Tom Blackman Podcast: Recent Episodes
Tom Blackman
Get the body you want eating foods you like with professional nutrition consultant Tom Blackman. Tom is the author of the book 'Target Lean' and has coached hundreds of clients to help lose body fat and build more muscle. In this podcast he shares free coaching tips and information about how to change your life with proper nutrition and good habits for a healthy lifestyle
Tired of cutting carbs and doing excess cardio to achieve weight loss with PCOS?Let’s be honest. If you have PCOS then any type of weight loss or body transformation is going to be hard. I’ve worked with many women with PCOS for weight loss and there’s always 2 things that they are doing wrong. Unfortunately it’s either their coach or diet program that’s told them to do these things. Sometimes they have read an incorrect article which has prompted their actions. The result? They hate their diet, they hate their exercise and worse they don’t see any changes in their body. What are the two things these women are always advised to do? 1. Cut out carbs 2. Do loads of cardio These are critical errors and shows a poor understanding of PCOS and the issues it creates for the body. In this video I talk with Rebecca who really wanted to look her absolute best on her wedding day. She’d battled PCOS for years and tried loads of different diets before. Variations of the mistakes above. Loads of cardio, low carbs and little to no weights. We completely turned this on it’s head. In 12 weeks she had lost 2 dress sizes and had a completely different outlook on her training and nutrition. Plus she now understood PCOS better, how it affected her body and what works for her. The systems we put in place will help her continue making progress long into the future. They are repeatable, sustainable and super simple to put in place. Watch the video to see exactly what we did. If you have PCOS or know someone who does then I hope this video gives you some ideas and useful actionable tips.Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape everThe post 70. PCOS Weight Loss – Rebecca Dropped 2 Dress Sizes For Her Wedding Day appeared first on BUILD | Business and Body Coaching.
How do you stop getting hangry when dieting?Is being Hangry really a thing or is it made up by people who are on diets and can’t eat the foods that they like?Recently a european team of researchers looked into the ‘Hangry’ phenomenon and found a few interesting things.
Firstly ‘hangry’ does exist as most of the subjects reported some feeling of emotional stress following calorie restriction.
The researchers also asked the respondents why they ate the foods they did.
Remember these people weren’t given a diet just asked to restrict themselves.
The top reasons for foods they ate were
- Hunger
- Appearance
- Pleasure
- Liking the food
This is interesting as most people who fail at dieting generally stop eating a lot of foods they like and often are given diet plans with bland, boring food that they aren’t keen on.
This would not satisfy 3 of the reasons which hit the top 3 and may be a cause for why people cheat on their diet and get hangry even when they are increasing their veg and fibre to fill themselves up.
In this video you’ll learn how I work with clients to stop them getting hangry and the techniques we use to make sure they are eating foods they like and still successfully lose weight
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape everThe post 69. How to Stop Getting Hangry on Your Diet appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
What does it take to be aa good coach and mentor?
Dan Smith is both a personal coach and a mentor to other fitness coaches.
In this interview he discusses how he helps other fitness professionals build their businesses and how he transforms the physiques of his clients to be stronger humans
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape everThe post 68. Building Strong Humans with Dan Smith appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Is it selfish put your gym training first as a priority in your life?No absolutely not and here’s why.Many of the people I work with are selfless people.
They have a family and they prioritise their kids (and partner) over all else.
If they own their own business then that’s their next priority.
Both these are major elements in their lives and quite often they will neglect their gym training because a family or work issue comes up.
This may be due to poor time planning which is another issue, but it is common to see this.
I’ve seen it myself in my own life where my son and businesses can sometimes impede on my workouts.
Many just accept that ‘that’s how it is’ but that’s rubbish.
I own a gym and so I have no excuse at all and still I’ve said I haven’t had time to train in the past.
Many of the dads and business people I work with will allocate gym time to their ‘free time’ which means that it doesn’t go in their diary, they don’t plan it.
Therefore it’s easy for them to allow a meeting to run over or to forget to go due to family commitments.
However going to the gym and working out delivers so many benefits to you from a health perspective
- You feel strong
- You feel energised
- You de stress
- You have time to yourself
- You actively work towards a healthier heart
- You are reducing your risk of obesity and high cholesterol
This has many knock on effects into your business and personal life.
By not going to the gym you put all these positives off and you feel worse.
- How can you help people in your business if you aren’t in good health yourself?
- Are you giving them the best of you?
- The best service and products?
- If you aren’t in good health can you offer your family the best of you?
- Are you being the best dad you can be if you’re moving more towards obesity and high cholesterol than peak fitness?
Work that through to the long term, if you are chronically ill from things you could have prevented by exercising regularly is that helping your family?
Could a few hours a week spent at the gym really be that damaging to your family short term?
Plus you LIKE going to the gym and exercising.
Denying yourself the things that you like only serves to make you more angry and frustrated in the future which might manifest itself into bad tempers at home or at work.
It’s ok to be selfish when that selfishness is providing a better life for others in the long term.
It’s absolutely ok when it’s prolonging your life and enjoyment of it.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape everThe post 67. It’s OK to be selfish appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
How much weight should you lift to build muscle when training in the gym?To really answer this we need to look at one of the key issues with men (and women) when they train in the gym.
I always say that on the whole men need to lift a bit lighter and women need to lift a bit heavier.
I’ve coached both men and women for over 10 years and I’ve noticed that men generally will up the weight before they’ve mastered an exercise and women will generally opt on a lighter weight.Call that sexist but it’s a truthful observation.
When coaching women in person I’ve noticed that they’ve performed well on an exercise and are sometimes reluctant to increase.
When encouraged to do so they actually end up surprising themselves with the weight that they can safely lift.
Men on the other hand, possibly due to ego, are more than happy to push the weight but sometimes before they are truly ready to handle that weight.
What then happens is they have to use momentum and body movement to hitch the weight up which takes the emphasis off the body part they are trying to work.
This also can lead to an injury long term.
So how do you know if a weight is right for you and if you should progress?
In this video I cover how to determine the right weight for you and when to know you need to increase of decrease that weight to progress.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guide
The post 66. How much weight should you lift in the gym to build muscle as a man or woman? appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
What happens when you retire from competitive bodybuilding?* How should your nutrition change? * How should your training change?
With no competition to aim for it can be tough for ex competitive bodybuilders to adjust to normal life.
I find that people I work with are still following the same rigid diet structure they had when they were competitive.
It’s almost like they’ve been to bodybuilding nutrition prison and are now institutionalised into that way of eating and training.
My job when I work with former competitive bodybuilders is to help them change into lifestyle nutrition which doesn’t have cheat days or fasted cardio and there’s no continual loop of restrict and binge.
In this video I’ll show you the techniques that I use with clients to help them set new goals and enjoy life with the fantastic body they’ve built over the years without the misery of contest dieting
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 65. Nutrition and Training When You Retire from Competitive Bodybuilding appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Don't make this common mistake for fat loss
When should you cut calories to lose fat?Do you even need to cut calories if you do more activity?If you’ve been around anyone in fitness or who’s dieting for any length of time you’ll know that when people cut calories they tend to suffer a bit.
This, we are told is all part of the course.
You’ve got to suffer a bit to get the body you want and dropping calories is a necessary evil to lose body fat.Or do you?While it’s true you’ll probably need to cut some calories at some point, it maybe shouldn’t be your first action.
Most people don’t move as much as they should and most people don’t train as hard as they think they do.
If this was addressed before dropping food then you’re being more productive with the food you’re already eating rather than dropping food THEN trying to do more.
In this video I’ll cover my methods that I use with clients to get them in great shape and sometimes it’ so effective that we actually need to increase food to drop more body fat.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 64. Should You Cut Calories or Increase Activity First to Get in Shape appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Fat Loss Programs are Dead
If you’re a man or woman and you love lifting weights then a fat loss program won’t be best for you.Here’s why: Men and women who lift weights want to be more muscular, whether your definition of ‘muscular’ is ‘toned’ or jacked to fcuk then the method is the same.* You need to lift weights with sufficient volume and with resistance to invoke a near or actual failure signal so that the body builds muscle as a response. * This requires enough calories to give you the energy to do the work Fat loss programs by definition restrict your energy.
Of course you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose body fat, that’s simple thermogenics and you’ll not be losing fat in a surplus.
Fat loss programs always focus on this deficit as the primary goal.Regardless of how they achieve it they want you to lose weight.
Weight is their marker of success.
- Lost weight? -Winning.
- Gained weight? – Failing
However I’ve worked with many clients that have visibly lost fat but gained weight.* Did they fail? Did they hell. * They transformed their physiques and looked 100% better. * If we had focussed on fat loss then the emphasis would have been on restricting calories. * In many cases we added more carbs as the volume training required more energy to fuel the workouts.
In fact, if we had restricted further then they wouldn’t have been able to output as much in the gym and they would never have got the results they wanted.
People say that you can’t build muscle and burn fat in a deficit.They are dead wrong.
The only people this would apply to would be those in already really lean condition eg a competing bodybuilder or someone who is in a huge deficit so there is not energy to build muscle.
What I’ve proven repeatedly is that if you manage the deficit between 300-500 kcal deficit and keep matching that with more carbs and protein as the output increases you can raise food while still losing body fat.
This is why i don’t do ‘fat loss programs’ any more.
I focus on building a better body for my clients.
Fat loss comes as part of that process but it’s a nice addition to building more muscle.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 63 The Best Fat Loss Program For Men or Women Who Lift Weights appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Tips for building muscle when you are a hard gainer
Are you a hard gainer and find it tough to add muscle?
This body transformation case study shows how Andrew added more muscle to his already lean and fit physique to gain over 2kg of muscle while reducing his body fat levels.
In this video I cover Andrew’s diet and his training patterns for adding lean muscle tissue.
How we gradually progressed his training to increase volume for thicker, fuller muscle.
How we programmed his nutrition so that he went from 300g carbs a day to 500g a day while still losing body fat.
Podcast 61 – Tom Blackman Podcast
For coaching – www.bkmnutrition.com/coaching
To get some free workouts from Andrews training – www.bkmnutrition.com/vitamint
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 62 Hardgainer Body Transformation Methods appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
How a former SAS soldier coaches men to be optimised in every area of their lives
In this interview I talk to former SAS soldier, gym owner, champion bodybuilder and coach Lindsay Bruce.
Lindsay has a wealth of experience and knowledge that his brings to his coaching program for men over 30.
In this video we discuss mindset, application of techniques and how he gets the best out of his clients.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 61 The Modern Warrior Mindset with Lindsay Bruce appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Can doing cardio first kill your muscle gains?
I’m often asked “should you do cardio before or after weights?”
Well if your target is to gain more muscle then it’s definitely AFTER.
Why is this?
The body reacts to signals that you send it.
If the first signal in a workout is to do some cardio type exercises for say over 5 minutes and isn’t a warm up then you’re telling your body that you want to be the best you can at cardio work.
What will then happen is you will adapt to be able to do these exercises better which is a very different adaption to doing weights as a first action.
In this video I’ll go over how to incorporate both cardio and weights into a session for good results and to improve body composition.
I’ll also discuss the role of signalling and why you should know about it.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 60. Should you do cardio before or after weights to build muscle? appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
How can you get in great shape at 40 without resorting to extreme measures?
My specialism as a body transformation coach is with males 30-50 years old who love working out in the gym but aren’t in love with the results from that effort.
I often work with guys who are looking to get in the best shape of their life for their 40th birthday.Normally it’s guys who’ve been training for many years and have hit a roadblock in terms of results.
They’ve often tried to apply the same techniques that they’ve used all their lives, especially when they were younger.
The issue with this is obvious, we are never as young as we were and the things we did when we were 25 are not things we can get away with when we are 39.
If we try to then we get injured quickly.
What’s needed then is an adaption of the weight training workouts to be both productive and engaging.This isn’t an ‘old man’s workout’ this is a workout specifically adapted to deliver the best results which does not impact health.
In this video you’ll learn how to build that workout and also how to adjust your supplements to account for an older man’s physique
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 59. How to get in great shape at 40 years old appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
In this video/podcast I'll be giving you some free coaching tools from my website to get you in great shape quickly.
Although my business is as a professional body transformation coach, I always like helping people to better themselves if I can.
Part of my mission to help 100,000 people transform their lives is to give away helpful tools and guides so that if you don’t have the money to work with me directly you can still benefit from my knowledge and put into action the things I talk about.
People often ask me why I give away all my ‘secrets’ as I am a coach and am I not worried that people will just take the knowledge and do it themselves without paying me anything?I’m not worried in the slightest.
In fact I hope a load of people do use my tools to better their lives.
I can only work with a limited amount of people.I only ever take on 1 full time VIP client a month and only 2 half time VIP clients a month.
Full time is 4 meetings a month and half time is 2 meetings a month. I work with a maximum 9 VIPs at a time and only 10 half time VIP clients.
I work with clients for minimum 12 weeks at a time.
This means that over the year I can only work with a maximum 36 VIP full time clients and 40 half time VIP clients.
That’ only 76 people in a year and I plan on being a 1:1 coach for another 5 years or so.
That’s only 380 people I could potentially help directly.
So I’m quite happy to give away the information on my videos and in my coaching tools to help more people.
The thing is that the people who come to work with me are normally men who run their own businesses or who are managers in an executive role in a company.They don’t have time to be watching hours of videos and then sitting down working out their own diet plans and building their own workouts.
That’s why they take me on as a consultant, because I put into action very quickly all the things I talk about in my videos and on my tools so it’s ready for them to just DO the things needed in the gym and for their meals.
- It’s why I pay an accountant to do my accounts
- why I pay someone to clean my gym
- why I have staff at my gym to run it for me and teach the classes
- why I have a video editor to edit my content and a graphic designer to create my YouTube thumbnails and minibooks for social media.
These are all things I COULD do but I’m not a professional in those areas and those people are.
They do it a lot faster and a lot better than me and so my businesses grow and earn more money and I can get on with the things I like to do like producing content for you.
Because my time is limited on my coaching I only work with a very specific niche – Men, over 30, who run their own business, love working out in the gym but aren’t in love with the results they are getting.There’s plenty of these people who see the value in a coach to get them better results that they could get themselves in a shorter space of time.
Definitely more than 400 so I’m pretty safe for a client base.
But the things I teach can be applied to so many other people It’s not specific to men over 30 etc etc but that’s who I work with as I’m a specialist in this area as I have so many previous clients and those clients resonate with me as a person.* I am 42 * I own 3 businesses * I have a young family * I have limited time and I LOVE training in the gym.
So when I talk to these guys, I know EXACTLY what they are thinking, the problems they face and the things they need to do to overcome them.Which is why I get such awesome results for them.
So everyone is happy.
You can get access to all my free coaching tools via my website www.bkmnutrition.com/social-links I hope you use them well and let me know if you need any help, I’m happy to drop you an email or reply to a comment.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 58 Free Tools To Help You Build a Better Body appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Interviews with other coaches to discuss their methods and views on the industry
Coach Dan Osman joins me to discuss dodgy fitness coaches, dodgy business gurus and dodgy social media behaviour.
Dan is health and wellbeing educator, and passionate mental health advocate.
He has worked in the health and fitness industry for 17 years, with a wealth of experience as a personal trainer, strength coach and performance nutritionist.
Dan is committed to help and impact as many people as possible through education, and empowerment.
He raised £6,000 for the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) raising awareness of the staggering male suicide rates, during a 24 hour weighted sled drag, pull, push as a physical representation of the weight those that suffer from depression mentally carry everyday but continue to keep going going.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 57 Coaching methods with Dan Osman appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Why you are not doing the stuff you'd said you'd do and seeing no results from your diet or training
If you’ve been trying to get in shape for a while and finding it more difficult that you first imagined then in this video you’ll learn the reason why it’s taking you so long.
When people want to get in shape fast they generally look at Google and ask that very same question. “what’s the best way to lose fat, gain muscle, get in shape, – FAST”The problem is that Google then returns the most popular and best SEO optimised results for dieting, fat loss, building muscle and so on.
While this may not seem like a problem and is in fact what you think you need, the results are generally for highly promoted fad type diets and workouts from people who are famous.
This isn’t always the right selection.
The other big problem here is that you now have a hell of a load of information but you’re still not any closer to implementation – actually DOING the thing you said you were going to do.
Bookshelves of houses all over the country are filled with self help books for business, weight loss, healthy recipes etc.
The houses are generally not occupied by millionaire business people in great shape.WHY?
Because these are information only.
The people who really succeed with building a great business or getting in great shape are those that have a mentor as a guide, someone to actually push them in the right direction.
I have had a few business mentors over the last few years who have all helped me improve my business and achieve things that I potentially wouldn’t have thought about doing.They didn’t run my business for me, they advised me on how to proceed and that’s what I did.
I learned the skills myself and the mentor guided me along the way.
That is exactly how you should approach your body transformation Having a Guided Implementation approach helps you learn and refine the skills yourself so that you need help less and less.You will see results faster and they will stay around longer.
Having no coach or mentor to hold you to account means that you have no accountability and no one pushing you to get in shape faster.
You may say “oh well I’m super motivated so I’ll be ok”
No problem – how’s that working out so far for you?
I don’t mean that in a nasty way, but people often kid themselves that they can do a task that requires great skill, then find that it is a lot tougher than they imagined.But their pride often stops them admitting they need help.
One of the best things I ever did was invest in a mentor, I was having some success with my businesses but was finding things a lot tougher as time went on.
After investing in a mentor for 6 months I had new direction, ideas and more importantly more money and more time.
A mentor for your body is exactly the same.Most of my clients achieve their initial goals in 12 weeks of working with me.
That’s 12 weeks – 84 days – just under 3 months.
How long have you been trying to achieve your goals?
What’s it cost you so far in time and money?
Think it over
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video about information vs implementation
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 56 Information VS Implementation appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Just because science says something is possible doesn't mean it's what you should do
Honey, are you ok? You’ve hardly touched your slappy chickenI originally read this article about 3 years ago and it was so intriguing, both that you could theoretically slap a chicken into cooked state or that someone has actually researched itNo jokeI won’t bore you with the mathsTLDR: 23,034 slapsor1 HUGE slap at 3725.95mphImagine having that power“I AM THOMAS,I CAN COOK A CHICKEN IN ONE SLAPBOW BEFORE ME OR BE SLAP COOKED”What’s the point of this?While it may be possible to cook a chicken by a thousand slappy special move (if you’ve played Street Fighter 2 you’ll know)This probably isn’t the best way to cook chicken on a regular basisEven if you are LORD THOMAS then delivering the SUPER SLAPstill probably isn’t the best use of your energy
Can you get Bigger and Stronger at the Same Time?
It’s the perfect result to get bigger and stronger at the same time but how can you achieve this?
In this podcast I’ll be discussing the principles behind building more muscle and as a by product – getting stronger.
There’s a misconception that the bigger you get, the stronger you get as a direct proportion.
Ronnie Coleman, 8 time Mr Olympia stated once that in all the years bodybuilding he didn’t get much stronger but got hugely bigger when he swapped from powerlifting to bodybuilding.
From a guy that used to leg press a metric ton for reps and bang out 10 reps on 100kg dumbbells bench press with ease, thats some statement
He couldn’t have got much stronger and it’s argued that his immense lifting is what contributed to his crippling injuries now
He is/was definitely a genetic outlier
Most people who try to emulate his style of super heavy training for reps end up injured.
Therein lies the key problem with the mentality of trying to be the biggest AND strongest guy in the gym.
The two goals are aligned in some parts but completely misaligned in others.
Yes you need to train with weights and you need to bring the weights to near or total failure to stimulate adaption but for maximum strength adaptions you are looking at 1-3 reps to failure and for hypertrophy you are looking at 7-12 reps to failure
This means that if you're trying to maximally build muscle and strength at the same time you will be missing out on one of the goals which may cause annoyance
Also it’s worth noting that some exercises don’t lend very well to maximum overload, biceps curls for example really don’t like max weight for 2-3 reps and injury is common.
Make sure you know exactly what goal you are aiming for with both the workout and each exercise with a view towards your longer term goal.
This way you won’t get injured as much and most likely be happier with the results.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video about strength vs hypertrophy
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 54 Strength Vs Hypertrophy – Getting Big and Strong at the Same Time appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
Is there a 'Best Way' to train to build muscle?
What is the best training split and workout plan for when you want to build muscle fast?
Building muscle can be very difficult and there are so many variables to think about.
In this video which was a live stream in my Facebook group I discuss why the routine that most people follow is wrong and why they have their focus all backwards when it comes to building muscle.
- Why you shouldn’t look for optimal strength when setting up your training plan.
- The importance of nipples
How does eating muffins pre workout make you lift more?
- Why are muffins anabolic? and why is it always blueberry muffins?
- Are blueberries more anabolic because they are ‘superfoods’?
- These and other anabolic secrets of the pros are explored in this video.
- You’ll learn why muffins, cereal, bagels and pancakes can help you have a better workout.
- What the science behind these foods are and why it matters to you.
- What is real and what is just plan stupid
Watch or Listen
- Listen to the podcast – The Anabolic Muffins and Other Pro Secrets
- Or Watch the video below from my YouTube channel
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Play Video about The anabolic muffin
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
The post 52 The Anabolic Muffins and Other Pro Muscle Secrets appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
It's a common question that people ask - "why is my diet not working?"
- You’re following the diet plan
- Working out a few times a week
- Maybe even taking some supplements that your diet guru has sold you
But things aren’t working. You’re not seeing any results and it’s starting to get you down
The answer is that even though you've got the diet and workout to get results, you are not balancing the internal and external factors that affect your every day life
If you were locked in a big box and given the food to eat and forced to do the exercise then you’d be very likely to see results that your guru promised.
Even the most poorly designed diet and workout program will bring fat loss results with more muscle tone if it’s a calorie deficit and stimulates the muscles with resistance training in this situation
The trouble is, most of us aren’t locked in a box every day
Our lifestyles seem to get in the way of our diet goals
We have jobs to go to, people to see socially and families to spend time with. All these situations are our external environment and may have temptations for eating more food or doing less exercise.
When we are left to our own devices we will also be facing our internal environment which allows our muncher brain to hijack our behaviour and before you know it your neck deep in a pit of chocolate wondering how that happened.
Our habits are formed in our internal environment and 'bad' or undesirable habits can stop us behaving the way we want to in order to change our bodies and lifestyle.
All these factors are connected in what I call the DIET ecosystem and balancing these elements will lead to you reaching your ideal body at an accelerated speed which feels like it’s no effort at all. Friction is removed and you are aligned to your goal.
If any one of these factors is not aligned then friction is increased which creates stress which slows down your process and flow. Eventually this leads to the other balanced elements stalling and before long a small niggle has become the straw on the camels back.
I have created a free tool to allow you to analyse and assess your DIET ecosystem. It will pinpoint exactly where you need to improve and where you are strongest.
Take the test now and I’ll send you a free report to help you improve
Take the DIET Ecosystem test – Find out how good your diet is
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Are you in the right ZONE in the gym?
If you want to build muscle as a priority and not really wanting to get injured in the process then you need to know how much weight to lift without getting injured.
As a gym owner and coach I see a lot of people in the wrong zone for the majority of their workouts
Either lifting too heavy, with crap form and inviting a hernia, or with such super strict form and low weight that their muscle gain is sooooo slow that they hardly see anything of value Of course you want to stay safe from injury when you are working out but there’s a manageable risk factor to take into account
In addition, too many people stay in a safe zone because they have become lazy in their workouts and do the same stuff over and over without ever challenging themselves
Their bodies just become more efficient at doing the same thing.
Then you’ve got the guys that want to be the biggest fish in the pond and lift like everyone is watching.
They might be but only with a winced look as they wait for something to snap.
Ego lifting is a major risk factor and this zone is where I see a lot of guys who ironically are taking the effort OFF the desired muscle and into other areas, risking a tear or tendon injury.
The good thing is that you don’t need to risk a lung popping out to make muscle gains.
With a good amount of weight for a decent amount of reps you can make progress consistently without injury.
I’m not without the scars of injury myself, all my gym related injuries came from doing too much weight and forgetting that my focus is on bodybuilding not powerlifting.
If building muscle is your priority then stay within the Progress Zone, back off the max weights and focus on growing rather than showing off.
Because no one really cares how strong you are but you.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
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Why is your diet plan and training program not working for you?
- You’ve got the diet,
- You’ve got the training plan,
- But you just are not seeing the changes in your body that you want.
You’re asking
“What am I doing wrong?
What is wrong with my program?”
One of my 6 principles is "Consistency leads to change" and it's this consistency that people lack.
- MOST DIETS WILL WORK – in terms of losing body fat unless they don’t take calories into account and you overeat massively.
- MOST TRAINING PLANS WILL WORK – to a degree because it’s a new training plan and you get all fired up to smash it so you train harder.
The issue is that if the diet is too restrictive and the training too boring you'll soon lose interest in both very quickly.
This phenomenon is what I refer to in my book as ‘The Friction’
It’s the unseen force like in Star Wars but without the cool invisible strangle and telekinetic throwing of objects
- This force is kind of rubbish because it does strangle you but via your motivation.
- It slows down your energy and puts the brakes on your will to take action.
The result is you slow down and then stop.
Once you've stopped on your diet or training it's really hard to get going again.
We’ve all been there with the diet we follow for a few weeks then find it’s just too hard to prep all the food and you’re kind of sick of watching everything you eat to check if it’s an approved food or not
We’ve also all gotten into a rut in our training where we do the exact same workout every week for the same body part and the gainz just slow to a crawl or are dead in the water.
You may also be doing the same stuff and to your horror you’re seeing regression where you are actually going backwards.
In this video I talk about ‘The Friction’ – how to avoid it and how to make sure your training plan isn’t a total borefest.
Get a free training plan to liven up your own workouts here bkmnutrition.com/vitamint
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- Watch the video below
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What type of cardio should you do if building muscle is a priority?
I’m a big believer in the philosophy of casting votes for the body you want. Well, casting votes for the life you want really.
Cardio is cardiovascular fitness, i.e making the heart healthier. This is, of course vital for your long term health into old age and to prevent diseases such as heart disease, obesity, hypertension and other silent killers.
The advantages of doing cardio are obvious but the problem is that it’s incredibly BORING for a lot of people and so it’s normally a grudging after thought following a workout.
Most people who do weights workouts as a main exercise don’t normally do cardio for this reason.
I’m definitely in the camp that steady state cardio is boring and so I looked for another way to keep my heart healthy while also making a vote for the leaner, more muscular body that I wanted.
Does cardio make you lose muscle tissue?
If building muscle and losing fat is your goal then you may be worried about burning though muscle tissue with cardio.
Over 10+ years of bodybuilding competition meant that I did probably thousands of hours of slow, trudging cardio in an effort to lose body fat.
I may have lost some muscle tissue doing that as a result of the very low carbs and calories that I was eating at the time. This was necessary to get into the shredded condition necessary for the stage.
For most people though, losing muscle tissue won’t be an issue if you add cardio as long as these conditions are met
- You are eating adequate protein at least 1.6g/kg bodyweight
- You don’t do more than 60 minutes cardio at a time
- Your calories are not too low – a rule of thumb would be around 20-24 x your body weight but you can work out your calories easily using my Calorie Calculator
How much cardio should you be doing?
In this video I’ll outline my principles for cardio that I employ with my Hybrid Bodies coaching community so you can apply them to your own routine.
I am a big believer in only doing exercise you like, this includes cardio.
Cardio is one of the most hated exercises that people do, they do it because they think they have to in order to lose fat.
Truth is that you don’t need to do cardio to lose fat as if fat burning is your goal then all you need to do is burn off more calories than you eat.
I have clients that get in great shape and never do cardio – Check out Andy’s story
If you want to do cardio for fitness benefits such as better heart health, circulation, blood pressure control and just to be more active then pick an exercise that you like doing but also fits your long term objective for your body.
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- Watch the video below
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Are you looking for Fat Loss Pills that can MELT fat off your body?
I’ve got bad news for you, they don’t exist.
Even the most potent illegal fat burning drugs don’t melt fat but some may cook you alive – which would be bad
People THINK that fat burners will magically correct their body but actually the opposite is true
While they may provide a short term kick to your workouts without addressing the root cause of weight gain – overeating and under exercising, you’ll not see any long term changes and possibly doing long term damage.
I’ve noticed 4 types of people who take fat loss supplements
I call these the 4 Horsemen of the Fat-Ocalypse
- Couch Pill Tato
- ACME Rocket Rider
- Prisoner
- Surfer
Which one are you?
Fat Burner Supplement Mistakes
The accountability for the results can shifted to the fat burner.
If you didn’t get in shape it’s because the fat burners didn’t work, like how steroid users think their gear is bunk because they didn’t gain 20kg in 10 weeks.
This can lead to a number of actions by the user.
- Take more fat burners if they saw minor results
- Try other fat burners to find one that works
- Resort to more extreme diets or exercise routine
- Look at more harmful drugs or similar eg DNP, Clen, T3, Speed
- Self loathing as they perceive as fat and also unable to change even with the fat burners
- Over focus on cardio as a ‘fat burning exercise’ leading to burnout. This is a false assumption that cardio is better for fat loss.
They won't melt fat but can fat burners be helpful?
Key point here is that they only ‘work’ in a calorie deficit
They can be beneficial if:
- You use them as a pre workout stimulant to enhance the productivity of the workout
- You recognise that they are a supplement and not a crutch – plan for coming off
- Make sure you manage your calories and don’t overeat as compensation for a hard workout
Fat Burners a guide videoListen to the podcast or watch the video to learn more about fat burners, their use, how not to get scammed and how to adjust your training and diet so you don’t need them.
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- Watch the video below
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Are Macros Really Important?
Does if it fits your macros actually work or is it another buzz word for fitpros to use when selling you their £97 tailored shred diet?
In its pure form, if it fits your macros is a good idea.
It encourages flexible eating patterns and puts the control firmly in the person’s hands as to what they eat.
However if it fits your macros is also the new way that guru coaches get out of actually coaching any clients.
It used to be that they gave people very restrictive, bland diets with no cheats.
These worked to a degree but adherence was low.
Then they discovered that they can just
- direct someone to a calorie calculator
- give them a my fitness pal quick tutorial
- call that coaching
then mass sell it to the general public, most of whom have no knowledge of what actual coaching is and so accept it as correct.
In this video and podcast you will learn how IIFYM can be used as a tool for the positive but also for the negative and how to avoid falling into the trap of a flexible diet that ends up being more restrictive
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
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The post If It Fits Your Macros – Does it work appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
If you struggle to get a good night's sleep then this is for you
Simple Techniques for Great Sleep If you’re a business owner or manager struggling with balancing sleep with your daily life then watch this video.
You will learn how to build habits for much better sleep which has helped numerous business owners to improve their health and productivity in the process.
Danny Wilson is a coach who specialises in helping people reduce the stress and pressures of their busy jobs in order to get more restful and productive sleep.
As a result his clients have become happier, healthier, less stressed and more productive in their lives.
- Listen to the podcast
- Watch the video below
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A coach shouldn't need to hire another coach - don't they have all the answers?
Even a coach needs another coach for accountability from time to time.When you are a coach to over 30 clients then it’s easy to let your own progress stall.
The methods you use with your clients may not be suitable for you.
This is why nutrition and training coaches employ a coach themselves to keep them on track.
Paul is a highly knowledgeable and successful personal coach with over 30 clients.
He came to work with me for his own physique development and we immediately worked on building muscle and ramping up his nutrition to give him more energy to train.
Over 12 weeks he developed more fullness and muscle size while keeping his very lean condition.
In this interview we discuss the methods used and what the results of the coaching were.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
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The post Why a Coach Hires Another Coach appeared first on BKM Nutrition | Body Transformation Coaching | Tom Blackman.
It's difficult for many new mums to get their former toned body back after giviing birth
Often pregnancy results in less exerciseSo as well as losing the baby weight there’s an additional issue of restarting an exercise routine.
For many women, finding the time to exercise is another consideration due to the demands of the new addition to the family.
It's not just as easy as restarting at the gym
As well as only being able to be away from your baby for maybe an hours or two, there may be complications following birth that mean normal workouts may not be possible in the beginning.
Many women resort to cardio workouts to try and lose weight but this hardly ever has the desired results.
Weight training should be part of any post pregnancy training
Resistance training is the best way to regain strength and muscle lost during pregnancy.
While the weights don’t need to be epic, lifting weight will help regain muscle tone much faster than traditional cardio.
Regaining a toned body doesn't mean you need to cut out foods you like.
If you are breastfeeding you’ll need approximately 500 kcals more a day than your maintenance.
If this is made up of foods that make you unhappy then this will translate into how you interpret the whole experience. Use my Perfect Diet Builder Walkthrough to build your ideal diet
How Vicky regained her toned body as a new mum
In this video I talk to Vicky who applied a weighted workout routine along with a diet consisting of foods she liked in order to get her body back to her previous great shape.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
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Your efforts to lose weight fast with an exercise routine at the gym or home is probably about to backfire on you.
‘Lose weight fast’ has 100,000 to 1 million google searches every month and ‘Fastest way to lose weight’ is between 1-10,000
It’s a hot topic and the reason is that people want results fast, normally because they have a holiday or event to go to and have just realised they need to get into a shirt, dress or swimwear.
‘Lose weight fast’ and ‘the fastest way to lose weight’ sound the same but actually there's a slight difference, at least as far as I interpret them.
- ‘Lose weight fast’ is where you are racing against the clock to get in shape in a limited time period eg a holiday or wedding.
- The ‘fastest way to lose weight’ is a planned and thought out process that works with time as a friend to lose weight at a good speed but to continue that process of improvement for the long term.
Fastest is optimised – you’ve looked at all the methods and decided which one will work for you. Weight loss may not be fast but it will be the fastest way to achieve your goals without suffering a rebound that takes you back to the start.
Remember if you rebound from a ‘lose weight fast’ plan and regain all the weight back, the net weight loss is zero, despite an initial fast result.
It’s not just about eating less either. Many weight loss plans focus entirely on reducing calories with a very small focus on exercise
Exercise will help reinforce and support weight loss efforts and even speed it up.
Which brings us to the next issue of weight loss vs fat loss.
It’s entirely possible to lose body fat and not lose any weight on the scales. The reason is body recomposition. Which means you gain muscle at the same time as you lose body fat.
I’ve seen this happen so many times with clients I work with that it’s almost expected now, somewhere along the process.
While weight loss may have stalled, results continue to happen in the mirror.
Therefore it must be of vital importance that you don’t use the scales as the only determinant of success.
This is especially true of women who quite often see an increase in muscle mass while training with weights and maintaining a calorie deficit. For this situation using pictures as an additional data point is essential when weight loss slows down
The ‘fastest’ way to lose weight is like the fable of the tortoise and the hare
The hare ran off at top speed, got complacent and rested, while the tortoise kept up a regular measured speed and beat the hare, the tortoise was the fastest in that race, he finished first because he followed a consistent pace and never got complacent.
The DIET TRAP - Focussing ONLY on weight loss
Many people when trying to drop weight fast go all in for a few weeks, see an initial drop and then when it slows down they get annoyed and stop doing all the extreme things they were doing. As a result they rebound, while they are steadily gaining the weight back again after stopping their protocol, the people who had a slow and steady plan with good systems to help them maintain pace, overtake them and are ultimately the winners.
In this video you’ll learn how to be the tortoise, a measured consistent approach that leads you to the goal while others fall by the wayside trying to rush it.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
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Adding 4kg of muscle without gaining body fat - impossible without drugs?
WRONGI have worked with hundreds of men to build muscle and the vast majority of them are making the same mistakes which is restricting their muscle building progress
2 Common Mistakes Made By Men When Trying to Build Muscle
Quite often I’ll find that men are doing two things wrong that they see immediate results when then change
- Not Training With Enough Volume
Coming from a bodybuilding background it’s natural for me to opt for higher volume in training.
However I find time and time again that most men I work with are not doing enough.
That’s not to say they don’t work hard in the gym because most do.
Volume is a key component in hypertrophy and to build muscle fast you need to be doing lots of volume.
BUT – here’s the key factor, high volume doesn’t mean light baby weights. It means getting uncomfortable with high volume leg press with a weight you’d normally stop at 10 reps on.
- Not Eating Enough Food to Fuel Their Muscle Growth
Protein and Carbs are the weapons and they are not sharpened enough.
While most men know that the need to eat protein to build muscle, they aren’t quite clear on how much.
Often they aren’t tracking it and so they fall short.
Carbs are also seen as the enemy by many men thanks to silly keto gurus on social media and so men routinely reduce their carb intake to keep fat under control.
The result – less energy for lifting and so less muscle stimulation.
Calories Count but Channeling Those Calories is Crucial
Where are you focussing your energy?
Are you doing lots of cardio to keep fat off?
Does that tell your body you want more muscle?
Thinking hard about the signals you are sending your body will get you better results, more muscle and less body fat.
Body fat is burned from a calorie deficit, if we burn those calories with weights then we can make sure we accomplish 2 tasks at once
Building Muscle and Burning Body Fat
It's 100% possible to build muslce and burn fat at the same time
It’s just hard to do as most men will try to push to extremes.
More muscle – OK let’s overeat massively and not do cardio for fear of losing gains.
Burn Body Fat – OK let’s not eat carbs and do loads of cardio.
Two directly opposite activities.
But blend those together, moderate deficit plus weights focussed workouts and you’ve got a winning combo.
Check out Seb's interview
Seb built more muscle and didn't gain any body fat in the process
He was already fairly lean but if anything leaned out more without doing treadmill or low carb dieting.
We actually INCREASED his carbs as a first step.
He was regularly eating in excess of 3000 kcals a day and just getting better.
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You can get a free calorie and macro calculation here
If you’re not sure how many calories you need to be eating. This calculator will give you a guide to calories and macros based on my own work with clients like Seb.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
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“Eat Less. Move More”
A statement that is both true and also misleadingI’ll often see this statement followed by“It’s simple”Normally from people who are Not coaches Have always been in leaner shape* Or are in awful shape but could ‘get in shape if I wanted to’ because it’s easy
This statement is true in the fact that many people who are overweight with a surplus of body fat do need to control their calories and exercise more
However a blanket ‘eat less’ statement doesn’t address the underlying issue that the person most likely has with late night snacking restrict and binge behaviour weekend overeating after a week of ‘good’ eating not understanding calories or portion sizes* how certain macro splits can affect appetite No point telling a driver to slow down if they can’t steer the car
‘Move more’ also doesn’t address a common issue with people exercising incorrectly for their goals
Most people immediately get on the treadmill or bike to ‘burn fat’ because they don’t understand that the ‘fat burning zone’ refers to intensity of exercise and NOT body fat being burned So they do very slow walking to maximize fat burning resulting in very low calorie burn Or they go super intense but neglect any resistance based work as it doesn’t burn as many caloriesResulting in a stringy physique with no shape
The way you construct your diet and nutrition should be based around your goals
For most people this will include * Higher protein diet Resistance training Some cardio vascular work Some ‘junk’ food in moderation Days off training* Improvements in sleep and rest
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
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To lose weight you have to stop eating carbs right?
WRONGAlthough it’s what many female weight loss programs advocate. There are more searches for Keto and Keto diet than there are for pretty much any other diet system.Right behind that is ‘fast weight loss’ or ‘how to lose weight fast’Although most people understand that they need to eat a bit less to lose weight, actually putting this into action can be tricky and complicated. What then occurs is a complete cutting out of carbs as a quick fix.
A LOT of female weight loss diets focus on cutting carbs
There are so many female weight loss gurus who promote a low to zero carb diet for women. It’s easy money as you lose weight fast from lower food volume and reduced glycogen in the muscles, also a bit of water retention can go.
This is pretty short lived though and the initial weight loss and euphoria is then followed by the realisation that to sustain that weight loss you can never eat carbs again, or at least in the quantity you did before. What follows is a slow and sustained building up of cravings for the food you left behind. You’re stuck in a prison of your own making where the only food you can eat is that which you’re slowly resenting The inevitable break happens and you binge massively on carbs and pretty much anything else you can get your hands on. The weight returns and you’re left frustrated and still confused about how to actually get that body you want.
Eating carbs is essential for building a better body but also for maintaining weight loss and lower body fat
If you don’t exercise then eating low carbs is probably going to be ok for you to lose weight. However if that is your situation I would definitely be asking yourself why you don’t exercise. The health benefits from even walking for 30 minutes a day at a brisk pace can substantially reduce your risk from dying of many common ailments. Let’s be clear, we are all going to die, but if walking 30 minutes a day could give you a few extra years with your grandkids and loved ones then why aren’t you doing that?
If you do exercise then well done, if you exercise with weights then AWESOME, you’re well on your way to getting an incredible body.The only thing is, weight training is mainly glycolytic in nature – wh...
So you want to change your body and get in shape?
When you look at what you want to achieve with your body it can seen a mammoth task and you don’t know how to start or where to begin.
Starting a weight loss program
If you want to lose 30kg of body fat then you’ve probably got a pretty poor lifestyle and there’s so much that you want to change all at once.That can be pretty overwhelming and often just the thought of it will put many people off even starting.Don’t try and cut out everything at once and don’t eat foods that you don’t like. If you want some help with building your own perfect diet plan then check out my guide video
Starting a muscle building program
If you want to start at the gym to build a more muscular and toned body but have zero experience of lifting weights then even picking up a dumbbell will be scary.Don’t be tempted to try out a pro bodybuilder’s workout as your first one. Also don’t try and go 5 times a week for an hour as you’ll likely over train. If it’s your first time going to a gym then a full body workout will be your best start. This will ht all the body parts but won’t over train your muscles so that you can’t move the next day.
Years ago I was that kid, very scrawny and short, wanting to build myself up to be a hulk.
There was no way I could get taller so weights was my option.I went to a bodybuilding gym, full of the biggest guys I’d ever seen and even though they were really scary they were also very helpful and they gave me the best pieces of advice for growing.Years later I won my first show.In this video and podcast I’ll run you through what they told me and how I now advise my clients in the same principles for their own body transformation.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
In this video I talk to a current client Andy who is a father of 2 and works mainly from home for a major bank. We discuss his body transformation and how was able to gain a ton of muscle and burn fat with no cardio.
Andy enjoys working out in the gym and has been training for many years, over lockdown he lost his motivation and his body gained some fat which he wasn’t happy with.He isn’t a fan of cardio in the traditional sense and so we constructed a transformation plan that allowed him to change his body without doing the miles on the treadmill.
Fat loss is based on a calorie deficit and muscle gain requires adequate stimulus from training and a certain level of protein intake.
You don’t need cardio to burn body fat and it’s entirely possible to build muscle in a deficit. All it takes is correct programming and the application of certain key elements to a training plan.
It's often said that you can't build muscle and burn fat at the same time. We have proved that it's absolutely possible in Andy's case.
The body you want is the combination of many signals that you send
Your body will respond to what you tell it to do. One workout or one day of good eating is a very weak signal that quickly disappears.Sending multiple signals over the course of many months creates a continuous strong signal that moulds the body.
In this video and podcast I interview Andy to discuss how he trained and ate to send all the right signals to his body to get the body he wanted.We delve into how he was able to keep to his plan while enjoying days out with his family and how he’s used the skills we developed to continue to make progress.
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my
How does your body know what you want it to do if you aren't sending it the right messages?
It’s the age old question‘What are the best workouts for weight loss and muscle gain’That’s what most people want to do to varying degrees Lose weight Gain muscleWhether it’s to look great on holiday, attract a partner, feel more confident or just accomplish a lifetime goal of being in the best shape ever.At some point you’ll want to hit those two variables.But what workouts are the best for weight loss and muscle gain?
Some people will tell you it can't be done at the same time, that you must be in a calorie surplus to build muscle and that if you are losing weight then you're in a calorie deficit so forget building any more muscle.
What I’ve found in my 10+ years of coaching clients is that it’s very possible to lose weight and build muscle at the same time.You just have to send the right signals to your body.Get it pointed in the direction you want and let go.In this video you will learn what those signals are and how to send them for a faster and more dramatic body transformation
Check out my YouTube channel for more videos.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
You may think that overeating for one day has ruined your diet plan. Does a day off your diet actually ruin your progress?
Because you have overeaten and gained weight you then justify a binge because ‘the diet’s ruined anyway’ and then you go on a full on see food diet.If the day off is on a Monday or long weekend such as a bank holiday this throws you off your routine even more so you decide to have a week off and start again next Monday.
One day of overeating doesn't ruin your diet, same as how 1 day of eating zero carbs doesn't get you shredded
It takes around 8000 kcals of surplus to create 1kg of fat so the weight gain is not all body fat
Things that affect rapid weight shifts more than fat or muscle will be Water retained in the muscles or under the skin Food Volume in your gut from big meals. It can take 72 hours for a big meal to be fully processed and excreted.* Hormones around TOTM for women
One day of higher calories after a sustained deficit is unlikely to have a major impact
As detailed above, the factors influencing rapid weight gain can quickly be normalised within a day or so if you return to your normal pattern of eating and training.
It's more likely you will get a metabolic uplift from the higher calories and move around a bit more as a direct response
Typically when we overeat for one day the body will prefer to try and burn off as much energy as possible before storing as body fat which is in itself an energy consuming activity.
The actual weight gain from fat comes from the sustained surplus over the next 4-7 days
The mistake people make is believing that they have ruined their diet and then go on a mission to eat everything they can.As silly as this sounds it is very common and a form of self destructive behaviour instigated by our subconscious trying to use nice food to make us feel better.
Ironically, the 'week off' because the diet is ruined is actually a self fulfilling prophecy
It is this continued excess of calories which results in actual accrual of body fat. One day is unlikely to yield over 8000 kcals of excess,...
How to restart your gym motivation by addressing 6 common problems
As a coach of over 10 years, a competitive bodybuilder for 9 years and a trainer of over 24 years I’ve experienced dips from time to time. I’ve also helped others overcome their own gym motivation slumps. In this article and podcast I will help you to understand 6 common reasons why people experience motivational slumps, why they affect you and how to overcome them.
Just 'snap' out of it
I’m sure you may have heard this. You may have even said it to yourself. Unfortunately it normally isn’t that simple. Motivation is affected by many underlying factors
6 Common Causes of A Drop In Gym Motivation
- Bland Boring Food That You Don't Enjoy
Food is fuel for your workouts. If your pre workout meal or most of your meals in the day are from foods you hate you’ll end up resenting the process of transforming your body. If you enjoy your meals then the positive process of fueling your workouts will bring better results in the gym.
- Boring Repetitive Workouts
When was the last time you changed your workouts?Are you still doing the same chest, legs and back workout? On the same days?Like any activity the body adapts to certain stimuli and the same workouts every week will eventually be less productive. Check out some of my workouts on my YouTube shorts or my Instagram for a bit of inspiration
- No-one Pushing You to be Better
Who’s keeping you accountable? Who is helping you to achieve your goals? If there’s nothing to aim for then you’ll always hit nothing. Too much of that and you’ll quickly lose motivation.
How Good are Your Home Workouts?
If you are training from home and find it hard to get started or even fit your workout into your day then this video will teach you how to develop good habits in order to set yourself up for a great workout every time.Habits get you started and keep you going, they also set your mind for the workout and allow you to both elevate yourself into the workout but importantly bring you back down afterwards if you have a meeting to attend from your home.
Take My Home Workouts Test
This video is one of 4 that relate to my HOME workout test. This is a free test that will tell you in 3 minutes where your weak areas are and how to improve them. You’ll also get a free report to give you ideas and techniques that I’ve used with my clients to improve their own home workouts and transform their bodies. Whether you want to build more muscle, lose some body fat or a combination of the two, having good habits is incredibly important to keep you in that mindset and moving towards that goal.
To take the Home Workout Test go here – HOME WORKOUT TEST
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
How do you know if what you are doing is enough to lose weight and transform your body?
I often get asked by clients if the training program they’ve been given is enough as it often looks like a small amount of work.They are normally expecting some super complex training system as they’ve tried ‘normal’ training before.Or they are completely new to training and want to be smashing it from the start.The truth is that ‘enough’ is relative.
Someone just starting out with no experience will need much less to get things moving in the right direction than an experienced bodybuilder.
But too much too soon will likely cause overload, overtraining and injury.For a complete beginner, 2-3 30 minute kettlebell sessions a week will be perfect which is why I coach this in my group training.When strength and conditioning has improved we then move up to more complex workouts.The same is true for nutrition, trying to change everything at once normally results in failure. Focussing on Calories first and eating within a deficit will start the momentum and when you’ve mastered that it’s time to move into macro manipulation for better results.
In this video you’ll learn about how to determine what is the right level of training for you so that you are doing enough to lose weight but not overtraining.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
Take my Home Workout Test to improve your training
My Weekly Podcast features audio recordings of my YouTube videos so you can listen on the go
Listen via the website Tom Blackman PodcastSubscribe via Apple Podcasts*
Supersets are a great way to force new growth in your chest
Bodybuilding is not a strength sport first. It’s a muscle building sport.Supersets help to create new muscle growth by working on the volume training principle.By combining 2 exercises together that hit the chest from different angles you allow failure from 2 stimuli which are focussed on the same muscle group. In this article I’ll share 3 of my best chest supersets that I’ve used in the past in my own training and also with clients to great results.
Help inject some new interest in your chest workouts
Stop doing the same exercises for chest that you’ve always done. I see a lot of trainers doing the same 3-4 exercises every week for their chest workout and never make any significant progress.One of my first actions when coaching new clients is to shake up their training with a range of different exercises and workouts while focussing on the main goal of building more muscle.
Supersets are part of the puzzle but not the key piece
Let’s be clear here, this article is not saying to ditch your big compounds and do supersets for all workouts.There’s a ton of guru trainers making up their own ‘best’ weird combination workouts with stupid exercises that do NOTHING for your progress apart from a novelty stimulus.That’s not what I want you to do.I want you to think about how to incorporate these exercises into your workouts to compliment your big lifts.
A varied chest workout for bodybuilding uses a combination of factors
- Heavy exercises to failure Volume exercises to failure Low reps 5-7 High reps 10-20 Compound exercises* Isolation exercises
3 of my best chest supersets
These exercises use Isolation Compound* VolumeYou’ll find direct video links to these exercises below
If you're getting good results with your diet you may be looking at how to speed up your weight loss process to get to your target sooner.
This is a really risky business and I see many people trying to do this and ultimately end up gaining a lot of the weight back again.The reason for this is that the body does not like to be told to speed up. It likes to stick to a steady manageable pace that it can slowly adapt to.Very rapid shifts in weight, exercise, hydration etc tend to cause a rapid reaction to correct the issue.Unfortunately the people who sell you rapid fat loss diets don’t tell you this.
Trying to speed up fat loss can actually put the brakes on
While your body might be happy to lose 1-2kg per week, when you try to increase that amount it recognises an unusual situation and the result is a depression of the metabolism and a lack of energy to train so that your output slows down.It also gives you more hunger cues so that you want to eat more to get the weight back on again that you’ve rapidly lost. The problem with this is that it takes a while for the body to recognise you’re back at your normal levels and so you overshoot causing more weight regain. All of a sudden you are fatter than before and right back to square one with a penalty. In this video you’ll learn how to avoid this trap that many people fall into and how to consistently make progress with your weight loss plan.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
If your calories are too low and your fat loss has stalled, have you entered starvation mode and does this mean you're unable to lose weight?
I’ve been asked this hundreds of times in my 10+ years as a body transformation coach.Probably thousands actually. You’ll often see gurus on the internet telling people that their calories are too low and that their body has entered starvation mode which means that their body will now be actively looking to store as much body fat as possible.
"You're not eating enough to lose weight"
There is some truth in this but it’s not how the experts at the University of Facebook understand it. Your metabolism isn’t broken You don’t have adrenal burnout* You don’t need to stoke your metabolism with a cheat day
According to these 'experts' - Once you enter starvation mode, everything you eat will be turned to body fat to make up for the calories that you've depleted on your diet.
Is this true though. Does your body have a magic switch that transfers from ‘Fat Loss’ to ‘Fat Gain’ when a certain line is crossed on your diet?
Like all good rumours and pseudo-guruscience there’s no smoke without fire
There is an element of metabolic slowdown that occurs in low calorie scenarios and the body’s compensation for this is to make you more hungry and more lazy
You can only resist the hunger for so long and you end up bingeing which results in way more calories than you need If it was for one day it wouldn’t really matter but the release for many causes a succession of days of massive eating which then puts you in a calorie surplus of mega proportions and thus you gain body fat
It's a dangerous thing to live in the past and I often get clients wanting to look like they did 10 years ago
How do you set the right body goals for your age and how do you stop yourself living in the past?Your body doesn’t get any younger, you don’t age like a fine wine and your value doesn’t increase as you get older.If anything it’s harder to maintain the physique you have as you get older.So trying to relive your previous best isn’t just a hard task, it might be nearly impossible.
Always use SMART objectives
Make sure your body goals are Specific Measured Achievable Relevant* TimedIf you follow that protocol it will stop you trying to relive a past memory and focus you on your future. You can have a great physique at any age, just make sure that your goals fit the age you’re currently at.
In this video you’ll learn more about those methods and how I apply them to clients.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
When working with new clients I often get asked "is cardio or weights training best for weight loss and what should my priority be to do?
My reply is always that I combine the two where possible.The thing about cardio is that most people hate it.I hate doing cardio with a vengeance and much prefer using weights if I can for my training.You may be the type of person who loves walking on a treadmill at a slow pace to enter the ‘fat loss zone’ of a workout.For me, I want to get those calories burned fast and get home to play some Nintendo with a glass of wine.
The 'fat loss zone or fat burning zone' is also a huge misnomer.
In another video I talk about the best ‘fat loss exercise’ and show that to enter the optimal fat burning zone you have to be at a really low level of output which means that you burn up a lot less calories.When you consider that the main (only) element that needs to be present for BODY FAT burning is a calorie deficit you start to understand that it’s not what type of exercise you do, fat loss or other. It’s the amount of calories that you burn.With that in mind I try to make my cardio fun with a kettlebell circuit which takes about 25 minutes and burns more calories than a steady state cardio ‘fat burning’ workout.I use this method in my coaching community and it works a treat for the women in there who are all getting in great shape while enjoying their workouts and building a more toned and leaner body.
In this video you’ll learn more about those methods and how I apply them to clients.
Use my Calorie Calculator to work out your calories for fat loss and get a free macro guideFind out more about my coaching program to get you into your best shape ever
How much should you pay for a diet plan?
I’m often asked how much does a diet plan cost?The answer often surprises people, in that I counter with “how much of the work do you want to do yourself?As with most things, if you really do your own research and increase your knowledge you can do it yourself. The only cost being your time.How much is your time worth though? For me it’s in the region of £100-150 per hour for a consultation.
Do you have the time to spend creating your own diet plan?
I have a whole ton of free diet advice on my website and across my youtube podcast* social media.If you looked then you’d find every single thing you needed to build your own diet plan and you’d spend zero money.If that’s the case then why do people pay hundreds of pounds, sometimes thousands for a coach or a diet plan?The answer is that many people simply don’t have the time.
Many people THINK nutrition is easy, but like any skill it's only easy if you know what you're doing
I have the advantage of nutrition coaching education and over 10 years experience writing diet plans so I pretty much know how to eat right for my goals. However if I want my accounts done then I get my accountant to do them. I used to do all my own spreadsheets prep and all my own invoicing, but it took up my time massively. * I was unable to do the things I wanted to. It was also a massive stress for me as I don’t enjoy doing it. So I pay an expert to do it for me, the result? I have more time to do the things I want to do. I make more money now and have less stress.
You can learn to do your own diet if you have the time
In this video I talk about 2 people who took the time to read and learn from my videos, podcasts and social media and lost weight themselves.They didn’t pay me a penny but used my knowledge to do it themselves.It’s about your priorities, if you have the time to read and learn all that’s needed to do it yourself then a diet plan doesn’t have to cost you anything.
Most of my clients are also business owners whose time is severly limited
Are You Doing These 4 Simple Things To Make Sure You Hit Your Fat Loss Goals?
Over 10 years of coaching clients in fat loss and body composition change has given me a unique insight into what works and what doesn't.
You probably already know what doesn’t as you’ve most likely been there Low Carbs Keto * Food Elimination Food Colour Codes ‘Sinful’ Food Lists Points Scoring Rigid Inflexible DietsBut these things do seem to work for some people so why not you? The answer is that EVERY diet works for someone. You only see the success stories. Think of the millions of people who do the top 3 diet programs in your country. Why are there not millions of successful testimonials?The unfortunate truth is that over 90% of people tend to fail in their dieting efforts.This article is intended to give you an insight of the techniques I use with my clients who are mostly successful people in their business and working life but have huge trouble translating that to their bodies.I build incredible bodies in successful peopleHere’s how I plan out their route to success
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SMART goals
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Specific – How much weight do you want to lose? eg 10kg. Measured – Using a scale? Achieveable – Can you actually lose 10kg of fat? Relevant – Will 10kg actually make you look/feel better? Is that a realistic goal?* Timed – Over how long are you setting this goal/goalsMost people just pick out a figure from the air for how much fat they want to lose. Then that becomes the target.It’s not been thought out well enough.Look at this like you’d look at your business. If you suddenly declared you want to get 10m profit, your managers and accountant would ask you how you’d do it. If you said, sell more stuff to more people (which is essentially true) they’d still want more details.Unless you plan out your goals and set them in stone as to do they meet SMART objectives you’ll never achieve them.Part of my work with clients is identifying if the goals they want to achieve are actually realistic. Often they’ve set the bar too high, too soon results in failure and abandonment of the goal.
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Announcement of intentions - using SMART
Announcement of intention keeps you accountable to your coach or accountability group.If you keep on saying every week, I want to train more this week but never do it’s because you’ve not announced exactly what you want to achieve.Your mind then is confused and will opt for not doing it which is safer and easier to accomplish. If you have SMART goals in mind then you can set smaller targets to achieve in the week which move you closer to your big target. For example you may want to lose 10kg but you won’t do that in a week.But setting yourself an exercise and calorie target for eating each week will help you lose 0.5kg consistently each week.This is a safe amount and manageable for your body. As you get fitter you can burn more energy in training and your progress speeds up.
What is a Calorie Deficit? A calorie deficit is a buzz word in the weight loss industry, at least for people who aren’t fake gurus it is.A calorie deficit is absolutely needed in order to lose weight because it’s the only thing that promotes body fat use by the body in order to make up for energy that you use but don’t replace from food. Calorie deficit calculators number in their hundreds if not thousands online. I also have my own at www.bkmnutrition.com/calculator which not only uses the same metrics that I use with my paying 121 clients, it also gives you a guide to the macros you may want to use in your weight loss meal plan. Do you need a different calorie deficit if you are a man or a woman? Maybe, and the calculations are different for men and women but in order to lose body fat you will still need a calorie deficit to make that happen. Are macros important for a calorie deficit in order to lose weight? Not really, it’s only calories that the body needs to be in deficit to burn body fat, however eating more protein can help with keeping you fuller for longer and to stop you feeling hungry.My macro calculator is geared towards an optimum protein intake for both muscle building and fat loss.Simply fill in your details on the link above to get your calories for weight loss and your macro guide. How to build your own calorie deficit meal plan Check out my Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss on my blog https://bkmnutrition.com/the-2020-ultimate-guide-to-weight-loss-that-works/ This will give you a broader overview of weight loss, fat loss and the associated factors that go with it.A calorie deficit is only a small part of the equation but an essential one.Without a calorie deficit you cannot hope to lose body fat, even with the best diet in the world, with the healthiest foods and the super duper best training plan.If the calories aren’t calculated correctly then you’ll always be chasing your tail.My Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss will walk you through building your own diet plan from scratch. Using foods that you like to make a diet that fits your lifestyle.