms (biceps and triceps,) shoulders, calves and forearms. Sessions might last two hours and could be classified as moderate intensity/high volume…
Arnold trains Arms:

Barbell Cheat curls:
six sets of 8 reps
Seated dumbbell curl:
six sets of 8 reps
Concentration curls:
six sets of 10 reps
Lying French press:
six sets of 8 reps
Triceps pushdown:
six sets of 10 reps
Dumbbell overhead press:
six sets of 10 reps

He would switch up exercises, session to session, to keep things fresh, but every week, come hell-or-high-water, he would do 36 sets of arms per session in three weekly arm sessions. That is 108 sets of arms every freaking week! Most modern guys train arms once a week and might do 16 sets of arms. Arnold is doing 100+ sets per week and you are doing 16?! Why not spark progress by increasing the volume? Why not pick a single lagging body part, like arms or shoulders, and hit that part twice each week. Use this volume specialization approach and let’s jolt your body into growth. You will HAVE to kick up your clean calories in order to make this work. Extra calories turn all those extra sets and all that extra time invested into real results. Try some Arnold-style volume training as a rut-buster. How about four sets of biceps and four sets of triceps using four different exercises, 32 arm sets per session, done twice a week? Using this approach, you jump from 16 sets per week to 64 sets per week; let’s keep it up for four to six weeks. Slam clean calories and look to add a full inch to an inch-and-a-half to your guns.

Vic,
Greetings! What is the best way to lean out? I want to get started now so by the time beach season and the family vacation in August rolls around, I will be twenty pounds lighter and feel good about being in a bathing suit. How do I get started?
Kim, Myrtle Beach

You are smart to get started now. This gives us the time needed to do it right. Oddly, given ample time, you should take four weeks and go on a mass building program. This blows minds. We square up the metabolism by shifting to a multiple-meal eating regimen; consult the Parrillo nutritional manual for specifics. The goal is to take four weeks to accomplish three things: add lean muscle mass, elevate your caloric ceiling and “build” the metabolism. Intense training with weights and cardio is combined with perfect eating. We seek to eat 5-6 meals per day, eating only bodybuilding approved foods. We make expert use of potent Parrillo nutritional supplementation.

The end result is a larger, more muscular athlete, an athlete that has successfully elevated their metabolism and their caloric ceiling. The Parrillo mass building approach relies on hard training and perfect eating. The mass builder eats a large number of “clean” calories. Only approved bodybuilding foods are eaten and only potent Parrillo supplements are taken. When the mass-builder switches directions and embarks on a lean-out phase, the bodybuilder has a high caloric ceiling under which to maneuver. It is much easier to maneuver beneath a 3,500 caloric “breakeven” ceiling than a person with a slow metabolism and a 1,800 calorie breakeven point. A bodybuilder with a ripping-fast metabolism can eat 3,500 calories per day, spread amongst six “feedings,” and not add an ounce of fat. When it’s time for that bodybuilder to get ripped, he drops from 3,500 to 2,500 and gets shredded while still eating a lot of food. It is far smarter, far more effective and far better to lean out after a muscle-building phase.

Hello Vic,
What is your take on growth hormone stimulation? You hear a lot of talk in the mainstream muscle media about the benefits of causing the secretion of growth hormone. Reading the articles, you would think getting this supremely powerful, ultra-anabolic hormone to secrete was as easy as flipping a light switch – provided you buy the expert’s miracle GH stimulating nutritional product. Is it possible to cause the secretion of GH using sane and safe, natural methods?

Ted P, Boston

Indeed, if you were to believe what you read in advertisements, anyone could trigger the release of growth hormone simply by purchasing the nutritional supplement or product featured in the ad and use as directed. Growth Hormone is the Holy Grail of muscle-stimulating hormones. If the athlete engages in a high-intensity weight training session when GH is in the bloodstream, muscle growth is maximized. Short of taking anabolic steroids and artificial growth hormone, the natural causation of GH release is the optimal metabolic state for promoting muscle gain AND fat loss. I can tell you this: when hospitals treat patients in need of growth hormone, the standard operating procedure is to mega-dose the patient with an intravenous solution of Arginine and Lysine. These two amino acids, taken in tandem, have been shown to promote GH secretion. This amino acid duo, arginine and lysine, are the main active ingredients in Parrillo’s Enhanced GH Formula™. GH is most likely to be secreted upon awakening, after intense training or before bed. The idea is to flood the bloodstream with Parrillo Enhanced GH™ upon awakening, after training and before bed to “enhance” GH secretion. There is no more powerful, growth-producing, fat-dissolving natural hormone than GH. Parrillo’s Enhanced GH™ is both natural and safe.

Iron Vic Steele,
What’s the best time to take caseinate protein and what is the best time to take whey protein? I always keep a canister of both on hand. The Parrillo Hi-Protein Powder™ is without doubt, the finest tasting protein powder on the market – the fact that you make it taste that good and it contains NO sugar is just short of miraculous. So I always keep Hi-Protein™ caseinate protein around just for the taste alone! I read so many good things about whey protein powder that I always keep stocked with whey. I tend to run out of Hi-Protein™ first, and then use the whey; I suspect I should be using them differently.

Edward, Ottawa

Smart man keeping both types on hand – however you are completely missing the boat: caseinate protein and whey protein each have individual characteristics and if we understand their traits we can use both types each and every day to our best advantage. Use them at different times of day to serve different purposes and needs. Think of caseinate protein powder as a slow release protein source. When is slow preferable? I would say anytime “fast” is not a prerequisite. After intense weight training a quick blast of whey is just the thing to replenish battered muscle tissues ASAP. Whey would appear to be the WAY to go when it comes to fueling up and repairing muscle torn up in the workout. Another time when fast is really good is upon awakening first thing in the morning. Most elite bodybuilders will drink a whey shake as soon as they wake up. This tactic, fueling the body with blast of high BV protein first thing, is a good one: one Optimized Whey Protein™ shake delivers 34 grams of protein with no insulin-spiking sugar and a mere three carbs per serving. This is the perfect “whey” to put some gas in the tank coming off the sleep/fast. Because the carbs are so insignificant, the bodybuilder can drink a serving, reap the benefits of 34 grams of protein; yet not take in enough carbs to upset the early morning cardio session. We don’t want to refill glycogen tanks before aerobics. When the body runs out of carbs it eats its own body fat to fuel activity. A torrid cardio session on an empty stomach is a body-fat burner without peer. Whey is quick release: caseinate is slow release. Each has a distinct role.

Hey Vic,
How do you possibly eat all those calories that Parrillo suggests? I see where a guy my size under the Parrillo plan should be eating 4,500 calories per day. Really?! That’s a lot of boneless skinless chicken breasts and streamed broccoli and rice! I suppose the Parrillo supplements can help add calories…I really like the Parrillo Energy Bars™ and could see where eating two of those at one time would make a good meal. I am interested as to how the pros eat all that food!
Ben, Bel Gravis

You don’t eat it all! An elite bodybuilder firing down 4,500 calories per day (not much by Big Man Pro standards) would take in 1,000 to 1,500 calories via supplements. The number one caloric supplement is CapTri®, Parrillo’s fabulous medium-chain triglyceride liquid lipid. Each tablespoon provides 120 calories. The common practice is to drizzle a tablespoon or two of CapTri® over each of your multiple food meals. That trick alone adds 600-1000 extra calories per day. Another trick is to sauté food in CapTri®: thin sliced vegetables, chicken strips, paper thin beef, fish filets, fried potatoes and onions, sautéd seafood, all using CapTri®. Using CapTri® to cook infuses diet foods with flavor and crunch. CapTri® possesses chemical properties unlike those of conventional dietary fats. MCTs go to the front of any digestion line: as soon as MCTs are consumed they are used for energy and burned up completely – no caloric residue is leftover to be shuttled off into body fat stores. Conventional dietary fats are the opposite; they languish after being consumed and when they are finally burned by the body for energy, they burn inefficiently and the un-oxidized portion of the saturated fat molecule is quickly and easily converted into body fat. Some competitive bodybuilders take in over 1,000 CapTri® calories per day; that’s a lot of food they don’t have to cook, chew or swallow. Parrillo protein powders, Pro-Carb™ and 50/50 Plus™, all produce delicious shakes that contribute to the caloric daily tally. The various Parrillo bars provide potent nutrition in a wrapper: two Protein Bars™ eaten at one time, as you suggest, delivers 520 calories, 34 grams of protein, 65 grams of carbs, and 8 grams of CapTri®. Two bars eaten in a pinch provide one hell-of-a-meal. Smart bodybuilders eat a lot of food. Supplements are used to aid in hitting caloric and protein daily benchmarks without gagging and choking and becoming sick of eating food. Supplements inject sanity into dieting. You should do the same!

If you haven’t met your fat loss goals, or are struggling to knock off those last 5 to 10 stubborn pounds, don’t worry. Many people find their level of physical conditioning perhaps somewhat less than they were hoping for, especially at this time of the year. I have a program that will get you there in as little as five weeks. It is possible to achieve a significant, if not remarkable, change in body composition and appearance in a relatively short time. It will take a serious commitment and hard work, but if you have the motivation and the determination, I can show you how to do it.

This program is about how to gain muscle and lose body fat at the same time. It’s designed for people who want to get in shape as fast as possible. It is completely realistic to plan to lose 5 to 10 pounds of fat and gain a few pounds of lean muscle in 5 weeks. You will be amazed at what a difference this approach will make in your appearance and in the way
you feel.

Fundamentally, this is a fat-loss program. A by-product is often a gain of a few pounds of lean muscle, although this is not a mass-building program. I have seen a lot of people get extremely good results in a short time from making a few changes in their diet and training routines. Overall, this program involves a diet moderate in calories, low in fat, high in protein and moderate in carbohydrates. The exercise component involves a serious commitment to both weight training and aerobics. You will work very hard, but you can expect rapid and dramatic results. I will walk you through the design of this program step-by-step. This will allow you to understand the rationale behind it and also will help you learn how to design routines for yourself as your goals and level of development changes.

First, let’s talk about nutrition. Since your primary goal is fat loss and getting in shape, then you will need to sustain a net energy deficit. This means that more calories are expended as fuel than are consumed from food and supplements. This is a thermodynamic requirement for net loss of body weight. Each pound of body fat contains roughly 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose two pounds of fat each week, we need a weekly energy deficit of 7,000 calories, or 1,000 calories each day. Generally, I would encourage you to limit fat loss to two pounds per week. More rapid weight loss than that usually, but not always, is accompanied by loss of some
muscle tissue.

The best way to achieve an energy deficit of 1,000 calories per day is through a combination of reduced energy (calorie) intake and increased energy expenditure. I would suggest reducing calories by about 500 per day compared to how much you usually eat. Then, perform 500 calories of extra aerobic exercise per day over what you usually do. This will result in a combined energy deficit of 1,000 calories per day, which will promote loss of two pounds of fat per week. As you know, I am not an advocate of low calorie diets, especially over the long term. But this program is designed to last for only 5 weeks, and a modest energy reduction for this short time won’t hurt you. Also, the increase in exercise activity will offset the decrease in metabolic rate that usually accompanies energy restriction (1,2). Although weight training is an important part of this program, we don’t consider the calories you burn during weight training. Weight lifting doesn’t burn many calories for one thing, and secondly most of the calories which are burned during weight lifting are derived from carbohydrates. It is important that you perform 500 calories per day of additional aerobic exercise, which is about an hour’s worth of relatively intense cardiovascular work.

Essentially, this diet is high in protein, moderate in carbs, and low in fat (3). You want to take in one to two grams of protein per pound of body weight each day. Obtain the rest of your calories from carbohydrates (or CapTri®) while minimizing fat intake. This usually works out to around 40 to 50 percent protein, 40 to 50 percent carbs, and five to 10 percent fat. Reducing carbohydrates seems to help promote fat loss by reducing insulin levels and reducing caloric intake. I feel it prudent to limit fat intake even while on a reduced calorie diet.

When you are operating in an energy deficit, essentially all of the food you eat will be used as fuel — except for some amino acids used to maintain or build lean tissue. It would seem you could get away with eating more fat since it’s just going to be burned anyway. And that’s correct — if you eat a high fat diet which is deficient in calories you will still lose weight. (By eating a high fat diet containing surplus calories those extra calories supplied by fat will be retained as adipose.) Carbohydrates have a “protein-sparing” effect: this means that if you have carbs in your diet you’ll lose less muscle while consuming an energy deficient diet. Carbohydrates also have a higher thermogenic effect, which means your body will be forced to rely more on body fat for energy since less energy from food will be available to use as fuel (1). So while two diets may supply the same number of calories and result in the same amount of overall weight loss, I believe that the diet lower in fat will result in a leaner body composition.

Another advantage of relying on carbohydrate as your energy source instead of fat is that carbs are much more filling and enjoyable to eat. We will use mostly fibrous vegetables and salads, while limiting starches. Starches are higher in calories than fibrous carbohydrates and occupy less space in your stomach. While starches usually form a major portion of our diet, for this 5 week program we will limit them to one or two servings
a day.

Divide your protein and calories evenly over five or six meals. Most people get better results if they keep food selections relatively simple for this program. You will get good results using egg whites, skinless chicken breast and low-fat tuna for protein sources. Have generous portions of vegetables and salad at each meal. You can have essentially all the vegetables and salad you want. It’s very difficult to eat too many calories from vegetables. I’m talking about things like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, green beans, and so on. Refer to the Parrillo Performance Nutrition Manual for a more extensive list, as well as the nutrient breakdown. Starches are things like potatoes, oatmeal, corn, peas, beans and rice. Treat yourself to a cup of oatmeal in the morning and maybe one other starch during the day. By supplying most of your carbs as vegetables and salad instead of starch, you will find it easier to limit calories. The bulk will help fill you up, the volume of food will be more satisfying and the vegetables will produce a smaller insulin response.

Some typical meals might go like
this:
• Meal #1: ten egg whites and one
cup oatmeal
• Meal #2: chicken breast and
vegetables
• Meal #3: tuna and salad
• Meal #4: chicken breast, small baked potato and salad
• Meal #5: ten egg whites and
vegetables

Some tips for taste: Use green leaf lettuce with fresh peppers and onions, tomatoes and some fresh cilantro. Balsamic vinegar or lemon juice make tangy dressings with practically no calories. Grill your chicken outside to keep things flavorful. Or have some fresh grilled salmon or swordfish instead or tuna. Add some fresh mushrooms and chopped peppers to the egg whites. It doesn’t take too much effort to make this diet enjoyable. You will enjoy it even more once you see how fast the results come. You should avoid fruit and dairy products, which contain simple sugars, and bread, pasta and other refined carbohydrates (12).

What about supplements? There are four supplements that really help on this program. First are the Essential Vitamin™ and Mineral-Electrolyte™ formulas. Since we are avoiding fruit and milk, you will need a vitamin and mineral supplement. It is especially difficult, if not impossible, to supply your body’s requirement for calcium without using a lot of dairy products, unless you use a supplement. Next is creatine, which is in a class by itself in terms of supplements. You cannot be your most muscular and lean without using creatine. No matter how good you look, you’ll be better if you add creatine. Last is Optimized Whey Protein™. We started with the finest quality whey protein and then fine tuned the amino acid profile by adding extra glycine, glutamine and branched chain amino acids. I would consider this a “must have” supplement while dieting strictly. The high levels of glutamine and BCAAs act to protect muscle tissue during energy restricted diets. You can also use CapTri® since it is not stored as body fat.

Now, about exercise. This intense shape-up program demands a serious commitment to exercise. To get optimal results you will need to lift weights 45 to 60 minutes a day four or five days a week. Plus, you will need to do 60 minutes or more of aerobics everyday. I didn’t say this was easy. I just said you could get very fast results. On this program I would recommend a three day split, which means you train all muscle groups in three workouts. After this, you take one day off from lifting, then start over. This way, each muscle group is trained every four days and you’re lifting five days a week usually.

Feel free to design whatever sort of routine you want. It doesn’t matter so much how you divide up the workouts as much as that you train very hard whenever you lift. After warming up, train to failure in the six to 12 rep range. Do some work with heavy weights at low reps (six, say) and some work with lighter weight (around 10 reps). It is important to work hard and train to failure. This means performing the exercise in proper form for the prescribed number of repetitions until you can’t perform any more repetitions. I would aim for about 25 total sets per 60 minute workout. That’s a fairly brisk pace. Spend most of your time on free weights, although a few machine exercises are OK. Stick to the basics like squats, bench press and shoulder press.

The aerobic component of this program is very important. Although there are a few people who can get in good shape without aerobics, most of us need it. You will need to do at least 500 calories per day of aerobics, and more is fine. Many of the exercise machines these days will tell you how many calories you’re burning, which makes it easy to keep track. You must exercise at an intensity level where you are breathing hard and sweating. Moderate to high intensity aerobics will promote fat loss much faster than low intensity activities. Running on the treadmill is probably the best; stairclimbers are also good. If your equipment doesn’t display calories burned, plan on one hour of fairly intense aerobics per day.

This program works best if you are able to monitor your change in body composition. Following overall body weight just isn’t enough. If you don’t already have a way to measure body composition, you might consider the Parrillo BodyStat Kit.

If you’re not losing fat on this program at the rate of two pounds a week it means you overestimated your maintenance energy requirement at the beginning. Decrease calorie intake by reducing starches by another 300 calories per day. If things are going extremely well and you are gaining muscle while losing fat, keep doing what you’re doing. Generally speaking, if you want to speed up your progress you are usually better off by doing more exercise rather than further reducing calories. The lower you go in calories the more important it becomes that those calories are extremely nutrient dense, and that the protein source is very high quality.

References
1. Van Zant RS. Influence of diet and exercise on energy expenditure – a review. Int. J. Sports Nutr. 2: 1-19, 1992.
2. Leibel RL, Rosenbaum M, and Hirsch J. Changes in energy expenditure resulting from altered body weight. N. Eng. J. Med. 332: 621-628, 1995.
3. Piatti PM, Monti LD, Magni F, Fermo I, Baruffaldi L, Nasser R, Santambrogio G, Librenti MC, Galli-Kienle M, Pontiroli, and Pozza G. Hypocaloric high-protein diet improves glucose oxidation and spares lean body mass: comparison to hypocaloric high-carbohydrate diet. Metab. 43: 1481-1487, 1994.
4. Flatt JP. Dietary fat, carbohydrate balance, and weight maintenance: effects of exercise. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 45: 296-306, 1987.
5. Horton TJ, Drougas H, Brachey A, Reed GW, Peters JC, and Hill JO. Fat and carbohydrate overfeeding in humans: different effects on energy storage. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 62: 19-29, 1995.
6. Astrup A. Dietary composition, substrate balances and body fat in subjects with a predisposition to obesity. Int. J. Obesity 17: S32-S36, 1993.
7. Schutz Y, Flatt JP, and Jequier E. Failure of dietary fat intake to promote fat oxidation: a factor favoring the development of obesity. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 50: 307-314, 1989.
8. Thomas CD, Peters JC, Reed GW, Abumrad NN, Sun M, and Hill JO. Nutrient balance and energy expenditure during ad libitum feeding of high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets in humans. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 55: 934-942, 1992.
9. Hill JO, Peters JC, Reed GW, Schlundt DG, Sharp T, and Greene HL. Nutrient balance in humans: effects of diet composition. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 54: 10-17, 1991.
10. Flatt JP. Importance of nutrient balance in body weight regulation. Diabetes/Metabolism Reviews 4: 571-581, 1988.
11. Flatt JP. Use and storage of carbohydrate and fat. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 61: 952s-959s, 1995.
12. Miller WC, Niederpruem MG, Wallace JP, and Lindeman AK. Dietary fat, sugar, and fiber predict percent body fat content. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 94: 612-615, 1994.

Choosing Which Supplements are Best For Reaching Your Goals

Supplements play a key role in nutrition. They can increase nutrient levels beyond what can be obtained from food alone. But supplements are not magic pills and powders that work all by themselves: they are quality nutrients that help your body build its metabolism and repair mechanisms. When you eat properly and train intensely, supplements provide the extra push so you can surpass sticking points and reach new limits. For supplements to function effectively, they must be taken at the proper time and in the proper combinations. The best supplement choices for you depend on your immediate goals, and will change as your goals change. For example, the best supplement program to support muscular weight gain will not be identical to the best supplementation program to facilitate fat loss, although there will be some common features. We strongly encourage anyone who wants to use our supplements get the Parrillo Nutrition Manual, as it provides detailed instructions on which foods to eat, how much to eat, how many meals to eat, how to combine foods to construct a meal and how to incorporate supplements into your meal plan.

Training Tip  of the month:

Pull-Ups

It seems like there are a whole new crop of bodybuilders today with no lower lats—for two reasons. First, they’ve relied too heavily on machines in early training. And second, if they include pull-ups in their routines, they usually perform the exercise with too much of an arch in their backs. This common error places stress on the rhomboids and upper lats rather than on the lower lats. The first pull is with your shoulders. In other words, pull your shoulders down before you even bend your arms. To prevent your back from arching and to isolate your lower lats, bend and hold your knees out in front of your torso. At the top, make sure your shoulders are pressed down. Pull your elbows into your sides at the same time.

News & Discoveries  In Fitness & Nutrition

Dietary, Lifestyle Changes Can  Significantly Reduce Triglycerides
Dietary and lifestyle changes significantly reduce elevated triglycerides (a type of blood fat) — which is associated with heart, blood vessel and other diseases — according to an American Heart Association scientific statement.
Changes such as substituting healthy, unsaturated dietary fats for saturated ones, engaging in physical activity and losing excess weight can decrease triglycerides by 20 percent to 50 percent, according to the statement’s authors. “The good news is that high triglycerides can, in large part, be reduced through major lifestyle changes,” said Michael Miller, M.D., chair of the statement committee and professor of medicine in epidemiology and public health and director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. “In contrast to cholesterol, where lifestyle measures are important but may not be the solution, high triglycerides are often quite responsive to lifestyle measures that include weight loss if overweight, changes in diet and regular physical activity.” Miller and co-authors analyzed more than 500 international studies from the past 30 years to formulate the scientific statement.
Recommended dietary changes for those outside the normal range of triglycerides include limiting:
• added sugar to less than 5 percent to 10 percent of calories consumed — about 100 calories per day for women and 150 calories per day for men.
• fructose from both processed foods and naturally occurring foods -less than 50 to 100 grams per day
• saturated fat to less than 7 percent of total calories
• trans fat to less than 1 percent of total calories; and
• alcohol, especially if triglyceride levels are higher greater than 500 mg/dL.
- American Heart Association, April 18, 2011, (edited for length)
Question of the month:

Question: I’m preparing for a triathlon want to boost my endurance naturally, what can I do to improve?
Answer: If you’re looking for endurance and stamina, no matter what your sport, here are some things you can do to get it. Eat a Natural Carb-Laden Diet: Carbohydrate is the body’s preferred fuel source during exercise. It’s stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. More than 99 percent of the carbohydrates you eat are used by the body to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This is a molecular fuel used by the muscles to power contractions. The more carbohydrates you include in your diet, the better your muscles run. The best source of carbohydrate to meet the energy demands of the body are starchy carbs and fibrous carbs. I recommend that you eat at least one to two servings of starchy carbs and one to two servings of fibrous carbs at each meal, along with a lean protein source. For guidelines on how to do this, see The Parrillo Nutrition Manual™. Fuel Your Body with Carbohydrate Supplements: The longer and harder you train, the more depleted your glycogen reserves become, and the sooner you fatigue. Sip a Pro-Carb™ during your workouts for sustained energy levels. You are providing your body with a source of carbs other than muscle glycogen, and by sparing muscle gylcogen, fatigue is delayed.
Quick Tip  of the month:
It’s easy to get tired of eating brown rice, so why not try a new whole grain, like pearl barley or bulgur. Pearl barley is great in soups and stews, and there is also hull-less variety of barley that cooks in just 30 minutes. Bulgur is a great source of fiber and takes only 20 minutes to cook.
Dominique’s Time Cruncher
When you get home from doing your weekly grocery shopping, put a list of all the meals you can have that week on your fridge. With a weekly meal “menu”, you’ll know in advance you have all the items needed for those meals, which means no more last-minute scrambling for ideas or ingredients and less wasted food!

By Andre Newcomb

James was a successful young business professional: he had a college education from a prestigious university; he held an advanced degree in finance and had a terrific job as an economic analyst for a major bank. He had a cute, young, equally successful wife (a corporate manager) and a fantastic two bedroom condo in a nice section of downtown. James and Terry had it all, they were DINKs (double income, no kids) with lots of money and lots of toys and a big full life. They had it all – with one glaring exception; though Terry had stayed lean and petite since college, James had added 50 pounds of body fat and this was becoming problematic. James was now weighing 225 pounds standing five foot seven inches and he was suddenly feeling badly under-confident. When the twosome went out with friends for dinner or drinks, which was often, James was suddenly
feeling like the fat man at a party of
runway models.

When he was trim and fit, back in his early 20s, he was a damned good looking guy. Now his once crisp facial features were blurred with excessive adipose. James was no athlete and his fitness efforts were amateurish health club/personal trainer excursions that predictably led nowhere: the personal trainers pretended to train him while he pretended to train. He had paid big dollars to Luigi, the exotic Italian personal trainer/model dude with the ponytail that all the women at the club raved about. James fired Luigi after eight months. He lost a scant nine pounds and James figured it had cost him roughly $1,000 per pound. To James’ way of thinking Terry was looking way out of his league. As in, “What’s that hot babe doing with that dumpy fat guy? Is that her brother?” At the wedding they looked matched in heaven, now they looked mismatched. He knew it and he
decided to do something about it.

One of the senior analysts at work had undergone a dramatic physical transformation. Tom dropped 80 pounds in about the same time James was paying Luigi to be a highly paid rep counter and confidante. Tom had not only lost weight, he’d muscled-up, significantly. James approached Tom at the coffee machine; they were nodding acquaintances within the same massive department. “How in the hell did you do it?” James asked, genuinely incredulous. Tom had answered this question a dozen times. “I found a kick-ass personal trainer. My guy just laid it all out: the training, nutrition, cardio, meal planning and meal prep – this guy is like a military general – you have to audition for him to accept you.” This was music to James’ ear: he was ready for a Fitness General instead of fitness fem-men. “Give me this guy’s name.” James said.

To make a long story short, James met with John; an elite Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer. John quizzed James mercilessly about his motivation, situation and probed his degree of commitment. John mysteriously referred to the training and eating matrix as “the process.” Convinced that James had sufficient motivation and the lifestyle and situation conducive for success, John took James on as a client. The commitment period was twelve weeks. The agreed upon goal was that James would drop two pounds of scale weight per week every week for twelve consecutive weeks: 24 pounds. Additionally, James would add one-half to one pound of lean muscle mass per week for 12 consecutive weeks, a 6 to 12 pound “muscle add-back.”

“Don’t commit to the process unless you are ready, willing and able to put in the work in the gym: we need to lift the weights and we need to do the cardio. In order to elicit the dramatic gains we seek, we have to eat perfect from day one. The intense exercise and regimented eating combine to spike the metabolism; our goal is to build up your sluggish, bear-in-hibernation metabolism. Once your metabolism is amped up and accelerated, then you will start melting off stored body fat.” James was excited and was ready to jump in with both feet. Terry was dubious; she loved James but he was impulsive and she suspected this newfound passion would end up on the trash heap along with James’ other fad pursuits. James felt different this time; he took a liking to John. The personal trainer was older and very plain spoken. He packed a lot of muscle and had a no-nonsense attitude.

It was all about the work: John never asked James a single personal question because honestly John could care less about James or his yuppie friends. Luigi, on the other hand, was gossip central, and spent more time talking with clients than training them. John was emphatic: “Our first order of business is to square up your nutrition. I adhere to the Parrillo nutritional method and ergo, so shall you. You will eat six times a day, seven days per week, without fail.” James did a little elementary math and said, “Why do I have to eat 42 times a week? That sounds like a royal pain in the ass. What is the reasoning? What is the rationale? What are the goals and the expected results?” John smiled; he liked this chubby smart boy. He had curiosity and gumption. He wasn’t afraid to ask tough questions. “The reason we eat often is to continually stoke the body’s metabolic furnace.”

“I need you to eliminate the junk food and the manmade foods and all the artificial foods and all the sodas and beer…you need to stop eating or drinking that stuff
immediately – you got that?” John glanced at James. “I got it – Sir!” And from that day forward James ditched the chemical foods, the artificial foods, the beer and the Mountain Dew. John explained further the need for all the meals. “The types of food we eat cause the metabolism to spike each time we eat a meal. We eat six times a day seven days a week for a total of 42 meals, 42 nutrition spikes per week. In addition, intense workouts spike the metabolism. Let’s say we perform cardio every morning, that’s seven metabolic cardio spikes per week. Now let’s throw in five metabolism-spiking weight training sessions per week. Now we add it up: 42 metabolism-spiking meals, seven cardio spikes, five lifting spikes, altogether that’s 54 metabolic spikes per week. After a few weeks you ‘reset’ the metabolic thermostat upward. That’s when the body fat starts melting.”

James was intrigued by the logic of this approach. John continued, “To build a bonfire you start off with paper and dry twigs and matches. Once the little flames take hold, we add slightly larger twigs, building the flames ever higher. Now we’re ready to add some small branches; we need to be careful not to add too much too fast. All the wood used needs to be dry.” John paused to see if James was attentive. He was. John continued, “The flames are campfire size now. We can now add larger logs. The goal is to build the fire into a bonfire. We build the metabolism by eating “approved,” metabolism-spiking bodybuilding foods. Intense exercise is the final piece to the metabolism-building puzzle. Once your sluggish metabolism is detoxified and squared up nutritionally, you will ever-so-slightly increase the amount of approved foods consumed. The more food we consume the more the metabolism has to accelerate in order to digest all that food.”

James was curious, “So the digestive process is tied to increasing the metabolism?” John nodded. “Digesting natural food creates thermal heat; this heat is created by oxidizing calories derived from stored body fat. We build a small fire into a bonfire; we throw ever larger twigs, then branches, then small logs and finally large logs onto the fire. Once the fire is blazing, once the fire has become a raging bonfire, LARGE dry logs work best to keep the fire blazing. Similarly, once the human metabolism is blazing, eating LARGE meals of approved foods is the best way in which to keep the
metabolic bonfire blazing.”
The bodily reaction increases with ever-larger meals, creating ever-larger digestive tasks. The more hard-to-digest foods you consume (lean protein/fiber) the harder the body has to “gear up” in order to digest that food. The more we digest the greater the thermal effect. John sat on the edge of his desk in his office. “Digesting food requires calories. As these calories are burned to fuel digestion they throw off heat. When an athlete with a ripping-fast metabolism eats a perfect big meal, comprised of all the right foods, the athlete will literally start sweating and throwing off body heat as they eat.” James was puzzled. “You accelerate the metabolism by eating the right foods at the right times. When you eat a perfect meal the body heats up as part of the digestive process.” John said,
“Exactly!”

Over time eating larger meals is akin to throwing big dry logs onto an already raging fire. “Some bodybuilders have metabolisms that run so hot that they can eat 10,000 calories a day, add massive amounts of muscle, and yet not gain an ounce of fat,” John related. James asked, “To what end? Why should I aspire to eat 10,000 calories a day?” John laughed. “No, we don’t want you eating 10,000 calories a day – but what we do want is for you to expropriate the metabolism-spiking habits of the champion bodybuilder: eat often, and over time seek to increase the size of the meals.”

John added, “We weight train to add muscle mass. We do intense cardio to keep weight gains lean muscle, with little or no fat.” That Sunday James constructed many of the foods he would consume during the coming work week. He grilled chicken breasts, fish and lean beef; James sautéed vegetables in the Parrillo MCT oil supplement, CapTri®. He baked sweet potatoes and yams; James steamed rice and arranged all his Parrillo supplements. Monday morning he began with a 45-minute cardio session using the stationary bike in his condo office. James ate the first of six Monday meals: he would eat three food meals and three supplement meals. His food meals had a protein portion, a fiber portion and a starchy carb. His supplement meals might consist of a Parrillo protein shake along with a Parrillo bar, of some type and flavor, or one of a myriad of Parrillo “Engineered Foods”, perhaps a Parrillo Hi-Protein Cupcake™ or Contest Cookie™, maybe a Parrillo Hi-Protein Chocolate Cake™ with Protein Frosting™, even Parrillo Ice Kreem™.

James met John for a Parrillo-style weight training session: the body parts were chest, triceps and biceps. The session lasted for a full hour during which time John had James perform endless sets of flat benches, dumbbell inclines, cable-crossovers, tricep pushdowns, seated dumbbell curls, overhead triceps extensions, machine curls and pushdowns. Over thirty sets each interspersed with a Parrillo fascia stretch, followed immediately by a hard flexion of the target muscle. James had never worked this hard in his life: he went straight home, straight to bed and woke up the next day feeling sore yet invigorated. Each morning he would blast away first thing in a 45 minute cardio session. Five nights a week James would lift weights using the Parrillo pump-stretch-flex protocol.

John had started James out on 200 grams of protein per day in his regular meals; he drank two Parrillo shakes per day, each shake contained a double serving. The two shakes alone provided James with another 124 grams of protein with zero fat or sugar. Being quite disciplined, James became methodical, serious and dedicated to “the process.” After four weeks friends and family began commenting on how good he looked; at the end of the second month he looked sensational by any measure or standard; by the end of month three James had transformed from fat and flaccid to a muscular hunk: his chiseled good looks emerged from beneath his facial fat along with a set of ripped abs. His wife went into spasms of delight; she couldn’t keep her hands off the boy – not that he minded.

James met with John for his final BodyStat “Report Card.” John used a pair of skin-fold calipers and took measurements from nine locations on the body. James had started off with a 24% body fat percentile and 12 weeks later was now at 12% His lean muscle mass had increased seven pounds in three months. He had shed over 30 pounds of body fat. His scale weight had dropped from 225 to 197. His muscle “add back” of seven pounds had given him the power look. “I’d like to sign up for another 12 weeks.” James said to John as soon as they had finished the BodyStat work-up. “What would be your goal?” John asked. James didn’t hesitate. “I want to get to 175 pounds with an 8% body fat percentile.” John laughed. “Sounds like someone has been giving the next phase some serious thought; it actually sounds realistic.”

James crushed the next 12 weeks easier than his first twelve weeks.

Jared, despite being on his college football team, was also a serious student and not interested in getting a head start on liver disease by binge drinking every weekend. He was majoring in Business Administration and had made the Dean’s list every semester. Jared had only been back home for a day, but he had wanted to catch a workout with me as soon as possible. We were training arms, something I had felt too guilty about designating a specific day for over the years to ever do on their own. This, despite the fact that my arms have been the most challenging bodypart on me since I started training in the early 1980’s. Doing them after chest or shoulders seemed appropriate, but a whole day just for arms? How vain! How silly! More like, how could I have been such a stubborn moron all this time and not given them their own day – especially since I had been recommending it to others with lagging arms for many years?

Jared was having a great workout, and I remarked on how impressed I was with the size he had put on at school. Hard training and tons of good food did the trick, as they always do. Three times a day he had eaten his fill at the campus dining commons, and at three other occasions between meals he knocked back a shake with four scoops of Parrillo 50/50 Plus Powder™. He was now a very solid 210 pounds. Yet as always, I could tell something was on his mind. After we had finished our fourth and final set of standing EZ-bar curls, I’d had enough of his nervous brooding.
“Okay, let’s hear it. You want to say something,” I said. He didn’t pause for long.

“I took a psychology class this last semester,” he replied. “I’m afraid that you have a severe case of muscle dysmorphia, and I have it too.”
“Oh no!” I cried, clapping my hand to my heart, “I didn’t give it to you, did I?” That threw him, but only for an instant.
“Do you know what it is?”

“I do,” I said. “Body Dysmorphic Disorder is when someone is overly worried or concerned about a specific part of their face or body, and many of them turn to cosmetic surgery,” I began. “Muscle dysmorphia is a subtype of that, in which the person spends unusual amounts of time working out and is obsessive about their muscularity. We meatheads actually have a slang term for it, Bigorexia. We call it that because it’s the opposite of anorexia. Anorexics are never thin enough and are forever trying to get smaller. Bigorexics are never big enough. The worst cases are guys who really are huge, but they genuinely look in the mirror and see themselves as too small still. I knew a couple guys when I lived in Los Angeles who were truly monstrous, yet were so insecure about their bodies that they would wear big sweatshirts all year long – and it got freaking hot out
there too.”

“Well,” Jared said as I clipped on a rope attachment to a high cable pulley so we could start triceps pushdowns, “aren’t all bodybuilders pretty much like that? Do they all have severely distorted body images, a delusional disorder?”

“All of us? No way. I would not argue for a minute that there aren’t some bodybuilders who clearly have severe issues and would benefit from therapy. There are guys who are so obsessed with getting as huge as possible that they will do things like eat pounds of red meat every day and take mega doses of steroids and other drugs, far more than their bodies could even possibly be using. These are often the ones you hear about either dying or having severe health problems with their heart or liver. But percentage-wise, I doubt this group makes up more than two or three percent of all bodybuilders.”

“What about you, Ron?” Jared asked after I finished my set and while I was flexing my triceps to heighten the pump. “Not to be rude, but you don’t think you’re big enough, do you?” It was somewhat of a personal question, but I felt he deserved an honest answer.

“I’ve never taken things to that extreme, but I have to confess that every day of my life I have to make a conscious effort not to let my mind race about how small I think I am,” I told him. “Part of this is the industry I work in and the people I am surrounded by – some of the most massively developed human beings to ever walk this earth. To the average person I know I am fairly large, but that’s not who I compare myself to. I liken it to a very pretty woman who happens to hang around Supermodels. Compared to those exotic creatures, few women would be able to measure up to that standard of physical perfection. Really, none of us should compare ourselves to anyone else because it’s not healthy.”

“Not to be a jerk, but just being real,” Jared said. “Do you think bodybuilders are mentally healthy people or not?”

“It’s often been said that you have to be a little crazy to be a bodybuilder,” I conceded. “I mean, think about it. We spend untold hours training with weights, eating far more than the average person ever would, and taking a cornucopia of supplements – and in many cases, drugs – all with the goal of cosmetically altering our bodies to mold them into ever more muscular versions. What drives us? In very rare cases, there are those who fall into bodybuilding simply because they have a tremendous natural gift for it that’s recognized and encouraged. My best estimate is that this comprises no more than 5% of all bodybuilders, if that. The rest of us turn to bodybuilding out of insecurities and self-esteem issues. In my case, I was always one of the shortest, skinniest kids in school and unlike you, I had no athletic ability. I felt inferior and inadequate. Seeing images of muscular men in movies and on TV wrestling, I fantasized about the respect I would get from other guys, and the desire I imagined girls would feel for me if only I could build my small body into a much larger, more muscular one. To an extent that wish
came true.”

Jared seemed satisfied, and we finished the workout talking about other things. I continued to ponder the discussion, of course. If bodybuilding and getting bigger can make you feel good about yourself, what’s so bad? Nothing, as long as you don’t fall into the trap of never feeling like you’re big enough and being disgusted with your physique. That in turn comes from not recognizing your own achievements with regard to how far you’ve come since you started training. Compared to that 95-pound 14-year-old Ronnie that started lifting weights at home all those years ago, I’ve totally transformed myself. Does it matter that I don’t remotely resemble genetic freaks on huge doses of pharmaceuticals? No! And I need to remind myself of that every single day lest my mind starts going in bad
directions.

Obviously if we were totally happy with how our bodies looked, we would never have the dedication and drive to do what we do every day in the gym and with our eating. So I am not for a minute saying we all need to be satisfied with our physiques. What I am suggesting is that we never let our dissatisfaction go too far to the point where we have distorted and delusional impressions of what we look like. If people tell you that you look good, or you’re big, don’t dismiss that and think they’re lying to you! If you’ve put in at least a couple years of consistent hard training and good eating, chances are that you do stand out from the average gym rat. Don’t get depressed or feel like nothing because you’re not 270 pounds ripped with 23-inch arms. There are very, very few specimens like that walking around this planet and the vast majority of society looks down on them as drug freaks anyway.

Be proud of what you have accomplished with your physique. Strive to constantly improve, but never let bodybuilding stop you from living a balanced life of family, friends, a career, and just enjoying the simple things. Unless you make your living as a bodybuilder, never let it rule your world or define who you are as a man or a woman. And unless you are one of the rare few who will be standing on stage next to guys like Jay, Branch, Heath, Kai, and Wolf – don’t ever waste an ounce of your mental energy comparing yourself to them!

There was a best selling book a few years back entitled; “When bad things happen to good people.” This sums up the desperate situation former Parrillo Performance Press cover woman Pam Adams (formerly Pam Lehman) found herself in during the final five months of her pregnancy in 2010. This statuesque beauty tells the tale. “I was 39 years old and pregnant when severe complications resulted in my being confined to strict bed rest for months on end.” By strict, Pam means strict. “I could not cook or clean; I had to shower while seated; the only time I left the house was to visit the doctor.

The doctor told me flat out that there was a likely possibility that I would lose the baby.” Rather than go insane with worry Pam dedicated herself to the birth process with the same disciplined dedication that had propelled her lifelong athletic career. “I decided that if I was to be put in this awful situation, I would embrace it: I maintained a disciplined schedule. I would force myself to wake up at the same time each morning. I read books, I kept a journal and I used the enforced idleness to expand my knowledge base. I ate six times a day watching my portions and choices of food. I was careful not to overeat. I increased my clean calorie intake (per day) in each trimester by approximately 250 calories. I performed passive stretching to help with my circulation and tightness.” Pam was out of work for eight months. Her enforced inactivity caused muscle atrophy and a complete loss of endurance. “I told myself that once I overcame this emotional journey, I would compete again.” By the end of the pregnancy she weighed 180 pounds and in March of 2010 her son Jayden was born healthy weighing seven pounds. Her five month nightmare was over and Pam Adams felt reborn.

For the next year Pam concentrated on motherhood. “I was physically exhausted pretty much all of the time being a new mom; I got a minimal amount of sleep and had to keep ‘baby hours.’ By March of 2011 Jayden had turned one year old and Pam regained some sense of adult normality. “I decided I wanted to move forward on my fitness goals; I decided the time was right to get back into shape. In May of 2011 I began training for my first ever Bikini competition.” Pam also decided in about this same time that she wanted to further her education and returned to school to pursue her Master’s degree as a Registered Dietician. “I felt liberated and energized. I began college classes and in October of 2011 I entered the Charm City Classic (Pro Qualifier) Bikini Masters and Bikini Open competition. I won the Bikini Open and placed second in the Bikini Masters division.” By virtue of her win in the open division Pam Adams was officially recognized as an IFPA professional Bikini Competitor. Not bad for a woman who had been bed ridden for five months. Pam is an A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer, a TRX Instructor, an AASDN Nutrition Specialist, an IFPA professional Athlete and so much more. Pam received her B.B.A in Marketing from Howard University in 1996 and has been in the fitness industry for the past nine years. Pam developed a customized training program for her clients; she educates them on the importance of an integrated approach combining strength training, cardiovascular endurance exercise and proper, Parrillo-style nutrition.

Pam believes it is important to teach, encourage and empower her clients. She creates individualized, customized fitness programs for every single student. “My fitness philosophy is based on the fact that my clients know themselves better than I do or anyone else does. I am here to motivate clients; I demonstrate the best possible ways to shape their physiques and in doing so this allows them to live their life to the fullest and fittest. Workouts are tailored to their individualized situation and capacities. My goal is to enable each client to maintain a healthy, happy productive lifestyle.” Pam, while always an athlete, came to fitness a decade ago. Pam made a career change from the music business to personal training business in 2004. She modeled for commercial print and fashion shows in the Baltimore and Washington DC area and was a contemporary dancer in the Paradox Dance Company in Columbia, MD for six years. This former high school track star took to professional fitness like a duck to water. Three years into her fitness career (in 2006) Pam suffered a severe shoulder injury. “I developed a shoulder impingement. It was a serious injury; so serious that I could barely lift ONE pound in physical therapy using my left hand in a lateral raise. It took me eight months to fully recover my shoulder strength. During this period I took a break from competition and coached novice bodybuilding, figure and bikini competitors.” The silver lining in this dark cloud was that the injury forced Pam to take a well deserved break. “The shoulder injury caused me to explore new avenues and allowed my body to heal and repair itself. I had not had a break, a true ‘off season,’ since 2004.”

Fast forward to the present and Pam is currently seeking to attain her best-ever condition for a Pro Show either late this year or in the spring of 2013. “I am fired up about my first-ever competition as a Pro and I am pulling out all the stops to take my physique to the next level.” Pam goes to school part-time; works full-time and is a “mommy and wife 24/7/365.” She and her husband Ron Adams, Maryland’s premier bodybuilder, have launched a new website (www.ateamwebfitness.com) that provides online training services. Former Parrillo Performance cover man, Ron is a legendary figure on the east coast bodybuilding scene. He and Pam met at Evolutions, one of the finest fitness facilities in the Crab State. At Evolutions they offer group fitness classes and have acres of cardio equipment and strength training gear. Clients come to Evolutions for Pilates, yoga, barre, massage, stretching, personal training and nutritional counseling. This state-of-the-art facility provides a holistic approach to wellness and was a perfect fit for Pam. “The environment at Evolutions Body Clinic is really wonderful. I knew I wanted to work there the first time I walked through the doors. The Evolutions atmosphere made an incredible first impression on me and the fact that I have been there for over eight years tells you a lot about how much I love the place.” In addition to being an AASDN Nutrition Specialist and a certified TRX Instructor, Pam continually seeks to expand her knowledge base in order to become more effective at providing clients what they seek: tangible results. “A smarter trainer makes for a better trainer,” she related.

Pam Adams life is an organizational masterpiece: we asked her to describe the timing and sequence of a typical day in her life and she laughed at the request. “My day is organized and segmented down to the minute. I wake up at 4:00 am and get ready for work. I am at Evolutions and training my first client of the day by 5:00 am. At 7:00 am I return home to get my son ready for day care. By 7:45 I am on the road for the fifteen minute drive to daycare. At 8:15 I am back on the highway for another fifteen minute drive back to work. From 8:30 until noon I train clients. At 12:15 I am driving to go to the college campus. From 12:30 to 2:30 I am in class on the college campus. From 2:30 to 3:30 I study for an hour. Starting at 3:30 pm I engage in my own workout. At 4:45 pm I leave to pick up my son at daycare. I arrive home at 5:30 and start dinner for the family. At 6:00 pm we eat dinner and have quality family time. At 7:30 we put Jayden down for the night. From 8:00 to 9:30 pm I work on my college course work. At 10:00 pm I go to bed and the next morning I relive my “groundhog day” life all over again.” This degree of organization, compartmentalization and disciplined application can serve as a model and an inspiration for those among us that put off fitness because we “can’t fit fitness in.” Mrs. Adams’ juggling of work, school, study, motherhood and family shows that with drive and determination life can (and should) be lived to its fullest. “I sympathize with my harried clients when they tell me how hard it is to make time for training and food preparation – rather than berate or belittle them I share with them my own hard-learned tips and techniques for economizing time. It seems in this day and age, time is our most important commodity.”

Pam Adams is looking to jump back into the competitive mix. “I love competing. When I have a show coming up my motivation goes through the roof. My training efforts naturally increase in both the weight room and when I perform my cardio. Eating right becomes effortless when you have a show looming. I am so lucky in that Ron is a seasoned competitive bodybuilder and understands, encourages and assists me in all aspects of show prep. I feel that I have a ton of room left for improvement and cannot wait to step onstage once again.” Asked about Parrillo Performance Products and their role in her preparation, she was effusive and enthusiastic. “I have used Parrillo supplements for a long, long time. They are, without doubt, potent and effective. Ron has been a Parrillo product user for fifteen years and at home we have a ‘Parrillo cabinet’ loaded with John’s potent products. I always use Parrillo products. As a former national-level Figure competitor and as a current IFPA Bikini Pro, Parrillo products have made a huge difference. In the past I have used name brand supplements that promised fantastic results and delivered subpar results. When preparing for a competition I train six days per week hard, heavy and long. I cannot imagine being able to keep up the intense, demanding, draining training without Parrillo Performance Products to help me grow and recover. I recommend Parrillo Products to anyone serious about taking their physique to the next level. We are a Parrillo Family.”

Pam’s Pre-Competition Training Split
Monday:

• Legs, Abdominals,
• Cardio

Tuesday:

• Chest, Back, Arms, Shoulders

Wednesday:

• Legs, Abs, Cardio

Thursday:

• Chest, Back, Arms, Shoulders

Friday:

• Legs, Abs, Cardio

Saturday:

• Cardio, Abs

Sunday: OFF

This is a routine that I will use before a show. As you can see, there is a lot of leg work; I want to bring my legs ‘up’ and as a result will hit them three times a week. Other body parts are trained twice a week. Lifting sessions will last about one hour. I will usually perform 2-3 exercises per body part with reps generally in the 8-10 rep range. I hit cardio four times a week using the elliptical aerobic machine. As the competition draws closer, I naturally increase my workout intensity. I find this particular routine extremely productive.

 
Pam’s Daily Meal Schedule

• 4:30 am: brown rice cakes with sunflower butter, green tea
• 7:00 am: hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal
• 9:30 am: almonds
• Noon: chicken breast, brown rice pasta, green beans
• 3:00 pm: almonds
• 6:00 pm: cod, brown rice, broccoli, green tea

Keep in mind this is a pre-competition eating meal plan and is sparse and uncomplicated. I have a naturally fast metabolism and find that this particular assortment of foods allows me to achieve the contest condition I seek. I will augment these foods with my Parrillo supplements. I find green tea to be beneficial and would recommend it. My nutritional goal is to provide enough calories and protein to retain my lean muscle mass while shedding body fat. My husband Ron is invaluable: he analyzes my physique each successive week and suggests progress-tweaking changes in diet and cardio.