If you don’t use a crock-pot to cook your meals each week (or at least for a couple meals during the week), then you must invest in one and start using it immediately. Not only is it the bachelor cooking savior, but it’s also the easiest way to get the most bang for your buck (especially when you want to hit your macros).

Here’s the thing: with crock-pot cooking, you prep the meals in the morning – or even the night before – and pop in the crock-pot. Then, by the time you get home from work or settle down for dinner…

…BAM!

A hot, delicious, macro-friendly meal is sitting there waiting for you in a steamy sauna of flavor, all ready to go with zero work involved. And on top of that, you typically get multiple meals out of a crock-pot meal since it makes so much food.

This is why several of the recipes in my cookbook, Kino Chef, use crock-pots – they’re simple and make several servings, which is a win-win for any lifestyle.

On To The Recipe…

Emily Ness created this tasty recipe – she’s the coauthor of Kino Chef (she’s behind the Gourmet Recipes section in the cookbook) and runs CookingUpHappiness.com. She’s also probably going to be helping with the weekly recipes I’m going to start sharing on Kinobody here.

This Italian chicken bake is cheesy, satiating, and is completely packed with flavor. Oh, and it LOOKS amazing too… Definitely one of those recipes you can make when you want to impress people. It looks impressive, but is one that anyone can make.

Quick Tip: If you don’t have time for the crock-pot, you can cook the chicken on the stove or even grill it. Then, simply shred it, mix with the pasta sauce and build the casserole from there.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 jar four cheese pasta sauce (or any sauce you like)
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 8-0z. fresh mozzarella
• 1 container grape tomatoes
• oregano
• cooking spray

Directions:

1. Start by trimming the chicken. Once the chicken is all trimmed, place into the crock-pot (sprayed with cooking spray) and cover with the whole jar of pasta sauce.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours.
3. When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the crock-pot and shred (it should fall apart very easily).
4. Add shredded chicken back to the crock-pot and combine with the sauce.
5. Preheat oven to 375°.
6. Spray a 13×9 pan with cooking spray, pour chicken/sauce mixture into the pan. Top evenly with panko. (You can sub panko for gluten-free breadcrumbs.)
7. Cut tomatoes and mozzarella into thin slices, then and place the tomatoes on top of the chicken in a straight line (widthwise). Do the same with the mozzarella. Repeat until you have filled the pan lengthwise.
8. Sprinkle with oregano, cover with foil and cook for 20-25 minutes.
9. Take foil off. Turn on broiler and cook for an additional 2-4 minutes depending on how crisp you want to cheese to be.
10. Once it is all done, cut into 6 equal slices and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Servings: 6
Serving Size: 1 square (1/6 of a 13×9 pan)

Calories: 275
Fat: 9 g
Carbohydrates: 12 g
Sugar: 5 g
Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 34 g

The post Kino Meals: Italian Chicken Bake appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this post, I want to talk about the secret code to building muscle and staying lean. 

When you come across a guy trying to get bigger, he is most likely not at his goal physique because of a lack of strength. In fact, you will never come across someone who can bench 300 pounds that is complaining about having a small chest. It’s just not going to happen, and that’s simply because of his strength.

Muscle is a by-product of strength. If you currently only bench 155 lbs, you’ll need to focus on building up to reps with 225 lbs in order to grow your chest.

Progressive overload is the number one driver for muscle growth! Therefore, the focus shouldn’t be on getting to a goal weight; rather, it should be focused towards getting stronger on key lifts.

Building up to heavy incline bench presses, weighted chin ups, and other key lifts will pack on a ton of muscle and help you build the body you want.

The Key Rep Range to Milk Out The Most Muscle Growth

I recommend focusing on that 4 to 10 rep range. In my courses, I talk about Reverse Pyramid Training, which is definitely the most effective way to milk out the most muscle growth from your strength gains. You will begin with your heaviest weight as your first set, followed by two subsequent lighter sets (reducing the weight by 10% while increasing reps each set).

An example for Reverse Pyramid Training on Barbell Curls would look like this:

• Set 1: 155 lbs x 4-6 reps. Rest 2-3 minutes

• Set 2: 140 lbs x 6-8 reps. Rest 2-3 minutes

• Set 3: 130 lbs x 8-10 reps. Rest 2-3 minutes

The first heavy sets induces more muscle fiber recruitment on the 2 subsequent lighter sets, which translates into a ton of muscle growth.

In my Greek God Program, I utilize MEGA programming, which stands for Minimum Effort Growth Acceleration. MEGA programming applies Reverse Pyramid Training to make tremendous strength gains on your key lifts, to help build dense muscle, as well as some volume fatigue work to truly build the most muscle naturally possible!

Case Study #1 – Asu

In only 8 weeks following the MEGA training protocols on the Greek God Program, Asu gained 16 pounds of muscle! He stayed extremely lean while increasing his strength:

• Incline Presses +40 lbs

• Weighted Chin Ups +30 lbs

• Shoulder Presses +35lbs

Case Study #2 – Scott

Another interesting example is by Scott E, who dropped 16 lbs while increasing strength and muscle development in just 12 weeks (following my Aggressive Fat Loss Program)!

• Weighted Chin Ups +25 lbs

• Barbell Curls + 25 lbs

• Incline DB Press + 20 lbs (per arm)

• Pistol Squats + 5 reps

The reason guys pack on a ton of muscle while following my programs is because my programs are geared around increasing strength. They utilize Reverse Pyramid Training, and depending on the program you’re on, could have some supplemental fatigue-inducing volume work included to get in that extra 20% (or as I like to call it – the icing on the cake!).

Bottom Line

In summary, I want you to focus on getting stronger! Record your lifts and make sure you’re progressing each week – whether it is up 5 lbs on the bar or an extra rep.

The post The Secret Code to Building More Muscle appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this podcast, I chat with one of my followers who has undergone an amazing transformation. In only 12 weeks, Scott E. dropped 16+ lbs of fat, and went from 18% body fat down to 10% body fat – while gaining strength and size.

Here are his Before and After stats:

Weight ➡ 174 lbs to 158 lbs
Weighted chin ups ➡ 35 lbs to 60 lbs
Barbell Curls ➡ 100 lbs to 125 lbs
Incline DB Press ➡ 65 lbs to 85 lbs
Pistol squats ➡ 0 to 5 reps

Safe to say that he sliced off fat while building strength and muscle :)

Scott followed my Aggressive Fat Loss Program, which is helping men and women drop 1.5-2 lbs of fat per week with ease. It’s downright effective, and the best part is: everyday you get to enjoy one massive meal and some delicious dessert!

Throughout Scott’s transformation, he was able to enjoy ice cream or cookies nearly every night!

Here’s what Scott had to say about Kinobody and the Aggressive Fat Loss Program:

I’m all about living life man. And as i told you I was able to enjoy my favorite foods and had ice cream and a cookie nearly every night!! One if not the coolest parts, was that I was able to meet you at the ny city meet up, and you showed me how to do the muscle up and had me on the v log.

Super cool time bro. I’m thinking I will switch to the Greek God Program now. Anyway Greg, thanks for all you do.

To read Scott’s whole story, click here.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Why Scott chose to follow the AFL Program (1:20)
• How Scott found his cut extremely easy, and was able to enjoy cookies and ice cream basically every night (2:24)
• His experiences with past diets which gave little to no results (3:31)
• Scott’s experience with Intermittent Fasting (4:58)
• How big of a deficit you should be in so you lose fat and not muscle (10:50)
• Why you MUST be satisfied on your diet if you want to lean down and maintain it (12:12)
• Taking one step back to take two steps forward (13:45)
• How to cut down excessive volume in gym and workout only 3 days per week (15:55)
• Tips for starting AFL program (18:10)
• Scott’s favorite meals (21:47)
• And a lot more!

Join Aggressive Fat Loss

If you want to join Aggressive Fat Loss, be sure to learn more here.

The post 18% to 10% Body Fat in 12 Weeks – Aggressive Fat Loss Transformation appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this post, I want to highlight the importance of tracking your body measurements.

When I used to do online coaching, a common issue I would run into with my clients while they were on their cut was that their weight wouldn’t change for a period of 1-3 weeks.

Now, this isn’t the end of the world.

Weight is only one piece of the puzzle, and the number on the scale does not define you!

If you’re making strength gains in the gym, increasing the size of your body parts like your chest and arms, and decreasing your waist size, then the number on the scale doesn’t even matter. You’re building muscle and losing fat – this is best case scenario!

Why You Must Track

Tracking your body measurements allows you to reflect upon previous data so that you can see yourself progressing. It is nearly impossible to notice gains overnight. In fact, we don’t strive to go from zero to hero in 1 day. That’s unrealistic.

Focus on being a little better each day, whether that’s an increase in weight or reps, and overtime you’ll be blown away by how far you’ve come. And even if you begin noticing some stall in progress, the log of all your previous measurements prepares you to make tweaks and adjustments to find what ultimately works best for you.

My Tips for Tracking Body Measurements:

Go to your local craft or dollar store and buy a cheap tape measure. Then, you will want to begin take measurements of the following body parts:

• Arm (Flexed)
• Waist (Relaxed, right around belly button)
• Chest (Mid-level)

Do this once or twice a week upon waking. After a few weeks, look back and check out the progress you’ve made.

In my Aggressive Fat Loss program, guys are dropping on average 0.5 inches off their waist each week! If you’re interested in getting the same results, I strongly suggest you check out the program here.

If your goal is to gain muscle and build godlike proportions, the program you want to delve into is my Greek God Program. As you gain a ton of strength on your weighted chin ups and incline presses, your measurements and proportions will fill out perfectly.

Bottom Line

Tracking body measurements is an outstanding tool you can use in your arsenal throughout your transformation. Being able to see progress is very motivating, and will always give you that extra kick when times are tough.

As well, it gives you the knowledge to tailor your program so that you’re always making gains.

The post Track Measurements for an Aesthetic Physique appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this post, we have the next installment of Kino Meals…

And this time, I’ve decided to feature one of the delicious recipes from Kino Chef: Chipotle Chicken Meatballs with Sweet Corn Polenta!

If you haven’t made this one yet, then I’d recommend stopping what you’re doing – no matter when you happen to be reading this – and make this meal immediately. Even if it’s midnight. Seriously, it’s that good.

If you want to check out the full cookbook, click here. Or, you can always start with downloading the four “starter” meals (with macros and calories included) by clicking here.

On that note, I’ll let Emily take it away to tell you more about this recipe (since she created it, for the “Gourmet” section of Kino Chef):

————————————————————-

I’m so excited to share this recipe with you! It’s a staple in our household… We make a double batch almost every week, which is enough for dinner and a couple lunches afterwards.

I was inspired to make this recipe from a dish Rusty Moore contributed to Kino Chef (it was one of the meals in the “Rusty Moore’s Stovetop Recipes” bonus PDF that’s included when you buy the cookbook). He hooked me onto polenta, which I had never cooked with until I saw how he used it in that bonus.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – that this looks complicated…

But SURPRISE! It’s actually quite easy – maybe a little more involved than just a Tuesday night meal, but overall not too difficult.

These chipotle chicken meatballs are fresh and colorful, and full of complex flavors. Top them on the sweet corn polenta and you’ll even feel pretty darn fancy (and healthy at the same time).

Let’s get to it!

Ingredients:

For the Meatballs:

• 1lb. extra lean ground chicken breast
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. macadamia nut oil (or coconut oil)
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. light brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt and pepper (to taste)

For the Sauce:

• 1 jar of salsa (any kind you like)
• ½ can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
• 2 tsp. light brown sugar

For the polenta:

• 1 tube of pre-made polenta (available at most grocery stores)
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
• ½ cup canned sweet corn
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 stevia packet

Additional toppings: shredded cheese (I used shredded Mexican), fresh cilantro, light sour cream

Directions:

For the Meatballs:

1. In a large bowl combine chicken, 1 chipotle, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, 2 tsp. oil, panko, egg, 1 tsp. brown sugar, salt and pepper.
2. Using your hands, incorporate everything together until it is all combined (try not to over mix though).
3. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Take the meat and roll into meatballs (I try to shoot for golf ball-size), and place evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Once you are all done you should have about 20 meatballs. Place in the fridge overnight – or at least one hour.
4. After the meatballs have been refrigerated, heat 1 tsp. oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.
5. When the pan is hot (I usually test with a little splash of water; if it sizzles, it’s ready) use tongs to place about 4-8 meatballs in the hot skillet. Sear for about 1-2 minutes on each side (this will help lock in the moisture and prevent them from crumbling in the crock-pot).
6. When all the meatballs are seared, spray the crockpot with cooking spray, add a little sauce (see recipe below) on the bottom, add meatballs, and pour remaining sauce over the top.
7. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours.

For the sauce:

1. In a large bowl pour jar of salsa, add 2 chipotles (chopped), brown sugar, and Rotel diced tomatoes. Stir to combine.

For the polenta:

1. Take the tube of polenta, cut into ½-inch rounds and place on a plate.
2. Microwave in 1-minute increments (took a total of 5 minutes for me). You want the polenta to become soft.
3. Place the polenta rounds in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until they’re mashed-potato consistency.
4. Add melted butter, almond milk, honey and stevia and mix until all incorporated. Finally add your corn and stir in with a spoon. You can serve immediately or place in the fridge and heat up when ready to serve.

TIP #1: When ready to serve the dish, scoop out polenta onto a plate or bowl, top with meatballs and sauce, then sprinkle with Mexican cheese and fresh cilantro.

TIP #2: These meatballs are awesome reheated, and make a great lunch the next day if you want a fast leftover meal. I heat them up, cut them in quarters, sprinkle some cheese on them, then top with a mound of lettuce… It’s one of the most delicious (and super fast) taco “salads” you’ll ever have :)

The post Kino Meals: Chipotle Chicken Meatballs with Sweet Corn Polenta appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

Here’s the deal… Even though we live in a sophisticated, modern-day society, we still very much have the same genetic code as our hunter-gatherer ancestors. And interestingly enough, throughout most of our evolution as humans, we rarely – if ever – ate first thing in the morning.

In fact, the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is one of the biggest nutrition myths known to man. Frankly, deciding to skip breakfast is the best decision I have ever made.

Not only are we programmed to skip breakfast, eat sparingly during the day and feast at night, but modern research is showing us that late night eating is actually good for us!

Late Night Eating is Good for You

Getting the majority of your calories in the evening will actually increase dietary adherence, improve fat loss, increase muscle retention and boost health.

At first, the idea of skipping breakfast may seem daunting, but soon it will be the most rewarding dietary practice in your life. You’ll feel incredibly focused all day long and you’ll be able to revel in incredible meals while dropping fat and building muscle.

That said, there are a few tricks you can utilize to make intermittent fasting effortless. I showcase a couple of these in my full day of eating videos, but I go much more in-depth in my Aggressive Fat Loss Program.

In fact, my Aggressive Fat Loss program uses a unique approach to intermittent fasting to strip off 8-10 lbs of fat a month, while allowing you to enjoy a ton of dietary freedom – and yes: eat delicious meals at night.

Just take a look at the insane 6-week transformation below!

Paul averaged 2+ lbs of fat loss per week, dieting down to an extremely low body fat. Losing 2 lbs per week is challenging at 15-20% body fat. Dropping 2 lbs of fat at under 10% body fat is unheard of…

But will eating late at night cause me to store fat?

This is one of the most common questions I get asked…

Here’s the fact of the matter: it doesn’t matter if you eat right before bed. Hell, it doesn’t even matter if you eat while sleeping (assuming that is possible).

If you’re in a calorie deficit you will drop fat, no question about it. I regularly enjoy a chocolate bar, cheese quesadillas or ice cream just minutes before dosing off.

And I do this while leaning down! It doesn’t interfere with fat loss because I ensure I’m in a calorie deficit.

Now make no mistake – if you’re eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between, late night eating will not fit the bill. But if you utilize daily fasts and eat just 2-3 meals per day, you can strategically place a big chunk of calories late into the evening.

For example, one of my most popular Instagram posts to date is a picture of me eating ice cream in bed… I think people were waiting for a fit guy to finally give them permission to enjoy carbs at night, haha!

The caption reads as follows:

Eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream right before bed doesn’t make you fat…. Eating too many calories makes you fat ! I always like to save calories for late at night… Because I love late night eating…

Interestingly enough, we have some very well designed studies comparing eating the majority of calories at night vs in the morning.
What these studies show is improved health markers, greater fat loss and better muscle retention in the late night eating groups.

From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense that humans are meant to eat a lot at night and little during the day.
Also, there’s no need to worry about carbs before bed hindering growth hormone release.

GH is released in a pulse like fashion during the night. So overall GH will be unaffected even if you eat right before bed. In actuality, if eating closer to bedtime allows for improved sleep, that will only help you !!! Now the reason people say you shouldn’t eat after 8pm is because by 8pm most people are already in a calorie surplus lol.

Having more calories would tip them way over the surplus scale. But if you’re intermittent fasting and saving a bunch of calories for night, then by all means, enjoy yourself !!!!! Anyways !!! Late night eating is awesome!!!

If you’re interested in learning more and want to drop fat and get shredded while still being able to enjoy your favorite foods every day, then I highly recommend you check out the Aggressive Fat Loss Program. 

Bottom Line

Eating before bed doesn’t make you fat! As long as you’re in a caloric deficit, you can eat as much as you want before bed and you will still lose weight. 

This is why I do intermittent fasting – because it allows me to feast at night and go to bed feeling full, satisfied and happy!

As a little bonus – you guys can check out my free fasting handbook to help get you started with intermittent fasting.

And, if you’re ready to get started on your Kinobody journey and are wondering which of my programs will work best for you and your goals, then I recommend you go take the Kinobody Physique Survey here.

The post Late Night Eating to Drop More Fat & Build More Muscle appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

I want to address something important today: Is the “Kinobody lifestyle” healthy?

Many people have seen my full day of eating videos on Youtube and they love it.

They watch me enjoy complete and absolute dietary freedom: triple meat chipotle, massive meals, lots of chocolate and pop chips and sometimes ice cream – all while supporting a great physique.

And let’s not forget my penchant for moderate alcohol consumption!

But every now and again, I’ll have someone message me and admit that my approach works very well for building a great physique and dropping fat, but can it really be healthy in the long term?

Well this is exactly what I address in this video and dammit, it’s a powerful one, so give it a watch. Since adopting the Kinobody lifestyle, I have never felt better.

Some main take aways from the video

1. Coffee is incredible healthy and reduces the risk of mortality
2. Intermittent fasting has life extension properties and reduces the risk of numerous disease
3. Stressing out about your diet and feeling miserable has a negative effect on health
4. Maintaining a low body fat and eating at a lower calorie intake has massive health benefits and slows down aging
5. Eating chocolate or dessert, within the content of a balanced nutrition plan is not unhealthy
6. Teaching people to be present and enjoy the journey and dissolve stress and anxiety is very healthy

Make not mistake, nutrition is only one piece of the pie! There are many other factors that affect your overall health. Some of these include

1. The chemicals we put on our body can be more harmful than what you put in your mouth. One thing I’m very passionate about is using all natural deodorant, shampoo, body wash, tooth paste, laundry detergent with no artificial fragrance.
2. Research shows that moderate alcohol drinkers live longer than non drinkers. That’s not to say you must drink nor should you. But enjoying an amazing lifestyle that supports your well being is extremely important to health. Not having fun is bad for your health. Happy people, typically, live longer.
3. In Practicing the Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle talks about how most humans are conditioned to suppress painful emotions. To run away from them and lodge them down. Strong emotions have a strong charge. If they are not properly dealt with, accepted and let go of, they will live inside you in the form of the pain-body. Eventually, they may manifest as some physical symptom, ailment or disease. The eastern medical industry is far more holistic and one of the general beliefs is that most illnesses and symptoms have an emotional element. I don’t disagree.

Thank You For Listening!

To get more RTR content sent directly to your device as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and Youtube. Also, reviews on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated… 

We read each and every one of them! And make sure to take the Kinobody Physique Survey, to learn the best course of action for your physique type, and a sweet bonus :) 

The post Is Flexible Dieting & the Kinobody Lifestyle Healthy? appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

More than anything, the one muscle group of mine that really pops out the most are my shoulders.

After all, I’ve poured in a lot of effort to build shoulders that are impressive.

This is because great shoulders are the sign of a truly amazing physique that is masculine and powerful. Many guys can build a big chest, big arms or even a wide back (from lots of heavy pull ups).

But, very few natural trainees will ever achieve a set of round, capped delts. So of course, a ton of people comment and ask me how to build really impressive shoulders. This is something I am very passionate about.

Very few natural lifters have well developed, impressive shoulders.

But, those that do stand out like gods among men…

How to Build Superhero Shoulders

In this video I explain the importance of doing high volume isolation work on shoulders.

As well, I share my four favorite isolation movements for shoulders, to help you take your shoulders to superhero status. These movements and workouts in no way replace the importance of heavy shoulder pressing.

That said, when you implement this style of training, in conjunction with heavy shoulder pressing, well, your shoulders will grow beautifully!

Note – You can sub any of these exercise variations in place of traditional lateral raises for a unique and fresh workout.

Superhero Bulking

If you’re looking for an advanced lean muscle building program, to take your physique to the highest level – what I call, superhero status.

Well, then, I recommend checking out my Superhero Bulking Program. It’s great for lifters that want to push muscle growth into high gear while staying lean and maximizing overall aesthetics.

It’s not designed for sheer beginners or even intermediates. If you still have a long way to go, you’re better off honing your attention on gaining strength fast – aka the Greek God Program.

But once, you’ve build a good deal of strength and dense muscle, the next step is to milk out a ton of muscle growth with some pretty advanced protocols….

Latest Superhero Bulking Transformation

This transformation was accomplished in 5 months! 10 lbs of weight was gained, and body fat dropped by about 7-8 lbs. So this is actually about 17 lbs of muscle in 5 months while dropping fat.

Pretty damn impressive if you ask me! This was following the Superhero Bulking Program. Typically, I recommend people to follow the program when they’re more advanced, but it seems to work very well for beginners too.

The post Four Exercises to Build Big Shoulders appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this post, I want to flesh out a question I get asked all the time – is Bulletproof coffee the bees knees?

Now first order of business, what exactly is bulletproof coffee? At it’s core, bulletproof coffee is some glorified coffee with the addition of 2-3 tablespoons of grass fed butter and 1-2 tablespoons of high octane MCT oil.

So essentially, what you’re doing is adding 360-600 calories of pure fat to your morning coffee. The idea is to improve fat burning and mental clarity.

Fat Loss is About The Calorie Deficit

Now as we know quite well, fat loss is all about finding the most enjoyable way to eat at a calorie deficit. Stuffing 400-600 calories of pure fat in your coffee to lose MORE fat seems ass backwards to me.

A better bet would be to actually do intermittent fasting. You know, just stick to water and black coffee and create a calorie deficit.

That way, you’ll have way more room to enjoy epic meals later in the day. Because, after all, the 3-6 tablespoons of pure fat actually has calories.

Fat Blunts Growth Hormone

Another huge issue with putting fat in your coffee is that it blunts growth hormone secretion. You see, intermittent fasting has been shown to increase growth hormone by up to a staggering 2000%.

This large increase in growth hormone helps increase fat mobilization and preserve muscle protein. This is also one of the reasons that intermittent fasting is so effective.

Well, fat increases a growth hormone inhibiting hormone called Somatostatin.

People think fat mobilization is all about low insulin levels. As it turns out, low insulin isn’t enough to maximize fat mobilization. You also need elevated growth hormone.

Case in Point

I have often worked with people that couldn’t lean down on Bulletproof coffee. In many cases, they actually gained weight. This is of little to no surprise to me.

The true benefits of intermittent fasting come when you actually fast. That means zero calories! Sparkling water and black coffee are great appetite suppressants during the fast.

There’s no need to waste 60g of fat in your coffee. You should naturally be able to experience an incredible hunger blunting sensation and laser focus with real intermittent fasting.

This comes down to triggering the sympathetic nervous system, which happens naturally during intermittent fasting. When you’re operating in the sympathetic nervous system, you are alert, focused and highly energetic.

Your body isn’t allocating any energy to digestion – all your resources and energy can be honed in on exactly what you’re doing.

This is what Ori Hofmekler talks about in the Warrior Diet. And pretty much everyone I have talked to that is doing my courses has noticed the incredible state of being fasted.

An Important Point

Here’s the deal – it took me about five brutal years of struggling finally crack the code. What code is that? Being able to eat to complete and absolute fulfilment while staying near shredded.

There is no way in hell I could stay lean or even consistently drop fat if I was putting 300-500 (or more) calories of fat in my coffee. No question about it.

If you really want to get lean with ease, you’re going to need to start doing real intermittent fasting and drinking your coffee black!

This is the shape I maintained while in LA – gorging twice per day (and enjoying alcohol, of course). That’s my friend Andreea Cristina by the way. She’s a awesome girl and is mega huge on Instagram. (I’ve been helping her with her fitness game.)

Next Step

The next step to living the kinobody life is to pursue one of my courses. You can learn about the programs I offer here. Each one of my courses utilize intermittent fasting.

It is one of the most effective daily practices you can do to support a lean, muscular and chiseled physique! To be highly focused and productive and to support amazing, lasting health.

The post Bulletproof Coffee vs Black Coffee While Intermittent Fasting appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this post, I explain why your best bet is to do intermittent fasting daily.

Now, there are numerous approaches to intermittent fasting. Some of the popular approaches involve doing longer 24-hour fasts, one to two times per week.

My issue with this is that fasting for a full 24 hours is not very enjoyable. You’re going to have to battle hunger and that’s no fun. What’s more, fasting 1-2x per week doesn’t teach you how to handle your nutrition on your non-fasting days.

In the past, when I did the 1-2 “longer format” fasts each week, I would end up overeating on my other days and consequently, I struggled to lean down.

Eating in the Morning Can Trigger Hunger

As well, a huge benefit of fasting daily is that for many people, eating first thing in the morning can trigger hunger. This is because cortisol levels are highest in the morning! Eating with high cortisol will cause a rapid drop in blood sugar, triggering a subsequent increase in hunger.

Intermittent fasting just makes staying lean so enjoyable!

Now, even if your goal is to build muscle, daily fasts make staying lean on a bulk super easy. This is because you’re optimizing anabolic and catabolic activity. As well, daily fats are awesome for boosting mental clarity and productivity.

Daily Fasts Are the Way to Go

If you really want to get lean with ease, you need to learn how to consistently eat at a calorie deficit with absolute ease. This means doing daily fasts.

Now there’s no need to fast 24 hours… My recommendation is to push your first meal 5-8 hours after rising. This will deliver all the benefits of intermittent fasting while giving you the flexibility to allow nutrition to fall into the background of your life.

By pushing your first meal 5-8 hours after rising, you experience great fat mobilization and you give yourself a ton of room to eat plenty of food later in the day.

Fasting Daily is Easier than Fasting a Few Times Per Week

Another reason why you should fast daily is because your hunger hormones will adapt to it. And after a few weeks, you won’t experience any hunger during the fast.

If you only fast a few times per week, you’ll never give your body a chance to fully acclimate to fasting during the day. Now, if you’re ready to experience incredible results, you need to jump on one of my programs.

I recommend taking the Kinobody Physique Survey to find the best program for you! Plus there’s an awesome gift at the end :)

A Recent Kinobody Transformation

F’ing awesome email came in today! In 12 weeks, Jeff dropped 27 lbs – while putting on serious muscle… He’s done the “bodybuilding” thing in the past and has never made such crazy results in his life.

He was skeptical eating two big meals per day, not going crazy on protein, taking zero supplements and working out just 3 days per week. But he committed to the program for 12 weeks and he’s absolutely blown away. Great work manggggg!

Here’s what he had to say:

“Greg,

I just wanted to say that I have tried everything to build a good physique, but I have always taken a bodybuilding approach. And then after trying everything I took off working out for a while feeling hopeless.

One day I came across your program and tbh I didn’t think it would work because I have always believed that you needed to take a lot of supplements, eat like 6-7 and workout 5-6 days a week.

So after telling myself I have nothing to lose, I decided to give it a try for 3 months. No program has ever worked so good for me! My before and after picture is up top and I feel that in 3 months I have never gotten such good results with any other program out there.

My pictures are posted above and they are 3 months apart, I went from 248lbs. to 221 lbs. while building muscle! And I did exactly what you said to do , I took no supplements, 2 Big meals a day and trained 3 times a week. You are awesome and your program is too.

Jeff P.“

Make sure to go over to Kinobody.com/Survey to find the best program for you! Or, if you simply want to get lean as fast as possible, check out Aggressive Fat Loss (my course specifically designed to drop fat as fast as possible).

The post How Many Days a Week Should You Do Intermittent Fasting appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this episode, I sit down with Ashley Bailey, who underwent an incredible transformation while following my Aggressive Fat Loss Program.

Ashley originally sent me an email, and I knew I had to get him on the podcast!

Here’s what he sent me:

“Hey Greg, what’s up.

I found Kinobody about 9 months ago and want to share with you the incredible progress I have made so far following both your Aggressive Fat Loss and Greek God Program – both awesome! Have taken me from about 15-16% (187lb) with no strength (3 pull ups) to about 8% BF (165lb) and able to do a one arm chin!!

I found Kinobody in September after looking into Intermittent Fasting in more detail (as I’ve never really liked eating in the mornings anyway) and started working my way through all of your podcasts, as something just resonated with me in the way you approach your lifting, nutrition and lifestyle in general.

I’ve always lifted and was in the gym since about the age of 16 when training for rugby at school here in the UK. I played rugby at university as well and continued with the gym. It’s always made sense to me to lift ‘heavy’ (5-8 reps) and not exhaust yourself by working up to the heavy weights at the end of the set etc!

But I never followed a structured program/diet and made pretty poor gains in all the years I actually ‘trained’ and came out with nothing to show for it. I’ve never been in what someone would describe as ‘good shape’. Pretty depressing for years of training.

This has been especially true the last few years and when stumbling across Kinobody I was probably 2 years out of any sort of exercise at all and pretty unhappy with the way I looked in the mirror (working life had taken its toll).

Last summer I decided enough was enough and joined a gym in London. I followed my own program for 4-5 months and honestly made very little progress! Below is what I looked like after that training:

Awful I know!

In September I started ‘bulking’ from the information I had taken from the podcasts and this steered me pretty well for some decent strength gains. Then in january I bit the bullet as it were and bought the AFL guide and it changed everything!

From following the program I was able to go from around 15-16% BF to a lean and strong 8% two full weeks in advance of my goal – holiday in May. All my lifts had increased dramatically as well despite the cut!“

Crazy, right?

In five months, Ashley completely and absolutely transformed his physique! He cut from 16% to 8% body fat, and developed a high level of strength and muscle density!

And best of all, he shares his entire journey with you, on this podcast of epic proportions. You’re going to learn, first hand, exactly what it takes to achieve an amazing transformation – while letting go of the unnecessary.

If you want to join AFL and start dropping fat at a fast rate, go over here.

ALSO – comment below and let me know if you enjoy these style shows… I have a ton of people that have experienced dramatic transformations with my courses, and I’m happy to record more podcasts with these awesome individuals :)

The post Intermittent Fasting Transformation by Ashley Bailey: Aggressive Fat Loss Program appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

Recently, I’ve been doing quite a few photoshoots, and I’ve had a number of people ask me how I get ready for them. Most fitness models and bodybuilders are known to take drastic measures getting photo ready.

Typically, they’ll do carb depletion, increase cardio and training, and of course, water and sodium manipulation… And the list goes on. The idea is to look as dry as possible.

Well funny enough, I don’t change a thing when I’m getting ready for a photoshoot. That said, I don’t like the extremely shredded, dry, vascular look.

To me, it is absolutely unattractive! I’m not worried about getting all the water out from under my skin. Besides, when I do a photoshoot, I want to show people how they can look while enjoying life.

If I resorted to obsessive means, what would I be teaching you? I’d give you an unrealistic ideal. The night before my photoshoot, you’ll see me enjoying plenty of salt on my food, chocolate and yes – PopChips!

The Concept Behind It

Looking downright incredible each and every day comes down to two things.

First – building up a high level of strength. When you develop amazing strength, your muscles will always look dense, tight and developed.

When people focus on doing a large amount of training and fatigue work, they end up looking puffy one day and flat another day.

If you want to look consistently good and be powerful, you need to focus your efforts on gaining strength. You can do more fatigue/volume work on the lateral and rear delts to put you over the edge… But that’s like the icing on top of the cake!

Secondly – you need to bring your body fat levels down to the 6-9% range for men.

This is where you look amazing. Your waist will be taut, your muscles defined, face chiseled and you’ll have great muscle separation and proportion. It’s only when you get down to the 6-9% body fat range that you really start to stand out!

This is why actors focus on leaning down for movie roles. They know that if you get lean, you don’t need to have a lot of muscle to look good.

Strength + Leanness

When you’re lean and extremely strong, you look good all the time. You’ll always look sharp. You don’t need to pump up or do any water, sodium or carb manipulation!

In fact, you can enjoy plenty of carbs and salt in your diet all the time! This brings me to another point: salt only causes excessive water retention if you consume more than usual. This is why continual salt restriction is a horrible idea!

But first, a few things:

Sodium is a required nutrient that the body needs to function properly. Theoretically, if you were to consume a zero sodium diet (this is very difficult to do), you can die. Secondly, sodium has no influence on fat gain. However, sodium can cause water retention.

The post How I Prepare for a Photoshoot appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

On one hand, you want to structure your training and nutrition in a way that is downright enjoyable! People are in love with my courses because you get to eat big meals, you can eat the foods you love and you experience incredible freedom.

You’re not in the gym everyday – you’re lifting three days per week. You’re making strength gains each and every workout and as you build up strength on your key lifts, your physique transforms before your eyes.

Now making fitness enjoyable is incredibly important. But make no mistake, it’s still not easy! You still have to commit yourself and make sure you hit your three workouts per week with absolute intensity.

You still need to make sure you stick to your nutrition plan, consume enough protein and hit your calorie numbers. So even with the best program in the world, it still requires some level of discipline!

Here’s My Key to Success

Do you want to hear my key to success and staying motivated? You need to become an absolute bad ass! Here’s the deal, when you feel that resistance, when you feel like you really don’t want to workout…

That’s exactly when you must put a gun to your head, and force yourself to train. When you feel like you really want to go way over your calories, that’s when you must put the foot to the pedal and keep pushing forward!

If you give in to your mind, you will be defined by it. And you will become weak. If you realize that these are just thoughts, and they have no control over you, then you can break away from them.

And you will shape yourself into an absolute warrior!

The post How to Stay Motivated on a Diet & Workout Program appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In this post, I want to address how to do intermittent fasting if you workout in the morning.

The worry that most people have is that they will impede their progress if they don’t consume a post workout meal…

Ultimately, what is of utmost importance is your total calories and macros over the course of the day. As well, structuring your diet in a way that makes it as enjoyable as possible.

Very few people consistently hit their calories and macros on a diet…. Don’t believe me? It’s the truth! Otherwise, everyone that wanted to be shredded, would be shredded.

But very few people ever reach their body fat goals! The reason, getting to a very low body fat is really, really freaking hard.

But when you can find the most enjoyable way to hit your calories, achieving your body fat goals becomes effortless. One of these strategies involves saving your calories for later in the day.

So if you are training in the morning, I still recommend pushing your first meal until lunch time or the afternoon!

Here’s How it Would Look

Wake up: 7am

Workout: 7:30-8:30

Apple: 12pm

First meal: 2pm

Obviously, you can adapt this to your lifestyle and the time you wake up. If you wake up at 11am, don’t break your fast with a meal or fruit, until at-least 3pm.

Here’s another important point to make! Research is clear, that setting more calories and carbs for the evening leads to improved fat loss and muscle retention on the diet.

I am a firm believer in saving more calories and food in the evening, regardless of when you train! Now, if you want to be very cautious, you can supplement with two doses of 10g of branch chain amino acids around training.

For example, one dose about 10 minutes before training. And a second dose 1-2 hours after your workout. This will elevate protein synthesis.

I Truly Believe This is Unnecessary

That said, I truly believe this is unnecessary! I truly believe if you are hitting your calories/macros each day and building strength in the gym, you already have everything you possibly need.

Stressing over post workout nutrition, meal timing and BCAA’s is missing the absolute point! It’s about making your nutrition extremely enjoyable and making progress in the gym.

Those are the drivers of an amazing physique!

Final Point

If there’s anything to take away, it’s this! The most important thing is structuring your nutrition in a way that is enjoyable. If you stick to your calories/macros, you will achieve your physique goals.

Anything that makes that harder or more complicated, is seriously hurting your success. If you’re scared to ditch pre and post workout nutrition, I get it.

But your fear is not rational. Jump in head first. Track your lifts, hit your nutrition, and watch your physique transform. If you’re making weekly progress and enjoying the journey, then you’re absolutely freaking killing it.

I’ve built my physique off training 2-3 days per week, intermittent fasting, fasted training, lots of chocolate, and most of my protein in one meal a day and absolutely no supplements.

And I regularly get accused of juicing lol! For example, see the pic below:

How is it possible that I have achieved such incredible results, while doing things so differently? You guessed it, I focus on what actually matters. 

Progressing in the gym, even if that means just two workouts per week. And finding the most enjoyable way to hit my calories.

Besides, getting in a huge chunk of calories in the evening, is exactly what our body wants. It goes with our natural biorhythm. Big meals trigger the parasympathetic nervous system.

In other words, after eating a big meal, we feel relaxed, tired and sleepy…. Do you really want to be tired and sleepy during the day?

Probably not! If that’s not concrete reason to eat more at night and less during the day, I don’t know what is ;)

Next Step

If you’re ready to join Kinobody and pursue one of my courses to achieve your physique goals, take the Kinobody Physique Survey.

If you simply want to lean down as fast as possible, then I’d suggest getting on the Aggressive Fat Loss Program.

The post How to Do Intermittent Fasting if You Workout in The Morning (& Nutrition Myths Revealed) appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

Build muscle stay lean – that’s the goal! Unfortunately, very few people ever achieve the physique they are truly after when they embark on a muscle building program.

This is for three primary reasons, so let’s explore them now…

Reason #1: Most Muscle Building Programs Encourage Excessive Overeating 

Here’s the truth: most muscle building programs welcome excessive eating with open arms.

This reason for this is simple… Most muscle building programs are marketed at gaining 10-20+ lbs of muscle in a very short period of time.

In truth, this is next to impossible.

The research is clear on this! That said, when you see the scale going up by 5 lbs a month, you truly believe it’s all muscle. What’s more, when you’re gaining a lot of bodyweight, it’s easier to lift heavier weights… So you think the program is really working.

Unfortunately, you aren’t getting as strong as you think. True strength, is strength in relation to your weight. Bench pressing 275 lbs isn’t very impressive if you’re 300 lbs.

So if you’re overeating to build strength, you’re missing the point completely!

As well, you’re killing your aesthetics in the process. Any muscle you build will be obscured completely, by a layer of fat – a layer of fat that will require a long period of time to shed off.

Your best bet is to eat in a way that allows you to stay lean while supporting lean muscle gains. This is what my Greek God Program is honed in on.

Reason #2: Most Muscle Building Programs Focus on Excessive Volume 

Here’s the reality: building a great physique comes down to getting stronger on key movements. Unfortunately, most muscle building programs emphasize volume and work over intensity and progressive overload.

Most programs get you to train 5-6 days per week, perform set after set after set, fatiguing yourself into the ground.

The problem with this is simple. This strategy may work at building temporary muscle, increasing fluid and glycogen in the muscle and giving you a temporary state of puffiness.

That said, this strategy doesn’t support consistent dense muscle gains. Why is this? Well, because this strategy doesn’t lead to substantial strength increases.

Strength is the main driver of muscle growth. Working up to heavier and heavier weights is what will give you the muscle size you’re after.

In order to build strength, you must avoid overtraining. You must reduce your training volume and focus on intensity.

If you have to perform 30 sets in a workout, it’s going to be next to impossible to push yourself to achieve a personal record on each and every set.

To really build strength and an awesome physique, I recommend training just three days per week, focusing on key movements and utilizing reverse pyramid training.

This is what my Greek God Program focuses on!

Reason #3: Most Muscle Building Programs Lead to Unbalanced Proportion 

The third and final problem with most muscle building courses is this.. They don’t lead to a proportionate and downright aesthetic physique.

Instead, they are focused on adding as much mass as possible. Most muscle building programs get you to do a heavy dose of squats and deadlifts and flat bench.

After all, we’re told these are the three best exercises. Unfortunately, giving a heavy priority to these movements leads to excessive lower body mass and an unattractive chest.

If you want to build a physique that is awesome, I suggest focusing more on incline presses, overhead presses, weighted chin ups and single leg squats.

In my Greek God Program, these are the key movements that you are building up, each and every month! With strength increases on these movements, your physique improves in leaps and bounds.

The post The Three Problems with Muscle Building Programs appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

I closed this video off, asking people to share their most valuable tips they have taken from my videos and content… And the comments are damn near overwhelming.

I have plenty of courses that I sell, but my message is clear:

I don’t want anyone buying anything from me until they’ve gotten a ton of free value.

The post How to Know Who to Trust (And Who To Avoid) In The Fitness Industry appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

One of the staples of the Kinobody diet is potatoes. They’re filling and satiating, and you can do so many things with them.

There are so many ways you can make them at home and keep the calories and fat down. But once you find a great method of cooking them, you can start to experiment with different flavors.

Saying that, I especially like making wedges. Sweet potato wedges, russet wedges… The list goes on.

This week, Emily from Cooking Up Happiness brings a new wedge recipe to the Kino scene: Parmesan garlic potato wedges.

The recipe is simple enough – not much different from traditional potato wedges – but the seasonings and Parmesan cheese bring them to another level.

And for more delicious potato recipes – including sweet potato wedges, fries, and more – check out KinoChef, the Kinobody cookbook.

Note From Emily: To make sure you’re staying close to your macros/calories, make sure to weigh out the potatoes and adjust the nutrition accordingly.

For example, when I scan the bag of russet potatoes in the MyFitnessPal app, it says there are 110 calories per potato. BUT… If you look closer on nutrition labels, you’ll see the weight per serving – which, for russet potatoes, is usually 5.5 ounces. Now, the potatoes in the bag can range from 5.5 up to 10 ounces per potato (if not more), which means if you’re not weighing out what you’re cooking, you could be consuming double the calories you think you are.

So just watch for that so you don’t go way over in your carbs :)

Ingredients:

2 russet potatoes (1 potato weighs ~9oz; adjust accordingly based on the potato size)
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. seasoning salt
2 tsp. Parmesan cheese, grated (I used Kraft)

Optional dipping sauce: Ranch Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°. If the potatoes look good you can leave the skins on; I choose to peel mine.
2. Cut the potatoes in half longways, then in half again, then in half again (3 times). You will end up with 8 wedges per potato.
3. Place them in a large bowl, add olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, seasoning salt and Parmesan cheese. Toss to fully combine.
4. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, take them out and flip them and bake for another 10 minutes until fully cooked and golden. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information:

Serving Size: 4 wedges, approx. 1/2 potato (1 potato weighs 9 oz)
Servings: 4

Calories: 125
Fat: 5 g
Carbohydrates: 18 g
Protein: 3 g

The post Kino Meals: Parmesan Garlic Potato Wedges appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

When I started Kinobody, my motto was simple: build the physique of your dreams, and transform your life.

Here’s the thing – so few people have achieved a physique they are truly proud of.

When you can achieve the body you want, or even make great progress towards your goal, you are imbued with a ton of confidence. Confidence you can take and apply to other areas of your life, whether it’s business, school, dating, or learning new skills.

Achieving your fitness goals and doing so in a way that is highly rewarding will absolutely transform your life. You’ll have deep core confidence! You can’t buy a great body – you have to work for it!

Now here’s a beautiful point… To really achieve the physique you want and enjoy it, you have to experience a shift in outlook. A shift in consciousness, if you will.

I was never able to achieve my body fat goals, never able to achieve 7-8% body fat, as long as I was projecting fulfillment in the future.

I was telling myself, “I need to look a certain way to be happy, fulfilled, enough.”

But once I accepted myself now… Once I accepted this moment and gave myself permission to enjoy today and enjoy the adventure to my goals, then I was able to make consistent progress with ease.

This is a massively important point: accept yourself now!

The post How Fitness Will Transform Your Life Massively appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

The benefits of bodyweight training are actually quite massive and profound! This post will seek to explore the motive behind working with bodyweight exercises to build strength and to build a great body.

First things first: the main goal of working out is progressive overload – to increase your strength. You can build strength with dumbbells, barbells, cables, rocks and yes – even your own bodyweight.

Some people are under the misconception that you can’t build a lot of muscle with bodyweight training. Surely, these guys haven’t hung out at Thompson Square Park in NYC or Santa Monica Beach.

Some of the best physiques I’ve seen in my life were built primarily from bodyweight training. Or, bodyweight training was at least a huge component.

If you work your way from assisted chin-ups to muscle ups (or heck, even one-arm chin-ups), well, dammit, your back and biceps will grow like crazy.

If you build your way up from regular push-ups to one-arm push-ups (or even feet-elevated one-arm push-ups), your chest, shoulders and triceps will explode!

So whether you work with external resistance or your own resistance, the same concept applies: Get stronger and your muscles will grow!

Now let’s explore the six primary benefits of training bodyweight style!

Benefit #1: Bodyweight Training is Great for Staying Injury-Free

Gym room injuries are very common and seem to be part of the game for most lifters. Whether it’s a nagging shoulder or a pinched lower back, it seems as though injuries run rampant in weight rooms.

I’ve been able to stay injury free for the last couple years, especially since implementing cool tactics like Exercise Rotation and the “Trifecta”..

But in the past, I would occasionally get injuries from lifting. Interestingly enough, bodyweight exercises were never the culprit. And even more interesting: if I had shoulder pain from benching, the same pain would be eliminated from doing push ups.

Bodyweight training really helps keep the body in proper position, and allows you to stay injury free and mobile! If you want to refresh and recharge your body, take a month off lifting and focus exclusively on bodyweight training.

The difference will be night and day! You’ll feel loose, light, powerful and injury-proofed.

Benefit #2: Bodyweight Training May Activate More Muscle

Here’s something very cool with bodyweight training: Bodyweight movements are entirely closed-chain exercises. When you perform a push up, your hands are fixed to the ground and your body moves freely through space.

Same with a pull-up and one-legged squat. Compare that to the bench press, lat pull-down and leg press, and you’ll notice that in these instances, your body is fixed and your hands move through space.

Well, interestingly enough, closed-chain movements (bodyweight movements) actually help activate more muscle, in addition to being easier on your joints.

This is why very few people get injured from push-ups compared to bench pressing! As well, one really cool bench press tip is to pretend to turn the bench press into a closed-chain movement.

Instead of trying to lift the barbell up over your chest, focus on driving your back into the bench. This little mental trick can help you activate more muscle and thus, lift more weight.

Closed Chain Movements Enhance Muscle Fiber Recruitment 

What’s also quite fascinating is this: everyone plateaus on bench press. There is no getting around the fact.

Some people even plateau on bench press before they even get to a decent level of strength. But interestingly enough, very few people plateau on weighted dips.

I remember being unable to budge past 300 lbs on bench press. Then I switched to a closed-chain exercise: weighted dips. Doing this, I was adding 5 pounds per workout with ease!

This carried on for several weeks, to the point that I went from 135-lb dips all the way up to 180-lb dips in only 8 weeks! That’s a 30+% increase in just two months!

Hell, I would have continued to build more strength if it wasn’t for the fact that having more than 180 pounds on weighted dips felt like torture, haha.

I seriously thought my sternum was going to crack. But what’s interesting is that when I went back to bench press, I was so much stronger than before. The 45 pounds of strength I gained on weighted dips helped a TON.

Within a very short period of time, I was repping 315 pounds on bench.. As shown below :)

Closed-chain exercises are no freaking joke! You can take bodyweight exercises like chin-ups and dips and throw on a dipping belt, and then you have the best of both worlds.

You have a closed chain movement that you can add weight to, making it more difficult, as your strength progresses!

Benefit #3: Workout Anywhere with Bodyweight Training

With bodyweight training, the world is your gym – you can workout anywhere you want! You can even train outside in the beautiful sun… Outdoor workouts are my favorite.

I remember when I was in Santa Monica, I dreaded going to the hotel gym to lift weights. But working out on the beach seemed like PLAY! I hit the pull up bars by the beach and I never felt better.

I had so much energy and was so freaking happy. If you haven’t worked out in the outdoors before, give it a try. It’s awesome! (Just try and find a spot that has a pull up bar.)

When I’m in NYC, I love to go to Central Park. They have some pull up bars there, so I could workout there all day if I wanted to. It’s so much fun!

In fact, here’s a recent meet up that I did in New York with my Kinobody Subsribers :)

With bodyweight training, you never have to worry about taking a step back in your progress when life gets busy or while you’re traveling or on vacation.

Who doesn’t have the time to drop down and do a set of push-ups or one-arm push-ups? It’s the commute and time it takes to get to the gym that takes a ton of time!

With bodyweight training you don’t have to wait for a machine to free up. You are your own exercise machine. Hell, you could be at home working or reading and doing a set every few minutes. Talk about productivity!

Benefit #4: Bodyweight Training Will Build a Killer Core & Crazy Coordination

Bodyweight training requires an immense amount of core activation. When you build up to one-arm push-ups, your core will be nothing short of extraordinary.

In order to keep your body centered and balanced, your core has to be extremely strong. The same is true for one-arm chin-ups. With bodyweight training, you have no option but to develop great core strength and coordination.

Chin-ups, one-arm push-ups, pistols, bridging and front levers require a tremendous amount of core strength and stability. Continued use of these exercises will build an incredibly strong, dense and chiseled set of abs.

In fact, you can build perfectly developed abs without the need for direct abdominal work.

Benefit #5: Bodyweight Training Promotes Incredible Aesthetics

To become proficient at bodyweight training you need to be very lean! The less fat you have on your body the more proficient you will be. I have always found that bodyweight training makes it quite easier to lean down.

This is because dieting and body weight training complement each other. Getting leaner and losing fat improves your bodyweight training performance. On the other hand, dropping weight tends to decrease weight training performance.

It can be frustrating to see your weights go down as you get leaner and subconsciously you may blow your diet to try and maintain your lifts. Whereas, with a bodyweight training routine you know damn well if you get to a lower body fat, it will be easier to move your body through space.

Even a 3 or 4 pound drop in fat tends to improve bodyweight performance noticeably. What’s more, bodyweight training promotes an incredibly aesthetic physique.

Do you know the key to looking amazing? Great relative strength. This is the greatest indicator of a strong muscle-to-fat ratio. The reason people who are masters of bodyweight training have such incredible physiques is because they must stay lean.

If they gain 15 pounds, they need to ensure each and every pound they gain counts. Fat doesn’t count; muscle does. With weight training, you can gain 30 lbs (half being fat) and it won’t matter.

You don’t have to lift your own weight; you’re lifting external weight. So bodyweight training will incentivize you on a conscious and unconscious level to manage your body fat levels. If you goal is to build muscle, you’ll be eating to build only lean mass.

If your goal is to lose fat, it will be easier to stick to your diet because with every pound of fat you lose, your bodyweight performance will improve greatly!

Benefit #6: Bodyweight Training Will Turn Heads Faster than Margot Robbie in a Bikini

Train with bodyweight movements for several months and you will progress to some of the most advanced variations of exercises known to man. People will stop what they are doing at the gym to admire you.

You see, in today’s world 300+ benchers and 500+ deadlifters are not uncommon…

But what is a total rarity is to see someone who has completely mastered his or her own bodyweight.

When was the last time you’ve ever witnessed someone at the gym do a chinup with only the use of one arm? Or how about hang from a pull up bar and, 14 keeping their entire body and arms straight, lift themselves up until their body was parallel to the ground?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’ve probably never seen that. Bodyweight training just looks DAMN COOL! Most people can’t relate to bench, squat and deadlift numbers.

I remember when I told my brother I bench pressed 315 pounds one day and he asked me if that was supposed to be good. Seriously.

On the other hand, almost everyone can fathom the strength it requires to do push-ups and chin-ups with one arm.

This is the reason why Hollywood films turn to bodyweight exercises for workout scenes and clips…

For example, in the show Arrow, Stephen Amell is doing muscle ups, hanging leg raises and one arm push-ups in the training montage scene. And yes – people flipped over that montage!

Bodyweight training has this impact, in addition to helping you build a truly breathtaking physique, so you owe it to yourself to incorporate it into your workout protocol regardless what you’re currently doing.

The NEW Kinobody Course: The Bodyweight Mastery Program

On this note, I have great news…

My MUCH-anticipated bodyweight training course – the Bodyweight Mastery Program – just officially released.

This program is all about how to achieve the Mastery level bodyweight movements, including: feet elevated one arm pushups, one-arm chin ups, muscle ups, pistol jump squats, and more.

There are a full 8 workout progressions that help you get to this level (including some “hybrid” workouts that combine bodyweight with weight training).

And no, it doesn’t matter what WHAT level you’re currently at – even if you can’t do a single chin-up. You simply select the level you’re at based on the movements you can do, and follow the program which will help you progress to the more advanced variations of those exercises.

The best part of this program is that it’s entirely based on helping you build the lean, chiseled, muscular Kinobody physique. Only, you’ll be able to do this outside of the gym – or anywhere you want to work out.

I honestly feel that this is the best bodyweight training program on the planet because it focuses on building strength, is strategic in the progressions, and is the most methodical program ever compiled to achieve the Mastery level.

The post The Six Benefits of Bodyweight ‘Mastery’ Training appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.

In the last article on bodyweight training, we looked at six massive and profound benefits to bodyweight training.

Well, in this post, I want to look at the most effective bodyweight movements to build a great physique and awesome strength.

First things first, my formula for building a jaw dropping physique is, well, quite simple:

It’s about hitting certain strength levels.

There’s simply no way to achieve an amazing level of strength (proportionate to your weight) without achieving a great body in the process.

Too many people get so focused on hitting their muscles from different angles, feeling the pump and following some ridiculous diet that has them eating 5,000 calories per day…

Yet, they are dumbfounded why their physique never shapes into the chiseled and muscular body they want. The reason is simple..

Muscle is a byproduct of strength! You must get stronger to build the muscle density that you want! And of course, to ensure you are lean and aesthetic, you must focus on relative strength (building strength while keeping body fat to a minimum).

This is what makes bodyweight training such a powerful indicator of your aesthetics. The better you are at bodyweight training, the better you will look.

After all, bodyweight training is a test of relative strength… Progress on bodyweight training and your physique will improve in leaps and bounds.

Now without further sidetracking… Let’s get down to brass tax!

Exercise #1: Push-ups & Push-up Variations

The most well known bodyweight exercise is the push-up – and for good reason! It’s a great exercise to build pressing strength and to increase muscle on your chest and triceps (and front delts to some extent).

Push-ups will also increase core strength. This is increasingly true if you work your way up to one-arm push-ups. Eventually, you want to progress to push-ups with your feet elevated on a bench or chair.

Doing push-ups with your feet elevated will not only make the exercise harder, it will also increase the tension placed on the upper pecs. This is great because well-developed upper pecs are one of the greatest signs of an aesthetic physique.

It gives your chest that square, powerful, “masculine” look. The highest level of strength is to perform one arm push ups with your feet elevated on a chair. If you can work your way up to this exercise for 5 solid reps… You will have a word class upper body and core.

Exercise #2: Pike Push-ups & Handstand Push-ups

Push-ups aren’t enough to build a great upper body – we also need to work on vertical presses.

This will help support well-developed and rounded shoulders.

Great shoulder development is a key sign of a great physique! In this “bench press crazed” fitness world, there’s no shortage of guys with big, bulky pecs. But strong, powerful shoulders are a rarity in this world…

And great shoulder development exudes masculinity and power! The key to building great shoulders is to get very strong on overhead presses.

One way to accomplish this goal is by doing shoulder presses with weights. Another way is to build your way up to handstand push-ups against a wall… But here’s the kicker: place your hands on blocks or parallel bars. This will allow you to get the full range of motion.

If you can build up to 10 full-range handstand push-ups against the wall, you will have some seriously strong and round shoulders!

Exercise #3 Chin-ups and (Advanced Variations)

One of the most functional movements known to man is to hang from a bar and lift your chin up over the bar! This exercise will increase strength throughout your upper back and biceps.

In fact, the best way to build a solid back and V-shaped torso is to become a beast on the bar. When pull-ups and muscle-ups are a piece of cake, your back and biceps will be dangerously strong!

You’ll also have great shoulder width. The shoulder-to-waist ratio in men is the most powerful physical sign of attraction, and pull-ups support broad shoulders beautifully.

This is because the bigger and stronger your upper back is, the wider your torso will be. Once you’re proficient on chin-ups and pull-ups, you’ll be working your way up to one-arm chin-ups and muscle-ups. These are the movements that will take your physique to a whole other level!

Exercise #4: Pistol Squats (And Pistol Progressions)

It’s no mystery that the most basic and effective leg exercise is the squat. It involves all the major muscles in the lower body. When we’re working with our own bodyweight, the logical step is to advance to doing a full squat on one leg.

This exercise is called a pistol squat – the reason being that the bottom position resembles a pistol. The advantage of pistol squats over traditional barbell squats is that the lower back isn’t a limiting factor.

What’s more, pistol squats will increase balance, coordination and flexibility. When you can explode up on your pistol squats with ease, you will have a serious set of legs – legs that will allow you to sprint fast and jump high!

Legs that will make you an athletic beast! I believe everyone should work up to being able to do 5 pistols on each leg. The next step from there is speed pistols. This is where you focus on standing up as fast as possible.

If you want to take it even further, you can do pistol jump squats. For this exercise, you want to explode up from the bottom of the exercise into a powerful jump. You can imagine the tremendous power this exercise will develop.

Exercise #5: Hanging Leg Raises and Front Lever Pulls

What would a bodyweight course be without an emphasis on specific core training?

Now, when it comes to the core, there’s no need for a dozen abdominal exercises. Simplicity is best! The hanging leg raise exercises are hands-down the best abs exercises you can perform. You’ll build incredible core strength without causing back pain or stress.

When full-range hanging leg raises are no longer a challenge, the next step is to work towards performing front lever pulls. Not only does this exercise look freaking badass, it will build the abs of a world-class gymnast.

That, and you’ll develop some incredibly strong lats! I have developed some seriously etched-out abs, yet I hardly do ANY direct abs training.

Usually I just work in a few sets of front lever pulls and L-sit holds into my training – and that’s it! For example, check out the picture below (ignore the half naked model, lol):

Exercise #6: L-Sits & Back Bridges

Two exercises that have delivered for me massively are the L-sit and back bridge. Not only do these exercises support incredible core strength, but they build a very valuable type of flexibility.

They build flexibility during tension. These exercises will absolutely injury-proof your body. Implementing back bridges and L-sits into your routine will turn you into an athletic badass.

In the Bodyweight Mastery Program, I recommend you finish ALL the workouts with some L-sits and back bridges. If you have had back pain or shoulder pain, get ready to say goodbye once and for all!

You see, you can have all the strength in the world… But if you have a bad back or nagging shoulders, what’s the point? All that strength and size is useless. It’s important to be highly limber, functional and resistant.

Next Step: Get The Bodyweight Mastery Program!

Bodyweight training is something everyone should work into their regime for many reasons already covered.

I personally incorporate bodyweight training into everything I do – and some months it’s ALL I do. Best of all, working up to the advanced variations on bodyweight movements will also help bring up your lifts in the gym as well.

If you want to start incorporating bodyweight training into your routine, then I highly recommend checking out my brand-new Kinobody program, the Bodyweight Mastery Program.

Simply put, it’s the best and most effective bodyweight program on the planet – because, well, it actually works. Not only does it give you proven strategies that allow you to build up to the most advanced bodyweight movements known to man…

But it also accommodates ANY level you’re currently at, meaning there’s a place for you to start even if you can’t do a single pull-up.

Anyway, if you think this is something you’d like to check out, then click here to learn more about it!

The post The Six Best Bodyweight Movements for Developing a Great Physique appeared first on KINOBODY Fitness Systems.